Dungeon.
In the end, I never came up with anything about my pursuers, so I left them in the middle of the floor in an unconscious state, scanning their memories in the process, and then headed on my way.
As expected, they hadn't said anything to Freya and along with their captain wanted revenge. Their thoughts about her coincide almost completely, that is, absolute faith and a kind of 'love' that turns into obsession. However, I expected something like that, given her reputation and appearance.
On the other hand, I managed to find out what exactly happened between Morgan and Freya while Tia was taming the monster, or rather, the aftermath of it. And I could tell that Berserker had treated the goddess rather mildly, whose physical characteristics without Arcanum were no greater than a normal human. Knocked out teeth and a few cuts to the face can be characterized by the word 'mild', right?
Intriguingly, in this trio's memories, the undergoing treatment Freya was smiling as she shared the details of the encounter. Subtle manipulation? Yes, but for all that, she liked the challenge Morgan threw her right to her face. I guess our showdown will definitely escalate into something more.
With those thoughts, I reached the right floor and, following Ouranos's description, turned away from the direct path to the next one. Adventurers usually go straight ahead to get to the next floor, and since that's the case, few people try to explore the whole floor. Let's say the farthest edge, hidden behind a pile of columns and thick fog.
At one point I felt a presence ahead that was coming toward me. It felt like three of them, and a few seconds later the monsters came toward me, not growling or rushing to attack, but showing some semblance of a smile.
- "Nice to meet you, Romani Archaman. My name is Lyd, and as you can see, I am an lizardman," the first monster with bard scales began politely.
- "My name is Ray. Siren," said the girl monster with bird-like features of turquoise-gold coloring in a friendly tone.
- "Gros. Gargoyle," the last stone-colored monster introduced himself rather coldly.
- "Romani Archaman," I said, observing the rules of decorum, "I take it you were notified about me?"
- "Yes, Lord Ouranos did," Lyd nodded, "It's probably rude to say this, but we like you already. You realize the reputation of our brethren isn't exactly good, and you, Romani, haven't shown a hint of hostility."
- "Let's just say I think more broadly than the others," I grinned.
- "And I'm sorry about Gros," Ray said with a guilty look on her face, "He doesn't trust surface dwellers, you can see why."
- "It's all right, I'm rather confused by your friendliness," I said calmly, to which I received surprised looks, "I'm not saying you had to be rude, but still I was given too much trust."
- "Ouranos has always helped us, so we tend to trust his judgment," Ray explained, "But let's get to the village. I'm sure they're waiting for us."
- "Indeed," said Lyd, "follow us, Romani. We'll show you the village and how we live."
- "Okay."
-0-
After a while we reached the place, and now we were sitting around a fire, surrounded by a pile of steps that served as seating, like the bleachers in a stadium.
I was surrounded by a whole hodgepodge of xenos, consisting of goblins, trolls, arachnids, unicorns, harpies, and even large insects. All of them possessed a full soul and really gave the feeling of a reasonable society, which at the moment organized some kind of... celebration, you could say, in honor of meeting me.
I listened attentively to what Lyd and Ray were saying about their lives, while Gros, who was surrounded by a small group that certainly didn't seem to be having any fun or celebrating what was going on, sat apart from the rest of the group.
- "I see," I nodded, after listening to Lyd and Ray, and plunged into thought.
If to emphasize the main points, Xenos, with few exceptions, want to see the surface, or rather, the sky, the sun and the stars. Some learned about them from dreams or obscurely from where scraps of memories, some from the words of adventurers, and some from the books that were here by the way.
The uniforms, such as swords, armor, the same books and clothes, they got from the adventurers that saw them only monsters and attacked, not wanting to dialogue. When Lyd asked me how I felt about this, he received only a shrug, because it was in no way contradictory that the Xenos wished to coexist with the surface dwellers.
Ray mentioned that there were more than one such village in the Underdark, and she thought that their mother, the Underdark itself, had specifically created such places for the xenos to live, even though they were constantly on the move.
