Lucian, despite his grim expression, made sure to greet Ser Hune as soon as he saw her sitting in Cass’ office. Ser Hune chuckled as Lucian took her hand in his, pressing a warm kiss to the top of her hand.
Sir Sanders tensed. Cass tensed, but Lucian and Ser Hune just laughed to each other.
"What is this? You’ve never done this before." Ser Hune teased and Lucian chuckled.
"Well, I think it’s about time that I show the family that Cass has chosen respect. I have a feeling that if you change your opinions of me, Cass would listen to you." Lucian said. There was a sparkle in his eye that had been missing only a second prior that had Cass twitching in his seat. What the hell were the two of them doing?
Ser Hune glanced at Cass, at his stunned expression, and let out a loud laugh. She reached out, patting Lucian’s cheek a little too hard, her silver eyes narrowing as she smiled.
"Mm. You’re far smarter than others give you credit for, but my husband is going to attempt to strangle you if you do that again without warning." Ser Hune warned. Lucian glanced at Sir Sanders, his eyes smiling as he met the other man’s tense gaze.
"Ah. Pardon me, Sir Sanders. It’s a formal greeting to family members of the fairy folk." Lucian said, and Cass swallowed thickly. He didn’t know that, and he felt the tension slowly fade from his own body. Ser Hune chuckled.
"I know that." Sir Sanders snapped, but it was clear that he needed the explanation too. Even if he did know, his protective instincts were on high alert.
"Why are you doing that to Ser Hune?" Cass asked. "Is that a greeting because of who Byron is to her?" Cass was truly asking, because he didn’t know. Ser Hune and Lucian looked at Cass, staring at him like he had two heads and Cass flushed. What? Was something wrong?
"Do you not consider us close, Cass?" Ser Hune asked and Cass felt his face warm further.
"I don’t want to be presumptuous." Cass said carefully and Ser Hune gave a wide smile.
"Well, you can be. I consider us close. After all, there are very few others I would let know I was planning to have a child before it even happened, and there are also very few people out there who would allow me to do so in their own house after finding out about my intentions. That’s why Lucian is greeting me this way. He considers you part of my family, and vice versa. He’s showing respect to your elders." Cass felt his eyes widen at her explanation, before his face warmed again.
He could feel how Sam and Mr. Collins were looking at him. Sam, with deep affection, and Mr. Collins with intrigue, but also kindness.
Cass dropped his head, breaking eye contact to stare at the numbers and letters below him. They were all blurring together for a moment.
"I see." Cass muttered, before he let out a sigh. "On a different, but semi-related note, I have Mr. Collins looking up homes that fit the criteria that a fairy wouldn’t mind staying in. This house is rather large, but I don’t know how well fairies do living in close quarters. While you believe that no one is going to come, I doubt that so I’m just taking temporary measures to make sure that everything is put into place ahead of time. If they don’t come, I’ll just sell the properties back, and at a lower cost. Wouldn’t want the king to get any money that the people could keep for themselves." Mr. Collins nearly choked while Ser Hune laughed.
"Mm. Well, I’m glad you’re thinking ahead." She didn’t scold him, and Cass didn’t look up from his papers. He had a feeling she would be looking at him with kind, soft eyes and Cass wasn’t sure he wanted to meet them.
Instead, he took a deep breath, squared his shoulders, and turned to Lucian.
"Tell me what you saw." Cass ordered, and the humour and sparkle left Lucian’s gaze. They were both in work mode, and Cass appreciated that he was taking this seriously.
Lucian left Ser Hune’s side, approaching Cass’ desk and standing in front of it. He didn’t come around, didn’t touch Cass, but instead stood in front in a relaxed position, similar to how Cass had seen his brother-in-law stand when he was telling his sister about his day. It was a strange thing to remember in the moment, but Cass was able to easily shake it off and focus on what Lucian was telling him.
The dungeon wasn’t that far away. About a day’s worth of travel by carriage, but it was the location that was concerning. Cass knew that the last dungeon that they had gone into was going to be an undead dungeon. That hadn’t changed, but Cass wasn’t sure if the dungeon that they were supposed to go into after was going to change as well.
Well, the location had changed, but not the type. Cass didn’t think that was a better situation in the slightest.
The previous location had been inland. Deep in the woods, similar to the undead dungeon, but it had taken over a lake in the woods. It had been creepy, and mostly underwater. Which was a reason why Cass really didn’t want Lucian to leave before the dungeon was found and announced.
Water and fire? The polar opposites of each other, and Lucian would be critical to keeping them alive. He had been in the book, at least.
However, the dungeon location had changed, and the only reason that it had been found at all was because a huge ass fucking monster squid had come out of the dungeon and had attacked a boat sailing by. Harming a noble’s business and nearly killing everyone on board.
