Richter suddenly woke with a start. Quickly checking his surroundings, he realized that he was still at Toriel's house. He slowly calmed himself from whatever nightmare he must've been having. Sitting up, Richter admired the giant mess on the floor. This was the intended progress. It seems that he had managed to finish all of the sections in the order of time of work while sleeping. Richter silently applauded himself. In high spirits Richter checked his life bar: Full health. Even better. Picking up the papers and placing them in his satchel, the Belmont thought about how long the operation would take. If everything went well, it would only take a few months to dig out. He felt that having a crew of supernatural beings really helped speed up the process. Folding the map into a tube, he began to run down a mental checklist. He had the papers and the map, which he had placed in his satchel. However, looking in the mirror, he saw that something was missing.
He hadn't changed much since the the last time he saw himself. A small scar ran along his jaw and up behind his right ear. His hair was still uncomfortably long, stopping past his shoulders. He hadn't really understood why Shaft had forced him to grow out his hair. It got in his way more often than not. Not that Richter was able to resist at the time. Lowering his eyes down towards his chest, he saw that he wasn't wearing his tunic. A mess of bandages were the only coverage he had. Realizing that he hadn't been wearing a shirt for the past day or two, he slowly banged his head against the mirror. No wonder he was getting so many questions about his health; he looked like a fucking mummy.
He assumed that Toriel had his shirt. Adjusting the strap of the satchel, he left the room. He could hear people talking in the kitchen area. He had completely forgotten their schedule. Silently cursing himself, Richter approached the doorway to the kitchen. No one had noticed him yet. Toriel, Asgore, Sans, Frisk, and Asriel were all at the table. The Belmont didn't want to scare them so he knocked on the doorway before speaking.
"Good morning! Sorry for being absent yesterday afternoon. I was a bit busy."
Everyone, except Sans, jumped. Frisk had managed to flip a piece of bacon into the air, but managed to catch it with his mouth. The lights in Sans' eyes completely vanished for a split second, but quickly returned.
"Sorry for that as well, I guess. I should probably just make a list of things I should apologize for."
Frisk spoke first with a mouth full of bacon.
"Hi Richtmmm! Come joimm umm. Its amazing!"
He has emphasized his point by stuffing even more bacon into his mouth. He had tried to say something else, but it was completely incoherent. Having food in your mouth does that to a person.
Richter looked at the stopwatch, realizing that he had plenty of time. He never really knew why the stopwatch was actually a clock. Shrugging that thought off, he realized he hadn't had an actual breakfast in years, so he looked towards Toriel with plead across his face. She just nodded. Asriel offered Richter a chair, but he declined. There was something he had been wanting to try ever since he learned he could summon things from the castle.
"Mind if I try something? Might be amusing to watch."
Toriel responded in a fashion he expected her to do.
"Sure, just don't hurt yourself."
Richter just shook his head and chuckled. He hoped that it wouldn't hurt anyone. It wasn't like it was a bunch of spikes or something similar. Stepping back, Richter strained himself mentally to summon a chair from the castle. It arrived, but it had an unwanted attachment. A Spear Guard was sitting there holding some poker cards. He was talking as if he was mid-conversation.
"You sure you trust your cards? I mean, you hav-"
He slowly stopped, looking around. Everyone at the table was frozen; their gazes on the Spear Guard. Richter needed to do something before the situation could become even more embarrassing.
"Umm, sorry about that. I needed the chair, but I didn't know you were on it. Maybe I should've just got a chair from here."
The Spear Guard keeled over with laughter; the cards in his hand scattering across the floor. The best he had was a pair of twos. Richter guessed he was bluffing. He tried to speak, but it was cut up from his seemingly unstoppable amusement. The Belmont managed to pick out a few coherent words. Most of them were talking about how embarrassed Richter looked. Richter, growing tired of how long this was taking, cleared his throat. The Spear Guard managed to pick himself off of the floor and offered the Belmont the chair.
"I'll try to warn people to not sit in that chair, sir. Who knows where they would end up? HAH!."
After picking up the cards on the floor, he bowed to everyone else and vanished. That didn't go as smoothly as Richter wanted it to. He just stood there nervously, adjusting the white bandanna that was around his neck. He used to have it around his head when fighting, but that changed ever since that control spell from Shaft.
