Dungeon? This Tree? Why Don't You Join Me for Lunch? (Dungeon Core) Chapter 26: Torches and Pitchforks

Now, I knew that Aron going to the humans without a backup was going to end up in him killing them all off.

Because he did say he is an SSS ranked vampire. There were a few of those around still, but last I heard, they could be counted on one hand... by a pirate who sucked at the knife ga...

So I, using the mana from 400 zombies, teleported myself to him!

No way was I going to go into the human village alone! Sure, they were nice. I even considered them my family. But they had suffered a lot, and suffering made people different.

And not always in a good way.

"Sylvan," he smiled at , his fangs poking out of his lips. I raised an eyebrow; he coughed in his hand. "The gnos would like a minute of your ti, after we recruit the humans."

For a second, I was wondering if I was not reading too much into that smile of his. I had no idea that Aron was a master of the long ga.

It was a quick save. And I, as ignorant of such things as I was, did not notice.

No! My ears were red from the fact that I would even think such a thing for one of my employees!

"Oh, of course! I would be happy to!" I saw as his eyes softened. I decided that I needed to make ands. "Would you like so blood?"

He sucked in a breath, then looked at his feet. Man, he had it bad. By the way, the male version of a duck is a drake. It was just a random fact that Nathaniel whispered in my ear.

I shrugged. Good to know! I might repeat it to Solas, if he asked to describe his bloody lunch again... the blonde git!

"Maybe after we speak with the humans?" He asked, as he took a step towards . I felt as his mana wrapped around . "Just a small barrier. You were kind to . I don’t want anything happening to you."

My bottom lip found a new ho between my teeth.

But the git was sneaky. How was I supposed to know that this was a test whether we were soulmates or not? That I am only breathing and kicking today, not because I got a new tree, but because there was sothing tying my soul to this world?

We walked through the forest. I marveled at the fact nature was beginning to fix itself. The corpses were now a thing of the past. The fallen trees were already a ho to mushrooms, which in turn would feed the survivors.

Truly, was there a greater survivor than Mother Nature?

"What is it like?" Aron asked, as he walked just a bit ahead of , but not by much. "Being a nymph?"

I blinked.

"No one has ever asked that," and it was the truth. No one had ever cared. I was a nymph, so, logically, I had a tree. Most people did not even know I needed to eat, just like any human.

"Well, it... its light and song," I said, rembering my life with thuselah. "Its... we feel it, you know? The warm winds as they play with the branches. We feel the water, hear its tales..."

"Tales?" Aron asked, offering his hand, just as I was about to stumble on a fallen branch. I took it, thinking nothing of it.

Nathaniel said drake once more. I still did not understand why he was calling a male duck.

"Yes! Tales! Water has a mory, you know? There was this one ti when the rain brought news about a volcano. The ashes were there, in the water. But the volcano had erupted far away! That sa year, it was cold. So cold, thuselah and I almost did not make it!"

I took a deep breath, trying to calm myself down. That year had been a nightmare and a half. And I knew that should king Alexios win, he would do worse!

"Was the volcano on an island?" Aron asked. I was so enraptured in our conversation that I did not notice that I was still holding his hand.

Good thing too because seconds later he led away from a thorny bush...

I tried to rember what the water had told thuselah, as the old tree had absorbed as much as it could from it. As his roots were trying to burrow deeper into the soil.

For he knew what was going to happen.

"Well, I think so. Why?" I asked, as I was gently steered away from the edge of a rabbit burrow.

"Well, that island is in the Necromantic Union now," Aron said, as he humd. "And nymphs can order disasters to..."

"No!" I yelled, letting go of him as if burned. "Wars are for the humans! Not for the nymphs! And I will not cause another long winter just to defeat the necromancers!"

He stared into my eyes for a while, then he shrugged. I think he said sothing, but I could not understand the language.

I was still fuming. How dare he suggest that?

"Where is your pitchfork?" Aron asked, as he finally stopped smiling.

"Wait... what pitchfork?" I asked him. He had a talent to confuse , it seed.

"The one you want to dig inside my heart. Which is funny, considering..." he took in a breath. "You donated blood to keep it beating."

Another quick save. Honestly, I had no chance against soone like him. I was dood to lose myself to him.

But I did not know it yet.

And the moonlight was making him look like a unicorn, darn it!

A wounded one.

"Here, have so of my blood," I rolled up my sleeves, even as I felt his gaze on my neck. "Since I insulted you."

"Hm," he made a step towards , taking my arm.

"And if you do it again?" He asked, as he brought my arm to his lips.

I asked myself the sa question. What if I insulted him again?

Well... only one thing to do.

"I need to get to know you," I told him; he bit .

The trap snapped around my ankle. But it was not a bear trap, but a silk ribbon which could never be undone.