Raised in Dungeon

"16 days and 16 nights."

Lavinia counted the time between noon and night that she had spent in the dungeon since first eating Allen's soup. She has been in the dungeon for around eight days now.

Besides Allen, there was something else on Lavinia's mind. First and foremost, she is sure that the Queen Orc will kill her sooner or later. It could be tomorrow, and it could be the day after tomorrow, which meant she had to make a plan to escape now.

Second, if she came out, she didn't know what awaited her outside the door. It could be that the Queen Orc was always outside the door, and she wasn't sure she could win against her. It was too risky and irresponsible. He needed to devise a concrete strategy to get out of there.

Waiting for help from outside is useless. Human loss was common in dungeons, and death could strike at any time, even at the most inconvenient time for dungeon explorers. So it is impossible to wait for someone from outside to help since no one would want to risk helping someone who might not live or die.

'Most likely, Queen Orc only chained my thighs and my hands because she was sure I wouldn't run away in this condition. However, with my god's blessing, the angel's help, I could regenerate any severed injury, including broken body parts. I shouldn't use my god's blessing until the right time, or she would know I can heal my leg,'

Lavinia's long thoughts dispersed again. The somewhat human or maybe orc boy, Allen, came with the bowl of soup.

Allen handed over his soup, saying,

"Tvis iscouur souj."

"Tqanlsou," Lavinia answered while holding the bowl.

Tqanlsou is gratitude/gratefulness; Xekiyious is tasty/palatable/good (food); and iscour is yours/your thing.

Lavinia has already remembered around a hundred phrases due to their daily four-hour conversation.

Normally, humans would not comprehend monsters' language. Even so, when Allen spoke to Lavinia, she could understand a little of what he said, whereas when the Queen Orc spoke, Lavinia couldn't understand anything. That means it is because Allen is a human that makes Lavinia can hear his voice clearly.

Suddenly, the room's door slammed open in the middle of their lunch.

-BANG!

From the door, there was Queen Orc, who appeared exhausted and wounded. Her wooden bludgeon had a spot of blood on it, which meant she had just fought with another dungeon explorer.

"Matqer!" Allen yelled when he saw Queen Orc's condition.

Allen ran over Queen Orc; when he closed…

-SLAP

Queen Orc's right hand slapped Allen's body. Allen flew over 2 meters backward.

"VET AFAD WROMME!" Queen Orc yelled angrily.

Seeing that, Lavinia immediately moved her body slightly forward, worried about Allen.

But no worries, Allen didn't appear to be in pain. He instantly gets up and runs to the tree.

According to Lavinia's common sense, even an adult human would shatter a few bones in such an onslaught, but Allen seems fine.

The orc queen then looked at Lavinia with a stern face. Lavinia immediately averted her gaze.

A few moments later, Allen came out from the tree, carrying a cloth that looked a little dirty and a bucket filled with water in his left hand. He took it in a hurry, approached Queen Orc, and rubbed her wounds.

With monster language, Allen asked Queen Orc if she used all of her strength because her regeneration was slowing down.

"Notqinv!" she answered with an angry voice.

Queen Orc immediately grabbed Allen's hand and peered at his cheek. A small amount of blood oozed from his cheek, a result of Queen Orc's slap.

"Imwine" Allen said he is okay.

Queen Orc grabbed the cloth Allen was holding and used it to wipe the blood from Allen's cheek.

When Lavinia saw that, she immediately devised a plan to flee.

"Matqer means mother; Imwine means I am okay. No doubt, Queen Orc treats Allen as her own son! And she has strong feelings for him. Then her previous statement about "human, learn, world" means she wants to teach Allen about the human world! I am not a research subject for orcs; I was utilized by Queen Orc to teach Allen about the outside world. That means, Queen Orc values her child more than herself!

'I don't care the reason why this kid is in a dungeon, and I don't care why Queen Orc has this big affection toward a human. But with that information, Allen… I do apologize… I will utilize your body to escape!'

