Robert and I sat on a bench in the garden, eating some bread and drinking goat milk. My eyes fixed on the plain food we were eating, and a grimace crossed my face.

  "So, Robert, why did you insist on getting this food? We could have gotten something better to eat than bread for free," I pointed out.

  He scoffed.

  "Food better than bread is for filthy nobles," Robert said. "If commoners like us eat it, it'll make us weak."

  I narrowed my eyes.

  "Robert, I know commoners eat fish, porridge, and all sorts of other food. We don't eat just bread," I pointed out.

  Robert burst out laughing.

  "I know, Dante. I was just messing with you," he stated. "And thanks for helping me with the gardening. I know you're not part of the club, so you've done this in your own free time. I appreciate it. A lot."

  The boy looked over his shoulder. Then, he glanced at me with a perplexed expression.

  "Speaking of which, you haven't joined a club, have you?"

  "I haven't," I confirmed.

  "Well, why not?" Robert asked.

  The real answer was that joining a club was not an option in the Duke's Duplicity. And in this bonding event's cutscene, Robert didn't ask Dante why he hadn't joined a club. I guess I left a different impression on him than the game's Dante did.

  But I needed an excuse for why I wasn't in a club. Thankfully, one came to mind with incredible swiftness.

  "I have a bunch of friends, and none of them are in the same club. You're in the gardening club, Augusta isn't in a club, Millia isn't in a club either, and Janek is in the equestrian club. Though from what I've heard, he barely attends it. If I don't join a club, I can spend more time with all of you," I explained.

  A soft smile crossed Robert's face. But he quickly forced it down and made an exaggerated sigh.

  "You really do want to be friends with everyone, don't you, Dante?" Robert asked.

  Then, a contemplative expression crossed his face.

  "Although...it's a bit weird that neither of your girlfriends are in clubs."

  I spat out the bread I was eating and coughed hard. A worried expression crossed Robert's face. He jumped off his seat.

  "Dante, are you alright?" Robert asked.

  I almost said they weren't my girlfriends, but I stopped myself.

  "I'm...I'm fine," I finished coughing. "Umm...by girlfriend, do you mean?"

  "That they are girls who are your friends. Why?"

  Silly me. I forgot that in the Duke's Deception, they used the term "lover" and not "girlfriend." Robert's language choice was completely innocent. And saying they weren't my girlfriends would have just made me look like a dick. That's one bullet dodged.

  "I just swallowed some air," I said.

  While stretching my body, I stood up.

  "Are you done eating? If you are, let's get back to gardening, Robert."

  "Yes, I am," he joined me, an expression of confusion on his face. "And yeah, we should get back to it."

  "Good. Let's get going. We have plants to, well, plant," I said.

  Just as I started to walk off, I noticed Robert wasn't following me. I turned to see him scratching his head.

  "Is something wrong?" I asked.

  "Nothing. But why are you so eager to get back to gardening? You can't like it as much as I do," Robert noted.

  "I don't, but we shouldn't waste too much time, should we? We still want to finish when there's still daylight. Let's get going. Just be careful. We could end up in a messy situation," I encouraged and cautioned.

  With that, the two of us took a few steps towards the plants. There was a sudden crashing noise. The ground beneath us collapsed. I felt my body tumble through empty air for a moment before crashing into the dirt with a loud thump! Soil flew into the air around me. A musty smell flowed into my nose.

  Robert started forcing himself to his feet a second after I did.

  "Are you okay?" I asked.

  "I'm..." Robert started.

  Then, to my utter shock, Augusta's voice echoed from above.

  "Dante, are you okay?" it was filled with panic.

  "Fucking great," Robert grimaced. "The Bloodbath Princess decided to show herself."

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  "Nothing's broken," I called out above as I observed the space I found myself in.

  Robert and I were in a dark tunnel. It descended into pitch blackness in the distance. The area that I could see was wide enough for us to move around. However, while the floor was dirt, the walls were solid rock.

  There was some light from 6 meters above us, where Augusta was looking down. I couldn't see her face clearly, but the girl's body was shaking. Bits of dirt tumbled down from where she stood.

  "Augusta, get a teacher! Have them bring over a ladder or a rope or something!" I called out.

  This would shorten the bonding event, but Robert's safety was most important. I'd have told him about this before, but I doubted he would have believed me if I told him about the fall or what was coming next.

  "Alright," Augusta replied.

  She disappeared from our sight. Robert let out a deep breath. He looked at the hole above us.

  "Thank the gods, we survived that fall," he said.

  "Robert, are you injured?" I asked.

  "I'm not, somehow," the boy answered. "What about you?"

  Giving him a thumbs up and a reassuring smile, I responded.

  "I wasn't lying to spare Augusta's feelings. I'm fine."

  Robert nodded. As he did, I heard the faint sound of skittering feet. A grimace crossed my friend's face.

  "Knowing the Bloodbath Princess, she'll probably mess up getting a teacher."

  "Augusta is a bit forceful," I admitted. "But having her go is better than waiting for a teacher to come on their own."

  The skittering sound got louder, even if was still fairly quiet. It was as if hundreds of little feet were creeping through the darkness, making their way towards us like vultures swarming a carcass.

  Robert scoffed so loud that it echoed through the tunnel. I cringed back for a moment.

