12. One Shot (Hakuryuu, Kougyoku, Judar (hinted JuHaku): Hakuryuu has to convince Judar to conquer a dungeon with him, which is easier said than done. Thankfully Kougyoku helps him out.

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Hakuryuu was angry and annoyed. Since the early morning he had done nothing but chasing after that stupid prince. That guy was a genius when it came down to hiding and running away. To be honest, Hakuryuu did not understand why the youngest prince of the Kou Empire – an empire which welfare was solely built on their military strength –, who always said he would love war and chaos, wasn't interested in obtaining a djinn. Conquering a dungeon was dangerous and difficult, but that was the reason why Hakuryuu was there. As a Magi he would lead the prince into the dungeon and help him to reach the treasure room in which the djinn resided. Furthermore, the emperor would surely send a few troops in the dungeon as well – like he had done before.
Just as a side note, Hakuryuu himself was not happy about leading anyone into a dungeon, especially when it was someone from the Kou Empire, but he had no other choice. For the emperor he was just a mere tool, a valuable tool, but still a tool. Hakuryuu could only reach his goal of taking revenge as long as he was alive and for that he had to be an obedient tool. He had witnessed the cruel nature of the royal family first hand, when they killed his family – later everyone would act as if it was just an unfortunate incident, but it had been cold-blooded murder. This world knew no mercy and so he had to follow the order of cleaning a dungeon together with the youngest son of the current emperor. Sadly, Judar had other plans and did not care about orders. At first Hakuryuu had hoped that Judar's attitude would help him out this time, yet he had soon realized that it was the opposite of what he had hoped. Instead of giving up on sending his son away the emperor ordered Hakuryuu to ensure that Judar got his first djinn in the next few months or else … Well, the emperor hadn't finished his sentence back then, but it was obvious that Hakuryuu's life was on the line. A Magi alone was useless, only when they created dungeons and helped the royals to conquer them a Magi was useful – at least according to the emperor of Kou and his followers. At the moment there were enough unconquered dungeons and a Magi was not needed to reach the djinn – there were enough metal vessel user, who had gained a djinn without a Magi –, however it was easier with one.

Right now Hakuryuu was passing by the main garden, which had a big tree in the middle – Judar's favorite napping place. Full of hope to have finally found the prince, Hakuryuu approached the tree only to see that no one was there. How unlucky could a person be? And where the hell did Judar hide? Hakuryuu had already looked almost everywhere! He let out a deep sigh. What a cruel world. Maybe he should use some magic to find his target? Or ask the rukh, but they were not very talkative today. There was only one place left that he hadn't checked out yet. This place was Hakuryuu's bedroom. For whatever reason Judar loved to sneak into Hakuryuu's bedroom and occupy the bed – sometimes with Hakuryuu still sleeping in it and sometimes without him. It was pretty annoying and Hakuryuu never knew how to handle this kind of situations. How often had he tried to explain Judar that he should not do that? Too often. And how many times had it worked at least for a short while? Never. It was a lost case.
Slouchy Hakuryuu returned to his own room in hope to find the prince there.

Actually, this time he finally was lucky and found Judar, who had decided that Hakuryuu's bed was the best place to take a nap after eating lunch, which only consisted of peaches. Judar's favorite fruit were peaches, however his love for them was a bit abnormal, because sometimes he even refused to eat anything else but peaches. This could also be to annoy his parents and the servants or it was a serious obsession. Whatever it was, it was none of Hakuryuu's concern. However it was a helpful information when one wanted to bribe Judar. That guy was too simple minded sometimes – only when it came to conquering a dungeon that guy was extremely stubborn. Maybe because even with the help of a Magi conquering a dungeon meant hard work and work, especially hard work, was something Judar greatly disliked. He preferred to lazy around. Judar wasn't stupid or anything, he also could put a lot of effort into things, but for that to happen it needed a lot of interest in the subject. Questionable whether this was a good or bad thing. Who knew what Judar could have done until now with interest in too many things or the wrong ones? For the world's well-being it was probably the best that Judar preferred to be lazy. Only Hakuryuu had now to suffer due to this, but who was Hakuryuu anyway? A nobody. No one cared about him. So, so what that the laziness of the prince caused Hakuryuu a lot of trouble? It was only his problem. A heavy sigh from Hakuryuu again. Maybe he had luck this time and was able to convince Judar to clean the dungeon that had specifically been summoned for the prince.
