Three days. We stayed in this gods forsaken dungeon for three more days. Much smaller squads were moving through the dungeon, eradicating the remaining monsters, double-checking every passage and corridor as well as registering and marking any place with interesting resources - mana crystals, metal ores, harvestable plants et cetera.

Not only that. We were also ‘packing the bodies’ of our comrades into bags, treating wounded, and packing parts of the spoils that we were allowed to take on the carts back in the outside’s camp.

Once everything was done, we got back to the camps and headed back to the city. The journey took us a couple of days.

When we had reached the city walls we were greeted by a quickly forming mass of commoners, wanting to see the ‘victorious’ knights returning.

And they were indeed cheering, throwing flowers and waving their hands, calling those names of well-known knights of our House as they were passing them, hoping that this would earn them a glance or smile from their idols. They didn’t seem to notice two carts covered by black cloths, obviously occupied with the fallen knights who would be later taken to the House of the Dead - where their bodies would be washed and prepared before the ceremony.

“Head high, Alabaster.” One of the lieutenants passing me said in my ear “... regardless of all that has happened, we are symbols for those people. No matter what happens, even if only one of us would have returned, we need to act like a knight, like a bulwark against terror, like someone, that can take on the whole world to defend them. This our duty. Our credo as Lions. That’s what it means. Even in death.” “Duty and honor.” I responded back, now, fully understanding the weight of these words. “Duty and honor.” he patted my shoulder, resuming his ‘walk of pride’, joining the captain in the front of the march.

Taking our time, we paraded over the city plaza, circling it three times before walking right to the House’s grounds.

Right away, we noticed that Nikolai, who was in the company of Natasha and Friedrich (and a small group of the guards), was already waiting for us in front of the main entrance.

“... I remember there being more of you when you first left this place…” he said with a grim expression right away, noticing black carts, “... I was told this was going to be a routine quest?”

Godrick just climbed a few stair steps, passing him, saying:

“Not here, Nic. It was hell.”

Taking a place next to him.

It was just a whisper, and yet, I heard it.

And so, leading-commander Nicolai, after clearing his throat, looked over us all.

We expected another pompous speech. Something about our losses not going to waste. About it being a worthy, noble, just… and so on and so forth.

How surprised I was, when the expression of Greatest Duelist softened, as he said in a gentle, warm tone. Reminiscent of an old grandfather welcoming his long away from home children.

“I am so proud of you. Once again, you have proven your greatness. Once again, you have shown that you are the kingdom's finest. Welcome home, my brothers and sisters… Welcome home. ”

Someone collapsed behind me, falling on his knees. Someone else just moved several steps further, under one of the trees in the yard, and threw his helmet away, starting to clumsily unstrap his armor bits.

The crowd of knights slowly started dispersing, moving to their chambers

“How are you, Godrick?” Nicolai asked his old friend. “Getting older and clumsier by day, Nic…” he gasped “... I wonder if I could have done things better back there. If I could bring home at least a few more of these kids.” “I am more than sure, that without you the casualties would have been twice as great. Do you feel like attending a quick meeting?” “No. But I will anyway. I must.”

Nicolai nodded hearing that, with a rather sad smile, before looking at me.

“Alabaster. With us.” and saying so, he turned around and headed into the building.

Apparently not having anything to say here, I only followed after my commanders. And yet, a sliver of anger sparked in my mind. I didn’t like it. The form of the order. I knew that I was at the very bottom of the proverbial chain, I knew that I was depending on him with so many aspects of my un-life that I couldn’t refuse…

… and yet, being just ordered around as if I was a dog did pull on my nerves.

We moved past stairs and corridors till we reached the main office of the House Leader. Once inside all commanders sat by the huge table. I was left standing, a bit away.

