The next day.

"Colette. Come on Colette. Wake up."

Someone was shaking me back and forth. I partially opened my eyes before dozing off again. "Just five more minutes," I answered.

"Come on, we don't have all day," The voice said, which I assume was Cecilia. "Oh, wait! I know! I have a surprise waiting for you!"

"A surprise?"

"Yes, a surprise! But you can only get it if you wake up."

"I'm awake!" I shouted as I jumped off my bed. I've never been more energetic in my (new) life.

"Hahaha," Cecilia laughed at my quick slumber. " Come. The surprise is downstairs."

"Okay."

Cecilia took my hand and led me downstairs. As we were walking down the stairs, I tried to remember the events that transpired last night.

After dinner, I went straight up to my room to sleep. The problem was that even though I ate what seems to be a buffet for my stomach, I was not feeling any sort of drowsiness whatsoever. Of course, since I was busy the whole day, my body no doubt started to produce odor, so I decided to take a quick shower.

The bathroom was on the third floor, the third room to the left of the hallway. It wasn't that big, but it was big enough to fit a big barrel full of water. It kind of looks like a wooden bathtub.

There were shelves on the wall with what seems to be hair conditioners. I picked one from the shelf and opened the bottle. It had a really sweet aroma.

"So this is girl's shampoo..." It totally smelled different from the shampoo I used to have as a man.

"........"

Well, ok. To make the long story short, I took a quick bath in the bathtub and headed to my room to change. Luckily there was a towel in what I assume is a towel rack since it was hanging a towel around it. I went out of the bathroom to see Cecilia standing outside of the door.

"Was your first shower good?" she asked.

"Yup," I nodded. "It was refreshing."

"I'm glad you liked it," Cecilia said, leading me to my room. "I've prepared a clean set of pajamas for you in the bed."

"Thanks..."

I'll just continue work downstairs, so just call me if you need anything, Cecilia said before descending down the stairs. I entered my room to see a pair of pajamas neatly folded on top of the bed. There was even a pair of white underwear on top of it.

"Honestly, is there any end to this kindness?" I wondered, taking off my towel and putting on the bra and panties before wearing the pajamas. It had a cute shield pattern on it, which I really liked.

I wandered around the room, trying to look for any interesting things that are waiting to be discovered in this room. I immediately thought of checking under the bed, since boys usually hide their porn mags under there. I wonder if it's the same for girls.

"Actually, I wonder if porn mags even exist in this world."

There were no erotic magazines under the bed, unfortunately, but there was this box-like thing that was at the far side of the bed. I reached for it, only to find out that the space under the bed was not a clean surface.

"Damn it, now my arm is dirty again," I complained as I pulled the box out of the bed and placed it on the table. The box was by no means clean, but I don't have time to dust off the dust on it.

I slowly opened the box to find what seems to be a book that reads "Atlas of the Known World". This is probably a detailed map of this continent, hence the "Known World" in its title. I opened the book to check the contents.

I probably spent the whole night browsing the book, and it was in the middle of the night when my body finally started to show some signs of drowsiness. I blew off the candle and went straight to bed after that.

The book was surprisingly detailed, down to the beaches and the forests. And yes, sure, the book is really useful in navigating this world, but the problem is that I don't know what damn country I am currently residing in. Cecilia didn't even say or give any hints of it last night, so I decided to ask her in the morning.

Back to the present.

We were going down the stairs. I tried asking her, but we reached the second floor before I could say anything.

There was a dress sitting on top of the table.

Cecilia walked over to the table to get the dress, then held it so that the whole front of the dress was fully exposed.

"Ta-dah!" Cecilia exclaimed. "It's your new dress, Colette!"

The dress was just like the one I saw yesterday, however, this one has a more civilian vibe rather than a royal vibe. The top of the dress is colored crimson, which in my opinion goes really well with the light, red skirt on the bottom. There was a white ribbon near the chest area as well, blending perfectly within the crimson background.

The only way to describe this elegant piece of fabric was:

"Wow..."

Wow indeed.

Are you serious? cecilia made a dress this pretty in just one night? I guess this is what you would normally expect from a level 94 dressmaker.

"I like it" I replied. "Thank you so much, Cecilia."

"It's fine," Cecilia responded. "Now why don't you go and put on this dress? I can't wait to see what it looks like on you."

