Finding the Dungeon [publishing]

Chapter 12

Niamh stirred from her sleep as a gentle hand nudged her on her shoulder.

"C'mon. There's a patient waiting for you outside."

"Mm... Just five minutes more..."

"Come on!"

"Fine..." she yawned, "I'm awake."

Felix sighed. "Miss Niamh Nathiara Nerys Nightshade. Get up," he said, sharply, dragging her out of her bed. "It's noon already! How can you still need sleep?"

"My bed is warm!" she protested, "It's too cold to get up."

"Tsk."

Niamh swung her legs onto the side of her bed. "Don't you 'tsk' me!"

"Well, it got you out of bed."

She rolled her eyes, pulling a black hoodie over her checked pajamas. She turned to give Felix a peck on the cheek before strolling downstairs into the lounge.

Oliver and his wife, Nathiara, who were sitting with the guests, ushered their daughter into the room hurriedly.

"Niamh!" Oliver called. "Come on, there are some patients waiting for you!"

"Yes, Father."

Nathiara smiled weakly at her daughter. Niamh knew that the two of them had been over working. Again. She smiled back, and greeted the First Lady with a warm embrace.

She turned to face the five people sitting awkwardly on the sofa, purposely avoiding eye contact.

"Well, c'mon then," she mumbled, turning briefly towards them before shuffling away, only occasionally glancing behind her to check if they were still following.

She sat them down in a small hospital-looking room. "Your names?"

A boy with gingery-blond hair stood up from a chair. "I-I'm Leo," he stumbled. He fell back onto the chair, and a tall fire demon spoke up in a husky voice.

"I'm Ryuu."

A brunette that Niamh recognised jumped to her feet. "I'm Eria, the kid is Boa, and the girl over there is your patient, Nyxie."

"Mkay. So what's the problem?"

"She's been coughing a lot, her breathing is funny, and she passed out last night."

"So you don't know. Right," Niamh sighed. "One of you can stay with her. The rest can have a lovely chat with my parents."

"I'll stay," the brunette again. She glanced at the other people, and nodded her head towards the door.

The fire demon picked up the young boy, and led the way out of the room. The other man hurried out behind him, struggling to keep up with his friend's stride.

***

Oliver and Nathiara welcomed Ryuu, Boa and Leo into the living room. The two men had clearly not expected anything like this behaviour from the parents of a so-called "murderer".

They plonked onto a comfortable navy-coloured sofa, and Ryuu placed Boa in between the two of them.

"Hello there again!" Oliver smiled. His wife was sitting close to him, now sipping a teacup of some herbal tea.

Ryuu and Leo bowed their heads.

"Ah, drop the formalities. I'm no emperor."

"Oh, sorry!" Leo squeaked.

The couple laughed. In that moment, Leo didn't see them as the leader and first lady of the Dark Realm's Second Class Clan. They seemed just like what he would expect of a loving, sweet couple living a cosy, comfortable life. He snapped back to reality: these people could snap their fingers and the five of them would be killed, just like that.

"Well, onto the topic of emperors, do you three know Emperor Daichi Takahashi?"

Leo shook his head, but Ryuu replied: "The leader of the Leading Clan of the Earth Realm?"

"My, that's a handful to say!" Nathiara chuckled. "But yes, its true."

Oliver smiled. "Now onto the juicy news! Since Daichi self-proclaimed himself as the Emperor of the Earth Realm, most of its citizens were a bit unsettled. Almost all of them were quite annoyed when he made Fumiko Takahashi his Empress, rather than Ayaka, who was his wife even before he became a leader.

"This all happened when the Takahashi Clan became the Leading Clan, and Daichi thought he would get himself three concubines. One of his concubines, or should I say Lady Keiko, the Pure Consort, gave birth to a son, Jiro about seven or eight years back, right? Everyone thought she just died in childbirth, as quite a few women do nowadays," he took a hold of his wife's hand and squeezed it gently.

Ryuu and Leo nodded. They had vaguely heard the news surrounding the Earth Realm.

Oliver continued. "Now that Lady Emi, the Virtuous Consort, has given birth to Haru, Mei and Akio, everyone's sort of forgotten about the Pure Consort's death. Well, word's just out that Lady Keiko's death wasn't from childbirth, rather that she was assassinated!"

The two men stared blankly at Oliver.

"Oh," was all Leo managed to say.

Nathiara noticed their faces, and added: "On a more positive note, did you know that the Prince Heir, Ichiro, was actually named after his grandfather? Daichi's father actually."

The pair tried to smile off the awkwardness, but it remained fixed upon them. An elderly woman broke the silence by shuffling into the room.

Oliver jumped up and cautiously steered her onto the sofa.

"Thank you dear, but I'm not that old," she said slowly, "Well, hopefully not yet, anyways."

Leo pursed his lips inwards, keeping his hands tight beside him.

"Oh!" Nathiara glanced at the two men, putting her cup down. "You won't know who this is, would you?"

They shook their heads.

"Ah. This is my mother, Nerys Taipan. An honourary member of the Nightshade family, since my father, Arthur Taipan, passed away."

"Sorry for your loss."

"It's okay, you don't need to be sorry, he died peacefully at a ripe old age."

"Oh."

"Well," croaked the woman, "I'd better inform you of something..."