FiOP: Chapter 119 (Patreon)

Things got back to normal; the only difference was that we had a dragon we could rely on. Trips across the country were much faster as we could ride on her and be there in less than a day. Getting a bird's eye view also allowed me to notice anything special inside dungeons, so I could more easily make landmark safe zones for the dungeons around the country.

I had already done a few; some of the more dangerous dungeons became far safer because of me, but it wasn’t like I could leave the farm for months at a time, even over the course of years. There were now researchers tracking the number of adventurers who would have died if they didn’t have the safe zones I created to rely on. The number was already over ten thousand, my safe zones had subverted at least ten thousand deaths already, and that was only a few short years; over the course of the dungeon's life, the safe zone might save that many for every single one I made.

Adventuring wasn’t just a job; it was a lifestyle. They would spend most of their days inside dungeons, and before, a single mistake would have cost them their lives. Now, they at least had a chance to recompose themselves if something went wrong or they got unlucky. I had made such a change in the casualty rates of adventurers that many people started viewing me as some sort of deity.

I get it, though, if I were in a dungeon, injured and worrying for my life, I might view the person who gave me the reprieve to tend my wounds and rest as some saintly being as well. There wasn’t a church worshipping me yet, but there was a fan club in most cities, along with more adventurers moving to the city just to see me and my wives.

I became somewhat famous over time, not as important as the King or the second prince who now worked as his second in command, but the difference was I was much easier to see and talk to. More than once, someone approached me out in my field just to talk; very rarely did I have to throw them off my farm, as they took up too much time or trampled crops out of clumsiness.

I looked over another forest dungeon, which was rarer than you’d think, considering most land in our country was forest. Dungeons tended to form near other dungeons, but solo dungeons, separated like this one, were almost as common. The big tree in the middle was where the boss was, so… The next highest tree is right there. I yelled out to Mara.

“Land over there, we’ll make that second biggest tree the landmark for a safe zone, I’ll figure out something on the opposite side to make another after we get this one made.” Tems, Silk, Olivia, and Delilah all came with me, and we had to ride Mara to make it here so quickly. This was another one that King wanted altered; it had a high casualty rate because of the poisonous monsters in the area. Giant spitting snakes and pygmy goblins that used poisoned-tipped darts fired from blowguns.

We landed and immediately got to work chopping down trees. If I cut too many, it would hurt the forest, but there was enough wiggle room normally that I could easily cut a clearing, and that’s what we did. Making makeshift housing and walls for adventurers to hide behind, so even if a snake spat or a pygmy shot into the safe zone, they wouldn’t be hit. 

While they chopped down trees, I got to work marking the safe zone area with flower pots. Pulling out multiple flowers that would grow back, the dungeon recognized it as a boundary that couldn’t be crossed. The tree that marked this location as a landmark was big, but not nearly as big as the thick house tree in the center, where the boss monster was.

It was still thick enough to do something with. Making landmarks wasn’t as easy as declaring something a landmark… Normally. I could just do that with the waterfall or lake, but the tree needed something special in order to count. While it was large at the base, it started to taper off higher up, leaving most of the center of the tree open while the branches splayed outward and upward.

The idea of making a tree house, the landmark came to my mind at that sight as I began to climb up and flatten the area the best I could. Olivia finished outlining the buildings and walls before she climbed up and silently got to work, knowing exactly what my idea was as she took over the design process. Only talking to yell for wood or tools, to which most others helped her with.

The treehouse and outpost came together over the course of a day. We weren’t the same people we were when we first started making alterations to our original house; all of us worked at a speed beyond what we were capable of before. Mara made a hidey hole near the base of the trunk before covering it up. Underneath this tree might be a bunker even bigger than the size of the safezone.

Mara had done so with many other safe zones I created. She had been caught on the back foot by her rival, and never would again. She was preparing these for not only herself, but for our family now as well. The tree house came together rapidly as we created a rope ladder to get up and down. The last thing we added was a bed. If someone needed to use this safe zone, there were now plenty of places to rest.

I had originally guided the landmark to perhaps give a recovery bonus to whoever slept in the treehouse, but the skill had a different idea as fruits began to grow out of the tree that never could grow them. Sometimes you can push something, but sometimes you get something better instead. I plucked one of the fruits that looked ripe; the tree had various cycles of fruit as it looked like they’d grow around the clock, perennially from now on.

Biting into it, there was an extremely bitter taste that slowly mellowed out as my face couldn’t help but pucker. Mara grabbed the fruit out of my hand as she inspected it. “These fruits cure poisons specifically tied to this dungeon.” She peeled off the skin with her finger rapidly before biting into it. “The skin is the bitter part; it’s also the part that cures the poison.”

She handed me back the fruit, which was about the size of an orange but harder, with the skin more similar to an apple. Peeling off the skin, I taste the delicious sweetness of the fruit untainted by the bitter poison-curing skin. It was absolutely delicious, and another staple product the nearby town would begin to gather and sell after it became known that it was here.

I wrote down the changes as I would send this to someone who worked for the king, and he would sign off on paying me for the value I added to the kingdom. Since I was adding a staple product the kingdom could sell, the amount would be more than normal. I looked at my wives who came with me and gave them a suggestion. 

“Well, we can head to the opposite side of this forest and make another safe zone… Or, stay here for the night and break in that bed. Let’s do a show of hands, who wants to stay here tonight?” As everyone raised their hands(except Mara, who was still trying to appear aloof), we began preparing dinner and other things that needed to be done before the sun went down.