1000x Random Returns: Investing in My Crippled Demon Wives!

Chapter 29: Chapter 29: ”Old Family Notes” Save the Day Again!

The reporter’s voice continued, steady despite the tension in her tone.

”Residents within a ten-kilometer radius of Ironfang Caverns are advised to remain indoors.”

Then a new line scrolled across the bottom of the screen.

Estimated Dungeon Break time: 5 hours.

Nobody in the room said anything for a moment.

’That one line,’ Lucien thought, ’is doing a lot of heavy lifting in the panic department.’

”How bad is a B-Rank dungeon, actually?” he asked, turning to Aurelia.

She didn’t answer immediately, eyes still on the screen. ”Much larger than what you’ve seen,” she said finally.

”Hundreds of monsters, sometimes thousands, depending on how long it’s been mutating. Mini-bosses start appearing at this rank, they are basically smaller versions of the main boss, upto several of them, ranging mid to high B-Rank themselves.”

”And the boss?”

”Starts showing actual intelligence,” Aurelia said. ”Not too much, but enough to command.”

She looked at him directly.

”A B-Rank dungeon doesn’t just produce monsters,” she said. ”It produces an army of monsters.”

Lucien’s stomach tightened. ’Right, cool, great context, this is very reassuring.’

---

He pulled out his phone, opening the Guild App and searching the dungeon directly.

Ironfang Caverns

Dungeon Type: Forest / Mountain

Primary Monsters: Ironfang Wolves, Dire Wolves, Shadow Wolves

Mini-Boss/ Bosses: ???

Boss: Moonfang Warlord

’Cool so the mini bosses are a bunch of question marks, looks like they don’t have any info on them’ Lucien thought while going over the Dungeons information provided by the guild.

Then, beneath it, a warning flashed.

WARNING: Dungeon data may no longer be accurate and incomplete due to it’s recent mutation.

Lucien sighed. ”...Figures.”

’Still useful, though, wolves are wolves, mutated or not, probably bigger, meaner, and better organized wolves, but the basic shape of the problem hasn’t changed.’

---

Everyone scattered to prepare almost immediately.

Seraphina lined bottles across the living rooms new table with practiced efficiency healing potions, antidotes, rolls of bandages, mana restoratives, all sorted and counted.

”Its not enough,” she murmured to herself, frowning at the collection.

Lucien filed that away mentally. ’We need more supplies, I’ll get more after this fiasco is over, hopefully.’

Downstairs in the newly renovated training ground one floor beneath the building in the basement, Aurelia tested weapons pulled from the dowry stock and the newly renovated training room, swinging each one experimentally before either keeping or discarding it.

She set one particular sword aside carefully, separate from the rest and a few other weapons to the side, possibly for the girls as they didn’t have any weapons to defend themselves with.

’The sword is for me, probably,’ Lucien thought, catching the gesture from the doorway. ’Didn’t even have to ask.’

Evelisse had already settled into a meditative position in her room, mana crystals arranged around her, cultivation technique active.

’Not because she thinks nows the best time to cultivate’ Lucien thought, pausing at her door. ’But because she doesn’t want to be the one who needs protecting every time something goes wrong so she’s trying to increase her rank a little.’

He left her to it and instead walked the length of the estate himself checking every window latch, every door lock, testing the new walls, glancing over the garden perimeter, the roofline, anything that might matter if things went badly.

’Lord of the estate,’ he thought, only half joking. ’Might as well start acting like it.’

---

By the time he’d finished the full circuit, his mind drifted toward cultivation.

’Could sit down and cultivate and I probably should.’

’But,’

’I’ve got three investments waiting for me, and none of them have eaten since breakfast.’

He headed for the kitchen instead, admiring the new counters and the sleek modern fridge as he pulled ingredients together.

Flame-Boar Steak, still fresh from the restock he did, golden herb rice, mana mushrooms simmering into soup, and a quick honey berry tart assembled from memory, the Uncommon Culinary Manual’s knowledge guiding every motion.

Fifteen minutes later, plates were arranged, steam curling up from the steak, soup fragrant and rich.

A door creaked open upstairs.

Evelisse’s eyes had snapped open the moment the smell reached her, stomach growling loud enough to be heard from outside her room.

