(BL) The Villain wants a Divorce!

When Lucian came back, he was holding a large chunk of white, steaming meat. It smelt good, Cass thought, and Lucian went and put it on the wrought iron white table. He didn’t glance around, looking for Taniora, so Cass assumed that he had heard where she had gone.

”We gave her a blanket, and as soon as she was inside of the bag, she noticed that her hand wasn’t transparent anymore.” Cass told him. Lucian nodded, his gaze focused as he began to cut up the meat before him.

”I’m glad. We’ll go searching for what they grabbed after. My guess? It’s in the water. Would you help with clearing it?” Lucian asked and Cass felt himself smile. They had been so against him using his powers carelessly up until now so it probably stung a bit to ask Cass to do it now.

Cass nodded, reaching out his hand and patting Lucian on the back.

”Of course. I was actually thinking about how I was going to go about trying to convince you to let me do so.” Cass told him. Lucian looked a little flushed, as if embarrassed, but Cass didn’t really care.

Well, maybe he did want to tease them a bit, but now was not the time.

”So, how do you eat this?” Cass asked, approaching Lucian at the table. He still didn’t like being near it, the table and chairs of course, but the chest also sat there. Waiting.

Practically begging them to open it and leave the dungeon. Cass gave the chest a quiet middle finger as he passed.

Gideon and Edgar followed Cass, joining Lucian around the table on the slightly raised stone platform. Lucian shrugged, elongating a fingernail into a claw and using that to slice out a small, mouth-sized piece for Cass. He held it out to Cass and Cass took it.

He didn’t like how warm it was, but he was pretty sure he wouldn’t like it when it was cold either. Lucian also cut a piece for Gideon, who took the offered meat with far less hesitation. He actually looked pretty excited to try it.

”I usually eat it raw, so I’d just give it a try. It’s juicy. Worst case? Edgar’s got some spices on him, doesn’t he?” Lucian asked, giving the other mage a sideways glance. Edgar nodded, staring at the several pounds of cooked Boss meat on the table.

”Fiona’d have a damn heart attack if she knew what we were doing.” It was a surprising thing to come from Edgar’s mouth. Cass didn’t disagree though, while Lucian laughed.

”She only put on the ”oh, we can’t eat that!” Show on for Ava. She’s just like me for the most part. My guess? Ava is going to find out a lot about Fiona, and she might not like it all. Fiona knew exactly what she was getting into when she got involved with Ava, craziness and all. Ava? Fiona is better at hiding her true nature.” Lucian smirked.

Cass also found himself smirking. He’d read the book. He knew, now that he had experienced life as Cassian, that Lucian was right. Fiona was great at hiding the true nature of situations, and herself.

Gideon was nodding, but he was also already eating the meat offered to him. Cass waited, watching his expression to see if it twisted in disgust. Instead, his eyes widened and his eyebrows shot up. He looked up at Lucian, his expression bright.

”It’s delicious!” He declared, and Lucian reached out, grabbing his shoulder and giving it a squeeze.

”You’re alright, Gideon.” He told him and Cass rolled his eyes. One agreement and he was alright? The dragon was too easy.

Cass turned to his one meat chunk, raising it closer to his lips and giving it a sniff. It smelt fine, he wasn’t getting any strange feelings and so, with great hesitation, Cass put it in his mouth.

It kind of burst in his mouth, surprising Cass a bit. It was very flavourful, but Cass wasn’t sure if he liked the flavour. It was an overwhelming taste. He could feel everyone staring at him expectantly and Cass slowly chewed and swallowed.

”It’s...interesting.” Cass said. He watched Gideon and Lucian deflate. ”I don’t hate it, but I’m unsure. It’s rather overwhelming.” Cass told them. Gideon nodded, understanding.

”It can be when you first try it. It tastes a lot like these small crustaceans you find in fresh and salt water. I’ll show you them when we get out of the dungeon. I’m sure the fishermen in town are familiar with them.” Gideon said excitedly and Cass didn’t have the heart to tell him they weren’t going to the town nearby after.

...A few hours in the town, like 3, wouldn’t hurt them, right?

”Sure.” Cass said and watched Gideon get excited like a little kid. Edgar chuckled, and Cass turned his attention to him. Edgar was smiling, his eyes curled up. He felt Cass staring at him and he looked over at him, grinning. He shrugged, as if saying ’it can’t be helped’ before turning back to Lucian and the hunk of meat.

”Maybe a bit of salt or spice will help?” He asked.

