The double doors at the castle's entrance are open and flanked by soldiers standing as still and upright as statues. The procession enters: a dozen people, five guards, and five diplomats. The former wear bronze armor and circular shields—people with fierce eyes and chiseled muscles—contrasting with the diplomats who are barely covered by the linen of their colorful chitons: blue, green, orange, pink. Leading the march is a woman with almond skin and olive hair, wearing a white chiton with a golden belt that matches the bracelets and anklets adorning her hands and feet.
The foreign procession advances along the carpet, stopping near the concave edge that surrounds the slightly elevated area: the king's domain. The diplomats perform their first bow to the rulers. There are two thrones; Gineber sits on the left, while Marc occupies the taller one on the right, wearing a thick red mantle over his shoulders and an even heavier crown on his head, forged from Great Rift gold and iron from the remains of Stoicus's sword and armor.
Marc maintains a tired, furrowed brow. Gineber, meanwhile, is as still as the soldiers at the doors. The diplomats step toward the foot of the king's throne, one by one depositing small wooden chests filled with gems, fabrics, and salt. Flanking the thrones are Axiel, Hilda, and Lynel, paying close attention to the meeting. There is no reason to suspect an assassination attempt, but one can never be too careful.
The last to approach is the woman dressed in white.
"Thank you for receiving us in your kingdom, Your Majesty. The grandmasters trust that this will be the first step toward greater openness between the United Kingdoms and the City-States," the woman says.
Jimbo is also present, although only Hilda is aware of him. The captain allowed him to come on the condition that he cause no trouble. He had no intention of drawing attention to himself anyway, and he understood that, sooner rather than later, he needed to start grasping local politics.
The woman speaking for the foreigners is named Cora, and she is trying to convince Marc to open a permanent slave trade. According to what Jimbo discovered by spying on the castle's inhabitants, the mine owners lobbied hard to get labor for the Great Rift, and the only workers willing to toil with the shadow of the dark elves looming over them were slaves brought from afar. Marc spent the degree of autonomy his crown affords him to accept this measure, which goes against the laws of the United Kingdoms, but only as a temporary fix.
"As soon as the situation in the Great Rift normalizes, we will free all the slaves. Those who wish to leave may do so; those who wish to continue their labor shall remain for a fair coin." Marc states with a dry tone that reflects his antipathy toward slavery.
Cora offers the king the most perfect smile Jimbo has ever seen. Polite, tender, suggestive—her charm makes her praise of chains sound like poetry.
"Your Majesty, the only way to normalize the situation in the Great Rift is by eradicating every creature in the underground, an impossible odyssey even for your powerful Sorcerer King. Perhaps your miners will forget the barbarity of the dark elves... in a decade or two. Commerce is like a living body! If it is paralyzed for too long, it rots. And forgive my indiscretion this once, but are our slaves really that far removed from what your serfs used to be?"
Marc grunts inwardly. Gineber leans in to whisper something in Marc's ear. Jimbo rubs his ethereal hands and positions himself in the middle to listen.
"In my childhood, there were still serfs in my father's land. It is true that His Absolute Majesty suppressed the practice as the decades advanced, but circumstances change, my husband," Gineber says.
By "His Absolute Majesty," Jimbo understands they are referring to the Sorcerer King.
"Even the least splendid kingdom needs a healthy economy," Gineber adds. "We will continue using slaves to keep the mines open; that is not subject to debate. Making this stance official would put us in the good graces of those kingdoms that wish to bring back classic serfdom. My father is not the only one who wants to restore the old traditions, I assure you."
Jimbo gets excited by the situation. It reminds him of the moral choices one had to make in Kardax 10,000 to develop a strong civilization. Of course, Kard10k was a game, and this is real life; flesh-and-blood people will suffer regardless of the decision made.
"The guilds' propaganda may have tarnished the reputation of chains," Cora allows herself to continue. "But nothing could be further from the truth. A slave is just as precious as a palfrey or a villa. A slave is property. A thousand times more blessed have been the enslaved boys and girls of the pious grandmasters than many supposedly free orphans and laborers."
Cora extends both arms forward and half-turns her wrists, revealing details of her bracelets, showing they have a cavity for chains. They are golden shackles.
"I myself am a slave, yet I received the finest education, the most exquisite food, and bathed in the most delightful perfumed waters. As property, I am more coveted, cherished, and valued than this great castle."
"That is not very hard to believe," Gineber says aloud.
The diplomats tense up, not knowing how to react to this contemptuous jab at the fortress surrounding them. Cora doesn't even flinch; she remains as charming as when she arrived.
In the end, Marc decides to postpone his decision, asking for a few days to think it over.
"Captain Lynel will guide you to an inn of your liking. I ask for your patience; you must understand that this is a complicated matter for us," Marc clarifies.
"We will stay for a week. I will eagerly await your decision," Cora says, offering a bow before withdrawing with the rest of the City-States' envoys. They are escorted to the exit by old Captain Lynel, who seemed quite excited to chat with the foreign soldiers.
Hilda, Axiel, and the queen herself leave to hold a meeting in a part of the castle Jimbo does not have access to.
«Oh well, break time is over. Time to work!»
…
On his way back to the dungeon, Jim thinks about the decisions King Marc has to make.
«If I were him, I'd agree to keep the slaves for a while. That viper of a queen he has spoke the truth: the economy must never stop!»
Jim is aware that it's very easy to follow that logic when you aren't the one forced to work. But in this medieval fantasy world, the comforts and guarantees of his original world don't exist. There are literally civilizations wanting to skin you alive living right beneath your feet.
