Chapter 312 The oppressive sense (1/2)

After we left our little slice of Dungeon, cores fully charged and feeling fresh, we began to make our way toward the capital in earnest. We'd done a few sweeps out this way before but had resisted the urge to push too close to the city in the event we attracted the wrong type of attention whilst there were still people that could be saved and roving bands of monsters that could be cleaned up toward the south.

Those things have been cleared up now and there is nothing to stop us making our approach. Moving cautiously, we kept low, avoiding the main roads as Morrelia directed us west into the large forest south of the city. Moving back under those leafy branches was nostalgic to me, on the north side of this forest is where the colony set up our first nest on the surface. Not far from the village where I bit off Beyns arm. Ah, memories.

I wonder the Branchies are still around?

Morrelia takes care that we stay hidden and out of sight as we continue to progress to the north, displaying a level of woodcraft that I hadn't expected to see in such a bloodthirsty warrior. When I, perhaps unwisely, commented on it, she snorted out a laugh of derision before replying.

[You think roaming the wilds is as simple as killing everything you find? If you don't know when and how to hide yourself, a hunter will wind up dead and eaten before they can blink.]

[That's a little surprising to me] I replied honestly, [I haven't seen anything on the surface that could hope to put a scratch on you or me. Is there really a need for that kind of caution?]

Morrelia continued to move and scout as we spoke, her eyes s.h.i.+fting without pause and her feet placed carefully as we moved.

[Don't get a big head. Surface monsters are much weaker than Dungeon monsters, that much is true, but there are still creatures on the surface that are powerful. Why else do you think the entire surface is yet to be reclaimed? Probably half of the landma.s.s of Pangera is still considered 'wildlands', with no sapient race laying claim to it.

[But why?!] I exclaimed, [I just don't understand. If you have fighters that are able to battle in the Dungeon, then you can surely spend some of that strength on the surface? Don't people want to rid the surface of monsters? Wouldn't that be safer?]

[The key point you aren't grasping here, is whether or not that land is valuable.]

[Well. You need land, right? For farming… and… living?]

Morrelia laughed, a harsh barking sound that suited her warriors demeanour far more than a girlish t.i.tter would have.

[Oh aye. For regular folks, land is critical. Need to farm, grow families, fell lumber, mine. The wealth and prosperity of the common people is built on land, certainly. What about the elites? What about the rulers of those mighty nations? For what do they need land for?]

I could feel the ire rising in Morrelia as she spoke and decided I should keep my mouth shut until she was finished. Wisdom showing itself in me once again!

[The truth is, to the truly powerful, territory in the Dungeon is a thousand times more valuable that territory on the surface. Rare materials, monster components, cores, experience, these are the things that they are willing to fight for. The greatest empires of the surface don't measure their strength by how wide their lands are, but how deep. The regular people on the surface are left to fend for themselves, when they aren't being drafted into some new crusade beneath the earth.]