Raised in Dungeon

After Thurstan finally managed to find out Felicia's God's blessing, Thurstan asked Allen to leave first, as well as Rachel and Felicia, who also wanted to rest.

Thurstan said he was busy for the next few days, so he asked not to go into his workplace. Thurstan gave Allen a book of fairy tales and asked Allen to rewrite the contents of the book to learn reading and writing.

"What am I learning to read for?!"

"To become stronger, of course."

"There's no way reading can make you stronger. I'd rather practice with Theo than read a book."

"You underestimate science, Allen. There is almost unlimited information in books. You may become stronger through physical exercise, but you can't maximize your skills with just that. In books, you can even learn how to stop people's movements instantly, which the great Theobauld didn't know. It's also a good idea to learn some amnis to help you control your mana. If you use amnis, you can also increase your physique, perform surprise attacks, and many other things."

Hearing Thurstan's long explanation, Allen gave up and walked out with three thick books in his hands.

As he left the room, he bumped into one of the house's maids and asked her how to get to the storage room. Thurstan asked Allen to get the feathers and ink from the storage room. Allen was told that the room was next to the kitchen near the basement, so it was only a short time before Allen arrived.

When Allen had taken the ink and pen and was about to exit the storage room, something sounded at the end of the room. It was like the sound of the floor shifting.

And it was true—there was a carpet at the end of the room, and the carpet suddenly shifted. Allen put his books and ink down slowly and silently.

He also picked up the small knife that was sheathed at his waist.

The floor shifted, and out of it, a woman in a maid's dress and short green hair came out. She was the maid who had brought Allen to the training ground earlier.

The maid then saw Allen and was surprised.

Allen re-sheathed his sword and picked up his things.

"Wait, don't you want to ask anything?" the maid asked.

"For what? You're Lady Isabelle's slave, aren't you? It would be best if you had something to do with her orders. I don't care about other people's business right now,"

Allen left and went to his room to do as Thurstan told him.

Two hours passed, and Allen had almost finished rewriting one of the books. Even though he didn't understand what it meant, he kept writing. Then suddenly, Allen felt something in his body. Like, something suddenly flowed into his body.

Allen took off the fur on his hand and looked at his palm.

"My mana gate is back to normal," Allen muttered.

It looks like the gate that Maurice locked has finally opened. And as his mana gate returned, he could feel two opposing manas flowing inside his body, making his body suddenly hot, like a fire was burning inside it.

"Wha...what is this? I feel something colliding inside my body!" Allen fell out of his chair. His body was weak and hard to move, and sweat instantly soaked his clothes.

"My head, is going to explode!" as he started to feel his mana colliding harder, suddenly he could slowly feel one of them losing, or rather, one of them seeming to disappear.

Without Allen realizing it, his scarf disappeared. Then from inside his shadow came out something like slime, black in color and one-eyed, a very familiar figure to him.

"Reig, you're back," Allen said with a limp body.

Reig took out his hand and stroked Allen's hair.

"Thank you, Reig. Thank you for coming back. I was lonely without you.

I realize the human world I want to visit is not a nice place.

I want to go back into dungeeeoon...

With you… with mother…"

Allen's limp body gradually fell asleep, and a tear came out of his eyes.

Reig turned back into a scarf and wrapped himself around Allen's body.

...

The next day. A knock on his bedroom door woke Allen up.

The door opened immediately, and someone entered.

Allen, who was only half awake, looked at the person. It was the maid who used to take care of him.

"Good morning," said the maid.

The maid cleaned up Allen's ink-stained desk.

"Later, you have to clean your room and get up by yourself. Hurry up and get ready in 10 minutes. You have to practice with Lord Theobauld. I have a lot of other things to do, so I'll be going." She said it with an expressionless face.

"Wait… What's your name? I thought I had heard it before, and now I forget." asked Allen.

The maid turned around and replied,

"My name is Iskaria," she said, then left after saying that.

Allen didn't care about the maid's name, but since she had taken care of him so many times, at least he had to know her name.

After she left, Allen held Reig, which has now become his scarf.

"Thank goodness. I thought last night was just a dream. You're really back."

The ends of Allen's scarf moved like a living thing. A sign that Reig was controlling his scarf.

"Are you still unable to show yourself to others? Then just stay as a scarf. It would be strange if I suddenly said that I lost my scarf to others.

After that, Allen went straight to the training ground.

...

"You're late. What took you so long?!" said Felicia after Allen arrived at the training ground.

Allen was the last to arrive. He saw Theobauld, who was swinging his sword.