First of all, however, he had to wake Judar up, because a sleeping prince was useless when one wanted to go into a dungeon. But this was another hindrance, because – how else could it have been – it was far from easy to wake Judar up. A war could happen right next to him and he still would be sound asleep. Such a deep sleep could be a blessing or a curse, depending how one viewed it. For Hakuryuu it was just another curse. Why had everything always be so complicated? It could all be so easy, but no, for whatever stupid reason it never was. Normally one would now try to tenderly wake the other person up, but Hakuryuu was past the point of being nice and tender, especially regarding Judar. Without thinking or caring much he took one of the free pillows and hit Judar with it he also could have used something harder, but there hadn't been anything nearby at that second, so that pillow was his weapon of choice. Not long after the first strike, Judar woke up and tried to grab the pillow, which ended unsuccessfully. However, Hakuryuu was a smart and kind person, therefore he stopped hitting the prince as soon as said person started to try to catch the pillow. Mentioning that Judar's mood was far from pleased was probably unnecessary. An angry Judar looked at Hakuryuu and waited for an explanation, which did not follow. Hakuryuu was silently staring back at the other. He was unprepared. Whenever he had approached Judar and tried to convince him to go into the dungeon he had been rejected. Why should this change now all of a sudden? He had gone to search for Judar while thinking that he wouldn't find the prince anyway, consequently he had not thought about how to handle the matter this time. Maybe he should just grab Judar and throw him into the dungeon? As soon as one entered a dungeon, one had to reach the treasure room and find the djinn to get out again. If one couldn't do so, one would die. Either killed by the dungeon creatures or because of starvation.

"What?", Judar asked angrily after not getting an explanation, although he had kindly waited for one.
Hakuryuu sighed before he said: "First, get out of my bed. Second, get out of my room. And third, your majesty ordered me to guide you through the dungeon, which was summoned for you. So please stop being a spoiled brat and come with me."
It should be obvious that Judar did not listen. Well, he did listen to Hakuryuu words, but couldn't care less about the content. He left the bed and the room, but as much of a brat as he was he still refused to conquer the dungeon. Hakuryuu hadn't expected that Judar would actually leave the bed and room without making a fuss, but he wasn't surprised that Judar still refused to cooperate. If he had been a little bit nicer, maybe Judar had agreed to go into the dungeon. But it was too late now. Judar had left and Hakuryuu had to start searching again. Honestly, Hakuryuu thought of himself as a smart person, however at the moment he could only call himself a giant idiot! And idiocy had to be punished! Hopefully his legs forgave him one day, it was them who had to carry him around all day and when he had the chance to take a break he destroyed it by being pissed off. However, before re-starting his search for the youngest Kou prince, Hakuryuu decided to take a break anyway. He hadn't eaten since the early morning and his body needed some food and water. While taking a break he also could think about a strategy to find and convince Judar to finally conquer the dungeon. Or he thought about a way to convince the emperor that Judar did not need a djinn or that there was a more suitable candidate for the djinn – for that he needed someone, who indeed was more suitable. Kou had a lot of soldiers who were ready to get a djinn and serve the empire, unfortunately djinns were very selective of their owner and always wanted the best, so it was not only important to have a physical strong person – Judar was not physically strong, but a prince –, but the potential future metal vessel user had to have good magoi resources – something Judar actually had – as well. Of course this was just what the djinns wanted and what would be the best, therefore there also were dungeon conqueror, who either lacked physical strength or magoi. In case it was mere strength that was amiss, one could try to overcome the monsters of the dungeon with an army – lacking magoi wasn't much of a problem when fighting for one's life as long as one wasn't a magician, but those couldn't get a djinn anyway. When taking an army into a dungeon there was always the possibility that the djinn chose one of the soldiers as "king" instead of the prince – or whoever had been chosen by the people. Until now and as far as Hakuryuu knew something like this had never happened before, but this didn't mean that it couldn't happen at all, especially with someone like Judar. What kind of djinn would chose such a lazy ass? Probably none.

