The prisoner was surprised when the paladins led him out of his cell. He was expecting interrogation when they arrived in the south. If they arrived, he corrected himself. His lack of attempts of escape was because of lack of supplies, and all thouse fucking sun elves. He was confident of outmaneuvering paladins, but with those maniacs, he regrettably couldn’t do anything. So he needs to wait. When they reach the border of the desert, they will see how rapidly things can change.

  He was even more surprised when he saw who his interrogator would be. He was seated on the sand two steps away from the threshold of the enormous gates leading to the oasis. He was still in chains, but guards left him alone. Inside the gatehouse, on an ornate chair resembling a throne, sat a young woman in royal attire.

  “Greetings.” The woman said. “Before you decide to do something that will be both stupid and unpleasant, like trying to kill me, hear me out first. After that, we will see what to do next.” He didn’t move, curious.

  ‘Interrogation without a hot iron and making you suffer? That is something new.’

  “I’m the Dungeon Mistress of this dungeon. I won’t show you my path, not yet, at least.”

  ‘Not yet?’

  “But this should be enough proof of the truth of my words.” She stood from her seat and reached her hand outside the threshold. But she couldn't because a golden barrier appeared, stopping her hand. “Now that introduction is behind us, I will explain to you why you shouldn’t try attacking me. After that, you will decide if we will continue our conversation, or not.”

  He didn't move, didn't even blink, but deep down he was as curious as ever.

  “There are a few minor reasons, I will mention two of them, and one major one. Let’s start with the obvious thing. You look intelligent, and smart people don't become martyrs or heroes. While you could be fast and strong enough to reach me and let’s say strangle with the chains in the blink of an eye, in the next second, you will be dead. There are a lot of guards around us, and all of them are waiting for an excuse to kill you.

  He agreed with her on that, but killing the dungeon mistress just for fun was an option, too.

  “The second minor inconvenience I want to mention is that even if you decide, for some reason, to kill me, you can’t. Person before you, it’s not the real me. I’m hidden in the depths of my dungeon, and this is a mere projection of me. This will be a truly unpleasant experience that I do not want to go through, but it will only be temporary.”

  Spy sighted in his head. He forgot about that. Killing her indeed looked pointless. And taking her as a hostage was also out of the question.

  “And now I tell you maine reason, why you should be nice to me, and do not try to piss my off, with let’s say assasination attempt. Because if you try, and most importantly if you succeed I will be very pissed off, and swarn to eradicate your side. There will be no second chance, no negotiations, no pleading for mercy, just death. And when your boss, the archlich, gets the news that it's all thanks to you, I'm sure some of the rumors will turn out to be true. Like you can’t hide from him, he will get you even if you make suicide.”

  “You want to switch the sides?” Spy asked, shocked.

  “Unbelievable. She made him talk, just like that?” Eriser muttered.

  “I’m curious if that is truly our Dungeon Mistress. She is the exact opposite of her usual self, drinking and laughing with adventurers.” Alase said.

  “Her cheerful face is her true face,” Pinera answered.

  “Wait. Something is happening.” The general tensed when he started seeing some shimmer around the Dungeon Mistress. It was like looking through a hot air.

  “Oh gods! What’s that?” Pinera gasped. “Look at the mana around them.”

  When they concentrated on mana, they saw a ball of gentle light surrounding Dungeon Mistress, and a squirming mass of darkness around the cultist.

  “We…” Serator started but was stopped by the elven grand priest.

  “No, we can’t. It’s a test for her.” He said.

  “Test? What kind of test?” Juthar asked.

  “The universe decided to test her will, heart, and mind.”

  “But why?” Pinera asked.

  “I don’t know. No one ever witnessed anything like that. Besides one dungeon master, others never faced cultists directly.”

  General Serator and his deputy commander instinctively reached for the pendants.

  “For now, we can only watch and have faith in our Dungeon Mistress.” Elven grand priest added.

  So they stood, watching terrified as darkness tried to break the sphere of light. But soon their fear subsided with hope, because no matter how tendrils of darkness were trying to break, the sphere stood firm. The surface ripples like water, moving when pressed, only to suddenly stop and push away.

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  Naomi and the prisoner weren’t aware of all of that. They don’t see anything happening around them.

  “I don’t intend anything.” She answered. “I like how things are right now. However, can you or anyone guarantee that things will stay unchanged?”

  “The opposite, Mistress. I guarantee that many things will change. Maybe even sooner than anyone thinks.” He said. This was huge. He needs to find a way to deliver the news. This dungeon mistress could be persuaded to help them.

  “Right, things like to change, and there is also war between you and them. I will be frank with you. I’m a very pragmatic woman. If I’m left alone, I don’t care who I work with. For now, they are here, and I struck a few good deals with them. In the future, it could be someone else, for example, your side. I understand you are not prepared to offer me anything, but you are smart, and you at least heard what was offered for others in a similar situation. But try to be creative. I have gold and other riches in any quantities I want. And becoming empress of the desert is too much of a hassle. I prefer ruling over my dungeon where I’m not only empress, but goddess.”

