Chương 27: Gathering Storm

Black dungeon? In Vael? Alicia raised an eyebrow. She'd heard of these 'black dungeons' before, but it was mostly from the Alsatians and the Polonians. Apparently, starting a few decades ago, some dungeons across the world, especially the most powerful ones, would randomly evolve into a more powerful form, necessitating the creation of a new classification of dungeons. That was the black dungeon.

But since Alicia so far had no need to interact with this new addition, a phenomenon that was completely absent in Worldfall Online, Alicia hadn't yet investigated them. She also didn't know that the royal capital was a black dungeon. All she remembered from Moshan's history lesson back then was that Vael, the city, was destroyed by a dungeon beneath it. She thus assumed that during the last human invasion, the capital's destruction was merely because of an uncontrolled dungeon break.

But if it was because of a black dungeon similar to the ones in Alsatia instead, that would be extremely concerning.

"Are you sure of this?" Alicia asked, a hint of skepticism in her voice.

"That the dungeon in the royal capital is a black dungeon?"

"It's not particularly well-known," Mikhail said.

"You see, only a few people in the army and the regency council knew what had to be done to the royal capital."

"Had to be done?"

"We shouldn't really discuss this here openly. May I request a change of venue?" Alicia's eyes widened a bit. Was this information so sensitive? She looked around her throne hall. Indeed, there were a few servants and low-level guards present, most of them clearly confused by Mikhail's words. The only one who didn't seem completely clueless about this was Vittorio, who curled his fist a bit. It seemed that after hearing the phrase, 'What had to be done' triggered Vittorio. Alicia took note of that.

Considering the fact that he was former military and was involved in the wars for the defense of Vael, this must be a deeply personal matter to him.

"Alright," Alicia nodded.

"Let's move this discussion to my office."

"Thank you, Your Grace." Mikhail bowed again as he retreated. Later, Alicia and Mikhail both went straight to her office. Vittorio, who wasn't even invited to it, insisted on following the two. Alicia thought that was weird, but she decided to wait and see what would happen. Upon reaching her office, Vittorio immediately dismissed the two guards waiting outside, and then, he stood in front of Mikhail.

"It's you." Vittorio glared at Mikhail.

"You're General Kullervo's mage!"

"I have no time to deal with some junior officer's bellyaching," Mikhail sternly said, not budging an inch.

"And don't speak ill of that man. He was the one who destroyed the combined Levedi and Thopian armies in one decisive battle. You've seen it yourself. You fought there with us. Don't belittle our achievement." Alicia kept her tongue checked as the two confronted each other. Vittorio's face darkened, clearly angered, but he contained himself. He went to the side of the hallway, giving way for Mikhail to continue to Alicia's office.

"Are you not coming in?" Alicia asked Vittorio, concerned about him.

"No. He'll explain everything to you," Vittorio said.

"You'll be the judge." With those parting words, Vittorio walked out, declaring that he was going to keep everyone away from the office in the meantime. Something's definitely going on. Vittorio's decision to pull out the guards and temporarily close the hallways leading to Alicia's office pleased Mikhail. Alicia asked why, and the old man simply smiled proudly.

"The old academy produced good officers." Mikhail held his chin high.

"They know very well the virtue of information security."

"Is knowledge about black dungeons sensitive?" Alicia asked as she sat on her chair.

"I'm pretty sure this is public knowledge."

"Indeed, but not the fact that the royal capital was destroyed by a black dungeon, alongside why that happened. If the public knew of this, the panic would have been much worse."

"I see. That makes sense." While Alicia thought about this fact, Mikhail, who had seated himself on one of the sofas in front of her desk, leaned forward a bit.

"You're an ancient one, aren't you?" Mikhail asked.

"Were you locked away? Sealed for centuries? Then you woke up in an alien world?" Alicia was surprised by the accuracy of his words. Mikhail, noticing Alicia's reaction, smiled in amusement.

"I'm always observant," Mikhail added, answering Alicia's unasked question.

