With This Treasure, I Summon Primordial Weapons
Chapter 18: The Truth

Chapter 18: The Truth

Torr moved toward the door and was about to leave the room before he suddenly paused at the threshold. "Uhm, sir. What about the girl?"

Daren turned toward his vice captain with a gaze that looked mildly irritated. "The girl..." His gaze shifted toward Raven as though he had completely forgotten she existed. "Just give her any empty room."

"That won’t do," Godric cut in, his head held high. "She will stay with me."

Daren raised a brow.

Standing by the door, Torr visibly tensed as if he had never seen someone challenge his leader’s words directly.

Godric’s request, however, didn’t come from defiance. The worst thing he and Raven could do right now was split up. Especially after she chose not to reveal her identity to her own kin for a reason he didn’t know yet.

"Very well," Daren finally responded, his expression not offering any ideas of what he was thinking. "Take the girl to his room. Godric and I have some matters to discuss."

Torr nodded and turned to Raven, who exchanged a small look with Godric.

She chose not to speak and quietly left the room, leaving Godric behind with a kin she chose not to trust.

"I’d invite you to my office..." Daren circled around the large wooden desk and settled down in Torr’s chair with a hint of disdain. "But we are already here."

He paused for a moment, leaning back in the chair as his gaze studied every single one of Godric’s features.

"So... How are the things out there? How is the leader of my House now?"

"Eric Stormbourne."

"Eric?"

If Daren’s previous expression showed disdain, then now he looked completely and utterly disgusted.

"It seems my house has fallen on sad days... What about your House? Who’s the leader now?"

Godric lingered for a moment, then spoke in an even tone. "I am."

Daren raised a brow. "...Interesting. Your summon must be quite powerful then." He looked down at Torr’s notebook, more specifically at the part which described Godric’s summon as ’complicated’.

"Blackstars... always so mysterious. Astrea mentioned something about the fall of her home?"

Godric nodded. "Valerion Empire had fallen. The whole northern continent is taken over by monsters."

Something unspoken flickered through Daren’s eyes. His gaze trailed for a moment to the large window to the left side of the room, below which the melted city stretched in every direction.

"That girl, Raven..."

Godric tensed slightly at the sudden mention of Raven.

’Did he figure it out?’

"I finally got it. I was surprised at first to hear she was from the outskirts, but now I understand what is going on." The man paused for a second before continuing with absolute confidence. "She is your concubine."

Godric stayed silent.

He once heard that the best lies formed themselves, and he wasn’t about to interrupt Daren from drawing himself into whatever explanation he wanted to believe in.

"...The reason she’s staying with you, her courtly behaviour... You taught her well. One could almost confuse her for someone belonging to a Great House with how well she conducts herself."

Daren smiled, which looked as unusual on his face as the melted bricks outside looked.

"But I can’t say I approve. Someone of your standing, someone of our standing should not meddle with some outskirts rats."

Before Godric could reply, Daren shook his head. "You must already know that. After all, there aren’t many who are prouder than Blackstars."

A moment of silence passed between the two of them before Daren picked up the conversation again.

"You’re probably wondering how we could’ve been stuck here for so long," Daren said in a tone that was neither a statement nor a question.

"I am," Godric admitted. "But I am even more intrigued by the reason the gate hasn’t closed by now."

"Tell me, Godric... Do you know the reason dungeon gates erupted on their own?"

"Dungeon Cores are unstable, so they break over time."

"Good. Exactly what the book of every Great House says, but what if I told you what we knew was wrong? What if I told you a core could be repaired or even harvested?"

Godric frowned slightly as he leaned back in the small wooden chair, which was far from comfortable.

His mind raced, trying to figure out what the man was getting at.

Suddenly, Daren stood up.

"Walk with me. There is something I need to show you."

He led Godric out of the room and down the endless stairs below.

The descent was long, almost as long as the climb up.

Godric silently cursed the idea of climbing back up there to go to his now ’room’ on the sixth floor from the top.

Soon enough, they reached the entrance chamber where Daren paused for a moment.

There were a couple of people there when they first reached it, but upon seeing their leader, they scattered away like bugs from under a freshly lifted rock.

"This way," Daren said as he turned toward the back of the spiralling staircase instead of the exit which Godric expected to move toward.

There, carved into the wall was a small wooden door.

Daren pushed a large metal key in, twisted it twice and swung the door open, leading Godric inside.

They walked through the darkness for no more than a minute, descending a straight, narrow staircase before they finally reached a dimly lit corridor below.

It took Godric’s eyes a second to adjust from darkness to the dimly lit corridor, but when they did, his stomach dropped.

The corridor before them was lined with heavy metal bars. They looked to be made from something similar to the black bricks of the melted city above, but he didn’t linger on that fact for now.

Instead, his gaze locked on the countless eyes staring back from behind the bars, and for one cold moment he took them for people.

Then one of them shifted, and the dim light caught the scales.

There were beasts, dozens of them.

Their eyes were hollow, their bodies gaunt, as though they hadn’t eaten or returned to their Core Space in a very long time.

And worst of all was Daren’s face as he turned toward Godric. His face lit up, visibly younger by years. It was the face of a man who was sharing something he found marvellous. "I know exactly what you’re thinking," he said. "It’s extraordinary."