Luckily no one ewas near her room to hear the beasts roar.

She appeared in the kitchen doorway a moment later, feigning nonchalance, but inwardly heaving a sigh of relief that no one heard that.

”It’s just a coincidence,” she said, ”I was already coming downstairs.”

Lucien laughed. ”Sure you were.”

Aurelia arrived shortly after, arms loaded with weapons, and set them down with a pointed look at the table.

”We’re preparing for a possible dungeon break,” she said. ”And you’re busy cooking.”

”An army marches on its stomach,” Lucien said. ”We’re not fighting hungry.”

Evelisse nodded so vigorously she nearly knocked over her own chair. ”Exactly Aurelia, listen to the smart one.”

Aurelia opened her mouth, clearly ready to argue, then glanced at the steak, exhaled, and sat down instead.

---

The moment forks touched food, the chime rang.

[Ding!]

[Aurelia — ×15— Reward: 5 Months Cultivation Progress]

[Seraphina — ×13 — Reward: 3× Rare Healing Potion, 1× Rare Mana Recovery Potion]

[Evelisse — ×15 — Reward: Uncommon Defensive Array Blueprint]

Lucien froze mid-bite.

’A defensive array, right now and exactly when we need one.’

’System, you beautiful, terrifying, perfectly-timed system.’

He excused himself briefly, retrieved the blueprint’s knowledge into his mind, and immediately grabbed a fresh notebook.

’Sorry, System,’ he thought, copying the array’s diagram out by hand, rubbing the edges of the paper against the table to age it slightly. ’I’m plagiarizing from you again, but don’t worry you’ll live, maybe.’

He came back down with notebook, materials, and a small pile of mana crystals in hand.

”We’re setting up a defense array in case the break happens,” he announced. ”I found the blueprint in some old family notes I read one time.”

Nobody questioned it this time, everyone had apparently accepted ”old family notes” and ”I know a guy” as his permanent, all-purpose explanation for anything mysterious that appeared in his hands.

---

They worked together through the rest of the afternoon.

Lucien placed the formation plates according to the diagram, spacing them carefully around the house’s perimeter.

Seraphina mixed mana infused ink with practiced precision, her herbalism knowledge translating surprisingly well.

Aurelia hauled the heavier stone components into place without complaint, muscles straining but movements sure.

Evelisse set mana crystals into each activation point, focused and careful, clearly determined not to mess up her one assigned task.

’This is nice,’ Lucien thought, watching all four of them work in sync. ’Genuinely nice, family project. It just happens to be defensive fortification against an army of mutated wolves.’

By the time the sun dipped low, the last crystal clicked into place.

Lucien channeled a thread of mana into the central formation plate, and the array flared to life, thin lines of blue light spreading outward from each point, symbols glowing brightly across the ground before slowly fading into invisibility, the barrier settling into place unseen around the house but very much active.

”Done,” Lucien said, wiping his hands.

Aurelia studied the now-invisible perimeter with something like approval. ”Solid work.”

Just then all their phones buzzed in unison.

[EMERGENCY UPDATE]

Dungeon Break Confirmed.

Everyone went quiet, staring down at their screens.

Then, outside, a sound rolled across the city.

A long, guttural wolf howl.

Not from the TV and not from a phone.

It came echoing from the darkness outside making it very real and close to the estate.

All four of them turned slowly toward the window.

A second howl answered the first, further away then a third, closer than either.

Multiple followed after the third one, announcing that the beasts have broken out from the dungeon.

Lucien’s hand drifted to his sword hilt without conscious thought.

”Seems like the guild parties couldn’t clear it in time.” Serephina said.

”Hopefully, there’s not many that broke out of the formation of adventurers surrounding the dungeon.” Evelisse nodded and said.

***************

[A/N: Loving the story so far? Comment and let me know.

🚀 WEEKLY POWER STONE GOALS 🚀

Want a weekendmass release?

If we hit these vote targets by Friday, bonusChapters drop on Saturday!

🔥 40 / 50 Power Stones = +1 Bonus Chapter

Come on guys we’re more than halfway there, send in those Powerstones for the bonus Chapters.]