Meredith's words are like a slap in the face of everyone. Telling that is like denying their right to live as a free person. Nobody would like hearing that.
"Don't fucking bullshit us! Just because we're not from this world, doesn't mean you can treat our lives like nothing. We're people !"
Many of the otherworlder women are whispering. Some of the whispers are curses to Meredith, others are scorn. But Meredith seems too bored to care about that.
"People, huh?"
Meredith's gaze turns in a direction where there's apparently nothing, to the mountain cliff in the distance. But some women know what, or rather, who she's looking at.
Taking a deep breath, then letting out a clear sigh, Meredith looks at the redhead and asks.
"Does anyone here remembers, the day Darling Evoked you from the artifact, three years ago?"
"Of course we remember ! Our lives were taken from us ! What about that?!"
"The other Orcs wanted Darling to give up many of you to them. What did he do, then?"
At these words, the young redhead with rebellious hair looks away.
"Tell me. What. did. he. do?"
"He...gave us a choice."
Visualizing the memory of Barokuga's first words to them after their Evocation, several women recall why they considered him a more advantageous choice for them.
-- "If any of you would like to go with them, be my guest." --
Despite their collective choice, many of them thought they had the entitlement of demanding a lot of things from Barokuga. When some people remember about it, they have the feeling that at times, they've abused of his patience. Even though he was an Orc, he only had the physical appearance and weakened basic instincts. His behavior was caring enough and respectful. Except once.
However, the emotion resulting from knowing that he is also responsible for their coming, in this entirely different world from the ones each of them comes from, clouds their judgment.
"It would have been better if he hadn't brought us into this world."
"...Is that what you think? Let me tell you this, girls : you have no idea how lucky you are Darling has Evoked you, back that moment."
"What? Are you going to tell us that being summoned here by Him is "lucky" for us?"
"Not Summoned. Evoked."
"What difference?! The result is the same for us !"
"No, because the artifact Darling used is an Evocation tool. There are specific differences between a Summoning ritual, an Invoking ritual,.... and the worst of all of them, an Evoking ritual.
--- ??? ---
Slowly walking to the right side of the plaza, Meredith explains the first type of ritual for the coming of what many call an "Otherworlder".
"On one hand, a being is called Summoned, if It's initially weaker than the Summoner, and there's a mutual Summoning Contract between the two parties. In this case, the Summoner's authority is absolute. A Summoned can't leave without the Summoner's consent, but it will grow stronger over time. The longer it stays Summoned, the faster it will grow. Basically, it's like raising a pet or a slave."
Now walking to the left side of the plaza, Meredith talks about the second type of ritual.
"On the other hand, An Invoked being is initially stronger than the Invoker, the Contract is more balanced, so none of the two involved parties lose in the relationship between them, and the Invoked can choose to not appear, if he feels it's not worth of the effort. The power an Invoked being can exert depends on the overall power of the Invoker. For that case, the Otherworlder is more like a mercenary being paid for a job."
Returning to the place where she landed, Meredith looks at the women. She can see many of them have understood the two first goals for calling an Otherworlder. But Ingrid feels a fear slowly rising from the depths of her soul. After all, Meredith considers the ritual of Evocation as the "worst of all".
"....So, what about being Evoked?"
"Sigh, An Evoked being is....."
*****
Meanwhile, the sun is about two hours away from rising over the forest, where the entrance to the Dungeon of Dawn and Dusk is anchored.
In the Dungeon, Dan, Kate and Jul are already eating in the dining room. However, it was not Jack who came to wake them up so early in the morning, but two young women with identical appearances. When the three Servants arrived in the dining room, they found that two other identical-looking women were already preparing breakfast.
The latter then left with one of the first two women met in the dormitories, leaving the Adventurer and the two orphans with only one of them, who accompanies them during their morning meal.
The young girl has light-toned skin and hetero-chromatic sky-blue and golden eyes. The light reflecting off her long, sparkling silver hair gives her magical looks, almost as if she wasn't real.
Apparently in her early twenties, her hourglass figure, with a fairly heavy pair of breasts, conveys a healthy body desirable to any man, as long as he still has a quite healthy mind.
Her clothes, however, are ordinary and modest, although reminiscent of those of a housemaid.
After a few bites of the meal composed of bread, bacon and omelette, several fruits, all of that accompanied by a bowl of hot milk with a little honey, Kate ends up asking again a question to which they did not initially had an answer.
"So who are you, miss? Are you another of Jack's Servants?"
"I...am...Venus."
The young woman's voice comes out with difficulty from her mouth, like a child who is just learning to speak.
"Huh? Venus? You mean you're the one we heard yesterday?"
The young woman nods, increasing the surprise of the three people in front of her.
"But... why are you having trouble speaking?"
At this moment, a voice is heard from the direction of the Floor Gate.
"Venus is not used to speaking through one of her Avatars."
"Ah, Jack-sama! Good morning."
"Good morning, Jack-sama!"
The woman named Venus gets up to set the empty chair at the table, to help Jack. Even if Jack didn't really ordered her to do so.
("There she goes. Again copying what she saw in my memories.... Oh well.")