"Sorry about that. This is the first time that happened. I'm still getting used to summoning."
Silence for what seemed to be an hour, until Frisk shouted,
"THAT WAS AMAZING! HOW DID YOU DO THAT?"
Asriel joined him.
"That guy looked so cool as well. Are you friends with a bunch of knights, Richter? If so, I want to meet them."
Richter realized that he hadn't told anyone about the Altar situation. To make matters worse, every time he had spoken of the castle's creatures beforehand, it hadn't been under the best of light. That was going to difficult for Richter to explain correctly. He placed his satchel on the back of the chair and sat down. The kids were still babbling about with the adults saying nothing. All of them were still surprised by the sudden appearance of the Spear Guard. Turning to Toriel, the Belmont asked,
"So, there is food? I haven't eaten in a while."
That snapped her out of it and she asked,
"How long exactly?"
Richter had to stop and think about the question. He thought the last time he had eaten was when he first arrived at the Inverse Castle. He tried to figure out how long that was ago.
"A few days, why?"
She shook her head vigorously, ears flopping about, and she got up.
"No, no. We have to get some food in you this instant."
Sans snickered and popped into the conversation.
"I guess you could say that he is all skin and bones."
Toriel laughed as she got a plate of food ready. Of course the skeleton only made skeleton puns. Richter then noticed that the kids were still asking questions. Apparently, everyone had blocked them out, including himself. He couldn't help but not feel bad. If anything, Richter was somewhat glad. He didn't hold anything against the children, but it was still too early to be bombarded by questions.
"Do you have armor like that?"
"Can you teleport people?"
"Can you teleport me?"
Stopping them with his hand, Richter reminded himself that they were just curious kids and not verbal assassins. They could probably be payed to do so though.
"This is going to require another explanation, isn't it?"
Toriel just nodded her head. Richter swore under his breath. He hated how every time he tried to do something simple, he had to end up explaining half of his life story. He's running out of moments in his life to talk about. Then again, this was the most anyone had listened to the Belmont. Most of the humans in his old world were jealous of Richter's powers, so they often scorned and ignored the Belmont. He had to stop himself from laughing after he remembered how everyone had begged Richter to save them from the invading monsters once Dracula first arrived. A change of heart, they said. He did it, of course. He wasn't that evil.
His thoughts were interrupted by Toriel placing down a plate of food in front of the Belmont. He noticed that everyone was waiting for an answer. He began,
"I've already told you of my normal abilities, so no need to explain that. However, a lot has changed since the last time I talked about the creatures of the castle. Yes, it was my job to fight them; a job I did rather well. However, the circumstances led to misunderstandings. I always assumed that they were naturally evil. A few of them were, but most of them weren't. See, they are tied to the castle via the Altar. The Altar is this giant carved boulder of stone, with intricate details chiseled into it. The Altar is always controlled by someone. Dracula always had control over it, so that's why he could summon it again and again. He had command over the castle and the creatures that resided in it. Most of them wouldn't fight and kill willingly. They were forced to do his bidding. That was until I destroyed him completely. Then, the power unknowingly went to me. The reason Shaft controlled me was because I had control over the castle and its forces. He was defeated, and the power went back to me. Interesting, really. Well, I only found out about this when I left this place to figure out how to get home. Some stuff happened and everything was cleared up between the creatures and I. There's no way I'll ever directly command them. I know exactly how that feels and I'm not going to subjugate them to that. To explain what happened earlier is easy. I summoned a chair from the altar, but someone was sitting on it. Thus, both came along."
Sighing, Richter leaned back into his chair. He decided to try the food; an excellent decision on his part. Richter found it amazing. While admiring the delicious food, Asgore said something.
"So you have an army that you could force to do your bidding."
Richter's head quickly whipped towards Asgore. He couldn't help but feel that the large monster was insinuating something. However, Richter could understand his concerns.
"Honestly, yes. However, I will never treat them like an army. They are basically peaceful creatures so they deserve to be treated as such. Most of them are nice people once you get to know them."
"But you just found out yesterday."
Shaking his head, he pointed a finger lazily at his temple.
"Magical connection. It's as if I've been friends with these beings for my whole life. Magic is strange like that."