"It would be foolish if I came here without doing background checks. I also know the lords and nobles of high society, and there's not a single vampiric noble named 'Alicia' amongst their ranks."

"Well, I suppose you're somewhat…right on the money…"

"Unfortunate. That confirms my hypothesis about you being sealed or something. I hope it's for doing something righteous and heroic, as the other option is a bit unsettling for my taste. Ah, maybe you're that legendary Alicia Allister, perhaps?"

"I have no comments." Alicia frowned. Once, even Vittorio actually asked that question, but she refused to answer him. This was a touchy subject to her, as she didn't want to get compared to an avatar she only created to play a video game. That avatar of hers shouldn't define who she is today. She was Alicia. Just Alicia. Nothing more, nothing less. Definitely not 'demon slayer' or 'traitor of mankind' or whatever else. Those were pretty nasty titles.

Mikhail, noticing the unease in Alicia's face, quickly decided to drop this matter, something Alicia was thankful of.

"Anyway, about the black dungeon in Vael." Mikhail straightened himself.

"In order to explain this in detail, I'll have to go into a dry lecture for an hour or so."

"It's fine. I'm not the type to get bored of serious matters," Alicia said.

"Go on."

"Alright. We're going to start at the Five Years' War four decades ago…" And on and on Mikhail went. Alicia didn't expect this, but, essentially, this grand magi gargoyle described everything from the start of his career decades ago to the current year. Unlike Helen and Vittorio, who only knew the military affairs of the nation, Mikhail was a complete insider.

He explained to Alicia every power struggle that happened in Vael's leadership in the last few decades, alongside the factions and influential characters involved in their numerous defensive wars. Not only that, he also explained experimental projects taken by the kingdom to change the tide of the war with humans. A lot of them was centered on him, the director of the Vael Institute of Magic.

Mikhail told Alicia of multiple horrifying and morally nefarious measures taken by the institute to develop magical weaponries, modified soldiers, and various other things that 'had to be done' to save Vael. The most egregious of which happened in the last war—the Six Months' War—the one that finally destroyed the royal capital.

Anticipating total defeat, the last leader of the Vael Royal Army, General Kullervo, a powerful wendigo, approached Mikhail for a scheme about using a new phenomenon occurring in the dungeon beneath the royal capital to destroy their enemy. When they discussed this phenomenon, General Kullervo told Mikhail that apparently, for years, the research programs of the institute were slowly creating the conditions for 'miasma' to begin appearing in its depths.

How this happened remained a mystery to Mikhail, as Kullervo didn't tell Mikhail why their experiments would cause this. Before their discussion, all he knew was that expeditions in the capital's dungeons frequently reported that they detected 'tainted' or 'corrupted' mana underneath, but this was largely ignored by the institute because their facilities and resources were stretched thin already at figuring out how to combat mankind. Thus, he wanted to first confirm and analyze this.

Unfortunately, he wasn't even given the time to investigate or question this. Instead, he was promptly ordered by the general to prepare a ritual that would make 'use' of the tainted mana—miasma as he called it—beneath the royal capital by stockpiling all of the magic crystals created using monster cores from the dungeon. At the time, he didn't know how exactly this would 'make use' of the miasma forming underneath the capital's dungeon.

The only words he remembered from the general was that they were going to 'detonate' a bomb underneath the royal capital. Mikhail was personally outraged by this at the time, but even he knew that there was no other choice. At the very least, the two of them managed to evacuate most of the population beforehand. The armies of the neighboring kingdoms, clueless of this scheme, assaulted the capital, which was minimally garrisoned.

While they were looting and sacking the city that was the last jewel of the Vaelrin races, Mikhail and Kullervo finally conducted the grand ritual miles away to 'detonate' the capital's dungeon. It was quite crude. By simply burning all of the magic crystals that Mikhail acquired and stockpiled—thousands of tonnes worth of it—the normal purple dungeon of the capital was immediately corrupted.

