I wake up early the next morning with a long list of things I need to take care of today. I need to speak with Lucille again, but first I need to find places for my monsters to train at. There are also many questions I have for Ceres that I just haven’t had time to speak with her about yet, either.
Answering my questions and asking her to see if her dungeon can handle training a few of my groups is more than enough reason to start with her. Besides, no matter how early I start my day she always seems to be a step ahead of me, so I send her a message to see if she is willing to meet with me this morning.
Without missing a beat, I receive a reply back almost instantly, telling me she is finishing up an early morning meeting and that she can meet with me in five or ten minutes once it is over… I just got out of bed, and I can easily get ready with [Menu], but even still the sun hasn’t even started to rise yet, so for her to already be finishing up with a meeting this morning. I can’t help feel sorry for whoever her meeting was with.
I decide to let Belinda sleep in a bit and give her a small kiss before quickly getting ready and heading for Ceres’s dungeon. It is the middle of winter, but it hasn’t snowed in a while so I am at least not having to deal with that, but being just before dawn even as a dungeon core the chill in the air is enough to make me uncomfortable.
I arrive at the administrative building, and am not even surprised to see everything lit up this morning already. Then again Ceres is the leader of the Mage’s Guild, so much of the lighting used within the college comes from the ruined magic stones I taught the guild how to make.
When I enter the building there is already a fair number of people scurrying about, and even though some of them I know are people that Ceres has summoned herself, others are faculty she has hired from outside.
I don’t even have time to send Ceres a message before she is tapping on my shoulder from behind and greeting me with a smile that is much to cheery for this time of the morning.
Ceres: “My, aren’t you up awfully early this morning, big brother!”
“I could say the same to you, especially when you have already finished a meeting this morning…”
Ceres: “If you are speaking about the one I told you about, that was my second meeting for the day, so this will technically be my third, so I would ask what I could do for you this morning, but I think I have a pretty good idea, so what do you say we go somewhere a bit more private to talk?”
“Third... Do you even sleep?”
Ceres: “Of course I sleep, but I am not exactly a human am I, so I don’t require as much as you do.”
“Really? Just how much do you sleep?”
Ceres: “I get a good couple hours in every week or so, but is that really what you came here to ask me this morning?”
“A couple hours a week?!” –I quickly say before shaking my head.- “Although that leaves me even more curious, you are quite right, so lead the way…”
At first I thought Cere’s dungeon had to be the type that builds up, as more than a few of the college buildings are multi-story, but I think I have determined they are more like the buildings in Tobes that are part of my dungeon.
At least that is the best explanation as to how Ceres can have those buildings above ground and yet still have sub-levels as well. At first it was just the feeling of being underground when Ceres transferred me several places within her dungeon, but after we made that large underground room to summon monsters in for the other dungeon cores that connects to both of our dungeons, I knew for sure.
I am sure she would tell me if I were to ask her about it, but when it comes to matters that I want to know just out of curiosity, I try not to overstep, because we are going to be stuck with each other for a long time, and I don’t want to upset her.
I honestly expected her to transfer us to the room with the comfy couches that we usually go to, so I can’t help looking around curiously at this room that is far different than any she has taken me to before.
I get the same feeling of being underground here as the other rooms I have been to, and I know it isn’t one of the college buildings, because we are at the base of a large cylindrical room easily 200ft tall and big enough for Teku to take flight in.
Even though the center of the room leading all the way to the top is empty, along the entire edge of the room are different styles, colors, and even textured doors leading out. There are also 4 continuous staircases leading up to different floors. From where I am standing I can see just as many doors on the second, third, and fourth floors, but can only assume the other six or so floors above it are the same.
“Where are we…? There has to be hundreds of doors here.”
Ceres: “Welcome to my true dungeon.”
“For you only being at this a year, this is quite something…But why show me this now?”
Ceres: “Well I heard you had some new monsters you needed to train, isn’t that why you came to speak with me this morning?”
“How did you hear that…?”
Ceres: “I ran into a few of your groups last night, and I noticed a lot of new faces. Now I admit I might not have many monsters here that would be much help to the higher level members, but if you let them stay here while they train the others, I will make a point of summoning some monsters so they won’t get bored.”
“But if this is your actual dungeon, then your crystal is behind one of these doors, and I wouldn’t want to put you at any kind of risk.”
Ceres: “I’m hardly worried. In fact if it helps motivate them you can tell them they can claim the crystal if they can manage to find it!”
“I couldn’t do that!”
Ceres: “Don’t worry it is just an imitation crystal, besides I’m pretty sure that even then, they won’t be able to find it, and if they do somehow manage to claim the imitation crystal, then I know I need to do a better job.”
