<div style="text-align: center;"><a class="postlink" href="https://i.ibb.co/wswbF0K/Castle.png">[ img ]</a></div><br/><span style="font-size: 85%; line-height: 116%;"><br/><table width="100%"><tr><td style="vertical-align: top; width:50%; padding-right:10px;">Alexander Gelt, preferable Alec, he had been here for a long while. Was it a few days, a few weeks? Maybe it was a few months, or even a year. The only thing he remembered from back home was the warm bed, the central heating and the lack of monsters. On June 14, 20XX, Alec was hired by a company known as D&amp;M Twist as a Business Administrator and his main goal was to make sure one of their facilities was managed and kept running. The only question was, what brought him here? How did he get here? This world wasn't like his own, and he was able to view his own status, it was strange. Completely out of the ordinary.<br/><br/>One year ago, he found himself on the couch in an executive office, chatting up the person whom he was suppose to be having a interview with. The interview went well by all accounts, he was internally excited. Then he was told he was being given some sort of six month probation period to see if he could handle the job. If he could prove to handle the job, he could continue to work at the facility and get a pay raise. At first, he didn't really mind the idea. Once everything was put in line, he was brought to a mysterious out of place door which along a corridor which had various doors on either side of it. There was barely enough room between them to be actual rooms, so where they all just closets? That wasn't the case.<br/><br/>Dressed in formal business attire, suit and tie, the individual who interviewed him lead him in through the door. <span style="color: #80BF80">"Be wary. I hope you aren't afraid of spiders~"</span> Was the only thing they said after Gelt walked passed the man. Glancing over his shoulder when the door slammed closed behind him, his eyes widened as the door began to fade away into dust. He was almost shaking, his lips slowly spreading out into a wide crooked smile. What was more scary? His creepily forced smile, or the fact that the door disappeared and the odd damp smell of the worn down oriental castle which surrounded him? <br/><br/>The first thing he did was look out the nearest window, he could hear and smell the fresh water and the water fall. The rushing of white water within the vast river which was seen off the side of a cliff which it seemed the castle was situated upon. In the other direction was a vast forest which surrounded the entire area on both sides of the river and even on the larger mountain which was where the fall was springing from. This natural scenery, the architecture, the smells, the objects laying around. This wasn't home, and this wasn't some elaborate prank. Everything was all too real to be some sort of 4D virtual reality room. Chills ran down his spine as he'd look over at something creeping around the corner, his already widened eyes and creepy smile already becoming nothing but a straight face.<br/><br/>Standing around the corner was what looked like a female skeleton, wait, female? Squinting slightly, he stared at it for a few moments. It looked like the arms and legs were skeletal, and a chunk of the head was as well. The torso though was far from it, instead it seemed to be wearing an extra pair of ribs outside the body, and an extra spine up its back, as if it was armor. If anything, it looked like a female, but when his eyes wandered down the corner of the door frame was blocking his view. However he could clearly see layered skirting and a magic staff. As soon as he went to open his mouth though, the skeletal female fled off down the hall. The clacking of the skeletal heels slowly fading off into the distance.<br/><br/><span style="color: #40FFBF">"Great,"</span> The man stated as he folded his arms across his chest and sighed. <span style="color: #40FFBF">"Walking skeletons... Next thing you'll see is a gia–"</span> Alec barely got to finish his sentence when he watched a massive arachnid under body pass by the window nearest to him from the corner of his eye. <span style="color: #40FFBF">"Giant Spider..."</span> Running his hand through his blond hair, he would purse his lips slightly as he wound then let his fingers move along his own jaw and brush his trimmed beard. <span style="color: #40FFBF">"I'm pretty sure it had a bow and arrow."</span> A nervous chuckle left his lips as a cold sweat rolled down the side of his forehead.<br/><br/><span style="color: #80BFFF">"And all you have, Herald, is a pocket watch."</span> A voice erupted from the ceiling above him, in which Gelt simply lulled his held back. Even for the ghost which was aiming to make him jump, was rather confused at the fact of how he was able to retain his demeanor. The eyes though of this man seemed to pierce right through the ectoplasmic body of the ghost, which caused the ghost to make an awkward sound before phasing back into the ceiling and vanishing from sight.<br/><br/>Slowly sinking his hands into his pockets, he would walk out of the room, looking down the direction of the corridor which the skeleton had gone and sighed. Shaking his head a bit, he looked in the direction of a room which had a door busted inward. Squatting down and examining it with his eyes, his eye would twitch slightly. It was a pocket door, made of wood and rotting paper. It looked as if it had been trampled though, by a half dozen people, but he could tell it had been there for years untouched.<br/><br/>Standing up, he would pick the door up and put it back onto its rusted guide and slide it back into place. Though the door wobbled since it was broken, it was better than nothing. Waltzing into the room as if he owned the place, he would pause and look at a desk situated at the center of the room, then towards a bed in the right hand corner away from the door with a complete bedroom set, and then there was a mini-kitchen set on the left side. Everything looked as if it was from Medieval China, so it was rather stylish and it looked like it had been just set up.<br/><br/><span style="color: #40FFBF">"How'd they get a new bed in here without disturbing the door...?"</span> He'd think out loud without much care before walking over to the desk and looking over a note pad. This was the only thing that looked out of place. Taking it into his hand, he would stare at it for a few moments before flipping it open. <br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic"><span style="color: #BFBFFF">Welcome New Dungeon Administrator, <br/>The Last Guy was killed trying to escape his own Dungeon, so we needed a new hire to take his place. Aren't you lucky? Anyways, as an Administrator you have access to commands that normally you wouldn't on our side of reality. Here, you can try them, they're on the next page.<br/>&lt; Market Box &gt; &lt; Inventory &gt; &lt; Administrator Tools &gt; &lt; Appraisal &gt; &lt; Status &gt; &lt; Mini-Map &gt; </span></span></td><td style="vertical-align: top; width:50%; padding-left:10px;">Putting the pad down and staring at these commands, Gelt couldn't really believe what he had just read. He had commands that he could use? That's when he paused, there was something in the corner of his eye, but everytime he went to look over, it moved with his sight. Staring for a few moments, he tried to focus on it for a few moments when all of a sudden a transparent window appeared in front of himself. On the very top it said Mini-Map, and what was displayed was literally a labeled interior of the entire castle laid out for him with a little marker to show where he was. It also showed him where all the other monsters were, and dead bodies and loot. There was plenty to go around.<br/><br/>For the next two weeks he spent a lot of his time exploring the castle and the surrounding forest. He found plenty of monsters which acted shyly and they all called him by the name Herold. He soon found out that the last guy, his name was Herold, and it didn't seem as if anyone else seemed to notice he wasn't Herold. He found enough food to get by, didn't taste too good, but it wasn't bad either. It was more so lacking in rich flavors as the soil wasn't anything special and there weren't that many animals around. However it seemed he could sell and buy items when he used the Market Box command, and even store items in his inventory as if it was an extra dimensional bag of holding.<br/><br/>Within the following year he got used to his situation, and it seems he passed his probationary period with flying colors. The castle was nearly completely restored, doors were reinforced and floors were cleaned. Any loot which littered the ground was either sold or now being used by him. The armor and red duster he wore as well as the turtle neck and cargo pants were all bought using the Market Box. He had no problem picking items off the corpses, so he was pretty much set well off.<br/><br/>The only thing that didn't make sense was the fact that no one really showed up within the passed year. At least, he never noticed as he barely left the castle unless he went hunting. Not only were there bodies in the castle, but there were plenty outside. He encountered a dying adventurer before, two arrows in the back of the legs and bleeding out. The only problem was even if the adventurer was treated, he'd never be able to walk again. <br/><br/><span style="color: #40BFFF">"It's cold..."</span> the boy would say as Gelt turned him over onto his side. <span style="color: #40BFFF">"You.. You can heal me can't you? M-m-magic..? Po...tto..."</span> The boy was able to keep bumbling gibberish and all Gelt did was stare down at him as their eyes remained locked. A few minutes later, Gelt produced a spider silk blanket and gently wrapped him in it to keep him warm. The adventurer looked to be around seventeen years old. It was kind of harsh just letting him lay there like this, but there wasn't anything he could do for him. <br/><br/>At some point he simply walked away from the dying human, taking his weapons and supply bag as he went back to the castle. It wasn't something one saw everyday, but it wasn't the first person he watched die before, back in high school he had a friend collapse from exhaustion in the middle of a track tournament; died right in his arms. Personally it didn't seem as if Alec wanted to experience that once again. So it was time for him to move on.<br/><br/>Two days later he would be in the office and living space of the main section of the castle. The world seemed to be silent, snow was falling outside. It had to have been around the time for Christmas, or maybe it already passed. He didn't buy a solar charger for his phone, so he didn't bother turning it back on after he found out he would be staying in a place without service. He bought a laptop though that ran off of mana from the air. It could last a total of twenty-four hours before having to shut off and recharge. It was pretty amazing, but he kept that in his desk as all it had was entertainment material and research material. He was keeping logs of everything on the laptop instead of on a piece of paper, it was easier that way.<br/><br/>Looking out the window on the far back of the room behind him, his head lulled to face the side as he turned half way in order to see the exterior, he thought he heard movement. <span style="font-weight: bold">Thud, thud-thud-thud-thud, thud!</span> It sounded like something really big was chasing after something much smaller. Like a giant cat chasing a giant rat, no, it was too heavy to be any kind of cat. Maybe it was an elephant trying to crush a mouse? No, that wasn't right either.<br/><br/><span style="color: #80BFFF">"Herold~"</span> A voice seemed to chirp from above, in which Gelt would immediately look up at the Ghost he had met only a year ago. Making a displeasing expression as the ghost giggled with content. <span style="color: #80BFFF">"Yes, I know that's not your name, but never fret! You have a special guest! You've been such a good administrator, we thought you needed a treat~"</span> It seemed as if something was being planned, no, something was planned. This ghost was bringing something to him? Could it be that it is some sort of trunk of gold that is making all this racket?<br/><br/>No, it couldn't be just a trunk of gold. Pursing his lips and scratching the side of his head, he would get up from his desk and walk over to the door of his room. Slowly sliding it open, he would poke his head out partially. Looking either way, there was nothing initially. The sound was however getting closer and it was clear someone was coming this way, or someones. As the sound got closer, a small petite set of feet could be heard. Could it be a mouse? Maybe a cat, he knew there were cat girls, so maybe it was one of those? Wait, why was he thinking of something like that?<br/><br/>His chest seemed to beat heavy with anticipation, he couldn't wait. What was coming, Who was coming? Wait, he didn't have a shower in two days. Sniffing himself slightly, Alexander would nod to himself, he smelled fine. Placing a hand on the hilt of his right hand sword, he would lazily walk out into the corridor and wait. The sound of heavy breathing could be heard... It was the resident Ogre, big guy, large feet and nicely sized tusks and horns. The question was, who was being chased in his direction?</td></tr></table></span>