The soldiers obviously hadn't thought that his question was as funny as he did, so Max refrained from laughing. They all looked a bit awestruck as they took in the sight, and Max had to wonder what he looked like.
He was wearing basic Earth clothes, a cut up red t-shirt and some black pants to match, which was covered by a set of studded leather armor. On his back was a grey cloak, with rips hemming the bottom, clear signs of use on it. He hadn't shaved in days, and he was sure that his faint stubble was a thing of the past; he had always grown facial hair pretty quickly.
His black hair was sure to be a bit shaggier than he liked to keep it, so he ran his hands through his hair to smooth it out a bit. Presentation was important, right? He had a bag of holding on his belt on his right side, and a rapier sheathed at his left.
Overall, not the kind of person that you'd expect to be making it out alive from a monster infested cave.
"Who- who the hell are you?" A voice asked, and Max turned to the questioner. A stocky woman, probably in her late forties if Max was right, stood off to the side. She clearly was the one in charge here, as she had a cape and a helmet with a small plume.
Dumbasses. If you were smart, you definitely didn't indicate who was in charge of a group just by what they were wearing. That's how you got the leader dead, and the group of soldiers without someone to lead them.
Anyways, Max wasn't about to point this out to the group of soldiers, so he answered her question as any swashbuckler should, with panache. He stuck out one arm, the other bent over his chest, and stuck out a leg and slowly moved it behind him, bowing slightly.
"My name is Maxwell Caiden, at your service milady. [Swashbuckler] is my trade, and Hunting Monsters is my game, it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance."
Max heard some lowering of weapons and spells at his words. He honestly hadn't expected them to speak English, although they likely didn't call it that here. But he sure was lucky that they did, as it meant that the man didn't immediately have to fight the locals over them not understanding him. That could've been dangerous.
"A [Swashbuckler], eh? Then why does it look like you lost a fight with an oldblood drake who pitied you enough to let you live?"
Drake. That was a new word. Maybe a species of Monster? Or maybe another intelligent species. Just because Max had only encountered monsters and humans so far in this world, didn't necessarily mean that every creature was a monster, and he'd do well to remember that.
"It might have been the dragonling that I killed in the ant cave. It was nesting where I presumed their queen lived. You wouldn't happen to know if there are any left, would you? I have some questions about the dungeon that I just escaped from."
His words left the group of people even more speechless than when he had first came out of the hive. Maybe… they didn't know about the dungeon? That meant that it was hidden miles underground, without anybody contesting the loot in the place. But it also meant that barely anybody had done any real work in clearing it out.
Perhaps the Demons knew more about it, but Max was loathe to try and talk to demons. If they were anything like the ones from christianity, or really any religion from earth, they were not the kind of people that you wanted to make dealings with. But for information on the dungeon…
"The Antinium? Don't you know that they left Rhir a decade ago and settled on Issrysil? They haven't been seen on Rhir since. And what's this about a dungeon? And forgive me, but you killed a dragonling?"
Max went through my options quickly. Tell the soldiers about the dungeon, hypothetically launching a mass invasion into it, which might bring up whatever had clearly tried to wipe out these, Antinium. Tell them that he was confused, and had mixed up a dungeon with the Antinium Hive, and still have to explain why exactly he had been down there. It was a tough choice, but Max still felt the first option would be better, especially if he spun it well enough…
"Ah, yeah, the Antinium. Right. Well, let's just say that a teleport spell went wrong and I ended up miles below the surface. I came out in what was clearly the uppermost levels of a dungeon, and upon finding a map, found out that the only way out was either through the Antinium Hive, or through the demons."
Max paused, taking note of the scowls that hit the soldier's faces as he mentioned the demons, and continued. "So, obviously, I couldn't go up to the fucking demons, you know? They'd kill me on the spot! What a bunch of assholes. Anyways, so I was thinking, didn't the Antinium leave Rhir a while back? Maybe I can get to the surface through their Hive. Badda bing, badda boom, a couple days later and here I am."
Max could tell that he had earned sympathy from some of the soldiers, but others clearly weren't buying it. One such soldier, a short fellow with an axe spoke up.
"You're telling me that you not only fought through hordes of monsters to make your way through the Antinium Hive, but also that there's a dungeon down there that they knew about? Also, you expect us to believe that you killed a dragonling while you were down there?"
Some other soldiers clearly were on the side of this nay-sayer. Max couldn't wait to make them speechless for a third time in ten minutes.
"I'm going to reach into my bag of holding here, and pull out the dragons scales, alright? If that'll make you believe me."
Max said this, knowing that any sudden moves could get a randomly aimed spell or arrow sent his way, and wanted to make sure that he was in as little danger as possible. Upon getting a nod from the captain, he opened his bag of holding up and started to take out the dragon's pelt.
It was a lot of fucking work to get it in there, since the dragonling had been relatively big. The scales alone weighed just about two hundred pounds, so Max had to sit on the ground as he pulled the monster's skin out inch by inch. The looks of astonishment quickly looked to ones of horror as they realized that he was telling the truth, and they looked at him as if he was some kind of monster himself.
Once he had fully taken the dragon's scales out of the bag, leaving a mass that was bigger than him, another soldier asked with clear fear in his voice, "Just who the hell are you again?"
Max smirked, and gave a low bow. "The name's Max, and I told you already, I'm just a normal [Swashbuckler], who happens to also be a [Monster Hunter] on the side.