  “It’s indeed tricky to find something. Nobles are satisfied with gold and removing troublesome individuals who oppose them. Oh, but some also wish for good servants.”

  “Servants, you said. One or two of them won't hurt. But I prefer using magic. It’s a much more precise method, and there isn’t a risk of treason.”

  “Yes. That's why our servants are slaves. We have a magical method to ensure their loyalty.”

  “Interesting,” Naomi said, fighting with herself not to show disgust. “Anything else?”

  “Oh. If we are talking about slaves, what about people sentenced to death? Dungeon masters profit greatly from every slain adventurer.”

  “Again, interesting proposition that could be used, but nothing special.” Naomi tried to calm herself. “You see. I’m quite proud of my traps and monsters, and your slaves will die immediately when they enter my maze. I need people who would appreciate my work. I guess nobles of this world are simple, so finding something suitable for me will take some time. Maybe we try something else. For now, we talked about the present. I’m not interested in the past. Your grievances and grudges are irrelevant to me. So maybe the future? What will the world look like if you win?”

  “When we win, Dungeon Mistress. Our victory is inevitable.”

  “Oh well, so be it. When you win, but please don’t tell me you will overthrow the present king and nobles and take their seats for yourself. It’s so boring. In my world, we even created a special type of government, where people can, every few years, remove the ruler and appoint someone else.”

  “Interesting. And about the future. We are indeed planning to remove the existing rulers and become a new one. But this is only the beginning of our plans. We will overthrow even the gods. We will throw off the shackles of the system and live truly free.”

  “At least you plan big.” Naomi sighted. “How will you do it?”

  “People will do it themselves. Smart people see it, or will understand when we tell them.”

  “And the rest?”

  “Stupid people will end up as slaves. There will be a lot of hard work for them, for example, in farming and mining. Or we turn them into zombies. Undead are much more obedient.”

  “Right. And people like you, besides being free, what will you do? Maybe you were promised something?”

  “People like me will become future lords. I would be a city lord too.”

  “You were promised to become city lord?” Naomi asked, disbelieving.

  “Yes.”

  Naomi blinked a few times and started laughing. The gathered priests saw in that moment a strong burst of light that extinguished the darkness.

  “You poor fool. You truly believe in all of that? There are so many errors in your story that I don't even know where to begin. But this will help you understand at least a few things. You were promised a city. Which city? There is no city for you. All was long ago split between nobles who you promised gold and power. Take the prisoner away. Thank you.” She said to the paladins who grabbed the cultist.

  “Congratulations on winning your trial,” Tarron said when the spy was too far to hear their talk.

  “Trial? It was just a talk. Wait, you wanted to see what I do. Yes?”

  “No, Dungeon Mistress. It was the universe that decided to test you.” The elven priest answered.

  “Univers wanted to see how I talked with the cultist?”

  “It was much more. We saw a bright aura or mana around you and a dark one around the cultist, which tried to break yours.” Pinera explained.

  “And at the end, when you started laughing, everything exploded, destroying the darkness.” Added the lady Itylara.

  “I didn’t see anything like that.” Naomi was surprised. “Let me see my status.” She opened it and started reading it fast. “I don’t see anything. You all have more experience. Please look through it.”

  However, none of the priests found anything unusual. Her system shows only how hard-working Dungeon Mistress was, but nothing else.

  “Well. At least I don’t catch any course or something, I will need to look into enchantments more seriously from now on. Maybe there is some way to make a protective amulet or something.” Naomi was relieved.

  “It was a reason why we were against your idea, Dungeon Mistress. Even the smallest doubt could be used to fuel a course.” Juthar answered.

  “Then thank the gods he doesn’t know about my fears, because I have a lot of them, and I don’t talk about spiders. They are cute.” Naomi tries to ease the mood.

  “Dungeon Mistress. There is one more way to ascertain how your conversation with the cultist affected you.” The general said unexpectedly.

  “And that is?”

  “I know it will sound like I want to use your words from yesterday against you. But I’m not. However, for dungeon masters, the look of their soul stone could tell if something changed.”

  Naomi's eyes went wide. She didn’t want to show her soul stone to anyone. She was sure people would misinterpret what they would see there, and no amount of her explanations would help. Naomi closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths to calm herself.

  “I agree.” She decided. “You trusted me with my meeting with the cultist. So I should trust you, too. Please come with me.”

  “Lady Itylara, Grand Priest Tarron, you too.” Naomi stopped, seeing that they didn’t move.

  “But, you don’t know us, Dungeon Mistress. We arrived here recently.” The lady answered.

  “Yes, and I hope we will know each other better. But you earned my trust working together with paladins and adventurers. Also, the whole lesson about cooperation will be pointless if I do not include you.”

  “Then, thank you, Dungeon Mistress, for your trust, and we also hope to know you better.” Elven Grand Priest bowed.