Bloodbath in the Dungeon

Having thrown away his reservations about building a kingdom, Jon's mind began to kick into overdrive. His mind became clear and focused. He began to break down his problems and make plans to overcome them.

Prince Caiphus' death had to be when all of this started. Jon had been in retirement for years, and there had been no reason to wait so long otherwise. So any Unseen that had set themselves up here were unlikely to have been here before. This place was too unremarkable to station the talented Unseen agents for no reason. Now that he had a better understanding of the limitations they were working with, he'd have a better ways to dig them out.

Jon instructed Davius to ask the other village elders to come to Four-Leaf. When all of them gathered, he would ask them for their fealty, and setup a kingdom. It would likely be a show of course. If the Unseen had only needed to use a discreet show of force and threaten a village leader, Jon was sure that they had already done so in the other villages to bring them in line.

His mood had been sour before, thinking how the Unseen had him under their thumb, but now his spirits were lifting. Somewhere inside him, he became confident that he could make this work. They may have forced him to create a kingdom, but he would create a kingdom beyond all expectations! He'd gain power they couldn't handle and reshape the world to his liking!

To do that though, he'd need to act at a breakneck pace, and keep that pace up for years. It'd be impossible for anyone, but who was he? He was the Mithril Knight! Jon the Unkillable. He wondered how many more names they would give him after this.

Firstly, Jon went to get a haircut. He chatted up some villagers, who were positively starstruck to speak to him, and got some recommendations of who to ask for help with that. It turned out that the best person for the job was a young boy named Marcus. Even though he was only 12 years old, Marcus had been cutting hair for years now. He had even made a few coppers here and there for the work he did.

"This is beautiful hair. It's a shame you cut it up. It would have been incredible if you had left it long!" Marcus gave some idle chatter, and didn't seem to mind Jon in the slightest. Jon smiled at his plucky attitude.

"Long hair is the sign of nobility where I come from. Even in the Tulin Empire, it's like this." Jon said.

"Well… aren't you nobility? You're going to be our king, right?" Marcus asked, slightly confused. He had been one of the villagers that was enamored with the idea of becoming part of a kingdom.

"I am. However, I am different from any nobility I know of. And I mean to let them know that." Jon replied. Not wanting to get into this topic too deeply, Jon steered the conversation away to something he really needed to know. "Marcus, what do you know about the nearby dungeon? I've heard there are giant rats there, but no one can tell me anything else."

"Oh! The dungeon is far too dangerous for anyone to know much about. Sometimes a brave fool will try to venture in there, but they'll get chased out by the horde of giant rats. Their numbers are endless and impossible to get through!" Marcus said knowledgeably. Jon could tell Marcus was very sociable, and likely talked with everyone about everything.

"Are you sure there's that many rats? Are they really as big as a large dog or a small pig?" Jon was skeptical, and it never hurt to double check. When exploring a dungeon, planning and preparation was the key to success.

"Oh, certainly! I heard from Jimmy Noose, a local trapper, that he saw the tracks of one just outside the dungeon once. He's an expert, and I trust him to know what's what."

"Interesting… Do you know where I can find freelancers to help me out with the dungeon?"

"You mean to fight?"

"No, no. Just to carry things for me."

"Your best bet is go talk to the village chief about that. He keeps tabs on everyone, and generally throws people a bone or two if they're on hard times."

Back to Davius again… Jon wondered how much he could rely on Davius before he broke down from exhaustion. After talking with Marcus some more, even after the haircut was done, Jon had a good idea of who had just arrived at the village, and who had been around before Prince Caiphus' death.

Sarabella was the obvious one that Jon already knew about. The other person of interest was a doctor who had just arrived a month and a half ago. Jon made a mental note to check him out later.

"One more thing. Do you know what mana bones are?" Jon asked.

"Oh… Isn't that the thing that Mr. Jameson, the merchant is always asking about every time he comes?"

"Probably. How much does he ask for?"

"I think it was 20 silver! It was incredible! I've never SEEN so much money!"

"..."