"Master...here...breakfast."
"Thanks, Venus."
Sitting down at the table, Jack begins to eat with them. Unlike them, he is not embarrassed by the diversity of the meals available to them. After tasting the bread and omelette, Jack nods in approval with a smile.
"Good, you've gotten better at cooking again, Venus."
"Thank you...Master."
"But you'll need time for practice to be expressive in this body."
"I...will...do...my...best."
"It's okay. No need to rush."
Continuing with his meal, Jack is asked by Dan about what he said when he arrived in the dining room.
"Jack-sama, you said her present body is an Avatar? You meant this isn't her real body?"
"That's right. Every woman who shares her appearance is an Avatar of Venus."
"Every woman?! The three others are Venus too?!"
"Indeed."
"How is this possible?!"
"Quite simple. Her true body is the Dungeon itself."
"Huh? Venus is the Dungeon? You mean Dungeons can communicate?"
With a chuckle, the silver-haired young boy answers.
"Come on, Dan. Do you really think that a place capable of growing stronger and transforming, like a Mamono, cannot be intelligent enough to communicate? If I'm not mistaken, Humans say that a Dungeon is alive and seeks to devour everything who enters it. Which is not false, but not totally true either."
Hearing these words, Jul asks.
"So not every Dungeon is evil?"
"Evil? No necessarily. Dangerous? Yes."
"Why?"
"Because if you think about it for two minutes, a person entering a Dungeon is like when you find a fruit unknown to you, and you choose to eat that very fruit. Nothing says that fruit is not poisonous for you. The way a person behaves in the Dungeon, dictates how the latter will judge the level of threat representing it. The greater the threat, the more likely it will be eliminated."
"What about the Monster Waves?"
Jul, intrigued by Dan's question, asks.
"What is a Monster Wave?"
Dan explains.
"It's when a large amount of Monsters come out of a Dungeon. When such a thing happens, many people around the Dungeon are likely to be killed."
Frightened by Dan's explanation, Kate and Jul wait for the answer from the young boy with golden eyes. Looking up at the ceiling, Jack doesn't seem too bothered by Dan's question. Rather, he is pleased with their curiosity, which means they will be more inclined to learn what is taught to them during their years as Servants to him and Venus.
"Hmm. About that, you could say it's the fault of those who fear the Dungeons excessively, to the point of absolutely wanting to destroy them."
"?Huh? I don't understand."
"Dungeons absorb virtually everything that enters them, and derive many benefits from it. Raw materials, objects of every kind, and least known of all, knowledge contained in the memories of the souls who end up there, whether they have been still alive or already dead when arriving in the Dungeon."
--"!!!"--
"Tell me this, Dan. If a nation learns that another nation intends to destroy it, do you think that first nation will wait quietly to be destroyed by the second one?"
"!"
"Of course not. If it learns such a thing, it will do whatever is necessary to defend itself. That involves attacking that enemy nation first. That's what the Monster Wave is. A preemptive attack in the face of the fear of being attacked."
"But not everyone wants to destroy Dungeons, Jack-sama. I've heard that there are towns that are built around a Dungeon."
"Not everyone can necessarily build such a city around a Dungeon, right?"
"!"
"To begin with, pulling off such a feat requires strength to counter any eventual Wave coming out of the Dungeon. Not everyone is capable of that."
Jack takes a moment to finish drinking his bowl of milk, before adding to his previous argument.
"Then, it is very unlikely that it was a city that was built around a Dungeon, but rather a Dungeon that appeared in the middle of a city."
"So you mean it depends on luck for a city to become a Dungeon City?"
"Not just luck. Mostly, you need something essential for a Dungeon City to work."
"?"
"Money. A lot of money."
With these words, Jack finishes his last bite of bread, and takes one last piece of fruit before getting up from the table.
"Thanks for the meal."
Eyes staring at the bowl in his hands, Dan realizes how naive he was, and the extent of his ignorance about the world in which he wanted to progress as an Adventurer. Not only that, he discovers that the Dungeons that many Adventurers conquer, are in fact alive and endowed with intelligence.
"...Jack-sama. What is your purpose? Why did you and Venus exist? Why do Dungeons and Mamonos exist for?"
"...It's useless for you to know about that. At least for now, and the truth about Mamonos. For now, there is something that needs to be done."
"Something?"
"We're going to Kate and Jul's village."
--"!!"--
"Why do we have to go?"
"I've thought about it carefully yesterday, and the best thing that can be done is to recruit the other villagers as Servants as well."
"So Jack-sama wants them to come work for you too?"
"Yes. I have seen what remains of the village. The survivors are either women or children. The number of intact houses is not enough for everyone to spend the winter in warmness, and I doubt that the masonry is the strong point of the women of the village."
Kate and Jul's faces filled with deep sadness again upon hearing Jack's words. It's not that they no longer thought about it, but that they were trying to come to terms with the fact that they would never return to the village. But Jack's words mean that they will see their village one last time, then live in the Dungeon, with the inhabitants who survived.
"Leaving them like this will cause more deaths among them, or even force them to sell themselves as slaves. Or worse. I'll need Kate and Jul to come with me to convince them."
