No Need for a Core?

That certainly set a somber tone for the rest of the evening, and Moriko couldn’t help but reflect that her life had been simpler before she’d run into that damn brat. She couldn’t even remember his name, she’d already been moving on with her life, but the consequences to her life were cascading. In the end, it was probably for the best, but there were going to also be some bad times ahead. Those times were not right now, however. After Mordecai and Traxalim finished talking and the priest went to bed, it was also time for her to get some sleep, her brother was probably going to be hyperactive at an ungodly early hour. She briefly considered trying to get some ‘relaxation’ in first, but Kazue had taken the negative news of the day the hardest and had pushed herself the most for the socialization and wouldn’t be in the mood, and trying to claim Mordecai’s attention would be selfish. Cuddles it was, with Kazue in the middle.

Moriko really did like the younger woman, and her affection towards the kitsune was building closer to what Moriko was willing to call ‘love’, but sometimes her impulsiveness was frustrating. Moriko really wished that Kazue had not insisted on that stupid oath. Technically the results had ended with them being strengthened in some ways, but there was now also a potentially fatal flaw in Mordecai that hadn’t been there before. Those thoughts and feelings she would keep to herself however, she’d felt the surge of guilt from Kazue’s mind when Ozuran had appeared and made his pronouncement, Moriko had no intention of adding to it.

When morning came, Moriko was slightly surprised to find them both there. She was less surprised about Kazue, affectionate contact was emotionally healing, but Mordecai tended to be very restless as he didn’t even have the habit of sleeping. “Good morning,” she said to them before kissing them and rising to get ready for the day and pretended to not be envious of how they could just conjure clothing onto their avatars.

Mordecai was wearing a variation of what Kazue had dressed him in yesterday, but deliberately more casual by losing the jacket and weaponry, and leaving the top of the shirt unbuttoned and the bottom untucked. Kazue had created a less formal version of yesterday’s dress but in blue and minus most of the embroidery. For herself, Moriko went with simple black pants and a red silk blouse, with short black boots. She’d considered wearing the green dress she’d worn out to the bar, but decided it didn’t quite fit the day, and besides, if she was going to wear that she wanted their complete attention.

Moriko had brought all of her sexiest clothing with her, in one part because the people she most wanted to see her in it were here, and in part to help push her change of habits. This hadn’t been a reasonable and slow build-up to a relationship that would have old patterns slowly change with it, so she wanted to completely break old thought patterns until she felt more settled in. After that, well, she liked her pretty and sexy clothes, being a married woman wasn’t going to stop that!

In a cheerful mood, she trailed after the pair who had already left to go greet everyone. There were no introductions to be done or anything, so it was mostly a casual morning to be spent with her family while the other two took care of making sure everyone was set and ready to go. But of course, there had to be one last bit of maternal input about her marriage.

“Well, they do certainly seem like a nice pair, but, um, Moriko, I did notice that it seems to be more about them than you, and that concerns me,” Kaoru said in a low whisper. Moriko couldn’t help but roll her eyes a touch.

“First of all Mother, while they are most likely actively not paying attention to us right now to give me some privacy, they can hear and see everything that happens anywhere in the dungeon.” She sighed a little bit and shook her head as her mother flushed lightly in embarrassment. “Second of all, the three of us already discussed stuff like that. There is the relationship and there is ‘being the dungeon’, which is much like being a business. Imagine if you and dad had a third relationship partner who was not an alchemist and hadn’t contributed anything to the business. You might invite them to work there, maybe even with a generous amount of pay, but they wouldn’t be a business partner unless they had something to contribute there. Eh, the analogy is not quite perfect, because in this case I actually can’t become an equal part of the dungeon, unless someone knows a way for a normal person to become a dungeon core. Well, you know, aside from dying and being given a special case of pity mercy by a goddess.” Moriko saw Kazue’s ear twitch from the corner of her eye and grinned. They may be trying to not listen in, but people always tended to hear things that involved them better.

Her mother sighed, then nodded. “Alright sweetie, I trust you and you’ve done very well for yourself these past 20 years since you left for the temple.” Moriko chose the better half of valor and did not point out that it was more ‘shipped off to’ than ‘left for’. Especially since this was a case of her parents being quite correct, it was the place she needed to help her grow. “It’s just hard for a mother to not worry about something so, well, sudden.”

Fortunately, Moriko was saved more mushiness by her brother, who was bounding over from a group of the laganthros he’d been talking with. “Hey, the rabbit people said they’d be happy to have me come back and take part in more of their plays. They said that Kazue had a whole bunch of new ideas recently that they want to experiment with. I want to come back here lots!” She let her mother handle explaining the realities of traveling here since he was too young for anyone to feel comfortable about him going alone. While her family was distracted by that, Moriko wondered how the others were doing.