Maybe the reason, why Hakuryuu didn't put his all into finding and convincing Judar, despite his life being on the line, was that Hakuryuu himself didn't want Judar to go into a dungeon. He didn't want the other one to get harmed or worse get killed. It was clear that the emperor didn't care much about Judar, since he wasn't a child of the emperor, but only of the empress. Yes, the empress had given birth to a child of another man. Out of his bottomless kindness the emperor had accepted the child as his own, yet it was obvious that this was nothing but an act. Hakuryuu hadn't even started to count the times an assassin had tried to kill Judar. It was nothing unusual for a prince to be attacked by assassins of other countries or rebels, so it was easy for the emperor to send his own people to do the deed. Fortunately until now all assassination attempts had failed. The dungeon was just another try to get rid of the unwanted child and in case this plan should fail as well… Well, then the emperor at least had another metal vessel user, who could lead the army of Kou to victory. The emperor had nothing to lose, while Judar could lose his life. Not a pleasant thought or situation. Hakuryuu didn't want Judar to die or get harmed, but there was nothing he could do. If he did not fulfill the emperor's wish, it was him who got killed and if he followed the order either Judar died or became a tool of war. None of this things sounded nice.

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On his way to the kitchen Hakuryuu met Kougyoku. A young women, who conquered a dungeon with him not too long ago. It had just been the two of them and they had barely survived. The reason they had gotten out of the dungeon was Kougyoku's strong will to survive and get the djinn and of course because of her great fighting skills. At first glance she looked like a weak and obedient servant, but she was not. She was extremely strong and smart. Further, she was the kindest and most loyal person inside this palace Hakuryuu had met, yet he knew she also could be merciless and cruel, if someone dared to hurt those who were dear to her. Luckily, he was one of those dear people of hers. Being on her bad side was definitely something he wanted to avoid. He still hung to his life, although it wasn't so pleasant in the last years. All he could do was to hope for a better future. One without the emperor and the empress and he would do everything he could to make this happen. Kougyoku was on his side! Although she had been hesitant at first, because she feared for the safety of the Kou citizens, she soon changed her mind. If things went on like this for longer, soon there wouldn't be any citizens left anymore. She had conquered a dungeon in hope to gain a power which would end all those horrible wars faster, but the wars were still going on and on. As soon as a battle was won, another one was already waiting ahead. As soon as they conquered another country, they were already on the move to the next. There was no end to it. It would only end when either the emperor was dead and replaced by someone, who cared about his people, or when the whole world was ruled by the Kou Empire, which was something no one wanted to happen. Kougyoku also had seen the true face of the royal family, otherwise she probably would still blindly follow the orders of the higher-ups.

"Good afternoon, Hakuryuu", Kougyoku greeted him with a smile.
"Good afternoon, Kougyoku. How are you?"
Kougyoku had made her way from the end of the hallway, which led to the kitchen, to Hakuryuu.
"I am fine. How are you?", she asked with a worried expression – her smile was gone.
As answer Hakuryuu just sighed and looked at the floor. He was definitely not fine at all and he was partly responsible for it, since he had messed up the chance to convince Judar to conquer a dungeon – questionable how high his chance was in the first place, but a chance was a chance no matter how small it was.
"Let me guess, you failed to convince Judar, right?"
Yes, and he had to start searching again, because he was an idiot.
Hakuryuu nodded in response.
"If you want, I can help you with searching", Kougyoku suggested.
She was such a kind-hearted person.
"That's nice of you, but you got back just today. So you should rest and not waste your time with helping me out. I will find Judar somehow and convince him."
Hakuryuu felt bad about bothering her with his problems. She had enough work to do and enough responsibilities, therefore she really should rest from time to time when she had the chance. Helping him out was probably not a bother to her, but it would mean less time to rest and Judar could be very troublesome. Although Kougyoku liked Judar for whatever reason and even considered him a friend, Judar only called her an old hag and made fun of her. In his case this was probably not because he disliked her, but because he actually liked her. The typical "I like you, but cannot admit it, so I am an asshole to you". Childish and stupid!
"But I want to waste my time helping you. I haven't talked with Judar for a long time and I like helping you. You don't have it easy with the emperor and with Judar, so let other help you every now and then."
"Actually, you're the only one, who is ready to help me. Everyone else just laughs about me and maybe they even try to make things harder."
The nobles of the palace were despicable people. They used every chance they got to show how wealthy and powerful they were. Laughing about people who were beneath them was totally natural to them. One day, Hakuryuu was sure about that, they wouldn't laugh anymore! However, until then he had to endure them and their despicable behavior.
"More reason to accept my help. By the way, have you already eaten? I haven't, so why don't we eat together?", Kougyoku suggested with a smile.
Such a beautiful smile!
