25: Memories

David’s view

We’ve arrived a bit early, but I’m not really keen on entering this dungeon before I can remodel it.

Edward though seems to be unaware of my plans “Are we just going to wait?”

“You know what dungeon this is, right?”

“Undead filled catacombs. I should actually be of use in there.”

“You realize how bad it will stink in there, right?”

“Of course. That’s normal… wait, are you planning to remodel the dungeon first, just to avoid the smell of the dead?”

“Yup.”

“I’m starting to think you’re spoiled, David.”

I couldn’t help but grin at that. “I probably am.”

…

*knock knock*

A visitor? I suppose we have been here a while, and people are probably confused by the cabin so close the catacomb dungeon. 

“Sorry to disturb you, but one of my companions has been cursed, and we are out of holy water. Do you have any spare we could buy? Going back to town would be quite a bother when they can’t even walk.”

“A moveless curse huh? Shouldn’t really be a problem, I can just dispel it.”

I was about to leave with our visitor when Ed interrupted: “Wait, even if you cure them, they’ll need to return to town to buy more holy water anyway. We should just sell them holy water. With the two of us, it’s not like it should be hard to make.”

“If we do that, we’ll end up with lots of people wanting holy water.”

“It’s not like you’ve got anything better to do while we wait.”

“I’ve been thinking!” 

“Leave that to Jessica, dungeon design isn’t a hero’s job.”

“Fine, fine. We’ll talk later. How do you want to do this Holy Water thing.”

… and that’s how I became a holy water seller outside the catacomb dungeon. While I was at it, I set up a machine to create a mist of holy water at the entrance, so everyone would be cleansed as they left.

“Um, you do realize this is something that the church and kingdom will want to buy the blueprints for, right?” 

“Is that a problem, Ed?”

“As long as you’re willing to give them the necessary instructions to build it, it should be fine.”

“I don’t really have a reason not to.”

“Good. I’d rather not have my boyfriend become an enemy of the church and state.”

…

“This is boring.”

“The wait is your fault, David.”

“Yeah, yeah. I know.”

…

Edward’s view

One day, after about two weeks of waiting, the dungeon entrance appears to be gone, and in its place is a giant castle. 

“Ah, it’s done!”

“What’s done, David?”

“The remodeling of course! Now to test it out and see if it works as intended.”

…

Upon approaching the castle, there seems to be a servant at the entrance. Odd.

“Ticket please. Ticket please.”

She’s repeating herself. I wonder what this is about… David just walks past and into the castle without pause.

“There’s no tickets, don’t worry about it.”

“Did you know they would be here?”

“Nope. This castle will be filled with memories though. I guess someone was remembered as a ticket collector.”

On a whim, I grabbed a leaf off the ground and handed it to the lady asking for tickets. She took it from me and put it into a pouch.

“Thank you very much. Have a good day.” 

She then resumed asking for tickets. Reminds me of ghosts, the way she responds to some things, yet not others, and largely just repeats herself.

“So, what should I expect in here?”

“I don’t really know, actually. I just convinced people to make monsters that would memorialize the dead, because the city on the other side is the kingdom’s official grave site. That’s the reason they previously had catacombs filled with undead by the way. Personally, I think zombies and skeletons are a poor way to honor the dead.”

…

After we finally fought a boss that seemed to be an arrogant vampire, I felt like it was time to put words to my confusion.

“So, we have a castle, where paintings will attack, armored statues will attack, and even books will attack?”

“I’m not actually sure why this ended up like it did. If I’d done all this on purpose, I could at least blame the influence of some games I know of, but this was an accident!”

“Games?”

“Well… I’m not really sure how to explain video games. Regardless, it involves a haunted castle full of things like this. Honestly, the resemblance is uncanny.”

“Does it have anything to do with the whole cooked chicken that appeared after you destroyed a wall by accident?”

“I… I can’t explain that.”

“So, any other secrets to reveal now?”

“Well… this is only the first half of the dungeon, but the other half isn’t intended to be found.”

“We’ve explored this entire castle. There’s nowhere else to go but into the ground.”

“Yup. There’s an upside down mirrored copy of the castle in the ground.”

“... that bit of ridiculousness can at least be blamed on you, right?”

“Yeah. That one’s my fault.”

“... I really hope the next dungeon is less confusing than this one was.”