Author's note:

Hi! Y'all so awesome, thank you for your support!

We entered the dungeon without delay, and Don immediately went ahead. As we passed through the black hole-like boundary, the heat and humidity of the jungle dissipated, and a cool breeze brushed against our skin. Instead of the rocky cave I was half expecting, we found a long hall with gray, cold stones. The ambiance was regal and majestic, as if it had transported us to a palace. Irwen’s palace.

“Where are we?” Don asked and brandished his sword.

One step in, and I remained silent. Second, and I felt sometime soft under my lovely shoes, and almost struck a floor on impulse with my whip, because I hadn’t expected a red rug laying down there. I see. “It makes sense! We are visiting Queen Irwen, Don. Did you think they imprisoned her in some old cave, chained to a rock?” Well, I did.

We walked the entire way undisturbed, with no enemy ambushing us, which wasn’t the norm. No, because every dungeon was crawling with enemies, waiting just around the corner and sometimes guarding treasure chests. Nothing like that in here, only a long, very long hall.

Our careful walking was the only song this dungeon heard in ages. However, magic torches on walls shed dim red light. It took us at least ten minutes before the hall abruptly turned and ended with a wooden door.

Not just your ordinally wooden door, but embodied with gold, jade and other metal I couldn’t recognize. It was telling the intruders - us - an old elf story of bravery, and because of its size, it could contain all thirteen testaments. Don didn’t care about it and pushed it with all his might.

Although they constructed this dungeon hundreds of years ago, the hinges gave way with no sound. Wait! I wanted to shout, but it was too late. Gigantic wave of mana washed over me and this normally invisible calm energy materialized like a golden mist. Then it pressed me to the ground, and I couldn’t even raise my head to glance at the now open room.

Strangely, the mist had no effect on my knight. How could he be walking? Wait, when I played as a warrior, I could use strength. Well, I used it mostly to smash things. Perhaps this engine worked the same for magic users? It must have been natural for Lucy, so she didn’t mention it, same as I wasn’t bragging about hurling stones at trolls. But how could I battle the push?

Oh! What about that trick that old pervert taught me - focusing on my mana and circle it? I began focusing, almost trying to burn myself from inside, as I imagined it and for sure it worked. I caught on fire - a blue, strange fire erupted all around me and it repelled the golden mist.

It wasn’t a fire, but my pure mana, but in this room it looked like it. I scrambled up and glanced around. So where are we? Throne room; only that word could describe this gigantic place. In the center of its vastness, on a golden decorated throne, sat an elven woman, and for hundreds of feet around her stretched a golden barrier.

The barrier was degrading - huge chunks were dissolving into a golden mist, so it wasn’t a mana that attacked me, but something else. Frescoes decorated the walls all around the grand room, but that wasn’t what caught my attention. Not at all. It was the woman’s stare that pierced me, and I almost stumbled over a flat floor and no, it wasn’t my heel’s fault.

Her blue almond-shaped eyes sparkled like stars, almost as if she was analyzing everything there was to be known about me. She tied her wavy silver hair in a very long braid and was wearing her favorite Elven-made battle uniform. Unconsciously, my feet moved on its own a few steps back. It was her. Queen Irwen, the rebel leader.

It wasn’t like star wars story; the rebellion against empire wasn’t… Wait. It hadn’t started yet. Don strode unfazed towards the barrier, and the golden mist hugged him, almost lovingly. The closest he could get to her was only about two hundred feet, but then he abruptly stopped and kneeled before her.

“My queen,” he said with his head lowered. “I await your orders.” No way. Hey, hey this wasn’t our deal! Irwen only nodded to acknowledge him, and at that instant the mist entered him.

That was bad. Like very terrible, and I jolted up and ran to him to stop it, somehow. “Don! No!” Too late, his tag changed.

“My child, welcome.” Her icy voice cut right through the barrier mist. “Princess, you aren’t welcome here. Imperial nobles have no place in our kingdom,” she said, glaring at me, and I felt my stupid knees weakening.

“Miss Irwen.” Sadly, I couldn’t look into her eyes. I had to lower my gaze, or risk to fear grip my heart. “Your kingdom is now suzerain of the empire, with another dynasty on a throne. Every noble is an imperial.”

As I sneaked another glance up, Irwen’s eyes betrayed her emotion, and the very space around her sparkled with mana. If it wasn’t already clear, anybody could guess that we were dealing with a legendary person. My words faltered, and she finished it instead of me, “Human usurper.”