"I...I see."
"Lately, Kate and Jul are orphans. They need to mourn the loss of their parents and say goodbye."
Pondering on these words, Dan feels nervous and stutters.
"...J-Jack-sama. Can I --"
"You're coming too, Dan."
"! But --"
"Even if you're afraid of what awaits you when they see you, I don't think you can hide from them for the rest of your life. Just like you got forgiveness from Kate and Jul, you have to get forgiveness from the other villagers as well."
"..."
"I know it's scary to face your fears, but you will be hindered in your desire to become stronger if you don't do it."
"...I understand, Jack-sama..."
One hour later,Jack and his Servants are walking out from the forest, through a portal Jack has opened. Spatial Magic is one of his few abilities he has chosen to retain when he was Evolving.
In front of them, the village is mostly devastated and the survivors seem to be gathered in the central part of the village, which is less damaged than the peripheral part. Jack can feel the sorrow floating in the air.
Peering under the hood of his gray coat, Jack scans the various burned houses. His keen senses perceive the various corpses that were victims of the fires caused by the bandits. Traces of blood in abundance on the path are connected to places occupied by corpses laid in line. Those are covered by sheets, soiled by ash and bloody mud. Some of the corpses barely have the build to match an adult person. Since the day is still relatively early, the temperature prevents the odors from reaching proportions unbearable for an ordinary person. But that doesn't mean that the fine smell of death that fills this place isn't already perceptible. Facing the two Servant children, Jacks orders them.
"Kate and Jul. Go and explain your situation to the villagers, recounting your journey from the beginning. Dan and I will take care of recovering and burying the bodies of the dead villagers."
"You are going to bury them, Jack-sama?"
"...Innocent people should have the right to a proper burial."
The young Demon's gaze suddenly becomes particularly sad, lost in space for a moment before returning to a more stoic tone.
Raising his arm towards the corpses, Jack casts a levitation spell. Just a few weeks ago, such a simple spell would allow him to lift all the buildings in the village, unlike the handful of bodies he manages to levitate above the ground, which is nevertheless already better than on his first day as "Horned" Mamono.
*****
Inside one of the still intact houses of the village, Abby is reunited with some of the other surviving mothers. A little before first light, they awoke and gathered the bodies of their husbands, neighbors, elders, and friends, before finally assembling themselves in the house of the deceased chief of their community, to decide what to do. The other mothers and young women are preparing a meal with the supplies they found among the debris of houses ans barns, for the children who will wake up soon.
In addition to Abby and the other women, there is a woman in her mid-twenties, dressed in a black dress, which could pass for mourning clothing, but is in fact priestess clothing, covering the majority of the body.
Normally, priestesses like her wear a set of white and colored clothing that indicates their religious status. But after having her purity stolen by last night's bandits, she lost the right to dress in those previous colors. The only way to wear it again is to receive the saving blessing of the main Goddess of one's Religion. Which almost never happens.
Aside from the disgraced priestess, the other women argue over what to do. As Jack had said, they couldn't easily spend the winter in this devastated village.
"Like I said, we won't be able to survive the coming winter without all of our now deceased village members."
"We should leave to go to another village!"
Abby retorts.
"No one will accept us, Elise. The lord of our fief is a tyrant who only leaves every village enough so that we can endure hunger before the end of winter."
Another widow continues.
"And that was only possible because many of our men went hunting to supplement our meager food reserves."
Nodding in agreement, an another woman, younger than the others, adds while she's sit in a corner of the room, hugging her knees.
"The other villages are in a better situation than us only because the bandits didn't attack them. I don't think they will help us."
All the women keep arguing with each other about the correct solution. Some want to leave, but they don't know where to go. Others ask about if there's really not enough food to stay. Few are just too heartbroken to do anything. But everyone is just unable to convince the others. Until yesterday, they only had to care about household, cooking and child raising. This. This is too much.
Abby, seeing that no progress can be made, chooses to postpone the debate. They had been forced to interrupt the gathering of bodies when several of them began to break down in tears under the still overwhelming grief. But even if she doesn't raise her voice, she is as lost as the others about the situation. His children are the only thing that remains of his life spent in this village which today is hardly different from a nightmare. She hoped it was a dream, but the cold bodies of her little twin sister and her husband didn't help. But she has yet to find the bodies of her niece Kate or her nephew Jul, which leaves her a little hope that they may have outlived their parents.
"Sigh, the kids will be up soon. We need to move the bodies as soon as possible."
At that moment, the women hear a knock at the door, and Kate's voice is heard.
"Auntie Abby, it's Kate and Jul. We're back."
"! Kate?! Jul?!"
Hearing these words Abby rushes to open the door. On the doorstep are the two children who, with tears in their eyes, jump into the arms of their late mother's big twin sister.
"Sniff, Auntie Abby!"
"Kate, Jul! Praise the Goddesses, you're alive! Where have you two been?"
As Abby is hugging the two children, Kate answers her, after taking the time to wipe her tears with a sleeve of her clothing.
"...Auntie, we need to tell you something."
"? What is it, Kate? And those clothes,..."