Chapter 17- Bliss Or Nightmare (Part 1) 

"Hm, these are 16 silvers each," Nina replied as she sat down again.

'Very expensive.' Arthur thought to himself. He only had eight silvers so he had nowhere near enough to buy them. "Oh well, it's fine. I will get some more money and come back for them." He said.

Nina looked at his face silently for a few moments as if she was thinking about something before she finally opened her mouth. "I can consider a discount or even a free gift."

"What? You will?" Arthur raised an eyebrow. He didn't expect her to say that considering the fact that she already gave him a really good ability for 10 mushrooms. Granted, the mission turned out to be harder than he expected, but that didn't mean that she asked for something hard to obtain.

"Of course, I am not usually kind. But, I don't know, I think I like you~" She said with a smile as she cupped her face. "Maybe a bit too much."

"... I'm sorry, ma'am. But, I am not ready for a woman yet." Arthur replied with a dead-serious expression as if he wasn't joking.

"Fufufufu, I wasn't talking about that, silly." She giggled softly before she turned around and said. "I have met a lot of people in my life, Arthur. Only a handful of them felt like they were worth my attention."

"Very picky, I see." 

"Exactly. You are one of those few. Something about you is…" Leaning forward with a weird look on her face that Arthur couldn't read. "Mesmerizing."

"..." The boy blinked in confusion. 'I don't like to be mesmerizing. This ain't a beauty pageant.' He mused.

"Ehem, in any case, you said you would consider it which means there is a 'But' somewhere in there."

"Very smart. Sadly, I can't really give you something without getting anything in return."

"Wow, weren't we just talking about how mesmerizing I am?" Arthur smiled.

"And I want to see that mesmerizing side of you more." She retorted.

"... Fair point. So, what is it? What should I do?" Arthur asked. "If it sounds like too much, I'm just going to leave. I might want those skills, but I'm not going to go too far out of my way to get them."

"Don't worry, I'm not going to ask for something you can't do. If anything, what I'm going to tell you now will be very beneficial for you as a Gifted individual. It might even push you beyond those like you."

"I'm listening."

"Ok, so when I said that I didn't have anything I wanted earlier, I was actually lying… A little."

"Lying? So you're looking for something?" 

'Wait, is this an extra extra secret quest?' Arthur thought to himself. The way Nina was speaking sounded like a secret and it instantly captured his attention after all, what was better than a very secret quest since those always give really good items?

"Mhm, I am looking for something. But, you see, as easy as it is to get it… I cannot do it myself due to multiple reasons. But, I know for certain that a Gifted like you can do it for me. It's something within your level of capability."

"And what is that you're looking for?"

"The eye of a young Orc." She said. "It is for something I'm working on but postponed till I find someone who would help me."

"I see. That's some weird thing you're looking for. So, where do I find this orc?"

"You will have to go northwest till you reach a small but noticeable hill. There, you will find the mouth of a cave that will lead you down to a dungeon. That's where a small population of orcs live. There aren't many of them so it shouldn't be that hard. Your biggest problem would be the young orc since it's going to be quite strong. But, I think you can do it."

'A dungeon, huh? Well, that is certainly something. I have expected dungeons to exist in this world since it's an RPG, but am I really ready to go down one? I guess I can only find out one way.'

"Well, I'm interested. But, I want to know more about this dungeon and these orc creatures so that I can be mentally prepared for them." He said. The key part in all of this was information. If he can get information, then it would be a lot easier to know what to expect when going down an uncharted place.

"Of course. What do you want to know?"

"First of all, what are these dungeons, and why do they exist?" Arthur asked. 

Hearing that, Nina stood up and walked around the table. She then pulled a chair from the other side of the shop and put it in front of Arthur. "Sit down, I will explain."

The boy didn't hesitate much and did what she asked. After that, Nina put her chair right in front of his and sat on it.

"Say, have you heard of the Great Shards?" She asked with an uncharacteristically serious tone.

"Yeah, I know some things about them," Arthur replied. 'Do I even tell her an angel told me everything I know? That would probably not be a good idea.' He shook his head.

"What do you know about them?" 

"That they're… left by dead gods and that they're now inside towers scattered around the world," 

"What else?" She asked.

"I also know that four of them are taken by different races and three are nowhere to be found. I don't know anything else beyond that."

"Hmm, that's more than I expected. You Gifted people are truly something else." She muttered in an almost impressed tone. "Your information is mostly correct. But, you don't seem to be aware of the effect these towers had on the world."

"Effects? Apart from making everyone fight for them?" Arthur asked. 

"I'm talking after that era had long past. When those people finally conquered four of those towers, they triggered something unexpected. All around the regions where these four towers were situated, more monsters started to manifest, and along with them, dungeons formed in unexpected places. Nobody knew how that happened or why it happened for the longest time. However, the reason was eventually discovered."

"What is it?"

"Apparently, with time, the towers and their shards infested the region around them."

"Infested… That sounds ominous."

"The way it happened, it could not be described as anything but an infestation. They slowly took over every single thing around them like hungry parasites. They embedded themselves into the air, the ground, and even the smallest of living creatures. Then, when they reached a certain level of control over everything, they started spreading whatever they had within them. Monsters that lurked within the towers left that place and invaded the world. Dungeons that were simply a small part of the towers were fragmented and scattered across the world."

The more Nina said, the more interested Arthur became. This information was extremely important and he could tell that almost immediately. He was listening to a crucial part of the lore that he didn't know before.

"Hold on a second. So, dungeons and monsters are all things that only existed within the towers?"

"Yes. Those towers are far bigger than you might expect. Each floor of them contains entire worlds that you can never fathom." Nina's voice turned colder at the end. "Worlds that can be your worst nightmare or your most blissful heaven."

Staring into her eyes, the boy was completely speechless.