I didn't immediately take the word of the skeleton that called itself Eldora, so I kept my weapon ready as I looked at it. "And what do you want from us?" My voice clearly conveyed my suspicion towards the skeleton before us.
The skeleton sighed, as a soft chair suddenly formed beneath it while it sat down. Soon after a table and three additional chairs were created, which the skeleton motioned for us to sit. I sat down on the center chair prepared for some kind of trap but nothing happened. Once Arya and Elaine had sat down as well the skeleton put its elbows on the table and crossed its fingers while resting its skull atop them. "I greet the kin of the She-Demon of Shadows, and your companions. As I said before I am Eldora, the Servitor of this Labyrinth, you may think of me as the core and overseer. I cannot allow you, kin of the She-Demon, to go any farther, your companions however, may continue on should they wish." His voice was dull and monotone, reminding me of the primitive A.I. technology in Velen's life, lifeless as it gave out the programmed responses.
I vaguely recalled something about the She-Demon of Shadows, but I could quite remember where I had heard it. Regardless I wasn't aware of being related to her, and I was slightly annoyed that Eldora said I could go no further. "And why is that? If you are the core and overseer shouldn't you have final say?" While I didn't want to force the issue, I was in need of the equipment I could acquire from the lower levels.
Eldora's bones rattled as he slightly shifted. "This Trial is meant for another. You are an abnormality that could potentially void the Trial, directly interfering with my prime directive."
"And if I insist on pushing through?" I wasn't sure if threatening a being that I wasn't even sure was sentient would work or was a good idea, but I did so hoping to get a more human response.
"Then I will be forced to bring the full force of the Labyrinth to eliminate you. A waste of resources, but a necessary one should you take that path."
I let out an exasperated sigh, I could barely imagine what the full force of the Labyrinth would be like. Me and Arya had already struggled dealing with the skeletal mage and its undead horde. Even with Elaine added into the mix I doubted we'd be able to survive, well I might, but I wasn't about to get two people I trusted killed over my desires. "Fine, can you at least give me a consolation prize or something? I really need something to get an edge over a stupid Hero."
While I wasn't holding my breath that my plea would get Eldora to actually give me something, I was surprised when he pulled out a small cask. "All I can offer is this cask of Labyrinth's Brew, along with the advice that the eldest Labyrinth, Ryona, would be much more suitable for finding equipment for taking on a Champion of the Divine. However, unless they are much older than you I believe you would be fine, the She-Demon is famous for killing and subduing powerful Divines, as her kin you should have inherited at least a portion of her power."
I was rather frustrated at the roundabout way Eldora went about mentioning my heritage along with the fact that he would actually say much about the She-Demon other than that she was someone no one should offend. He also mentioned that should we be leaving we would find the path to the exit clear so that we didn't have to face any obstacle as we went back to the surface.
My mood was sour the entire time we made our way out of the Labyrinth. While it wasn't like the trip had been fruitless, I hadn't gotten anything I wanted, nor had I gained any new knowledge other than a vague hint that I should be able to fight against the Hero. My frustration was only compounded when we managed to cross the forest we'd previously spent four days in, in only a single hour.
The rest of the trek back to the surface was also uneventful just as Eldora had said it would be. The guardsmen and Adventurers that kept a tally of who was in the Labyrinth was surprised to see us back so soon as we had originally planned on staying for a much longer period, but showing them the cask of Labyrinth's Brew made them understanding, it was small fortune and selling it could set someone up for a very long period of time.
On top of that we had gotten a small cask, while most people found single bottles or tankards. The plan was to sell a bottle or two for an influx of funds that I could use to better my current equipment as much as possible before simply just risking it on the words of Eldora that I should be able to deal with a Hero that was close to my age. Elaine was in charge of the selling since both I and Arya were still technically minors who were not allowed to drink. I'd keep the rest as it was technically my loot and Elaine wasn't able to claim any since it had been gotten on the tenth floor, before she was allowed to intervene.
The weather had begun to heat up drastically as the deadline I'd set for myself to fight against the Hero began to creep closer, soon it was just over four days away. I'd set it for the day after my birthday as I planned on spending that in a carefree and relaxed way to ease the tension before battling the next day.
