Chapter 46: Unexpected encounter
After being so rudely awoken, I got up and started making breakfast. Flora decided to sit on my shoulder in her sprite form and I took the opportunity to discuss some ground rules with her. She readily agrees to everything and I can only sigh at how obedient she has become. However, I am happy that my tamer skill managed to jump directly to level two, it would seem that the strength of the bond has a big influence on the skill’s level. Probably due to her damaged soul having so little resistance, even now I can feel the bond becoming even stronger and the level rising.
There’s now only ten more days left until the end of the spring academic season. Me and Sofy are once again planning to visit the dungeon in Namiir. Our divine crystal trading there has done really well. The other girls have plans with there own families this time around, so it will be just the two of us going. Four actually if you count Trixy and Flora. We intend to work on our coordination in combat with our familiars for this trip. Though, whether Flora will be strong enough to actually participate is still debatable. I’ve given her plenty of mana crystals and told her to draw energy from them when flying around so she can use her own mana to cultivate. It took her a long time to get just a few percent raised yesterday. The reason I let her waste the crystals for flying is because it’s helping her to raise her control, and it also doesn’t hurt that seeing her flying about in chibi form is really cute.
As expected, my new shoulder ornament got lots of attention today. The girls were quite surprised that I had managed to tame such an intelligent and pretty dryad. Her shameless attempt to show off her ‘skillz’ in front of them nearly made us late for our classes after lunch due to how distracted they became from her adorable performance. The last two weeks of classes ended much in the same fashion as the last time. Something we ended up discussing as we flew toward Namiir on Lightday, the day after classes ended.
“Lily, you’re a cheater! You definitely wouldn’t have ended up with so many more confessions than me if you didn’t bring Flora around everywhere with you!”~Sofy
“Mistress, it’s not my fault! I really don’t believe that Flora makes too much difference anyways, as she spends nearly half the time decorating your shoulder too. You didn’t really lose anything since you got more confessions this time around than last time, I just got even more because of how beautiful I am. Starting to regret making me activate that trait perhaps?”~me
“Hmph! Not a chance! Oh, and don’t think that you’re actually getting away with teasing me just because I turned off the automatic punishments while we’re flying. I just don’t want Trixy to get mixed up in your nonsense and throw us off in midair. I’ll be sure justice is delivered later.”~Sofy
I wisely decided to shut up for the rest of our flight. Upon arriving at Namiir, we didn’t first book a room at the hotel. Instead, we went to Susan’s shop. We had already sent a message to her in the weeks before about our visit and she said it would be fine to just stay with her.
“Hello, Susan.”~Sofy
“Hi, Sofy and Lily. You’re much earlier than I had expected. I’ll close up as soon as these last few customers are done and we can go out to eat. Go upstairs to my quarters and make yourselves comfortable while you wait.”~Susan
We are left to idle for less than an hour before she called us to go eat. Arrangements were made by Susan so that Flora could visit the garden of a nearby apothecary shop for her needs. I decided not to take her into the dungeon with us, a dark cave really isn’t the best place for a dryad to be and she’s just not strong enough to be of any help. She is going to be staying with Susan and cultivating while we are exploring. As compensation for the apothecary, she will be helping out with the gardening.
I ended up immobilized in the submissive role during our shenanigans that night as a sort of punishment for my earlier teasing. Sofy didn’t let me off easily and kept me quivering at the edge for a long time with Susan being more than willing to help. If only all of my punishments could be so questionably fun. I woke up early the next morning and made breakfast for everyone.
“That apron is wonderful! Would you mind if I were to sell that in my shop?”~Susan
“Isn’t it?! Go ahead and sell it as much as you want. I can have her model some other things if you like?”~Sofy
We only made it to the dungeon just after lunchtime in favor of a fashion show. The dungeon experience was smoother with just the two of us and Trixy. I fell into the role of rogue/healer, Sofy supported as a mage/archer and Trixy tanked for us. With three stage fours, we managed to get to the thirtieth floor in just a couple days. We had let Trixy just barrel through the first twenty floors while we rode on top, blasting anything in the way with magic.
The thirty-first floor is where things got interesting. We ran into a couple of old friends. Mary, Alice and two little girls were fending off attacks by a group of five burly men. Mary and Alice seem to have progressed to stage four, but the two little girls and their attackers were all stage three. One of the little girls is a foxkin with a pair of daggers and the other is an elf wielding a spear and shield combo. They’re doing a good job keeping the men from approaching, but it’s easy to tell that they’re getting tired and will lose soon.
“Hehe, don’t be afraid, little girls. We’ll make you feel real good, real soon. The sooner you give up, the nicer I’ll stick ya. AHHH!”~thug
That last part was me stepping out of my shadowmeld state while sticking my dagger in his back. I very quickly drifted around the fighting slicing flesh and severing tendons. They soon panicked with screams of phantom and monster amongst their death throes. Their bodies weren’t fit for open caskets by the time I was done killing them. By the time I finished, Sofy had made her way over with Trixy dragging the corpse of a sixth man who had been hiding nearby.
“LILY!!! I’m so happy to see you again! Thank you, thank you, thank you for saving us! I thought you were dead, the rumors said so. I’m really glad you’re okay though! Oh, why do you have ears? They’re really fluffy!!! Sofy, you’re here too?! I’m so happy that you are safe.”~Alice
Well, that’s classic Alice for you. Nevermind the gore, she just rushed in and grabbed me into a hug before proceeding to rattle off everything in her mind in one fast stream of words. The scary part is that I couldn’t even sense her approach. It’s almost like girls in this world have some sort of secret skill that allows them to catch mofu’able creatures unaware. While still embraced by Alice, I start to heal everyone present.
“Hi, Alice. Mary. I found this one hiding around the corner. Do you know him.”~Sofy
“Hi, Sofy. It’s nice to see you. Yeah, he’s some minor noble from Norvac that followed us across the border. He’s been a real pain for a while, trying to get in our pants. I didn’t expect him to go so far as this and set an ambush in the dungeon with some hired thugs.”~Mary
“Would you like to introduce us to your two friends? This big girl is Trixy, by the way.”~Sofy
“Ah right, introductions! The elf is Lauren and the foxkin is Brea. We met them on our way and have been together ever since. Oh, you probably could sorta tell, but our group of heroes fell apart when the contract changes occurred. We soon found ourselves no longer under contract and decided to make our way to the Magic Forest. Two of the guys died anyways. One ran too far into a group of monsters while shouting some nonsense about shield bashing and the other one that had tried to duel wield ended up dying while fumbling around with his swords. It was quite a pathetic end for the two of them. Anyways, the prince ran off with the last guy when he realized that his servants were escaping from their contracts. We just didn’t bother to follow them and went our own way. So, what have you been up to?”~Alice
I should build an auction house for Alice so she can show off her skill in talking. Mary could be the manager. We eventually got the mess cleaned up and made camp together on the next floor.