“But the cost to replace it would be quite steep…”
Ceres: “Which should motivate me to make sure they can’t find it, isn’t that right? Besides the xp you and your girls provided to me those first few weeks after I became a dungeon core was more than enough to make up for it.”
“Well if you are sure, this would really be a big help to me…But I have to warn you some of these groups might be a little less conventional then normal.”
Ceres: “Even more reason for them to train up in the safety of my dungeon, but there is something you can help me with as well.”
“And what is that?”
Ceres: “I would like to borrow that oldest bunny of yours, Lilah.”
“Borrow her…?”
Ceres: “I would like her to train a few of my own people to watch over my dungeon the way the bunnies watch over yours. We could then offer the same services to other dungeon cores as a dungeon core only course at the college.”
“The number of adventurers entering the dungeon no longer slows down during the winter, so they have been giving it their all as it is. I couldn’t do without Lilah right now without replacing her with another bunny, and since it is Lilah maybe even two or three…”
Ceres: “Well it might not be a bad idea to summon a couple more then, and she can train them at the same time as training a few of my people.”
“Well it may be time to think about summoning a few more to look after the dungeon, but this would be a lot of extra work for Lilah to take on, so before I could agree to any of this I would have to see how Lilah feels about it.”
Ceres: “Of course, but keep in mind if I had someone to look after my dungeon the way you did for yours, then the groups you send to train here would be able to learn a lot more while they are here.”
“I will speak with Lilah and see what she thinks about it, but in addition to asking you to help me train a few of my monsters, I have a few more questions for you if you still have time.”
Ceres: “Oh? Well, you know me. I always have time for my big brother.”
“Well, I know I have thanked you several times already for helping keep an eye on my dungeon, even when it almost cost you your own life, but we haven’t really had much time to speak since then without at least somebody around that doesn’t know about the dungeon, so as grateful as I am, I was curious about a few things.”
Ceres: “Surely Akil told you all you needed to know?”
“That is exactly it… When you told me about Akil saving you, you spoke about him like you knew him beforehand, and I can’t even get him to wake up long enough to ask him a few questions, but for you, he not only woke up but saved your life as well from what I hear...”
Ceres: “Akil has been around longer then I have, so of course I know about him. I just didn’t know he had taken up residence in your dungeon. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised, he does enjoy to be at the center of things.”
“But all he does is sleep!”
Ceres: “Akil works differently than we do. When he is awake he is strong, so strong that none of my siblings will even risk fighting him, but his true power comes from when he is sleeping. When he is asleep, he can be anywhere. Or everywhere that he wants to be at the same time, but in that state he can only observe.”
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“What exactly does that mean…?”
Ceres: “Even my siblings can only be in one place at a time. I guess you can say that when Akil is sleeping it is like being a dungeon core room and he can observe everything through the screens, except that he can process what is going on in each and every screen at once.”
“That explains how he always seems to know what is going on, but doesn’t that make him quite dangerous…?
Ceres: “Luckily for us, Akil is quite lazy. He could watch everything, but he instead only watches things he finds interesting. That and the fact the more attention he draws to himself, the higher the chances are that his mate will find him.”
“He has a mate…?”
Ceres: “Yes, she is nowhere near as strong as he is, but she is still formidable in her own right. Every time their children get old enough to fend for themselves, Akil makes a run for it and goes into hiding for a couple hundred years until his mate manages to track him down and forces him to start another family.”
“You said she was much weaker then him, so how could she force him if he doesn’t even want to be with her?”
Ceres: “It’s not that… We both know how much Akil loves his sleep, but when he rears each and every one of his children himself, that means it leaves little time for sleeping, so once the children are grown he tries to find a secluded place to sleep until his mate hunts him down again.”
“Sounds complicated…”
Ceres: “Well that has been the way it has been since before I came into being, so that is just normal for them. I will warn you though even though it hasn’t been long since he last went into hiding, I wouldn’t put it past his mate to already be searching for him.”
“She wouldn’t harm my dungeon to find him would she?”
Ceres: “Akil killed the last dungeon core of the dungeon he was staying at to bury himself in the dungeon’s ruins, and although I made an agreement with him to not try something like that again, his mate will stop at nothing to find him.”
“Great! That is all I need, another threat to my dungeon. The xp I get from Akil is easily 50% of my income, but if the risk is that great maybe I should tell him to find somewhere else to hide…”
Ceres: “He is the closest thing to a god that we have access to at the moment without my powers, and not only is it clear the traitors have to be working with one of my siblings, but the great hunter still hasn’t made his intentions known either. If you do decide it isn’t worth the risk though, I would be willing to house him in my own dungeon.”
“I guess I will let him stay for now, but I can’t get anything out of him, so if you could convince him to help us, by all means, please do so…”
Ceres: “I already tried, and he said he might help after we deal with the traitors, but it looks like until then we may be on our own.”