Cecilia handed me the dress. I was still in my pajamas that time, so I took them off and proceeded to put on the dress. It was a perfect size for me. Even my breasts fit without hesitation.

I turned to Cecilia to show it to her.

This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

"Does it look good on me?" 

"Of course!" Cecilia exclaimed. She seemed so happy with how the dress looks on me. "You're so cute! No, actually, you might be too cute! I'm going to cry!"

Cecilia hugged me tight to show her happiness. She was hugging me so tight that I was starting to get choked.

"Tight. Too tight."

"Oops." Cecilia backed off. "I'm terribly sorry Colette."

"It's okay," I said. "So, what are we going to do with this dress now?"

"Isn't it obvious?!" Cecilia said. Sadly, I don't have a single idea what Cecilia had in mind with me wearing this dress. Sure, my ragged clothing is definitely a real turnoff, but judging her reaction I feel like she had something else in mind. "We're going to show this off to the town, Colette!"

"H-Huh?!" Once again, my face turned tomato red. "W-Why show it off to the whole town?!"

"Hmm, maybe I didn't word it right." Cecilia paused to reconstruct her statement. "I'm going to show you around town, and I want you to make you look the best."

"You definitely didn't word that right."

"Well, why don't we get going then?" Cecilia said as she grabbed my hand. "The sun is rising, so we better leave early."

"Oh, okay."

We spent the next two hours wandering around the town. Cecilia explained to me that this town is named Nolias, situated on the Norleid Region, which is north left of the country Alamania. I knew what the map of Alemania looks like since I'd looked into that atlas last night.

"Nolias isn't really a great tourist spot in Alemania, so we don't get visitors that much. Everyone here basically knows each other by name," Cecilia explained.

"I see..."

"Our town might be a small town, but we basically got everything we need here. Restaurants, a library, a market, and even our own dungeon. You name it, we have it."

"Hmm? A dungeon?" Now this piqued my interest.

"That's right. A dungeon." She said, facing me. "That smirk on your face tells me you want to check it out."

"........"

Her statement left me speechless again. Perspective as always, Cecilia. 

"Hehe, okay. Here, I'll show you the way." 

It took us around ten minutes to reach our destination. The dungeon was a little bit far from Nolias, but we managed to get here as soon as the sun rose.

"Here we are, Colette," Cecilia said.

"Uhh, is this really it big sis?"

"Hmm? Yes. Is something the matter?"

"........"

When I first heard her say "dungeon", the first thing that popped into my mind is those cave-like structures guarded by a gate and is usually filled with monsters every step you take down the stairs, but this dungeon that I was facing now looks like a really big hole in the ground.

It looked like some giant worm dug a hole and formed it.

"Well, this isn't what I've expected," I said. I noticed the sign near the hole, so I walked over to the sign to see what it says.

Dungeon of Nolias

Depth: 10 floors

So even this dungeon is named after Nolias... But what does this depth of ten floors mean?

"Depth is the number of floors a dungeon has from top to bottom, or so I've heard," explained Cecilia. "I personally haven't experienced going down there at all, so all of this information is second hand."

So this means that this dungeon is ten floors deep. I see. It makes sense.

"So, how do you go down there?" I asked.

"Are you planning on going down there, Colette?" Cecilia asked. "I'm afraid it's too dangerous for you. This dungeon is ten floors deep, and if you get lost in there it would be catastrophic."

"I see..."

But this couldn't be more dangerous than a bullet hell battlefield, right?

"It seems that the sun is starting to rise," Cecilia said, looking at the direction of the rising sun. She was covering her eyes with her hand. "Why don't we go and have breakfast?"

"Okay."

We left the dungeon site and headed straight back to Nolias. As we walked, my mind couldn't stop thinking about the dungeon. 

What kind of monsters are in that dungeon? What do these floors look like? How do you kill these monsters? Do I level up when I kill more of them? And most importantly, how in the world am I going to get down there? It doesn't seem like jumping down there is a good option, so maybe I could use a rope and climb down there? As Cecilia said a while ago, this town basically has everything you need, so there probably is a store here around here that sells ropes.

"Here we are."

We stopped in front of a building. It was only around two floors in height, but the tables outside give off a cafe-like vibe to it. And, sure enough, there was a sign at the entrance that reads "Schein's Cafe".

"Schein's Cafe?"