Asgore said nothing as a response. Sans, however, decided to take his place in the conversation.
"you know, your form of magic sounds quite strange."
"I still haven't figured out how it works. I only know how to use it. That reminds me; has anyone told you my story?"
"no, although tori said she would last night."
"Ok then. I might as well enlighten you. I've got time."
Richter spent the next few minutes giving Sans the briefest summary of his life. He didn't summon the items this time though. He didn't feel like it was really worth it. After finishing, Sans couldn't help but joke about bones.
"bad to the bone, dude."
At that moment, someone knocked on the door. Richter couldn't help but jump. Recovering quickly, the Belmont spoke.
"I'll get that! You guys just stay here. Least I can do for the food."
Opening the door, he found no one. However, a bunch of kids were running away. Richter couldn't help but wonder why. It seemed rather odd.
With that, he headed back and placed the dish near the sink.
"Sorry about that. No one was there. Anyway, I need to continue my work. Thanks for helping my recovery, but I can take it from here. I might see you soon, depending on my schedule. Got things to dig and places to build."
Ignoring the protests, Richter said,
"Farewell."
And then he was off towards the forest. The Belmont was halfway towards the altar when he realized that he had left his satchel and shirt at Toriel's house. He knew it would be awkward going back, but he had no other choice. His satchel contained some personal objects as well as the Map and Creature Papers. Sucking up his pride, or what was left of it after that fiasco in the morning, he turned around and trekked back towards the house
Arriving shortly after his realization, Richter knocked on the door. Sans' voice resonated from the other side.
"what's the password?"
"Sans, I don't have time for this. I left my satchel and shirt inside. I just came back to get it."
"come on, take a guess."
Richter had to resist the urge to kick down the door right then and there. Becoming frustrated, Richter retorted with probably the worst password he had ever thought of.
"Password. That's my guess."
The door opened and Sans applauded.
"that wasn't so hard."
Heading into the kitchen, where everyone WASN'T surprised to see him back, he grabbed his satchel off of the counter. Quickly checking to see if it contained everything, the Belmont headed back towards the door. One thing was missing though: Maria's locket. It was originally hers, but she gave it to Richter when he first rescued her. Supposedly a good luck charm; he never took it off until Shaft's control. The center picture was of Annette, while the image on the door was of Maria. Richter went down his mental listings of where it could be located; he turned up with nothing. The last time he had seen it was right before he fell unconscious. Growling softly, Richter searched the bag again. Nothing. He searched the guest room he was staying in. Nothing. He knew it had to be somewhere. Richter finally found his shirt in a room with something called a "washing machine". His search turned up with nothing. Becoming angry at himself for losing something so dear to him, he asked everyone at the table.
"Just a small question. Did any of you see a small silver locket? It seems that I lost it in the house, but I don't know where. It was here last night, so it couldn't ha-"
Richter spotted Sans holding the locket by its chain, admiring it. He instantly summoned a dagger, but quickly banished it. He needed to stop acting so reflexively.
"Sans, how did you get that? That's some real talent for nicking things off of people."
"is this real silver?"
Richter nearly lost it there. He slowly eased his breathing before responding.
"Yeah, it is. Twas given to me by Maria."
"pretty cool. who are the people inside the locket?"
Richter suddenly froze up; attracting everyone's attention. Not bothering to untense, Richter hissed the answer through his teeth.
"Sans, hand it to me. Now."
Sans was shaken by how serious the human was. Sure, he had encountered several pissed humans during his work hours, but none so serious as Richter. It wasn't his face that worried him. In fact, Richter's face was eerily calm. It was his eyes that truly frightened Sans. What made it even more confusing was that it was all about someone in a locket...He mentally slapped himself. It must've been family members from the world where he came from. Sans remembered Richter saying that there wasn't a way back. Sans assumed that the human must've been sensitive on the matter. He promptly handed it over. Richter quickly took it up and clasped it around his neck. He made an audible sigh before heading out, waving. Everyone was still reeling over how tense the situation had become.
On his way down one of the streets, a pair of humans stepped out from an alley and began to interrogate the Belmont. Richter mentally had to remind himself that the humans weren't incredibly stupid, they just didn't know who Richter was. He couldn't shake the feeling that he might have an inkling of a god complex.
