NOVEL FROG Ch.52 – Roll for Intimidate
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DISCLAIMER: Scene of torture ahead. I tried to keep it as mild as possible.
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POV: Darren
This dungeon is just a waste of time, Darren thought as he literally cut a rodamuse to pieces with his sword in the space of two seconds, there's nothing strange here apart from the usual monsters you can expect from a E- rang dungeon.
“By now the dungeon has been completely explored and there is no sign of any unusual salmadrer, or rather, there is no sign of any salmadrer in general in here,” he said to his escort, but mainly to Rosalia, who had insisted to venture into the dungeon with him and the other knights, “we only have the core room left and then we will have completely turned Sleepy Swamp like a sock.”
Rosalia nodded a few times, "it seems like the rumors were wrong," she said before parting her lips in a deep sigh and shrugging her shoulders.
“Who knows what they saw, maybe people are just freaking out about that prophecy,” Darren said as he sheathed his sword. The monsters were so weak here compared to him that he didn't even need to stay on guard, "at least your experience bar is increasing?"
Rosalia bowed her head and turned her head away, leading her eyes to contemplate a darker point further ahead in the tunnels illuminated by pools of liquid light, "m-more or less..."
Rosalia had a much lower level than him, she was a peaceful girl, she didn't like violence and for this reason she was among the highest ranking nobles to still be below the tenth level despite not being a child anymore. The system recognized a mechanism for distributing experience points even for the people he accompanied and that's it, but perhaps not even that was enough to move Rosalia's experience bar any closer to a level up.
This is unfortunate, with her class she might help me in overthrowing her sister… assuming I can turn her against her, that is, Darren narrowed his eyes, “never mind, we're about to go to the core room, so there will be a core guardian first, however weak it may be, it must still be worth something.”
“Y-yes…” Rosalia stammered, “…am I in your way?” she asked out of the blue, looking at him out of the corner of her eyes.
He shook his head, “no, I just find that a person with a rare class like yours should nurture it and bring it to the max…” he puffed out his chest, “I don't want to force your hand, but a flower has never stopped a sword. ”
“Sometimes I think the system has a sense of irony in granting [Lightbringer] to a pacifist,” Rosalia replied, fidgeting with a lock of hair, her expression sad. “My sister would have been much more worthy than me, at least she wouldn't have been afraid to use it.”
I'm afraid your sister wouldn't have been afraid to overuse it, Darren smiled, “maybe there's a reason you got it.”
“Maybe,” she replied echoingly, but unconvinced.
“Rosalia, there will be a day when you will have to decide whether you want to take up the sword or be pierced by it. Take these words as advice from a person interested in your long-term well-being,” Darren nodded, “let's move on, from what I understand the core guardian's room is up ahead.”
Rosalia remained silent for the rest of the journey, even when the group made up of her, Darren and two knights found themselves in front of the large stone door, her eyes hesitated elsewhere, busy trying to fight a war of her own that did not include the 'use of any weapon other than reasoning. Darren pushed the door without too much ceremony and opened it, looking first into the large circular room: everything was in order inside, with a sort of gigantic, vaguely humanoid tree standing in the centre, exactly between them and the door that went to the dungeon core.
“My lady, stand back,” said Darren, waving at Rosalia, who obeyed, backing almost to the door, “it won't take long.”
[Sleepy Swamp’s Core Guardian – Lv: 23]
The giant tree groaned and began to move, animated by the mystical forces of the dungeon. However, Darren remained impassive after inspecting it, in fact, he almost seemed disappointed. Many years had passed since he was a child and accompanied his parents into those weak dungeons and what had terrified him back then now seemed like nothing more than temporary annoyances.
Even the core guardian had a moment's hesitation after turning its attention to the enemies it had to fight, as if even it couldn't believe it was facing opponents who were so far out of its reach. The monster immediately aimed at Darren, both fists raised above the head in an attempt to hammer the human into the ground as if he were a nail. The devastating blow of the monster guarding the core room hit the ground, shattering the rock and raising dust, but missed its target: Darren had moved just enough to avoid the blow, and was looking at him with a bored expression.
“Let's end this quickly,” he said, drawing his sword. An instant later the core guardian's right arm was severed, causing it to let out a cry of pain that made it clear that while it had nothing in common with normal monsters, it was perfectly capable of feeling pain.
