Dungeon of Pride, Laplace

"What could it be?... No, he is the new holder of the Fragment of Pride it would not be unusual to see strange things occurring around him and his dungeon" Aldebaran thought. He credited the peculiar force that came out of the dungeon to Simon's fragment.

Although the force repelled his energy, strangely the force wasn't strong enough to completely disperse it. His energy formed once again and created a teleport gate near the dungeon and connected it with the gate he created inside the village.

Simon was amazed to see a teleport gate being formed in front of his eyes. He wondered what level of mastery one needed over space magic to create a teleport gate like this. The gate formed was a revolving spiral that was as dark as the night.

The Gate formed was similar to the one that had formed inside his dungeon during the Walpurgis. Snapping out of his thoughts, Simon gave his thanks and immediately dived inside the gate along with the Forest Spring Spirits.

As soon as Simon entered the gate, dizziness assaulted his mind and the sense of gravity left him. After what felt like a few seconds, he was thrown out of the gate and his senses returned to normal.

It was not only him but all the people that had followed behind him experienced the same thing. Simon could never get used to this feeling. Strangely though when he looked towards Cecilia she appeared to be completely fine as if she was completely unaffected by the effects of the space magic.

Cecilia stared at the distinctive spiral tower ahead and said merrily towards her clansmen who were gawking from the change of scenery. One must know that these Forest Spring Spirits had led a secluded life deep inside the western region of the forest and had hardly wandered much distance from the village.

To them, the scenery of the eastern side of the forest was completely new as they curiously stared around. Due to Cecilia's urging, they came out of their daze and fixed their gazes on the spiral tower that lay ahead.

The Spiral tower which stood above the dungeon was hundreds of meters tall with intrinsic patterns and carvings all around that made it quite distinctive in the area. Although the tower wasn't very domineering, it had a strange feeling that was quite hard to describe to it.

Fennel muttered, "So this is the dungeon of Lord Simon".

Cecilia answered him for Simon "Hehe, that's right this is big brother's dungeon and also our new home. But it's too early to get surprised... wait till you enter inside".

Fennel, Daphne and the others couldn't help but smile as they looked at the excited and beaming face of Cecilia. It seems that Cecilia was already accustomed to this place and had already started seeing it as her own home.

Simon silently opened [Dungeon] function of the [Main Menu] and swiftly transported all of them inside.

-----

Inside the Main floor, Irene was accompanying the Forest Spring Spirit children as they took care of the Trees of Mana which had grown more than two hundred meters in size and started to display their abilities and gather mystical energy from the surroundings.

Suddenly Irene felt a minute spatial disturbance before a bunch of new presences entered inside. Irene wasn't surprised as she felt two familiar presence amongst them. There was no doubt, it was the group of Simon that had returned from the western region of the forest.

Irene smiled looking at the number of people that Simon had brought in. 'It seems that he was successful in winning them over' She thought as she looked at the dozen or so Forest Spring Spirits following behind Simon.

The moment Cecilia spotted Irene, she immediately ran towards her. "Big sister Irene'¦" Her sonorous voice sounded out as she immediately jumped into Irene's embrace.

After she had lost her father during their desperate efforts to escape, Irene and Simon became her moral support after they saved her. Unknowingly even to her, she became very attached to them.

Especially to Irene who took such good care of her and whose smile was just as beautiful as her mother.

The children who were helping to grow the tree of mana, saw Cecilia return and immediately ran towards her in excitement.

"Cecilia'¦ you are back. What happened back there? Did you manage to find others on your trip?" Maya asked, expectations flashing in her eyes.

Cecilia held the nervous hands of her best friend and nodded in assurance "Un".

She did not even have to say anything further as Maya's eyes trembled and tears started to overflow out of them as she looked at the silhouette that were standing at the distance.

"Grandfather!!'¦" Her voice was quivering when she spotted her grandfather who she thought she would never get to meet in this lifetime, amidst the people. Similarly, Fennel's whole body shuddered as if he was electrocuted, when he saw his granddaughter.

Fennel was the parental grandfather of Maya. It was during their escape towards the Ancient Treants territory that his son and daughter in law were killed while his granddaughter was captured.

Fennel did not know how many times he had cursed fate for keeping him alive. But now that he had seen Maya well and fine inside the dungeon, he couldn't help but thank the heavens. He shed tears as he saw his granddaughter run towards him and he immediately hugged her.

A sense of relief washed over his body and tears started flowing from his eyes. It was not only them, similar scenes were happening all around them. Each of the children that Simon and Irene saved, was someone's family, little brother or relative.

All of them shed tears as they hugged their dear one and rejoiced for their reunion once again.

Simon who was quietly watching the scene from the sidelines made a content face as he stared at the Forest Spring Spirits.

Suddenly out of the corner, Irene appeared beside him and said "You did a good thing by reuniting them". Her tone appeared indifferent but Simon who was accustomed to her could sense a slight trace of delight in her voice.

"You did all that just so you could make me protect them right?" Simon asked as he stared at Irene's pearly white face. Her crescent brows arced up a little but she still held onto her composure and remained silent.

Simon immediately took her silence as a yes and felt quite amused by her reaction. These past few weeks, he became more and more aware of Irene's personality. Though she appeared to be cold and indifferent on the outside which pushed others miles away, that was only a façade.

Only those who truly knew her, would be able to tell that her personality wasn't as cold as she seemed to display on the outside. Irene's brows furrowed and her face heated up a little seeing that Simon was staring at her. Even she herself was amazed by her reaction.

Cecilia who was rather in a fantastic mood, came running to them smiling as she said "Big brother, big sister Irene'¦ hehe, what are you guys talking about?".

Quickly dispersing the thoughts in her head, Irene said while caressing Cecilia's hair "Nothing much'¦ we were just talking about some unrelated things". She looked at the group of forest spring spirits who were hugging and consoling each other and asked "You don't wasn't to be a part of that group?".

Cecilia simply shook her head and said "They found their family and relatives that they desperately sought the comfort of. I don't want to disturb their moment. If I go now, they would focus all their attention on me. Simply watching from the sidelines is enough for me".

Her eyes were melancholic as she stared at her clansmen who were rejoicing after finding one another.

Simon was amazed, he didn't expect this level of mental maturity from a girl less than six years of age. Although she displayed a smiling front, internally he knew that Cecilia's heart ached and yearned for her parents.

Irene saw the pain in her eyes and silently hugged her. This little girl for the sake of not destroying the happy moments of her clansmen was hiding all her pain.

Sniff'¦sniff'¦ although she tried her best to act tough, Cecilia's eyes turned watery as soon as she was hugged by Irene.

Simon silently sighed and was about to leave the scene when Irene asked "What do you plan to do now that you have taken these Forest Spring Spirits as your subordinates?".

Her crystal blue eyes that seemed to hold the brilliance of the ocean, reflected his image.

"I am going to make a new floor for the Forest Spring Spirits to live in peacefully. They can build a new village there under the safety of my dungeon" Simon said and immediately teleported to a different floor.

-----

The new floor that he created for the Forest Spring spirits was more than forty kilometres wide. Phosphoroscene crystals protruding from the walls and ceiling lighted the area. The place was a forested area filled with greeneries and looked similar to the Ancient Treant territory the forest Spring spirit used to live in.

Of course, the plants and trees in the area were just ordinary and nothing as mystical as the one he saw in the area inhabited by the Ancient Treants. But Simon was least worried about that as he had the best subordinates who could grow even the rarest of plants.. He had even experienced that first hand when he went to their village that they built near the Ancient titan Treant.