"I have not eaten yet and all the searching for Judar is really exhausting. So I was on my way to the kitchen. It would be great to have some company while eating", Hakuryuu agreed to her offer.
"And we have a lot to talk about. It's been a while since we had time to have a long and uninterrupted conversation", Kougyoku added.
She was right. Not only was Kougyoku often out of town, she also had a lot of duties to fulfill when she was in the palace and therefore barely had any time for Hakuryuu. Most of their conversations were very short and superficial. So they treasured the times when they could freely speak with each other about their lives. Everyone needed someone to share their thoughts and feelings with.

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After eating and talking with each other for a long time, Hakuryuu and Kougyoku parted ways again. Kougyoku had decided that she would help Hakuryuu in searching for Judar. She had nothing better to do and she wanted to find and talk with Judar anyway. Hakuryuu was thankful, with a helper at his side he might find Judar sooner. Yet he felt bad for bothering Kougyoku with it. On the other hand, if it was her who found Judar and talked to him, he might listen to her and would finally agree to conquer a dungeon. After all it was probably not to Judar's liking to hear that a "weak" women – the old hag – was capable of getting a djinn, while he had none. Wouldn't this look like he was not strong enough to get one, while the "old hag" was able to? It was easy to tease Judar with something like this. Only the right person was needed to bring this argument into the conversation and who might be better than the "old hag" herself? Exactly, no one!
It actually was Kougyoku, who found Judar in the end. Since she wasn't as annoyed and tiered as Hakuryuu, she started the conversation with Judar more lighthearted. Asking him how he was and what he had done, while she was gone and without him asking she told him about her days away from home. Of course, she also told him about her plans for the following days. Now that she was finally back and had some free time at hand, she wanted to spend this time with her two best and only friends Hakuryuu and Judar. While Hakuryuu didn't mind and was even looking forward to it, Judar played he "I am not interested and you annoy me"-card, but it was obvious from the way he looked at her and his pathetic excuses – half-heartedly rejecting her – that he also looked forward to it. After talking about trivial matters, Kougyoku slowly changed the subject to the dungeon. Judar caught the change in topic, yet he played along at first. Most people were more direct when it came to the dungeon, but Kougyoku made small steps to get him to a certain point and he wanted to know what this point was. Soon he regretted his curiosity, because how else could it have been Kougyoku brought forth the one argument Judar was weak against. Kougyoku, a "weak" women, had conquered a dungeon and Judar, "the strongest" men of the empire – only Judar referred to himself like this –, refused to do so, probably because he was too afraid. It was easy to guess what would happen, if one should brought this point into the conversation. How could Judar let this go without a response? But what should he say? Just saying that he was not afraid, wouldn't settle the thing, he had to prove that he wasn't afraid and to prove that he had to enter the dungeon. Although he did not want to go, he had no excuse and his own pride prevented him from letting her get away. So, what should he do? Go into the dungeon? But he did not want to at all. But he did not want to give Kougyoku a chance to look down on him or others a chance to mock him. He was the strongest and conquering a dungeon was a piece of cake for him, yet he had to prove it.
"Say, Judar, don't you want to help Hakuryuu? You know, you cause him a lot of trouble with your attitude", Kougyoku said.
Expect Hakuryuu everyone knew that Judar had a soft spot for the young Magi. No one put much thought into it, because for them it was clear that this was due to the two boys once being friends. After the death of Hakuryuu's family he became more reserved and isolated himself from the rest of the people, even Judar. The latter one, on the other hand, still considered the younger boy as a friend and tried to maintain their relationship, however he had been push away over and over again. Hakuryuu would only talk or interact with Judar when it was about business. Judar disliked it so much that he even started to avoid meeting with Hakuryuu, although he still sought the attention and interaction with the other one. It was confusing feeling and situation alike. How to be friends with someone, who suddenly pushed you away, with someone with whom you didn't want to interact, with someone, who you loved and hated at the same time? Judar did not understand why Hakuryuu isolated himself so much, he could only guess, but he was bad at guessing.
"What do you mean?", Judar asked.
He knew that Hakuryuu was searching for him, because the emperor had ordered the two of them to get the djinn out of the new dungeon, but how was he causing trouble? There were enough other candidates and it wasn't the first time, someone else got the djinn. Kougyoku's djinn was also supposed to be conquered by Judar at first, but after refusing over and over again, the emperor sent Kougyoku and Hakuryuu to the dungeon. So why did the old man not send someone else and why was it a bother to Hakuryuu?