"Oh, did you sleep well, little monster?" said Theobauld when he saw Allen approaching him.

Allen then walked over to Theobauld.

'Is he going to attack me again like yesterday?' Theobauld thought.

But Theobauld was wrong. Allen wasn't attacking him, nor was he annoyed at being called a little monster.

Allen bowed his head to Theobauld, and said,

"Please train me, Master Theobauld,"

Theobauld used his sword as a backrest, stood up casually, and said,

"Stop that. Just call me Theo. I get weird goosebumps hearing you call me master," said Theobauld.

"No way, Master Theobauld. I lost badly yesterday. I will call you master from now on."

"No no, that master call only applies if you don't manage to hurt me. In fact, you cut off my ear. Look!"

"Then I'll just call you Master Theo."

"So stubborn, whatever."

Allen straightened his head. Then he asked,

"So, are you going to teach me the sword arts from yesterday?"

Theobauld picked up his sword, then placed it on the shelf. On the shelf, he took out two wooden swords and threw one of them to Allen.

"My swordsmanship is called sword-soil. The basis of this swordsmanship is to unite the body with the soil. Most of the focus is on swinging the sword, and my swordsmanship is useful for big people like me who can't move flexibly. That's why I use shunpo, a quick move that uses the ground as a foothold, and then by lightening my own body, I can get in front of my opponent in no time. To be honest, I can't teach you this."

"What? Why?" asked Allen, confused.

"If you use this, your agility and flexibility will not be utilized properly. So..." Theobauld threw one of the wooden swords at Allen, then said

"So you should first discover what kind of fighting style you like by adding as much fighting experience as possible,"

Allen nodded, then walked backward, keeping his distance from Theobauld.

Just as they were about to start, Felicia shouted at them.

"Hey, wait! I got here first. Why is he dueling you first!"

"Right, sorry, Lady. Allen, we can start later-"

"Wait," Allen interrupted Theobauld's words, then faced Felicia,

"Felicia... right?"

"Call me Lady!"

Allen ignored her and continued with his words.

"Be patient. We're about to start, don't interrupt my training."

"Hah?! That's not fair! If you want to train first, you have to come first! First come, first served!" shouted Felicia in annoyance.

Allen lowered his sword and sighed.

"Haaah... If I'm not mistaken, Thurstan said, you have a lot of mana, right? And I heard you're more suited to be a medic or caster. Why must you practice the sword rather than learning more amnis?"

Felicia then replied

"You idiot, casters depend on spirits to use amnis. Not all spirits are present in all situations. So the caster must also be able to defend themselves without amnis!"

"Woaaaah you're veeery smaart," Allen complimented Felicia in a flat tone,

"Of course, I'm a noble!"

"It would be great if nobles could be patient,"

"..."

"Fine, just do whatever you want!"

Allen then continued his duel with Theobauld.

Felicia, who was upset, sat down in her usual chair. Rachel immediately poured tea into Felicia's glass.

"No need!" Felicia shouted at Rachel.

Once Allen and Theobauld's duel began, Felicia just watched them. She put both of her hands on the table to sustain her head.

Actually, Felicia's focus was not on Allen and Theobauld fighting. She was thinking about something else,

"Mr. Waldo, what is he doing now?" Felicia said it with a lonely face.

"I want to see him."

Rachel, who heard this, immediately felt guilty.

"I'm sorry, Lady Felicia," she said.

"Sorry, why?" Rachel unconsciously said it out loud, even though she meant to say it silently.

"Umm, it's about the tea, my lady. I guess you didn't like it because it smelled bad," said Rachel.

Felicia picked up the glass and drank it.

"Same as always," said Felicia.

Felicia then looked back at Allen and Theobauld's duel. She could see Allen attacking Theobauld relentlessly, while Theobauld was only silent to withstand his attacks. Seeing Allen's severe expression, Felicia thought,

'That kid, why is he making that face? Is it because he lost someone he cared about? If I'm not mistaken, he was raised by the orcs in the dungeon. Then what happened to that orc? Did it have something to do with the orc, his mother, or something like that? Or maybe the orc who raised him was killed by humans? Is that also why he was brought to this place inside a cage?

If that's the case, losing someone you care about must be very painful. I might even go crazy if Mr. Waldo suddenly died.'

"Oh, look, he can fight back!" said Felicia.

Instead of just attacking at the front, Allen utilized his flexibility to move freely around Theobauld, and eventually, Theobauld was forced to move from his spot.