Within hours, the city and its surroundings were swallowed whole by miasma, its heavily concentrated mana corrupted en masse. The survivors of the human armies, on the other hand, were quickly mopped up by General Kullervo, ensuring that their neighbors wouldn't be able to attack them for many years to come. But in exchange…

"The kingdom finally collapsed," Mikhail said, his tone carrying a hint of shame.

"Worst of all, now, a black dungeon has now been formed in the heart of our homeland, its miasma spreading slowly around it, and we have no idea yet about how we'll reverse the process of mana being converted to miasma."

"I now understand why Vittorio seemed angry at you and why he didn't want this information to come out. Certainly, many people will be angry if they find out what Vael's leadership did," Alicia said, trying her best to resist massaging her temples.

"Is this why you came here? You want someone to clean up the mess you created?" If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

"That sin is mine alone!" Mikhail stood up, planting his foot firmly on the floor as he denied Alicia's accusation.

"I am not asking for you to do everything to clean it up for me. All I ask for is some assistance at reversing my creation."

"Truly?"

"I just need a base to research the black dungeon, that's all."

"Alright," Alicia sighed.

"I'll see what I can do."

"You'll help me take care of the black dungeon…?"

"I'll check it first." Alicia noticed that she sounded a bit irritated now. Not only was she unable to resolve Helen's issue as cleanly as she wanted, but Mikhail turned out to be a less than upstanding person. She was hoping that he'd at least be someone who could help out Helen, but now, it felt like she was about to send Helen to someone who might end up treating her worse compared to Vittorio and his militia. So far, her status as a level 999 character wasn't helping her out at resolving Helen's problems.

But Alicia still wanted a way out of this hole using the means available to her. So, she thought that maybe, if she took out the black dungeon, then Mikhail would have no reason to do whatever he did at the institute again. He would then just set up a normal school, somewhere that Helen would find a good place in. Yes, that sounds good.

"Anyway, let's move on to the school project," Alicia said.

"Can you tell me more about it?"

"Alright…" The later part of their meeting then became a discussion about the school project. It was quite an ambitious one long-term, as Mikhail wanted to revive the institute, this time at Orevogorsk. He would start out by creating a minor school for the children here, then eventually expand its operations as the town grew into a proper city. First of all, Alicia vetoed any ideas about doing whatever Mikhail did in the institute ever again, warning him that this wasn't the place for it.

Mikhail, surprisingly, conceded, telling her that the last thing he wanted was to add to the sins he had against Vael. Afterward, the two discussed curriculums, supplies, conceptual school design, and what-not. Finally, they talked about the personnel. Alicia agreed to leave it up largely to Mikhail, though of course, she was going to monitor the operations of the school closely, as it would be her property and institution.

That, and she told Mikhail that Helen was going to heavily assist him in the project and that the two of them would be working under Lyra's management.

"I presume that there's work to be done with Helen too?" Mikhail asked as they talked about her.

"The last time I met here, I noticed that she's not exactly in good shape."

"Yes," Alicia admitted freely, recalling the fact that Mikhail managed to understand how to deal with Helen well yesterday.

"One of the tasks you have is to help her believe that she has a place here and that it won't be related to warfare. I want her to be fulfilled at doing something good."

"Understood. I'll do my best, Your Grace."

"And while you're doing that, I'm going to check the black dungeon to see if there's anything I can do." It was an agreeable solution, Alicia thought, and Mikhail agreed. She hoped it would all work out well this time. And even if the black dungeon issue wasn't resolved immediately, Alicia managed to wring out a guarantee from Mikhail that he wasn't going to do anything reckless without her approval to solve it on his own.

This time though, it seemed that her status as a powerful vampire worked in her favor, as Mikhail said that the last thing on his mind was to cross someone so ancient and mysterious.

