Dungeon? This Tree? Why Don't You Join Me for Lunch? (Dungeon Core)
Chapter 15: Wasteland

Chapter 15: Chapter 15: Wasteland

Our full bellies were a stark contrast to what had remained from the Forest of Forget-Me-Nots after the storm.

The trees, once so strong, lay on the ground. Some were still smoking. Corpses littered the ground.

Some must have died from the fire, some from the smoke. Others from the hailstorm, the traces of which were yet to melt.

It was cold. The air smelled of death and smoke.

The only unharmed patch of land was my old girl.

"Good God," Almira was gripping her amulet. Most of the villagers were mirroring her.

Anne came to me, her steps featherlight. Her eyes big and bright.

"Uncle Sylvan, we have to clean!" The girl said, with the innocence of someone who knew someone was in pain but was yet to grow enough empathy to truly know what to do.

"Anne," I said, as I took a step towards her. Only to step into the corpse of a squirrel.

I did my best not to throw up.

If this is what happened to the forest, then what about the gnome village and the human village?

"Uncle Sylvan?" The little girl asked as she looked at my feet. She gave out a scream. Her running steps made my heart clench. Soon, she was hiding behind Almira.

"Sylvan," Almira, it seemed, was the spokeswoman of the village. I looked her way. Knowing that she would not remain in this wasteland for long. "We must see what became of our village but know this: we will be back! With hoes and shovels! With seeds and saplings!"

"Why?" A part of me still did not trust the humans. Still thought that they had something up their sleeves.

"Why? Silly boy, the entire village came to your festival! The men, the women, the children! You saved us all!"

I blinked.

Did I really?

"We will be back," she repeated, this time more gently. "And repay you!"

As I watched the villagers make their way through what was left of the Forest of Forget-Me-Nots I had only one thing on my mind:

To find Mael, who was supposed to come any day now, and to check up on the gnomes.

I did not have enough mana to pay them. Heck, I did not even half a third of what I owed them.

But I was healthy and no stranger to hard work.

Ready to help with the rebuilding. My high and strength would help the gnomes pick up the pieces faster.

For I had felt the storm the night before. Knew how far it reached.

The only thing I did not understand was where it had come from...

0000

When I reached the gnome village, I was met with the very picture of the gnome spirit.

The little green-haired humanoids had already made a camp for the wounded. They were clearing the ruins of their village. The fires were contained, or so it seemed.

The little pond, which was connected to a spring, looked so as if the water was full of mud.

They were just fifty centimeters tall.

They still survived.

It was at that moment that I knew that if I wanted to survive, if I wanted to protect my humans, then I needed these brave souls.

"Oh, it is the nymph," a gnome said, as he looked at me with a grim smile. "Good on you to remember us. The mana will do us good."

"I have just 200 mana points," I admitted, feeling like a thief. "But I can help you rebuild!"

The gnome nodded, waving me over. Soon I was going through the makeshift camp. Towards what I remembered to be the house of the chief.

Strange, I thought to myself, as I looked at how pristine it was. Why hadn’t it been burned down? Or taken down by the ice?

"The barrier held," the gnome who was leading me told me. "Did you honestly believe the chief was living in such a house just because he had the money?"

I nodded. There was no way I would lie to the creature.

I could smell the mana of the truth pendant on him.

"Shows how much you know about us," the gnome grumbled. I rubbed the back of my head. I could not argue with that statement.

As the chief came to me, I noticed the burned mark on the man’s cheek. Had he gone out in the storm to get as many of the gnomes inside the barrier as he could?

Was he really that much of a giant?

I bowed; the chief nodded at me.

"Please, move inside my dungeon!" I had felt awe only once before. As my old girl and her Grumpy Pants had dragged me from the barren wasteland my mountain had turned into, as the humans mined their gold, and had shown me the world.

Taught me how to cook.

"And where are we going to place our mini farms?" The chief said.

"I’ll make space!" my plan was not thought out. But the truth of the matter was, I needed these gnomes!

"No, thanks," the chief said, turning around. Ready to go back inside his house.

"The jackals will come first!" I hated myself for tugging at this man’s heartstrings, but I had to protect the gnomes.

Because I needed their strength. They had done away with goblins! Sure, they had hired adventurers, but that did not mean that they had not taken a risk.

And they survived the storm! They, just fifty-centimeter-tall creatures!

"We will fight them," the chief said, putting me to the test.

"And how many will die?" I asked, as I took a step forward. "My tree can keep a barrier up during the night! You will be protected! Offered the standard contract with full health benefits and..."

"The jackals have already come, it seems," the chief closed the door in my face. Had not even slammed it shut.

I nodded to himself. If I wanted the gnomes to come to me, I had to help them, first!

I rolled up my sleeves, sent another dungeon message to Mael, and then began to, little by little, pick up the ruins of the small house next to the chief’s.

Without asking for any reward. Without caring that the sun was beating down on me.

Many dungeon cores would force the gnomes, tired and wounded as they were, into slavery.

But I was not like that!

I smiled as I repeated my mantra to myself. My hands sorting through the wood which could be salvaged.

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