A Soldier's Life

Chapter 160: Mutual Benefit

The griffin rider was paralyzed but could still hear and see us, her eyes darting around in panic at her situation. Maveith was tending to her while I searched the forest room. The trees would have been an ideal harvest for the city above, especially if the room recovered with fully grown trees each time it reset. The branches still had a few mantises, but I was not about to climb the tree to get them.

The floor was covered with leafy plants and grass, and the reward chest was in the center of the room. Since Maveith was tending to the elf, I shattered the stone casing. As I searched through the stone and silver coins, I found a large ring resembling a napkin holder. It appeared to be made out of stone, with a soft pink color and considerable weight. There was a relief around the outside depicting elven hunters chasing large elk. The craftsmanship was amazing, and I hoped it was an artifact. I bagged it with the coins for now and would move it to my dimensional space when I had the aether.

I turned my attention to the plants. The only thing I recognized as useful was ginseng. Ginseng is used in alchemy, cooking, and teas. If I remembered correctly, the older it is, the more potent.

I carefully dug up the first ginseng while waiting for my aether to recover in order to pull out my collector. The ginseng root was huge—over a foot long—and had dozens of rings. This ginseng was incredibly old and, therefore, probably valuable to the right alchemist. I had time to harvest a second before I could retrieve the collector.

I started on the largest spider. Maveith was talking to his captive audience, who garbled words occasionally that I could not make out. I doubted the goliath would be able to soothe the griffin rider. I had an aether potion ready to drink if she needed to be dealt with.

The largest phase spider had remained upright, its body frozen in rigor mortis after I took its head. I had to chop the legs to get the body down, as it was eight feet in the air. Soon, I watched thick wisps of blue smoke being pulled into the collector, and I got excited. The apex essence that formed was something I had not seen before.

Inside the essence sphere, little flashes of white jumped around a foggy matrix. I had memorized all the affinities; this was displacement—a rare magic affinity. I quickly harvested all twelve of the small spiders, keeping an eye on Maveith and the elf.

I soon added seven major essences and five minor displacement essences. These rare essences were as good as gold outside the Telhian Empire. I stored them all and returned to harvesting the ginseng. Just over an hour after the fight, Maveith said, “She is starting to move.”

I cleaned the dirt off my hands and walked over to the two. Maveith had bandaged the puncture wounds from the phase spider on her shoulder. It made me think, “Maveith, do you think we can harvest some of the venom? It was pretty effective.” I indicated the elf, and she returned my look with a hard stare.

Maveith considered, “If it is similar to harvesting snake venom, I can try. Usually, the snakes are alive, though.”

Maveith stood and took one of the small spiders. While he worked, I looked down at the elf. Her eyes were fixed on me in defiance as her fingers twitched. Maveith announced, “I think it is a different process, or they need to be alive. Nothing came out.”

“A pity. We should cook in here and rest before checking the passage.” Maveith nodded eagerly at the prospect of food. I took out the elven tablet reader to use as a prep station, curious about what the griffin rider would make of it.

I decided to try making a brisket. I rubbed a seven-pound bear roast with salt and pepper and seared all four sides before putting it in a pan with the apple-berry jam and some water. I used another pan to cover it. The thermal stone was a distance away, making it challenging to control the heat.

“That is mine,” the elf said in accented Latin. Well, at least she hadn’t attacked me.

“The knife or the thermal stone?” I replied casually while trying to control the heat. It was hard as I was using Maveith’s cooking pot alongside mine. The massive cast-iron cauldron was still full of apple-berry jam. The elf struggled to sit up and fold her legs beneath her. Maveith was watching her closely, and I was keeping her within range of my dimensional space.

She finally said grumpily, “Both.”

“Well, you are welcome to carry the stone, but I have to hold onto the knife to make sure you don’t stab me in the back,” I said dismissively.

She ground her teeth a little. “It is a legacy blade. Only those of my line may wield it.” Her eyes were angry, but she controlled her speech. “You can hold onto it, but I ask you not to use it.”

Maveith had been paying rapt attention. “That sounds reasonable, Eryk.” It was the best blade we had for skinning and preparing meals. I took off the sheath with the dagger and made it disappear. Her eyes widened, but she calmed quickly, realizing I had stored it. I replaced it with another knife from my storage.

“Happy?” I asked, but she did not respond, so I focused on the meal.

A few minutes later, she started to fish for information. “Where are we?”

