Time and age. The captains look around the corridor as they think about those two words. Hilda takes a long look at the torches with the skulls, notices the differences in size again, and barely resists the urge to slap her face. Yes, it was time to turn on the torches just as they did in the first place, but....
"A specific order," says Hilda.
"Now that you mention it, the answer is quite obvious!" replies Lynel.
The woman lights the three torches, starting from the smallest to the largest. A creaking sound is heard and the bottom of the door releases a puff of dust and then rises, revealing a staircase. Walking up it, the captains soon arrive in a room dominated by blue glow. Beeps sound from the giant crystal floating above the pit.
«Congratulations, test mice!» exclaims Jimbo, quite pleased. The mental activity of the knights brought him a not inconsiderable amount of ether.
Dowmy runs to stand by the crystal and starts clapping.
"Congratulations you two, really made it, and almost single-handedly"
Lynel sticks out his chest, feeling proud. Hilda looks less pleased, although her expression had softened as she passed the tests, perhaps for a while she even forgot her misgivings about the dungeon core.
"For my first experience in a dungeon, I must admit it was quite exhilarating! My granddaughter would have loved it!" Lynel says.
Jimbo urges Dowmy to ask the questions he needs to know. She nods toward the core and then turns her attention to the captains.
"So you liked the experience... Do you agree with us?"
Lynel nods, impressed and in total agreement with the idea, although he suspects that perhaps his partner has a different opinion. Everyone looks at Hilda.
"I guess for a 1st floor it's not bad. Perhaps, while maintaining certain security conditions, the troop can take advantage of this," Hilda comments. Dowmy was about to jump for joy, but the woman quickly squints her one eye and adds: "However, dungeon core, even if I were all praise with you, you know we don't make the decisions here, right?"
«I know. But if your king speaks the truth, and takes into account the opinions of his helpers, I lose nothing by trying. All I want is a good recommendation, if I've earned it»
Dowmy relays the core's words. Hilda and Lynel exchange glances. Both knights pledge to speak to the king.
...
The double doors to the dungeon open. Hilda and Lynel emerge, both commenting on their experiences in the different tests, but they become mute when notice who awaits them in the laboratory: a crowd of soldiers in armor, Arrax's assistant, and King Marc. Lynel and Hilda rush to kneel down. The king gives them permission to stand and demands explanations.
"You don't seem to be in a hurry or to be escaping from the jaws of danger," says Marc.
"It's a bit complicated to explain, your majesty, but if you would give us a few minutes of your time we would clarify everything," Hilda says.
King Marc scratches his beard, looks behind the knights, at the doors leading to a new cavernous chamber and considers the situation.
"Did the dungeon core reveal its fangs and claws?"
"Not at all, your majesty," Lynel says.
Marc, knowing that sometimes Lynel tends to be soft on those who show him presumed goodwill, looks at Hilda waiting for a cruder opinion.
The woman thinks for a few seconds before responding.
"At the moment, the dungeon core is no danger to us," Hilda says.
Marc nods satisfied with that. He postpones the story about the Dungeon Core, in his opinion there is a more pressing matter to notify his knights. He places two guards to guard the gates and orders the rest to return to their routines.
...
Claus's room is in the same corridor as the king's room. The first captain is usually the main defender of the monarch and his family. As the invasion of the dark elves took everyone by surprise, it was an anomaly that Claus found himself away from Marc.
Commoners have a belief that captains live a luxurious life, but it's not entirely true. Hilda lives for work and training, Lynel takes less breaks than his family would like, and Claus' bedroom is a sign of his austere life: a single bed, a desk, a closet and a chest, all of mediocre quality.
Claus is lying on the bed, with Laikara and two oracles in dark robes and faces covered by hoods with an embroidered eye, leaning over him. Lynel and Hilda are speechless at the sight of the strongest man in the kingdom in that state, eyes sealed shut, pale, barely perceptible breathing, and a cut on his cheek that shows no sign to heal. The maidens removed Claus' armor, but by Laikara's order it was forbidden to touch the helmet.
