Chapter 13: Extra Chapter II: Moments of Doubts

Footsteps echoed along the stairs leading to the lower floors of the living area. The entire place had been destined to become a huge warehouse for items, from weapons of various kinds of qualities, armor, clothing, and the many kinds of minerals and materials obtained from monsters.

Each of the large rooms had signs indicating its use. Elisa, who had been going all over the place, and checking every corner, couldn't find a single clue. No matter how much she searched for it, it seemed as if her master had vanished into thin air. Even Neminah with her nose couldn't locate her before, which was even more strange and worrying.

Hesitantly, she headed for the door that led her into the dungeon properly call, hoping to catch some kind of remnant magic or some trace that Reilanis had left in her wake.

She climbed the stairs back to the top floor and rounded the corner, into a hallway whose walls and ceiling turned to bare rock the further she went. In the end, there was not a door, but a large rock that prevented the passage. On one side was a lever that would activate some mechanism that would open the way.

Elisa approached, chanting a light element spell to search for signs of magic use. The spell didn't register anything, and from the looks of the place, it didn't look like someone had been there for quite some time either. Elisa let out a frustrated sigh as she headed back towards the lobby of the upper floors.

She was mentally exhausted and fed up with the childish and erratic attitude that her master had had in recent years. Ever since she rescued Neminah and completely destroyed one of the most important brothels in Kribels, which was frequently visited by various nobles from different countries since it was a transit city between various kingdoms, the chaos of her downfall had forced them to leave the city prematurely, causing a huge delay in her plans to build up her force and search for information.

Her master had started making increasingly bad and problematic decisions. Some were good, such as accepting Vistelia into the group, which brought a lot of peace of mind to Elisa, who until then had been in charge of most of the group's logistics. The elf woman had taken the job of managing the travel routes and lodging places, leaving Elisa to take care of the purchases and pure money management. A sigh of relief for the stress she had accumulated.

But then there were the bad decisions, like destroying a bar because some random guy had been looking at Miriam for too long, or killing a whole group of mercenaries who were just passing through, simply because one of them said something inappropriate towards Neminah. In a certain way understandable, but too exaggerated actions.

All this added to the fact that since the construction of the dungeon began, every one of them had been slaving away obtaining the materials that were needed to complete the entire structure, and even though they had spent more than two years in it, they were not finished. Actually, despite all the work done, not a single adventurer had entered, the dungeon had not even been discovered yet. Elisa wasn't sure why that was happening, but since her master didn't seem concerned, and she hadn't mentioned anything about it, then she wouldn't ask.

The worst situation was when they reached the current point, with most of the floors with monsters spawned active and 60% of the habitable area built. Reilanis had entered a state of mental decline. Elisa was aware that her master had a… complicated past. Younger, she noticed how little sleep she got, and when she did, she almost always woke up drenched in sweat and with a terrified expression.

When she started living in the dungeon, she thought that the problem of her nightmares had been solved, but several times she came across Reilanis spending whole nights in the training ground, beating the dummies for hours.

Noticing the problem affecting her master, Elisa tried many times to ask her what was wrong, but every time she did, Reilanis cut off her words and left the place. Little by little, the situation escalated, so much so that even Neminah noticed her bad condition. With all of them trying to get closer to her, she became more and more closed off, avoiding meeting any of them throughout the day

"I can understand if it's a hard thing to say, I can empathize with it, but if it's giving you so much trouble and you don't even try to solve it yourself, then you're just being a big bother to everyone!"

Elisa let her frustrations out loud, stomping the ground hard with each step she took, not caring if anyone heard her. She had reached her limit and was upset by her master's attitude.

All this time she had been patiently waiting for Reilanis to keep her word, but that attitude she had taken recently had begun to disappoint her.

Sometime after Reilanis had found her in that cave, they had the opportunity to talk about what the girl had experienced. Reilanis promised her that she would look for any information or rumor that would lead them to those responsible and help her take revenge. In each city they visited, Reilanis was in charge of collecting information, asking for names of cities or specific people that Elisa remembered, and everything was written in the girl's personal notebook. But after Reilanis found Neminah, there was nothing new. Every time Reilanis went off alone, she'd come back empty-handed or excuse herself by saying she'd forgotten.

The girl, who had grown old enough, decided to take it upon herself to gather information in the cities, but she wasn't nearly as good as Reilanis, though she never stopped trying.

Unfortunately, even with everything she had collected so far, there were not enough clues to reveal the whereabouts of those men who had used her as an experiment, much less the location of the place from which she had escaped.

Frustration and disappointment were at their peak of her. So much so that even Elisa had considered giving up and going alone several times. But there was always something in her mind that stopped her, something that told her to be patient. That and that she had no way of taking her “private collection” with her, something that for nothing in the world she could leave there.

Elisa reached the hall, sighing and trying to calm her thoughts. Even if she left alone, she knew that it wouldn't make any difference, as strong as she currently considered herself, there was a limit to what she could do. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

“This will be the last time, I will ask her one last time, and if she is not able to give me an answer then…”

She couldn't finish her words, since at that moment she felt the mana pulse coming from Vistelia.

