Chương 41: Chapter 40: Stabilization and YOU!

After the fight, things devolved. Not into further violence, the duel was over, but... into a cookout! I'd never cooked in this form before, but... why not? It didn't actually take much to convince my Wolf to allow me use of our hand-paws and claws to cook with. After all, she'd be eating the food too, right? That was her reasoning in the end. It wasn't exactly exciting, and it did take a bit, but the results would be worth it, and she knew it already.

Even so, my beast nature slept a bit as my Cookery skill, with an especially strange and hairy student, patiently helped me along in my cookery. With some minor pressure from my reserve of mana, which was steadily replenishing with the help of my Samu skill, I filled the thermos and started the rice on the little camp stove that Roxala had brought us.

While that was cooking, I cleaned my paws carefully with water from the thermos and the soap I'd brought with me, making sure to get under my claws and into the creases. Then, I started shaving the tea I'd brought with me with the edge of my claws and putting it into the teapot. As I worked, the quiet tide of conversation flowed around me as people discussed how things had changed and what the Republic was like.

Sir Little, it turns out, had been dead for decades, like everyone else in Lambstock, and the time after the last Demon War had not been kind to the lands he'd lived in and known all his life. Lambstock was like a bubble of sanity in a sea of madness. The Fallen Forest was far from a safe place with at least six known dungeons, not counting Windbinder Keep, and all of these were mostly un-used, unregulated, and allowed to pump monsters into the surrounding landscape to be a menace to travelers in general.

Once, Stormwrack had had an Order of Delvers - the root of the modern Delver's Guild, who would regularly go into dungeons. This helped the dungeons grow, yes, but it also made sure there were never too many monsters for the dungeon to support, and kept them from roaming outward too far from the dungeon and its immediate environs, since the creatures were feeding on it.

Now, being allowed to roam free, no longer able to feed on an overstrained dungeon, the tides of monsters had to fend for themselves like every other creature.

"That is actually how my People came to be." Roxala said.

"Or so Fel tells me." The wizard nodded.

"Not here, of course, but the Grotto of Malkar dungeon on the mainland is the origin of the Orcish people." he explained.

"The Orcish race and the Goblin race, and many others besides, actually began their existence as dungeon creatures." he said, quite happily as Roxala nodded. The concept of that... it seemed strange to me, frankly, but Fel went on "Given time, humanoid dungeon creatures and some others, once they're fending for themselves, they start to have to actually think - and society evolves from there, contact with other people, trade, and eventually, we have a courageous leader taking us on wayfinding expeditions!"

he said, and Roxala blushed a little! Sir Little nodded at that as he looked Roxala up and down, saying"A fine thing. The World cares for us all, provides for us all." he said, and Fel smiled. It sounded like some kind of rote teaching, part of something, like he was quoting from a holy book. It was largely lost on me, save for its content.

"My Lady" he said, and my ears perked a little as he spoke to Gelidia.

"Yes?" she asked, looking up at him and blinking her milky eyes.

"Is something like that your plan with Lambstock, and her people?" he asked, and she blinked at him.

"What? Become a People? The undead?" she asked, and seemed to consider it.

"... I don't see why not. We can walk in daylight now that we are Stable." she said, and explained Stability, and the core situation. It was like watching somebody turn on the lights for Sir Little after he'd been in the dark a while. I poured everyone a mug of tea once my Cookery skill told me it was time. Sebastian took one of the mugs without thinking, but, I'd made one for everyone, not just the living - it only seemed polite.

"You cannot drink that." Gelidia said, and Sir Little blinked at her. Then, he Manifested. That is, his body appeared to become flesh and blood once again and he took a slow, deliberate sip of his tea with apparent ceremony. He paused mid dramatic gesture and regarded the mug of tea before nodding in appreciation to me and giving it another sip.

"That... is good tea." he said, and I felt delighted at the praise, feeling my tail waggling behind me, thumpa thumpa! He smiled at that, and raised an eyebrow at Gelidia, who... well, she didn't look like a green ghost normally anyhow, and she was visible at night naturally, but a quality about her presence changed as she Manifested as well, and picked up her own mug. She sniffed it... then sipped it carefully, then again a little less carefully once she tasted it.

