Chapter 6: Monsters Make Good Pets
“I hope this question doesn’t offend you, but why is it that you’re so smart? I didn’t know there were monsters like you. You are, at least physically, a monster, right?”
DM had been expecting that question so he had an answer prepared. “…The answer to that lies in my past, which I have discarded. My physical form is a bit embarrassing, so I won’t introduce you to it now. I hope you don’t mind.”
“Oh, uh, no, I understand.”
Vera didn’t seem eager to continue the conversation. Perhaps she had worn herself out or she had achieved whatever her goal was. DM stalled his conversation with Vera so he could check in with the other girls and get them ready for what came next.
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“…I’m finishing my conversation with Vera.”
“How did it go?” asked Kat.
“…Well, I think. All of you should go to the other room now and pretend you’ve been there the whole time.”
A few of the girls whined but they ultimately complied.
“…One of you will need to lead Vera back to the city.”
“Ah.” Now they understood what DM was getting at.
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“…I enjoyed our chat.”
“Me too. Oh!”
“…Yes?”
“Would you be willing to chat more with me or someone else from the Church?” Vera asked. “I’m sure they’ll be interested in what you were telling me just now.”
“…I don’t make it a habit of inviting people down here to meet with me… well, with my morphling, I guess.”
“That’s understandable…” Vera trailed off, not wanting to ask for something unreasonable, especially since her conversation with the dungeon master had been so enlightening.
“…I don’t mind inviting you back. You’re a reasonable sort.”
“I—I see. Then, it’s a promise?”
“…I suppose. Let’s shake on it.”
“Okay,” Vera agreed. She reached her hand out to the morphling, but the morphling shook its head.
“…This morphling is in that white mage’s form. I don’t want to use her likeness to make a promise to you.”
“Oh. Then what should we do?”
“…Stick your hand out. I’ll summon a hand, of sorts, to shake directly.”
Vera eased her hand in front of her, extending her fingers. A tentacle rose from the floor, the tip wrapping around her hand. She recoiled in surprise, and after a moment, the tentacle let go and vanished.
“…Sorry. I should have warned you.”
Vera caught her breath. “It’s… It’s okay. I know you didn’t mean anything by it…”
“…Please join the other girls in the next room.”
The morphling stood and guided Vera to another space where the five girls from Vera’s party were seated and chatting about inane things.
“Vera, how was your talk?” Shiba inquired.
“It was helpful,” Vera replied, although she didn’t elaborate on what exactly that meant.
“…Now that I’ve had a chance to talk with each of you, I could use a hand with something regarding the dungeon.”
“A hand?” This time, Vulp spoke for the group.
“…Yes. Actually, wait. …If any of you need to get back to the city, I should let you go now. This will probably take a while.”
The girls all looked at each other. Bandit addressed Vera.
“You’re just here to learn the basics, right? Don’t you need to get back to the city?”
“Oh, I don’t want to get in the way, but I’m not sure if I can make it back on my own…”
“I can take you,” Bandit offered. “I’m the best at moving around alone.”
“You are?”
“She is,” Lupy happily confirmed.
“…All right. The two of you will return to the city, while the rest assist me with the project in the dungeon.”
Bandit and Vera nodded.
“…Please let Olivia know that the rest of your party is staying down here for now.”
With the plan settled, Bandit led Vera through the dungeon towards the surface.
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“…All right. Come back here.”
The four girls stood and filed back into the boss chamber. None of them seemed to have any trouble following along with the charades while Vera was there.
“Why did we have to leave and then come back?” Lupy asked.
Well, most of them didn’t have any trouble following.
“…Anyway. I want to try visiting that dungeon in the Upper Gordu Forest and I think now is a good time.”
“Can we go with you?” Kat wondered but DM denied her.
“…No. I need you all to stay here and guard this place just in case. …This is a rare moment when we don’t need to hide the fact that you all are here.”
“It’ll be boring here without you,” Shiba complained.
“…I should be able to make the trip pretty quickly, I think. Would you like me to leave some fluffy monsters behind, or something?”
Shiba’s face lit up at that suggestion. “Okay!”
DM wasn’t really sure if his offer was that great, but it wouldn’t cost him anything to bring a few monsters to the boss chamber. He supposed they’d be kind of like pets, although he didn’t want the girls getting too attached to them. After all, they’d have to separate when the girls left the dungeon in a day or so.
“…Well, what type do you want?”
The girls took turns discussing what interested them. Kat and Shiba soon requested one dog and one cat, of course, both of the monster variety. The strange part was that Kat wanted the dog and Shiba wanted the cat.
Less surprisingly, Vulp requested a fox. DM was about to punch in a command to spawn a wolf as well, just as Lupy was answering.
“Can I have a minotaur?”
“…What?”
“A minotaur.”
“Why would you want that?” Kat asked, sounding a bit disgusted.
“Why not?”
“…Lupy, I said I would summon some fluffy creatures for you all. A minotaur isn’t… fluffy.”
“Why can’t I have a minotaur?”
DM had envisioned the girls using the obedient minions as, essentially, pillows while they took turns sleeping and waiting for DM’s return. To his recollection, it was normal for children to bring the dog or cat up in the bed with them. Foxes were a bit more exotic, but DM didn’t think that would cause a problem for Vulp.
