Dungeon? This Tree? Why Don't You Join Me for Lunch? (Dungeon Core)
Chapter 11: Stay!

Chapter 11: Chapter 11: Stay!

The best way for someone to get mana with a dream catcher, as one might figure out from the name, is if people sleep near the dream catcher.

The villagers were fed and watered. But most of them were beginning to gather up their stuff.

I needed something to make them stay! The dream catcher did not have enough mana in it! I had to pay the gnomes!

"Ladies and gentlemen!" I began, standing up. This was a weird thing to do with people whom you barely knew, but I still had hope. "How would you like to participate in the Forest of Forget-Me-Nots Lottery?"

There was no such thing.

Also, I had no money. Heck, I did not even have a machine to spill out random numbers for the villagers to hold their breath for.

But I had a single gem I have been keeping around as a souvenir. Something I did not need, for it was just one sapphire. Nothing magical.

I took it out of my pocket, letting the light reflect off it.

The villagers sat back down so, as if their lives depended on it.

"How is this going to work?" One man asked, already taking out a pen and paper.

I blinked, for I had no idea. I had the reward, but the point of this was to force the villagers to remain near the tree and go to sleep.

Feeding the dream catcher.

"I will show the numbers," which was not how a lottery was played, but I felt that I had no choice. "While you all share a story."

Which would feed the dream catcher. It was a win-win!

"My wizard neighbor created a flying pig yesterday," a burly man said, as he stood up. "And it ate my turnips!"

Now, if I were one to believe in such things as flying pigs, I would have given the man the sapphire.

But my truth pendant heated up, showing me that the man was lying.

"You are so full of it, Hugo!" One grannie yelled, as she waved a finger at him. "Dan’s pig just got out of its pen because he forgot to close it again! And it didn’t eat your turnips, it shat on your lawn!"

I blinked. The truth pendant did not activate. Huh, was village life really so interesting?

"It ate my turnips!" Hugo said, and the pendant did not heat up this time. "And it did shit on my lawn, yes. But I turned it into a flying pig by putting it on my trebuchet and catapulting it into the air! That pig keeps on eating my bloody turnips! I had enough of it."

Man... poor pig.

"And is the pig alive?" I asked Hugo. Just to keep the story going.

"Yes," he said so, as if he was going to even up the score at the first possible opportunity. "Fell into Arnold’s hay."

"And then ate my tomatoes!" An old man yelled, waving his arms around. "But I send my dog after it!"

I blinked. That pig had a more stressful life than the average administrator worker.

I asked myself if I should save it... until the winter, when I was going to turn it into bacon.

"My cat saved the pig from that pesky Shih Tzu!" A woman said, continuing the story. When my truth pendant did not heat up, I raised an eyebrow.

Man, I needed that pig!

"Your cat? Your demon is no cat! It is a murder muffin!" The old man yelled at the woman. "And when I prove it, it will be returned to the dungeon you stole it from!"

Ah, that was not good. Soon, the villagers were going to start pointing fingers.

I had to do something!

"And what happened to the pig afterward?" Namely, to go back to the hero of the story.

"It went into the goblin village," a hunter decked in green and brown armor said. "And ate the apples the goblins had stolen earlier that day!"

Brave, but possible roasted, pig.

"Did it... survive?" I asked, for if it did, I really needed it.

"The goblins captured it," the hunter said, taking a whiff of his pipe. "Placed it in a cauldron with water. Wanted to boil it alive."

Ah, I was hoping to hear a happy ending!

"It breathed fire and ran away," the hunter said, then took off his axe. One half of the blade was missing. "Then it broke my axe when I tried to butcher it!"

That sounded so, as if the wizard had played with evolution.

"And where is the pig now?" I needed me a boss mob. That pig was the perfect candidate to place near the entrance of the forest!

"A dungeon contracted it as a boss mob," Hugo said, as he ran a hand through his blonde hair.

"The dungeon is no more," the hunter said, looking so, as if he had seen the end of time.

"Oh," was all I could say. "So, you let a great evil into the world, just because it ate your turnips?"

Hugo glared at me, marching my way.

"The gem, please," he said. For both of us knew that his story deserved it.

"Here," I said with a smile.

Silence fell on the clearing like a blanket. The villagers looked at us, as the gem exchanged hands.

"It is dark now," I said, as I looked at the embers in the cooking pit. "How about this: you stay the night, and I will make you breakfast come morning!"

The villagers began to murmur among themselves. But I did not play fair.

I let my mana into the air and had it produced an oinking sound. Some of the kids in the crowd teared up, but that was just a sacrifice I was willing to make.

"You summoned it!" I said, making my mana let out another oink. "It is here."

The yellow glow of my barrier enveloped the clearing. Warming up the cool night air.

An oink was heard in the distance.

I froze.

It really was here!

Something about my panicked eyes convinced the villagers to stay the night. Filling up my dream catcher.

But I did not sleep a wink.

For every time I closed my eyes, I could hear it.

That dreadful oinking sound.

The sound of a being which had survived the impossible... and might eat my tree, while it was at it!