Raised in Dungeon

A few minutes after Felicia healed Allen,

Allen woke up, and when he looked around, Theobauld was gone.

"So I lost," said Allen, expressionless.

Allen groped his entire body and discovered that he didn't see any wounds on his body—even the sword stab that Thobauld had given him earlier had disappeared.

"You should thank me for healing you," said Felicia, resting, taking shelter beside the house wall while drinking tea. Beside her was a maid who sat holding a towel. Felicia sat on a wooden chair with a small round wooden table in front of it. Meanwhile, Rachel sat on a long wooden chair attached to the wall of the house.

"Thanks..." replied Allen, briefly.

"You're a commoner. You should be more grateful and thank me more!"

'This girl's tongue is annoying,' thought Allen.

Allen then stood up and was about to enter the house again, meet Isabelle, and tell her he lost in a duel with Theobauld. He couldn't help but admit that he was weak.

"Wait a minute," Felicia called out to him.

"What's now?" asked Allen with an expressionless face.

Felicia, who saw Allen's expression, somehow felt sorry for him. His black eyes didn't give off any light, as if he wasn't even looking at her.

"Sit here first," said Felicia.

"What for?"

This time it was Rachel who answered Allen's question,

"I have heard the conditions given by Lady Isabelle. From now on, you and Lady Felicia will learn the sword and mana control together. Since there are still 20 minutes left, how about you sit with us?"

Allen looked the other way. Seeing Rachel somehow reminds him of Lavinia. And that made him uncomfortable.

"Okay."

Allen sat on the chair next to Felicia,

"Eh?" Felicia suddenly made a surprised face.

"What?" asked Allen.

Rachel then explained

"Nobles and commoners should not sit side by side. You are not even commoners; you are peasants and slaves. You should sit next to me, not next to Lady Felicia."

Allen was silent for a while, not liking that he was being bound by a rule he knew nothing about. Whereas he already felt burdened by his master-servant rule with Isabelle, now he also had to follow another rule that was not even bound by any agreement.

"Why is that person the only one talking? What about you? Can't I sit here?" Allen asked Felicia.

Felicia felt nervous. She was at a loss for what to do because she had always followed the flow of the existing rules, an unwritten social rule.

"I... I'm fine; it's up to you; things like this won't bother me, tough!"

'How annoying,' thought Allen.

Rachel put down the same tea as Felicia and gave it to Allen.

"Please," Rachel said.

Allen took the tea and drank it all right away.

"Thanks," Allen said without comment.

Felicia sipped her tea and put down her glass.

"Soo..so what? Did you finally admit Theo's skill as the master?" Felicia asked nervously, trying to break the awkwardness.

"He's so strong. I can't do anything. My first attack must be a coincidence." Allen replied.

"That's right. After all, he's one of the mithril-ranked dungeon explorers who completed one of the dungeons with the prince."

"Prince? Prince Leofric?" asked Allen.

"Prince Leofric? No. With the first prince, Eldritch."

"There are princes other than Leofric?"

Hearing Allen's question, Felicia was shocked.

"You don't know?! What backwater village are you from? A peasant should at least know all the names of the royal family!"

Then Felicia explains the royal family to Allen.

"Our king, King Henry Sheraton Wildenhall, has eight queens and 14 children, the princes. The oldest is Prince Eldritch, the crown prince and the only son of the first queen, Odelina, who has already passed away. The second prince, Harald; the third prince, Alicia; and the fourth prince, Leofric, are the children of the second queen, Regina. They are currently-"

"I don't care about the royal family. Instead, tell me more about Leofric," Allen chastised.

"As I said, you are a peasant in this kingdom. You should at least know the royal family's name! This is important. Why are you so interested in Prince Leofric?"

Allen clasped his hands tightly, he wanted to tell Felicia that Leofric was the one who killed his mother, but he couldn't because it was one of Isabelle's rules that he couldn't say to anyone.

