Badgering the Enchantress

  Jim observed the change in expression as Esmeralda smiled at him as her blouse seemed to have magically opened itself a couple buttons lower before she leaned forward in a short bow. “I see I have much to learn. Perhaps you could give me a tour of your dungeon?” she asked with one hand on her hip and her chest thrusted out.

  Jim gave her an appreciative glance and held his arm out for her to take. “Of course, my dear. Right this way. Bessie, control room.” As soon as Esmeralda’s hand touched his skin, he felt her attempt some sort of charm spell. “Watch your step.” He said when she stumbled from the backlash of him dismantling her spell.

  Jim sang, “Raven hair and ruby lips. Sparks fly from her fingertips.” Esmeralda let go of his arm and glared at him. Her men stiffened and weapons rose slightly. Lorem smiled, releasing some of his aura and the weapons lowered back down.

  “Enough with the games. What do you want?” Esmeralda snapped.

  Jim held his hand to his chest with his wrist bent and his fingers spread while mimicking a deeply offended expression on his face. “Games? Me? I didn’t attack you or try to charm you. Why would you accuse ME of playing games?”

  All the weapons rose and pointed at Jim. Lorem rose to float above Jim’s head and smiled wide. Jim looked at them for a second before shaking his head. “They aren’t smart enough for the job. You can have them Lorem.”

  “Stop.” Esmeralda shouted, sensing the end of her organization rapidly approaching. “What Job?”

  Jim shook his head in disappointment. “Not even smart enough to know this is not something that should be spoken of publicly. Go ahead…”

  Esmeralda raised her arms and released her aura. “Put your guns down, you idiots. We can go somewhere private to discuss the job.” She wasn’t dumb. She knew the book, the dungeon, and possibly even this Jim creature were something they could not fight.

  Jim finally nodded. “Bessie…” A portal opened and Jim stepped through. Esmeralda motioned to her top directors to follow before stepping through.

  Bessie appeared as a glowing ball in front of Alejandro and said, “Boss wants you too.” So he stepped through the portal also.

  When Jim exited the portal, he saw that Bessie had thrown together quite the meeting room. He smiled as he stepped between the vipers lined up facing the portal and glanced around at the tarantulas the size of small dogs. All obviously dungeon creatures Bessie had created from the templates she had made from wildlife they had gathered.

  In the middle of the room lit only by torches reflecting off of jeweled surfaces was a large table made of obsidian and on the opposite side of it was a stone throne. One of the young of the core guardians was lounging on the table eating a spider snack. When Jim moved to the throne the half meter long honey badger rose and hopped into his lap. It nuzzled his hand as it curled up into a comfortable position.

  The portal activated and the giant diamondbacks rose up into attack positions.

  Esmeralda sensed danger as her eyes adjusted to the eerily lit room. She heard an incredibly loud rattle and felt something flick the air above her head. Looking up she saw an enormous head of a rattlesnake prepared to strike as it flicked its tongue in and out above her head. Beside her, she heard curses.

  “Let them through.” Jim’s voice rang out. The snakes moved back and positioned themselves around the table and Jim motioned to the other chairs around the table. He casually scratched the back of the badger that covered all of his lap and then some. “Please sit.”

  Esmeralda took the seat directly across from Jim and her men spread out in the seats on her side of the elliptical table. Allejandro seemed to think about it for a second then shrugged before moving to a seat on Jim’s side of the table flashing a signal of trust to Esmeralda.

  Their heads turned as a female dungeon dark elf walked out of the darkness behind Jim and gave him a brief bow before taking a glass off of the tray she was carrying and placing it before him. As she worked her way around the table, one of the directors reached towards her, but froze as a knife suddenly appeared at his throat. Quicker than his eyes could follow, the knife disappeared and she placed a drink in front of him with a smirk.

  This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  Esmeralda tested the cool fruity drink she had been served and found it to her liking. After a second sip while observing the enormous spiders positioning themselves behind herself and her men, she asked, “So you said you have a job…”

  ‘I can’t go into specifics, but.” Jim started but Bessie appeared beside him and interrupted.

  “Yes, you can.” she said.

  “You know why I can’t.” Jim replied with some confusion. He and Bessie had spent quite a lot of time discussing the extent of what information she could be forced to share with Sparkie.

  “I don’t think Sparkie will ever inquire as to our plans and more importantly, I already know most of what you are planning.” Bessie said.

  “How could you know?” Jim asked as he somehow felt a smirk coming from Bessie’s glowing orb.

  “I’ve seen what you have the book making. You’ve even got me training them. And I know you plan to leave as soon as the mission is over.” she said as Jim sensed her non-existent hands go to her hips and her non-existent head tilt. He thought about it for a second and admitted to himself that she had a point. It was almost impossible for her not to figure it out. He heard a deep chuckle come from the darkness behind him where Lorem was floating with only his glowing eyes visible.

  Esmeralda watched the exchange and met the eyes of her directors as they all sensed a possible opportunity to research to free themselves from the control of this “Jim”. “What is this Sparkie, you speak of.”