“That’s too bad… Well, I still have a lot to do today, so I better get started. I assume the reason you transferred me here was so I could teleport my monsters here instead of letting the entrance of this place be discovered?”
Ceres: “Nothing as complicated as that, I just had a good idea of what you wanted from me this morning, and I wanted you to see firsthand that you can count on your little sister. I am sure it would make things much easier for you to transfer them to our connected room, where I can speak with them a bit before transferring them down here, if you don’t mind, that is.”
“Of course… I will also speak with Lilah to see how she feels about training a few of your monsters, and I will get back to you on that matter.”
Ceres: “I understand, oh, and one more thing.” –She says while she calls her [Menu] and after a few seconds a small wolf figurine forms in her hand and she then tosses it to me.- “You said you wanted one of these. That one is just a little wolf, but I am sure with your dungeon, that will be enough. Ownership works a bit different with them, but you’ll figure it out once you get back to your dungeon.”
I thank her and look over the small wolf figurine before Ceres transfers us back to the university’s administrative building.
Ceres: “Well best of luck to you today, and tell those groups of yours I am looking forward to working with them.”
I thank Ceres again for her help and step back outside into the cold winter morning. Everyone else should be beginning to wake up now, so I send message to my groups telling to meet back at the house. I only have to walk across the road to be back in my dungeon, but by the time I transfer back to the house there are already a few groups waiting on me.
Poppy’s group and the group with the lizardmen pair are still at the dungeon of course, but Bandy’s group is waiting in the ballroom already fully equipped in their gear. Iris’s group and Bradford’s group are here as well but they are not in their combat gear.
That only leaves Kit’s group left, but Bandy barely has a chance to complain before there is a knock on the door and Vetala lets brings Kit’s group into the ballroom.
Bandy: “Thanks for holding us up, why didn’t you just transfer here like the rest of us?”
Kit: “This is Master’s home, I felt it wrong not to at least knock on the door…”
Bradford: “He did invite us with his message…”
“We all just got here ourselves, and it is your complaints that is taking this longer then it has to be, so if you are all ready I will transfer us all to the others and we can then send you to get started.”
Bandy: “Fine with me, let’s do it!”
I then transfer us all to the groups still in the dungeon, after telling them about Ceres’s dungeon, and making sure everyone has their gear equipped, I then transfer the groups to the room connected to Ceres’s dungeon and my own, while I transfer to the dungeon core room.
Most of the bunnies are still asleep, but Lilah is up watching one of the screens while sitting in a chair still in her nightgown.
“Did an adventurer group get an early start this morning?”
Lilah: “No, Master started early, so Lilah has to do her part as well.”
“You six already do more than your fair share. I am the one that should be trying harder to do my own part…”
Lilah: “Master has to protect the dungeon from the whole world, but Lilah only has to protect it from those that enter the dungeon, so Master’s job is already much harder.”
“Anyway, I am glad you are awake, because there was something I needed to talk to you about, but first you should probably get dressed...”
The nightgown she is wearing should be a perfect fit if equipped by [Menu], but by the looks of the way it fits Lilah, I would say it was for one of the twins instead. Lilah is starting to grow into quite the attractive young woman, and I have to say seeing her like this makes me a bit uncomfortable.
A lot of the nightgowns Belinda tends to wear, she does so without anything underneath it, so I guess I should be thankful Lilah is at least wearing a pair of panties because they are clearly visible by the way she is sitting. Not only that but with how tight the top of the nightgown is, it is quite obvious she is not wearing anything under it there.
Lilah: “Is Master taking Lilah somewhere?”
“Nothing like that, I just wanted to ask a favor of you, but you are old enough now you should be more mindful of your appearance around men.”
Lilah: “Of course, but Lilah doesn’t mind as long as it’s Master…”
“Please, just get dressed…”
Lilah: “Okay…” –She says sounding a little disappointed.-
She then hops up from her chair and starts walking to her room. Their rooms aren’t exactly private with just some furniture separating one section of the dungeon core room from the next, but she is still quite a ways away from her room when she pulls off the nightgown walking the rest of the way to her room just in her light blue panties that have little white bunnies all over them…
“Lilah!” –I quickly say once she reaches her room, and starts removing her panties as well.-
Lilah: “It’s not Lilah’s fault Master is watching, this is Lilah’s room, and Master was the one that told her to get dressed!”
“Just use [Menu]…”
Lilah: “Fine…” –She says as she pulls her panties back on and picks a small runic stone off her dresser. The magic stone is one with the [Clean] spell, and after she uses it she taps away on [Menu] and a soft blue one-piece dress appears on her body.-
Lilah has always been partial to the first blue one-piece dress I summoned for her, Even using [Menu] to maintain its fit over the years, but this dress most definitely is not it. It’s appearance is almost identical, but this one’s length is much shorter ending well above her knees. In fact it isn’t all that much longer then the nightgown she was just wearing.
