I ACCIDENTALLY MARRIED A DUNGEON

He moved to the bed and picked up a book lying on the bedside table next to it, its pages blackened at the edges by fire. Felix opened the book to read the first Chapter, which is the introduction to the history of magic circles – who invented them, when, why, and how such a practice spread down to common people trying to get an easy way out.

"She was interested in magic circles as well?" Felix thought, not knowing much about circles and having only some basic knowledge about them, which helped him attempt a few during his past years, but without any success. A woman once advised him to focus only on elemental magic and avoid using magic circles at all costs since everything related to summoning, even the most basic divination circle, could be dangerous if you did not know what you were doing. "I have always been no good at this sort of thing. Even a simple spell is beyond my reach."

Felix kept turning pages, and the following passage described the rules for how one activates a circle correctly, the most important of which is choosing the right location where there is continuous and unobstructed flow of Numen underground.

"Why the hell does she have to know all this shit?" Felix yawned and opened the book at its mid-point, when a folded sheet slid half-way out from between the pages. He gently took it out and unfolded.

I never wanted this for myself. This is the only way out from those devils. I did this to protect my children.

Felix froze, feeling a strange weight of the book he was holding becoming suddenly heavier than before. "What the hell did she need protecting from?" He reread the sentence. "And devils, is that just what she called them, or..." He shook his head. "No. They should be human."

He moved to the drawers built into the nightstand and pulled the first one open, discovering a folded piece of paper with an amount of debt written on it and followed by a whole bunch of threats.

"Ten thousand gold?" He read the amount again and again. "I can’t even use this much in my whole life."

The other drawers were full of the same thing; ledgers and notices of debt, the numbers increasing every time he opened another drawer, so much that he was left speechless by the end.

"And this man gives me only ten silvers for this work?" Felix stood up, shaking his head as he walked away to the far end of the room. "This isn’t even a joke anymore. I’m asking for more after the job is done."

Felix discovered another room at the end of the hallway which seemed to be a study room with piles of books on the floor amidst the shelves which were not fully loaded, also in much worse condition than the bedroom Felix had visited.

Something on the floor made Felix stop almost right away as soon as he entered the room because there were several thin lines spread all over the wooden floor, making him think that somebody hit the floor with such force that some cracks appeared.

His steps came to a stop right in front of it. A magic circle sat burned into the floor, its spiral design pressed so deep into the center that the wood itself had warped and bent downward, scorch marks spreading outward from the middle in twisted lines. He crouched down and studied it closely, and though he couldn’t tell exactly what the circle had been built for, the depth of the burn and the way the floorboards had buckled under it told him whatever happened here went far beyond anything in the book upstairs.

"Should’ve considered the warning before trying anything."He got up from his crouched position and massaged the back of his neck as an overwhelming weight came upon him. "It must have been twenty minutes since then. Best to check on Dune lest something happens to her."

Dune had done just as Felix had told her to do. She went along the right corridor after they had parted ways and stopped at intervals to stare at the swords hanging on the wall, the stuffed animals lying behind glass cases, anything that could have drawn her interest but let go after. As soon as the corridor ended and she reached the dead end, she made her way back towards where they parted company and just waited there.

The first thing that she noticed was the low sound of steps approaching, and she immediately faced towards their direction. The yellow glow of light got brighter each time Felix drew near, until his form emerged out of the darkness in the hallway. He walked towards her, and she observed him from head to toe for any sign of something wrong or even a sign that could tell why he seemed so tired with his sagging shoulders. Except for his stiff neck, there were no signs to be seen, other than the way his back had bent as if something was weighing on it.

"You look exhausted."

"Yeah.." Felix ran his hand behind his neck and straightened his posture. "That’s not the important thing right now. Have you found anything?"

"Yes. Mountain paintings. Swords. Animal skin on the walls." She stopped and thought about it. "And also small dolls."

"Dolls." Felix nodded slowly. "I found something too. There’s a room at the far end of the corridor, belonged to a woman, expensive clothes, jewelry, the whole set. I didn’t take any of it." He shook his head, already steering away from where that sentence had been headed. "Point is, this family was buried in debt, and the woman tried something to get them out of it, something to protect her kids. I’m thinking whoever’s owed that money might be the ones actually pushing to sell this house."

"Yes." Dune nodded along.

"Or it’s something else entirely, someone using all this to scare off buyers and drop the price low enough to grab it cheap. Because the debt alone doesn’t add up, not for a house this size."

"How much debt?"

"More than eighty thousand gold." Felix let out a slow breath. "You wouldn’t believe how much that actually is."

Dune looked over his shoulder. "Who is that woman?"

"Woman?" Felix whirled around, peering up and down the deserted corridor. "Where?"

"On your back."

Felix felt the chill of panic run down his spine.

One my back. A woman. She’s joking. No, Dune doesn’t joke. She is confused. My collar. It has to be my collar folded strangely.

Felix turned slowly, looking over his shoulder. There was nothing there, only empty air in the hallway.

"Look, there’s nothing here—" the rest of the words didn’t come out. The weight on his back hadn’t changed even in slightest.

He breathed in slowly and covered his eyes with the thin film of Numen light, making everything sharper than before.

The face of the woman loomed in front of him right when he regained focus, her pale skin and green eyes staring straight into his own.