Chapter 248: Chapter 248 – After the duel.

<<The duel.... Well... It ended.>>

<<Me and Porai were expecting the same thing from the looks of things.>>

<<Fight until we are at the brink of death... But by the looks of things, Ariava was satisfied with the duel quiet quickly, making her to stop the duel between us.>>

<<Afterwords, Ariava just told us to rest up... The space for them wasn’t still prepared, but they were fine.>>

<<Ariava had some beds stored in her pocked space, which she placed in the core room.>>

<<She said that she will protect the core, even if the vampire would pull anything....So... I’ve trusted her.>>

<<As for me.... Well.>>

<<After the duel and everything else was settled down, I went to my golem room, where I changed my body to the work body.>>

"..."

(Body functional.) – thought Thauma as it changed back to its work body.

"..."

(Ariava said that I don’t need to worry about her or Porai. I saw her taking some beds and several other stuff from her own personal space.) – thought Thauma as Porai and Ariava made themselves at home at the dungeon’s core’s room.

(They said that they would go to sleep and what not.... And I should myself just give up and rest up as well.)

"..."

"..."

(But I don’t really need to sleep....)

(Heck.... Am I even allowed to rest.) – thought Thauma as it left the golem room and started walking through the corridors of the private dungeon’s section.

(The answer...)

(But I can’t.)

(I’m weak.)

(I did grown stronger.... But by the looks of things, it wouldn’t matter much.)

(Why.... Why did Ariava had us fight even in the first place?)

(That is the current most important question.) – thought Thauma as it arrived at its main workshop.

"Porai here, is one of the strongest people in that whole ass empire. You hear me? One of the strongest beings in that whole empire."

(That is what Ariava said.)

(That means she is the strongest.... And even worse.)

(Not alone.)

(There are possible other beings like her out there.)

(Is that why Ariava wanted me to fight Porai?)

(To tell me how "weak" I was compare to them?)

(Heh.... I guess I had a right reason to be scared...)

(But.... Not like this.)

(I don’t know how truly powerful Porai is.... But I can definitely tell that she alone could possibly wipe out the entire dungeon.)

"..."

(And honestly speaking?)

(I think I’m starting to get terrified more of Ariava.)

(She dealt with Porai.... And I saw it.)

(Fear.)

(Porai was scared of Ariava.)

(She "Dealt" with her.)

(And there were also words like "kidnapped".)

(...)

(Ariava defeated Porai and terrified her so much that she was too scared to not obey Ariva’s commands.)

(That is a conclusion I can make after all the observations and based how the conversations were going so far.)

(But... If Porai was able to overwhelm me that much while still not going all out... Then how strong Ariava must be to straight up terrify that vampire?!)

(Ariava somewhat told me her past... But only a bit about it.)

(There are still countless questions surrounding her that I want to find the answers for....)

(But at the same time.... I’m scared of her somewhat... What would happened if she didn’t adopted me and instead seen me as "enemy"?)

"..."

(Was I... No. I was lucky.)

(There is no demining it.)

(...Ariava... I can trust her.... I maybe now scared of her, but I won’t ever betray her.)

(However... God fucking dammit!)

(I’m still terrified of the outside world.)

(Or more exactly.... Of this stupid situation.)

(Again and again, the same fucking problems.)

(Time to conduct research.)

(Time to develop myself.)

(Time to produce monsters.)

(Need miasma to produce monsters.)

(Need miasma to grow the dungeon.)

(Need miasma to create materials for my own research.)

(Need miasma to conduct the dungeon research.)

(AGAIN AND AGAIN! THE SAME PROBLEMS!)

"..."

(And I always fucking find myself in this stupid same bullshit.) – thought Thauma as it stared at its prototype weapons it had been making

(...I just... Fuck...) – Thauma tried working once again, but it instantly given up.

(I’m tired.)

(I mean, I like working, I like experimenting and everything... But I think the whole pressure of the constant terror is murdering me mentally...)

"..."

(And there is Ariava.)

(I honestly wasn’t sure if she would really came back or not.... But... She did.)

(And not only that, she already saved me from one danger that could had easily enslaved me, without me having even a chance to fight back.)

(And to make it even more... I don’t know.... How the hell do I call it?!)

(I was in hell and then she just came and blew it all up?)

(I mean, I was in the completely hopeless situation... But then....)

"..."

(I.... I trust Ariava.)

(From what I’ve gathered, she can truly destroy the whole empire and even hunt down the strongest beings currently living in it.)

(She can give me the peace if she so wishes so.... Because she is just THAT powerful.)

(As for what would happened if Ariava didn’t arrived... Well, there is no real point about debating it.)

(I would be just "slave".)

(Nothing more, nothing less.)

(And that is worrying.)