"I just hate him so much," Allen said with so much anger that it was conveyed to Felicia and Rachel.

"Well, I know why you don't like Prince Leofric. Actually, I don't really like him either. Prince Leofric is the most arrogant and often troublesome to others. My fiancé had to leave the kingdom for five years because of him," said Felicia, who also agreed with Allen.

Felicia looked back at Allen, who still looked angry. She wondered what had happened to Allen so that he could make that face. But she knew her limits. A feeling strangled her heart not to ask Allen further about it.

"By the way, we haven't introduced ourselves yet. It's good that we know each other because we will often practice together in the future."

Allen nodded.

"My name is Felicia Ayde Boldenville. I am the daughter of Earl Boldenville and currently the fiancée of Waldo Barkaley. The one beside me is my personal maid, and her name is Rachel."

'Waldo? I think I've heard that name before,' Allen thought. But Allen chose to ignore it.

"I'm Allen," Allen replied briefly.

"Just Allen? Where are you from?"

"I don't know. I don't know what place it called."

"Gosh, I can't believe someone would be this stupid."

Allen then looked towards the sky, and he said

"It's time. I'm going to the next training place."

"Wait. Are you stupid? Do you know where it is? Let's go together."

They went to Thurstan's room together.

...

Thurstan's room is located underground.

There was what appeared to be a hidden staircase beneath the floor. Rachel tapped the floor three times.

There was no answer.

Then Rachel knocked three more times, but still there was no answer.

Once again, Rachel knocked three times, and there was still no answer.

"Since it's been three times and there's no answer at all, we'll go inside," said Rachel.

There was something like a ring attached to the floor. Rachel pulled it, and the floor opened.

Behind the floor was a staircase leading down. The light was coming out from below, probably the room's light.

They walked about 10 meters down.

There was a fairly large room downstairs. It was almost half the size of Isabelle's manor house. The room was bright for a basement, and the lighting came from a crystal similar to the dungeon crystal. The crystal was embedded in the room's ceiling, producing bright white light. There were bookshelves on each wall of the room; the place was a little messy; there was much unknown equipment arranged randomly in the corner of the room, and some books were scattered on the floor.

Then, at the far end of the room, there was a man wearing a shabby green robe, reading a book while writing.

He wore glasses, and his dark brown hair was in a ponytail up to his neck. He was probably around 30—judging by the wrinkles on his forehead and cheeks.

Rachel approached Thurstan, then brought her face closer to his,

"Mr. Thurstan," Rachel called out.

"Whoa!" Thurstan immediately gasped at the sight of Rachel's face.

"You startled me, Rachel. What's wrong?" asked Thurstan.

"It's time for Lady Felicia's training," said Rachel.

"What? Oh, right, it's noon already? I'm sorry, I'm a bit focused on my work this time. Hmm?" Thurstan saw a stranger, Allen, standing next to Felicia. He immediately approached Allen and touched his hair.

"W-what are you doing?"

"Waah, you really have black and white hair as Lady Isabelle said. You're neither Other-worlder nor Norttish. I wonder how your real parents look like."

Allen slapped Thurstan's hand that touched his hair.

"I don't care about my lineage nor my bloodline. What is certain is that I was raised in the dungeon by my mother, an Orc. I also don't care about my real mother. I have only one mother."

Felicia was immediately surprised to hear that.

"Wait! Raised in a dungeon?! And by... monsters?! Are you kidding me?" said Felicia.

"What am I kidding about?"

"But you just said you don't know the name of the place you live in?"

"I don't know the name. I just know that I live in a dungeon."

"That's impossible,"

"That is true, Lady Felicia," Thurstan intended to answer Felicia's doubts.

"I heard from Lady Isabelle about Allen. He indeed grew up in the dungeon. That was also one of the reasons Lady Isabelle was interested in making him a slave."

Felicia was still shocked, not believing what she had heard, and neither was Rachel.

"Yeah, forget about that. Shall we start the training?" said Thurstan.