"So you're friends with these monsters, huh?"
"You do know that these things are evil and are trying to steal our jobs."
Richter couldn't help but snort over how wrong and naive they were being. However, he decided to humor him.
"Listen, just give these monsters a shot. They are nice people once you get to know them."
"Only shot we will give the monsters is a gun shot."
Richter doubted that either of them owned a musket. They didn't seem to be the kind of people who could carry and accurately fire one. He still didn't know about new guns, so he immediately thought of muskets. However, Richter was becoming slightly angry over how rude they were being.
"Why do you assume the worst out of such kindhearted creatures?"
"Why do you need to know?"
"Monster lovers like you can't understand the truth."
This was wasting his time and they probably knew it. Pushing past them, Richter had the intention of walking forward-
"Hold on punk"
-That was until one of them decided to grab Richter's arm. Richter clenched his fists and embedded them in his sides, slowly turning to see why they had stopped him. There he saw one human holding a knife while the other held Richter's arm.
"You have some guts to walk right past us. You better heed our wo-"
He didn't get to finish. Richter had summoned a Throwing Axe and slammed the handle down onto the man's forearm, breaking it. Recoiling from pain, the man signaled the other human with his working arm and they both ran off. Of course they would resort to violence if Richter didn't pay attention, quite like an arrogant child.
As he entered the forest, he was met by the Fire Warg from earlier. More surprised than angry, Richter asked,
"Why are you here? A giant wolf in a forest attracts unwanted attention. We discussed this earlier."
She seemed to slump her shoulders at his lecture, but she still 'spoke'.
"(I thought you would like the company. We aren't working until later anyway, and you left the house early. I, at least, could sense your emotions and there was a sudden wave of anger.)"
Oh yea, that was true. They could do that. Richter had completely forgotten about that.
"(It's not like people are following you here. People seem to stay away from this forest. I don't know why. Now come over here. Let's talk.)"
With that, she found a place under a tree and rested. She pawed the ground next to her, signaling Richter to come over. Maybe she was right; he guessed he needed to relax for a while. Being pent up like his current situation was doing to him doesn't serve him well, considering that he was a man of action; said actions usually being fueled by emotions. He blamed his instincts. Richter guessed he could conduct an experiment of sorts while he rested with the Warg. Richter joined the Fire Warg under the shade of the tree, his back against her side. It was truly strange to Richter how massive she was. She was unusually large for a Fire Warg. The warmth that radiated off of her was comforting, to say the least. That, in combination with her oddly soft fur, nearly put Richter to sleep. He had to stop paying attention to her breathing or he would fall unconscious. Slowly stroking her back, he began to talk.
"I was worried when someone would become offended by me simply visiting the monsters here."
"(Like you said, it would take time.)"
"Yea, I did say that."
Richter wanted to change the subject as quickly as possible. So, he thought of a random question,
"I was wondering, what do you think of this forest?"
"(What do you mean by that?)"
"I mean what are your thoughts on this specific forest."
The sentence was followed by a thoughtful silence. After a while, she answered.
"(It is strangely secluded and unusually bright, but everything else about it is amazing. The temperature is much nicer than the forest in the Altar. So many different kinds of trees. As well as that, it is calming. That's one of the reasons why I chose to meet you here.)"
She emphasized her point by giving a content growl.
"I guess I would have to agree with you. I guess that's why I'm choosing to live up here instead of the village. Both will be on this world, but this is on the surface. On that subject-"
Richter pulled out the rough sketch of the house that would be on the surface. It had two purposes. Its first purpose was to be the connector between the surface and the village. Its second purpose was to be a house Richter could live in.
"This is the house's blueprints. I will be working on this while the cave expedition starts. However, I need to start construction today for obvious reasons."
She just nudged the Belmont to signal that she was listening.
"The problem is material acquirement for said house. With some help from the group assigned to this section, it could be completed in a week or so. However, that requires all of the materials to be readily available. I tried cutting some of the trees down here, but I feel like that was a bad idea."
Richter rubbed his face with the palms of his hands. He didn't know of any solutions to the problem. He couldn't risk injuring himself so early again, even if he was at full health. He still felt exhausted.
"(Well, I have an idea.)"