  “A more powerful dungeon that Bessie is currently subordinate to.” Jim explained.

  Esmeralda nodded. She had heard of the dungeons and their supposed mission to save the residents of earth. “So you work for the alien masters? I have heard of The Dark Lord, Grandpa John, Drake, and The Siegemaster. Which one are you subordinate to?”

  “John.” Jim answered as it was obvious a silent conversation was going on between his potential new associates. Unfortunately for them, no conversations were private from him. “Yes. He was originally from earth. Upon his death, he was pulled onto a planet being integrated into the system universe as a slime. He is now at the pinnacle of power allowed by the system to exist in this universe. Yes. They truly are here to prepare the humans for an invasion that will happen.”

  Esmeralda raised an eyebrow. “And what are your intentions?”

  “Oh, I’ll help them accomplish their mission as best they can. Then we’ll leave here and seize a territory with the dungeons Lorem has created.” Jim answered.

  “You do not fear to cross the Drake Empire and their dungeons?” Esmeralda asked.

  Jim shrugged. “We believe we may have a way to keep their dungeons out of our territory. If not, I am confident they can be convinced to leave us alone.”

  Esmeralda knew that she had no way to estimate the accuracy of Jim’s confidence. Unfortunately, she currently was at his mercy. Her best course of action was to go along with his plans. “And you need us to?”

  “You will manage your territories and be the mini-bosses and final bosses for each one.” Jim said.

  Esmeralda’s anger flared. “You intend to turn my organization into slaves in your dungeons?”

  Jim smiled and shook his head. “Not at all. You will have autonomy on your dungeon’s design and tactics and complete control of your worlds.”

  Esmeralda just stared at him in disbelief. Her directors also appeared to share the sentiment. Jim didn’t care. They didn’t really have a choice. He needed bad people for what he had planned. If they weren’t interested, he could easily find more. But he continued anyway.

  “We’re going to take control over a galaxy about as far from the Drake empire as possible and grow our dungeons. If what I have planned works, we’ll make a nuisance of ourselves. The empire will hear of it, but when they send their dungeons, they won’t be able to reach us. The empire won’t like that and they’ll create quests for the travellers to come after us.”

  ‘How do you know so much?” Esmeralda asked as she watched the badger hop off of Jim’s lap and begin exploring the room. It tested the air with its nose until it locked onto something that interested it. He walked up to one of the vipers that curled up tightly a few meters from the table and sniffed it before casually smacking it with a paw, sending the snake that was at least 7 meters long and weighing close to one hundred kilograms sliding backwards.

  The snake rose to an attack position and rattled loudly. The badger didn’t care. He charged and leapt towards the snake's head when it struck. Unfortunately for the badger, it was pierced through its back and out of its stomach by one of the fangs that sprayed venom across the stone floor that immediately began bubbling and hissing as the venom ate through it. Unfortunately for the snake, the badger quickly pulled itself off of the fang and into the snake’s mouth. The snake wildly shook for a few seconds before blood exploded out of its mouth and it collapsed to the floor.

  “I was found by John not long after he arrived. We spent a lot of time together. He talks a lot.” Jim shrugged as he completely ignored the battle that was coming to completion just a few meters from where he was sitting.

  The dead snake’s neck bulged and the badger tore its way out of its victim. After pulling itself out through the hole it had created, the badger shook itself and began licking at the wound in its belly, but fell over after a few seconds snoring loudly.

  Esmeralda tried her best to keep her focus on Jim and didn’t exactly believe what he had said, but she mentally moved on to ask, “What are these travellers?”

  “Immortal beings from a highly advanced civilization that control immortal avatars in our universe for entertainment and profit. They sell the goods they acquire to each other and transmit recordings of their adventurers for people to watch. The best thing about them…” Jim paused with an evil grin, Lorem sensing his mood floated a little further into the illumination so his wide smile was now visible. “The harder we make it for them to defeat us, the more they will want to beat us. They’ll keep coming. Every death will fuel their desire to overcome us. Time and again they will return to feed our dungeons and grow our profits.”

  “How will the profits be divided?” Esmeralda asked.

  “You’ll keep everything. We take our cut from the essence gained from the growth of our subordinate dungeons. Essence is money for dungeons. They use it to purchase upgrades and resources from an exchange.” Jim explained.

  The meeting went on until Esmeralda sensed that Jim had tired of their questions and the presence of the book became nearly overwhelming. They came to a tentative agreement to make a decision prior to or immediately after the conclusion of the invasion. By that time the badger was awake and chewing on parts of the snake. To Esmeralda it looked as if it had already grown significantly.

  “So what now?” Esmeralda asked.

  “We’ll finish absorbing your city. You’ll get your living quarters set up and begin training. You’ll need to be a lot stronger.” Jim said. “All of you. We’ll pull all of your people out of the city, so they can rule themselves and you can focus on training.” He said as he looked at those on the opposite side of the table.