“Quick summary, Godrick.” leading-commander asked for a rapport. “Usual expansion of the dungeon. Nic. Not by a rank or two. It was bloody S rank. With dragons and a demi-god at the end.” “...I, uh, beg your pardon?” his eyes widened with disbelief. “I am telling you what I saw! And fought! The dungeon’s layout changed! Monsters mutated! They went amok! Feel free to check - our other carts are filled to the brim with body parts of the Draconis Vulgaris!... We were not ready, Nic.” “You should have set camp around it and sent a messenger asking for reinforcements! I would have called upon our entire House and even acquisition other Houses!” Nicolai nearly slammed his fist on the table. “We. Couldn’t. Two reasons - one - we didn’t know about it until… three? Four days into the dungeon? Two - even if we knew about it sooner, it was in a pre-infestation state. There were hundreds of beasts in there, a few more days waiting for reinforcements and they would have all crawled out.” “... By the mercy of the Three…” the leading commander buried his face in his palm “... how many...?” His breath catching, not able to even finish the question he was dreading the answer to. “Twenty-two. Four scavengers - two outside of our House, eighteen regular knights… We would have suffered much greater casualties… but, Alabaster didn’t listen to the orders, again. I almost wanted to kiss him for that. Bastard butchered most of the bosses alone. And that last monstrosity? If it wasn’t for him, we wouldn’t even be having this conversation. I mean it. The beast seemed to… greatly dislike the fact that Alabaster was an undead. He seemed to be her natural enemy or something.”

Only then did everyone’s gazes rest on me.

“My-my… Interesting…” started the leader of the mages “... a thing we overlooked. Of course, undeads have a great advantage over multiple enemies! I had a book somewhere which talked about this - I think we should try to weaponize it for the sake of further…” “Friedrich…” Nicolai squinted his eyes “Ah, yes. I am sorry, please, continue.” “You were away for nearly three weeks. A few days from now Alabaster will have to duel with one of the members of the Black Foxes… Alabaster did you… become stronger?” he asked. “Yes, leading-commander. I have successfully feasted on the essence of dragons and countless beasts, even the demi-god. Obtaining this amount of raw life-force would normally take me… years? I am almost worried that this pace of growth might have some negative influence on me. This is why I would kindly request that Capitan Friedrich examine me. I wish to know if there is any flaw of corruption that I might have overlooked… But yes. My body certainly has become much more powerful. I will bring you no shame representing the House during the duel.”

I said, lowering my head.

There was a reason I asked for an examination, despite knowing that there was no flaw with me. And - putting it simply - I wanted to lower their suspicions if they still had any that is. Ha. Of course, they did. I was just a lowly undead, no?

“Great. Tomorrow, first thing in the morning, you will spare with Natasha, to measure your progression, then, based on your performance, we will prepare a training plan for you. We need you to reach your full potential before that day. And I mean full combat training. For now, your classes with Captains Freidrich and Ghost are temporarily suspended.”

… praise the Gods of Fortune that were watching over me. I won’t lie - I disliked both of these ‘lessons’ greatly. Ghost was just permanently throwing my un-life on line, pushing me into ridiculously dangerous situations saying ‘deal with it’, and lessons with Fridrich and Maria usually hurt me, mentally. These lessons MIGHT have saved me in this dungeon, when I was able to resist the hypnotic abilities of one of those snake-beasts, I’ll give them that… But still. I would prefer to reduce the number of those to the absolute minimum. It was just so… unnatural, to have someone else in my mind.

“Very well, leading commander. Will you need me for anything else today?” “Why, do you have a date?”

… did leading commander Nicolai just joke? HE is capable of THAT?! The world must be ending.

“Sir, no, sir. But, I have several books I would like to read.” “Books?” “Yes. One of the medics during the dungeon-ride carried a book which caught my attention. I thought that doing something besides slaughtering, feasting and training might be good for my mentality.” “Well, of course then… Though, mind if I ask for a title?” “Oh, of course. Iron Maiden-Breaker, or something similar I guess? The name was quite catchy.” “...” “...” “...” “Well, if you are into it? Who are we to judge.” said Godrick after a moment or two. “Oh, I have no idea what it is about. The cover seemed like a book about adventurers, the medic seemed to greatly enjoy it. It made me recall many fond memories hearing my village storytellers weaving tales of adventures diving into dangers.” “Oh, sweet summer child…” Friedrich muttered under his breath. “Pardon?” I asked, truly puzzled “It is about…” the mage tried telling me. “No, no…” he was stopped by Godrick “... Don’t spoil him. It would be better if he himself read it, don’t you agree?”