A golden aura, like the crown of a candle, enveloped the captain's body. Laikara, noticing the newcomers, approaches the entrance to report her findings to the king and his trusted people.
"There is no doubt, it is the spider goddess' poison," says Laikara.
"The spider goddess...?" Lynel asks.
Laikara explains that the spider goddess is the main divinity of the dark elves, and that the poison is supposed to come directly from her left fang, while from the right one is poured the greatest aphrodisiac.
"We do not know the exact name of the divinity, we do not even know if the spider goddess really exists or if just a myth that they created to confuse humans. But the reality of the poison is clear, we have known of its existence for centuries, and for centuries we have been unable to find a cure"
Laikara's explanation causes the bitter expressions to accentuate, it doesn't help when the witch clarifies that a single drop entering the body can cause death in a few minutes.
"So Claus...?" Hilda bites her lip, not wanting to finish the question for fear the answer.
"Don't worry, he'll live at least for a while. The helmet prevents the poison destroying him," Laikara clarifies, turning the eyes back to the bed. "The situation is atypical, maybe we can save him"
Hilda's attention also goes to the helmet, the gold wings rising above a laurel cleft. It's a striking piece that doesn't fit Claus' style, but the sentimental weight it possesses rests on the first captain like an anvil.
"Even after death, Anya cares for him," Lynel murmurs in a solemn tone, his fist close to the heart.
"Arrax always wanted to study the blessing of the helmet, but Claus never allowed him to," says Hilda, and eager to escape bitter memories, she asks Laikara about the details of the attack.
"A dark elf. I wish I could say more, but-"
"Avoid considerations of myself, Miss Laikara. Is my fault"
The voice comes from the corridor, the captains recognize him. Axiel enters the bedroom. The large number of people inside makes the ambient feel smaller and suffocating.
"Axiel, welcome. Too bad the conditions were so... Grim," Lynel says.
"What do you mean it was your fault?" Hilda asks without any cordiality.
Axiel doesn't even flinch at Hilda's attitude, instead he begins to relate with a serious face the attack details, and how they were saved from the worst by a soldier who was patrolling near the shortcut.
"A very brave man, his name is Marcus," says Axiel.
"Good Marcus! I know him, I'll have to give that boy a well-deserved rest leave," says Lynel"
Axiel returns to the story.
"The shortcut was supposed to be safe and secret, but the information somehow reached the ears of the dark elves," says the second capital.
The gazes travel to Laikara, she frowns.
"The information did not come out of this castle, I can assure you that," she says, and although trying to keep her tone cold, some indignation was revealed in front the suspicion of a weakness or crack inside the oracles. "And as I was saying, we would have found out more... If Sir Axiel had not destroyed the assassin's body"
"I admit that I was taught never to underestimate my enemies," Axiel said, still holding Laikara's gaze.
"Mourning for what could have been will not lead us to anything!" The king said, with his teeth clenched as he imagined having a captain in a coma and another dead if Axiel had risked more than he should have. "It is clear that the dark elf threat is still latent, and that we will need all the help we can get to protect our kingdom"
The monarch looks at everyone's faces with his gaze, until he ends up on Hilda's.
"And when I say all the help, I mean all... My priority is to protect the bastion that Stoicus built, the council policy will be done later. We use, if necessary, the invention that Arrax built"
"Your majesty, are you talking about the Dungeon Core?" Axiel asks with his hand under the chin. "Claus told me about, I wish to meet it, and if possible, to supervise it"
"You will meet him soon, Axiel. I also want Laikara to take a look at it. But considering that you have just arrived, perhaps Lynel or Hilda would be best suited to supervise the core"
Hearing their names, both captains raise their backs and stand at attention awaiting any decision from the king.
Marc does not know if the decision he is making, about using the power of the dungeon core, is correct, but with his main force lying in bed and no hope of waking up, it is up to him to use everything at hand to fulfill his responsibility.