Chapter 6: Ashes and Dust

Therina watched the miners as they left the room and started digging through the wall. She lay on the breeder, still naked, as it was the most comfortable spot in this prison of stone. Thankfully, the cave was quite warm, even if the stone itself was cold.

She was defiled, a tainted elf that had been used by a dungeon to breed. She had allowed it, and worst of all, found pleasure in it. The mess between her legs constantly reminded her of it. She wanted to clean herself, but there was no water and no clean cloths.

The incubation had taken a lot out of her, and she was feeling weak. She hadn't eaten or drunk anything all day, and it was beginning to take its toll as her throat was parched and stomach ached.

She got up and placed her clothes back on despite how filthy she was. Her tunic couldn't even be called that anymore, a large tear exposing one of her modest breasts.

"I'm hungry and thirsty," She spoke to the dungeon in elvish, it making its presence known that it heard her.

After no response other than its presence being made known, she tried asking again, even in the guttural human tongue, but still nothing.

Therina hesitated, before asking again, this time using hand motions to indicate eating and drinking.

The dungeon clearly understood this one, as a small table was constructed next to the stone chair. A stone platter with a swirl design appeared on top of it along with an assortment of fruits and meat. Even though the meat was uncooked, it smelled delicious.

Therina flinched away at the site of the notorious dungeon food.

"No! That stuff is terrible! It's disgusting!"

The dungeon clearly didn't understand what she meant, but when she made gagging and vomiting gestures and pointed at the food, it abruptly vanished.

~~~~~

'Ungrateful elf!' The he-dungeon abruptly raged, its core crystal shaking in anger. 'I made you such delicious food, and you dare call it disgusting?! You are lucky you are my thing, so I will give you a chance to apologise for your rudeness.'

He reabsorbed the biomass the food was made of.

She also apparently needed water, but the dungeon had none, and no way of procuring it himself at the moment.

Calming down, he knew he couldn't let his elf die on him. She was very useful, valuable, and most importantly, extremely beautiful.

There was a well in the elf village, and likely a river nearby too, so he should be able to dig toward there for a water source, but it is slow progress.

The miners don't take any mana to dig and expand his dungeon, but they aren't very fast. Each one is a little less than half as fast as when he digs with mana. But it all accumulates together, and with him working in conjunction with the miners, his mining speed has already doubled, half of which requires no downtime waiting for mana to regenerate. He wondered if having them level up would increase their level.

His only current option is to have the elf leave the dungeon and procure water and whatever food it is she eats. He can't let her go unsupervised though, in case she decides to run away, or comes under danger.

The scout miner returned and he let it into the elf's room. He used it to nudge the elf, who squeaked in shock at the touch.

'Go with the miner. Take this bucket and fill it up with water at your village, get food and come back' The dungeon said while trying to speak to his elf.

He also created a simple stone bucket with a handle. The handle was attached with a stone pin, allowing it to swivel for comfort in carrying, although it was still ugly by the dungeon's opinion, therefore he didn't turn it into a blueprint.

It took a while for the elf to understand, but eventually she understood to follow the miner. She carried the stone bucket while curiously examining it and followed the miner outside.

~~~~~

Therina was free!

At least, she wanted to think that. She was accompanied by a terrifying beetle like monster which she even gave birth to.

'Do I count as its mother?' She thought in fear.

The dungeon seemed to want her to carry a primitive stone bucket and follow the beetle outside the dungeon. She wasn't sure exactly what it wanted her to do, but the scent of freedom was incredibly tempting.

If she could, she will run off as soon as she got a chance. But first, she needed to get food and water. She was too hungry to move properly, and the monster beside her was incredibly frightening. Those jagged sword like teeth with grew from its mouth felt like things of horrors to her.

When she arrived at her village, all she found was a smouldering wreckage of what used to be her life. She no longer had a home, and the nearby hidden villages who traded grains and other necessities they didn't locally produce would quickly cut off contact with the area once they found the village, for fear of being followed back and implicating their own.

The destruction of a village to the nearby ones was a giant warning sign of potential danger. They would increase their guard, and reduce interactions with the outside world to a minimum for a while. They likely wouldn't even take her in if she managed to contact them, for fear she will bring along or be tracked by whoever destroyed her village.

The stone bucket she carried was truly poor. It was functional, but that was it.

She struggled to look at the dead and mutilated bodies of those she once called friend and family littering the village. She wanted to bury them under their own tree, so they may return to the embrace of the forest, but there were nearly 200 corpses, and she didn't have the time or energy for it. Her guard didn't seem willing to allow it either.

She wandered through the deathly quiet village toward the well in the center, making sure no bodies had been thrown in and tainted the water before drawing a large bucket of water.

She didn't use the stone bucket, leaving it on the ground and instead used the wooden one hooked on the well's line. It was larger, held together by two bands of iron, yet lighter than the solid stone bucket the dungeon made.

With a bucket full and drawn, Therina cupped the water in her hands and washed her face before drinking several large mouthfuls. She carried the new bucket toward where her house used to stand, now a half burned husk.

Inside had been looted of anything of value. She never had the habit of hiding coin or treasures under the floor or anything, as the elven village was peaceful with no theft, so everything of value was gone.

She did find some clothes that hadn't been burned. She turned to face away from her guard, stripped off all her clothes, and used a clean cloth and the bucket of water to clean herself. She also found some somewhat intact block of scented ashlime soap to clean her body and hair.

Now much cleaner, she got dressed in clean, unripped clothes. She then found a sack, filled it with wooden containers of containing various foods, clothes, and other daily items.

Carrying the sack over her shoulder, she left the village under the escort of her guard beetle and returned to the dungeon.

She wanted to escape, but the fear of what may await her in the world was greater than her current condition. She has heard many stories about the depravity and evil of humans, which she did not dare to verify what is real and what is just a story.

~~~~~

The elf was well behaved. The dungeon watched as she stripped and cleaned herself, using what looked like a cheap ash based soap to scrub the dirt and grime from her body and hair.

Now much cleaner, she became even more beautiful. The dungeon felt he could stare into her vivid green eyes, like forests themselves, for hours. Actually, he had done that already, but he could do it countless times.

When she returned to her room. She brought a number of bits and pieces with her. He was kind enough that he dug out shelves along the wall for her to place things in.

'Hmph, what are you surprised for? Did you think I wouldn't take care of my things?' Just you wait, I'll give you an even grander room in the future!' The dungeon said in pride as he watched her look over the shelves wide eyed.

She took out a candle and lit it with a strange flint and steel contraption, lighting up her room in a soft warm glow.

The dungeon wasn't sure on what the world was like, but he felt it was rather backwards on technology, given that there was magic in the world, it would be used as a substitute for many processes, leaving people to lack the drive to improve their state of life with science and technology.

He wasn't even sure himself as to why that was or wasn't considered normal. It was merely a subjective thought on what he had observed.

She had brought back a full bucket of water too, which he stored in his internal storage to prevent the water getting dirty or stale, and merely gave it out to the irate elf whenever she demanded it.

She filed her belongings along the shelves, which was mostly food, as if settling into her life belonging to the dungeon. He was naturally happy to see her being so pleasant, and made sure to fulfil any requests she made.

Given that he understood what she meant.