Lewd Dungeon, Chapter 433 (Patreon)

Chapter 433 – Dispersal

Sixteen women had been pulled out of the broken dungeon in Boca Raton, summoned there by goblins and bound to the dungeon. Three had asked for a quick death, which I had granted them. The other thirteen, though, could only be ‘saved’ by transferring the binding to another dungeon, since their ‘files’ in the System were linked to the Dungeon ‘database’ rather than the ‘mortal’ one.

Of those, two had chosen to remain in my dungeon. Lina Jordan (Level 19 Rogue/Courtesan) from Boston and Ana Gálvez (Level 21 Fighter/Commander) from Mexico City had both realized that their options were fairly limited, but sticking with a literal god was probably the best path forward for them. The other eleven I promised to ‘rehome’ in other dungeons on Earth.

When Lina asked why I was being so reasonable about all this, I just chuckled, and told her that there was no reason to do otherwise. Getting a reputation for wounding people just because you can was fine if all you wanted was to inspire fear in the short term, but people eventually reached a saturation point with fear. Eventually, fear gave way to desperation, and there was no force so dangerous as someone pushed into a corner, with nothing left to lose. That was how the first Godslayers came to be, after all, and I was in no rush to face those types.

The reputation I had worked to build and maintain was that of a being who never lied, and one who was tough, but fair, in his dealings, unless someone did something that put them in my power, such as asking for a deal within the dungeon, or otherwise attacking me and mine. But since no free person can be brought into my dungeon without their consent, that implied consent to all the depravations that happened in the dungeon, and I never forced people to take a deal, merely made the deal more attractive than the alternative.

With that in mind, mistreating the women who had been summoned and bound to the broken dungeon against their will would have ruined a good portion of that hard work. In comparison, treating them with a bit of decency, and finding placements for the women who did not wish to remain in my dungeon cost me very little, and helped reinforce my reputation. It was not altruism, or me suddenly becoming a righteous or upstanding individual, but cool pragmatism and a rational decision to craft the type of god that I wished to be.

As for why the other dungeons would accept some random humans as part of their domain? Well, that came down to the simple fact that, even when they created an avatar, sending the avatar out of the dungeon was not a comfortable thing. The further from the dungeon they went, the weaker they became, and an avatar getting killed outside the dungeon was a substantial loss of resources. On the other hand, Dungeon Bound creatures could act as a dungeon’s eyes, ears, and hands outside their domain. Not just outside the dungeon, but in the actual wider world, outside the wider territory that the dungeon influenced, as well. If a Dungeon Bound creature was killed outside the dungeon, they could respawn, though it took more time and resources than usual, but it was still cheaper than recreating an avatar. Indeed, other than recruiting bosses, the primary reason for dungeons to accept Dungeon Bound creatures was for this work outside the dungeon’s physical domain.

Maike Riesen was the first of the ‘transferees’ to be sent to their new home. I contacted the Prisoner’s Lament dungeon through the DEN, and they were more than happy to bring the Archivist / Scholar on board. They were running their dungeon as a memorial and museum, after all, so having a scholar as part of their domain would be helpful.

The process of transferring her was simple enough. I’d purchased and sold minions on the DEN marketplace before, so I was quite familiar with the process. Silver light wrapped her into a cocoon, which then transformed into an orb roughly the size of a baseball, before disappearing into a portal. I knew from experience that, in the core room of the Prisoner’s Rest dungeon, the other side of the portal would open, and the orb would emerge, the binding would change hands, and then the dungeon could release her at any time.

Murano Tsuki, the Level 25 Priestess / Shrine Maiden from Okinawa, was next. Finding her a home was easy enough. After all, she was Japanese, and a servant of Kannon, the Buddhist Goddess of Mercy, who was enshrined at Ginkakuji before it became a dungeon. Silver Mercy was more than happy to have another shrine maiden following the goddess in her dungeon.

Lexi Cook, who was, ironically, a Level 23 Fire Sorceress / Cook from Atlanta, found a home with the Pele’s Wrath dungeon in Hawai’i. As one might expect from a dungeon that was named after the Hawai’ian Goddess of Volcanoes and Fire, the dungeon was a volcanic one, and a Fire Sorceress fit in just fine. The dungeon also had a shrine to Pele in it, giving her a bit of an anchor there. From what I’d heard, she’d been quite touched when she woke up, and found a shrine dedicated to her, and immediately blessed it. Either way, I was sure Lexi would be fine in her new home.

Blake Mainse, a level 29 Frost Rager / Huntress from Calgary, was a bit more difficult to place. She functioned best in the icy cold. Unfortunately, most of the dungeons that were awake enough to chat with and had ice and cold as part of their domain were not the most hospitable of hosts. Something about that element just drew out the ‘survival of the fittest’ mindset in dungeons. Not to the point where the dungeons risked going rogue, but I was trying to help the woman, not land her in an abusive relationship.

Thankfully, Niflheim, in Norway, was willing to take her on. She didn’t speak Norwegian, but that was something she could learn, in time, or be granted the ability to speak through the dungeon. Either way, Niflheim was a dungeon that I knew from our interactions on the Global DEN wouldn’t be an abusive asshole to her, so I was fine with sending her there.