"Oh!" she said"Oh my." she said, voice husky"It's been a long, long time!" she said, and Sir Little gripped her shoulder a moment, a fond gesture. Wolf sat up a bit inside me and I found myself glaring at the man, a soft rumble in my breast before I schooled myself. He's her teacher, he's hardly got designs on her, dude. People are touchy-feely.

Wolf didn't really respond, she just looked at me smugly as Gelidia turned her eyes to me and smiled at my little huffy growly noise as Sir Little froze a bit and Torch, who knew me well by now, chuckled. Torch pat Sir Little on the back and said"Aw, nothing to worry about. Think of her like a big, smart dog. It helps." he said, and I snorted a bit, stirring the rice carefully with a spoon I held in my huge paw.

"Miracle indeed. I wonder if other werewolves can become like her?" he asked, and I shrugged, nodding as I judged the rice to be 'just right' at this point, and started carefully cutting the venison into strips before setting them frying. With the teapot, and Fel's permission, I started boiling the little fairy potatoes and wild carrots I'd brought. Then at a request from Wolf, I pulled one of the deer bones I'd brought with me out, and got my cromch fix as I carefully cooked.

"Almost certainly." Fel said.

"The principle seems to apply to any Monster with three cores. When you subsume one of your cores into a monster core to stabilize, to cease being an uncontrolled monster, you seem to get altered skills in the monster core, just as you do in any other core." he said "It's really quite fascinating!" Again Sir Little considered his own position, and looked at Zephyri, who was once again just a little raven with long tail feathers and green eyes. Then he seemed to consider something else, and frowned.

"Curious... and yet I remain in control of my faculties. I cannot remember... when I was not." he said.

"Presumably," Fel explained "It is because of Gelidia's influence as your Lady, disrupting the Dungeon's hold upon your mind. I have been told that the Guards were controlled by the dungeon before Stabilizing.

""... Would that constitute leaving the service of my Lord?" he said, and Gelidia pat his hand gently as she sipped her tea.

"You swore to give your life - you've done so already. At this point, I consider you a free man if you wish it." she said"Nobody can tell you to do this, or not to. Do you want to stay here in the Dungeon? To be its creature?" she said, and he mulled the thought over a moment before shaking his head.

"... No, I do not think I do." he said, and took Zephyri in his hands.

"... What do you think, my friend? Should we?" and I looked up fully to regard his decision with the gravity it deserved. Everyone else seemed to get it too - and paused to look up at him. Zephyri shifted to get more comfortable in his hands, and seemed to consider it for a little while, before regally nodding, saying'I will follow you wherever you go, dearest Sebastian.' she said, and nuzzled her beak into his petting fingers, nipping him a couple times.

The craggy features of Sir Little cracked in a quite-sincere smile. Then, he seemed to glaze over for a moment as he no doubt looked at his system screen.

"I suppose then... that the only question is which core I should subsume?" he mused aloud. Fel nodded and sat up a little.

"What cores do you have, if I may ask?" he asked, curious"In addition to Shade... my Legacy core is Harrier, and my Destiny core is Windrider." he said. Torch sat up bolt upright at that!

"Windrider - That's an avian core! Birds have it!" he said, and the Knight regarded him with a smile. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

"It is. Zephyri, princess of her people, honored me with it for valor." the man replied, and the crow in question puffed up proudly.

"It has ever been a boon. The core I subsume... is it lost?" he asked, and I nodded. He frowned over that, and seemed to reach a decision. There was an effervescent moment as he visibly tingled with green light, not quite a sparkle but something more substantial as he bent over Zephyri, who began to glow the same way. It sounded strange to my senses, rather like a cross between sizzling oil and a fly buzzing rapidly against a window pane before fading.

The Knight shook a little, and let out a sigh as he felt what I felt when I'd done so - the world... shifting around me.

"... what a curious sensation." he said, and glazed over again before blinking.

"... how interesting. My Shade core evolved when I subsumed my Harrier core into it. It became 'Revenant' and... reset to level zero." he said, and sighed.