Now that Jon had heard enough about the dungeon, he had to know what he could get out of it. Mana bones were hard, almost petrified bones within dungeon creatures that were highly sought after magical components. In the past, he had mostly sold them to the Rykan royalty, but hedge mages and mage guilds prized them greatly as well. They were the fuel for all mundane and widely known magics. If Jon was going to accumulate any wealth for the development of his kingdom, it would be in the dungeon.

Jon quickly checked with a few random villagers, as he confirmed the details of what Marcus told him. Pretty soon, he was heading back to the tavern. Looking for Davius, he found Sarabella instead.

"Well well, if it isn't our king! I'm glad you've accepted the fate laid out for you." Sarabella mocked. She looked rather pleased with the developments, and it was clear she had already heard from Davius that he was playing along. Jon could only respond to her mirth with a serious attitude that ignored her mood.

"I'm going to the dungeon. Make some space to store things I get from there. I'll be back in a few hours. If there's a worktable available, that would be best."

Jon walked past her, not allowing any discussion. He knew she would do what he needed, for his success was her success. It might irk her to be treated like this, but that would suit Jon just fine.

Finding Davius in the back of the tavern, he smiled broadly at the old man who was still swamped by a crowd. How the chief would hear out all of the villagers' claims for their share of Reek's stuff, Jon didn't know. They were both busy, so Jon didn't take up too much time. He had Davius find him a few extra hands that could help him with this dungeon excursion. Davius, as helpful as ever, had a few idle tavern regulars come before him. These were the young adults that hadn't settled into a particular profession, and spent their time doing odd jobs here and there. That, and building up their bar tab, so they were in no position to refuse Davius, who was both the tavern owner AND the village chief.

Alf, Cara, Sean and Barry were a little apprehensive once they heard they were going to the dungeon. But Jon's explanation of their roles set them at ease. He just needed errand runners for the things he'd get from the dungeon. After they were told to meet him at the village entrance after getting some materials, he went to the weapons stash that Davius had put away for him. In the dungeon, you could never be prepared enough.

Sorting through a lot of crap, he finally came away with a short sword and a machete of reasonable quality. He took along that handsome leather sash of daggers that was once Clownface's. Among the armour that Reek's men had been wearing, he found a soft and durable leather coat that would do well to protect him from minor scratches and cuts. There was also some cheap wooden slats bound in string that would serve as a makeshift bracer on top of his leather coat.

He considered taking the bow, as he was somewhat skilled with that too, but he didn't think this body had the strength for it to be effective right now. He might as well throw some daggers if he couldn't fire arrows with enough force to pierce and kill.

On his way out the village, he stopped by the butcher's shop. Meat wasn't really a common product in this town, so the butcher was just sitting around, dozing off after his lunch.

"Ahem… Are you the butcher?" Jon asked.

"Uhh… Yeah. That's right. I'm Pat. You need some meat? We got some rabbit a trapper brought yesterday."

"No, I'm not here for that. I'm going to bringing a lot of giant rats here in awhile. Do you know how to process them?"

Pat laughed sardonically. He didn't know who this person was, as he was something of a loner, so it came off to him as a joke that someone was going to go to the dungeon and kill some giant rats.

"Kid, I don't got time to joke around. Can't you see I'm busy?" Pat said.

"..." Jon didn't say anything, and an awkward silence filled the air. It was quite a change in attitude from the other villagers, and it had been a long, LONG time since anyone had looked down on him.

"Yeah… anyway. Do you know how to butcher giant rat meat? I especially need to know if you know how to recognize a mana bone."

Pat sighed, deciding to humour the kid. "Yes, I can butcher a giant rat and I know what a mana bone is. Are we done here?"

Jon decided actions would be louder than words, and left the butcher shop. As he reached the village exit, he checked on the materials he had asked his runners to bring. There was a large cart, some rope, a tent, a bag of sand and some wooden planks. All items borrowed from Davius, excepting the tent. That had been something from Reek's pile, and Jon wondered when it had last been cleaned....