The 'village' itself didn't have much resemblance to the usual meaning of the word, for there were no houses or anything like that. The architecture of the Dungeon inside the village was definitely different from the main part of it, though, with roads, light sources, shelters, and passageways rather than bare stone walls, which was enough for a comfortable life in a primitive society.
Their diet was something like the fruit that grew inside the Dungeon, fresh water and supplies sent by Ouranos through the Guild. The fruit, by the way, was surprisingly hearty and had the flavor of a ripe sweet apple.
Oh yes, and Morgan had been right about Bell, for there were monster girls here that could be considered attractive to the human eye. He would have definitely rushed to help, but that doesn't give any clues to Ouranos' motives.
His assistance to the Xenos, on the other hand, was to withhold any information about them through the Guild, of which he is the head. As it turns out, Xenos are kidnapped from time to time, taken to the surface in shackles and chains. And most likely the reason is either to sell them, which is quite trivial, or personal desires with experiments. Either way, it's no good. On top of that, Ouranos provides them with general information about the gods, Familias and whatnot, apparently to keep them up with the times.
Another notable fact. Normal monsters react to xenos like humans, that is, they attack when they see them. And this confirms that xenos are a glitch in the system rather than the rule. According to Lyd, at one point he simply 'realized' himself and that was it. Although, in his memory there were scraps of how he attacked adventurers, behaving like the most common monster. I mean, it was confusing, but interesting.
- "Romani," the lamia named Laura, who had blue skin, a snake tail, long wavy hair of dark green color, and yellow eyes, addressed me in a worried tone, "Lord Ouranos said that the goddess of your Familia is like us, and you and she are a couple. Is that true?"
As soon as she voiced her question, everyone's attention focused on me, clearly expecting an answer. It even touched Gros, who discreetly looked up.
- "Yes," I answered calmly, to which the lamia began to squirm with excitement and the other Xenos smiled.
- "What's she like? How did you two meet? What are her traits?" Laura rambled on, moving closer.
- "Calm down, Laura," Ray tried to reassure her, and then glanced at me in embarrassment, "But frankly, I'm interested in hearing more about her, too."
- "Hmm..." I mumbled thoughtfully, "I'd describe her as kind, gentle, and caring. We met, you might say, by chance, but as for features? Big horns, scales, and fangs."
- "Sounds like a dragon or a draconid..." Lyd suggested, to which I grinned and remained silent.
- "It's so romantic," the lamia sighed, as did the other female xenos.
- "Tell me something else, Mr. Archaman," a goblin named Let, with a red cap on his head, joined the conversation with a gentlemanly air, "Lord Ouranos said you would share with us about the surface. Would you be so kind?"
- "Well, I suppose I might."
And then I began to talk about human society on the surface of this world, while pondering a very good point.
Ouranos is being dark, plain as day, and is taking a wait-and-see attitude, apparently assuming that we will play by his rules. However, if something unexpected happens that forces him to act, what will he do? If not only me, but also a couple of Xenos, for example, come out of the Dungeon?
Of course, it will shock the people of the city, but, in fact, what can they do about it? Nothing, because they wouldn't have enough power. And you can also include the gods, because their local variants are pretty weak even with Arcanum. And Enkidu's chains, though copies, haven't gone anywhere.
Will Tia be upset? Quite possibly, but much less so if left to her own devices. Ouranos is hardly as caring and compassionate as he shows himself to be, after all. And I'd need Tia's presence for the xenos to agree to come with me, however....
- "Help!" shouted the newly arrived ogre, interrupting my story and drawing everyone's attention, "Fia! The humans have her!"
...That wouldn't be necessary, for I could clearly sense a large amount of human presence relatively close to us. And since I definitely need to intervene, it's a good opportunity to prove myself, and the company of xenos is generally nicer than humans or gods, no?
-0-
A/N: How's the chapter? Give us your opinion. You may well be able to influence future chapters.
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