"And... several of my Windrider skills reset as well when they evolved." he said.

"Shame, that - but, we will train." he said.

"What will you do now?" Gelidia asked her old friend, and as Sebastian pet over his crow friend's head, he considered her question carefully before replying.

"I will think on that, my Lady. As you say... I swore to serve your family in life, but... now that I am born anew, I'm..." he seemed to mull his thoughts over slowly, methodically, before continuing.

"I might want to see what has become of my homeland, see what this Republic has to offer me, see if the domain of my Zephyri yet remains, and what became of her people." he said, and looked to Gelidia as if for permission. She smiled at him, and nodded emphatically.

"That sounds lovely, my friend! You are a free man, and your service is beyond reproach. I will see to it that you are compensated for your death in the line of duty, and I'll see about your back pay as well, out to a year." she said, and the man bowed his head to her, touching his forehead a moment in a gesture of regal gratitude.

"Thank you, Lady." he said. She pat his hand, saying"Of course - you have always been a loyal friend." I checked on the veggies in the teapot, and my Cookery skill judged them just right. Rice met venison met the improvised spices and wild veggies I'd put together for our meal, and then the second instance of my Venison Fried Rice met the plates of my friends who yummed it up, including the Ghosts.

Gelidia, who hadn't thought to try to eat since I'd met her seemed to suddenly realize how HUNGRY she was, and visibly had to slow herself down as she ate, clearly enjoying the meal. I inspected my meal, and smiled Venison Fried Rice, Common, Good quality, created by Goldtail Twice-Cursed, Hound of Lambstock Increase maximum stamina and health for 8 hours. The only thing that had actually changed, I felt sure, was the name of the person who made it and the addition of my apparent title of Hound.

I put a few of the deer bones bones onto my own plate, and supplemented crunchy crunches of the deer bone with the fried rice, and found the taste and texture to be just what the doctor ordered, quieting the hunger I'd been feeling since I'd begun cooking. We ate in quiet, and soon I was licking my plate clean carefully before... taking everyone's dishes, and using my big paws, washing them carefully.

I felt Sir Little's eyes on me as I worked, but he didn't pass comment, his expression one of incongruity as what he had always known to be a deadly-dangerous monster doing something as domestic as... cleaning, of all things.

"Now that the meal is concluded... we should discuss rewards. You did, after all, defeat me by the World's will and thus have justly earned a proper reward." Sir Little said, and pushed to his feet. Between getting his feet under him and rising to them, he'd become a young man again, and though his eyes were blank as Gelidia's, as all the shades I'd seen so far, he somehow... looked more vital than he had previously. Sir Little seemed to consider for a few moments... and nodded as he reached out to the sky.

His lips moved, but I couldn't really parse what he was saying as he seemed to commune with the world around him, this simulacrum of the Forest outside the town of Lambstock. He stood juxtaposed against a moon that was far larger than it was in the real world, hand outstretched to the sky until something seemed to settle into it. he lowered his hand, and he produced a loop of green leather with silvery metal loops and swirls on the surface.

It was big, thick, and visibly weighed in his hand as it took it from the hands of the air itself. Despite having done this, he looked surprised that it had worked, I judged. Holding the object aloft, he squinted it over carefully before offering it out to me. His expression was bemused, half smile, half confused frown - a pinched expression on his craggy features.

"I can only assume this is for you, Hound." he said, and I inspected the object. Hound Collar of Storage, Rare, created by Unknown. Excellent quality. A lycanthrope wearing this collar will have the clothing they are wearing stored in an extradimensional space when they change shape. When reverting to human form, the clothes will reappear. Oh, that was amazing!

"The world approves." Sebastian said, and relinquished the object to me. It took me a little effort to get the clasp on it open - not that it was a hard action, but that my fingers were too big - but once I had, I definitely couldn't close it around my neck. Gelidia helped me do so, giving me scritches on the ears as she did." It looks fine on you, oh Hound. The house's green suits you well." he admired, and my tail was a blur behind me as the collar clicked into place beneath my Wolf Pendant.