"..."

(But what if something stronger comes here while Ariava isn’t here? The chances are there.)

(She may leave again.... And even if she makes the empire no longer be hostile towards me, there is still a chance of somebody going after me.)

(No.... I can’t never stop growing!)

(I need to be strong!)

(STRONGER!)

(IF I WANT TO LIVE!)

(IF I WANT TO BE FREE!)

(I NEED TO BE STRONGER!)

(THAT IS THE SIMPLEST RULE!)

<<That is just simple.>>

<<Even if the peace is secured, don’t stop growing.>>

<<Danger can appear at any moment without warning.>>

<<Honestly, I still have a lot of question regarding this "peace" alone... How would it work?>>

<<Would they just leave alone?>>

<<Or...>>

<<...>>

<<The only way to do is to ask Ariava regarding this tomorrow when both of them wakes up.>>

[Next day.]

"Okay. So, I think I will be going now." – said Ariava.

"!?"

{"But you just came here!"} – written Thauma on a piece of paper.

(AND I STILL HAVEN’T ASKED MY QUSTION EITHER!) – thought panicking golem.

"Well... Honestly, I do want spend here sometime... Maybe months even." – replied Ariava.

"However, you do realize that they are preparing a massive army to raid this place, right?"

"The lord that controls the territory where your dungeon is currently located at."

"Pretty much, they are dead set on exterminating you."

"Not only that, they also wants the Crow Watcher’s support, which Porai was supposed to be part of here, to help out in your extermination."

"So yeah... I kind of need to deal with them."

(Woman. You just arrived at the dungeon, and now you are fucking trying to kick up a storm from the get go?! Fucking slow down for fuck’s sake!) – thought nervous Porai.

"..."

"Are you going to kill them all?" – asked Porai.

"Hm? Ah, nah." – replied Ariava.

"I could, but that would make just way too big of a mess right now."

"Not only that, I quickly need to resolve the whole thing with the ’emperor’ and the representee of the vampires."

"Get the better understanding of the full story and have them accept my peace offer."

"However, right now... Well, let’s just say making myself known right now would be bit problematic."

"I could burn to the ground the whole territory and leave no survivors or witness, but obviously you can probably guess how dumb this plan is."

"Ah, by the way Porai."

"This is my order."

"You are to stay here and don’t leave this place no matter what."

"So Thauma, please make sure that Porai has a living space and enough food to survive."

"If you like, you can let Porai out of the dungeon, if she wants to hunt some fresh blood.... But remember."

"If you betray my trust or do anything stupid... You know what will happened, right?"

"..."

"Yes." – said Porai.

(So, this is pretty much my prison.... I have freedom, but not entire.) – thought Porai as she fully grasped her grim situation.

(Still... The fact alone that she isn’t killing me just proves that she wants to use me and keep me alive no matter what.)

"..."

(But.... Okay. Nope. Not thinking about what would happened to "keeping me alive" while also doing "punishment".) – thought Porai as she remembered what Ariava did to the vampire agent who she murdered over and over again, without truly letting him die.

(Not only that... I think she also wants me to protect Thauma.... If the dungeon get destroyed... Yeb. I will be fucking dead.)

(Nah... The whole empire may end up getting destroyed instead.)

"It shouldn’t take me long... But at the same time, there will be obviously after effects and what not, and those could take sometime until everything truly settles down." – said Ariava.

"So yeah. I’m going to deal with annoying stuff."

"As for both of you.... Well, you can do whatever you want."

"You can help out each other in research and what not."

"Get to know each better."

"Heck, if you like, you could even try to learn those Forged Skills."

"So yeah." – said Ariava as she approached Thauma.

"I’m sorry that I’m leaving so quickly."

"But don’t worry."

"I will come back."

"And then we can have a proper and long talk."

"Kay?"

"..."

{"I understand, Ariava."}

{"I will wait."}

"..."

"Hm..."

"HMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM..." – Ariava bended her body backwards while making some noises.

"Okay. I decided." – said Ariava as she stood up straight.

"Can you call me mother from now on?"

"Like, you can still call me by my name, Ariava or my full name Ariava Byrawa."

"?"

{"Brywa?"}

"..."

"Ah... Shit."

"I’ve never told you my full name, right?"

"I’ve kind of forgotten to tell you it, yea?"

"Sorry."

"..."

"Anyway, you can call me either Ariava or my full name Ariava Byrawa."

"However, I would preferred if you would call me instead mother if possible."

"Mommy, mother, mom, any of these."

"Since you are my child."

"..."

{"I understand. Mom."}

"..."

"Feels nice." – said Ariava.

"Well then!"

"Wait for mommy to finish up all of the business and then come back!"

"Don’t worry."

"I won’t disappoint you."