Lord Darren, Husband of Supreme Warlady Elena
“Here,” I said and placed the container in front of my wife. My only wife. My first wife had divorced me when I had been stripped of my title. She wouldn’t be making it home. There would be some unexpected bandits. I did not take betrayal lightly and it was time to sweep the board clean of unsightly individuals. Elena opened the container and looked inside.
“I thought you would have killed yourself. With how weak you are,” she replied. She was teasing me in her own unique way. Despite her lack of social skills, reading Elena was always a challenge with her stats and other skills.
“Then you would have killed him anyways and made a mess. It was better that I do it,” I replied, and she nodded.
“That is what I like about you. You might seem soft, but you have a spine of steel. Rather than the other way around. Your title and other children?” That was more concern than I expected, but she was probably checking to see if loose ends were tied up.
“Timothy was executed as you know. Using the invitation I had sent for the wedding to sneak an assassin in,” I replied heavily. It was sad to lose a child, but I was more upset about the wasted time and investment. Useless, completely and utterly useless trash. “And my father is in the container. Dereck has taken up the title of Duke. I have been banished from Terander for inciting trouble and stripped of the title of Duke. I am a landless Lord now,” I replied with a smile. Now that I had been banished but not killed everything was falling into place.
Elena didn’t know I wanted this and was the real mastermind behind everything. With my father now dead and loose ends tied up, it was finally time to enact the plan I had dreamed of since I was very young. The last time I had made too many mistakes. The midget might be a metaphor, but it was a good one.
Looking at Elena, she really was the perfect wife for someone like me. Out of all the women I had over the years, she was by far the best and hardest to manage. Even with my tier 5 social skill, she still resisted in her own way. At least she had fulfilled her part of the bargain long ago after her son was born.
I did not have the skills to level easily. Being level 100 was important for what I had planned. One step leading into countless others. The Eldarin Empire failed for many reasons, the most important one being darkness at its core. But it was time for it to be reborn. It had taken far too much planning to reach such a position with the levels and stats I had, and this could only be considered the first step. Still, the first step was always the hardest of any endeavor.
“A shame that your father schemed against me and my son. Our son,” she corrected herself. Apparently, I was forgiven for handling the issue on my own without requiring her help, which was what I had expected of her. It was only our marriage that saved me from retaliation from the King’s Court, also precisely within my plans. My other son might have married the Princess, but my father represented a large faction of nobility and had used my estranged son as a pawn to try and incite Elena to wrath.
It was utter foolishness, but that was what they had schemed after I incited them to do so. The power of a few carefully chosen words was far better than any combat skill. Now my son had been blamed and executed, and I had killed my father so Elena wouldn’t have to. But the most important thing was my banishment without any other penalties or oaths. I was free without any suspicion upon myself.
“So where is Justin, is he okay?” I asked. We were in the city of Monolith not far from the Five Star Institute of Healing. I needed to express care for him to target Elena. It was a small weak point in this woman just like her family, but an important one. I also liked Justin, more than my other children I had over the years. He was like his mother, determined and didn’t cause me trouble, while being useful.
“He is all healed, not to worry. I am merely testing his resolve. It was brought to my attention that I was making things too easy for him. I wanted to see how he handled himself in the dungeon before pushing him any further down the path of an adventurer,” she answered and then held out her hand.
“Sit and take my hand,” she said. I sat next to her and took her hand. I was then assaulted with a vision of Justin.
“You sent him into the dungeon, alone,” I whispered in surprise while reevaluating Elena. I was rarely surprised any more, but this woman, she had a fire, a passion that burned brightly.
“Yes. I did. I gave him a Ring of Remote Viewing, but it also has a hidden one time teleport spell linked to it. If there is truly a serious threat, I will teleport directly there,” she said.
“You can do that? I thought such things didn’t work between layers?” I asked.
“If he goes below the 3rd layer there will be issues, and it might fail. But for the first three it is fine. I have enough Mana to punch through the spatial protections that separate the layers,” she said. I didn’t doubt her. If anyone could do something others considered impossible it would Elena.
“What has happened so far?” I asked.