“Maveith told you. We are in a dungeon. A dangerous dungeon,” I replied calmly.

“Which dungeon?” she said, irritation in her voice.

“It is called the Shimmering Labyrinth,” Maveith supplied, trying to mediate.

The elf processed the name. “Never heard of it.”

“Really? It is in the ruins of Caelora, an elven city.” I said, and her eyes went wide.

“We are in the Lost City!? Why would you go into the Lost City!?” Her surprise at where we were etched fear onto her filthy face. The city seemed to scare her more than being in a dungeon.

“The city is not lost and was quite easy to find, actually,” I stated sardonically.

“Idiot,” she said softly in Elvish, but still loud enough for me to hear. She continued in Telhian, “Lost City to the elves. The King of Caelora refused help from Esenhem when the Legion was conquering the lands. They thought they could defend themselves and would not send their soldiers to help others. The Elven Council became so incensed they ostracized the King and the city. It was LOST to the other elven nations. And then the King of Caelora cursed his people, always to defend it.” The griffin rider’s information sounded about right.

“Yeah, I never studied Elven or Telhian history. I am just a country bumpkin,” I said with some indifference. Bumpkin confused both her and Maveith, but the meaning was implied.

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Maveith stepped in as he sensed our tempers rising. “Eryk was conscripted into the Legion. He is not from the Telhian Empire.”

The elf girl studied me, and I could see her flexing and testing her control over her hands. Was she getting ready for some magic fireballs? I figured two air shields would block them easily enough. My jam was bubbling with the roast, so I added a little water. The elf’s stomach rumbled at the sweet smell. All the healing had probably drained her bodies stores. “Where are you from?” she finally asked.

“Tsinga. Small fishing village. Do not ask about my lighter skin. My parents immigrated there. I had a tough time growing up being so pale,” I ad-libbed a little, but I saw pity in her eyes for just a flash.

“What did you do to get conscripted?” she asked, sounding interested and maybe a little more relaxed. She stood and stretched, and we both tensed. She was testing us, I thought.

“Rape, theft, assault. The usual. But I profess my innocence. Not that it matters in the Empire,” I said irritably, trying to shock her a bit and get her reaction.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

“I can see it,” she said, but I did not know if she was alluding to my crimes or my profession of my innocence. “My name is Raelia of House Glavien.” I think she thought I would be more impressed. She was immediately disappointed that I was not and just nodded slightly. “Maveith said you would release me if I helped you escape the dungeon?”

Maveith’s deep voice echoed as he rushed to join the conversation he had been listening to raptly. “It would be a fair exchange, Eryk.” He had not consulted with me on this point.

I could not help but laugh. “Raelia of House Glavien. We are in the deepest part of a powerful dungeon. Even if we leave, there will be tens of thousands of undead specters who want to kill us. Not to mention that the rest of my company are in this dungeon, and I do not think they are going to be happy to see you, if you know what I mean.” There was also the fact that I could not let them see her, as it would reveal how powerful my space affinity was.

“Then why did you let me out!? Why did you imprison me a second time?” Her voice quickly rose in volume. “I will get out of here on my own!” She stormed off toward the blue lizard chamber, never even giving me time to reply.

“Raelia!” Maveith said, trying to calm her as she stormed away.

I barked harshly at Maveith, “Let her go!” Maveith stopped hesitantly. When she entered the tunnel out of earshot, I told Maveith, “She will be back. She needs to realize we are her only hope. I will tell her she can get out of the dungeon in my dimensional space if we meet others from the company.”

Fifteen minutes later, she came storming back into the chamber. “There is a frost salamander in that room!”

“Is that what it is called? We were calling it a blizzard lizard,” I retorted with a smirk.

Maveith was confused. “We were?”

“Ugh, I just came up with it, Maveith. Help a guy out here, or the delivery does not work,” I begged, trying to sound funny.

Maveith nodded. “Yes, we named it the blizzard lizard. Extremely dangerous, and you should not attempt to kill it alone. Eryk almost died when he did,” Maveith advised the elf sagely.

“You killed the frost salamander yourself?” she asked in disbelief, looking at me.

“Blizzard lizard. But yes.” I waved my hand dismissively. Maybe I was trying to impress the elf a little. She didn’t need to know how close I had been to death.

The griffin rider mumbled worriedly, “Phase spiders and frost salamanders. What is down that corridor?”

