Chapter 23: Chapter 23: To hide a dungeon core

"You need a name," Morris noted as Leander was tying the belt around the dungeon core. He looked like a squatter indeed. With clothes that were obviously someone else's and looking too thin for comfort. "Something nice. Maybe elven?"

Morris looked at the ears of the dungeon core, and he noted that they were human ones.

"Or, maybe not," Dorian, who was sitting next to Morris, racked his brain for good sounding names. Then, his eyes fell to the hamster that was curled up by the dungeon core's side, and he got an idea.

"How about Armaros? Like the angel that created small animals?" The dungeon core tilted his head to the side.

"You think I am an angel?" Dorian blushed and coughed into his hand.

"Well, no. But you create harmless hamsters, and..."

"Fluffs is not harmless!" Protested the dungeon core, and he picked up the hamster and showed the three the fluff ball's soft paws.  

"Sure, Armaros. If you say so," Morris said, and the newly named Armaros glared at him.

"You can come stay with me. There is another bed in my room," Leander suggested. Sure, he had thought about getting a roommate so that he could cut the cost of the room in half. But Armaros needed a place to stay.

"You gave me to the bad people. Why do you want to help me now?" Well, Leander mused to himself, that was a good question. And it also explained why the hamster had charged at him specifically.

"I didn't know that you will end up like this," Leander felt guilty at how skinny Armaros was. Thinking it had been because of all the animals the dungeon core had created during his captivity.

"I got access to your memories when you touched my original form. You knew they will put me to work. That they would steal as much of my mana as they could," Leander looked down, ashamed.

It was an open secret that dungeon cores were abused by the people they were given by adventurers. But, they weren't human. They couldn't stare at adventurers with big, brown doe eyes, which looked all the bigger in a sunken face. Armaros could, and the guilt threatened to swallow Leander.

"It was his job, and it wasn't fair to you, but now we are all willing to help," Morris was being more level-headed about this than the other two. Armaros could flip at any second. He could stop creating hamsters and create something that could actually be scary. Like a dragon. And then they would all be in trouble.

They were taking a big risk with the stunted core. And Morris disliked it. But he disliked even more the look of Armaros. How frail he looked. How desperate. If they turned him in back to the researchers, then he might not survive it. With how unique, he was.

"So, it was ok to remove me from the nice place? I did damage control on the slimes. Made sure they didn't go out to the human hive. And I got pain for my troubles," Morris huffed. Yes, it was not fair. But Armaros was a dungeon core. Practically, the enemy. He should be grateful that they were not handing him to the researchers now. The axe warrior watched as Leander stood and did a bow.

"I am truly sorry. If it is any consolation, I won't separate you from Fluffs," Armaros grinned at that and scooped up the hamster. He hugged it to himself and kissed its small head.

"Fluffs is a good girl. She won't cause troubles," Armaros assured them, and the three adventurers looked on awkwardly.

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"So, ground rules," Morris began, and Armaros turned to look at him. "You don't make dungeon ground lines anywhere, period. You don't create anything that you can't take care of. And, finally, not a word to anyone about who you really are. If someone asks, you came from the forest and have been living there your entire life," which would explain to the people of Huergaz why Armaros was such a country bumpkin. Morris hoped.

"Sounds fair," Armaros agreed, and he went to Leander. He then gave him the hamster.

"I saw in your memories that you had a hamster named Fluffs. So, I stole the name to spite you. But now I feel bad. Do you want to keep Fluffs?" Leander blinked. Ok, what was happening? Shouldn't Armaros hate him?

"No, Fluffs is your friend," Armaros took the hamster and hugged it close to his chest.

"Thanks. I didn't want to give her up, anyway," Leander sighed and moved to the hole in the wall. As one, Morris and Dorian stood and walked with him.

Armaros was walking on shaky legs, clearly not being used to walking at all. But, they made it to the line that the children were still holding.

"Who is he?" Asked Robert, and Rita too tilted her head.

"This is Armaros. He is a woodsman," Dorian informed them, and the two children looked at the dungeon core.

"Hello!" Armaros greeted. He was looking at the children like he found them adorable. And all three adventurers knew what was swimming in his mind.  Morris took Armaros' arm and pulled him to the side.

"No! You are not cloning children," snapped the axe warrior, and Armaros pouted at him.

"It won't hurt them. I just need a drop of blood," Armaros protested, but Morris was having none of it.

"And how are you going to take care of them when you can't even take care of yourself? Delegate the rising to Fluffs?" Armaros frowned then.

"No. I am not stupid, despite not being knowledgeable about the human world. I would have taken care of them myself. Not only that, but I want to have children!" Protested Armaros and Morris sighed.

"Sure, one day, you will find a nice lady and have as many as you want. By then, you will have education and a job. But, for now, just don't fight me on this, ok?" Armaros looked at the children and then back to Morris.

"I suppose I can wait," the dungeon core agreed. Morris patted him on the head and headed back. However, if he could look into Armaros' mind, he would have seen that the raven haired, brown-eyed, dungeon core wanted children with raven hair and green eyes flecked with gold. And, as a result, he would have reconsidered his willingness to help.

But Morris couldn't read minds, and he didn't know that Armaros wanted to be together with the one person who had taken him off his pedestal and thought him a competent dungeon core. So, he remained happy.

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