DD 203 Ch 21

Chapter 21

Harley's camera shutter started clicking rapidly as Prince Albar entered the room. 

"Why are you taking pictures of my prestigious self?" the Prince spat, momentarily distracted before realizing he was once again in the boss room.

He wasn't alone. Elysara's announcement that we had finished the raid had caused such a stir that everyone from all the other colleges was piling into the room. 

"You guys got it?" Machen asked excitedly. The big berserker ran his hands along the side of his mohawk. "Damn. We couldn't even get close." He didn’t look upset. Machen seemed genuinely happy for me.

Des poked me. "Blame this one. The boss was absolutely shredded by him." 

I flashed everyone a smile but kept my focus on the Prince as he stared at the room, his jaw flapping open. I had to admit, his reaction was fantastic.

Harley's camera shutter clicked several more times as she giggled to herself. 

I glanced at her. "You will send me one of those pictures."

"Absolutely," she winked. 

"Well, who says that you didn't just despawn the boss, huh?" the Prince puffed himself up. "Maybe you got it to vanish somehow or it takes a long time to spawn and this is all some sort of con." 

I held up my weapon I had gotten from the boss. "This looks like pretty fun loot. And you only get loot if you kill the boss. Listen, you lost the bet. Also that means Haylon College wins." 

Not only had all the students come, but so had Professor Gafar. "That's ridiculous. Who cares about a bet or which college won? We are currently stuck in the dungeon, unable to get back," he waved his hands around wildly, trying to make his point. 

"He still won," Des pointed out. 

"How do we know the elf didn't help?" Professor Gafar pointed a finger at Neldra, who had moved to this side of the room. "She follows the princess everywhere. She probably could have one-shotted this boss." 

Neldra held her hands up. "I did not defeat the boss. Didn't even touch it. If I had intervened, it would have caused the boss to enrage.” The silver-haired Censor was doing a good job of pretending not to be poisoned. If I didn’t know, I wouldn’t even suspect it.

“One of them could have sat out," Professor Gafar said. "Simply put, you did not have a professor of one of the four colleges attending you and ensuring that this was a fair competition."

As he continued, I could tell we were losing people's attention. He was successfully seeding doubt and we were losing people's trust.

Other members of the colleges started to grumble and cast sideways glances at their neighbors, doubting the validity of our boss kill. Which quite frankly was infuriating given how hard and how many hours we had put into this raid. 

"If you killed it so easily, then I'm sure next week I could attend the raid and see you do it.” The professor stated.

“Meanwhile, that gives the prince another week to try and catch up.” I rolled my eyes.

“That's not the point. The point is, if you have a competition, we must successfully validate it. I will have no tricksters amongst any of us." The professor put on a good show. 

However, it seemed we had an ace in the hole. 

"Yes, trickery. You would absolutely abhor trickery," Professor Sai stepped out of the crowd. 

Marin did a double take her long hair whipping about, pointing at the professor. "I thought you were dead." Then she turned to point at Gafar and gasped. “You said she died to the naga to save you.”

Her words rippled amongst the crowd. Now the attention was solely on Professor Sai as she put a hand on her hip. 

"That's what Professor Gafar hoped when he met those four assassins and left me to die." The professor glanced at me.

I pulled their heads and the spikes I had put them on out of my CID. I hadn't left them alone long enough for the dungeon to reclaim them. Something told me they would come in handy again. 

Professor Sai gestured at me with a look of disgust. "Thank you, Ken, for the… visual aid. Those four assassins were level 50 adventurers that Professor Gafar met with on behalf of Prince Albar. But rather than help us, you weakened us. At that moment you had no concern for the fact that we are stuck in the dungeon without a way home, as you so aptly described Professor," she glanced at the Royal College teacher. 

Professor Gafar's face had grown pale as soon as Professor Sai entered, and he still had not regained his composure. 

"I have no idea what you're talking about," he stuttered. 

"Can't come up with a more creative lie than that?" she chuckled.

At this point, Machen slid up next to me. "What's going on?" he asked.

I gestured at the two professors. "Our professor has a significant bone to pick with Professor Gafar, who stabbed her and left her for dead to the Naga," I explained. 

Machen grimaced. "You didn't cheat on this, did you?" 

"I swear on my life, Machen, I didn't cheat. This boss was just very conducive to my own DPS." 

The Big Berserker nodded. "I believe you." 

"At least someone does," I muttered. 

Professor Sai was still digging into Professor Gafar until the prince stepped in between them.

"If you were here this whole time, why didn't you show yourself?" The prince defended his professor. "You could have been here and validated." 

"If she were here and validated, Professor Gafar would just say that she was biased," I retorted. This was asinine. Excuses could be bandied about all they wanted without consequence because here and now there was little we could do to resolve them.

