“How’s the house treating you?” I asked with a nod of my head upward. Nicholas smiled and invited me in.

“Better than my old one, at least.” Nicholas gave off a hearty chuckle and offered me a seat on a large couch inside the living room area. The room was spacious, large enough to accommodate my giant self, not that the man in front of me wasn’t any smaller, however. “Want some ale?”

“No thanks, I’d like to stay sober.” Taking a seat on the couch, I marvel at how comfy the seat is. “Nice house, though. My compliments to the builder.”

“Ha! Stop giving yourself compliments.” Nicholas laughed good-naturedly and took a seat on the couch on the opposite side of mine. I laughed at his retort. He’s partly right, though. I’m not the one who built the house, but I am the one who supplied it. “So, what brought you to my humble abode?”

“I’m here to propose a new deal.” At this, Nicholas perked up his head, his eyebrows raising ever so slightly in curiosity.

“A new deal, eh?” Nicholas hummed, his finger tapping on his knee as he pondered the types of deals I could give him.

“Yes, it is quite simple really.” I waved my hand back and forth. “Be the new head of the monster city.”

“… Ahahahahahahahaha!” Nicholas burst out laughing for a moment, before getting a good look at my face, in which he promptly shut up. “… You’re serious?”

“Yes, I am.” I nodded. “Don’t worry, the job won’t be too demanding. Just giving orders to the monsters on what to do will suffice. I will also give you some kind of allowance in the form of unique Dungeon currency.”

Now, this might be a bad decision to make, but I need to be fair if I want him to be allied with me when something goes wrong.

“… Dungeon currency?”

“Yes, Dungeon currency.” I nodded once more. “With said Dungeon currency, you can buy items from a store connected to the Dungeon. Ever wondered where I got the houses?”

“Hmmm…” Nicholas stroked his chin, his elbows resting on his knees as he considered the benefits I had given him with the position. “What can you buy in this store you speak of?”

“Well, for me, I can buy anything, although the price is equal to its value.” I recalled the Dungeon Store that gave off limitless options, from a single spoon, to a goddamned gun that existed in a game called Pandemonium called the BAG 9000 (Big Ass Gun). “Although, for you, I’ll have to limit the options until I can trust you enough to buy those kinds of items.”

“Eh, fair enough.” Nicholas shrugged his shoulders, closing his eyes in acceptance of the restriction.

“So, we have a deal?” I asked him, standing up from my seat as I approached him, hand held out in front of me.

Nicholas sat silent for a few moments before standing up and taking my hand in his. “Deal.” We shook hands and I granted him access to parts of the Dungeon system, such as the Dungeon Store – a very restricted one at that – a DP bank where I can deposit a part of my daily DP – I found out about it not too long ago when messing around with the Dungeon Menu – and the Communications feature to make it easy to contact me and other monsters within my Dungeon.

“Specific rules and job details will be sent tomorrow via Communications.” I said to him, which he nodded in response.

“Very well.” Nicholas seriously said, but then he gave a radiant smile. “Thanks for this opportunity, Jionni.”

I smirked. “By the way, have I ever told you that you won’t have to do paperwork for your new job?”

“… You know what, I think I love you more than my last boss.” I laughed at his non-serious comment. I really need more humor in my life.

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~ Third Person POV ~

“Yep, my predictions are true and I hate myself for staying until the last second.” A man said as he scanned the area around him. Various guards, all armed to the teeth, point their weapons at him, an unarmed person just wanting to live his life away from the fighting. ‘I’ve already died once at the hands of truck-kun after getting an unlucky break from some robbers, I don’t like to die a second time.’

“Capture him! Detain the heretic!” A fully-kitted guard captain snarled as he commanded the soldiers under his command to rush in and kick the ass of this single heretic. The heretic in question, sighed at his predicament and cursed himself for not leaving sooner.

‘I’ve been here for what…? Two years? I’ve accumulated experience enough to predict that this will happen, and guess what? My lazy ass didn’t want to get off the couch and run for the door.’ The man sighed once more, looking at the guards slowly inching their way towards the unarmed man. ‘Welp, fucked up situations call for fucked up solutions.’

Once a guard neared him, slashing a sword towards his limbs, the man bolted into action.

[Skirmish Mode Activated]

[Deploying Gauntlets of Sharok]

In an instant, the man’s arms were covered in gauntlets reaching up to his upper arms. The gauntlets were flexible, but incredibly hard, that not even iron could make a scratch on their paint job, as seen by the iron sword of the guard breaking once it impacted the gauntlet.

The gauntlet looked sinister, with dark themes of paint coloring its entire body and violet lines encircling the limb. The spikes protruded out of the knuckles, and had a blade located on the forearm that could straighten or fold back to make them less dangerous.

The man swung his hand towards the guard’s head, his hand impacting the shocked guard’s face with a sickening crunch. His head caved in, before exploding into gory bits of mess, soaking the guards behind the now dead guard with blood and brain matter.

This shocked the entirety of the guards, as well as the civilians witnessing the violent scuffle.

“Well? Come on then? Give this little heretic a beating, would you not?” The man smirked devilishly as he gestured the come hither gesture towards the guard captain with his bloody gauntlet. ‘Welp, time to ditch this town and head to the next one… If I’m not mistaken, it was called Kazanpan, right?’

And with that, the man continued on beating up (killing) the guards that kept on rushing towards him like madmen, leaving a trail of corpses behind as the unknown man forced his way out of the town with sheer brute strength.

A few hours later, after the horrifying scene, a female wearing a mix between priest’s clothing and knight’s armor arrived riding a decorated white horse, towing along a dead body of a demi-human by a rope connected to the saddle.

The demi-human’s body was crisscrossed with various injuries such as bruising, cuts, and gashes.

“Incompetent drabble, unfit to even lick the boots of myself.” The female knight beheaded the guards who were unconscious on the ground after failing to subdue the unknown man who had long escaped the town. “All of you, we will not rest until that heretic is caught. Am I understood?”

“Ma’am, yes, Ma’am!”

Dark days were coming, and it was only getting darker every moment time passed.