“We haven’t explored it yet,” Maveith answered her. Her despair at figuring out how trapped she currently was made me feel some pity for her. She collapsed and sat cross-legged, and I could see her flesh through all the holes in her armor and clothes from the drake. I blushed when she caught me staring. I pulled out the cloak we got from the cockatrice room and tossed it to her.

She caught it, and her eyes went wide. Anger laced her voice. “Who did you kill to obtain this? And what happened to Vaeril?”

“It was a reward in the cockatrice chamber. Vaeril is dead.” I knew Vaeril was the summoner’s apprentice she had been with, probably protecting. That news seemed to hit her hard. She muttered “cockatrices” and Vaeril’s name a few times to herself but did not address us for a good while as she processed.

She eventually put the cloak on to cover herself, and it shimmered to blend into the ground, giving her modest camouflage in the open. I should have realized the item was an artifact. “You can just borrow that,” I grumbled.

She pulled the cloak around herself. “It is a ranger’s cloak. The methodology to artifice one was lost—well, it was lost when Caelora fell, as they were the only elven crafters who could make them. My people highly prize them.”

Maveith seemed to think of something. “Maybe the crafters in the city did not make them, and the ranger’s cloaks were found in the dungeon?”

“Perhaps, Maveith.” I produced her backpack and tossed it to her. It had her spare clothes.

“How large is your space!?” she asked, some amazement entering her voice. She started going through her bag, but I was certain there was nothing dangerous in there.

“I am not telling you,” I said flatly. She huffed and went behind a tree to change into underclothes that had no holes.

She walked back to us and approached more confidently. The thermal stone and steaming brisket were on the ground, and the elven tablet reader was covered in items I used to prepare the meal. “What are you doing?” Raelia exclaimed, seeing the table clearly for the first time. “That is an assessment table! You cannot use it to prepare lunch!”

“Are they valuable? We found it in Caelora,” I asked nonchalantly, holding back a grin.

“You can find them in Adventurer’s Guild Halls, but this one is elven-made. Unless…” She dropped to the ground, and I stepped back on alert. She moved under the table, inspecting it. “Disappointing. It is just a copy of the Telhian assessment tablet.” She stood, and inhaled the stewing meat, her stomach rumbling loud enough for me to hear.

“What does that mean? A copy?” Maveith asked.

“The First Legion was the first to make readers two thousand years ago. All the artificers who made them keyed them to human physiology,” she said with some loathing. “Others copied the artifact, but it wasn’t until about a thousand years ago that dwarves and other races started artificing assessment tablets that were keyed to other races.”

“How old are you?” I asked, perplexed. She could pass for a human woman in her late teens or early twenties.

Her eyes narrowed at the question, but she answered, “Forty-seven.”

Maveith offered unhelpfully, “Elves live much longer than humans, Eryk. She just looks young by human standards.”

“Thanks, Maveith.” I tested the brisket, and it still needed an hour or two. “I am going to harvest the rest of the ginseng. Maveith, can you watch the pot and my back while I am doing it?”

“Dungeon ginseng?” Raelia asked, suddenly interested. “That is exceedingly rare. Give me a knife, and I will assist.”

I was not willing to give her any weapon yet. “I will be fine on my own,” I said, dismissing her offer. I left the two talking and went to harvest the ginseng. I even got lucky when one of the mantises fell from a tree. I quickly restrained it and used the collector to get a minor essence of coordination.

“You have a collector, too?!” Raelia barked from across the chamber. She must not have been able to see me using it while she was paralyzed. I groaned as Maveith showed off his bag of minor quickness essences to her on the other side of the chamber. I was not sharing my essences with the elf.

I dug for a few hours when Maveith finally called me over for the meal. He had added a lot of pepper to give it some spice. The sweet, shredded BBQ brisket was probably the best thing we had in the dungeon so far. The elf probably ate three pounds of it and even scraped every bit of jam left in the pan. I could not blame her; after all her healing, she needed the calories.

“How much time left, Maveith?” The elf was holding her belly and perked up at the question.

Maveith patiently explained to her, “We decided to only remain in a room for half a day to make sure the creatures do not respawn on top of us.”

“Why? Don’t you know how a dungeon works?” Raelia asked, perplexed.

“You do?” I asked, suddenly interested in what the elf had to say.

“Yes. I have been in the Nameless Swamp and Whispering Woods as part of my training.” Maveith and I looked at each other. Maybe the elf would be useful after all.

I could not help but laugh when Maveith asked, confused, “If it is called the Nameless Swamp, doesn’t it have a name then?”

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