Sighing Marcus started to realize the problems that his plan to save Mrazivý had. While he had managed to find her and rescue her from the strongest monster in the dungeon, he had no idea how to get back to the surface.
He also was currently in a predicament since his stats were at only twenty-five percent and was far to weak to even attempt fighting back to the surface.
Of course, he could just float back up through the ground using his ethereal ghost form, but then he would have to leave Mrazivý behind and that would have defeated the whole purpose of his trip down to the third layer.
'I suppose I need to tell her the truth with a healthy sprinkle of lies.'
"Your highness I have to tell you that the rest of the rescue party will not be coming as fast as you think. I came this far on my own because I heard that the knights were going to need two days to gather suitable personnel and supplies to make the trip to look for you. Moreover, I used a onetime use magic item that allowed me to slip through walls to get here, and from what branch master Joras told me I do not expect anyone to get here any earlier than five days from now.'
Understanding what was going on from what Marcus had just told her Mrazivý said with anger in her voice, "Krenston, that bastard has had it out for me since I would not marry his son or roll over to his political schemes. He must have seen this as his best chance to get rid of me by delaying the rescue effort. Though I am surprised that a random stranger like you used such a valuable item just to come and rescue me but you seem to be an upright person so I will trust you for now. Also, there is no need to keep calling me your highness just call me Mrazivý."
"Okay, no problem Mrazivý, so I guess we should stay here for either until I recover my stats, or the rescue party arrives, though we are lucky that one of your party members managed to make it back to the surface and inform us of your predicament otherwise we would not have even known what was going on."
When Marcus had finished speaking his words had reminded Mrazivý that she was not the only one in a precarious situation in the dungeon but that the rest of her party was as well.
She then started to rush towards the exit in a frenzy to find her party and help them out.
However, Marcus grabbed ahold of her and said, "Wait, do you think you are going to be able to help anyone if you just rush out into the dungeon. You know that your party got hit by a teleportation trap and could be anywhere in the dungeon. The only reason I was able to find you was because of the magic item you have on you that transmits your location."
Mrazivý looked at the golden emblem on her arm before sighing and slumping to the ground in defeat. She was the only one in her group that had such an item, and she only wore it because her father made it a requirement if she wanted to be an adventure.
"Hey, since you ended up in the worst possible location in the dungeon maybe the rest of your party got lucky and were teleported to relatively safe locations. One of them already made it back so maybe the rest are already on the surface waiting for you."
Mrazivý looked up and gave Marcus a slight smile since he was obviously trying to cheer her up.
She then collected herself, and in an effort to forget that most of her party might be in trouble or already dead decided to get to work.
"Since we are going to be down here for a while how about we set up a camp and cook some food."
Nodding his head Marcus searched around for the driest and flattest area in the boss's room and eventually found one a dozen or so yards away from the chest that still housed his treasures.
Marcus then quickly walked over to the treasure chest he had won from defeating the boss monster of the third layer and stored everything he could in his item box.
Unfortunately, he could not store the egg since living beings could not go into his item box.
Picking up the egg Marcus wondered what he was going to do with it when Mrazivý came over and said, "Ah I see you have found us some dinner."
Marcus then looked at her with an appalled face before she started laughing loudly and only calmed down after a minute.
"Sorry your face there was pretty funny, did you really think that I was serious. Obviously, it would be a waste to eat whatever is in there since it will probably turn out to be a powerful magical beast."
At that moment while he was holding the egg Marcus heard a ding in his head saying, 'Would you like to add the supplementary companion system to your personal status for twenty-two skill points.'
Marcus quickly excepted the request spending twenty-two of the twenty-four skill points he had just received from leveling up and when he checked his status a new option that said companion status, had appeared.
Companion Status
0/1 Companions
0/1 Companions Stored
After looking it over for a couple of minutes and trying to register the egg he had as a companion Marcus found that nothing, he did worked to add the egg to his system.
'There must be some other requirements to add a companion, maybe I can only do it after whatever is in the egg hatches.'
Once he had finished looking over his new companion system Marcus noticed that Mrazivý was already getting to work on setting up her tent and that he was falling behind.
Getting himself back together Marcus started setting up his kind of shabby secondhand tent but found that he had no idea how to do it. After fumbling around for a few minutes Marcus gave up and when he went to look for Mrazivý for help he noticed that she had already finished setting up a massive ornate tent that looked like it was meant for royalty.
Heading over towards it Marcus walked in and saw that Mrazivý had just taken a fancy cot and mattress out of her magic bag, and that the interior of her tent seemed to have temperature control and lighting.
Marcus stared dumbfounded at the grandeur of her tent for a good minute before she said to him.
"Have you already finished setting up you tent, then we can get started on cooking something to eat."
Marcus then looked at her slightly embarrassed before saying, "How did you get this thing set up so fast, and I am afraid that I have never set up a tent before and could not get the one I have to stay up. Would you be willing to help me out"?
With a shocked expression on her face Mrazivý responded saying, "Sorry but I do not know how to set up a tent either, mine is a magic item that sets itself up and my party members call it Mrazivý's portable palace."
"Oh well, I guess I will just sleep on the ground it is no big deal."
Marcus began to leave the tent when Mrazivý spoke up and said, "There is plenty of room in my tent so if you want to you can stay in here with me."
"No, I could not stay in here with you, you are a princess and if word gets out, we slept in the same tent it could cause problems."
With a slightly angry expression Mrazivý said, "While I may be a princess, I consider myself an adventure first. I have shared my tent with my party members before even at the dismay of my guardian knight, so this is no big deal. You came down here and recued me, so I was willing to help you out, but I suppose if you want to sleep on the cold damp ground outside you are welcome to."
Realizing he was in a no-win situation consented to staying in the tent and brought out his sleeping mat and blankets and arranged them on the opposite side of the tent from where Mrazivý was staying.
"Now, then we should make something to eat I am staving, what might you have happened to bring down with you."
Marcus then pulled out the dry rations that he had bought before going into the dungeon with Wild Wind and Mrazivý looked at them with a face of disgust.
"Is that all you have on you, those are some pretty shabby looking rations."
A bit offended Marcus said, "Sorry, I did not buy the best rations, I am not royalty with an infinite amount of wealth to buy the best food especially for an impromptu delve into the dungeon to save you. Any way do you not have your own food."
"I do have some emergency rations which are better than yours, but Marius is the one who carries the food and cooking supplies.. I suppose we will just have to work with what we have."