Chapter 38: An unexpected meeting
A door opened into a dark room lit only by small torches that hardly allowed a couple of men to be seen sitting in front of a table full of thick books. Both wore a mask that covered half their faces and a hood, making it impossible to ascertain exactly what kind of beings they were. The only thing that allowed to differentiate them was the emblem embroidered on their tunics: a crescent moon with a horn, a bat wing, and a tail finished in the shape of a heart, with the difference that in the middle of the moon each of them had a different number, one and two. Both stopped reading and looked at the door, through which another man dressed the same way was entering calmly. He wore the same suit and his emblem had a number three.
Anyone who saw them would think directly that they belonged to some kind of cult or secret organization... or they were simply three crazy men who had serious mental problems with a childish behavior that made them want to look mysterious... that only were able to get the opposite effect, look like retards. Of both options, seemed to be the first... maybe...
"Looks like we've lost one of the cores we prepared," announced the man who had just stepped in the room.
One of the two men, the one with the number one in the center of the moon, closed his book and stood up.
"Who has lost it?"
"I don't remember his name, he's one of the devils who joined recently. Seems that he made a dungeon close to Cerbalon."
The man with the number one sighed heavily.
"That fool, I told him not to create a dungeon near a city. Although Talucay is the most abandoned part of Brifvia, its capital is still a large and prosperous city. It is not unthinkable that someone strong wandered around."
His attitude was more one of concern than annoyance. Seeing his reaction, the other man also closed his book.
"Losing one of the cores is a problem, but I don't think there is much to worry about. That guy had just created the dungeon, so it is likely that he hadn't completed it. Probably left it defenseless and some lucky group found the entrance and cleaned it with ease. In any case, we cannot neglect the others."
The man with the number one didn't seem to completely agree with those words, but he nodded.
"Right, if I remember correctly, there are a few more dungeons next to Talucay county, and they are the largest of all the ones we made. We can't let anyone discover them yet."
"Then what do we do?" Asked the one with the number three.
"For the moment let's buy some time and assert the situation. What's the status of that disgusting thing?"
"It's still growing, but I think it's strong enough already."
"Then let's use it now. How much would it cost us to get to the closest area of Talucay from here?"
"If we fly we can reach the other side of the abyss in less than a day."
The man with the number one nodded again.
"Then let’s release that thing in the farthest area from the dungeons as soon as possible, without attracting attention."
"I think there are a few abandoned mines in the southern part of Talucay, let it stay there for a couple of days and then head to a nearby town. I'm sure it'll cause enough fuss that nobody will notice the dungeons,” added the one with the number two.
"Good idea, let's do that," agreed the one with the number one.
The other two men nodded and left the room. Meanwhile, he was thoughtful.
"That was too fast, anyway. Could it have been those two? No, they shouldn't be in Cerbalón's proximity... I have a bad feeling, I hope I'm wrong..."
***
After reaching the town we looked for an inn and decided to spend the night there. Due to Aeldrya asked for a room for two, Limy was forced to pretend to be sleeping... She had to spend the whole night doing nothing... However, I was already tired of hiding all day, so I decided to go out on a night raid.
When Aeldrya was completely asleep, I asked Limy to bring me down through the window. I began to tour the town with enthusiasm, although there was not much to see either. The lights in all the houses were non-existent, so everyone was probably asleep by now. I guess it was the typical life of the Middle Ages...
"Shhh, don't make a noise."
But as I passed through a small alley, a whisper caught my attention. Looking back at the source, I saw a boy and a girl, probably about sixteen years old. They crept into the alleys, quickly getting out of my sight.
‘What they might be doing?’
As a responsible adult, I decided to follow them to check that they wouldn't do anything weird. However, they easily got out of my sight. I thought I had lost them, but I immediately heard noises that seemed to be strong blows against a wall along with some gasps from the direction they went. I immediately followed the sound and found a scene that froze me in place.
‘Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa! Damn indecent puberts! Stop doing that right now!’
Completely oblivious to my presence, they continued with their doings...
"Can't you put more force? That way you will never get there."
"Ugh, ouf, ouf, no I can do more. Let me rest a bit."
"We just started! Whatever, I will continue alone."
"It's too big! I can not deal with it!"
'You, damn children of the demon! Do you think it's decent to do that at this time of the night?! Wait… it's not decent to do this during the day either!'
My rage rose to such an extent that I couldn't bear it anymore and shoot myself next to them. And even then, they didn’t notice me. They seemed to be too busy...
'Stop throwing stones at the windows! Think about the feelings of the stones! Well... and the ones of the windows too!'
"If we use smaller stones, the glass won't break. These are a bit big, but they are the only ones we have."
"Do you really want to annoy that old man so much?"
"Of course. It's funny how he gets angry."
They were both throwing stones bigger than me at a fairly tall window in one of the houses half-hidden in the alley.
"Look there," the boy pointed me out, "I didn't notice there was one that size. With this we can!"
‘Ah?’
Absorbed in my curses towards that pair, I couldn't react before the boy caught me and threw me with all his might towards the window.
‘Waaaaaaaaaaaaa!’
I flew straight and passed through it without much difficulty, entering the house with a great noise of breaking glass.
"You bloody scoundrel! I'll teach you one of these days how to behave!"
The voice of a man was heard from the other end of the house, along with the laughter of both youths leaving at full speed. Soon, an old man with an oil lamp entered the room.
"Bothering again. Their parents should educate them better."
He approached the window with an expression of disappointment rather than anger. He sighed a little when he saw the broken window, which with a simple movement of his hand returned to normal.
‘What the fuck...?’
At that moment he turned around. He stared at me, and I stared at him. He was a terribly wrinkled old man, practically bald. Despite having almost no hair on his head, he still had a thick, completely white beard. He wore fine full-length clothing that he probably wore to sleep... The sight was kind of unpleasant...
"I'm getting tired of having stones thrown at my windows…. One moment…."
His gaze made me feel quite concerned, so I decided to check his status.
Status:
Name: -
Kind: ??? | Race: ???
Level: ???
HP: ??? | MP: ???
————————————————
'What the fuck is with this status?! Why can't I see it?!'
It was the second time that I couldn't see a status... which meant...
"You're not just a stone, are you?"
'I am a stone, a stone, a simple stone!'
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone