51 An old story

We arrived at Cerbalon before sunset. Limy and I followed the erofu without saying a word until we arrived at her house. She ensured all doors and windows were properly locked so no one would be able to eavesdrop on us, sat on one side of the dining room table and made Limy sit in front of her. Of course, I ended up just laying on the table, enduring her piercing gaze.

“A living stone and a blue slime that transformed into a human girl… There is no way I could understand what’s going inside your heads.”

“Well.. I don’t have a head and Limy’s head… is probably empty…”

“That’s not what I’m talking about! I’m asking why you are both here!”

“I just wanted to live like a normal human.”

“I will follow my master wherever he goes.”

Aeldrya frowned and continued to stare daggers at me.

“Master… that means that you are some kind of dungeon master, right?”

“Well… not exactly… Or maybe yes, but… rather I’d say that… I’m the dungeon itself…”

Upon hearing that, Aeldrya’s upper half collapsed into the table. She remained like that, her face glued to the wood of the table, for a handful of seconds, before sitting up again and regaining her composure.

“What do you mean by the dungeon itself?!”

“I’m a dungeon core… or something like that…”

“And Limy is a blue slime.”

The elf stared at Limy with suspicion.

"Isn't she a bit too strong for a blue slime?"

“Well, about that… I created her as an elite slime, that’s probably why she is so strong.”

The elf’s body once again collapsed on the table. This time, it seems she couldn’t be bothered to sit up again, and thus continued speaking with her head once more glued to the table.

“An elite blue slime and a dungeon core… I wonder what will happen if I destroy you…”

Just as soon as she finished that sentence, Limy took a hold of me and jumped away from the table.

“I will never allow you to harm my master.”

“Don’t worry, I wasn’t planning to. I heard that you could gain a lot of experience and even unique perks for destroying a dungeon core, but I don’t really care about any of that. I was just curious about whether that was true or not.”

“Well…” I muttered.

“Anyway, there are a lot of people who believe that to be true, and therefore would go to great lengths to destroy a dungeon core. Because of that, dungeon cores usually protect themselves by creating dungeons full of dangerous monsters and traps. I can’t believe that there is one merrily traveling through populated cities without a care in the world, accompanied by only a blue slime, instead of laying low and going into hiding.”

“I have a trauma with dungeons… Anyway, is there a problem with me traveling the world.”

“If someone figures out what you really are, you are sooo dead.”

“No problem then, I just need to remain incognito. It’s not like I carry a dungeon around, and I certainly don’t look like a dungeon core, so there is no way anyone will know what I am. Always best to hide in plain sight!”

“There are artifacts out there that can detect dungeon cores. What’s more, there are individuals with skills that enable them to analyze and appraise, who will identify you the moment they lay eyes on you… Fortunately for you, there is no one with such skills in this city.”

“Crap… Why would people want to destroy a dungeon?! They are the perfect place for training and finding treasures!”

“They are also a gate for demons.”

“Demons?”

“Do you really know nothing about yourself?”

“Well… I don’t know much of anything related to this world, to be honest…”

An exasperated sigh echoed through the room.

“Ok, let me begin by explaining what dungeons really are. What we refer to as a dungeon is the space warped by a dungeon core. These cores are similar to any other monster. They are not very clever, but they have their own conscience and survival instincts. From the very moment they are born, they begin constructing a dungeon around themselves as a means of protection. At least the natural ones.”

“Natural? Does that mean that there are also artificial dungeon cores?”

“That is correct. Those appeared about a thousand years ago. Nobody knows for a fact how they originated, but taking into account that dungeon cores have the capacity to alter reality itself, it wouldn’t be strange for someone to try to seize control of that power for himself. Maybe a bunch of idiots attempted to create something with a similar power to that of natural cores, maybe they are the result of someone’s failed experiment. There are many theories, and nobody knows for sure what the truth behind it is, but rumor has it that they were created by a powerful demon in an attempt to control life itself. Anyway, those cores are made of materials similar to magic stones, but unlike natural cores, they are mere objects without any trace of conscience, which means they need someone to operate them, a dungeon master.”

‘I see… I guess I became one myself after destroying that dungeon core I found a while ago…’

“Ok, I think I get it now. But this, on the other hand, means that those cores can also be used for doing good deeds, right?”

“While that may be the case, they can also be used to summon demons.”

“I don’t understand what you mean by that. Aren’t demons just monsters that we can create?”

“Not exactly… Demons aren’t monsters, but they are more dangerous than monsters.”

At that moment, inside my mind, the prototypical image of a demon materialized. In other words, a woman with wings, horns, and wearing a revealing outfit. Yes, without a doubt, a dangerous existence.

“And where are those demons right now?”

“They were locked up in another dimension, in a way that not even the most powerful magic would be able to allow anyone to enter or exit from there. However, dungeon cores are believed to have enough power to create a gate able to temporarily connect both dimensions, which would give demons the opportunity to escape. That’s why dungeon cores are always destroyed, to ensure no one can use them to summon demons in that way.”

“I see…and who locked them there?”

“A lot of species and races gathered together, creating a huge army led by the strongest representative from each race. They fought the demons until they managed to pin them all down in one spot and used some kind of powerful magic to lock them in another dimension, a magic so powerful that left an eternal mark on the place. As a result, a part of the earth disappeared completely in the other dimension, while the remaining land split into smaller chunks and wandered the sea, forming large islands… But all of that took place also about a thousand years ago, so there aren’t many left who remember it anymore. The only evidence left of that ever happening is the fragmented land in the middle of the sea. Most people think of this story as a mere legend, except for those who actually witnessed the whole ordeal themselves."

I silently stared at the elf. I was having a hard time processing something she just said...

“A thousand years… Are you a thousand years old?!”

“Do I have the face of someone who’s over a thousand years old?!” Aeldrya smacked the table with an angry and vicious blow.

“I prefer not to say what face you have…”

“At least I have a face! I know all of this thanks to my father. He was barely two hundred years old when those events took place. When I was younger, he used to tell me stories about his battles with the demons at Silrasel and about the time when they attacked Sabnuria.”

‘Shit, for how long do elves live?’

[The average lifespan of an elf is between 1000 and 1500 years. It varies depending on the race.]

‘Oh, thanks for the information.’

After sighing again, she stared at the ceiling thoughtfully. She had a goofy expression, with a melancholic smile.

‘While she is busy with her trip down memory lane... or perversion lane... Helpy, please tell me: what is Silrasel, Sabnuria and all those names she mentioned?’

[Silrasel: Ancient country founded by the Sabnuriali.

Sabnuriali: a race of elves that possess high magical abilities. They lead a lifestyle that’s more similar to that of the humans, rather than to other races of elves. At some point, they left the forests to begin a new life in the north of the continent of Brifvia, where they founded a vast and prosperous country. As a result, they were looked down on by their fellow elves, so they turned to the humans and began to form fragile bonds with them, completely abandoning the traditional elven lifestyle.

Sabnuria: Capital city of Silrasel, it was given that name to honor the Sabnuriali race. For a long time, it was considered to be the headquarters of magical knowledge in all of Kabtiaf and the most developed city in this field.]

'I see... I guess that in order to find out more about it I'll have to ask her directly.'

"Stop thinking about tentacles and come back to us!"

"Ah, sorry!"

With that she came back to her senses, and she swiftly shifted her focus back to us... But she hadn’t denied the tentacle thingy though…

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