“He registered at the Adventurer’s Guild in the city and met some new disrespectful adventurers. If see those three again, I will teach them a lesson in manners.” I hoped they stayed in the dungeon for a long time and never ran into Elena. A lesson from her would be life threatening.
“He fought a wolf Champion on the 1st layer and did quite well. His combat skills are showing solid improvement. Now he is on the 2nd layer making some poor man runes,” Elena explained as we watched our son.
“I don’t know much, but it looks like five of the same rune, no trigger mechanism,” I said.
“He is carefully balancing the Mana present in the runes hoping the monsters will trigger them.” She was right of course, instantly seeing through what our son had planned. I had seen as well, but she didn’t know that I held such knowledge and I was far too good an actor to make such a mistake with my greatest performance to date.
“Why not fight them with his weapons?” I asked.
“Slime monsters are resistant to physical attacks and they spit poison. It was well done.”
“But he used up more cores to kill them than he got,” I pointed out.
“Nothing but red cores. They are worthless. Using a creative method to keep advancing is good. Very good,” Elena said.
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“Really? I wouldn’t know.”
“There were three outcomes. The first being idiots that quickly die. They would have rushed in and fought the monsters and suffered. The second are the cautious. They would have retreated and chosen another path. If our son had done that he would never reach my level. He chose a third path, winning no matter what.”
“That seems harsh,” I replied.
“His goal to be the best and surpass me requires a level of dedication that is hard for regular people to fathom. You have read Bastian’s work?”
“Yes. It terribly depressing and the baking, it just makes it confusing,” I replied. I harbored a deep hatred for that man. But despite the feelings I had, I didn’t let Elena hear any of it.
“Indeed. It was the only book my family had growing up. One nobody wanted to keep. I had Tutor Damian give it to our son during his recovery time. No supreme legend has never come from the line of a previous one and even reaching the title of legend is rare. Second generation children struggle with the proper mindset that they must win. Even if it seems impossible. That is why the College of Advancement might produce legends, but they are carefully cultivated flowers, who only barely reach level 100.”
She was right. Would Justin be the first to break such a trend? It was hard to say. The path to becoming a Supreme Legend was long and hard. “You want him to go further,” I said.
“Only if he remains determined to become a spellblade like me. I can accept many things from him, but I refuse to accept mediocrity. I refused to compromise throughout my life and I won’t start now. That reminds me Darren.” I felt a twinge of fear, but kept it buried.
“You were telling our son about Poetry?” she asked while staring intently at me. Ah, I wanted to share a bit of my legacy with my son. Social skills were far more powerful than either he or his mother understood. While that wasn’t my only focus of my build, those were the ones I enjoyed the most and had worked on recovering. Still my knowledge of soul skills and soul related effects was second to none.
Elena might think she was clever, but it was I who mentioned soul fruits after our son was born. I knew Elena would not remain around much longer. She yearned to destroy the dungeon which had destroyed her family. If Justin could go far enough, his support would be useful.
Still that cloaked figure who had cursed Justin was quite annoying. Despite our best efforts he still alluded us. Possibly some enemy looking to slow down my return with some half assed divination skill. The most annoying would be someone from the Dark Cabal. They were always causing trouble and terrorism.
“Just showing him other facets of life. And what I had wanted for my Duchy. But that is all lost now. At least the people are safe, and my children and grandchildren will grow up well, even if I can never go home,” I quietly said.
“If you want, I could make you King,” Elena said. She wasn’t joking. She did have a sense of humor, but I knew she was completely serious right now. Unfortunately, that would incite hatred. Hatred that was not easily erased. She would also not be around all the time, no matter how much I had tried to subtlety convince her. I had learned that the process of creating an Empire mattered just as much as the end result. That was why the future Eldarin Empire, when I had rebirthed it, wouldn’t have slavery.
“I am retired and always wanted to travel. I did take a decent chunk of my wealth with me to live comfortably. But I am destitute compared to previously. No elite guards for me anymore,” I said.
“You are under my protection. If you are killed, I will avenge you,” Elena said. That was something I had worked very hard to achieve over the years. Her support was worth ten legends on its own. The threat was more useful than anything else at the moment.