Eddel and Tsega Noab Rediat were twin sisters from Dese, in Ethiopia. Eddel was a Level 21 Healer / Arcanist, and Tsega was a Level 21 Wizard / Healer. Basically, both had roughly the same abilities, but in different ‘flavors’, with different supporting skills and complementing strengths and weaknesses. They made a potent combination, actually.

Not wanting to send them too far from home, I looked through the continental DEN for Africa, and found a mutually beneficial solution. The Warrior’s Rest dungeon in Bertoua, Cameroon, was thrilled to have them, especially since she had been starting up a side project in her claimed territory, outside the dungeon proper. The local hospital had been destroyed by monsters, and no one had the time or money to rebuild it. So, after learning about the dungeon contract idea from the DEN, Warrior’s Rest created a field hospital on her grounds, and began saving lives as well as taking them.

Honestly, I was very proud of the dungeon, even though I hadn’t had a hand in shaping her, besides putting the contracts out there. She took funds and donations, if people had enough to spare, but she also took barter, or ‘selling’ healing for the price of people running her dungeon. If you came to her for healing, you could run the dungeon (or someone could run it on your behalf), instead of paying in coin. Naturally, there was a risk of death, but people were more than happy to risk it, especially since it made the healing not feel like a handout, which meant that people’s pride did not have a chance to get involved. Really, it was an excellent system all the way around.

Fabiana Pousa was a Level 34 Rogue / Cook from Laredo, Texas. She was also one of the adventurers who had needed to regrow several limbs after a bad experience in Freedomland’s dungeon before he got himself destroyed. Having kobolds chop off her arms and legs, throwing them into a stew pot, before her team came in and rescued her, apparently broke her a little bit. She’d been getting therapy, but she couldn’t help but start considering dishes that would be considered taboo, at the best of times.

Fortunately, the Donner Party Diner dungeon in the Sierra Nevada mountains near Donner Lake in California was a field dungeon with a theme that was at least tolerant of her new interests. The perpetually snowy field dungeon was more of a survival challenge than anything, but the ‘monsters’ were a mix of cannibal humans and feral undead that would hunt and eat adventurers, if they could. Of course, DPD had a dungeon contract in place, to keep things from getting too out of hand, but a Cook who had started thinking along those lines would still fit right in.

Wei Yu was a Level 28 Blademistress / Sage from Kunming, China. She was a philosopher as well as fighter, which made her an interesting acquisition for certain dungeons. The Buddha’s Palm dungeon in Lanzhou was more than happy to add her to the ranks, hoping that she could help train the Monkeykin he had as his monsters to be both competent warriors, and more intelligent than normal monkeykin, which were essentially human-shaped monkeys in both intelligence and instinct. It would be a challenge, but she appeared to relish the idea.

Aya Awan, from Lahore, Pakistan, was a Level 12 Necromancer / Alchemist. A bit of an unusual combination, and one that wasn’t terribly well-liked in her native Pakistan, for understandable reasons. However, the Raccoon City Dungeon, in Wisconsin (Resident Evil on the DEN) was more than happy to welcome her. An alchemist on staff would open up new options for the undead field dungeon from a production standpoint, and when talking about actually being in the field, a necromancer would help them change up some of the fights, adjusting difficulty without cheating or doing anything that might get them declared rogue. For her part, Aya was just happy to be accepted, somewhere.

Lara Read was a Level 32 Lust Sorceress / Demonologist from Los Angeles. Part of Catalina’s guild, actually. She jumped at the chance to become part of the Imp Invasion dungeon in Los Angeles itself. Not only did it put her near to home, but both sides of her class and profession gelled well with the dungeon’s theme, meaning she would be more powerful in the dungeon, and the dungeon would get a significant boost, as well. Win-win situation, there.

And then, last but not least, there was Kasey Tran, mixed-race daughter of a schoolteacher and a doctor from Seattle, and a Level 1 Wizard / Student. She had literally only had her System unlock days before getting summoned to Boca Raton. She was the hardest one to place, since she was literally too young to delve a dungeon without an escort under the American guild’s rules. She hadn’t even registered as an adventurer, but had been studying for a math test she was never going to take, now. While I wasn’t personally responsible for her fate, I did want to ensure she had a decent shot at landing on her feet, and didn’t want to just throw her into the deep end.

Thankfully, the Great Library of Alexandria dungeon was looking for a liaison between the dungeon and the locals. He promised to treat Kasey well, and ensure that she not only learned everything she would in school, but also earned fluency in different languages, and would get to research magic. Her parents, when the Washington Adventurer’s Cooperative (the local branch of the American Adventurer’s Guild) got in touch with them, were not exactly happy that their daughter would be living half a world away, and would not even be able to come over and visit. However, when they were told what she had been saved from, and what conditions she’d be living in from now on, the only thing they asked was for a copy of the contract that let them use the portal network, so that they could visit her.

Good deeds done for the day, I turned my attention back to my dungeon. Some of the teams were about to earn access to the Upper City in Khav-Srokzas, and get to learn more about how the raid worked. I wanted to be watching when it happened.