Chapter 136 Dungeon Core: “The Eternal Training Ground”

Pov Ace

It has been a long time since I’ve been so nervous. I walked onto the roof, followed by my guards, to see the newly built airship dock. My advisors had wanted this sort of dock built a long time ago so we could welcome important guests in a proper manner. I hadn’t cared much before this, but now they have their special dock.

The ship slowly approaching was impressive, but I could see the person that was important enough for me to actually make this place.

Aylin looked as beautiful as I remembered her when I last saw her in person in the Cerulean Capital. She was wearing a blue dress with nearly transparent sashes flowing around her. They must have been enchanted; otherwise, they would not be flowing around her so slowly—instead, they would be blown by the wind in one direction.

It took her a bit longer to make it here than we originally planned, but she was only a few months behind schedule. It saddens me to know that she would only be staying for a week as she needed to continue with her trip.

It was agonizing to watch the ship approach slowly, but she didn't come alone and, while I know that she wasn’t too keen on continuing to act like a ruler of a nation, she still did it to satisfy those around her.

This was the main reason why I agreed to build this place and even bring my manor up to the standards of the nobility. While I still called it a manor, a better word would be a palace.

The funniest thing to me was that for many other nations, what I did would have bankrupted them or taken a few years of their nation's tax to build. This way, the people who accompanied Aylin couldn’t say anything about the accommodations and cut her stay short.

Eventually, the ship docked, and I watched passively as all the necessary celebrations took place. It took a full 30 minutes before they even started to descend the ramp. Another 20 minutes passed before some of the members of our party could disembark.

After that, fortunately, it didn’t take too long before I could see Aylin starting to descend. She had a similar passive look to me, and while I was certain she had it for the same reasons as me, it was actually customary to have such a look.

A part of me was certain that part had been changed. Someone simply didn't want to smile the entire time or pretend to be happy. They must have had a lot of power, but I'm still certain that they purposely made it so you needed to be as emotionless as possible during this part of the meeting.

"Greetings," I began as I gave a deep bow. It was a bit unorthodox to give so much respect, but that allowed me to give less to the other party member she came with.

Unfortunately, we still couldn’t talk, and the rest of the day was taken up by public appearances and finally a large ball that ended with a huge feast. Now we still said a few words to each other, but they were all purposely chosen ahead of time.

I was glad that I was now old enough and strong enough to actually remember everything that I needed to know. Just thinking back to when I first got here, I would have never been able to pass in such a noble event.

The next day was a lot better. The morning breakfast was a small affair, purposely so, and for the first time, I was actually able to ask a proper question.

"I hope the trip here wasn't too much of a drag?" She giggled a bit. She had often told me that she liked how I talked as I was so improper. "It was not that bad, it's nice slowly starting to do things for myself once again."

"That's good to hear. I also hope that you’re up for a lot of walking. There are a lot of things that I would like for you to see, including a trip into the dungeon if you're up for it."

Not only she, but a lot of others looked at me in surprise. "Don't worry, the dungeon can handle your strength without going mad." She gave me a slight head nod in a particular direction. It took me a bit to remember what that meant.

Most of her other party members and companions were left to deal with other nobles and getting ready for the next voyage. Her butler, however, was constantly at her side giving me the stink eye. I ignored him as best as I could. We started with simple trips, but most of all, I loved how we could just continue to talk forever without ever running out of words.

It was on the second day when I heard her laugh out loud. Up until this point, I had only heard her giggle, even those were purposely chosen to convey her opinion, not her feelings. Now, however, I finally felt like we were talking like real humans.

Her butler did not like that, but fortunately, it would be inappropriate for him to speak up in front of his betters. It was funny how his own rules were biting him in the ass.

On the fourth day, we finally descended into the dungeon. She looked in amazement as we descended to the end of the 20th floor.

I was still glad that the dungeon allowed anyone to skip the floors that were below their rank. Technically, she should be able to skip all the gold rank floors as well, but ETG had yet to reach the platinum rank.

She and her butler went into the boss room, and only a few moments later, walked out having cleared it. We then took the most casual walk I’ve ever had in this dungeon. Well, perhaps a walk was the wrong word, as I was barely able to keep up with them both as we rushed to the first hub station of the 21st floor. She still loved every second of it.

Even the butler seemed a bit impressed by the hub station. This one was currently the most populous and developed, mostly because I've been focusing on this one.

We couldn't stay for long as the sixth day she was here was quickly coming to an end. Tomorrow, we will only have another breakfast before we must once again act according to our stations while sending her off.

I already looked at her like I had lost her while she was admiring the view of the hub station. We used a gateway to get back to the surface. It was hard for me to fall asleep, but when I finally did, it felt like I had only slept for a few minutes before I was awakened by guards rushing into my bedroom. "There's been a murder!"

As soon as I heard those words, I froze. I did not know whether to feel dread or anger. "Lady Aylin's butler has been murdered." That was not something I expected. "But is she alright?" I quickly asked, and they all nodded as quickly as they could.

The weight I didn't know had appeared on my shoulders disappeared. "Quickly, show me to her." I was surprised when we reached her own quarters only to find Aylin sitting on a chair with guards, my guards, all around her.

The butler was dead with a large burned-out circle where his heart should be. "Aylin, are you alright? What happened?"

For a moment, it looked like the entire world pressed upon her as her regal posture fell away. She sighed deeply. "I had suspected something like that, but it’s... he was with me for a long time. When I told him I wanted to stay longer, he tried to assassinate me and called me a traitor."

She finally looked at me with tears in her eyes. "I’m sorry, it has just been so funny with you here, but now I will bring you so much trouble. There were always elements in my former nation that didn’t like the friendship I built with yours; they want to see it destroyed and your reputation broken." She said after which she looked down. It was heartbreaking to see her so broken, so sad.

My mind went into overdrive. "Everyone, listen to me," I said in a commanding voice. "Aylin Butler is a hero who was able to save her from assassins. They were able to circumvent our defenses because someone else in her party betrayed her.”

“She was so distraught over the loss of her longtime butler that she did not want to deal with finding out who betrayed her. She asked me to exile them all immediately while giving her sanctuary."

I looked into her eyes as she finally looked up. It only took her a moment to think everything over and give me a small nod with a weak smile.

"Exile Aylin's party members and companions immediately, as I will not have betrayal in my nation." As soon as I finished saying that, a lot of the guards exited her room quickly, going to execute my orders.

"Let us go and eat an early breakfast," I said to Aylin. During what turned out to be a really long breakfast, just the two of us. At some point we were informed that everybody was exiled.

Slowly, I saw her starting to bounce back. "So I guess you’re stuck here now for a while. It must be horrible to be in such an uncivilized part of the world." She laughed at that, and I loved every moment of it. Then I felt it—it was faint, but ETG had finally entered a breakthrough.