  "The Bloodbath Princess isn't forceful. She's an outright tyrant. I still remember her bullying the teacher into letting her spar with you. I don't see how you could possibly get along with her, but you somehow do," Robert ranted. "It says a lot about how well you get along with people in general that you can even befriend someone like her!"

  Anger flashed through me.

  "You're just upset that she didn't ask if you were okay," I said.

  As we talked, the skittering sound got louder. Now, a musky odor joined it. This smell was a bit like a goat's stench.

  Robert threw his arms in the air and swung them down.

  "Of course, I'm mad! I fell down here too!" he shouted.

  An even greater echo than before came out.

  "But did you ever think about why Augusta should care about you?" I asked. "You constantly talk about how much you hate nobles. Why would any noble care about you? Hell, if the nobles of your homeland weren't so lenient, you'd probably have your tongue cut out!"

  Robert opened his mouth to object. But no words came out. He looked down, the skittering sound getting louder.

  "Dante. I...you know, in the olden days, the nobles of my homeland thought a stern hand was needed to keep the commoners in line," Robert said.

  "So, they don't anymore?" I questioned.

  "No," he shook his head. "Now, they're trying to make us commoners like them. We've gotten more rights, serfdom isn't even a thing anymore, and the nobles do lots of charity work."

  Robert looked away.

  "But I can't help but think that all of this is an act. That one day, we'll return to the horribly oppressive past, where nobles abused commoners to keep them in line. I can't imagine any nobles genuinely caring about any commoners."

  I sighed.

  "Robert, you're responding to the nobles being kind by hating them. Isn't that sort of proving the old nobles, the ones who were more oppressive, right? I'm not saying that most of your homeland's nobles are altruistic. Most of them just have a new way of keeping power. But won't angering them make things worse?"

  Looking away, Robert let out a deep sigh. He shook his head.

  "Logically speaking, you're right. Being so open with my hatred of nobles is a bad idea. But..."

  "Hold that thought, Robert," I drew my rapier.

  The boy blinked in shock. He took a step back.

  "Dante, what are you doing?" Robert asked.

  "Draw your sword, Robert," I turned away from him to the tunnel behind me.

  Now, the skittering sound was getting so loud that Robert couldn't ignore it. He was out of my eyesight, but I heard his voice.

  "What's that noise?" Robert asked.

  "Draw your weapon," I ordered. "And don't let them bite you. I've seen these things before, and they're venomous."

  The sound of a sword leaving its scabbard filled my ears. It was followed by the noise of a flintlock pistol being cocked.

  "What are..."

  Before Robert could finish talking, a horde of monstrosities rushed out of the darkness from both ends of the tunnel. The largest of them was four feet tall, with most being far smaller. Their noses were long like the snouts of shrews. And the creatures' eyes were so small that they looked like dots on a piece of paper.

  These beasts were layered in a thick coat of reddish-brown fur. Patches of it were falling off, leaving bits of bloody skin in their wake. The animals' bodies were emaciated to the point where you could see their ribs and spine under their hair.

  Their mouths gaped open, revealing jagged and splintered teeth lined with grooves. Venom leaked from their maws before pooling on the ground below. The monsters' clawed hands were clenched around spears. But with their small size, the creatures' weapons had no more reach than a sword made for a human.

  These were the soles. They were the Duke's Duplicity's version of goblins, and they were based on solenodons. If you don't know what those are, they are one of the few venomous mammals.

  The sound of a gunshot rang out. A shrill shriek followed it. I didn't waste time. Robert was doing the right thing, intimidating them with a loud sound. We were in a delaying battle.

  I thrust out my arm, hand clenched, aiming for the largest group of soles that were rushing me. There were at least 6 in my view, and probably dozens of others deeper in the darkness.

  "I cast fist!" I shouted.

  Spell cast: Fist of Power.

  A slight pain flashed through my head as a spectral fist materialized in front of me. It slammed into the horde of soles. They didn't even have time to scream before they were reduced to bloody splatters on the floor.

  The other soles stopped dead in their tracks. I looked behind me to see that even the ones rushing Robert had stopped. Their beady eyes flickered with fear.

  If there was one thing I loved about the Duke's Duplicity, it was the magic.

  "Dante, I didn't know you were a wizard," Robert said.

  I shrugged.

  "It's not a big deal. I only know two spells," I replied.

  At that moment, I got the feeling that Robert's jaw dropped.

  "You know two spells? At the age of fifteen?" he asked. "That's amazing, Dante!"

  "Keep your attention on the soles!" I snapped.

  I heard Robert draw another pistol. In the Duke's Duplicity, I remember him using a bill hook in every fight. But I suppose that now that the game is real, a bill wouldn't exactly be convenient to carry anywhere. It's not like real people can just pull polearms out of thin air.

  Bat-like shrieks echoed from the mouths of the soles. They were joined by more and more screams from deeper in the tunnel. Robert placed his back to mine, and I felt him shaking.

  "How...how many of them are there?" he asked.

  "I don't know," I answered. "But there are probably at least a few hundred."

  Rage replaced fear, and the soles placed their feet back. They pushed their spears forward, readying a charge. Robert and I both knew that there was no way we could kill hundreds of these things.

  "What are our chances of making it out of this alive?" Robert asked.

  "Depends on how fast Augusta gets here with a teacher," I answered.

  "Right," he said with a grim voice. "Let's see how many of these things we can kill before we die."

  After that, the horde of mangy monsters charged us.

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