Professor Sai rolled her eyes. "Our students defeated it. I'm sure they'll do it again next week, if you would like to be certain. However, as I see it, Haylon has won." 

"Hold on, just a minute," Prince Albar stopped her. "They started this whole rotation, meaning we haven't had a fair chance. We have until the end of our next attempt at this branch to tie," the prince insisted. "Otherwise, it is not a win on their part." 

His professor backed him up. "Yes, exactly. Besides, who knows what value winning this will actually have." 

"There's a notarized bet," I spoke up. "He owes a significant amount of money to me if I win." 

The prince swallowed. "I must agree with my professor." The prince wasn't looking so good. I wondered just where the money he had bet would come from. "We are all stranded in the dungeon, and this is not the time to be quibbling over a… small bet." He choked up, barely being able to call it small himself. 

"Small?" I blew out a laugh. "Try twenty billion Ren?" 

Everyone around us started clamoring about the large sum of money. More than a few were sputtered in disbelief. It was a colossal sum.

"So you all understand, I am taking this seriously.” Heck, with that, we could buy anything… we could put down roots on some dead branch of the dungeon. I'm sure there are new ones up for grabs after the dungeon shuffle. I suddenly liked the idea of seeing Clan Negato and Silver Fangs expand to the levels of the premier guilds on the backs of that money. 

"Well, you certainly have the loot. The boss, I will admit, has died," Prince Albar said. "However, I have until the end of day tomorrow to defeat this boss, and then our group will potentially tie. And if it's a tie, the whole thing is just a wash, and we can forget about the bet." 

The prince was clearly grasping at straws, yet he had a little validation in his words. "Fine, you have tomorrow. I doubt you'll get it anyways.”

If Machen and Marin had so much difficulty with this boss, I thought the chances of the prince suddenly clearing it were slim to none.

I glanced at Professor Gafar. "Of course, you wouldn't mind if we have someone from another college validate, right?" I said. 

The prince reeled back as if he'd been slapped. "You would doubt me?”

“You quite literally doubted me a moment ago. Turnabout's only fair play," I gave him a flat smile. 

"Fine. You can have your professor," He waved absently at her. "Come and watch us. I'm sure that'll be fair enough." With this, he snorted and turned on his heels, marching out of the dungeon. 

Des ribbed me in the side. "Was that as satisfying as you hoped it would have been?" 

I glanced back at her, "You know, somehow anticipating it was more fun than the actual reveal. But the look on his face was," I paused and kissed my fingers spreading them out in the air in a chef's kiss. "You got that, right?" I glanced at Harley. 

"Oh, yeah, I got plenty," Harley showed me her camera. "And also, Charlotte was recording," she pointed to the quiet and often overlooked druid who was recording the whole interaction. 

Charlotte turned the recording off and smiled up at me. “Harley threw it over to me just before the prince walked inside.”

I chuckled, turning to Harley. "Good thinking. I guess you’re worth keeping around.”

Harley tapped her temple, "That and I keep the healers in line. Don’t forget that part. You should definitely keep me around and give me all the healers.” 

“Of course, Harley. What would we do without you?” I knew she wanted some validation.

She let out a breath and wiped her forehead. "Phew, I was worried that you were going to find more ladies to stack your raid at some point." 

"No, Harley. I think our raid is full. Besides, I'm not interested in continuing to stack any more ladies around me." I rolled my eyes, why did everyone think I would keep pushing for more?

"Sure," Harley winked, dragging the word, clearly not believing it. "I'll ask Des how that's going." 

Before I could say anything else, Harley skipped away with a whistle towards her healer harem. 

"I think it's time to celebrate," Des said. "And there's nothing left in the branch for us to grind. Oh no." She gently pushed my back, moving me into the crowd as people from all four colleges congratulated me on successfully clearing the raid.

I could tell she was oh so distraught that there were no trash mobs now that the final boss was dead. Then again my lovely temptress had been trying to get me to loosen up the last few weeks.

The walk back to the camp had been lively. Students from the other colleges quickly mingled with the Haylon class, asking all sorts of details about the final phase of the boss fight.

Unfortunately, we had likely cleared it faster than some mechanisms had appeared. By the time the boss was actually vulnerable to attack, my DPS was at incredible heights and I had plowed through the boss. 

The biggest surprise came as we all split up, moving to our tents to get ready for a small celebration. I stepped into my tent only to find one additional guest, a student from the Royal College. She was a woman who held regal poise and had her black hair pulled back with delicate golden jewelry. I had never talked to this woman before, but it seemed she had something to say to me. 

"Is it true that if we can't beat the boss tomorrow night, that the prince will lose the bet and have to pay a crippling sum?"

I nodded, wondering where this was going. She wore Royal College colors and I doubted she was trying to be deceptive.

She bit her lip before nodding with decisiveness. 

"Then I would like to offer to throw the raid tomorrow," she said. 