"Yep. This is Schein's Cafe, the one and only cafe here in Nolias. The food here is great, but what makes them extraordinary is their breakfast meals. I'm pretty sure you'll like it here, Colette."

Here, come inside, Cecilia said as she opened the door for me.

As soon as I stepped inside, the aroma of brewing coffee enters my nose. The cafe wasn't big or small, it was just right. There were people sitting down, eating and chatting. There were also waitresses to be seen everywhere, serving customers, wiping tables and going in and out of the kitchen door, with coffees and pancakes in their hand. 

We sat at a table near the shop window. 

A waitress walked over a table with a warm grin on her face.

"Welcome to Schein's cafe," The waitress said with her warm smile. "My name is Lumia Schein. May I take your order?"

"Hi Lumia, how's it going?" Cecilia asked.

"I'm doing fine," Lumia responded. "How are you, Miss Cecilia?"

"I'm doing fine as well," she said before facing me. "Lumia, this is Colette Frei. I found her snooping around in my shop yesterday, so I decided to adopt her in the meantime."

Adopt? Well, if you think about it that way, you could say that Cecilia adopted me. Heck, I even call her big sis now.

Lumia shifted her smile to me. "Nice to meet you, Colette. My name is Lumia Schein. I'm a friend of Cecilia."

"N-Nice to meet you..." I replied, bashfully.

"So, what can I get for you guys today?" Lumia asked.

"I'll have pancakes. Is there anything you want, Colette?"

"Uhh, I think I'll be having the pancakes as well."

"Alright. Two pancakes please."

"Understood," Lumia said as she took down notes in a notebook. "Is there anything else you want to add?"

"I-I'll have some coffee, if I may..." I uttered. I couldn't even talk properly. What a simpleton I became.

"Okay, one coffee it is. Your order will be ready in a bit." Lumia said before she headed to the counter.

"So Colette, are you enjoying?" Cecilia asked.

"Yes," I replied. "This town is very nice."

"I'm glad you liked it here," Cecilia said. "Oh, by the way. Have you thought about working?"

"Huh? Working?"

"Well, I am usually busy with my dressmaking. The king is demanding more clothes to be made, so I probably won't have that much time for you. So while I'm busy, how about you work for a bit?"

"Hmm, I guess that's alright..." Me living in Cecilia's house is only temporary. I will move out of her place eventually, so I guess I need to earn some money to live by myself before that. "I don't know if any shops here would accept me though..."

"Well, why not work here in Shein's Cafe?"

"Huh? Why here?"

"This is probably the only shop in town that will accept girls as employees. And plus," Cecilia said, reaching out her hand to touch my cheek. "You look pretty cute after all."

"C-Cute?" Uh oh. My pulse is rising again.

"I'm sure they would love to have you work here."

"Here's your order," Lumia interrupted as she placed the two pancakes and my coffee on the table. Cecilia drew back her extended hand.

"Thank you, Lumia," Cecilia replied. 

"Umm... Do you have any sugar for this coffee?"

"Ahh, yes. I'll be right back."

Lumia went to the counter to get something from underneath. It was a jar full of what seems to be sugar in it. She then walked to our table and placed it on top.

"Do you want me to put some sugar in your coffee?"

"Oh, no. It's fine. I'll do it myself."

Since this coffee doesn't seem to be black, I only put around two scoops. The pancakes were pretty good too. Is it even possible to make pancakes this good without syrup? Well, there was a bottle of syrup on the table, so I tried to put it on my pancakes. It tasted three times better.

"I'm glad you liked our food," Lumia said to me.

"By the way," Cecilia interrupted, "Colette said that she wanted to work here. How about it, Lumia?"

"Don't put words in my mouth! I never said I wanted to work here!" 

"Well," Lumia said, pausing to think. "We are short on staff lately, and our manager can't seem to find any more people to hire..."

"See Colette? Why not work here for now?" Cecilia said. "Don't worry. You can keep the money for yourself."

"That's not what I'm worried about!"

"Do you want to join us, Colette?" Lumia asked. There was remorse in her eyes.

"Fine..." I finally gave up. The pressure coming from the two girls is just too much for my soul to handle.

"Yay! I'll go talk to the manager real quick," Lumia said as she skipped happily to the counter.

"Sigh. What have I gotten myself into..." I said, taking another bite at the three stacked pancakes.

Well, at least I get to enjoy these pancakes for now.