"I'm not going to end up as a mindless thrall," he said to Alicia, half joking and half serious. Alicia simply rolled her eyes about that remark, but in the end, the two shook hands and hammered out their agreement. Soon, a school would be built in Orevogorsk. The next week somehow proceeded decently well for Alicia. While Helen was clearly still not out of her shell, and she might never come out of it for years, every day, whenever Alicia saw Helen, her eyes seemed to show less anger directed at Alicia.

Though, of course, there was still lingering resentment in there, Helen vowed personally to Alicia that she was going to work with Mikhail as best as she could. And the week showed that. Alicia worked closely with Lyra, Helen, and Mikhail as they prepared the construction of the school. Alicia even brought Maxim into the team to help with the construction efforts.

Dubbed for now as the Orevogorsk Primary School, they planned to start out by building a massive perimeter for it at one of the empty plots nearest to the town's center. It would ensure that in the next few years, it would have enough space to build three extra buildings and various facilities should it become a fully fledged academy. Certainly, Alicia was quite proud of the plan, as she could already imagine how neat it would look.

One of her favorite locations in Worldfall Online back then was the Holy Academy of Goddess Letia, and she wanted something like that. Though Orevogorsk was probably not going to rival the grandness of that institution in-game, especially since it must have expanded further as mankind gained strength, Alicia was a dreamer at heart, and she wanted something close to it for her subjects.

And so, she worked hard throughout the week, clearing her schedule with constant return trips in and out of Orevogorsk to Lorienval since she still had to continuously source construction materials from Alsatia. That, and she also began to pick up machines for producing books and paper, alongside textbooks.

She'd definitely have to hire people to translate Alsatian to the Vaelrin dialect used by commoner Vaelrin inside and outside of Vael, since, unlike her, most people, especially clueless peasants, didn't have the skill [Linguistic Mastery], a skill that allowed Alicia to become fluent quickly in any language by simply listening to it for a good while.

Even the textbooks and studying material that Mikhail managed to salvage from the institute before its destruction had to be translated, as they were mainly written in Vampiric, the language used by Vael's nobility and clergy. For now, it was just extra work for Mikhail to begin translating them to common Vaelrin. In any case, once she was done with that, and the project finally began to proceed without her assistance, Alicia's schedule was finally cleared.

It was time to deal with the black dungeon, or at least, figure out what was happening there.

"I should be back in a day or so," Alicia said to Lyra, who was taking her instructions and orders at her office.

"Make sure to watch over Vittorio and Mikhail too. You already know why."

"Yes, of course," Lyra enthusiastically said with a smile.

"And if need be, I'll try to end their shared enmity. It's no good to have two officials of Orevogorsk having conflict."

"Of course. Just don't push their buttons too much." Alicia glanced a bit at Helen, who was standing beside Lyra. Unlike Lyra, Helen remained silent and reserved. She could tell that Helen was still in bad shape. But Alicia didn't want that to disrupt her plans today.

"Alright, I'll be off now." Alicia stood up.

"You're both dismissed." After Helen and Lyra left, Alicia went to her balcony and looked up at the sky. She glanced at Orevogorsk. It was starting to truly become a beautiful sight, even from here. I'm not going to let anything threaten what we built. Whatever the black dungeon was, if it was truly dangerous enough that it wiped out human armies near instantly, Alicia was going to deal with it. Dressed ready for battle, she flew high up in the sky, heading straight to the old royal capital.

Two senior military officers saluted in front of the desk of a seated wendigo. Flanked by the standards of the newly established Army of National Salvation and the Volos Directory, the emergency junta established in Vael's only port city, its nominal leader—General Kullervo—gestured to his men to begin their respective reports.

"Sir, our scout units finished their operations near the town of Orevogorsk," the draco on the right side stiffly said.

"The rumors of a new vampiric lord emerging there are true, alongside the fact that she's now turning it into a proper city. Orevogorsk is seeing so much economic growth that merchants and refugees desperate for work are flocking there."

