Raised in Dungeon

"Bedell, I need to visit somewhere first, can we?" asked Allen, stopping Bedell's carriage.

"Yes, that's fine. We're supposed to leave in four hours with the merchants anyway. Is there anyone you want to meet?"

"Not anyone; I just want to visit this place one last time."

"Okay, where is it?"

"Barkaley Dungeon."

It had been three years, or maybe almost four years, since he had last been to the dungeon. During these three years, Allen could only stare at the outside of the dungeon without having the courage to go inside.

"Do you have the license?"

"I have," Allen said, showing his copper plate to Bedell.

As they finally arrived at the entrance, Allen's hands began to tremble uncontrollably. Memories flooded back, reminding him of the countless lives he had taken within inside that room. Instantaneously, the haunting sensation he once experienced resurfaced within his very being.

Looking at Allen's trembling hands, Bedell asked, "Do I need company?"

Allen shook his head. At least for the last time, he really wanted to overcome all his fears alone.

Allen took out the headband that Queen Orc gave him, then grasped the headband with his trembling hands.

He went inside.

At that moment, a wave of chilly memories again rushed over him. As he pressed forward, his gaze swept the surroundings, and he could see that he had once stood in that place, and he also realized that place was the same place where he had conversed with some nice soldiers long ago.

'Oh right, I used to talk with a soldier here. He was the one who told me about Allen the exterminator's story. Where is he now?' Allen couldn't remember the soldier's face. He only knew that that person was very kind to him; he tried to keep away the thought that he might have killed that soldier.

Eventually, he reached the conclusion of his journey on the first floor, standing before an imposing metal door. With determination, he pushed it open.

Suddenly, his mind revealed a harrowing sight: his own mother being ruthlessly stabbed by Leofric. The sight sent a jolt of pain through Allen's chest, causing him to instinctively clutch at it.

However, as he surveyed the scene once more, he noticed something had changed within him. Unlike his previous visit here three years ago, fear and sweat no longer gripped him. Instead, a deep sadness filled his eyes as he remembered everything in that room.

"All the things that have happened to you are the things that made you who you are today," was one of Bishop Nicholas' words that encouraged him one year ago after the outbreak. It gave him the courage to look at everything bravely.

He then walked to the door of his house. It should have been gone since the dungeon reset, but as Allen walked towards it, he realized that it had only moved a few meters to the left.

Allen raised his hand and grasped the doorknob. With trembling hands, Allen opened the door.

"Mo-mother… I'm home," Allen muttered.

The light from inside instantly dazzled Allen's face. But once he could see well, he could see that everything in the room was the same as it was three years ago.

He looked left, right, and forward. Where Lavina was handcuffed, where he was training, and where he was sparring with his mother, although it was a little different because some things disappeared there, it was still the same place.

Allen walked closer to the tree.

As soon as he got close

-TANG TANG TANG TANG

With a surprised face, he heard a very nostalgic sound.

The sound that accompanied his sleep at night.

The noise that somehow made him comfortable and not lonely.

"Mother?!" shouted Allen quickly running into the tree.

Intrigued, he ventured into the room to discover the truth.

And indeed, his eyes confirmed what he had suspected.

Before him sits Queen Orc in her usual chair, diligently honing her sword with a resounding clink against the hammer. Overwhelmed with emotions, Allen couldn't help but shed tears of joy, his heart yearning to embrace her.

However, a peculiar sensation tingled within him, giving him pause. As his gaze shifted, he noticed something amiss. Behind the formidable Queen Orc, nestled beside the bed, lay a little boy, peacefully slumbering amidst the hard clank sound. It's him—the small Allen.

And at that time, he realized that everything must be his imagination.

In an instant, as if delicate strands of cotton unraveled, the enchanting scene shattered and vanished into thin air.

"Who are you?" A grown man's voice suddenly sounded behind him. He quickly looked back and set up a stance to defend.

The man was standing there beside the entrance to the tree house. Allen realized that he might have been so carried away by emotions and nostalgic feelings that he didn't realize that the man had been there all along.

"Who are you?" asked Allen.

The man was wearing a strange dark red armor that Allen had never seen before; even the armor looked unique when compared to the dungeon explorers he had seen.

He wasn't wearing a helmet, so Allen could clearly see his face. His eyes were sharp-black, and his hair was short-black.

"I am one of the dungeon specialists checking the completed floors every year. How about you, kiddo? Are you coming here alone?"

"I-I'm just an ordinary dungeon explorer; my rank is still copper."

'He must have heard me yelling, mother, right?" Allen thought.

"What country are you from? I mean in other world. Britain? Germany? French?" the man asked.

"I don't know; I hit my head, so I don't remember anything about that world."

The man looked at Allen more closely, looking at him suspiciously.

"I feel like you're quite similar to the kid who used to live here," he said.

"Ha-hah?! What did you say?! Who lived here? Do you know something?!"

"What? Didn't you see it earlier too? A little boy with black and white hair was sleeping around here, right?"

'Wha? So it wasn't a hallucination?

"Aaah you must be confused. I have a space manipulation kind of blessing. I can see an event at any time in a room; what you saw earlier was an event of what happened here about 6 years ago."