They walked to the dungeon right away, as Jon got to know his runners a bit. It was only 20 minutes away, since the village had been founded for the purpose of harvesting perisoothe nectar, the plant that Four Leaf village was named after. Mostly these four youths were just too whimsical to stick with a profession. Likely, they might have eventually wandered out of the village one day, and seen where their fortunes would take them. Cara made an impression on Jon, as she was the only one that was actually eager to go to the dungeon.

Soon, they had arrived. Jon had Alf and Barry setup the tent, with the sand and wood meant to make a clean, even surface to put the corpses on. Eventually, one of them would go to town to drop off meat at the butcher's shop, while the other would watch the dungeon entrance, and help load the cart when it returned.

The dungeon entrance was made of black obsidian stone embedded into the side of steep mountain wall. The dungeon stone was the most obvious sign of a dungeon, and contrasted greatly against the reddish brown stone of the mountainside. Jon wondered if he could find some dungeon stone fragments inside. That would be incredibly valuable, as dungeon stone was the hardest, toughest rock known to the human world. A chunk the size of his fist would be enough to build a small castle!

After making some crude wooden torches, Jon's party finally entered. Jon held out his short sword and machete, walking in front and scouting ahead using the weak illumination from the torches held by Cara and Sean. Jon was slightly surprised at how dark it was. Most of the dungeons he had been in would normally have lots of luminous moss, or luminous stones. But this was his first virgin dungeon he had been in, so he didn't really know how much was natural to the first dungeon floor and what had been put there by humans.

Coming to a slightly open area, where the path diverged, Jon waved at his party to stop moving. It was deathly quiet, and there was nothing to be seen, but Jon remained still. Cara and Sean began to become puzzled as they waited there, but were surprised when a giant rat jumped out of the darkness at Jon!

"Throw the torches at my feet!" Jon yelled, as he swiftly turned and clubbed the rat to the side with the pommel of his short sword. He reversed the sword in his hand, and stabbed it through the giant rat's mouth as it just started to screech at him! But at that moment, another giant rat jumped at him from another direction!

"Go get more torches!" Jon yelled out again, as he crouched under the rat's jump, and thrust upward with the machete! An accurate and powerful blow that went straight through the heart, the giant rat died instantly, having no chance to scratch back at him! Jon wasn't relieved though, he could see there was a swarm here, all just waiting to have their turn.

Jon kicked a torch that had fallen behind him as he retreated into the narrow cave path. Here he could defend against a hundred! As the torch light filled the cavern, Jon was able to respond even better. Rat after rat fell, blocking their path and making it more difficult for the rats to charge at him effectively.

Eventually, the swarm had realized they weren't getting through. They finally regained their senses, and backed away from Jon in fear. Cara and Sean had returned with more torches, and had watched in awe as Jon calmly and effortlessly carried out a massacre. Once the battle had lulled, Jon stabbed the closest giant rat body in the eye.

"Cara, Sean. Come grab these bodies. Just the ones I've made sure are dead, okay? Carry them to the cart." Jon said casually. It was as though he was still chatting with them on their way to the dungeon. Cara and Sean stared wide-eyed, before getting over their surprise and getting to work.

---

Alf and Barry were outside the dungeon, having finished the makeshift tent. The hot sun was bearing down on them, making them tired and irritable.

"Did he really need to bring so much stuff? There's even an extra tent! How the heck are we ever going to need this much. The village is just 20 minutes away! I can see it from here!" Alf whined.

Barry grunted in agreement. "Maybe he really does believe those crazy prophecies. Thinks he's invincible. That's insane though. He's younger than us!

I wouldn't care normally about some outsider, but Sean and Cara are in the dungeon too. You think we'll need to fight a rat later?" Alf asked.

"Oh, jeez. I hadn't thought of that! They'll probably be running out any second now, needing us to save them!"

"Alf! Barry!" Cara shouted out from within the dungeon.

The two grabbed a spare plank of wood each, tense and alert! After looking at each other briefly, they ran at the cave to save their friends! As they reached the dungeon entrance, they saw Cara struggling with a giant rat corpse she was pulling by the tail. As she turned to look at them, they froze with the planks raised in their arms.

"What are you two doing?" Cara asked, with a blank, unimpressed look on her face.

"Umm…."