Harvest Dungeon

"Death, his energy stripped down and added to the dungeon, his soul refined into a soul stone, and all his possessions both on him and within the Dimensional Bank belong to us." Zephirah asked.

Of course there was a dimensional bank. I shook my head at the thought.

"When it is said like that, it doesn"t actually sound that bad." the dire wolf chuckled. "Though having your soul refined into a soul stone, is a horrible torture that causes unimaginable pain as your soul is literally burned to remove all of its impurities, which would be your conciousness, before it can become a soul stone." the dire wolf informed me.

I stared at the dire wolf in surprise for a moment before looking to the serpent. I had the feeling that was the part of the punishment that the serpent was trying to avoid Seth going through. "And what do you propose sir?" I asked the serpent politely.

The serpent was silent for several long moments as he considered me for several moments as he weighed his options. "Surrender of all doc.u.ments pertaining to my clan, and his life." he replied.

"In exchange for what? Even if the clan doc.u.ments are useless to us, which is a big if. There is a loss of energy, a soul stone, piece of mind knowing he won"t be able to come back for us, and he is the problem we have been having concerning Vanessa and the company that sent me here." I asked.

"Don"t forget the energy print." Zephirah reminded me.

"Is that any use now that you synchronized the gem?" I asked.

"It was fake." she told me with an angry growl.

I grit my teeth. "Then that is another thing we would lose if we let him leave." I agreed while I kept my temper in check.

The serpent smiled as he leaned back in his chair. "Well I could provide a serpent gem in exchange for all of that." he offered.

"No." I replied firmly before Zephirah could say anything. "I would bet there is a real one in his possessions, and even if there isn"t, I am not sure I want to add serpents into my dungeon after this."

The serpent scowled while the dire wolf chuckled. "Can"t blame him for that one worm." he replied. "Your boy betrayed him and you are trying to cheat him. Pity for you, I am sure there are a few of your daughters who will curse you when they find out about the missed opportunity."

The serpent winced. "Fine, triple the energy he would have provided, a purified soul stone, an advancement coin to use as you wish, and a frost crystal." he offered.

"I don"t even know what half of those are." I muttered to myself, was there a difference between a purified and refined soul stone? I was unsure if we should take the deal. He hadn"t even addressed the issue of our piece of mind, or the trouble he had caused Vanessa.

"In addition, I will provide a daughter of mine to be your serpent queen." the serpent told me.

I frowned but before I could speak the dire wolf commented.

"I see, using the clan rules to keep your son from acting against them. Not a bad idea. A win-win for you isn"t it." he stated.

The serpent scowled. "Fine three advancement coins." he told us then remained silent.

"Deal." Zephriah agreed happily.

I glared at the sprite. Given the waves of excitement that was coming off of her, she must think we are getting a good dea. Yet I wasn"t so sure. Even if Seth couldn"t attack us because of his sister, could we trust her? Maybe I was being racist, but I was getting the feeling that serpents had a bad rep for a reason.

Unfortunately she had already agreed so when the serpent looked to me I nodded. "What she said."

A screen appeared in front of me spelling out the agreement we had just come to. Thankfully there was a notation that Seth"s belongings would be sorted by a neutral party of the Dimensional Bank"s choosing, so I accepted the terms.

The golden band around Seth"s neck disappeared. He began to move sluggishly at first but recovered quickly. He shrank down until he was only a meter long.

"Father." Seth greeted the serpent in human form. Then glared at me hatefully. Seeing that familiar sight I had some doubts about this agreement. That look screamed "you are going to pay for this!"

"Go." the serpent told Seth irritably then a portal appeared from nowhere beside Seth. Like the portal created by the dire wolf to summon Elisia it had a different dialect than what I was used to, and even different than how the dire wolf created his. I quickly memorized the formation to study later. While I knew the portal was a display of power, I had to admit I was overwhelmed. He hadn"t cast a spell, or done anything like the ancient dire wolve"s howl to summon the spell. This spoke a great deal on his abilities in using runic, he was probably many levels above my own.

Seth gave me one last glare then disappeared into the portal.

With a wave of the serpent"s hand a bag appeared on the table. "All his possessions minus those you agreed to. The advancement coins, frost crystal, and token have already been placed inside. I honestly have no idea what else is inside. If he had anything that he wasn"t supposed to, I will contact my daughter in hopes of a trade." the serpent told me.

"Will you have an issue if I kill him the next time?" I asked. No matter how I thought about it I couldn"t shake the feeling that Seth would find some way, some loop hole he could use to get revenge, whether he did it himself or convinced others to do it for him. I was already starting to regret not killing him.