"Offer? Does that mean you're expecting something in return?" I sat down on the couch as Fayeth started making tea. The elves liked it to both relax and to stay awake.

"Yes." She glanced around and spotted Neldra in the tent. "I would like you to ensure that I make it out of the dungeon alive." She looked away from the elven censor, obviously coming to the conclusion that with the elven guard, we would be the most likely to survive any disasters that would befall the group. 

"Miss," I paused, letting her fill her name in. 

"Basma," she supplied. 

"Great. Basma, I simply don't think the prince is going to defeat that boss as it is. Your offer of assurance is tempting, but unnecessary. The value of bringing you out of the dungeon is far greater than the value you're providing. Put simply, I don’t need your help."

Her brows pinched down at those words and her eyes shifted as she tried to find another bargaining chip. "I would also offer to be a witness to his attempted assassination of the future elven empress Elysara, as well as to the bet that you have made," she hastily added. 

I sighed, tired from the raid and not wanting to deal with this additional negotiation. But I knew I needed to play along and see what information Basma might have to offer us.

Fayeth handed me some tea as I relaxed on the couch, doing my best to be patient and continue through the conversation.

"I think with the prince's current behavior, I will have plenty of people who would be willing to speak on my behalf. It is not like the man has been subtle.” I replied. “Not to mention we are recording his interactions.”

Basma spoke up immediately. “But those witnesses are not related to SJS financials, and they do not hold a position of some authority. I may be a distant relative, but I can certify that this bet happened and that he lost." She held herself high, but uncertainty still lingered in her eyes.

I paused. The fact that she had some ties to give her more validity in the claims did hold some merit. I had no doubt that SJS financials would continue to be a thorn in my side.

"Would you mind if we recorded your testimony?" I asked. 

"Absolutely, I would mind." Her tone became sharp as her true nature began to reveal itself. "My offer is only good if I survive to the end of the dungeon." 

I sighed, taking a sip of tea and wishing I was joining in the fun that I could hear outside the tent and not dealing with this woman. "Truth be told, I was going to bring you all out anyway. Don't throw the raid. I'd love to see the prince try and fail."

There was always a chance that she was actually here to trick me and get me ‘cheating’ on some sort of recording. I had no need to cheat. That might be the way the prince won, but I could win on my own merit.

Basma frowned, but she seemed to relax after me stating I would bring them out.  She gave me a slight bow. "Thank you for listening, and thank you for helping us all out," she added, and stepped backwards before turning and leaving the tent. 

"Well, don't you look like a big bad boss." Des plopped down on my leg and stroked the inside of my thigh as she gave me a seductive look before kissing me on the neck. 

"I thought we had a celebration to get to first." I grabbed her ass and pulled her deeper into my lap, liking where the night was going now far more than a moment before.

"We can celebrate all night," she whispered in my ear before she nibbled just a little, sending pleasure throughout my body as she teased my earlobe. "I promised to make it a worthwhile celebration." Her words were like a breathy whisper in my ear.

I growled slightly at her, planting her more firmly in my lap. I kissed her lips, pushing her chin up and leaving a trail down her tender neck. 

"Yes," she hissed. 

I smiled to myself, slowly kissing down her neck and moving my hands down her body. Slowly, I worked my hands to her hips, lingering for just a second before I quickly picked her up and plopped her off my lap and down to the side on the couch.

I couldn’t help the laugh that escaped me as her seductive, half-lidded eyes went wide at me stopping.

"What? Don’t know what to do with being teased?" I laughed. "You should. You do it so often. Turnabout's fair play, right?" I asked, cocking an eyebrow. 

Des narrowed her eyes on me, leaning forward and crawling along the couch towards me, a look of hunger on her face. The temptress was showing off plenty of flesh and making sure I was watching. "Not when you do it to me. Just you wait. After we're done celebrating tonight, I'm going to make you pay for that move." 

I winked at Des. "That was the plan. I love it when I make my temptress needy. She punishes me tenfold." 

Des's eyes practically glowed. "One of these days, I'm not going to make it so fun when you work me up. It seems I'm just encouraging bad behavior." She pulled a riding crop out of her CID and smacked my hip before she got up with a huff, puffing her hair out as she strode away and out of the tent.

She put on a good show, but I doubted she’d be in charge tonight. 

Felin popped just her eyes over the back of the couch. "I thought this was about to get messy," she said. 

I smacked my face with my palm and ran it down my cheek. "How long have you been there?" 

"The whole time." Felin flipped over the back of the couch. "I wanted to see and maybe join," she said, sniffing the spot where I had just been sitting before rubbing herself into the same area.

"Ask Des maybe after the celebration. For now, I think we should enjoy ourselves in our victory." I told her.

I tried to keep a smile on my face and enjoy the present moment. There were plenty of challenges ahead, but we had just had a victory, and I was going to do my best to enjoy the celebration.