This Used To Be About Dungeons полностью

“For the more popular dungeons, people set up shop outside them,” said Alfric. “But it needs to be a quite popular dungeon, because each dungeon is only done once in a person’s life, so it’s not all that common. And what you do if you’re setting up shop outside a dungeon… well, it depends.” He seemed to think about what Hannah had said. “My mom used to tell a story about coming out of a dungeon, half dead, only to find a boy probably not much older than Bib who tried to get her to pay an exorbitant amount of money for healing. She was sitting there, bleeding, trying to negotiate with him, while explaining that most of her best stuff was bound to her and couldn’t be given away.” Hannah’s mind wandered to the missing bits of that story, like why his mother wouldn’t have just warped. There were answers, but they were the kind of answers that he’d decided the story didn’t need, or perhaps they were a sign of embellishment.

“That sounds kind of horrible,” said Mizuki. “Like, I feel like you thought it was a funny story, but it’s really not.”

“My mom found it funny,” said Alfric, shrugging. “It was a day she undid because half of the party had died. She actually went and tracked down the kid, hired him on. She liked his initiative, even if it was callous.”

“Your mom sounds tough as nails,” said Mizuki.

“Oh, you have no idea,” said Alfric. “She holds a couple of family records.”

“For?” asked Mizuki.

“Most dungeons run, longest dungeon run, biggest haul from a single dungeon, most entads from a single dungeon, most dungeons in a day,” said Alfric.

“Isn’t she only in her forties?” asked Hannah.

“Late forties. There was a time she was running really hard,” said Alfric. “She had created a party composition specifically for not taking breaks and then just kind of… kept going, I guess. They ended up with good entads for it. According to her, and I don’t know how true this is, there was a year when her party accounted for nearly ten percent of all new entads in Dondrian.”

“That sounds suspect,” said Hannah. “Not that I’d call your ma a liar.” Though there’d been something that he’d said earlier, about his original ambition to do dungeons at a level not seen in decades, and it occurred to Hannah that perhaps he was talking about his own mother.

“Yeah, better that you don’t do that,” said Alfric. “I did ask her about it, but all she had to say was that she was told that number by an entad dealer, and maybe they would know, but.” He shrugged. “It wasn’t a boast she made often, but she did have a habit of boasting, at least when other dungeoneers were trying to puff out their chests. Mostly to put them in their place, I guess.”

“Think we’ll meet her someday?” asked Mizuki. “Because she seems neat.”

“I’d like to make a name for myself before I go back home,” said Alfric. “At least, say… twenty dungeons?”

“So half a year, at current rates?” asked Hannah. “I can’t see us goin’ too much faster than that, which I know isn’t what you want.”

“All that stuff with Lola aside, I’m going to dungeons and actually enjoying myself,” said Alfric. “And no one stole the wardrobe.” He shrugged. “Faster would be better, yes, but with two dungeons done, and a third on the way… I’m actually doing it now, which I’m grateful for.”

“You had a tough time of it before us,” said Hannah.

“My standard of living was high,” said Alfric. “I’m not going to complain about it more than I already have.”

“You have feelin’s though,” said Hannah. “Doesn’t do to let them go unexamined.” There was almost nothing about that in the Book of Garam Ashar but plenty that Hannah had been taught at the seminary. People often thought their problems were small and left them to fester, and that was true of their bodies as much as their minds.

The boy on the bird came back just about then.

“How about it?” asked Alfric. “Are we under arrest?”

“My dad isn’t the hexguard,” said Bib. “He would send someone else, if he wanted to.”

“Well, unless you’ve got a posse coming, I suppose we’re in the clear,” said Alfric.

“I have to apologize,” said Bib.

“Don’t worry about it,” said Alfric. He probably would have waved a hand, if he hadn’t been keeping the wardrobe steady.

“I have to apologize,” said Bib. “Dad said that if I didn’t, I would get in trouble. So I’m sorry for saying that you stole it and that you should keep it here, and my dad told me that I should ask if I could make it up to you, because you’re not supposed to berate strangers, he said. And you’re not supposed to repeat conversations from the dinner table to them.”

“So you owe us a favor, is that it?” asked Alfric.

“I guess,” said Bib.

“Well, I’ll think about it,” said Alfric. “But we have nothing for you right now. That bird makes you fast, and I think we can use that, if your father is okay with you going a bit far from home.”

“I go where I want to,” said Bib, holding his chin high.

“Well then, remember me, because I’ll be calling on you,” said Alfric.