“Is that love?” I asked in a slightly teasing tone.
“No. You were the best option as a father. And you can teach important social skills to our son. Even Drama if you wish,” she said.
“What, really?” I asked, another surprising concession. Did she understand how high my social skills truly were?
“None of your other children wanted to learn such skills. Perhaps Justin will have a hidden talent. Instead of a spellblade like me, he could become a bard. Recite poetry and kill monsters with puns.” Now there was her dry wit she rarely shared with others. I wasn’t worried that she had latched onto my ultimate skill, since I had started that rumor to begin with about people with social skills and bards.
“It would be punny.”
“No.”
“Why did the hero bring a ladder to fight the giant? To take it to the next level!” Elena’s mouth twitched slightly, and I considered it a win. I didn’t push any further. The real trick was making everything seem natural.
“You going to watch him all three months?” I asked.
“Yes. He is not strong enough to go unsupervised.”
“When will he be strong enough?” I asked.
“When he can spar with me as an equal.” That was not going to happen for a long time. Or I could teach him the dreaded art of puns. That was my favorite tier 6 skill. Unfortunately, no one survived such a thing and I yet to recover it, Punjitsu. A delightful combination of puns and soul magic.
If I had to guess one of her family members had liked puns. The memory of her family made her weak to them or I was just that good. But even with my talent, I knew her reaction was truly natural. I could imagine selling this information to an information broker who would pass it onto some assassins. Training in the art of puns, to take down Supreme Warlady Elena.
It would almost be funny, if she wouldn’t be upset with me for sharing private information about her. Still, I could only imagine assassins rushing at her shouting puns to mentally distract her to create an opening. A shame that no one remembered such an amazing skill, since everyone who had heard it had died, horribly.
“You are thinking something stupid. Either pay attention to our son, or go do something else,” Elena said.
“Sorry. The fight was exciting, but this must be incredibly boring for you, it is for me,” I replied. We both had killed far too much to be interested in such boring fights.
“It is. But I can’t take him into the dungeon myself.”
“What why?” I asked. I knew the answer, but once again I couldn’t reveal it.
“I scared it.”
“What?” I asked confused.
“Monsters of the first five layers flee from my presence or don’t appear at all,” she said with a touch of frustration.
“The dungeon. The place that has been doing the same thing for millennia. It is scared of you?” I asked incredulously. It had happened to me as well long ago. I considered it amusing more than anything else. Proof of my power.
“It is rare for people of my level to wander about the top layers. We are always moving between them, never wandering about. But I wanted to explore a bit, to refresh myself on how weak the monsters were and I made the discovery,” she replied.
“You actually scared the dungeon. I know you hate the place,” I said.
“Yes, it does give me hope that I might reach the source of evil one day and destroy it for all time.” I didn’t mention how it was a vital source of mana cores or natural treasures. Also, for experience and leveling of skills. Elena didn’t care about the wider societal impact if her quest was ever completed. She knew, but she didn’t care.
She wanted to avenge her family when a passage had broken to the surface and unleashed monsters upon her family. That one single moment had come to dominate her entire life and thinking. And now that she had reached over level 150, she was more set in her ways than ever.
While she could bend slightly, she would never yield or change. That was the kind of determination that saw her become a supreme legend. But it was also what made her incredibly stubborn and single minded about certain things. It was a shame, but nothing could change the core of personality, not even me.
“Oh, an ice biome. Ice spiders,” I said.
“Spiders. It is always spiders. I dislike them. Very annoying to fight with all their limbs and other abilities. The dungeon loves them. I think they were rated quite high as one of the most common monster archetypes encountered by the College of Advancement.”
“Studying?” I asked with a slight grin. She was known for many things, but not book learning. I knew she could learn from books, but it was the light teasing I was allowed to get away with and allowed me to influence her.
“I keep up to date with their latest publications. While most of it is trash or just something old reviewed in a new way, they occasionally have some interesting pieces of information. The study on monster archetypes was interesting enough to catch my attention.” Ah Elena, never change. You are both predictable and exciting, wrapped up in pure power and deadliness. Truly the perfect woman for someone like me.