DM tried to envision Lupy climbing into bed when it was her turn to sleep and snuggling up against a minotaur, which was quite a few times her size. The minotaur would be fully behaved of course, per DM’s instructions, but it still seemed really weird and just wrong somehow. He couldn’t bring himself to agree. After all, what if this somehow twisted Lupy to become weird? She was already a bit unusual.
“…No minotaurs, please. Pick something smaller and probably fluffier.”
“Chickbear?”
“…Better, but too big.”
“Lupy, stop picking dumb things!” Shiba chastised.
“Why don’t you ask for a wolf?” Vulp offered, trying to be helpful.
“A morphling.”
“What?” Even Kat expressed her confusion now.
“A morphling. That way I can have a dog, or a cat, or a fox!”
“That…” Shiba trailed off, surprised by the sudden logic originating from Lupy.
DM couldn’t really argue with the request. He figured he’d still probably regret it somehow, but he was running out of time.
“…Fine.” At least a morphling couldn’t really hurt anyone with its low stats, even if Lupy asked it to do something problematic.
There wasn’t a need for DM to summon another morphling since they were already using one to communicate and another was teed up in a different room. DM simply issued the nearby morphling a command to remain with Lupy be friendly towards her.
“Make it change!” Kat demanded suddenly, not liking that a morphling in her image was just handed over to Lupy.
Lupy didn’t object. She pointed at Kat’s dog, and the morphling also took a dog’s form.
“Oh, good choice!”
“…All right, it’s getting dark out, so I’m going to the Upper Gordu Forest. I’ll bring some escorts with me, but there will be plenty of monsters patrolling the dungeon as well.”
The girls nodded.
DM manipulated the dungeon console for a few more moments, activating his escape hatch and mustering some flying minions near the dungeon entrance.
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“…I’m going out.”
“G—Going out? You can do that?” Olivia practically fell out of her seat.
“…Yes, although I’m only doing it because this group of adventurers seems trustworthy and agreed to guard the lower levels while I’m out.”
“How long will you be gone?
“…Not long. I just want to investigate the forest north of the dungeon. I’ll try to be back tomorrow.”
“Oh, uh, okay…” Olivia tried to think through the implications of all this. “Should I head back to the Twin Cities or stay here? I wasn’t expecting the girls to spend the night…”
“…You should head back. I set the dungeon so that the adventurers won’t be harmed.”
Olivia reluctantly agreed to return to the city and departed the dungeon.
After confirming she was out of sight, DM called over a swarm of wasps and bats and ascended the stairs, which felt much more cramped than last time he left the dungeon. He had grown a fair bit since then.
Once outside, he activated his float ability and rose up above the trees, mostly obscured by the darkness of night. The flying minions stayed with him like a royal guard of sorts. DM turned to face the approximate direction of the nearby dungeon in the Upper Gordu Forest and activated his sprint ability, launching forwards. The escorts struggled to catch up to him. Just as they did, the six second cooldown was over and DM could sprint again.
The whole process was too distracting for DM to pay attention to much of anything else, including the girls he had just left behind in the dungeon.
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“We should decide the order for who sleeps,” said Kat. The girls had gained some experience with these sorts of decisions while adventuring, including during their foray into the Narrow Cliff Woodland.
Just as they finished setting the schedule, Lupy told the morphling to return to Kat’s form. The morphling wasn’t smart enough to realize that DM wouldn’t like this command, so it complied. Of course, Kat exploded.
“Change it back!”
In contrast, Shiba laughed hysterically, loving seeing Kat as the butt of a joke for a change. Vulp just sighed and told Lupy to change it into something else that she wants.
“I’ll be right back.” Lupy left the chamber with the morphling, presumably to find a new target for the morphling to shift into.
“Is it okay for her to go alone?” Shiba asked the other two.
“I guess… DM told the monsters not to attack us, right?”
“It should be…” Vulp agreed with Kat.
Indeed, Lupy returned a little while later, a smile plastered on her face. “I’m back!”
Walking alongside her was a minotaur, although of course it was a morphling that had taken the form of a minotaur Lupy found patrolling the dungeon.
The other three girls shook their heads in resignation.
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DM was making good progress, despite how slow moving via float was by default. When combined with sprint, his speed was about the same as if he was a bat just flying to the target directly. He could only imagine how ridiculous he must have looked to anyone who was actually able to see him, a large tentacle monster, flying through the sky with an escort of small flying creatures who made him look even bigger by comparison. Of course, he expected few, if any, people to be in the forest below, and he doubted they’d be spying up through the treetops anyway.
At one point, a random bat engaged his group. It was no threat at all, easily defeated by DM’s minions, but the encounter reminded DM that his combat ability is greatly diminished while flying. He couldn’t spawn tentacles and he had nothing to use as a projectile. He could still launch fireballs and the like, but that wouldn’t cut it against some enemies, he figured. His reach was pretty long when he stretched his appendages, so he could still directly slap enemies to death, if needed.
Just as DM was becoming concerned about his mana supply, the dungeon entrance came into view.