"Interesting." Kullervo held his chin as he glanced at the map on his desk. The map depicted all of Vael, alongside the Thopian Kingdom to the southwest and the Levedi Kingdom to the southeast. They were the only two nations that had borders with the remnants of Vael, and both of them were hellbent on conquering the north. Depicted too on Kullervo's map was the current territorial extent of the Volos Directory, which now stretched from the coastline in the west to the center of the country.

Even the former royal capital was now surrounded by the directory's territory, though it was marked with a massive red X, indicating that he had no control over it. The increasing territory of the directory was the result of his diligent efforts to unify Vael in anticipation of another conflict with the humans down south. Soon, his next target was to secure the lawless lands up north, including Orevogorsk.

Then, he would have his opening to finally take out the remnants of the regency council and the remaining warlords on the east.

"Send more scouts and spies," Kullervo ordered with his deep and grave voice.

"Find out if she'll be a useful addition to our nation, and if not, find out her strengths and weaknesses."

"Of course, sir!" The two officers nodded in agreement.

"Try to avoid any kind of confrontation," Kullervo added.

"Above all, we must avoid doing anything that'll bleed the homeland further. I want Orevogorsk and whatever is in there intact and its people alive and well. That, and I want to talk to her personally." Alicia—a vampire who managed to produce goods that only human factories were able to do so far—was intriguing.

Inspired by the strength of mankind's great powers, Vael actually tried to kickstart industrialization around the free port of Volos two decades ago, but it bitterly failed before the first factory was finished due to mankind maintaining their trade embargoes against Vael. Yet, this woman managed to do the impossible. She even managed to create a grand palace out of nothing near an irrelevant settlement. It was all anomalous, a mystery that unnerved Kullervo.

Still, nothing must stand in the way of his great project. No matter the cost, he was going to save Vael. Briefly, his eyes glanced at an artifact right beside the map on his desk. On first glance, it only appeared as a slightly fancier compass, but it was said that the artifact would light up should the legendary black crown of the true king of Vael be used, and the compass would point to the direction of its last user.

His opponents on the east, the Regency Council, had been trying hard to find the true king who would 'save Vael' using this artifact. Unfortunately for them, Kullervo believed otherwise. A true Vaelrin king, if discovered, would only unite mankind to destroy his homeland once and for all. After all, even if centuries passed, the terror that Abraxas the Great inflicted on them was still etched deep into their minds. It was hard enough to fight against two impoverished human kingdoms.

If the great powers became involved, Vael would be truly doomed. Not to mention the secret terrifying properties of the [Black Crown] if used on the Vaelrin. Hence, he stole it, just to deny them of this possibility. Nothing must stand in Kullervo's quest of securing Vael's future, not even the true king.

"Anyway, what about Concordia?" Kullervo asked.

"Have their shipments arrived?"

"Yes, sir." The second officer, a commoner imp, nodded, grinning a bit.

"Their construction teams are now ready to proceed with building railways. They've also bought the components needed to assemble our fleet of railway guns."

"Good." Kullervo's eyes glanced at a flag on the side of his office that he used beforehand during a previous diplomatic visit. It was the flag of a great maritime power, a nation full of opportunists, thieves, and profiteers. In other words, it was a nation that didn't give a toss about dealing with people they called 'demons' if it meant increasing their influence on the international stage. That nation was the Concordian Empire, a rising, upstart naval power.

They were Kullervo's backers, arming him in exchange for naval basing rights to let them operate better in the Northern Sea, which would allow them to further contest the Alsatian empire. They even promised to lift their embargo on Vael if Kullervo helped them kick Alsatian influence in Thopia, which would give them lucrative market access to Concordia. If all goes well, Vael will finally breathe. If… Kullervo remained cynical of his prospects.

He already destroyed the royal capital just to defeat Leved and Thopia, plunging Vael into anarchy as a result. Now, he was playing another dangerous game that might turn Vael into a Concordian protectorate just to gain a bilateral trade agreement with them and to finish off the hostile kingdoms south of Vael. Still, his gamble must proceed. For Vael. The flag of Concordia gently swayed as a breeze from outside entered his office. At all costs indeed.