One of the guards fainted, and Max let out that laugh that he had been holding in.
After telling the soldiers his story, omitting that he came from another world, of course, as well as letting them touch the scales to prove that he was telling the truth, they gave him some water.
"So, tell me about yourselves, I only barely know where I am right now, although it's nice to see friendly faces after fighting for my life down there for a couple of days."
The captain responded first. "I am Licia Stormrider, [Captain] in charge of this small group of [Soldiers]. We're stationed here for the remainder of the week, until the next group comes to relieve us of our duties."
Max nodded, taking a long drought of his goblet, before settling it back on the table. "Isn't this close to the Demon territories, though? Wouldn't it be dangerous to remain here for any extended amount of time?"
Licia gave a sigh, but answered with a grin. "Anybody who is here is at least level 20. We only have those who have trained sufficiently risk their necks out here this close to the Demon lands. That being said, we absolutely have to cover the Hive entrances. If what you are telling me is correct, then not only were monsters just spawning down there, but it looks like we've got an active dungeon continuously making more of the beasts. It's no wonder why we haven't been able to take care of all of the monsters, even after a year of clearing them out. We've been afraid to enter the Hive, just in case there was a monster horde ready to rush us from the provocation."
Max nodded, and listened intently. All of this was useful information. These soldiers were part of something called the Blighted Kingdom, and they were at odds with the Demons. Constant warfare had beset the land, but the Kingdom still felt the need to send their warriors into Demon territory to stop the surge of monsters anyways.
"Do you think that the Demons are getting attacked by monsters too, or do you think that they're able to tame the beasts and use them in war against you?" Max wasn't sure that he actually wanted the answer if it were the latter, as that would be incredibly advantageous on the side of the Demons. A monster army… Max shuddered at the thought.
"So far, we've seen them utilize a couple of beasts, but they haven't overtly been using them. They'd need a lot of [Beast Trainers], or a [Beast Lord] in order to control that many monsters. Do you think that their access to the dungeon is what's allowing them to get their beasts?"
It was a simple enough creature, but laced with hidden meanings. If that was the case, then there was a very real possibility that the soldiers would want to mount a mission into the Hive, go through the dungeon, and close the demon access point before they got any more.
But that would mean entering the dungeon, and Max was scared for the soldier's lives, even with how high level they were.
So Max pulled out his arrangements of maps, including the first one that he had found, as well as the tapestries, just to show Licia how dangerous the dungeon was.
"Dead Gods, what is that?" One of the soldiers breathed, upon seeing the size of the dungeon. Another pointed at the beast at the bottom of the map, where the big boss was, and cried out, "What the fuck is that?"
"Honestly, I don't know. It's probably the big bad boss or something, right? I already fought hard enough in the dungeon, and plan on fighting through it eventually. But you guys have to realize that this area right at the top of the dungeon is likely only the least dangerous area in it. And while that first area was 'easy' enough, I still almost died about 4 times while down there."
Max pointed at the Hydra, right near the entrance to the Antinium Hive. "This is a Hydra. I don't know how strong you're supposed to be when fighting them, so I snuck by while it wasn't looking at me. It's at the top of the dungeon. Then, this area here is packed with monsters. This entire length that you'd need to go through is filled to the brim with beasts that could rip a man, or woman, to shreds.
"You'd need to make the journey of just under two days just to reach the demon access point, and there's no telling what you'd find there. This map was clearly outdated, since the Antinium Hive was still marked as Ants. Who knows how far the demons have spread into the dungeon? You'd almost be better off just marching to their front gates and fighting them head on."
Max could see that he had successfully dissuaded them. "Look, I'm all for crippling the Demon army, but going through the dungeon to try and shut off their access to monsters is not the best way to go about it. You'd be putting yourself in unnecessary danger, and even if you managed to make it down and return unscathed, that's a minimum excursion of 4 days. Who's to say whatever is in the Hive right now won't leave while you leave your posts? You'd need to plan this attempt for weeks, maybe even months."
Licia nodded, and gave Max a look of respect. "Do you have any [Tactician] Classes? Perhaps some sort of military ranks? That was a surprisingly well thought out counter to what I had barely been hinting at."
Max shook his head. "Nah, just a swashbuckler with a brain. You don't survive for days underground without food or water without one. Anyways, is there any way that I can join you guys when you head back to wherever you need to report to? I don't necessarily feel comfortable wandering in Demon territory looking for civilisation by myself."
Licia nodded. "As far as I'm concerned, you're a civilian. Even if you fight monsters for a living, that accident with the teleport spell put you in serious danger. Now that you're here, it would be prudent of us to keep you safe. If you'd be willing, maybe we can take you back to base and we can copy the maps that you have. We'd pay you for them, of course, but perhaps it could help us in the future."
Max frowned, but nodded. "I still can't stress how dangerous the dungeon is enough to you guys. There were thousands of dead Antinium lining their hive. I fear that they delved too far into the dungeon and were torn to shreds trying to escape from the dungeon's wrath. I only plan on coming back with a party that I can trust. But until I hit level 30, I don't want to come back."
One of the guards looked at Max with incredulity. "What level are you? That is, if you don't mind me asking."
Max gave that wry grin, and responded, "Level 6, between my two classes."
And the camp went silent for the fourth time that day, before unbelieving laughter filled the air.