Weird, until now his eyes seemed so tired, now, they sparked with a renewed vigor.

“Thank you, Captain… Oh, I am sorry to ask, but, do I get money for participating in the raid? I would like to buy it from them…” I started, but was quickly cut in. “Of course, you are usually paid three to seven days after the quest. But, you should have some money after completing your previous quest, no? Goblin nest? You can either cash your money out at a guild facility, bank, or pay with your guild ID - most of the stores accept this form of payment. It is still good to carry some spare change though.” “Thank you, Captains, I will be on my way.” “Sure, sure. Enjoy your literature. I heard it is quite… thrilling, at some points.”

Nodding my head one last time, I took a few steps back before I fully turned around and marched out of the office.

I headed towards my room, got inside, and locked it up.

Inside, I noticed a new, shiny white armor, ready to be used.

Praising whoever brought it here, I stripped down, putting damaged pieces of my equipment on the racks. For a short moment, I considered cleaning it before handing it back to House’s armory for repair, but I quickly decided otherwise.

I would have plenty of time to deal with it. Today, I have one of my very few days off, I didn’t want to waste it on things that I could do later.

Putting on my fresh, new, armor set, I walked outside towards the adventurers guild. Exchanged pleasantries and greetings with staff workers, before cashing out a handful of coins.

Only then, I headed towards the old book-store, the one I got my other books from. The old man, once again greeted with a kind bow of his head.

“I am happy to see you visiting us again. How can I serve the noble lord today?” he said, happy that the patron that bought quite a lot last time decided to come over again. “Ah, good morning, Elder, I would like to ask if you have a particular book in your possession.” I decided to answer with the same kindness that he offered me. “I will look for it in our registry right away, can I know the title?” He bowed his head some more. “Of course, it would be one Iron Maiden-Breaker.”

The old man froze. In shock and awe.

“... I… I didn’t know you were a man of culture as well!” he perked up, full of enthusiasm. Were those tears I was seeing? “So… You do?” I asked, tilting my head slightly in confusion. “But of course! It is a best-seller!... Though no one wants to admit it. Especially among noble ladies, if you know what I mean. Hint-hint. Nudge-nudge.”

… he said that. He literally said ‘hint-hint and nudge-nudge’.

“Which episode?!” “There are...episodes?” “Of course! It is the entire series! Iron Maiden-Breaker and the Warmy Holl-ows! Iron Maiden-Breaker and Unclaimed Bushes! Oh - and my favorite - Iron Maiden-Breaker and Chamber That is Not-So-Secret!” “Well… I am just starting…” “Ooooh, I see. Beginning your grand adventure? You know what?” He dove under his desk, with entirely too much energy for someone his age, looking for something, quite violently throwing books that were on his way behind himself, damaging his own merchandise in the process “...I could have sworn that I had it somewhere here… A-ha! Here! Take it! The first one is on the house.” “N-no, I would like to pay…” I quickly said, holding up some coins I had brought. “I INSIST! If you get hooked on them - and I bet you will - you will be paying me quite a fortune anyways! There are dozens of books in the end - the man, or woman - that writes it, is truly inspired by the gods! They release new chapters every month! Sometimes, every two-three weeks! The author works like magic and must have the energy of a steam-powered golem! Some of his fans have asked them to slow down, scared that he or she is putting their health at risk!”

The book was forced in my hands, the Elder’s hands placing it between mine with disturbing care.

“W-well… Thank you, I guess?” “You will thank me by starting to read it right away. Oh, but please, do put this book in the bag. In the end, the themes it touches on are a bit… problematic.

Shopkeeper, by his own accord, found me an old, worn-out leather bag, packed the book inside, and forced it back in my hands.

“Now, off you go! Go, and study, my apprentice! Ho-ho-ho! When you come back for more I’ll set aside some more refined tastes you may be interested in as well.” Even with his old visage, he appeared to be smiling greatly, seeing me off.

As weird and twisted as this whole situation had turned out to be, I was quite glad that I was able, even if unintentionally, to make the old man smile.

Thanking him one last time, I headed back to the House grounds. To my chamber, to relax on my first, and probably last, a day off.

Peace, quiet, a good riveting adventure tale.

I couldn’t wait!