"Because the emperor threatens Hakuryuu with death, in case he is not able to get you to conquer the dungeon. That's why he is chasing after you for so long", Kougyoku explained.
She couldn't believe that Judar didn't know about this. Did this guy live under a rock? Wasn't he a friend of Hakuryuu or at least cared about him? Kougyoku was confused.
"I didn't know! Hakuryuu hadn't said anything about this, always just telling… begging me to go into the dungeon with him."
"Why did you refuse?"
"Why? Well, first of all I do not like being ordered around and I do not like it that Hakuryuu only comes to see me, when it is about business. I wish he sometimes would just talk to me without a specific reason, I mean we are friends, right?"
Judar sounded quite unsure about his current relationship with Hakuryuu. One could say a lot about Judar, but not that he was stupid – well, he was a little bit of an idiot, but not more than any other person was.
"So, you refused because you wanted Hakuryuu to chase after you and interacted more with you? You should just have told him that you want him to interact more with you."
"Well, I did. More or less. I once told him that I do not like, how he has changed his behavior towards me and that I consider him a friend and friends do talk with each other often and without business involved. In the end nothing has changed. Ever since the fire incident, Hakuryuu seems to avoid him. I don't know what is wrong from him or me or us", Judar admitted.
He was not the type of person that shared their feelings and thoughts with others, he thought he had to deal with it himself. And it was not manly to do so. But this didn't mean that he had no feeling at all or that there weren't any things that bothered him. His relationship with Hakuryuu was very important to him, since the Magi was his first friend in the palace and they had gotten along very well. It was hard to accept that a good friendship suddenly ended, especially when one didn't know the reason why.
"How childish. Well, whatever, what is the other reason for refusing Hakuryuu?"
"The other reason?", Judar made a short pause, as if he had to think about another reason, before he continued, "Dungeons are dangerous. Even with a Magi or a huge army at one's side, there is no guarantee that one will get out alive. I don't want Hakuryuu to get harmed or even worse to die. I know that he is a capable magician and as a Magi he has an advantage inside a dungeon, also I know that the emperor probably will send soldiers with us, but in the end no one knows what is awaiting as inside the dungeon and whether we will survive or not."
Never before had Kougyoku seen such a sad and worried look on Judar's face. Normally he had an arrogant smirk on his lips and acted as if there was nothing that could bring him down. It was easy to forget that he was as human as everyone else here and was only hiding his true feelings. She felt bad for not realizing this part of him sooner – or better said forgetting about it over and over again.
"You really like Hakuryuu", Kougyoku fondly smiled at Judar, "If you don't go into the dungeon then he will die for sure. But if you go, there is still a chance of both of you surviving. And then we can bring down your father."
One thing that Kougyoku definitely knew was that Judar disliked his father a lot – both of them. Until now he only had met his biological father three times and he hated that man more after every encounter. And his opinion towards his adoptive father had greatly changed over the years. Once he had loved the man, known as the emperor, but after he understood that the emperor was just playing nice with him and had even sent assassins after him, his hate for that man started to grow.
"When you have a djinn, then you will be strong enough to fight a whole army. No matter how strong a human is, one alone will not be able to deal with an army, but with a djinn this is possible. Image how things could be with you, me and Hakuryuu bringing down that despicable man. There is no one who could stop us."
Kougyoku had to bite her tongue to not say that with a djinn he would also be able to protect Hakuryuu. Judar probably knew this himself.
"Is this the reason why you decided to get a djinn? To kill the emperor?"
"No, I wanted to bring peace to our people, but I failed. Thanks to the djinn's power it is easy to defeat the enemies, but as soon as I defeated one the emperor sends me to the next. There is no end to it and while the war is going on our people a suffering. Although things look good for them at the first glance, when you look deeper into things, you see how all of them are suffering and hoping for an end to this stupid wars. Even the soldiers are losing their will to fight on, because they cannot see an end. There are only two options, either we kill the emperor and put someone on the throne, who really wants peace, or we kill faster, so the current emperor gets his wish of world domination. Honestly, I would prefer the first option. Both Hakuryuu and I know who cruel and cold-blooded this man can be. You should know that Hakuryuu's family was murdered by the emperor's order."
