Harem Sync: Divine Edition-Chapter 36: Stories by the Hearth

Few residents still chatted, scattered throughout the inn; most had already left to prepare their wagons for the next day’s departure. But some lingered, sipping their last beer as if wanting to bid a proper farewell to the place where they had spent their entire lives before abandoning everything.

Yukihime sat at a table near the window, eating bread and jam that the innkeeper had given her for free, swinging her legs that barely reached the floor while observing everything around her with boundless curiosity. The two Valtherion guards who had stayed to protect her sat on the other side of the table, also eating but habitually keeping an eye on their surroundings.

One of the residents at the corner table commented loudly enough to be heard by half the room: "Did you see? The innkeeper opened today, precisely the day everyone is leaving, and the guy is over there happily cleaning glasses as if it were a normal day!"

The innkeeper behind the counter heard and smiled broadly, raising the glass he had just cleaned as if toasting with air.

"Heroes went to clear the dungeon! They did, and they left through my inn!" He said with disproportionate pride, as if the mere fact that they had stayed there made his establishment legendary.

The guys at the corner table looked at each other with that expression of someone who doesn’t know if what they heard is delusion or truth. One of them, older with a gray beard, shook his head. "Do you really think these supposed heroes can handle it? I think we should be cautious and leave right away." 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

"I thought the same..." the innkeeper agreed, "...but they are Valtherions."

The two lightly clinked their beers in a silent toast to that.

The first one’s eyes widened. "What? Are you crazy using the name Valtherion like that!? Imagine if those guys over there..." he discreetly pointed to the table where Yukihime and the guards were eating, "...are real Valtherions and they hear you talking like that!"

"Oh, they’re Valtherions," the innkeeper replied as if it were obvious.

"WHAT!?"

"Look at their armor, man!" he pointed at the guards. "Mercenaries don’t wear full armor or have a coat of arms engraved on their breastplate! That’s noble House equipment!"

The first one turned pale. "Man, I think you should speak quietly..."

"Relax, they’re with my heroes. They won’t do anything."

Yukihime had stopped eating and looked at the guards with a confused expression, her head tilted to the side, making her fox ears twitch. "What exactly is a dungeon?"

The two guards exchanged glances, the younger one gesturing to the older one as if to say "you answer," but the veteran only sighed and wiped his mouth with a napkin before trying to explain in a way that a five-year-old could understand.

"Dungeons are... fissures. Like cracks in the world," he began slowly, trying to find the right words. "You know when you break a vase and it leaves that cracked line? It’s similar, but with space, mana, and time all mixed together."

Yukihime nodded even though she didn’t fully understand.

The younger guard continued. "They usually appear more in isolated places, like caves, ancient forests, ruins. Places where there aren’t many people around to notice when they start to grow."

"And in the center of every dungeon there’s a core," the veteran added, making a circular gesture with his hands. "It’s like... the heart of the whole thing. As long as the core is intact, the dungeon continues to exist and create monsters."

"And there’s always a very strong monster protecting that core," the younger one completed. "The strongest of all that live inside. Sometimes it’s a giant golem, sometimes it’s a corrupted beast, it depends on the type of mana that has fueled the dungeon from the beginning."

Yukihime bit into another piece of bread, processing. "And why do they do that? Why do they create monsters?"

The guards exchanged glances again; this was more complicated territory.

"Nobody knows for sure," the veteran admitted. "But what we know is that dungeons... they grow, they get stronger, they create more monsters, they occupy more space. If you leave them too long without doing anything..." he paused heavily, "...eventually the dungeon consumes the entire surrounding area. Cities, villages, forests, everything becomes part of it."

"Their objective is basically to take over the entire world, one piece at a time," the younger one said grimly. "That’s why adventurers and soldiers destroy the core when they find it. You can’t negotiate with dungeons, only destroy them before they get too big."

Yukihime stopped chewing, looked out the window towards the hill where the ruins of the Vandris mansion stood, and asked softly: "And will the Pope destroy the core of this one?"

The guards didn’t answer immediately, because honestly none of them knew if the group would succeed or not, but the veteran forced a reassuring smile.

"Your father is strong. And he’s with good people. They’ll manage."

Yukihime nodded, wanting to believe, but her ears remained lowered nonetheless.

The veteran guard continued his explanation, seeing that Yukihime was truly paying attention. "But the important part is: if the core is destroyed, the entire dungeon disappears. Not gradually, it’s instantaneous. The distorted space returns to normal, the monsters that are still alive begin to weaken and die, and the fissures close on their own."

"That’s why everyone focuses on reaching the core," the younger guard added. "There’s no point in killing monster after monster if the core keeps creating more. You have to go straight to the source."

Yukihime nodded, absorbing that, but before she could ask another question, the veteran guard said something that changed the tone of the conversation.

"Some people say dungeons are gifts from the gods."

The younger guard turned to him with a skeptical expression. "Others say they are punishments."

The two were silent for a second, clearly disagreeing with each other but not wanting to argue in front of the child, when the innkeeper approached their table wiping a glass with a cloth, having overheard the conversation from afar.

"In my faith..." he said in a calm and firm voice, "...they are neither one thing nor the other."

Yukihime looked up at him, curious. "Then what are they?"

The innkeeper placed the clean glass on the tray and looked at her with the practical wisdom of someone who had lived long enough to have their own opinion on things. "Adversities."

He paused, organizing his thoughts.

"If mana exists in the world, phenomena will arise. They always do. It’s a natural law. Just as there are storms that destroy crops, earthquakes that topple cities, cyclones that sweep away entire villages..." he gestured broadly, "...dungeons are a natural part of this world too. They are not gifts, they are not punishments. They just are. And it’s up to us to deal with them in the best way possible."

The guards remained quiet, listening to this, the veteran nodding slightly as if agreeing with the philosophy even if it wasn’t exactly his belief, and the youngest just staring thoughtfully at his beer glass.

Yukihime processed this with the seriousness that only children can have when trying to understand concepts too big for their age.

The younger guard tried to be reassuring. "If Father defeated Vandris, who was a powerful necromancer with decades of experience, then..."

He stopped mid-sentence. The innkeeper had interrupted in utter surprise for a split second.

"Wait a second..." he said slowly, processing what he had just heard. He looked at the guards, then back at Yukihime, then at the crests on the guards’ armor that he had noticed before but hadn’t fully connected the dots.

"Are you trying to tell me that..." he pointed at Yukihime with a slightly trembling finger, "...you were the ones who killed Vandris?"

Complete silence fell over the inn.

The few conversations still happening at the other tables stopped. Everyone turned to look at the table where Yukihime was sitting with the two Valtherion guards, the information slowly processing in the minds of each resident present.

Yukihime blinked innocently, not understanding why this was so shocking. "Yes? The Pope killed him yesterday. It was very noisy."

The glass the innkeeper was holding fell from his hand and broke.