章 79: Exposed
"Well then, Miss Euklid, I hope you enjoy your stay here," Styx said with a large smile plastered on his face.
Rebecca Euklid clenched her fist and bit her lip whilst doing her best to maintain her composure. She had held a mostly comfortable life up until now and had never been in a situation where her life depended on another's mercy.
Beatrice entered the room and asked, "Is this a new guest?"
"Correct, escort her to Fiore, who will be responsible for keeping an eye over her during her stay."
Rebecca looked at the beautiful dark elf with long grey har which had beads woven into it. Two grey and golden tipped feathers could be seen behind her ears as if they grey from there. Even her eyes didn't appear quite human, while she had an enormous mana pool within her that completely dwarfed her own. Her chest was also comparable in size to her own, giving her a highly seductive and curvaceous body.
She was also curious as to how this dark elf entered the room whilst knowing everything already, as if she had been listening in from the very beginning. Her words implied that this wasn't the case and there was a missing link in her knowledge of how information was shared in this mysterious dungeon.
"Follow me," Beatrice promptly said with a cold glare towards the soiled blonde beauty. "We will get you some new clothes before showing you where you will be staying from now on."
Rebecca slightly nodded her head and followed the dark elf known as Beatrice. She silently prayed to War Goddess Eve and her mother to save her as soon as possible.
Rebecca burned the image of the rumored illegal dungeon master into her mind as she left the large throne room and returned to the other parts of the dungeon.
"…What is this place?" She timidly asked as they entered a residential district with homes rapidly being constructed with elves, light and dark, and tiger beastmen everywhere.
Beatrice glanced at her out of the corner of her eye and curtly responded, "Our home and haven."
Rebecca was led into a clean and neat store with a large number of clothing for both genders. Beatrice walked straight to the section with dresses and picked out a reddish violet dress that was uniquely beautiful. As Rebecca looked around, she saw that most of these clothes were of a very high quality and each a beautiful as the last.
"Who made these?"
"We did. Others who are learning tailoring skills have also made some of them."
"Is it… expensive?"
"We don't operate on money here."
Rebecca was confused. Such a dress made out of this high quality material could sell for anywhere up to 100 gold in a local high class clothing store, ten times that in the most famous branded stores in central.
Beatrice also grabbed some fresh underwear and took her to a newly constructed, vacant house to use the bath.
"Umm… I don't know if they will… fit me…" Rebecca said, who usually needed custom tailored clothes to fit her large bust and narrow back.
"They will fit. Now, undress."
Beatrice ran a hot bath and placed shampoo and soap on the side of the extravagant porcelain like basin which seemed to radiate faint traces of magic. The flowers in the room emitted more puffs of mana into the air and the entire dungeon looked like a giant, living ecosystem in Rebecca's eyes.
Despite that, the mana in the air was drifting as if by a breeze towards the factory district and offset the ambient mana production.
After being told to undress, she looked at Beatrice who sat in the corner watching her patiently.
"Can I… have some privacy?"
"No. Do you require assistance taking it off?"
Beatrice opened a palm where a golden flame tied to her mana sprang to life. There was no magic circle or other array created, it simply sprang into being.
"No… I will do it myself…"
Rebecca reached behind her back and undid the zipper of her emerald embroidered dress, allowing it to slide off her shoulders and to the ground around her feet. She nervously turned and glanced at the still unperturbed Beatrice before unhooking her bra and sliding off her underwear.
She stood there nervously with her milky white skin exposed in its entirety. She desperately covered her large voluptuous breasts with one arm and fuzzy but pungent pubic region with the other hand as she stepped into the large, steaming bath.
The hot water caused all of her muscles to relax as she slid into it, while it also had a slight sulphur scent that she associated with natural hot springs.
Beatrice was feeling impatient as the human woman appeared to try control her large breasts as they floated in the water and prevent them being exposed while she awkwardly washed herself. She couldn't understand why the woman was so desperate to cling to her sense of propriety when her life was still at stake.