Felicia shut down her curiosity for now, knowing that Thurstan didn't have much time to teach her.

Since it was Allen's first time, and he didn't know anything about mana, Thurstan explained the concept of mana first. About divine mana, demonic mana, then how to manifest mana through spirits, gate mana, mana capacity limits, and God's blessing.

"I understand," Allen said after hearing Thurstan's long explanation.

"Good," after a few seconds, Thurstan touched Allen's chest.

"Unfortunately, your gate is locked, but the seal is weakening. Maybe in a few hours, you can freely use your mana. So for now, all you need to do is feel your own mana in your body. Mana may appear to be in a separate realm within the body, but it actually flows throughout the body like blood. It's just that the concept of mana is not material like the blood that can come out when your body is split. Mana is spiritual, invisible. It can only be seen as an aura coming out of the body in some conditions."

Thurstan took the nearest chair and said,

"Try to sit as comfortably as possible and feel something flowing inside your body."

Allen sat down, not on the chair Thurstan had prepared, but on the floor. Seeing Allen's action, Thurstan smiled slightly.

"Fufu, this kid is literally unpredictable," he said to Allen, who sat as comfortably as he could on the floor. He had never sat in a chair before.

Then Thurstan turned to Felicia.

"Congratulations on being able to use your God's blessing twice a day. You can even control how much blood you bleed in just 10 days!" Thurstan said, smiling.

"Of course! Things like that are very easy for me!" Felicia said proudly.

"I'm already a little familiar with your God's blessing, my lady. The only problem is that you put too much mana into it. Fortunately, you have a fairly large mana capacity, and your mana absorption is also fast, so your gate can be full in just 10 hours.

Now that I think about it, there doesn't seem to be any way to hold back the mana coming out of you while using God's blessing. Unless..."

Thurstan hurt his palm.

"Lady Felicia, try to heal this."

Felicia nodded, then before she could cut open the scar on her finger, Thurstan restrained her hand.

"This time, try to make the garden as small as possible,"

"Small?"

"Right, I'm going to stand tense, so you only need to make the garden small,"

"A... alright."

Felicia now made a small circle in the ground, as small as possible.

Flowers grew, and the inside shone, including Thurstan's body. The wound on Thurstan's hand was now healed.

"How are you feeling?" asked Thurstan.

"I feel tired."

Then Felicia realized that it was the second time she had used her God's blessing that day, and she only felt "tired."

"Have you used your God's blessing before coming here?" asked Thurstan.

Felicia nodded.

"Yes, I used it once before, so that means, I can use it more than twice now!"

"It seems like you've been able to from the beginning. The bigger the garden you make, the more your mana drains. So mana consumption is determined by the size of the garden rather than how badly injured you healed.

For fun, let's try making a small one on the floor."

Felicia nodded. Then she tried to draw a circle on the floor with her blood. Her God's blessing was active again, and she didn't feel tired at all.

"It turns out that what you said was true! I praise you!" Felicia shouted happily.

"Have you tried it with unliving objects?" It was Allen, not Thurstan, who appeared beside Felicia.

"!!! Allen! Don't suddenly appear! You startled me!" Felicia shouted.

Seeing Allen, Thurstan intended to scold him for playing around while he was still in the middle of training.

"Allen, can you feel your mana yet?"

"I have," Allen replied.

"Are you serious?"

'It can't be that fast. He should be able to regain consciousness about his mana after two days of meditation at the earliest,' thought Thurstan.

"I'm done. And it looks like you were wrong, Thurstan."

'He called me without an honorific,'

"Wrong, how?" asked Thurstan.

Allen explained,

"The mana was not flowing like blood but radiating like an explosion in the head. Perhaps you misunderstood because the mana that emanates from inside the brain spreads throughout the body like rain, not blood."

Thurstan, who was surprised by Allen's explanation, now thought

'This kid is a fast learner. I deliberately gave the example of blood because it is the simplest way to feel the mana flowing down the body. Not only did he feel the flow of his own body in a few minutes, but he also understood the concept of what comes out through the brain and spreads like neurons.