"Good, your wasted move is becoming less frequent. You just have to concentrate your energy and movement to attack your opponent."

Allen nodded.

After Allen nodded, he removed his sword.

"What's wrong?" said Theobauld, confused.

Allen put his wooden sword on the shelf, then picked up another wooden sword. This time, it was shorter.

"For some reason, I feel like something is missing with just one sword. My left hand doesn't move at all, and it feels uncomfortable."

Allen was now holding two wooden swords, which were less than half of his hand in length. Rather than swords, they were blades.

He tried to set up a stance that allowed him to move freely.

"That's right, that weapon looks more suitable for you."

Allen quickly ran towards Theobauld. He initially used his left blade to attack Theobauld. Theobauld parried his blade, and then, at that opportunity, Allen used his other blade to attack Theobauld's waist. Theobauld immediately pushed his sword away from Allen, and retreated backward.

"Amazing, he's already made Theobauld move so many times! I've never even forced Theobauld to move," Felicia exclaimed.

"My lady… your talent is in mana capacity and usage. Don't compare yourself to Allen. He is different."

"I know! But he's excellent. He can easily do things that I haven't been able to do in just a short time, even though I am a noble. I should become more skilled than just a mere peasant."

Their duel no longer looked one-sided; Allen could nimbly attack Theobauld, and Theobauld had to move backward many times, avoiding Allen's attacks.

*Tap tap tap

Three slapping sounds were coming from the door.

Hearing that, Theobauld immediately used all of his strength to make Allen stop. Allen's body was thrown away.

Allen immediately stood up and was about to attack Theobauld again, but he saw Theobauld just stand still, lowering his sword. Theobauld looked toward the door.

There, a maid was bending down. She was the one who clapped. She was Iskaria.

"Lady Felicia, Allen, and Rachel. Lady Isabelle would like you to meet her in her workroom," said Iskaria.

"I wonder what business auntie has called?" said Felicia.

Allen put down his wooden sword. He felt a bit upset that his training had been interrupted, but since Isabelle called him, he complied.

The three of them went to Isabelle's place.

It seemed that Isabelle was still busy taking care of the files piling up on her desk.

Even though Felicia and Allen were standing in front of her, she still continued writing. After a minute had passed, she put down her quill and looked at them.

"Haaah... My work has been piling up lately,"

"Thank you for your hard work, auntie," said Felicia.

Then, the two maids behind Felicia and Allen, Iskaria and Rachel, repeated Felicia's words.

"Thank you for your hard work, Lady Isabell."

Isabelle took her cigar from the drawer, lit it on fire, and smoked it.

"Since you know, I'm swamped right now, plus Thurstan can't be bothered. I want to ask Felicia for a favor.

"Yes, auntie?"

Isabelle picked up the top four pieces of paper in a pile beside her and put them into the letter. The letter was sealed by melting the red wax on top of the letter cover. Then she pressed one of the rings on her finger onto the letter. The wax was now stamped with the Wolverlope family crest.

"Felicia, Allen, please take this letter to the Church of Fire in the center of town, have the pastor sign this paper, and bring it back to me. Of course, Rachel can come along."

"Really?! Then, can I take a tour of the city's market district?" Felicia said this excitedly.

"That's fine,"

"Why should I come too?" asked Allen.

"I heard about your skills from Theo, and I heard you're on pare with palladium-ranked. So you should accompany Felicia. I want you to be her bodyguard."

"Yes, my lady," Allen replied.

Allen didn't want to accompany Felicia. He didn't really like her overly self-important attitude. Plus, he was annoyed that his training with Theobauld was cut short in the middle because he was told to escort Felicia.

Rachel, Felicia, and Allen got out of there.

"What's wrong?"

There was still one more maid who didn't leave the room with Rachel. Iskaria just stayed there.

"My lady, why did you give that task to those children? Isn't it usually given to the soldiers?"

Isabelle took a drag on her cigar, then replied:

"That boy needs to meet more people and see more of the outside world."

"You are too kind, my lady," Iskaria muttered with a sad face.

"Is that all?"

Iskaria shook her face and said,

"Then, about the child, we hid in the basement. I think we should just hand it over to the kingdom. I'm afraid some bad thing will happen to you, my lady." Iskaria said with a slightly scared face.

Isabelle. She took out her cigar and placed it back into the drawer.

"I want to continue my work. Get out," Isabelle didn't want to respond to Iskaria's words.

Iskaria clasped her hands tightly and bowed her head.

"Farewell, my lady,"

Iskaria walked out of the room.