My first non-cursed magic item! Awesome! Binding this magic item will require an investment of 30 mana. Invested mana will not be restored until the object is lost or destroyed. Do you want to bind Hound Collar of Storage to yourself? So I'd need to lose mana to make that happen? 30 mana... was a LOT. But...

the enchantment was going to be SERIOUSLY useful to me, and a huge savings in clothes if nothing else, so I agreed to it. There was no sensation involved - it just gave me another prompt. Hound Collar of Storage bound Mana invested I checked my status after that. [Health: 220/220] [Stamina: 250/250] [Mana: 100/100] Back down to 100 mana, but, with a new magic item. So worth it.

"Now then." Sir Little said"With this floor cleared, here is the key to the next." he said, and proffered a big silver key set with green stones - the same color as my collar, the same color as his magic had been, and the same color as Gotthardt's and Gelidia's magic as well, now I came to think of it! Is that what he meant by the House's Green? Roxala took the key, and the forest scene vanished in an instant, leaving only Sir Little behind. We were now standing...

in a rather decrepit looking office in the heart of what turned out to be the watch house in the keep, once Torch investigated. Empty as the graves of Lambstock, too - not so much as a beetle scuttling about in the dust or a spider in the corner. Sir Little followed after us, his raven on his shoulder.

"It would not be appropriate for me to remain within, I feel." he said as we reached the outside air again in the courtyard.

"I will await your success outside, Lady, and see what has become of my ancestral home."

"I understand." Gelidia said formally, and bowed to her old mentor and friend. The knight doffed his hat as he returned the bow formally before replacing it on his head.

"It has been a fine meeting. I wish you all good fortune in the challenges to come. World keep you all." he said as Zephyri bunched her legs under her on his shoulder. Then, the little bird leapt and transformed again in a tide of heatless spectral green flame back into her dragonlike form to alight on the ground at his side. I crouched down, and with a finger, carefully wrote in the dust.

'IT WAS GOOD TO MEET YOU' I wrote, and continued'I HOPE TO SEE YOU AGAIN' and after a pause for him to realize what I was doing and read it, he blinked at me.

"Literate too - astounding. You as well, oh noble Hound. Look after my Lady in my stead - she is headstrong and will require your support." he said, and merely gave the essence of a smile as Gelidia batted at him. I nodded and wrote'I WILL. YOU HAVE MY WORD.' Fel watched with some interest as Sir Little looked up and around at the walls before shaking his head and walking towards the gate, saying"... No, I will not fly over these walls to leave.

We will depart through the-WHAT HAPPENED TO THE GATE" Everyone looked at me - Gelidia was proud, Fel was smiling, Roxala looked smug, and Torch just looked kind of awkward. For my part, I raised my paws to either side of my head in an exaggerated shrug, and waggled my tail awkwardly! The man looked horrified at me, then at the gate once again, and did some mental math.

He shuddered and shook his head, sighing as he led the princess to the shattered gate and nodded one final time to the group before departing without another word.

"That went well." Torch said"It was very interesting - I got some very excellent insight into the stabilization process the townsfolk, miss Goldtail, and Gelidia went through." Fel said "This changes... well, it changes everything!" he said, and I could hear his nerdy excitement! He was, after all, a Wizard on the subjects of dungeons and their creatures - this was directly in his line of interests!

"It does not change THAT much, does it?" Roxala said and Fel shook his head.

"No, it truly does. Not only is Miss Goldtail safe as anyone else now, but any Monster-" he said, using the technical term, I figured "- who had three cores like her could be as well. Ghosts, zombies, any of them. There are a great many creatures like that - not all Monsters by any means, but certainly a sizable portion!" he said, clearly super excited, though it was the refined, controlled excitement of a noble person keeping a reign on themselves.

"Things are going to change." Torch said. Roxala was stoic about it, but I could see a steady frown of concern forming on her lips.

"Precisely so! A great many things will change soon, World willing." Fel said, and I saw him take Torch's hand gently in his own, linking fingers with him.

"Focus up, people" Roxala growled, as we reached the third door"We aren't out of the woods just yet."