Darren was focused on the monster, it was by pure chance that he noticed something passing through the access door to the boss' room: with a glance he realized that there were at least five people, all dressed in a way to hide their facial features although it was still possible to assume what their races were based on their different physiognomies.
"Ambush!" One of the knights exclaimed.
“Protect the princess!” Darren ordered sharply.
The attackers had made a tactical mistake: they had thought that attacking while Darren and the others were fighting the core guardian would allow them to take Darren and the others by surprise, and they had almost succeeded, but the difference between almost succeeding at something and succeeding is greater than one can imagine. Darren got rid of the big boss with just five blows of his sword and the other adventurers found themselves facing the defense of the duke's guard, who although not as high level as him, were still not novice soldiers.
When the attackers realized their strategic mistake – and after two of them had been killed –, the decision to retreat was the wisest one they could have made. They tried to escape, but Darren used the sword as if it were a throwing weapon: he threw it with such force and precision that the tip of the blade lodged itself in the knee of the slowest of the three attackers, eliciting a cry of pain from him and making him end up on the ground.
Dwarves aren't great runners after all, thought Darren, "don't kill him, we need to interrogate him."
"Yes, sir!" The knights exclaimed almost in unison, who reached the dwarf, grabbing him by the shoulders and dragging him towards Darren and Rosalia, who in the meantime had turned pale with her hands almost covering her breasts in a defensive position.
“My lord…” Rosalia whispered.
“I don't want to subject you to anything you don't want, my lady, if you don't want to watch please turn around or proceed with the tour of the core room.”
“Th-thank you,” the girl covered her mouth and walked briskly away towards the opposite door of the boss room.
“Now,” Darren spoke again as he heard the door to the core room close behind Rosalia. He reached down and grabbed the hood to pull it back and see the dwarf's face, intending to see if it was someone he knew, "why did you attack us?"
The dwarf grimaced and smiled poisonously, "the chick with you seemed particularly sweet and..." the dwarf's voice was interrupted by a sharp cry of pain, caused by the fact that Darren pushed the sword even further into the dwarf's knee.
"Wrong answer. Who ordered you to attack us?”
“Your mo…”
Darren twisted the blade in the wound, causing the dwarf even more pain, so much so that the unfortunate dwarf began to cry. “Listen to me carefully: if I want to break you, you will break. We can stay here for an hour or ten days, and don't worry about your wounds: I have a [Healer] with me and I can continue to torture and heal you until your sense of humor goes away."
“If… if I talk I'm dead! They will kill me!” The dwarf grumbled through gritted teeth.
“Why do you worry about a future you're not even sure you'll reach?” Darren asked, smiling sinisterly, “I ask you again: who is the instigator?”
He was already preparing to torture the dwarf again when the dwarf finally relented, “Mayor Neithen, it was Mayor Neithen. He... he wanted your deaths look as an accident, an error of judgment against the core guardian..."
“Neithen? What a little coward,” Darren turned up his nose, he found it an insult to honor to attack someone from a safety distance and using assassins, killing was a personal act, it wasn't something that could be delegated while keeping the honor intact, “and I bet you're part of the Brotherhood of Shadows, right?”
The dwarf closed his eyes and nodded a few times.
“Very well, I will let you go,” Darren declared, standing up and addressing one of his knights, “cure him.”
For a [Herbalist] healing wounds was a long process that did not give perfect results, but for a [Healer] it was child's play: the time to lay the hands on the dwarf's wound and let the Mana flow out and the wound healed as if the dwarf had never been hit in that spot.
“But there is one condition: now you work for me. I don't want you to kill anyone on my behalf, I'll take care of that, instead I want you to give me information, you will be my contact with the Brotherhood of Shadows for anything I need,” he took a deep breath, “but know one thing: betray me and I won't kill you, I will kill everything that is dear to you, from your grandparents to the stray cat you once fed. You try to scheme behind my back and when I'm done with you you'll be the one to take your own life, do we understand each other on this point?”
“You… you are a monster, duke Darren,” the dwarf stammered, the blood having left his face, making him pale as death.
“I won't lose sleep over your opinion of me. Now go, we will meet again at the inn where my men and I are staying.”
The dwarf didn't have to be told twice: his hasty escape even led him to fall a few times and crawl for a meter or two along the way, as if he had seen death itself.
“Now let's get lady Rosalia and get out of this place, I'd say Sleepy Swamp has nothing left to offer us.”