A short moment of silence passed between the two. Kougyoku had said all she could to convince Judar to join them in their plans and to get a djinn and Judar was not sure what to do. Actually he wanted a djinn, but he did not want endanger Hakuryuu. With the power of a djinn, he would be able to protect himself and Hakuryuu, but he would probably be used by his father to fight for the empire.
"If you're worried that you and Hakuryuu do not get out of the dungeon, I can go with you. I already have a djinn and I am sure that with my power, there is no chance of any of you dying!"

Before Judar could say anything in response Hakuryuu reached the two.
"Judar, do you have a minute?", he asked.
Again, before Judar could response someone interrupted. Kougyoku decided to leave the two alone and therefore said goodbye.
"I guess, I do. What do you want?"
"Ask you to go into the dungeon with me. I know that you refused every time I asked, but getting a djinn is for the best. We both know that your fighting skill are lacking, so having a djinn means more power and it is saver for yourself."
"Hakuryuu, be honest, do you want me to go into the dungeon, so the emperor does not kill you or do you want me to get the djinn because you are worried about me?"
A good question. Until now Hakuryuu always used the order of the emperor as explanation, why he wanted Judar to conquer the dungeon. Judar was worried about Hakuryuu's well-being and now he wanted to know if this was also the case for Hakuryuu. Was Hakuryuu worried about him? This answer would also give him a good idea on their relationship. A friend would be worried, right?
Hakuryuu let out a sigh: "Kougyoku told you that the emperor will order my execution in case I fail to get you to conquer the dungeon."
It was not a question, yet Judar nodded in reply.
"It is true that I do not want to die and therefore chase after you so much. But it is also true that I do not want to endanger you. Kougyoku and I were able to conquer the last dungeon, so I think the two of us are able to conquer one as well. However, there is no guarantee and I don't want you to get harmed and even less I want you to die. But what other option do we have? If you refuse, I will be killed soon. And you? Well, it is no secret that the emperor wants you dead as well. He will just send more assassins after you or force you into a dungeon. Then you either survive and will be used as tool in his war or you die. In the end the emperor will always win. I don't want you to die or be used by that asshole. If you can get the djinn the emperor won't send assassins after you anymore, because he will see you as a tool. But it also means that you are stronger then him by a lot. You can protect yourself against anyone! With such a power you won't have to fear anyone anymore…"
Before Hakuryuu could say more Judar interrupted him with a serious expression on his face: "And what about you? What do you gain from going into the dungeon? All you have to do is to get me inside, then your life should be save. The question is just for how long it will be safe. As soon as he has the chance he will threaten you again. There won't be an end to it."
"I only need to survive until I get my revenge."
Silence.
There were a lot of things Judar wanted to say, but no words left his mouth. All the time he had thought for Hakuryuu as smart and reserved, but for him such words did not fit this image. Hakuryuu wanted revenge for his dead family, but was not willing to just sacrifice Judar for this, just like Judar was not ready to endanger Hakuryuu for power.
"Alright! I will go and conquer that stupid dungeon and then we kill that pig. Oh, I as soon as I am crowned as the new emperor you have no to be my friend again! Deal?"
"What?"
"I said, I will conquer the dungeon, then we kill the emperor and after that the two of us will be friends again."
Was it so hard to understand? Had he spoken to fast? Or had Hakuryuu simply not listened to him?
"That's not how friendship works, you know?"
"I know, but the two of us once were friends and I still consider you one. I don't know what made you hate me, but we can get past that, right?"
Hakuryuu didn't hate Judar, but he wasn't sure anymore, if he could trust Judar, who was part of the royal family that killed his family. This was quite unfair towards Judar, but Hakuryuu could help himself. Actually he wanted to be Judar's friend again

"And now stop being acting so cold-hearted, I've already saw through you! You actually like me, but are too afraid to admit it! To accept your feelings. This is really childish, considering that we were already friends! So let's get the djinn and kill the emperor. It will take some time until we can carry out our plans – do we even have a plan? Uh, how cares, one step at a time!"
Without paying any more attention to Hakuryuu, Judar started to move towards the gate of the palace. Hakuryuu was unsure what to do or what to think about this short conversation, but as long as Judar was willing to enter the dungeon everything else was unimportant.
Judar was almost out of sight when Hakuryuu snapped out of his thoughts: "Wait, Judar. Let's call Kougyoku over, so she can help us with the dungeon. And we should tell the emperor, so he can give as an army."
The more the merrier and easier it would be to get into the treasure room. Also it was safer that way.