The serpent paused for a moment, "No. Though I pray he will learn from this mistake." the serpent replied then disappeared as quickly and quietly as he had appeared.

I groaned, did he mean he hoped Seth learned to not mess with me, or how to beat me?

"Well that was entertaining." the dire wolf said with a chuckle. "I better go have a chat with him about who he will send. A war between our daughters would not help any of you." he commented. "Take care of yourself daughter."

"I will sire." Elisia said from the bed where she was still lying down. She looked exhausted.

The dire wolf turned to me with a serious look. "Give whomever he sends a chance. It might not seem like it but there are some good ones amongst those monsters." he advised me "And for what it is worth. You made the right choice. The trouble he could have caused you would have made all the trouble the little one has created for you seem like a children"s prank." then the dire wolf disappeared too.

"Can they do that because they are mediators, or because they are just that much stronger than I am?" I asked as I wondered about his last words. My doubts must have been plainly visible. Seemed I really couldn"t act.

"Mediators. Anyone else would have to break the shield, no matter how strong they are." Zephirah replied.

I groaned then sighed.

"Oh no, he didn"t say anything about fixing the issue with Vanessa"s family and the company!" Zephirah exclaimed.

"Probably because there isn"t one." I replied sadly.

"What?" Zephirah asked.

I had my suspicions, but then again maybe I was wrong. It would be best if we waited for Vanessa to reform and use the item Zephirah got for her. If we still needed to, did death erase brainwashing?

"So who is ready to see what we got from that snake?" I asked trying to cheer all of us up.

"I am more than a bit curious." Elisia admitted.

With a smile, I grabbed the bag before sitting on the bed beside the wolf so she wouldn"t have to move. "Is this normal?" I asked concerned.

"No, the fake gem caused some trouble. It didn"t harm her, but she will be pretty tired for a while." Zephirah replied.

"What about you?" I asked the sprite.

"Just my pride." Zephirah answered.

"And you Lilian?" I asked the fairy who had gone into hiding once the dire wolf appeared.

"I might have peed myself." Lilian replied gloomily making the rest of us laugh. "That isn"t funny!" she yelled at us.

"Sorry, but I really needed that." I apologized to the fairy. "Go get cleaned up." I told her then snickered as she flew into the bathroom.

"Mate, did you really not know Vanessa was fine?" Elisia asked me.

I nodded my smile disappearing. "I had no idea about that." I admitted then shivered as I remembered how scared and desperate I was when I thought she was dying. I was sure the image of her laying on the ground in a pool of her own blood with her throat ripped out, was going to haunt me for years to come.

"I see, that would explain your reaction then." she seemed to say to herself, "Yet you didn"t blame me for her death?" she asked.

I shrugged. "I did, but I knew you did it to protect us. Instead I could only blame myself for not activating the spell sooner, or my inability to use my mana to heal her before she died." I explained, though I wasn"t certain if it was to her or to myself.

Elisia sighed but didn"t say anything else.

"Come on, open it up! I want to see what we got!" Zephirah exclaimed.

"No, we should pull the serpent gem out. Seth can do whatever he wishes until we summon his sister." Elisia told me.

I frowned, that obviously didn"t seem like a good idea.
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"Put your hand into the bag and think of grabbing a serpent gem. It looks identical to the one he provided earlier." Elisia told me.

I hesitated for a moment then reached into the bag while thinking of the serpent gem. I didn"t like this idea, but it was the only thing I could do at the moment or at least it was the only option I could think of.

A moment later I pulled a pale green gem out of the bag. I had been right.

"So how do we use the token?"I asked reaching into the bag again while thinking of the token we were supposed to use with the serpent gem.

"We place the token on the stone, it will activate on its own. Then we synchronize the gem. Once that is done we can summon the new girl." Zephirah told me.

I looked to Elisia, "Is this really a good idea?" I asked despite what her father had said.

"Yes, not only will it protect us, it will extend to your family as well." Elisia told me.

I hadn"t thought of them, I put the token on the stone without any hesitation. If bringing a serpent girl into my dungeon could lessen the risk to my family, I would do it. Hopefully this new one will fall for the same tricks. Though I did have a few more I could use, just in case.

The token seemed to melt in my hand then flow onto the gem then disappear as if the gem absorbed the token.

"Take two?" Zephirah asked then flew off to return to her core form. I repeated the process so the new gem started to orbit the core. Finished I returned to the bed to sit near Elisia. Once I was seated Elisia shifted a bit so her head was laying on my thigh. I started to pet her on reflex, I nearly stopped when I realized what I was doing, until I noticed how much her tail was wagging. I smiled then looked to the core. All I could do now was wait.