As the Queen's Orcs had asked, Lavinia started to teach Allen about the outside world, focusing mostly on human common sense. More specifically, ethics. How humans interact with each other through daily conversation and others. The lessons that Lavinia gave were all related to language because if Allen goes outside, he should understand how humans speak. Lavinia stops learning monster language and uses human language with Allen often to improve Allen's vocabulary.

Two months left… The only reason Lavinia keeps teaching Allen is that she wants to make Queen Orc postpone her execution. If Queen Orc thought Lavinia was useless, she would certainly kill her. In addition, Lavinia could make Allen fully trust her.

After these two months, Lavinia's preparations were complete. She had learned the habits of Queen Orc and Allen. Lavinia knew at what time Queen Orc was in the room, and at what time Queen Orc stepped away from the door outside the room. Lavinia's chance to run is after Allen and Queen Orc finish sparring; they do that once every 10 days.

Finally, today, after sparring with Queen Orc…

Allen's body was sweating excessively. He wandered wearily to the pool of water near where Lavinia sat. There was a small vat nearby. Allen used it to splash his body and then laid it down.

"Vous transpirez beaucoup, pouvez-vous étudier aujourd'hui ?" Lavinia asked Allen if he was able to study or not, because he was sweating a lot.

Allen, while lying down, panting, lifted his head and said

"Hmmm…Désolé, aujourd'hui je ne peux pas." Allen answered that he was too tired to study.

After more than two months of study, Allen had already mastered the human language. More specifically, the Anglo-Wildenhall language, the main language spoken in the Wildenhall kingdom.

And then, after two months of talking to Lavinia, Allen asked her about something that had bothered him for a long time.

"Miss Lavinia… H-How did you end up getting caught by mother?" Allen asked haltingly.

"…"

Lavinia paused, and then she smiled, but her face looked sad.

"Sorry, Allen. I don't want to talk about it."

Allen was actually more interested in that and wanted to ask more, but the look on Lavinia's face discouraged him. When Lavinia realized this, she immediately tried to change the subject.

"Allen, you once told me you grew up with your mother, right? Do you remember why and how you got here?"

Allen stood up, lifted his body, sat cross-legged, and used his hand to sustain his body.

"Hmm… Not really. It feels like I've been here since the beginning."

"Did your mother truly do nothing to you? It could be that you were stolen from your real mother."

Allen tilted his head, looking confused.

"I don't really understand what you mean by 'steal,' but my mother is my mother, nothing else. For me, she is my only mother." Allen said that with a smile.

Lavinia bowed her head as she heard that. She had a particular emotion in her heart, comparable to jealousy and near to hatred. When she realized that maybe the reason Queen Orc killed Lavinia's friends was simply because Queen Orc still wanted to be with Allen for a longer period of time.

And, after witnessing the Queen Orcs' bond with Allen for two months, Lavinia's hatred and animosity faded. Lavinia hated Queen Orc so much, and she wanted to keep hating her more.

'This is not fair… "My comrades have all died, leaving me alone, but that d*mn orc is having fun with her kid here!" Lavinia reflected.

Then she tried to pour her heart out to Allen.

"You must be lonely, right?!! Your mother must treat you badly! When you're sad and crying, your mother didn't make you feel better, did she?!! I know it! I KNOW!!! She might think of you as a pet!!!"

Allen didn't say anything, silent, and the atmosphere became heavy. Lavinia realized her words were too harsh, and she was soo immature to yell such sensitive things at a kid.

Moments later, Allen responded

"I don't really understand what Miss Lavinia is talking about… But I do know that miss talks badly about mother…"

Allen didn't show an angry face. After Lavinia said things that could hurt Allen's heart, his eyes still looked sincere and innocent. Allen didn't take it deeply.

"I love mother. Mother often goes for a job, and I'm not allowed to follow her. She sometimes comes home bleeding all over her body. I know mother did something outside that she never wanted to tell me. No matter what mother's problem is, I love her because I feel warm when she is around and cold when she's not."

Allen then walked up to Lavinia and directed his fist in front of her face.