My blood boiled. She was the same as always, and her army was probably resting somewhere in this palace. Main quest! Oh, the rewards are the best. Before any of that, I said, “It was over two hundred years!”

“What is that, if not insignificant? I bid for my time and that shall come soon. My army shall rise, and every proud citizen will claim what is rightfully ours. You won’t stand in my way. You are only a pest.” She pointed at Don and nodded at him. “Prince, if you may.”

What? Fight with a level fifteen prince? No! “Wait! Before you do that, I have a preposition for you.”

Irwen returned to her stoic expression, shook her head, and said, “You can’t stop your impending death. You have nothing of value to me.” She was right. I was the Exploiter, but could offer her nothing; and fighting with Don in this golden mist was out of the question. Although, there was one thing that could change a history. In a good way for me.

“Not even the name of the demon of darkness, the servant of rules and death?” She furrowed her brows and raised her hand. At that instant, the mist converged and grabbed me under my throat, dragging me to the air closer to the throne, closest as the remaining barrier allowed, while choking me all the way. I flailed around, but as she said, I was powerless in front of her.

“What do you know about him?” she said, and her icy words froze the surrounding air. Despite that, I wasn’t feeling cold. Wait a second, I have a legendary bloodline too. Not an inherent as she did, but I’m a hero. So an Ice or Blood magic couldn’t affect me. Wonderful, everything else could. “How do you know about our connection?”

“Undead army. O-only one servant is f-foolish enough,” I said, despite the choking. Stop, you stupid bitch! I struggled in the air, but how do you fight a mist? As I looked around, a timer materialized in the corner of my vision, ticking away the moments until my death. Five minutes. Do I really need to heal myself?

Her blue eyes bore into me once more before she let me go, and as I stumbled, a sharp pain shot through my left foot. I wasn’t expecting that and winced in a pain, rolling on the ground. At least I am alive. “If you know his name, I will trade it for your safe passage back. Warn that traitor, warn my foolish brother.”

“Do you think this is a fair trade? I am immortal. If you kill me, I will just revive.” I grinned and massaged my neck. “At least offer me a crown and one of your jewels.” Haggling with Irwen? If someone could see me now…

“A crown, and a passage. You are immortal, but if I hurt your soul, it will take at least two weeks for your to reanimate your mortal body and by that time it will be too late to act.”

I nodded. “Deal.” Waiting was pointless. Crown was a symbol of her kingdom, and every player craved it, because it was a final award in a long, and limited, quest. Only three crowns could exist. Thanks main quest, I got for free.

“Imperial, tell us his name this instant.” Well, not for free.

Limping on my injured foot, I walked towards the center where I had enough room for the summoning, and then I pointed at the still kneeling Don. “What about him?” Irwen only moved her hand, and the mist covered his head. Well, if you think this is enough. You are the queen.

“Duwin Ianlee, I call thee.” Darkness descended on the room, all lights vanished and even the mist couldn’t prevent a new, dark mist filling the room. In front of me towered an enormous thing. The eerie combination of human and death matched its immense height. His body was morphing with my every blink, not settling on one.

“You dare, a mere mortal?” His voice boomed in my head, similar to my god.

“I beg you pardon, I know your name; I’m immortal and a hero. Not a mere mortal.” I wanted to add another insult, but my body stiffened and a blue-screen informed me why.

Again, a pleasant voice of a young man said, “Not possible to know the name. We did not mention it yet, different from beta. Reason of knowledge unknown. Solution - a warning. Princess, please do not cheat. ”

In the next moment, I regained a control of my body. Well, at least in theory.

A deep smile spread across Irwen's face, finally showing some emotion for the first time today. Something about her smiling like that wasn’t natural. It wasn’t a warm smile like Katherine’s or Lisa’s. It was a predatory smile, along with a feeling like seconds before a wolf descends on your exposed throat, killing you.

She rose from her throne and basked in the darkness - yes, she somehow sucked the black mist in. “Duwin Ianlee. We have an opportunity to reexamine our contract now.” Duwin withdrawn his deadly aura back in, but it was too late; Irwen knew his name. “As for you, Imperial, we may be enemies, but you are still my kind. May my crown serve you well, Princess Princess. We shall meet again on a battlefield.”

Her golden mist hugged me, but this time it focused on my tiara, changing it. When I woke up today, I hadn’t expected this. Thanks to this still generating crown, perhaps I could play a big role in the upcoming rebellion. Or not. That was the right of The Exploiter!