Just as I had for the past few months, my days were spent in a flurry activity. I'd attend classes in the morning, cultivate with Arya at lunch, and then skip my afternoon crafting classes as I worked on honing my control over my Skills and making minor adjustments to my armor and weapon.
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My birthday soon arrived and I woke up to the familiar sensation of Arya clinging to my body as she slept, though unlike during our Labyrinth dive, we now slept naked, slowly but surely desensitizing me towards her meat rod. Something that was actually progressing quite well. While I still wasn't capable of performing nighttime activities with it, I could now at least touch it without recoiling.
I pretty much planned to laze the day away and enjoy my time as much as was possible. To that end I snuggled back under the light silken blanket and gently fell back to sleep. It wasn't until the light of the afternoon sun landed against my eyelids that I woke once again. I didn't go back to sleep this time as even though I was planning on taking the day easy and slacking off, I still planned on cultivating my Yin Revolution with Arya, it was simply too crucial of a Skill to skip out even a single day of training. Plus, it wasn't that strenuous of an activity, rather I found it relaxing and it would ease some of the tension I had towards tomorrow.
I poked Arya on the face a few times as I watched her sleep, her face scrunching cutely at the annoyance that was my finger. After a few minutes her eyes eventually cracked open sleepily as she got her bearings. She sat up and yawned while stretching her body before rubbing her eyes. "Morning, what time is it?" She said while yawning once again.
I shrugged while getting out of the bed. "Sometime around noon probably, I just woke up as well."
By the time Arya had exited the bed I had already made my way into the kitchen and donned the silky apron that I used to cook in. Even though me and Arya practically spent all our time around the house naked and I didn't need the apron for protection, I still wore it whenever I cooked, mostly because I'd found out how awful it was to spill something like honey on yourself while eating. Sure we'd wash and clean afterwards, but I disliked the sticky sensation on my skin so I had woven the apron for use in the kitchen.
Despite the fact it was around lunch time I still decided to make breakfast as I had bought some more expensive ingredients so that I could make something exotic for my birthday. The menu for today was breakfast crepes, maple syrup, sausage, bacon, and a variety of fresh fruits with crème. Even for a duke household this would be rather extravagant, but I had a bit of profit remaining from the sale of the Labyrinth Brew so I had splurged.
I still found it strange that Artifice included cooking in its repertoire, but I had long since given up on trying to understand how that particular Skill worked, though I was thankful that it did since it greatly increased my once average cooking abilities. Normally the amount of food I made would be too much for the two of us, but recently I had been ravenous so I had prepared about twice as much food for quite a while now.
Once we finished eating and talking a bit about what we were going to do for the rest of the day we washed up, and as usual cultivated the Yin-Yang Technique. Recently I'd been feeling that the speed at which Yin Revolution was collecting energy was increasing, a welcome change as I had been feeling stuck in a rut with it for quite awhile now.
Despite the fact that today was supposed to be a celebration I planned to spend the majority of it doing just about nothing. It was times like this that I had access to the internet or even television as while I could go see a play or something, I wasn't a big fan of the stories that were told. They were usually historical accounts that were romanticized, which wasn't a bad thing, but most of everything somehow ended up with the moral of revering the Gods, especially Iustitia.
Once the sun began to get low in the sky me and Arya made our way over to the Eldur manor. It had only occurred to me this week but I didn't actually have that many people that I was close with. There was obviously my family, along with Arya, Elaine, and Ellie, but otherwise I was just on good terms with others in the school. I'd considered making it a bigger deal, but decided that I would be happy with just the few people I was closest with.
What I hadn't known was that fifteen was the legal drinking age, and it didn't long before the once calm gathering began to take a dangerous turn. I didn't know when, as I was far too out of it, but somehow we'd moved to the bedroom and clothes began to appear on the floor. I was stumbling towards what was probably the greatest feast my eyes had ever seen, when I suddenly felt uncomfortable, like I was going to throw up.
I fell to my knees and clutched my chest as I began to cough and a smattering of deep red came from my mouth and covered the floor in front of me. The others quickly sobered up seeing the situation and began to come towards me as I fell to my side, heat rushing through my body as if the inside of my body was on fire. I struggled a bit as more blood was ejected from my mouth as a hazy sensation overtook my senses and I closed my eyes.