Once I’d registered the new flower, I decided to explore more of the forest from above. The woods stretched over an absurdly huge amount of land, but I was able to cover a ton of ground with my new wings. In the north, I found a trio of mountains that seemed to be the source of the river that flowed through the forest. The river east of the mountains flowed east, and the river to the west flowed west.
From above, the mountains were arranged in a triangular pattern, with a lush green valley in the middle where the water pooled before coming down in a waterfall into the river. So I decided to put a dungeon there. Just north of the huge lake that was the source of the river, I changed one of the trees into a hollow tree and planted a Labyrinth Seed. I summoned a team of Irregulars, and told them to scout the area and gather materials. For good measure, I made a few more dungeons in other spots around the mountains, and linked them all together with Adjoin. I envisioned this place becoming a sort of mountain stronghold in the future; the thought made me giddy.
I explored the forest, adding more dungeons as I went. I didn’t just put them in random spots; I made sure to place them so that they’d be able to serve as ways to cross the river for people traveling on foot or on horseback. This was an important role of Sprigian dungeons back in the game. You could even charge a toll for safe passage through your labyrinth. That had been my primary source of in-game currency, since I hadn’t left my dungeon master chamber much.
As I went, I made sure to connect dungeons that were close to each other, just to make them easier to manage. In my head, I made it a contest to see which dungeons would generate the most resources. I placed and registered Way-Point Flowers as I traveled too. That way I could move easily between dungeons that weren’t connected to each other yet.
Every few hours, I checked on the humans and put a Way-Point Flower near their position. Since I was such a high level already, my speed was plenty high in the first place, but multiplying it by over ten times was really extreme. Keep in mind I was also getting a 1000% bonus in speed from my Ring of the True Fairy Sovereign (along with ten times my other stats), so with my wings deployed I was literally one hundred times faster than my in-game speed. I was moving so quickly I doubted they’d be able to spot me even if I flew by right in front of them.
When it got dark, the humans stopped to set up camp for the night, so I put another Way-Point Flower near them and teleported back home. There was no real reason to sleep on the ground when I could just warp back there in the morning. So I completed my nightly self-care routine, got dressed for bed, and went to sleep.
Of course, sleeping in my bed meant another trip to the Unseen Realm. I was ready for another night spent practicing my arbiter powers, but there was a surprise waiting for me.
“Y-Your Majesty, please accept my vow of unyielding loyalty. I will serve you faithfully for all eternity.”
“...Huh?”
There was someone else there. He was more than three times my size, but he was super skinny. Despite the overall size difference, his limbs were thinner than mine. His thin arms ended in hands nearly the size of my head, and each of his fingers ended in a sharp point. His entire body was pitch black, and with his elongated limbs, he looked like a shadow. His legs were nearly as thin as his arms, with clawed feet nearly as big as my torso (minus the breasts). His glowing yellow eyes were the only facial feature I could see; there wasn’t anything that looked like a mouth or a nose. Those eyes seemed hollow, unnatural. Something like a shark’s emotionless stare, perhaps. Even so, they looked sad to me, even if they might have seemed expressionless to others. He was kneeling in front of me, with his head bowed as low as he could, but he was still way taller than I was. Even if he got down on all fours and pressed his head against the ground, I might have still been shorter.
He looked at me with those yellow eyes, awaiting my response. I felt the expectation in his voice. When I looked into his eyes, I could see it there too. Whoever this guy was, he seemed to want to become my servant, or maybe a vassal.
Believe it or not, I did actually have some understanding of diplomacy and etiquette from my interpreter studies. So I didn’t say something stupid like “Who are you again?” even though I really wanted to.
“Though we have only just met, I feel as though you are quite aware of who I am,” I said. “You must understand this puts me at a bit of a disadvantage. Before I respond to your vow, please tell me a bit about yourself.”
This was the most diplomatic response I could muster. He seemed to respond favorably.
“Of course, Your Majesty!”
Yup, pretty favorable. What followed was a super long story about not just his own past, but the history of his people. I’ll spare you the whole thing, but the short version was, “Humans found a way to permanently kill our people when we went to war with them. They killed the old Arbiter, so we all got angry and turned into monsters to get back at them.”
He also seemed to have a major case of survivor’s guilt. He was wallowing in self-pity and regret. After the rest of his people died, he basically became a recluse, shutting himself away in the Unseen Realm. He had waited here for thousands of years doing absolutely nothing until I showed up.
Once the incredibly long story was finally over, I only wanted to know one more thing: “What’s your name?”
“It matters not,” he replied. “If you’ll accept my vow, then please provide me with a new one. I shall accept any name you wish to give me.”
I thought for a moment, then gave him a name that signified his hopes. “Redimir. That is your name now. It reflects your desire to redeem yourself. Make sure you live proudly by it.”
“Yes, Your Majesty!”
Upon receiving his new name, Redimir started to glow and change. What stood in front of me afterward was absolutely nothing like the creature I saw before. To put it bluntly, he looked like a baby dragon. His lower jaw and belly were covered in silver scales, while the rest of his scales were black. He had yellow eyes with silver irises and black pupils. A stubbly little reptilian tail jutted out behind him, and he was sporting a pair of little black wings with silvery membranes. I’ll admit it, he was totally cute. I fought super hard to resist the urge to hug him. I repeatedly told myself that those scales wouldn’t be very cuddly. If I didn’t focus intently to suppress my desires, the Unseen Realm would try to make them a reality.
Redimir looked over his new body, and tears started to flow from his eyes.
“Wh-What’s wrong? Do you dislike your new form?” I was struggling desperately to maintain my composure. I really didn’t want him to ask me to change it. But it turned out I had nothing to worry about.
“I-I was just so moved by the wish you included in my name, and this new form, it’s splendid,” he wailed, doing his best to wipe away his tears. It seemed like he was actually just really happy. “Never before have I seen such beautiful and durable scales. I can feel the burden of my guilt melting away. Let us return to the mortal realm together!”
“Actually, my real body is still in the mortal realm,” I explained. “I visit the Unseen Realm in my sleep, via an enchantment on my bed. I don’t really know of another way to get here.”
“Ah! That makes sense, then. I was wondering why your visits had such odd timing. I suppose I won’t be able to follow you back, then. If I tried, I might end up trapped in your body.”
“Yeah, please don’t. I’ve noticed that once I name someone, though, I end up with a skill to summon that person as I wish. So I can always call you when I need you.”
“In that case, please do. I look forward to the opportunity to live up to my new name.”
Something occurred to me. “Say, Redimir,” I asked, “can you speak the language humans do?”
“I could during the war, but it’s possible the words have changed since then. I believe it’s been quite a long time.”
“I was wondering about it. Since I named you, I’ve had the feeling that I know another language, so that clears up where that came from. It’s not the same as what the humans I met before were speaking, but if I compare the two, perhaps it will help me learn their language faster.”
“A brilliant idea. I am moved beyond words that I could be of such help just by swearing myself to your service.”
Redimir and I talked for a while longer before I woke up. Then it was back to following the humans and exploring the forest. I also spent some time looking over the chat logs and comparing the language the humans were speaking to the one I’d learned from Redimir. It was a bit like comparing Latin to modern French or Spanish—it certainly wasn’t perfect, but it increased my understanding of their language by quite a lot.
It took the humans almost a week to get back home, but I was eventually able to set up a Way-Point Flower pretty close to the city. Now I just needed to figure out how I was going to get them to let me in, so I could listen to people talk and learn their language. I was really looking forward to it.