Raised in Dungeon
Chapter 3 3 : The Boy Inside Dungeon

'How come there's a kid in the dungeon? Or maybe this kid is a monster as well? I have never seen a human with black hair before, and there is also some white hair on it. What exactly is he?' Lavinia thought confusedly.

A human boy with black hair and a few white strands stood in front of her. Lavinia was shocked since it was unusual for her to see a person with black and white hair.

He wears a headband on his head. His clothing is likewise filthy and worn. The sleeves and bottom of his shirt were ripped off, indicating that he was wearing garments that were too big for him. He most certainly tore up an adult outfit to suit it.

His jeans were too large, so he folded them many times to accommodate his leg length. His eyes were red, blazing crimson, and he looked innocent. He seems exhausted and sweaty.

"Motqer, fqo is sqe¿"

'Monster language? How can that kid talk to monsters?'

The boy's eyes seem somewhat bigger, and he glances at Lavinia again with an inquisitive expression.

They kept speaking in a language Lavinia couldn't understand after a 2-minute conversation. The boy turned his face away, while Queen Orc looked at Lavinia and said,

"Human... Learn... World," Queen Orc stammered.

'Monster speak the human language?!'

Even though Queen only spoke three words and stammered, Lavinia was still shocked. Because the linguistics of humans and monsters are very different and distant, the language of monsters has echoes that humans cannot grasp. The form of the tongue, lips, throat, and pronunciation are all probable reasons humans and monsters cannot communicate. The most intelligent monster could comprehend human speech but not speak the same language.

The Queen Orc then tied Lavinia's hands and bound her legs with a chain. She was shackled to the river on the far left side of the room. Because the chain on his hand is fairly long, her hand can still reach the water in the river.

Queen Orc left the room, leaving them alone.

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Outside that bright place, Queen Orc walked a little further away, and then suddenly, she abruptly slammed her hand into the dungeon's wall.

"Humans are getting stronger lately," muttered the Queen.

'If they come again, maybe I won't be able to hold out until the dungeon is reset.'

Furthermore, Queen Orc was irritated because she had realized something during her previous battle with the humans, with Lavinia's party.

"Intimidation skill. I didn't expect humans to have an ability like that at all."

.

'For a monster, that ability is very dangerous, especially for me. He transformed his mana into sound and then used that sound to disrupt the monster's demonic mana. Most likely, he pushed or forced the monsters to follow their instinct to kill humans and made them focus those instincts only on himself. With that skill, I should also be affected, but something happened in my head. Something is forcing me to think clearly.'

The orc queen repeatedly smacked the dungeon wall until blue blood poured from her palm. The blood vanished a few seconds later, and the wound gradually healed.

"Probably, the reason I'm not affected by that skill is because I have two mana. My own mana, and that woman—the boy's mother's—divine mana."

'12 years ago, when she sent her mana into my head, it still remained in my body until now. So when that human used the intimidation skill on me, the only mana that was disrupted by that sound was the demonic mana I had, while the woman's mana made me able to maintain my consciousness.

The orc queen hit the wall one more time, but she hit it harder with her full strength this time.

Even though it's her full strength, only a small part of the wall is damaged.

"DAMMIT!!! THAT MEANS I WAS SAVED BY THAT WOMAN! and it's because she still wants me to take care of her child; how long will I be a human tool?"

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___In the other places. Lavinia, who was shackled by Queen Orc felt resigned to her life. She had no idea what would happen to her after that. All she could think about now was solving the meaning of Queen Orc's words.

"Human, learn, world," grumbled Lavinia.

When Lavinia heard it, her first thought was that she would be the subject of Queen Orc's experiment or research into humans and the world outside the dungeon. However, she is still confused. If that is true and Queen Orc wanted to learn human, then…

"Why? And what for?" Lavinia mumbling.

Monsters cannot live outside the dungeon. That was because a devil's subordinates had to constantly absorb demonic mana in the dungeon or perish. They would die if they stopped consuming mana, unlike angel subordinates who don't need mana to live. So if the monsters in the dungeon escaped, they could die within 20 hours.

"HYAAAT! HAA!" Lavinia's thoughts were interrupted by the bustle in front of her. She lifted her head and saw the boy randomly swinging the sword at the tree.

"A human child raised by an orc—is that even possible? Monsters should be unable to contain their desire to fight humans, and if she could…"

Lavinia cried, holding back tears since she fought Queen Orc. She held back her voice, but the tears couldn't stop flowing down on her face.

"If she could do that, why did my friends have to die in the first place?"

She recalled how her friends had died at Queen Orc's hands. She hated Queen Orc, not just for killing her comrades but also for letting her live. By allowing her to survive, Lavinia becomes more aware that she indirectly killed them because of the plan she had created. Even though her friends had died, she still wanted to live; this made her even more upset and angry with herself, and she mumbled "sorry" to herself several times.

Someone approached Lavinia while she was crying. Lavinia lifted her head and saw a boy standing in front of her, carrying a cup of soup. His expression seemed troubled, as if he didn't know how to act.

"Qec, qofare cou…" he said.

Of course, Lavinia could not understand what the boy was saying. She just stared at the child in silence.

The boy then put that bowl on the ground near Lavinia.

"Meak… souj… woox…" he talks slowly.

"Me-ak? so-ja?" Lavinia answers confusedly.

The boy nodded quickly and continued.

"Souj," he said, pointing to the bowl.

"Woox," he says, indicating how to eat.

"T…thank you," Lavinia said limply.

That is the only thing that Lavinia can say. Lavinia more or less understood what he meant. She was a bit hesitant to eat the soup but she was too starving to refuse.

"Besides, if they meant to kill me, they would have already done so. There's no reason to put poison here," thought Lavinia as she convinced herself.

Lavinia grabbed the soup and ate it voraciously without using her spoon; she didn't even care how she looked while eating.

The boy gazed at her curiously. He stared and scanned Lavinia's entire body. Since it was the first time he had met another human, all he could see was his mother—Queen Orc—and the other monsters in the dungeon while he was alive.

Slowly, the boy reached his hand out, trying to reach Lavinia's head. And…

-puk

His hand touched Lavinia's hair.

'wh-what?' Lavinia was shocked that the boy was touching her head, but for some reason, she was afraid to lift her head.

"Wooaah…" the boy was amazed at how soft Lavinia's hair was.

Next, he stroked her head gently. This time Lavinia lifted her face and saw the boy's face clearly.

The boy spontaneously pulled back his hand. He thought that Lavinia would scold him. He didn't understand human common sense, so he didn't know whether or not what he did was okay.

'does he just want to play around?' thought Lavinia.

Lavinia also stared at the boy. Convinced that Lavinia was not angry, the boy again reached out his hand, and now…

He put his hand on Lavinia's breast.

-TOUCH

Lavinia was stunned. She remained silent, unable to respond to what the boy actually did.

The boy then began to squeeze it.

As soon as he squeezed it, Lavinia spontaneously smacked the boy's hand. The boy clutches his smacked hand, and his expression is now terrified.

"I...imsorrc," he exclaimed as he walked away.

Lavinia immediately tried to figure out everything that was going on in her head.

"Could it be that boy is just curious because he has never met another human before?" she muttered.