“C-can I ask, exactly what kind of healer are you?” I decided to alleviate my curiosity quickly.
She smiled sweetly and put her finger over her mouth. “That’s a secret!”
When she winked at me, I felt my heart beating faster. However, when I looked back at the other girls, my heart skipped a few beats. At this point, I’d definitely have a coronary!
I was honestly a little disappointed that she wouldn’t tell me. She could be a rogue priest. I could imagine if that was the case, she wouldn’t want the church to know about her. Well, now that I was a dark priest, I didn’t want to be noticed by the church either.
“So, you are a priest then?” She asked cautiously.
I shook my hands. “No, I’m not. Actually, I’m a magician that specializes in healing magic. White mage.”
I wanted to be 100% clear that she didn’t need to hide it from me if she was worried. I did notice that there wasn’t even a tinge of recognition when I said white mage, so the chances of her being one were gone, regrettably. She did look slightly more relaxed when I revealed I wasn’t a priest.
“What are you doing in the city of Penbrooke. We’re about as far into the country as you can get. This is no man’s land.”
“Is that so?” We… um… we’re just passing through on our way to the capital.”
I had never bothered to get the name of the city before. Penbrooke was about three days total travel from Old Chalm, and they considered themselves as a city out in the boonies. What did that make Chalm? Actually, I was pretty single-minded when it came to heading to the Capital to accomplish the things I wanted, but Penbrooke was indeed the closest city to Old Chalm, and it’d probably be a good idea to have some good relations to them. If we needed to flee a bad event, they’d likely be the city housing our citizens, and if we needed help, they’d be the first to be able to respond.
“What did the mayor mean when he was talking about the dungeon?” I asked curiously, trying to change the subject away from talking about us.
“Hmm? Oh, the entire reason this town was set up is that we sit on top of an ancient dungeon. However, it’s been sealed for years.”
“Isn’t that dangerous?” I asked.
I had heard that attempting to seal entire dungeons lead to build-ups. As the dungeon consumed more mana, it produced more monsters, and it became like a volcano ready to erupt at a moment’s notice. At least, that was how I came to understand the concept.
“No…” She shook her head. “You misunderstand. This isn’t an active dungeon. Rather, it’s a dead one.”
“Dead? Then… shouldn’t it collapse?”
“Ah?” She raised an eyebrow. “I mean, I’m not sure how much you know. Dungeons are supported by a curse, and that curse is created by the dungeon’s unfinished lore. One can defeat a dungeon two different ways. The first way is to simply destroy the lore, undoing the curse and leading to the dungeon’s collapse. The second way is to complete the lore, which is a near-impossible feat that only a true dungeon diver can accomplish. However, there is also a third method. That is to starve the dungeon. If you can block its ability to intake mana, it slowly shrivels up and dies. And I mean slowly. The mana flow was blocked on this dungeon a few hundred years ago.
“You’d find no monsters in the dungeon, and the dungeon itself wouldn’t be able to plant traps. Although, the awards would be nonexistent too. However, every year, a few nobles would show up planning to defeat the dungeon so that they could become official dungeon divers. However, they never come out. The place was eventually sealed.”
I leaned close, “Why is that?”
“They say… at the bottom of the labyrinth lives a guardian. It’s able to power itself apart from the labyrinth, and it defends what remains of the lore. There is a rumor… that if you can destroy the lore, you can also take control of the guardian. Imagine it… a weapon of unimaginable power!”