They then spent a bit of time experimenting on the chunk of meat until Cass found a combination that he liked. Lucian was excited, as was Gideon and they all munched on the meat until it was gone.

Then they all turned to business.

Cass decided to focus on clearing out the water first, but he didn’t want to boil it away. Instead he was going to use the fact that he was an energizer bunny to his advantage.

He was going to make the water simply disappear.

It was different from conjuring water and then making it disappear since there was a connection between you and whatever element you summoned. It would be similar to what he had done with the stairs before they had even entered the dungeon. He knew how much it had taken out of him then, so he could understand where their concern was coming from.

However, Cass was a little excited to see how it would be different.

Unlike that first time, however, he was going to do it in chunks instead all at once. He started once Lucian had pulled the Boss monster out of the water and had semi-taken it apart. The crazy dragon had even broken the Boss monster up and had asked Cas to help him make a little bag so he could take it as a treat for later.

Cass couldn’t say no to that, since he knew what later meant, but that didn’t mean he didn’t heavily roll his eyes throughout the process.

So, Cass got to work. He would gather the water up in a large bubble, and essentially ’pop’ it and disappear the water inside of the bubble. It was a long process, but Lucian was busy carving steps into the rock downwards so that they could access the pit the Boss monster had lived in.

It was a grueling process, but rewarding when they got to the bottom. At first, it didn’t appear like there was anything of value down there. There were a lot of bones. They appeared to be from the dead bodies of monsters, specifically the monsters inside of the dungeon. They had to wipe away several layers of debris before they could get to the true bottom.

That was when they found an old, beaten up chest, and Lucian snarled angrily.

They didn’t need to be geniuses to figure out what, or who, was in the chest.

”Those damn demons! I’ll strangle them with my own hands!” Lucian snarled, pacing the small space at the bottom of the deep hole quickly. All of his movements were jerky with rage, and Cass felt a little useless just standing by and watching him. He also knew that there was nothing he could do.

He could deeply empathize with Lucian right now, able to understand his anger completely. Cass wiped his own sweat away from his forehead, his clothes a little sticky and probably a little stinky from how much effort he had just put in.

He wasn’t tired though, he could still stand, and in his books, that was a miracle.

Cass glanced at the others and could tell they felt the same way as Cass as they watched Lucian pace. They were angry too. It was always different when the evil of the world touched you directly. Cass understood. That was why the demons would curate dungeons after members in the hero party.

They liked it when they hurt.

Instead of soothing Lucian, Cass let him boil and fester for a moment while he turned to the chest. He opened the blue bag that Taniora was residing in and gave a heavy sigh.

”We think we found you, Taniora. Do you want the chest to be in there with you?” He asked the woman, giving her the choice. There was a long, heavy pause before she let out a shaky breath.

”...I would like it in here please.” Yeah, Cass understood that too. Gideon got the memo and joined Cass at his side. He gently lifted up the chest, getting it to eye level for him and Cass. That was when Lucian came back over.

”Let me.” He muttered, and they let him. He opened the chest, and the white, pristine bones inside the sealed chest stared back at them. Jewelry and other precious items were still inside, including a rather heavy-looking ring. Lucian closed his eyes, sighing heavily, before he closed the lid. He let Gideon put the box into the blue bag.

It was only a short while later that they heard Taniora sniffing.

”Thank you.” She whispered and Cass had to turn away, swallowing thickly past the emotion that caught in his throat.

”Of course.” He responded, his voice hoarse.

They didn’t waste much more time in the dungeon, climbing out of the pit and making a beeline for the chest. They had their standard gold and jewels, a few parchments and paintings this time that were probably worth a lot and then...rings, bracelets, and a pair of expensive looking boots.

Cass and Edgar could tell that the rings were enchanted, so were the bracelets and the boots. It took them a few minutes, but they eventually found out what was on the items.

Most of it was enchantments for water breathing, the fucking fuckers, but the boots were different. If the last dungeon had a cape of protection, the boots were for a lightened load.

They helped whoever wore them with their stamina. Keeping them on their feet longer.

Cass did not like how the group looked at him when they read the enchantment out. They were not for him, Gideon or Lucian should have them. They would make them much better at their jobs.

After that, they left the dungeon. It was a bit of a blur exiting the dungeon, since it was pretty chaotic as the whirlwind that had been protecting the dungeon disappeared and the pull on Cass’ magic activated. However, they made it to the surface safely, and the relief on the faces of those they had hired was palatable.

Another dungeon successfully cleared.