"Really? Go for it."
"(If you connect the house's future location to the Altar, you could magically summon the materials. This also allows the house to be repaired magically. You would still have to build it though.)"
"Would that even work?"
"(We should try. Let's go.)"
With that, she got up. However. she was abnormally low to the ground, like a crouch. Richter just gave her a puzzled look
"(Come on, get on.)"
"Hold on a second. You want me to ride you?"
"(I'm fine with it. I trust you to not do anything dangerous while on me. You look completely exhausted and I won't allow you to walk further.)"
"Ok then, I'll try my best."
Climbing on top of her was easier than he expected. Once he had gotten into a comfortable position, she took off towards the Altar. The trip was much faster than it would had been if they walked there. However, Richter didn't consider the distance large enough for using her as a mount. She seemed to be fine with it, however. Once they got there, she crouched low. However, Richter spread out completely across her back and said,
"I think I will just sleep here. I'm way too comfortable."
"(Come on, you have things to do.)"
"Your fault that this happened. You are way too soft; it acts like a sedative."
After a few more moments, however, Richter clambered off the back of the Fire Warg. She let out a very quiet whine and hoped that Richter didn't hear it. She had actually enjoyed the experience. It was the goal for many Fire Wargs to get a worthy rider. It was practically their sole goal in life. That was why most Fire Wargs envied Warg Riders.
Richter, of course noticed. He didn't say anything though. He didn't know exactly how to react. He still wasn't the best at reading the emotions of animals and he wasn't keen on magically figuring out her emotions. That would be a breach of privacy. Richter didn't know of that many beings who had a true connection and bond to animals. Owl Knight was one of them though. He quietly repeated the name to himself so he wouldn't forget to ask him later.
The Vampire Hunter found himself investigating the trees around the altar. Magic from his world had a tendency to change the surrounding areas. The entire area was devoid of natural noises such as birds and insects. He assumed that they were either driven off or killed. That was the problem with all magic: it always had a downside. Scouting the area, he discovered that it was surprisingly flat. He didn't need to worry about trees getting in the way of construction, for he had removed the few standing trees immediately around the Altar. Everything seemed to be perfect for building.
"Are you sure this will work? There is a chance that I'll make a fool out of myself."
"(When did that matter?)"
"Good point."
The Altar had already surrounded the area with its magic, so all he had to do was officially claim the land. Walking around the borders of the magic's range, Richter slowly traced along the ground with his hands. Something was happening, but the Belmont wouldn't know for sure until he circled back. Finally covering the area, Richter took a deep breath and attempted to display the borders of this area. A giant wall of blue light boxed in the location at the exact places of the borders. Excellent, it had worked.
"(That wasn't so hard, now was it?)"
"Shush you!"
The next step was to test the summoning process. The easiest way to describe the process for later explanations was that it was like simply willing things to be in a certain place. He started off with the fountain found in Karasuman's domain. That worked. Getting used to the process, Richter began to summon the large list of materials. Lumber, stone, brick, etc. It took him about an hour of summoning things, resting, and summoning things again.
In front of him was the towering pile of pre-house, waiting to be turned into a house. This is when the first team starts their job. Feeling proud of himself, Richter looked around for the Fire Warg. She had retreated underneath the shade of one of the larger trees outside the build site. He must've somehow bored her. Pulling out the staff for the Forest Section, he began to notify the workers.
The workers had arrived only moments later, seemingly waiting for the operation to begin. Owl Knight's choices when it came to staff were excellent and incredibly wise. Owl Knight appeared and bowed, speaking at the same time.
"I'm here, sire."
"Listen Owl Knight. None of that here, ok? I'm not your leader or sire. I'm not some dictator or magical ruler. Address me by my actual name please."
With the awkward conversation over with, Owl Knight and Richter were sat down at a table (which he summoned) and discussed the blueprints of the house. Everything went well, with Owl Knight occasionally recommending something absurd to the Belmont.
"I'm pretty sure that the house doesn't need to be larger, Owl Knight. I see no purpose of having a large house. I don't plan on having the castle staff living in there. If I did, I wouldn't be building the village."
"Well, will you at least consider having the trophy room? Might as well record our past. It may have been violent, but it was certainly interesting. A warrior should at least flaunt his achievements."
