Elsewhere

Hours later Duke found himself finally at the end of the refugees. His quick count was nearly 20,000 people fleeing the conflict. He had found dozens of Chopie’s spies embedded in the crowds, as they became easier and easier to spot as Duke’s PURPOSE began highlighting them due to their restrictive oaths. He had managed to free all but three from their oaths. One had attacked him, one had fled, and one had simply died on the spot. The one that fled did not get far as the Legion’s scouts had been spread out and caught the man quickly. The one that attacked Duke was brained by a nearly three-meter-tall dark-skinned giant of a man. It took one swift blow of his forging hammer for the apparent blacksmith to end the soldier.

“Nice shot there, friend.” Duke commented, offering the man clad in a thick leather apron his hand.

“Thank you, Your Grace. I’ve seen what you have been doing for the people here and anyone who would stand against that needs to have their head removed.” The man responded. “I am known as Halgrim and as you have probably guessed, I am a blacksmith.”

“Glad to meet you and as I have told countless others, travel down the side road that the Legion came up and you will find a place of safety to stay. As a blacksmith, you might even be able to find a smithy of your own there.” Duke related as he shook the man’s hand. The look of surprise in Halgrim’s eyes as Duke’s strength effortlessly matched his own made Duke’s mouth twitch upwards in a smile.

“Truly?” He asked incredulously as the crowd simply flowed away from the dead body, paying it no more heed than a fallen log.

“Very much so. It will take a week or two to get there, but there will be a smithy waiting for you to take over when you get there.” Duke promised.

“Thank you, Your Grace. I do not know what to say.” Halgrim responded, apparently unsure of what to say or do.

“You have said enough. Go and follow the path to your new home.” Duke left him behind and continued to the end of the refugees, activating CLEANSE and RESTORE whenever he came upon a new group. Each time he did so, he was greeted with amazed gasps and cries of wonder. They were among his favorite Abilities for a reason and seeing everybody’s reaction to them cemented the feeling even more.

Eventually, he got through the end of the train of refugees and walked back to the Legion with the last of them. They were beaming and readily shared the horror stories that they left behind in favor of the new hope before them. Duke was forming a clearer and clearer picture of the city – it was lost to the living. The only things remaining there were the undead and the horrific insect and arachnid hybrids that Queen Pahst had been making. Anyone left was fodder for the twins’ depravations. Many had fled before the gates had been sealed but the final groups had only barely managed to escape. The last alchemist in the city sacrificed himself while blowing a sizeable hole in the city wall. Duke’s hatred for the twins continued to rise.

It was near nightfall when they caught up with the Legion digging in for the night and allowing the refugees to cautiously pass by. Aurelia rode out to meet him. “Good evening, my love. How did things go with the refugees?”

“Well enough. There are a number among them that will be quite a boon to the town. There were more spies scattered within as well, but they have been taken care of.” Duke responded.

“I’m not going to ask.” Aurelia said.

“Probably a good choice. Anyway, we will have to go to the Inn tonight and get Sam preparing for the next batch of refugees. I’m still not sure what the long-term effects of having so many people living inside a dungeon will be but it really is the safest place for them to stay until we can wipe this threat out.” Duke explained.

“Agreed. I can’t say that I like it, but I do understand it. I hope it doesn’t cause them any long-term harm. The Legion is all set for the night. Let’s gather up Baslin and head to the Inn.”

“What about Shimmerstone and her people?” Duke asked.

“Oh, they’re not coming with us to the Inn.” Aurelia replied cheekily.

“Not what I was asking, and you know it.” Duke added flatly.

“Of course not. She and her people seem perfectly happy to camp with the Legion. She has been asking questions but nothing terribly probing. The rest of her group seems rather insular and not really approachable. It appears that they are setting up some sort of a shrine to Orgath in their camp.”

Duke stopped his own reflexive negative reaction. “As long as they aren’t bothering anyone with it, I suppose that is fine. Do you trust them?”

“About as much as I trust a sword made out of paper. It’s not that I distrust them really, but I don’t know. It seems very convenient that they just happened to show up while we were marching, met you in the forest, and are worshiping a god that you personally met. It doesn’t pass muster to me, so I am having them watched both closely and from a distance. They will notice the close-by watchers, and maybe even those watching from a medium distance. But I don’t see them discovering the longer-range watchers. All the watchers have Jewels of Whispering so they can alert others if needed. Baslin has even given us a few really long-range Jewels so we can be reached in the Inn.”

“He found a way to communicate through the dimensional barrier of the Inn?” Duke asked incredulously.

“No, of course not.” Baslin replied, having just arrived. “But they can reach the guards outside the Inn and those guards can race inside and alert us if needed.”

“Not perfect, but better than what we have had before.” Duke replied. “Thank you, Baslin. You ready to hit the Inn?”

“More than ready, I have to check in on my experiments and see if there has been any progress.” Baslin replied.

“Then it’s time for dinner at the Inn.” Duke smiled and TELEPORTED the three of them to the Inn. He held the door open for the other two to enter and followed right behind. As always, the Inn was warm and inviting. Sam greeted them at the door with a smile and a wave. His smile was especially bright, and his eyes shined with joy. He stepped aside to show the trio the dinner table.

Sitting at the dinner table was Elaine and Grat. The trio gaped at seeing Grat’s smile before rushing over to him. “Grat, it’s so good to see you up and about, but how?” Duke asked as he reached him. He briefly looked over to Elaine for answers as well, but it was Elaine’s response that confused him enough to pause.

“It was Sam. He made it possible.” Elaine explained.