"Great, you're very great, Allen!" Thurstan lifted Allen's body high and spun around.

"HEY! GET ME DOWN! GET ME DOOWN!"

Since Thurstan didn't seem to hear him, Allen kicked him in the face, then somersaulted backward.

Thurstan rubbed his painful face.

"That's so rude, Allen."

"It's your fault," Allen defended himself.

Allen then moved back closer to Felicia and said,

"So, did you try it on an object?" Allen asked.

"Trying what?"

"Your ability, or what you called that, A blessing?"

"Why would I do that? My ability heals living things. Why would I try it on objects?!"

Thurstan began to understand Allen's humorless nature, plus he could solve problems quickly. So he considered Allen's words.

"Yeah, why should she try it on the unliving object?" asked Thurstan.

Allen then took off his leather armor and undressed his top clothes.

"Hey! What are you doing?! You uncivilized bastard!" shouted Felicia as she directed her gaze to the other side.

"Look at this," Allen said, pointing to one of the wounds on his body.

Felicia looked at it. There were many lash wounds on her body, and then there were also arrow wounds from Maurice.

"So, what are you trying to say?" asked Thurstan, confused.

"His ability can heal almost anything, even the fatal ones, but why aren't my wounds healed?"

"Yes, it has to do with the duration. I can only heal new wounds!" shouted Felicia.

"I know, so what about this?" Allen lifted his shirt.

"Huh? What's wrong with tha-" Felicia realized there was something strange about Allen's shirt.

"What is it?" asked Thurstan, who didn't understand anything.

Felicia then explained it to Thurstan.

"Theobauld stabbed Allen's body, and I healed him."

"So? What happened to his clothes? I didn't see anything strange on his clothes."

Felicia nodded and then continued.

"That's exactly it. It was strange because there was nothing strange there. It should have been torn and dirty with blood. Not only were his clothes ripped, but the blood that had stained them had vanished."

Thurstan put his left hand over his mouth. He thought deeply.

"Please don't talk to me for three minutes."

...

...

…

With five minutes left, Felicia began to shake Thurstan's body, which seemed to be his soul trapped inside his own world.

"Hey, it's been five minutes. What's taking so long?"

"Lady, let's let Mr. Thurstan think a little longer," said Rachel.

Right after Rachel said that, Thurstan was finally back to normal.

"I know."

Thurstan picked up the chair beside him and slammed it down. The chair shattered.

"What are you doing?!" shouted Felicia.

"Now, lady, use your god's blessing on this chair."

"I can't. I'm getting tired."

"You must!"

Seeing Thurstan's face, Felicia, felt compelled, and once again, she used her God's blessing.

The chair glowed, and miraculously, it was restored to its previous form.

"I told you right," said Allen.

Felicia fell, breathing heavily, her eyes wide. She was at her limit because she had continuously used her God's blessing. Rachel immediately approached her and picked her up.

As Rachel was about to take her out, Felicia grabbed Rachel's hand, telling her to wait. She wanted to ask Thurstan for an explanation.

"Does this mean that I can not only heal humans, but also repair a broken object?" asked Felicia.

"That's not true," answered Thurstan.

Thurstan smiled. He finally solved the mystery in his head that had always baffled him. Thurstan was one of the scholars from the mana-controlling department. So he was frustrated because he had not understood how Felicia's God's blessing worked for the past ten days and only knew to "heal," just like everyone else out there.

"I finally understand, my lady! All the puzzle pieces are finally connected!

The reason why your God's blessing consumes so much mana,

then the reason why this chair can return to its original state even though it's unliving object.

Undoubtedly, your God's blessing is not a blessing to heal!"

Thurstan smiled like a madman. His eyes glared at Rachel and Felicia, then, with an excited face, he said,

"Your god's blessing is to turn back time!"