“Looks like they finally found her. Ok, Elisa, you can do this, just…be clear. Be forthright. Okay let's go"

 

 

 

…

 

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*Sniff Sniff*

"The scent of her still lingers here, but...it's from when we found her this morning."

Neminah was pacing around the throne room trying to pick up Reilanis's scent, but all she could pick up were old scents, nothing to tell her that her mommy might have returned.

She walked over to the large chair that Reilanis used to sit in when she had to make an important announcement or just wait for a report from her companions. She put her hand on the seat and sighed sadly. In recent years her mom had paid very little attention to her, they barely saw each other once every few days. She spent more time training with Miriam or talking with Vistelia than spending time with together, making the girl jealous.

Neminah appreciated Vistelia, she did, since she had taught her so many important things, but…

“I feel like she is taking her away from me.”

Those were her feelings about it. Ever since Vistelia joined the group, Neminah had noticed that the elf never took her eyes off the Oni. Whenever she was near Reilanis, her eyes always orbited directly toward her. And the worst thing is that even her mommy was the same. There wasn't a single time that they didn't have a battle with their eyes, in which they kept glancing at each other and then looking away as soon as they realized the other was looking. It was so irritating for Neminah to be in the middle of those moments because they seemed to completely forget about her. But there was nothing she could do but endure it.

Neminah snorted, then backed away from the throne, heading for a hidden door at the back of the room. This was the core room, the center of the entire dungeon, where each section of the complex could be modified. Though only Reilanis had the power to make such changes. Each of her companions was only able to interact to a certain extent with the core, but at a very basic level, such as spawning the monsters or putting the place on alert, to name a few.

Neminah walked around the place, which was nothing more than a small empty room with a marble plinth in the middle and a mossy green cube with black lines on its surface, creating an intricate pattern. The girl approached the artifact and placed her hand on it.

"Do you know where mommy is?" the girl asked, but no matter how long she waited, there was no answer.

"Tch, stupid dungeon thing."

Throwing a tantrum, Neminah immediately stormed out of the place, out of the throne room and into the next one, which was a type of office that Reilanis spent her time in when she first designed the structure of the dungeon and the living area, also where she keeps all the documents related to the management of the place.

Neminah entered without the slightest hesitation. Normally if Reilanis was inside, she would be that much more hesitant to go in, but not having caught the scent of her near, she knew it would just be the empty room.

The place was a typical office, with a wooden desk in the back, full of documents, letter envelopes, a pen and an inkwell, and its respective tall black leather chair behind it. On the sides of the room were shelves lined with books and some ornaments and trinkets, and in the corners, there were even potted plants growing. The walls were mahogany wood, giving them a bright, deep red, and the floor was carpeted in a warm dark brown. In front of the desk, 2 long sofas, facing each other, in a reddish tone, matching the rest of the place, and in the middle of both, a small coffee table, with empty tea cups and a kettle.

Neminah moved to the desk and climbed onto the chair, where she sits up and began to sigh sadly. She remembered the time when her mommy found her, how scared she was, thinking that she had captured her with bad intentions. Even when nothing happened for a while, and indeed Reilanis gave her tasty food, nice comfortable clothes, and a soft bed, she dared not trust her. It wasn't until she eavesdropped on her one night, while she was talking to her companions, Miriam and Elisa, that Neminah, was able to change that attitude. Reilanis talked about wanting to help the little kid recapture her childhood, perhaps being the father figure neither of them had ever had. Those words were enough to make her decide to open up to Reilanis.

But now... it's been so long since she even said a few words to her or at least patted her head, caressing her ears, as she used to do with her big smile. Neminah was aware that something was wrong with her mommy. She had seen her getting more and more tired, she even looked tormented by something. She could tell, her class was focused on healing magic, and knowing those details was part of her job. She tried a few times to talk to her, but when she asked about it, Reilanis only told her not to worry, that she was still too young to understand, and to let her be. How could she not worry herself after hearing such words? It was obvious that something serious was up, but the fact that she didn't want to say it and shut down completely made Neminah have an even worse time. And not just her, they could all feel the gravity of the matter, but Reilanis did nothing but push them all away and act as if nothing was wrong.

“I wish she would be the same as before when we had fun traveling and she would pat my head with that warm smile she always gave me.”

Neminah had curled up in the chair, hugging her tails, remembering the times when her mommy would spend a long time stroking her hair and ears, while they ate at a makeshift campsite on the side of the road. The times when she had the most fun, where she could run and play with no more worries than if it would rain that day, or if there would be some fool who would see her in a bad way because of her race. Even if it was something negative, it was a good memory, since Reilanis always acted in her defense, which made her extremely happy. But ever since they came to this place, ever since the dungeon construction began, it's been nothing but exhausting days, boring and filled with Reilanis' indifference.

“I wish we had never made this place…”

Sadly, Neminah said what was in her heart, something she thought, and wanted.

Suddenly, all of her furs stood up on end, from her ears to her tails, causing her to instantly stand up. Vistelia's mana pulse, she recognized it immediately, causing her to jump from her spot and run in the direction of the origin.

"Mommy, Mommy, Mommy, Mommy, Mommy, Mommy!"

 

 

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