Chapter 22: Dungeon (I).
Francisca's POV
Scratch… Scratch…
The scratching sensation was still with me. I scratched my arm, seeing a bunch of red spots appearing all over it. "Hngh…"
If I came back to the temple looking like this I'm not sure I can explain to them how a bush made this. The elves took my offerings of trade for them, in exchange of healing my itchy problem.
I was invited into one of the village huts, getting inside and being requested to sit down. "You can give her the antidote. A human child poses no threat to us." The chief orders the little elfling who nods, getting to one of the cupboards, opening it and taking a vial liquid in her hands.
"Here, human. You can have this to cure your little itchy problem." (Mahlara) the elf from before, was no longer afraid of me. Her silver hair and pointed elf ears make her stand out of this room. "You're… not a bad human right?"
"No, I'm not a bad human. I promise you, I wanted to help the elf boy from before. I could see him struggling to take out his knife deep inside the bird he caught with magic." I told them the truth and Mahlara chuckled, patting my head before giving the vial.
"Ah you're not lying, our chief's son is physically weak indeed. Human children are full of innocence sometimes, you're quite adorable." (Mahlara) smiles widely, taking a good look at my purple hair. "I like your hair color, I've never seen this before. Are you from a rare tribe?"
"N-No… I don't think so."
At least that's what I believe, Mom never told me that I belong to some rare tribe with purple hair as a special color. Then again, back in my past life- I was just born with this as well.
"You can scan this vial if you'd like. So you know it's not poison. You do have it right?" (Mahlara) asks and I nod.
"[Scan]."
{Properties}
-|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|-
Name: [Itchiness Antidote].
Item Class: Potion Vial
Item Rank: Common
Item Effects:
Cure for Itchiness
Condition: High Quality
Note: A potion for itchiness. [Unlock Potion Making] for more detailed information.
I frowned upon seeing the note in my window screen. I'm glad that this potion vial is right but there was apparently more detailed information about it that would be useful… maybe. I just need to unlock a few more skills.
"So… is it poison?" (Mahlara) asks me to which I shake my head.
"No, this is the right antidote. Thank you, it seems to be very well made. Whoever made this must be talented." I complimented the quality of the potion, taking out the cork and drinking it in one gulp.
The taste of sweetness, I could feel the citrus flavor of orange as I drank the vial. "...!" It tastes like orange juice!
"Pah!" I gulped the very last drop of the potion, Mahlara seemed happy to be seeing me drink it all in one go. "I-It was really good."
Mahlara takes the empty vial from me and I could feel the potion taking effect. The itchiness is starting to go away as well as the red spots that were in my arm before. "Amazing."
"Oh I never knew humans could be such flatterers. Many elf children also fall into the effect of itchiness, they disliked the bitter version of the potion so I mixed it with something sweet to make it easier to drink. We do keep the bush because its leaves could be made into an essential ingredient for potions and such." She smiles, meeting with the elven chief who just came inside the hut.
"How is the human, Malhara?"
"All good, chief. She should be fully recovered in an hour but it seems like something tells me that she'll be recovering a lot sooner than expected." (Malhara) excuses herself to clean the empty potion vial leaving me alone with the chief of the elves.
"Excuse me but what is your name umm…" I turned to the chief who was getting a cup of water, before walking towards me. "Mr. Silver haired elf?"
With kind eyes, the chief of the elven tribe places down the cup of water to my lap and pulls a chair, sitting in front of me. "Helbram Silver, that is my name, young human."
He replied, encouraging me to drink the cup of water.
"I know I followed your um… son into your hidden place?"
"Yes, you have followed my son into our hidden place."
"Um… I'm sorry but can I go home? I was about to run back towards the entrance but I was stopped with the sudden surge of monsters running around. Do you know another way I can take to go back to the forest?" I remembered my map being a hollow black color, it doesn't show any other parts of the place outside the village.
"Home back to the overworld." He stared at me for a moment before replying. "We should start at the very beginning, you are a young human so I am not sure if you will understand some of my explanation but-"
"I think I'll be fine."
"The war with the Northern tribe of Metalicana has been going on for more than a hundred years and it's still ongoing." (Chief Helbram) waves his hand, instead of explaining he made small little glowing lines on the table. "Two tribes, who fought for land-"
The chief helps me see the story through a little wind magic.
Little drawn stick man colored in red and white. "The elven tribe has been living in a place near the desert, wanting nothing but to peacefully live their days. That is until the neighboring tribe… decided they would take our land to make it theirs."
The red stick man held swords and spears, rushing and running to kill every glowing white stickman they could find.
"We fled to the west. Some of my tribesmen were captured and slain." (Chief Helbram) shakes his head, then another colored stickman appears. "They have hired an assassin to completely wipe us out, but we escaped."
A blue glowing stickman, standing on top of the many bodies of the elven tribe. "A human… managed to reduce our numbers from thousands to a mere hundreds. We hid inside the cave for what felt like decades- and saw that it was cursed."
"..."
An assassin?
"We didn't know there was a monster living in this cave. We have been hiding here for years. We've been surviving because of all the nature within." He showed me figures of little elves picking up fruits from his drawn light figures, coughing. "Cough… Well, we couldn't get out even if we tried."
"Chief Helbram there should be. What do you mean? but why can't you get out. If there's a way in then there's a way out. I have made a map before coming here-" I couldn't tell him about the phone so I just excused it being a map instead.
"It is useless, human child. This is a dungeon and humans fall under the curse of never getting out."
"A dungeon?!"
A dungeon should be a place where monsters naturally form and respawn from the laid eggs somewhere around this place-! Not to mention… somewhere around here lies a boss room.
"I can't believe this is a dungeon and may I know what curse are you talking about Chief Helbram?"
"Neither did we, human. We did not know this place was a dungeon but it guaranteed our safety. The curse was intended for humans, our elven blood seemed to be immune towards the curse. The past humans here before have tried finding our tribe, however from their experience everything changes- as if the dungeon itself is toying with you to purposely be lost." (Chief Helbram) laughs bitterly, with a snap of his finger all of his glowing drawing was gone.
"..." I kept quiet in my seat, taking out my phone and checking out the map and realized this is what he meant when the dungeon was messing with me. Some of these explorable areas have been locked- and some paths before have moved or it is as if they have never been there.
"If you try to go home- one would try and beat the beast, perhaps the dungeon will reward you with a way to go back."
A way to go back-? To beat the beast-? A reward-?!
"The beast? What kind of beast are we talking about, good sir?" I asked, not realizing that my ears have perked up.
"The Minotaur, is what we call it."