Chapter 174

The orb had shattered, and a new tattoo had embedded itself on my shoulder. Now I had one on my left leg, and one on my shoulder. I was a guy who never took to tattoos in the first place, so this didn’t really make me all that happy.

A door in the back of the boss room opened up, and I entered a bedroom, not unlike the one in Mina’s dungeon. Except, this time, three girls entered the room behind me. They were all looking around curiously at the world around them. Celeste was now a regular size, with long translucent wings which caused her to take up a lot of space. She seemed to do something and they disappeared for a bit, allowing her to go through the doorway.

As I glanced around, I found various coins, trinkets, and items. The dungeon was a lot more profitable than the young Mina’s dungeon. I found a treasure chest full of coins. I couldn’t even count how many were in there at the moment. There was a complete set of armor which looked extremely formal and refined, which must have been Lord Karr’s armor. I also found a few blades that looked pretty expensive. I found a blade I liked that seemed to be imbued with ice magic.

I made the girls each pick out a magic knife and Lydia got a new magic sword. Whether it was better than the sword she currently had was hard to tell. This wasn’t a video game where loot got a higher level as people grew a high level. Plus, other than magical attributes and maybe subtle things like balance and sharpness, one sword wouldn’t cut or do more damage than another. As for magician stuff, Karr seemed to be lacking in those kinds of items.

When I finally finished grabbing everything we could carry, my storage ring and backpack were full and we needed to carry the treasure chest directly. It was time to leave. I wanted to go back to the top floors and clear out those treasures, but the kiosk was inactive now and the door wouldn’t open. The remainder of the dungeon appeared to be collapsing or at least no longer accessible. It was possible all the remaining treasure in the dungeon was sent to the treasury when I finished the lore. That’d be kind of nice.

With one last look around the room, I put magic into the spell, and we left the dungeon we had been trapped inside for around a month. When the light faded, I realized we were standing at the front gate of the mansion, just outside the fenced-off yard. Shortly after we appeared, I heard a shout. There was a sparse population of people, but as they made noises, more and more people appeared. Soon dozens of people came running out to greet us.

“Deek!”

“Hero! You made it!”

“Lord, you’re alive and well! Good, Good!”

The girls all smiled and waved excitedly. Even though I hadn’t spent a lot of time with the Chalm citizens since we reconciled, even I felt a bit happy to see people welcoming me home.

“Ah… Mayor! Guild Master!” Two familiar faces showed themselves through the crowd.

“I felt a mana disturbance coming from the mansion recently. I was fearing more ghosts might flood out. Damn, I’m glad to see you, boy!” The Guild Master laughed and slapped me on the back.

“Ah… thanks. That was the dungeon being defeated. Actually.” I explained.

“You really did it?” The Mayor’s eyes lit up. “You’ve broken the curse? Since you went in, the ghosts out here have gone quiet. We’ve managed to reclaim all but the mansion, using the alchemy tricks you taught us. However, for you to reclaim the mansion. It truly is a miracle. You really are a hero!”

Just as he said that there was a loud creaking noise that filled the air, followed by a massive crash. The exploding sound was enough to silence the whole crowd. By the time I turned around, a wave of dust washed over everyone outside. There was some coughing, confusion, and a few shouts of worry.

“Wind!” I cast wind magic and blew the dust away.

When Celeste saw what I was doing, she copied me and did a better job. When the smoke cleared, I finally could see what happened. My pupils contracted to pinpoints and my mouth fell open.

“Oh dear…” The mayor said, “That is unfortunate…”

The mansion had completely collapsed. All that was there was a pile of rubble.

“I’ve never seen a mansion turned into a dungeon before, let alone seen one defeated.” The Guild Master spoke cautiously. “It appears that when the dungeon is destroyed, the building collapses.”

My mansion… the home I had fought tooth and nail for the last month to conquer, was now an empty pile of ruins.

“Ah! Master is crying again!”