Rebecca took an entire 20 minutes as she awkwardly cleaned every part of her body and washed her hair with the shampoo Styx considered subpar but acceptable. There was also conditioner being produced, but none of the available products from the human market had been to Styx's standards, so they were currently absent from the dungeon.
When she finally got out and still tried to cover her privates while drying herself, Beatrice walked over and took the towel from her.
"Eh? W-wait a second."
"You are taking too long."
Rebecca's breasts bounced and jiggled as she futilely resisted while Beatrice forcefully dried her and shoved her new clothes in her hand.
"Get dressed," Beatrice demanded while picking up her old clothes and passing it to a waiting gnome outside of the room to be taken for cleaning.
Rebecca dressed herself far quicker than any of the previous parts and was surprised that the clothes were a perfect fit. While it wasn't a color she usually wore, she straightened the bust and looked down at herself in approval, some of the fear of the dungeon leaving her.
"Where are my clothes?"
"Taken to the laundry cleaning area in the lower level. They will be returned clean later."
Rebecca nodded and quietened down, getting used to Beatrice who didn't like small talk with her.
She was then led to two other dark elves who had abnormally large amounts of mana coursing through them too.
"This is Klair and Kale, sisters and both dungeon wives. They will be your supervisors, give you work, and address anything you need. Should you try to leave or defy Styx, they will also be your executioners."
Rebecca nodded to the first part of what Beatrice stated, but the latter half was like a cold bucket of water being poured over her.
"Hello, you can call me Klair," The more reserved sister with shoulder length straight grey hair, one side longer than the other, said with a brief nod.
"Oh, you are the new pris- guest. I hear your mother is a very important person, so you had best behave or she may not get to see you again~"
"Kale!"
"What? It's true."
"It's called tact, please restrain yourself."
"But you moan loader than me~"
Klair flushed bright red and grabbed mischievous sister who always had too much energy. Kale hugged her back and rubbed her face against her sister's.
Rebecca was unsure how to react to the two dark elves, but Klair quickly pushed her twin sister off of her and spoke to her while trying to stop blushing.
"As long as you do as you are told Miss Euklid, you will remain safe. I do suggest you don't try escape, however. For now, follow us to the training ground. You only need sit to the side while food and drinks will be arranged for you. You are welcome to join in training as well."
Rebecca was desperate to know just how everyone seemed to know her despite only just being taken prisoner. Several males had looked her way curiously, including a couple of people who appeared to be humans just like her.
~~~~~
⠀
Therina was sitting on the bed patting the lump under the sheets that was Aura who was still unreasonably upset over having her food taken from her.
"How are you doing?" Styx asked tenderly as he walked into the room.
Aura's large wolf ears, which were the only part of her visible from under the blanket, twitched in response to his voice while Aura took this opportunity to pull him onto the bed.
As he sat on the end of the mattress, she wrapped her arms and legs around him, sitting on his lap while tightly clinging to him. She pressed her face into the crook of his shoulder while her long ear tickled his nose.
"Show me your tails."
Two smoke like tails seemed to unroll behind in the air behind her, but one stopped at a stump half way down.
Styx hugged her back and extended his mana tendrils into her body, filling up her mana network and inspecting the damage.
The problem was a portion of it was gone, which had previously been stored in her tail and was likely lost now.
Therina wasn't in any physical pain anymore, but the loss still left her grieved. She sharply bit into Styx's neck and latched herself there as he ran his fingers through her whispy tails and felt the spot where it was severed.
"Aura, you said you had a treasure to help it heal?"
The wolf girl finally got out of the bed and walked to the wall of the bedroom where it seemed to shimmer and a square section faded from existence to reveal a decent sized storage areas filled with exotic and rare spiritual fruits along with the other things she has collected over her long life.
"Since when was that there….?"
"A while." Aura stated before resting her head on Styx's back, passing a purple fruit with swirls over it to Therina.
