"…"
(Invaders have came again.) – thought the dungeon master who was observing the group of the adventures wondering around, before then reaching the dungeon master room…. But in the end they did not entered the room at all, even after spotting the fake dungeon master.
(Weird…. They are not attacking? Why?)
(Was the first attack an accident?)
(…)
(No…. I can't be sure that it was really just an accident.)
(I need. To prepare for invasion.) – though the dungeon master as he picked up a bit of dirt.
(5 months gave me enough time to learn how to use tools as well as how to make different things…. I still need to learn a lot, but I somewhat understand now how to make an proper bodies…. Still, I can't continue my research right now.)
(If I wish to continue my research, I need to have an ability to handle more mana…. But my current core…. It is no good at all.)
( (There is limit of how much an rough material can do alone by the looks of things….. I need to learn how to make an better core….. But how do I do it?)
(My body…. It is good…. But I can't use magic with it…. I don't really use magic for combat…. But I need it for the experiment…..)
"…"
(But I don't know…. Can I make an better golem core without using just materials?)
(Do I need something?)
"…"
(When I made golems….. I've tried to give them different body parts….. Different forms, different joints, different…. Everything…. Gave different results.)
(I shattered one of the swords I've made using dungeon core and gave the weapon shard fragments to some of my puppets fingers…. Experiment… Simple…. But effective….)
"…"
(Dirt…. Also worked differently, depending on the amount…..)
(So…. I maybe should try and give the golem core and shape….. But would that work?)
(I mean, bigger gems gave more mana and functioned better as cores…..)
(…)
(Maybe I need to research magic? Golem cores required magical type of knowledge to make….. But what if I'm missing something about it? What if I need to learn how to "craft" and use "magic"?)
"…"
(But I've never...Maybe I should just use better core material?)
(….)
(But then again…. If I'm wrong…. No. I need to test this theory.)
(But how do I do it?)
"…"
(Magic….)
(Maybe I need to understand magic more or something?)
(But I'm already researching [Arcane Magic] …..And I'm not seeing anything….. Am I missing something?)
(…)
(But some invaders….. They used different form of magic.)
(Water.)
(Light.)
(Wind.)
(Fire.)
(Earth.)
(Why they all used different magic?)
(…..)
(From my knowledge I have been born with…. I understand the concept of the affinities….. But I also needed to learn magic….. Does learning different form of magic require different form of thinking?)
"…"
(Hm…..If so…. Then maybe I should try and learn different form of magic from my own…. In order to see the differences?)
(But…. What element should I learn?)
"…"
(Wind slashes, I can do that already.)
(Fire burns, and it can burn my own body.)
(Water and light…. They are also not interesting….)
(Earth magic…..)
"…"
(Don't see downsides…..No…. Maybe it is good choice?)
"…"
(By process of elimination…. Earth Magic seems like the best and most interesting choice…..)
(….)
(Okay. Let's go with earth magic… If this theory is correct, then maybe I will be able to create an proper golem core.)
In order to strengthen its own potential, the dungeon master had began researching ways of developing new form of magic, the earth magic.
The research started and from the get go the dungeon master understood something.
"It is not the same."
Even though it only just started trying to obtain the earth affinity, the dungeon master already could tell that something was…. Different.
This caused the dungeon master to be puzzled…. But it also got him curios.
….
However, as it tried to research in peace…. Somebody came.
An attack.
It wasn't even 2 days after the nobleman attack, and yet somebody came to the dungeon.
An group of soldiers that were accompanied by the man with scars.
"…"
(Are they going to attack THAT place again?)
Dungeon master was out for blood.
It realized that the enemy may had already realized its trick….. And so, the dungeon master began preparing itself for the combat….. However, it never came down to it.
The group looked around the dungeon, got near the fake dungeon master room…. And they just left, without even stepping foot into the fake dungeon master room….. With confused an living hell out of the dungeon master.
"???"
(What the….. Do they….. They know or not?)
…
Afterwords, time went by and other invaders went in and out.
First group of invaders.
Second group of invaders.
Third group of the invaders.
However, all 3 groups of people did the same thing as the group of armored people, they just looked around, reached fake dungeon master room, with sometimes slaying any monsters they had encountered, before then leaving the dungeon.
"…"
(The hell is going on?) – though the dungeon master who was preparing for the battle.
(Why are they not attacking?)
(All the same…. They did all the same thing…. Just as before the attack…..)
The dungeon master was completely confused.
It was sure that another attack would come, but so far only…. Nothing.
(An false alarm?)
(No…. Or maybe?)
(But it doesn't make any sense at all!)
(….)
(No…. It is no false alarm…. Something is definitely going on…. But what?)
The dungeon master didn't understood what was going on. It didn't knew what the adventures are doing or what their real goal are.
IT was ready for the war…. But that war wasn't…. Well, it wasn't "coming", causing the dungeon master to stare confused.
(The ones that attacked the fake room… Were these invaders by any chance different? They didn't looked special to me… Or am I missing something?)
(….)
(No. Don't let guard down. The war could possibly come…)
(Yes…. I cannot let down my guard yet…. Or the dungeon will be finished…..)
(I also need to finish adjusting my core, before it is too late…. Or I shall be hunted.)
(I need to continue getting stronger…. Yes…. Stronger.)
(I need to stop researching core for the moment and instead focus on my own body for the moment…. This experimental body is too weak and unstable.)