One of the first things Mordecai did was get together with the delving party to give them their prizes. “As I said last night, I can’t make you directly stronger, but I can increase your versatility and give you a new toy to play with.” In front of each of them appeared a large satchel. Every satchel contained a holster, a pistol, a hundred normal bullets, a selection of Cold Iron and Silvered bullets, pre-measured black powder charges for all of them, and detailed instructions on operation and safety. Every gun was carefully ornate, with small inlays of foxes, rabbits, and dragons done in a variety of precious metals and gemstones, all designed to not interfere with the operation or handling of the weapon, plus basic enhancement runes placed discretely to not clash with the designs.

“As I understand it, these weapons are somewhat uncommon, and the ones wielded by the laganthros may not be quite suitable for larger hands. So I created some nice ones based off of the one pistol I’ve had a chance to examine, and some appropriate ammunition. I’ve also customized the ammunition selection. For your mages, I gave fewer cold iron and silvered bullets and replaced that with some normal lead ones that have a single-use enchantment. You can load a novice-level spell into it which discharges when you hit your target. You only have a few seconds to use it, just like with arrows of the same enchantment, but it’s always nice to be able to use a melee range spell at a distance.”

The group began going through their new stash, and he gave them a couple of minutes before adding. “Also, while I would be happy if you all decided to keep them, I understand if any of you decide they don’t fit your fighting style and decide to sell them. Our dungeon is a little young to provide much of value for folk of your experience, but I thought you might be able to find a use for these.” Mordecai grinned then. “Of course, give us a few more months, and you might find something significantly more challenging.” They had enough mana to complete the fourth floor easily and immediately start on the fifth.

He could have just generated a bunch of low-level potions or something, but that seemed, well, boring, and more likely to upset the market than a handful of uncommon but not incredibly rare items. But the group seemed happy enough with their prizes and the promise of a better fight, and better rewards, in the future, though as far as he could tell they mostly did it for entertainment value, being mostly content with their current less adventurous jobs and lifestyles.

After he parted with them, Mordecai met with the merchants he had not had a chance to barter with before and negotiated more deals until the dungeon’s capacity was almost wrung dry. Most of the merchants were satisfied, but a couple of merchants with a wagon and a few guards elected to wait one more day, while the rest of the entourage got ready to head back to town.

Traxalim was next. “I was wondering if you could do me a favor, and arrange some commissions for me? I don’t need anything quickly and will need some time to be able to pay for it. And for your troubles, I know what I want to give you as payment. Here’s a prototype.” A long staff materialized in his hands, a thick shank of oak with bumps around each tip. Spiraling through the wood were veins of cold iron and silver, each vein terminating at both ends into one of the bumps, which were arranged in a pattern to guarantee that any solid hit would strike with all three materials.

The old priest took the staff and examined it with a critical eye. “The metals run deep. If you tried to craft this normally the whole thing would fall apart, but you built this as a whole piece, everything is perfectly interlocked and fused.” He glanced at Mordecai. “And by prototype, I assume you are thinking of a different wood?”

Mordecai nodded. “There are a few trees that carry special power in them. Some wouldn’t interact well being infused with cold iron and silver, but others should be fine. I’m thinking if I had the right wood, it would make an excellent base for a priest’s staff.”

Traxalim chuckled. “Yes, that would be a fine price for a simple task like arranging a commission. I don’t know if anyone other than a dungeon could create something like this. So what is it you want to have made?” Mordecai handed over a folded note, made from paper and ink taken off of the bandit’s leader Akuma. He then smiled and placed a finger over his lips. “Hah, alright, I’ll read it once I’m on the road then. The right sort of surprises are good for life.”

Once he had finished there and joined Kazue and Moriko in saying goodbye to Moriko’s family, the three of them moved to their private chambers to discuss what was next.

“So, do you guys need me to do anything today?” Moriko asked, but after a brief consultation, the dungeon cores agreed that they were set for everything they needed right now. “Alright, I think I’m going to warm up a little then see if Betty wants to spar for a little bit. Her style is different than mine but fast enough that I think it’ll be an interesting challenge for both of us.”

While she went to change into training gear, Mordecai turned to Kazue. “You seemed to have had an idea percolating since last night. Care to share what you’ve come up with?”

The kitsune gave him a grin. “Well, we got all of these books recently, and I can use what’s in my head to instantly create other books, right? Oh, but do you know any good riddles? I can only think of ones well-known in stories, I don’t think those would be good enough for a challenge, so I’m probably going to have to create some new ones. How about math puzzles?”