“Isn’t that a bit short for a winter dress…?”
Lilah: “Master said he wasn’t taking Lilah anywhere, so shouldn’t she just wear something comfortable?” –She says while twirling in the dress as she walks back from her room.-
“Alright, whatever… I just wanted to ask you a question before going to check if Lucille has changed her mind, so Ceres wanted to know if you would be willing to train a few of her monsters to protect her dungeon like you and the other bunnies do for mine.”
Lilah starts to get upset as she says. “Master is trying to get rid of Lilah? She is sorry. She will put on a different dress, but don’t get rid of Lilah!”
“I am not getting rid of you… Sofia teaches at Ceres’s college, and she is still part of us. I am just asking if you would be willing to train a few of Ceres’s monsters the way Sofia teaches the adventurers.”
Lilah drops to her knees in front of me and pleads with me. “No! Lilah belongs to Master, she will only help Master! If Ceres wants one of us, Master can summon another sister for Ceres!”
“That is a possibility, but that would take twice as long because you would still have to train her, and then she could train Ceres’s monsters.”
Lilah: “Lilah doesn’t care! Master’s dungeon is Lilah’s responsibility and she can’t give that up!” –She shakes her head violently enough that her long ears flop back and forth.-
“I could have you train Ceres’s monsters here, but as close to family as Ceres is, I still don’t know about letting her monsters in our dungeon core room. You six are starting to get overworked as it is so if you are at least willing to train a few more new sisters, then I will see if Ceres is willing to just take one of them instead…”
Lilah: “Thank you Master! …Lilah promises to train the new sisters very hard, as long as Master promises to let Lilah keep protecting Master.” –She says with tears in her eyes.-
I sigh and scratch Lilah behind the ears while she starts to calm down. I then hear a voice from the other side of the room.
Lylah yawns and stretches exposing her belly in the pajamas she is wearing as she says. “What’s all the commotion about this early in the morning? Am I going to have to tell Belinda that Master has Lilah crying on her knees while holding the back of her head?”
“Sorry for all the racket and waking you up…”
Lylah: “On my day off too… Where do you plan on going dressed like that Lilah? Isn’t it your day off as well?”
Lilah: “Master just gave Lilah an important job, so Lilah can’t take the day off!” –She says while I help her back to her feet and she puffs out her chest.-
“There is not that big of a rush, you can start tomorrow if today’s your day off…”
Lilah: “No, Lilah promised, and she won’t take another day off until she fulfills that promise!”
“Just don’t work yourself to hard, ok…? And I would start with three more and after they are trained we can then see which one or how many we send to Ceres alright?”
Lilah: “Understood!” –She quickly says as she runs over to her chair and starts looking though her [Menu].-
Lylah yawns again and says. “Well whatever you promised her, it looks like to have made her day. It looks like the first adventurer group has entered the dungeon, so I better get the others up.
I need to tell Belinda before going off to Lucille’s dungeon, so I return home just in time to see Belinda getting ready to get in the bath with Rory. I decide to stick around a bit and help Belinda give Rory a bath.
I let Belinda soak in the bath for a while longer while I get Rory dressed, and play with her a bit. When Belinda gets done with her bath she sneaks up behind me while I am trying to keep Rory from making too much of a mess out of her breakfast, and Belinda wraps her arms around me while leaning on me from behind the chair.
I pull her around the chair and into my lap while I take in the sights and smells of Belinda still in her bathrobe with her damp hair that smells of her fragrant shampoo. Belinda giggles and leans in giving me a deep kiss.
After the kiss Belinda rests her damp head on my shoulder as she says. “Thank you for that. Have I told you lately how much I love you…?”
“Not in so many words, but it is nice to hear it every now and again.” –I say while work my hand up Belinda’s leg and into her bathrobe.-
Belilnda’s breath becomes a bit heavier as she starts nibbling on my ear, while I tease her from under her bathrobe. We don’t get very far however, because there is soon a loud crash as Rory tosses her plate into the floor since we weren’t paying attention to her.
Belinda jumps off my lap and gives Rory a kiss on the forehead before crouching down to pick up the mess off the floor. “It’s probably for the best. You have a lot to do today don’t you? I’ll take it from here.”
I get up and kiss Rory on the forehead as well, and while Belinda moves over to the sink I wrap my arms around her and biting her ear. “Maybe so, but I promise to be home early to pick up where we left off.”
Belinda sets the plate down in the sink and turns giving me another deep kiss before saying. “I’m looking forward to it.~♪“
I then give Belinda another quick kiss, and then give Rory another quick kiss on the forehead as well before stepping out into the entryway to collect myself, before using [Gate] to reach Lucille’s dungeon again.