"Master, does the mural have a story?" Lydia asked, thankfully cutting into the awkward atmosphere.
"Ah, that's right. I'd like to learn a bit about this place." I decided to give Raissa ample time to finish her business and instead went to check out the mural on the wall.
Like the rest of the room, it was covered in leafy vines, and I had to push them away in order to see the pictures themselves.
"A man and a woman fell in love and got married," I said simply.
"A-and?" Miki looked on eagerly.
"No, that's all it is." I shook my head, pointing at the image. "This image is them meeting, this is him proposing, and this is them marrying."
"A-ah… well, that's sweet." The girls seemed unsatisfied.
Well, this was just one part of the story. Since this was a thirty-floor dungeon, there would be 7 of these in all, and each one would tell more of the story. After I swapped with Raissa, I'd be able to check out the kiosks on floors 1, 10, and 15 as well. With that, I could start forming a more satisfying narrative.
However, that also left me a little worried. Should I remind the girls that this dungeon was called the Widow's Dungeon? It may start with a marriage, but it definitely wouldn't be a happy ending. At some point, her husband definitely dies. If that was it, it probably wouldn't be tragic enough to cause a curse. For a curse to occur, the story had to be a lot more complicated. I also imagined it'd tie into the central theme, temptation.
So, the lord cheated on his wife, or maybe his wife cheated on him. Then, he died somehow… Well, that was all I could figure out. If I was going to solve the lore… would that mean marrying the widow? Enough of that, I wasn't interested! Not just in getting married, but I also had no interest in solving another lore. My body was already covered in tattoos, and painful "blessings". I didn't need to add another one.
I decided not to reveal my thoughts to the girls just yet. Let them dwell on the story themselves a bit. I didn't want to spoil the mood tonight. Perhaps, I'd let them know more about the story tomorrow. After unlocking the floors, I decided we were going to portal back. I didn't want to stay too long in the dungeon, especially since the mine collapsed. If we were declared dead, I might end up losing all of my stuff.
With that, I stood up. "I'll be swapping with Raissa now. If she's… ahem… well, it'll still be all girls, so it's fine."
I just didn't want to end up standing in her pee. That would be the worst. When I swapped, I didn't change positions into the position they were in. In fact, I was in the position I was in. There might be ways to take advantage of that. Like, if I held out a sword and swapped with someone close enough the sword would impale, could instantly defeat an enemy? Eh, that might be future considerations. I was stalling because I didn't want to embarrass Raissa.
"Switch!"
I swapped with Raissa. My body immediately appeared in another spot. Before I could even look around, a hard thing poked my ankle.
"Eh?"
I turned around, and I saw some guys who looked like the Knights we had run into outside. There were five of them in all. Three of them had their things out. One was on his knees, and his thing had just poked me in the ankle. They looked just as shocked to see me as I was to see them.
"Wh-where'd she go!" The man on his knees shouted.
"Were you guys trying to rape Raissa?" My brain slowly started to connect the pieces.
Lord Reign had sent men into the dungeon after all. Raissa had transferred to a kiosk full of Knights. Probably the first floor. They might have been waiting to ambush us. A disreputable bunch run by a corrupt Count. A lone female in a dungeon with no escape. It didn't take a genius to realize what was happening.
"Kill him!" the lead Knight pointed and shouted.