"Be careful." The man looked around. "There's a dungeon off towards Myrecilla. A terrible man occupies it. He's got Life and Water magic, and he uses it in terrible ways. None of the adventurers have cracked it. Not that many come out here. Too far from Myrecilla." He stared at me. "You tell 'em in Myrecilla we got two dungeons out here now. Two. That'll be bad. We can't have that."
"I'll keep that in mind," I said. Another dungeon around here? Did I need to worry about it? "You know anything about this new dungeon?"
"New one?" the man asked.
"Yeah, the crier said a dungeon opened this morning."
The farmer spat. "Hadn't heard about it. There's a dungeon off to the west of here. A week or so old. Has an adventurer tried to attack it? Nope. Going to get powerful, and who will suffer? Us."
My brow furrowed. Why would they have to suffer? Why did Dungeon Builders have to have this terrible reputation? Just because they disrupted magic by building their dungeons in an area? Or was there more to it?
Would I be feared by these people? They were calling for adventurers to come attack me, but it seemed like not many came out here. But there were two rival dungeons in the area. Souleen mentioned they would try to attack me, too.
They would want my Glyph.
I wanted to collect Lana and get out of here.
I led the donkey pulling the cart through the village. Lana was up on the crier's stump, her hood thrown back, basking in the adoration of the crowd. I shook my head and waved my arm. She caught my gaze and nodded.
"Now, I have to go," she said as I led the cart past the crowd and down the road we came on. "I have to go and find my adventuring party. I can't do it alone. But know that Lana Fulmine shall unleash the power of the Lord and Lady of Lightning on the villains who prey upon your village. You shall all be safe."
The crowd cheered for her. They clapped and hollered. I glanced back to see her blowing kisses at them, her golden hair crackling with the "electric blessing of the Lord and Lady of Lightning." She was a charmer. Always had been. She exuded that charisma that let her be a leading lady in Hollywood.
I smiled and kept walking, humming to myself. She would catch up. The donkey cart didn't go fast. I grabbed an apple out of the back and bit into it. The crunch echoed through the air. I chewed on the sweet fruit, savoring the taste while leading along the braying donkey.
I always heard they were stubborn animals, but he had not a problem pulling his cart. His ears were thrust forward. He looked alert as he plodded down the road beside me. We passed out into the fields, the farmers hardly pausing in their work. They were still weeding.
"Oh, that was exhilarating," Lana Fulmine purred when she caught up an hour later. The mountain where my dungeon lay loomed before me. It was east of the village, the sun moving behind us. "Did you see how they loved me?"
"I saw," I said. "So you're going to protect them from all the villains?"
"It just felt so right to say," she said. She glanced at me, a big grin on her face. "I mean, they wanted it. They were so happy to hear me speak those words. Oh, they showered me in love, Leo. Just bathed me in it."
"Uh-huh," I said.
"Oh, you're not jealous, are you?" She took my arm and pressed close. She had her hood down, her golden hair swinging about her face. Occasional arcs of electricity zapped from strand to strand. "You're always my number-one fan. No one can love me more than you do. You brought me here. You remade me into a lightning sprite. You gave me something new to do. Something amazing. Protecting you."
"I'm one of those villains," I pointed out. "That town crier was talking about forming an adventuring party to come attack me."
"Well, true," Lana Fulmine said. "But you're not a villain. They just don't know you. You don't sound like this evil man to the south. He attacks travelers. Whole farms have been abandoned. He even destroyed a village with oozes and satyrs. Jindag sounds like a horrible man. Not like you. You wouldn't send your will o' wisps to attack the village, would you?"
"Of course not," I said. "Why would anyone?"
"Because there are bad people in this world. People who don't care about others. It's terrible. Just a horrible thing, but you're not like that. I know you're not, Leo. You're a good man."
I smiled at her. "Thank you, Lana. It's good to hear that."
"Of course it's good to hear that." She smiled at me. "So, want to make those booty shorts and then jizz all over my ass in them?"
"You are a wicked woman," I groaned, my dick throbbing. "We still have two hours to walk before we get back to the dungeon."
"But if you plunder my ass, then you don't need to plunder villages," Lana Fulmine said. "See, I'm protecting them from your villainous and lecherous hungers."
Despite my worry for adventurers and other dungeon builders, I threw back my head and laughed. Lana Fulmine was a delicious companion. I was glad I brought her to this world and made her all mine.