Dungeon? This Tree? Why Don't You Join Me for Lunch? (Dungeon Core) Chapter 15: Wasteland

Our full bellies were a stark contrast to what had remained from the Forest of Forget--Nots after the storm.

The trees, once so strong, lay on the ground. So were still smoking. Corpses littered the ground.

So must have died from the fire, so from the smoke. Others from the hailstorm, the traces of which were yet to lt.

It was cold. The air slled of death and smoke.

The only unhard patch of land was my old girl.

"Good God," Almira was gripping her amulet. Most of the villagers were mirroring her.

Anne ca to , her steps featherlight. Her eyes big and bright.

"Uncle Sylvan, we have to clean!" The girl said, with the innocence of soone who knew soone was in pain but was yet to grow enough empathy to truly know what to do.

"Anne," I said, as I took a step towards her. Only to step into the corpse of a squirrel.

I did my best not to throw up.

If this is what happened to the forest, then what about the gno village and the human village?

"Uncle Sylvan?" The little girl asked as she looked at my feet. She gave out a scream. Her running steps made my heart clench. Soon, she was hiding behind Almira.

"Sylvan," Almira, it seed, was the spokeswoman of the village. I looked her way. Knowing that she would not remain in this wasteland for long. "We must see what beca of our village but know this: we will be back! With hoes and shovels! With seeds and saplings!"

"Why?" A part of still did not trust the humans. Still thought that they had sothing up their sleeves.

"Why? Silly boy, the entire village ca to your festival! The n, the won, the children! You saved us all!"

I blinked.

Did I really?

"We will be back," she repeated, this ti more gently. "And repay you!"

As I watched the villagers make their way through what was left of the Forest of Forget--Nots I had only one thing on my mind:

To find Mael, who was supposed to co any day now, and to check up on the gnos.

I did not have enough mana to pay them. Heck, I did not even half a third of what I owed them.

But I was healthy and no stranger to hard work.

Ready to help with the rebuilding. My high and strength would help the gnos pick up the pieces faster.

For I had felt the storm the night before. Knew how far it reached.

The only thing I did not understand was where it had co from...

0000

When I reached the gno village, I was t with the very picture of the gno spirit.

The little green-haired humanoids had already made a camp for the wounded. They were clearing the ruins of their village. The fires were contained, or so it seed.

The little pond, which was connected to a spring, looked so as if the water was full of mud.

They were just fifty centiters tall.

They still survived.

It was at that mont that I knew that if I wanted to survive, if I wanted to protect my humans, then I needed these brave souls.

"Oh, it is the nymph," a gno said, as he looked at with a grim smile. "Good on you to rember us. The mana will do us good."

"I have just 200 mana points," I admitted, feeling like a thief. "But I can help you rebuild!"

The gno nodded, waving over. Soon I was going through the makeshift camp. Towards what I rembered to be the house of the chief.

Strange, I thought to myself, as I looked at how pristine it was. Why hadn’t it been burned down? Or taken down by the ice?

"The barrier held," the gno who was leading told . "Did you honestly believe the chief was living in such a house just because he had the money?"

I nodded. There was no way I would lie to the creature.

I could sll the mana of the truth pendant on him.

"Shows how much you know about us," the gno grumbled. I rubbed the back of my head. I could not argue with that statent.

As the chief ca to , I noticed the burned mark on the man’s cheek. Had he gone out in the storm to get as many of the gnos inside the barrier as he could?

Was he really that much of a giant?

I bowed; the chief nodded at .

"Please, move inside my dungeon!" I had felt awe only once before. As my old girl and her Grumpy Pants had dragged from the barren wasteland my mountain had turned into, as the humans mined their gold, and had shown the world.

Taught how to cook.

"And where are we going to place our mini farms?" The chief said.

"I’ll make space!" my plan was not thought out. But the truth of the matter was, I needed these gnos!

"No, thanks," the chief said, turning around. Ready to go back inside his house.

"The jackals will co first!" I hated myself for tugging at this man’s heartstrings, but I had to protect the gnos.

Because I needed their strength. They had done away with goblins! Sure, they had hired adventurers, but that did not an that they had not taken a risk.

And they survived the storm! They, just fifty-centiter-tall creatures!

"We will fight them," the chief said, putting to the test.

"And how many will die?" I asked, as I took a step forward. "My tree can keep a barrier up during the night! You will be protected! Offered the standard contract with full health benefits and..."

"The jackals have already co, it seems," the chief closed the door in my face. Had not even slamd it shut.

I nodded to himself. If I wanted the gnos to co to , I had to help them, first!

I rolled up my sleeves, sent another dungeon ssage to Mael, and then began to, little by little, pick up the ruins of the small house next to the chief’s.

Without asking for any reward. Without caring that the sun was beating down on .

Many dungeon cores would force the gnos, tired and wounded as they were, into slavery.

But I was not like that!

I smiled as I repeated my mantra to myself. My hands sorting through the wood which could be salvaged.