Dungeon? This Tree? Why Don't You Join Me for Lunch? (Dungeon Core)
Chapter 105: I Tried

Chapter 105: Chapter 105: I Tried

The thing about my sons was that I had a favorite. One son whom I was proud of, and two that were just there.

Pan was busy.

I was not needed.

No, I was just the Foodie Nymph. The nymph who was there to feed armies.

For all that the demons who were attacking us were incubi and succubae, even if most of them were off to Forestria for a wild night, it didn’t mean that they were going to stop attacking.

I knew that. I hated that.

Why couldn’t the world just stop having wars? Why couldn’t my sons just find a nice home and have a pleasant life?

Why couldn’t I do that?

"Hey," Max was there, by my side. He looked so as if he were considering feeding me a cake.

I was in the mood to be fed, for once. Maybe something that had strawberries in it?

A shortcake?

"Max, I’m hungry," I hoped that he was not a pervert who’d think that me being hungry meant that I was going to demand sex.

No, he was still a stranger.

Nate had put me to the test, and I still loved him.

Nick had waited, patient and caring. Eating my food and lying to me that it was going to charity.

And Desmond... he had thrown a tantrum.

But that wasn’t what I wanted out of those three.

Why didn’t I mention Aron or Titan?

They were mine.

Aron was my soulmate. Titan was a piece of my soul, even if I didn’t know it at the time.

A defense mechanism, that was about as effective as one could get.

And bloody.

Covered in guts, covered in sweat. The war was something he enjoyed. I could see it through his eyes.

He was my dark side.

But that didn’t mean that I wanted him to remain that way!

"Hey," Max began to lead me away from the cakes. I was still clutching the cake which he had made for Morty.

"Sylvan?" He asked when I didn’t respond.

"Do you think I’m a good dad?" He didn’t know me. He must have fought by Morty’s side, though.

He must have heard my son telling everyone that I was a nightmare!

"Mortimer is a fine warrior," that wasn’t what my children were supposed to be!

They were supposed to be peaceful and cook all day! They were supposed to be shining lights!

"Your children can’t be like you, Sylvan," was he reading my mind again? Or did my expression betray my thoughts?

"I know that," I told him because deep down I did know it.

I looked on, without really feeling anything, as Titan cut an incubus in half, spun around, and then beheaded a succubae.

No one could call him sexist. Of that much, I was certain.

Was this what I was capable of? Could I, one day, do this to someone?

"And you are not Titan. He is a mob. And not a part of your soul. Or, even if he is," he chuckled, patting me on the head as if I were a depressed puppy. "Then he is the part which is meant to be the protector."

I began to blink.

Me, a protector? That was nonsense!

Sure, I created the glowing mushrooms, but those were just effective against physical sicknesses.

The tourists, who were now settling in the Forest of Forget-Me-Nots, were happy to eat their fill.

To farm the fungi, as best as they were able. To welcome more humans.

"Do you think I changed anything?" I didn’t even know what I wanted to change.

There were rivers of blood just outside of the borders of my forest.

There were guts on the grass.

Grass which was supposed to grow tall and green. To be full of life. To be used by wildlife as food.

But no. It wasn’t meant to be.

It was trampled, muddied, and killed before it could even get to breathe the first notes of spring!

"You can make a barrier," that was an upkeep that would be a herculean task.

But the other Archdemons were coming.

I had no idea how I was going to level up my dungeon to the point where the barrier would hold.

A single dungeon, making a barrier to protect the entire world? How was I even going to get the mana for that?

"You see, dearest Sylvan," he leaned in, wrapping an arm around me.

Sharing his warmth and love of life with me. Something I could feel, even if I didn’t want to see that he was a kindred spirit.

That it wasn’t about how I looked that made him come here to my dungeon.

He saw the potential in me to put up the barrier. To keep the Archdemons away.

"You can’t love the world if you don’t see any of it!" He giggled, giving me a light squeeze and then just letting go.

"That cake, the one for your son. Sylvan, it shouldn’t be bringing you sadness! It should bring you joy! I was reading your mind the entire time I was baking it!"

He chuckled as he took a box and placed Morty’s cake in it.

The other two cakes got sent off only on their platters.

"Your son wants to feel special, loved. Just like all children do," he continued.

I felt so as if I had a stone in my throat. As if he was the only thing that was in the dungeon with me.

Even if Aron was there somewhere, trying to keep the barrier around the Forest of Forget-Me-Nots going.

"And you want to feel loved as well," it was the truth. The reason behind me staying by Methuselah for so long.

What made me human.

"And because of that, I will make that dream of yours come true! Now, your family is finishing up the fight. Care to join me on a vacation?"

I took his hand. Letting him access my mana.

The world had to be connected to my skill.

I had to see it! And I was going to!

In all of its colors.