«That Cora girl, pretty as she is, is using a deceptive argument. It's a lie that every slave in the world will be as well taken care of as she is. There will be categories, people valued less than others. And even if there weren't, I doubt her life is as perfect as she wants to sell it.»
Jim thinks about his summons. They could be considered slaves; they have no complaints or aspirations, and if he asks them to die, they obey without blinking.
«Maybe I can—»
A system notification startles him. He had already forgotten about that particular chime.
Note: When a summon leaves the dungeon's area of influence, depending on its intelligence, it may gain autonomy or disobey the orders imposed by the core.
«Hmm. That doesn't rule out the idea 100%, but it's good to keep in mind.»
He reaches the core room and starts tinkering with the dungeon's layout.
---Jimbo the Dungeon Core LV 3
-Ether: 67/300
-Age: Stone.
-Active Connections:
--Dowmy the imp LV 8
--Hilda the fourth captain LV 31
-Floors: 3/3
--Base Floor (Prison Cells – Laboratory – Dungeon Entrance – Tropical Garden – Primitive Hot Springs – Secret Passageway)
--Floor 2 (The Three Paths of Pain – Secret Passageway)
--Floor 3 (Core Room – Secret Passageway)
-Special Summons:
--Centipedead: Elongated undead made of ribcage segments; uses its speed and maneuverability to wrap around its prey, tearing them apart between its ribs or dragging them beneath the sand.
Jimbo spends the next couple of hours gathering mana and shifting the floors of his Dungeon until he gets a general layout that satisfies him. He also built a fourth route to test concepts for challenges. This route is currently inaccessible, as many of the ideas tested there left a lot to be desired or were excessively unfair.
«I suppose creating a pitch-black zone filled with flammable gas and jumping skulls that bite your ankles could be considered foul play...»
The door to the passageway opens. Hilda returns from the meeting; she's no longer wearing her armor, but casual clothes. She walks over to the bed, drops onto the mattress, and rubs her face with her hands. Jimbo floats above her.
«Did the king make his decision?»
"He hasn't decided yet," Hilda says, her face buried in her palms.
«The slave seemed quite convinced of what she was saying; maybe accepting their deal isn't a bad idea.»
"A golden prison is still a prison," Hilda groans in exasperation. "I believed this matter had been put to rest long ago... but I was wrong."
«Using slaves wouldn't be very different from using me. We are beings trapped in a place and destined for specific functions.»
The captain slowly removes her hands from her face and shoots a serious look at Jimbo, who immediately regrets trying to score pity points.
"They are people. You are a magic crystal."
Jimbo was about to assert his humanity, but he thought better of it and decided to keep his trap shut. Hilda might take the idea as a lie, or an attempt to manipulate her, or even heresy. Jimbo was already aware that she was an inquisitor, and although the captain didn't seem like the most religious person, Jimbo had learned to be cautious of that archetype thanks to light novels.
After resting for a couple of minutes, Hilda leaves the core room.
Jimbo returns to the fourth route to run a little experiment.
In a rocky corridor 15 meters long and 7 meters wide, he summons a caveman, a primitive goblin, an ancient skeleton, and an imp. He lines them up and leaves them waiting while he goes to prepare the tools.
In the blue space that makes up the crystal's interior, Jim imagines stones, bones, and sticks. He puts them together, smoothing out rough edges, sharpening them.
«My power isn't advanced enough to use metals yet, a shame.»
While searching for materials, he discovered that he can conjure ivory. However, it is more expensive than different types of stone or bone.
«Do I have gems?»
Note: A greater level of depth in the underground is required to create gems.
«It doesn't matter. A little ivory will do for the experiment.»
He embeds ivory into the rock wall, in more or less hidden spots, and orders the creatures to mine.
The caveman furrows his broad brow, looks at the rock with his small eyes, drops the stone tool, and starts punching the cave wall. The primitive goblin does use the tool, but repeatedly strikes the rock with the wooden handle. The imp just throws itself onto the ground and starts gnawing on the bone part of its pickaxe.
Jim facepalms his ethereal face. Though he looks back hopefully upon hearing the clinking of stone against stone.
The undead follows the order and chips away at the hard rock with the pickaxe. The swing of its arm is mechanical and its speed is consistently steady.
«One out of four. It's something.»
The caveman stares fixedly at the skeleton, then looks at the pickaxe he dropped a moment ago, and then back at the skeleton. As if something clicked in his head, he picks up the pickaxe and mimics the undead's mining.
Jim claps upon seeing this.
«Yes, yes! The infinite human potential!»
As the minutes pass, each manages to open a hole in the wall. The skeleton inserts its hand, grabs a chipped piece of ivory, and drops it on the ground by its feet. The caveman does the same. The goblin sneaks over, steals the ivory from the skeleton when it isn't looking, and puts it in his corner as if he had mined it himself.
«You bumpkin!»
Jimbo despawns the goblin. The imp too. Half of the ether he spent is refunded. He sighs.
«Looks like only humans and the dead are good for honest work.»
Note: Male goblins are hunters and breeders. Female goblins are gatherers and caretakers.
«I guess you're trying to recommend that I use female goblins for tasks like this. But I doubt they have the strength needed for a job as heavy as mining.»
Note: The growth and development of demons are linked to their nutrition. Their diet must be based on a living organism similar to them.
«I get it. I'll have to get them food for them to be moderately useful.»
For the time being, with Dowmy, he has enough imps in his life.
At nightfall, after making sure no one was watching, Jim decided to run a little experiment on the surface.