"But the village does that."
"What about the creatures and trophies before this castle? I'm sure that they won't be in the village. You should be proud of your linage. Your predecessors kept a trophy room."
He brought up a good point, Richter thought. But, it also brought up a valid question.
"Sure, but I need to know. Why do you care so much about this trophy room? You would be on the losing side of the history displayed by such a room."
"Yes, I accepted that loss long ago. See, with us not being able to go back, we have to preserve our history. You won't live forever. The future children and inhabitants of the castle need to know of our struggles and battles. They deserve to know of our failures, successes, and general lineage."
"Hmmmm..."
"You are a man of pride. Everyone in the castle knows this. All Belmonts have been extremely prideful. I can tell that a part of you wants to show off your successes and the beings you have defeated; us, the creatures of the castle. Don't you even try to lie to me. You're awful at that anyway and it doesn't fit you."
Slamming his hands on the table, Richter replied.
"You win."
Chuckling, the Owl Knight began to add something to the blueprints.
"There truly weren't any doubts of my success."
He finally finished. Richter was wondering how a spirit in a suit of armor could be so smug.
"So, when do we start working?"
"Now would be best. I'll be helping the process, so it shouldn't take too long."
The Owl Knight quickly asked a question.
"Wait, where will you be residing while this is happening?"
Spreading my arms, Richter resumed talking.
"Here, of course. I don't plan on resting until it's finished. Don't worry about it, I can handle it. I'm in a better condition than I was in earlier."
The Owl Knight began to nod.
"Try not to be eaten by whatever creatures reside in this forest."
With that, Owl Knight got up and started shouting orders. Owl Knight had the situation under control, so Richter saw no need to interject. He just began to work alongside the staff of their section. Time began to fly by.
It was early in the morning when they took a break. Richter wouldn't be joining them. So much of the house had been done in such little time. He guessed having a crew of supernatural creatures and spirits sped up the process. All that was left was the stairway to the excavation site, the area surrounding the Altar, and the roof. That's what the Belmont was working on at the time. The Venus Weeds could take care of the Altar site and the Bomb and Stone Knights were capable of taking care of the stairs. Launching himself up to the solid part of the roof, he began to work on hammering some of the shingles down. Since hammers weren't available, the Vampire Hunter used the side of an axe. He knew it wasn't going to break anyway.
"that was fast. reminds me, did you get those from a skeleton?"
Wait, what? He was totally confused. Richter stopped and turned around, facing the short and stout skeleton clad in blue. Richter wished he didn't have to peer of the roof to see Sans.
"because i think those are shin-giles."
Richter had to hold on to the roof else he would fall off from laughing too hard. He had no idea that a skeleton could have such a strange sense of humor.
"That was bad, Sans. I'm pretty sure that was the worst one you've said so far."
"a for effort, am i right?"
"In most cases in this world, yes."
Richter felt himself become somber at his own retort. Desummoning the axe, he sat down on the edge of the roof.
"You know, I've missed that mentality. For most of my later life, I was taught that a single mistake could kill a person. It was sadly reinforced by the mounting challenges that faced me. Too bad I made too many."
"waddya mean?"
Richter mentally punched himself. He was becoming emotional, weaker even, at a fast rate. He shouldn't allow himself to do this. Looking around, he found her. The Fire Warg was in the same place in the forest as earlier, sleeping. He already showed her his emotion side and he didn't want to show anyone else.
"Never mind, it's fine. I'm just spouting nonsense. Somewhat tired and all of that."
"you don't look bone tired to me."
"Trust me Sans, I am."
Richter knew that if it continued like this, he would eventually break. Luckily, the Fire Warg came to his rescue by making a scene of getting up. She must've known what was happening. Richter had to give her credit; she was more perceptive than she seems. It got Sans' attention pretty quickly. It was like he hadn't noticed her earlier. Strange.
"(Is this skeleton going to stare at me like this for a while?)"
"I don't know. It's up to him, really."
Sans sharply turned to Richter, face crunched up in thought and confusion.
"who are you talking to?"
Laughing slightly, the Belmont returned to working on the house. He reminded himself to not get himself involved in such awkward situations again. Well, at least until he had a stable house to run to and hide in.