After agreeing to the final contract that Princess Orchid presented, the actual contract formation went mostly smoothly. Mordecai and Kazue could feel a slight hesitation in the magic as it started to form around Bellona, but when Mordecai focused on the agreed-upon condition of the contract, whatever rules governed the contractor magic seemed satisfied, settling into place. He still wasn’t sure if similar conditions could work with another dungeon’s contractor, but it coped with the Mark well enough.
He and Kazue had a job for her to deal with very shortly after the contract was complete. They’d actually been putting it off for a couple of hours, looking to get into the habit of delegating some tasks. “So, a first job for you. One of the parties on the combat route is clearly not from around here. While harvesting materials from the bodies left behind by inhabitants is to be expected, we insist on a certain amount of respect, and this group isn’t behaving well.” As he spoke, Mordecai led Bellona out of the war room and to where the entrances to the shortcuts were clustered at the edge of the main hall.
“They are in zone three right now, so they will be hitting the library soon,” Kazue said over the contractor’s link, which worked much the same as their link with inhabitants but more stripped back: only formulated thoughts could be sent in the structure of language; images and emotions could not be directly sent.
“What we want you to do is convince them to behave properly. Your methodology is up to you, but Kazue has something to tell you first.” This knowledge he wanted to keep completely secret.
“Not even the princess knows this, so super hush, and we’re pretty certain she’d agree that she shouldn’t know if she doesn’t need to. Anyway, with our latest zone, we gained a limited ability to intervene in the death of a guest, but we don’t want to let people be too complacent yet, or think we’re too soft. So if you really have to, you can be risky, but we’ll have to create excuses if anyone dies. These guys are weak enough that we can intervene easily, but just so you know, it would be an effort to do the same for you if you weren’t a contractor. And risky with someone as strong as any of the people with the princess. They are all about her strength, though Xarlug feels like he’s lagging a touch, while your cousin feels a touch stronger than Orchid or Paltira. Guess that’s why she’s been training him so much?”
Bellona frowned and took a moment to focus her thoughts to ‘speak’ purely mentally, “Wait, you can prevent people from dying, or you can resurrect them? I’m not clear on which you are saying.”
“It’s kind of both,” Mordecai replied, “If a wound is absolutely fatal, but they aren’t dead yet, we can instigate an instant heal right at the cusp. If something brings them over the threshold immediately, then it’s an instant resurrection in a safe location,” he hesitated a moment, partly because he wasn’t sure if Kazue was aware of this part, “We can also choose to not intervene in a fatal wound, and wait for them to die in order to resurrect them in a safe space,” and to preempt a predictable question, “Also, if someone or something is hostile enough, we can remove that protection altogether.”
“Like the wolf,” Bellona said, “Hmm, what is meant by a ‘safe space’?”
“If we were being open about the power, it would usually be the entrance to the dungeon. But something like our prison will suffice, provided that they will not be endangered before they leave. We have to be careful about how we use it; all dungeons can develop custom sets of abilities as they grow, but this is the only one I know of with the potential to be lost. And from examining the patterns of it, I think it would malform into a useless tangle, rather than unraveling and freeing up the potential to develop a different ability.”
“So, it’s a useful safety net, but comes with requirements and becomes a burden if you fail to live up to what it requires of you. I can see wanting to keep it as a hidden resource if you don’t need to use it,” Bellona waved off her thoughts to refocus on her given task, “Alright, show me the way and I’ll see what I can do about this lot. What do I have in the way of other resources?”
“Um,” Kazue said thoughtfully, “Well, we are playing fair, so they are getting only a standard challenge for the zone, but if they actually attack you when you are acting on our behalf this way, and not as part of their challenge, that counts the same as attacking us. So if that happens, then other inhabitants on the floor will gang up on them, and Mordecai can always head over there too.”
Bellona was satisfied with that and followed the shortcut to be in position to intercept them at the boss room. Which gave Mordecai the opportunity to focus on Princess Orchid, he wanted to talk to her alone for a moment. She conceded to his request easily enough, though with several curious looks from the others. Thankfully, Mordecai had kept his office intact despite little need to use it. A brief consideration of where to lead the beautiful kitsune had made him realize there were some bad options, even if there was no bad intent. Optics are important for others, and additionally, Kazue had no idea what he was up to, so her curiosity was focused on him right now.
