Dungeon Noble - Squire

“This way,” Felix waved for Jake and Nepthys to follow him as he walked back out from the town, Ari trailing along behind him.

They went far enough out from the town to ensure that no one would be able to overhear before Felix came to a halt and turned to face them. “I’m going to assume that Chant isn’t your real surname?”

Jake gave real consideration to lying or trying to bluff his way past Felix, but after a moment, he shook his head. “No, it isn’t.”

As scared as Jake was to share what was really going on with other people, part of him was hoping that Felix would know more about what was going on.

“Which family were you part of, or are you from a different kingdom?”

“Khesh. My true name is Jake Khesh.”

“Ah, I hadn’t thought that any of them had survived the invasion,” Felix looked hopeful for a moment before noticing Jake’s expression.

“I was abandoned at an orphanage in Port Emerald. I had no idea about any of this until I got my Class.”

“That’s not ideal. You’re lucky you’ve made it this far,” Felix said, rubbing his face with his hand. “You’ve spoken with Ivaldi?”

“I have. He’s told me some of the basics of this, as has Nepthys.”

“Good, good,” Felix said before falling silent for a few moments. “What they likely haven’t told you is that the Classers with Patrons from that Pantheon are rare. Ari here only knows of Dungeon Nobles from my teachings, for instance.”

“True enough, I’ve never met an Inquisitor either,” Ari said, giving Nepthys an appraising look before shrugging. “Fortunately, the Triarchy is strict on worship, so you won’t meet any worshippers here.”

“Worshippers?” Jake asked, getting a sinking feeling in his gut.

“Those that worship the Dungeons or The Great Dungeon if they know of it. They aren’t the most prevalent, and they’re usually obsessed with delving, which can be problematic.”

“I’m not sure I understand what you mean,” Jake’s brow furrowed as he considered Felix’s words. Delving was a huge part of his life right now, so a slight obsession with it seemed only reasonable.

“A conversation for another time. What matters right now is that we need to leave. There will be hunters coming for you from the Triarchy.”

“We?” Jake echoed, looking between the two of them with growing hope.

“You are Strovia’s last Dungeon Noble,” Felix said flatly, giving Jake a stern look. “I will be training you going forward. I have seen no sign of any others of your ilk since the invasion, so we must assume that you are alone in Strovia.”

“How many are there outside of Strovia?”

“Not many. Dungeon Nobles are bloodline-linked, from what I know, so your numbers grow slowly, if at all. You will need to grow stronger before seeking them out, or you will bring your own hunters down on you.”

Jake sighed before nodding reluctantly. In his heart, he’d known it would be a long time before he met any other Dungeon Nobles. This just drove it home.

“So what do we do next?” Ari asked, taking the focus off of Jake for the moment.

“We will leave and head to Casthorpe. At this time of year, there will be enough people there for us to hide with ease, and the three Dungeons give them more options. That is if Jake is willing to take my advice?”

Jake laughed mirthlessly at the thought of him going all this alone and shook his head. “Please advise away. I have no idea what I’m doing right now.”

“Good,” Felix gave Jake an approving look. “Then Casthorpe, clear each Dungeon, but don’t finish them. Once you have gained a few more ranks, you can clear each one in quick succession, and we move on to somewhere else. That will give little for your hunters to follow.”

“You’ve mentioned them a few times,” Jake said as he folded his arms and gave Felix a level stare. “Who exactly is hunting me?”

“The Triarchy for definite, though specifically it will be their branch that hunts heretics. Beyond that, I don’t know. All of our Dungeon Nobles and Inquisitors died during the invasion, but the Triarchy seemed as surprised by that as we were. It could have been unintentional, or it could have been someone else choosing to act in the chaos.”

“My family suspects a third party,” Nepthys said softly, giving Jake a sympathetic look. “We don’t know who, though.”

“But why?” Jake asked in an exasperated tone. “Why target Dungeon Nobles? If we’re the only ones who can tier up Dungeons, shouldn’t the Triarchy want us?”

“I can’t speak to any of the unknown groups, but I believe that politics is the answer for the Triarchy,” Felix said in a heavy tone. “If the Dungeons in Strovia become static and do not advance, then the Triarchy will remain more powerful than us, and their occupation will be easier.”

“A short-sighted approach,” Nepthys said with a sorrowful shake of her head. “Keeping Strovia from growing leaves it open to other dangers.”