(I need an weapon that can work in order to combat that with comes after my dungeon.)
Even though the dungeon master was completely confused by the situation, it was also completely alarmed by the random attack of the nobleman on the fake dungeon master room.
It knew that something was happening and something else may happened in the future….. And it started getting ready for the possible war….. No.
It is other way around.
It was ALWAYS ready for the war to come.
…
[2 weeks had passed after the mayor son disappearance.]
An missing poster had been spread around while the two guards that were with the young man had been given missing as well as wanted posters, since they are currently consider as the prime suspects.
The two guards were investigated alongside the mayor son past "incidents", but overall, there were no results.
The incident was suspected to be kidnapping, but no traces were found and on top of that an giant snowstorm hit the town, forcing the search to be stopped temporarily.
However, this obviously didn't stopped the mayor from sending the guards to look around…. But obviously that did not yielded any results from his side.
And as for the adventures that were inspecting the dungeon?
Well…. They were also not doing great.
[Meanwhile: Guild master office.]
"…"
(Two weeks and no results at all.) – though the guild master while looking through the documents.
(….The first option would be that the kidnappers are making sure that they are first far away from the town, before they would send their demands.)
(But there is an problem with this.)
(Because of the bad weather recently, there is no way we wouldn't found any tracks of them in some neighboring settlements, they would had been 100% spotted.)
"…"
(Let's say that their goal to murder to mayor's son and use the dungeon to get rid of the corpse, there were accidents like in the past where murderers used dungeons as an way of disposing of the corpse.)
(But even so, we would had found the traces of the two men ages ago.)
(There is no way they could had avoided any settlements at all because of the weather….)
(…The third option would be that the escorts were not the traitors and were also killed by the assassin.)
(And since we wouldn't know who the assassin were, then it's obvious that we wouldn't be able to track them down.)
(But again, there is no connection at all.)
(True, mayor son was an asshole and he got himself in the trouble, but there was nothing at all that would cause people to straight up "murder him". I've even did an investigation behind mayor back as well, trying to dig out any dirt I had missed on him or his son, but nothing came out.)
"…"
"Tch."
(I've tried not to think about it….. But this case is looking more and more like the Arthur and Adam disappearance cases.)
(Both of them disappeared without the traces, just like the mayor's son and...Wait….)
"…What if…"
The guild master began opening his desk drawers, taking out some documents and starting to look through them.
"…"
(The day which was the puppet dungeon was discovered was around the time the time Arthur had died…It was confirmed that the dungeon was weak…..)
"…"
"What if Arthur had died inside the puppet dungeon?"
(There would be no evidence left or anything.)
(And if we consider the fact how weak the dungeon is and where it is located…. Maybe that dungeon was active for much longer than we had though? Maybe wild monsters were halting its growth?)
(…)
(What if Arthur and his party were murdered in that very dungeon?)
"…"
(That is an stretch and everything…. But if you think about it again as well as the fact that it's an brand new dungeon AND how weak it was…..Would that dungeon be able to develop at all? There could have been some monsters or…. Wait.)
"…"
(What if SOMEBODY is using the dungeon?)
(What they were halting the dungeon growth intentionally before it was discovered?)
(It would somewhat explain why there was no dungeon break so far, somebody had stopped the dungeon from having an dungeon break in order to make sure that the dungeon wouldn't have been discovered.)
"…"
(No, no, no. Something is still not adding up at all.)
(There is no connection between all 3 cases, especially between the two brothers and the mayor's son, they had no personal connection between themselves as well from what I know.)
"…"
(But again… Arthur went missing when he supposable entered the forest according to our theory.)
(Adam went missing after checking the other side of the forest where Arthur shouldn't have any business doing there…. And that part of the forest is where the puppet dungeon is located…..)
(And the mayor's son could had possible disappeared in the dungeon….)
(And in all 3 cases, the victims had completely disappeared…. And one way to make somebody completely disappear is to have dungeon devour the victim remains.)
(….)
(By any chance….. No. There is good chance that is true.)
(All 3 cases involves murder and then disposal of the victims' bodies using the dungeon to get rid of the evidence.)
(But there are still some things that does not make any sense in this case.)
(For example why were these people murdered? Was there some sort of goal?)
"…"
(And how would the culprit leave the dungeon after murdering the mayor's son?)
(The weather back then was somewhat good, so there were people hunting in the area, but we already investigated everybody that was there.)
(And if somebody was in the dungeon, the search parties that were send instantly by the mayor and then after us would had found something.)
"…"
(Should we investigate all the adventures that were in the area? Maybe one of them really were…..No… Something still is not adding up.)
(How can we be sure that there is only "1" murderer?)
(What if multiple adventures in the area were….. No wait!)
(I have way to narrow it down!)
(The forest access was restricted during the undead dungeon break.)
(That means that the possible suspects are among the people that were present back then, hunting down the undeads that were wondering around in the forest.)
(…. And, we also need to investigate the dungeon more thoroughly.)
(There is straight up way too many mysterious going on….. But one things that stand out the most is the puppet dungeon.)
(This place is 100% the crime scene.)
(But is there all to it?)
(What if there is something in the dungeon or outside of it that we had missed? Something that connects all 3 cases together?)
"…"
(Yeb. We need to invest ate that dungeon once again. This time making sure that EVERYTHING in that dungeon is inspected.)