Thankfully, a mage research mission had been nearby so the people had been saved minus two lost souls, but the ship was lost.
That’s right.
The dungeon was a water type dungeon, and it was on the coast of the continent.
Cass wanted to bang his head against the table.
He was sure that anyone who knew anything about dungeons knew that the closer it was formed in an area that suited it, the stronger it would be. Undead dungeons in graveyards were a classic, forest dungeons in forests, obvious. Snow dungeons in snowy mountains, again, obvious.
Water dungeons in the goddamn ocean? Very dangerous, and that didn’t even include the wildlife that came with the territory. Ocean monsters were horrible, and so were the native animals that lived there. A giant fuck off squid guarding the front of the dungeon? Not good either.
Cass was momentarily shocked and stunned until he was reminded that he could cast magic to help them breathe underwater. After that, he was a little calmer. It would be similar to how he had to cast magic for the last dungeon constantly, but damn it, with the lake dungeon there had been pockets of dry land inside of the dungeon where they could rest.
Would that be the same in a dungeon that formed in the ocean?
These fucking demons, trying to up their game. Were they actually trying to kill him this time? Cass begrudgingly realised that they were always trying to kill him, that was the whole fucking point. Or, at least, they were trying to kill the hero party.
Cass didn’t know all demons’ stance on whether he died or not. He didn’t really care to know either.
Lucian also reported that the area that the dungeon formed in was also rather rocky, with steep cliffs so there was no easy way to get down to the dungeon without some serious terraforming magic or boats. However, given that there was a giant fuck off squid, most people weren’t too keen on using boats.
The only good news, and bad news, was that the locals had already considered that area dangerous so they tended to avoid it. The only casualties thus far were the noble’s trade goods and two souls, which was a lot better compared to the undead dungeon. Cass hadn’t even realised that there had been casualties when it came to the last dungeon, but then again, that did make sense.
He just hadn’t paid enough attention back then. Wasn’t something he had to be concerned about.
Cass added a small wooden boat that would fit the four of them to the supplies that they would need for the dungeon, just in case. He also doubled the firewood, and added a fire starter in case Lucian got tired. He doubled the rations for when they were inside of the dungeon, added more blankets, and added two buckets to the list.
Could never be too careful, in his opinion.
Once Lucian finished his reporting, Cass asked if he spoke to the mages who were in the area. He confirmed that he did, and he also let the mages know that the hero party was aware of it and were on their way. The mages had been incredibly relieved since they were in the area taking stock of magical ingredients that grew in the forest nearby.
They weren’t powerful mages by any means, just using their meager magical abilities to make a living. Cass didn’t make a comment on that, and instead asked that Lucian go back tomorrow to scope out an area that Cass would be able to terraform himself, since Lucian wasn’t as great with elemental magic that wasn’t fire-based.
On top of that, he also wanted Lucian to map out an area that would be good for their support to stay while they were instead of the dungeon, and give the letter that Cass was going to write up before he left to the noble of the area as a greeting, and a threat.
Lucian agreed readily, and Cass did feel a little bad using him like a postal service. Lucian, however, seemed to be glowing under the attention that Cass was giving him. He even said as much when he began to feel Cass feeling guilty.
"Don’t feel bad, Cass. I like that I am able to be helpful to you. Fiona tended to keep this all inside, but you are assigning us tasks to do that will ease your burden. I like it." Lucian said with a wink. "Now, I’m going to go make you dinner. I know you skipped a few meals, and Sam and I are in agreement that you need to fatten up. I worry you might shiver yourself to death in this new dungeon." Lucian commented, making Ser Hune laugh and Sam hide his smile.
Cass found it unfortunate that he couldn’t fully disagree.
When it came time for Edgar to speak to Cass, he didn’t have anything too crazy to report. Well, beyond the fact that the Vespertine family had been excluded from the new dungeon announcement. The Duke was pissed, but thankful that Cass had included him in the next dungeon.
It sounded like a storm was brewing and all Cass had to do was stir the pot.
Okay, well, maybe Cass made the pot, and the handle, and maybe dabbled in making the storm, but it wasn’t all him. This had to have been brewing for a while. Held in delicate balance up until now and Cass was just...helping it along.
Duke Vespertine was happy to send Priests out to help keep the people safe. Instead of sending Edgar back to his father’s home, Cass sent a letter through magic to Duke Vespertine letting him know that Lucian was going to map out a camping site the next day. The Duke sent back a reply saying he would have his people ready to leave midday the next day so that they could follow Lucian’s directions and be there before Cass and the others arrived. Cass thanked him.
It was quite nice to have a companion out of pettiness and rage.