“All this is great, and I love giving him some context, but shouldn’t we be running?” Ari asked, shifting uncomfortably from one foot to the other.

“Not yet,” Felix shook his head. “We need to avoid drawing attention to ourselves. Gather the others and check us out of the inn, but do it as casually as you can. We will leave at a sedate pace and speed up once there are no witnesses.”

“I’ll start rounding up the others and checking us out,” Ari said as he headed off toward the tavern.

“Do you have any other questions for me?” Felix asked, turning back to Jake. “I might not have the answers, but you can ask.”

“Would you have trained me if it wasn’t for my Class?” Jake lifted his chin and met Felix’s gaze with a stubborn expression.

“You’ve taken to everything with admirable dedication, so yes. The Class simply pushes up the timetable I already had in mind.”

Jake froze, unsure how to react to the unexpected compliment. Given how Felix always focused on Karl, Jake had assumed he wasn’t making the cut.

Felix chuckled and patted Jake on the shoulder as he walked past him. “Come on, let’s help Ari get everything moving. I want to be on the road by nightfall.”

-**-

The other three were surprised by the abrupt decision to move on, but fortunately, Jake had already put the idea in their mind previously, so it wasn’t too bad.

Unfortunately, their quick departure meant that they had no time to source any transport, meaning they would be walking to the new town.

It would take the best part of a week for them to get there, but that included Felix taking them on a circuitous route to avoid attention.

If it took the full seven days, it would only leave a few for them to get enough Wyrdgeld together to pay for the Triarchy fees.

The last thing they needed was more attention from the Triarchy, but at the same time, they needed to leave as soon as they could.

“A hundred Wyrdgeld will be easy enough to gather now that you can complete a tier one Dungeon,” Felix explained when Jake voiced his concerns. “Expect a similar payout to what you get at the moment, but you have the potential to run both of the tier one Dungeons each day.”

“Yeah, as long as you’re willing to put the work in, it’ll be easy enough,” Ari said, waving aside the issue blithely.

“If you say so,” Jake said, sharing an uneasy look with Rhew before focusing back on the path ahead of them.

They had left the tavern now and were already on the road north, though they would be turning off soon, according to Felix.

Ari had sourced the gear they would need to travel with, as well as enough supplies to last them until they reached their destination. Unfortunately, Felix had decided that Jake and Karl would be carrying most of it as part of their training.

The positive was that whatever effect Felix had on people he was training also carried over to travelling like this. Both Karl and Jake were exhausted by the end of the day, but once they stopped to make camp, they could already feel the benefits.

“Those of you who wish to commit to my training, you have ten minutes before I expect you back outside,” Felix’s voice cut through any conversations they were having as they settled in at the small cave that Ari had found.

Jake repressed a sigh as he sat down next to the weighty pack he’d been carrying the whole afternoon and did his best to focus on his recovery.

To Jake’s surprise, even Rhew came out to join them for Felix’s additional training, and the five of them were soon arrayed in front of the cave.

“I have decided to take you all on as students, but I will not abide anything less than your full effort. In return, you will get my full attention, and I promise that you will grow in strength. We will begin with sparring this evening, and then tomorrow, we will start travelling at a jog in the morning. Karl, you’re first.”

Ari appeared next to Karl with his gear, passing it over as he gestured for the rest of them to go and equip themselves.

While Jake and the others got ready, Felix walked over to tap Karl’s hammer, causing a dull shell of grey energy to coat it. Stepping away, Felix drew his sword, with the same effect happening to his own weapon.

“No active Skills, no infusions, but otherwise, use what you wish. Begin whenever you are ready,” Felix said, motioning with his sword for Karl to begin.

Karl advanced uncertainly but committed as best he could to hitting Felix. Unsurprisingly, the older Classer was able to dodge with ease, his own blade flashing up to strike Karl in his exposed shoulder.

Fortunately, the energy sheathing their weapons seemed to prevent any lasting damage from the hit, though Jake winced at the pained look on Karl’s face. Something told him they were all waking up with bruises tomorrow.

The following few minutes were painful to watch as Felix took apart Karl’s entire fighting style piece by piece while giving him corrections and advice.

By the time Felix was done, Karl was a sweating mess, but he was no longer making quite as many mistakes as he had at the beginning.

“Next,” Felix called out, beckoning to Alan.