Everyone turned to Sam who was casually strolling over with a shit-eating grin on his face. “You all know that I am a dungeon, right? I can create levels upon levels of all different kinds, and I can create all sorts of different loot and rewards in them. Are you understanding what I’m saying here?”

Elaine jumped in to clarify. “Sam created a dungeon level just for me to complete so I could gain the antidote as a reward. I gained two levels doing so as well as it was not an easy dungeon level. But, in the end, I left with the antidote and here we are.”

Baslin looked at Duke and asked, “As Master of the Dungeon, how did you not realize you could do this earlier?”

Duke, turning redder, responded. “Because I’m a linear thinker and have to really work at it to see outside the box. And that is why I have gathered friends and advisors who are supposed to be able to help me do so.” He stared right back at Baslin.

Baslin coughed. “Um, yes, well, I see. Good choice. Yes, good choice. Your friends and advisors really need to step up their game. Speaking of which, I have a laboratory to get to.” He promptly hurried away to the uncomfortable chuckles of the rest of the group as they realized that they were in much the same position as Baslin, relying on Duke to come up with all the solutions.

Grat interrupted. “I don’t really care who did what or how, I’m just thankful that I am back on my feet. Elaine filled me in on what she knows but is there anything else I need to know to get caught back up with everyone else?”

Duke smiled. “Well, the first thing to know is that we have at least 20,000, likely more, refugees headed this way. Mind you, that’s more for Sam to be able to expand the dungeon town for them than for you. Then again, I would ask you to help them get through the forest and make it here safely. The Legion marches on to the Capitol and there is no one to escort the refugees back.”

Grat nodded. “I can do that. If I didn’t know better, I would think you are trying to keep me out of the assault on the Capitol since I’ve been nearly killed twice already since we met, but I’m sure it’s just to make sure that the refugees make it here safely.”

“Not gonna lie to you, but that did cross my mind. There really are a lot of refugees coming here and there is no one offering protection for the trip through the forest. We’ve already encountered trolls and goblins and a few other things. Having someone with strong nature magic there would be a great help if anything does happen.” Duke replied.

“I can understand that. Thank you for not lying to me about it.” Grat said.

“Friends don’t need to lie to each other.” Duke replied. “Oh, and Sam, we need a fully decked-out smithy for a blacksmith named Halgrim that is coming with the refugees. Make it top-grade with all the bells and whistles.”

“Decks? Like a ship? That is an odd design and what are the bells and whistles for? Announcing when the shop is open or closed?” Sam asked.

Duke hung his head and replied. No, forget all that. Just make it the best blacksmith shop you can, alright?”

“Sure thing. There’s something else I want to talk to you about and it regards the town.” Sam paused, poised tentatively.

“No, you can’t eat the townsfolk.” Duke replied to the rest of the group’s horror that the concept was even a question.

Sam held up his hands. “No, no, nothing like that. I have the dungeon already outside the town that they can try their luck in anytime they want. I don’t think it will be long before they have their first casualty in there from pure carelessness. But that is not it either. I am gaining Mana from the inhabitants at a fair rate. Adding in another 20,000 people will accelerate my growth even further since they have already achieved food self-sufficiency. What I want to do, and I believe I mentioned this previously, is speed up the passage of time inside the town section of the dungeon. This way, they will grow faster, and quickly become a community that can support adventurers delving into the dungeons while you have the Legion outside.”

Duke looked at Sam, trying to decide what angle the dungeon was trying to work was. “By how much?” Duke asked, figuring it was an easier question and would give him an idea of how Sam was thinking.

Sam responded gleefully. “Ultimately, I want it to be ten times as fast in the dungeon town than outside, but I think it might be too shocking to anyone who ventures outside. Maybe get to that point in a few generations but, for now, I want to slowly speed things up to double time. Maybe over the course of a year?”

Duke pondered the prospect, but something didn’t sit well with him about it. As he started to reply it hit him. “You want to isolate the town’s population from the outside, don’t you?”

“Of course. I want my little town of people to prosper and grow into a world of their own. Can you imagine it? Millions of people living inside my dungeon fueling me with Mana and enjoying their lives as they see fit. I could make all sorts of different challenges for them to choose from, or not choose from. Nobody would ever starve, and they would have the freedom to pursue whatever they wanted. It would be wonderful!”

Duke’s PURPOSE stirred in a strange, unsettling way as Sam continued on. He tried to sort it out and it really came down to a moral dilemma. If the citizens of the dungeon town (world?) are made content to stay and have freedom to operate as they wish, are they truly free? Am I even free?” Duke’s PURPOSE flared again, stronger as he realized that he did not truly know the answer to either question.

Sam looked at Duke, the internal debate clear on Duke’s face. “You are trying to decide if this is a good idea, aren’t you?”

Duke chuckled. “That obvious?”

Aurelia chimed in. “Quite obvious. And understandable. Do you isolate the dungeon townsfolk from the rest of the world by function of the time difference and is that fair to them?”

“Yes, that is the debate.” Duke responded.

Elaine interrupted. “Why don’t you ask them what they want?”

All eyes turned to her, and Aurelia spoke. “That is a reasonable course of action. After what they have been through, isolating themselves from the outside world may be desirable.”

Duke nodded. “Yes, that is likely a just approach, but let’s wait on this decision and question until the next set of refugees have completely settled in. If they decide to isolate in time, then anyone arriving here to settle will have a choice between the outside town or the dungeon town. Each with their own unique set of advantages and challenges.”

Sam smiled. “I can wait a few months for the decision. That is fine. Thank you for considering it.”

Dinner was served shortly afterwards, and conversation turned to lighter fare followed by nightfall and sleep.