"I hate cold. I felt warm with her. That's why I love her and want to always be with mother. So don't badmouth my mother!"

There was no anger in his eyes. Allen just wanted to convey how much he loves Queen Orc as his mother.

Lavinia, who was a priest, often listened to people's confessions in church. So she understands people's feelings very well from what they say. Lavinia knew that Allen's affection for Queen Orc was real. And to get that kind of affection, Queen Orc definitely took care of Allen as best as she could.

Once again, Lavinia is crying like a baby taken away from her mother.

"Elyaas, Mildaa, Algaar, Murieel!!! I am sorry!!! I am sorry!!! I am really sorry!!! I am sorry being the only one who life!!!" the sadness that she had locked inside her heart was released.

"I-I-IMSORC!!!" Allen immediately raised his hand and subconsciously apologized in monster language.

Allen now felt bad because he thought he was the one who made Lavinia cry, although he was not. Lavinia cries because she realizes how horrible person she has become. After looking at Queen Orc and Allen's relationship almost every day, her anger toward Queen Orc gradually faded. Lavinia apologized to her friend because she almost lost her desire for revenge.

"I'm sorry for making you cry. I promise I won't do that again. Please don't hate me," Allan said sadly, his head looking down.

Lavinia's tears ceased when she saw Allen apologize. She was now humiliated for crying like a child in front of Allen. As a result, the mood became unpleasant, and both of them found the atmosphere too awkward to continue the conversation.

"I….I am…" Allen broke the silence, his face flushing like a tomato. There were a few tears welling up in his eyes. He turned his head because he couldn't bear to look at Lavinia's face at that moment.

"Ever since Miss Lavinia came, I've never felt cold again, s-so I don't want Miss Lavinia to hate me."

He had previously unintentionally told Lavinia how he felt about his mother to her, which made Lavinia cry; now, he was terrified that Lavinia would hate him and refuse to speak to him.

Lavinia grabbed Allen's hand and hugged him tightly after seeing him try his hardest to encourage her.

"!!!"

"I won't hate you," said Lavinia while she hugged Allen and stroked his head gently.

Allen's face sinking into Lavinia's chest was now more flushed, getting redder to the ears. Allen felt a strange feeling inside him. His body was hot, his heart was racing, and he felt a comforting sensation that could make him cry.

'so warmth,' he wanted to say that but couldn't because of Lavinia's hug.

He felt a different kind of warmth than when he was with his mother. Perhaps because his mother never treated him so gently. His mother did nothing more than accompany him to sleep and keep him warm. Lavinia's touch brought warmth, and she gently stroked Allen's head, something his mother had never done for him.

After a while, Allen felt so embarrassed because his head was constantly stroked. So he lifted his head and then held Lavinia's wrist. Allen looked at her face seriously and said,

"Miss Lavinia, maybe this sounds harsh to you because you don't like living here, but I want to say this…"

He continued

"Those days of training every day alone and speaking to myself are finally done! It's because of you! My time with you was very fun and never boring! I know you hate mother, and I'm not going to question why, but I'm sorry; I almost feel pleased that she caught you! I've never felt anything like this before, but it's really warm. I want to feel this warmth for the rest of my life. I'll tell Mom to remove this chain! So… I want you to be here with me!!! Forever!!!"

Allen's face was still flushed, and his hands were sweaty. He was very embarrassed for saying something so embarrassing, but he was also terrified because he was concerned that his words would offend Lavinia.

Lavinia was shocked as Allen stated these things while holding her hand. But this is different shocking…

"So…sorry, could you speak slower? I don't really understand monster language yet."

Allen's face flushed once again. He felt incapable and unable to express himself in human language, so he used monster language instead. On the one hand, Allen hopes Lavinia understands; on the other, he hopes she doesn't. So when Lavinia said she didn't get it, Allen was relieved because he was too embarrassed to tell her properly. He was also afraid that she would be angry with what he said.

"I-i-it doesn't matter!!! Just forget it!!! HAHAHA!!!" Allen said it frustrated…

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