Once they were alone in his office and she’d taken a seat, Mordecai moved straight into the topic he wanted to ask about, “So, as you should already be aware, dungeons can read a person’s aura, it's part of our awareness of our territory. There is skill and experience in interpreting auras, however, and there’s something I’ve been aware of since the three of you entered our territory. At the time I considered it none of our business, so I haven’t mentioned it to Kazue or Moriko yet. But if Xarlug and Bellona are working toward the start of a relationship, I think it becomes our business, given that she’s our contractor and loyalty needs to be a mutual thing,” He shrugged slightly, “On the surface, I have no objections to them working out whatever, but there are some secrets that might be damaging to a relationship. I’d like to be sure there’s nothing she needs to know.”
Orchid considered him for a long moment with her lips pursed, considering her reply, “I will tell you the most basic parts, which should suffice. If things progress enough, I will be telling her the entire story myself, but I think it is best to not influence her thoughts right now. In short, Xarlug is a new-soul clone of a dangerous person, with implanted memories. He’s bonded to me for his own safety as well as for others, because of modifications that would otherwise make him vulnerable to external control of a more malign nature. I believe that this should be transferable, given that things progress enough with the two of them, though I admit I wouldn’t mind some help working out the custom ritual. And I would in fact be quite happy to release us both from the bond, there are certain aspects that make both of us uncomfortable at times given the lack of a relationship. This particular bond is not designed for non-intimate companions.”
That didn’t tell him quite enough to satisfy all of his curiosity, but it was enough to assuage his concerns, and he now explained to both Kazue and Moriko, “They have a bond that has marks suggesting intimacy, but it also appears to be strained, which is reinforced by her final comment there, they are not being intimate. She has a similar bond with Paltira, but that one is stronger and has more reinforcement. I didn’t feel it was my place to say anything, but now it potentially affects us.”
To the princess, he said, “Thank you. I admit to more curiosity, but that suffices to reassure me that Bellona is not at risk of getting caught up in something that could create a conflict of interest. I think she would avoid Xarlug if she thought he was involved with you, and I needed to be sure I understood the situation.”
Orchid smiled slightly, “And thank you for your discretion. Mm,” She bit her lip before continuing, “To be clear about something, in case there was any confusion from the point I made when Bellona arrived. While I absolutely will use myself in any way needed to forward the interests of Kuiccihan, what makes me happy is being with Paltira alone. I have managed that for quite a while now, and I do intend to keep it that way. Xarlug has become a much more decent person than the man whose name and memories he shares, and I would be glad to see him happily attached to someone else. Honestly, I thought that Kansif and he might hit it off, but she has taken a rather big-sister attitude toward him.”
After she’d departed, Mordecai checked on Bellona briefly before focusing on Kazue’s and Moriko’s questions. Kazue was satisfied the quickest as he could show her the markers on the auras that he’d been talking about, but they had to be vaguely described to Moriko, since the effects didn’t translate exactly to normal vision descriptions. They both understood the reason he’d not said anything, and agreed with it, but needed to talk about it to get over that initial emotional reaction to having a ‘secret’ kept from them. He’d had similar experiences from their side before, so he understood where they were coming from.
As for their new contractor, Bellona was doing quite well. She was being stern, and just a touch intimidating, but also very calm as she gave her warning and short lecture. He wouldn’t have thought to focus on reminding them that this was a unique culture and civilization, and about Amirume’s expectations that one treat all other persons with due respect. His approach would have been focused on the rules they’d agreed to by entering the dungeon, and his willingness to extract a price from oath breakers.
But that was why people with different skills and points of view made for a stronger team, and he was happy to have her aboard.
And the next day he went out with her to the trading post town to introduce her, and spread the word that the Azeria Mountain Dungeon had a new contractor, who was a champion of Amirume and a liaison from Kuiccihan. It helped improve their reputation, and would probably keep away a lot of those people the dungeon didn’t want to deal with anyway.
Still, even with Bellona helping to take care of some of the social things to keep the dungeon running smoothly, Mordecai was feeling busy. There were constant tweaks to be done to their massive wetlands floor as everything settled in, including the introduction of the winged ursavianes as relatively minor threats until they got bigger.
It was a couple of days after Bellona became their contractor that the dungeon felt a weighty presence approaching. “What is that‽” Kazue practically shouted into Mordecai’s mind, “Okay, scratch that, it’s a who, but wow, that’s got to be the tallest person I’ve ever seen. And I thought Bellona was tall!”
This wasn’t the extreme pressure they’d felt when the divine avatars had arrived on their first day together, but it was just as intense as Aia’s or Traxalim’s, if not more so. But it was far more obvious, just because the person to whom it belonged was far more careless with his presence.
“Oh, what in the frozen hells is he doing here?” Mordecai muttered, “And what poor soul has he dragged into a mess this time?”