~~~~~
⠀
Therina's tail begun growing back, but her mana network was still slightly stunted and would take time to restore itself, despite the best of Styx's and her own efforts.
Not far from the dungeon, Earl Vermonte bon Housen was approaching with his team of royal guards, now one less than when he arrived. Duke Ashburn had also joined in this expedition to ensure everything proceeded safely and according to the law. One incident of his citizens becoming collateral was more than enough for him.
"Hold," The earl commanded and took out a special pair of brass goggles with tinted lenses and an intricately carved magic circle on each lens. "It's too quiet here."
"I believe this is related to the reports of sudden monster shortages in various parts of the Abyssal Forest," Another researcher notes while inspecting a compass like device in his hand that kept spinning. "The mana here is also chaotic and isn't pointing us to the nearest mana agglomeration which would be the dungeon."
Earl Housen placed the goggles on and lead them deeper into the forest before abruptly stopping again. Through the goggles, he could see the area which constituted the dungeon's area much like a barrier.
"The dungeon lord has learned how to expand the dungeon outside of its underground constraints, so they are confirmed to exist."
He then had the royal guards carry over a large rectangular black box and place it on the ground. The box was made out of an unknown material, but it was definitely metallic.
Vermonte unfolded the box into a large door like structure. A shimmering door then appeared which he pushed open and reveal a bedroom sized space behind it laden with various equipment.
"I need the Miniature Mana Particle Readers, Life Probe Device, Mega Crystal Storage Unit, and Earth Sonar Amplifier."
The earl ordered the guards to bring out several large pieces of equipment.
The researchers and guards all moved with maximum efficiency as they brought out these large mana devices and set them up just outside of the dungeon's range to avoid the dungeon lord from detecting them and potentially attacking while their equipment was still vulnerable.
A tape line was set up outside of the dungeon field to ensure nobody accidentally entered it. The earl also sprayed a green mist from a can that clung to the dungeon zone and made it physically visible to others temporarily.
"Connecting Mana Particle Reader and Life Prove Devices to power source and central control unit… All functions operating at full capacity. We are ready to start whenever you wish."
"Good. Do it immediately, I am feeling oddly unnerved being here."
The researchers, including the earl, split up the work load and begun taking various readings of the dungeon while the royal guards set up a temporary perimeter and patrolled.
All the recorded information was printed on long strips of paper and looked like a giant genome code, while samples of the dungeon's mana and life force readings were stored in specialized artificial crystals just for this purpose.
Earl Vermonte bon Housen sat on a chair while unfolding the complex diagram of energy readings in front of himself.
"Duke Ashburn."
"What?"
"How old did you say this dungeon was?"
The earl looked at the giant, menacing entrance visible in the distance with furrowed brows.
"Six to twelve months old based on our intelligence."
"That's impossible."
"Why?"
"The mana density is as high as a dungeon six years old. It is also ten times larger than a dungeon of that age according to seismic sonar readings. There is a huge amount of heat and life forces down there, but more pressing…"
"What is more pressing?"
"This reading here," The earl nonchalantly pointed to an exceptionally large bar on a genome graph that the duke couldn't make heads nor tails of. "This is a Fifth Step existence. Weak for something in the Fifth Step, but far beyond what we are capable of dealing with. I need to take back the sample to determine whether that is a Monster Lord or some wandering exotic race, but I suspect it is the former."
The duke's expression rapidly darkened. If it truly was a Monster Lord, then he would immediately appeal to the temple and request divine intervention. He was prepared to go to any length to remove the danger lurking over Gabralter.
The group rapidly begun storing all the samples and packing up the equipment to clear away from the dungeon. Duke Ashburn steeled his heart and spoke to himself.
'I know Hayleigh has a long feud with Edna and didn't want to interfere too much, but I will force Gabralter into an engagement with her daughter and send them back to her city. Even if it costs us, he will be safe there.'
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