Stella leaned against the dungeon wall and yawned. “I’m tired.”

Aster walked over to the dungeon’s entrance. He nodded at her. “I’ll stay with you until you have enough mana to keep yourself safe, does that sound good to you?”

Yawning again, Stella nodded.

“But first, I have to get some supplies. This was only supposed to be a short, diagnostic delve, and this dungeon is a shallow one, too. I don’t have much in the way of food or shelter. I take it you won’t come with me to town?” he asked, offering her his hand.

Stella shook her head vigorously. “That’s where the humans are.”

Aster nodded. “That’s what I thought. I’ll run into town and be right back. It should only be an hour or so. Will you be safe alone?”

“I’ll keep her safe,” Daiyo promised, thumping his chest. A sharp stone-on-stone crack rang out.

Entrust Stella to the guy who just attempted to steal her core? Aster cocked an eyebrow at Daiyo.

“What? I’m fine with following you and Stella. I said so, didn’t I?” Daiyo insisted.

“And I’m supposed to believe that?” Aster asked, crossing his arms. I’m fine with letting him hang around while I’m here. I can fight a golem as small as him one-on-one, and Stella has ways to defend herself if he tries a sneak attack. Leaving her alone with him for an hour or more is a whole other can of worms!

Daiyo put a hand to the middle of his face, fingers pinched as though he rested them on his chin. “It always worked when the humans said ‘I’ll keep her safe.’ Is it because I’m a monster? Is that why it didn’t work?”

When the humans… wait. Hold on. For the second time that day, images flashed before Aster’s eyes. Adventurers walked through the dungeon. One of them limped at the back of the pack, bloodied and bruised, panting heavily. Another one of the adventurers paused and turned to the party, a heroic expression on their face. “Go on ahead. I’ll keep her safe.”

Aster pressed a hand to his forehead, suddenly exhausted. Right. Yeah, I bet that’s the only time he’s heard that line. Of course it works in that situation! But that’s between trusted comrades, not between strangers, and a stranger who just tried to attack Stella, at that. There’s no way I can trust him with nothing more than a one-liner like that.

Stella looked at Daiyo. “It didn’t work because you attacked me earlier, that’s why.”

“But you can summon fire slimes, and I know that, now. Isn’t that a checkmate?” Daiyo asked, tilting his head. “I won’t attack you because you can hurt me, right? That’s how that usually works.”

Aster raised his hand before the conversation could devolve further. “Daiyo, can you get into the boss room?”

“No one can enter but Momma and me!” Stella declared. After a second, her expression soured. “And filthy humans.”

Daiyo shook his head. “She is correct. I cannot enter.”

Guess that explains why no one attacked her until I took her out of that room. Aster knelt, offering Stella a piggyback ride. “I’ll carry you back to the boss room, then. That should keep you safe.”

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

“Humans won’t come?” Stella asked.

“They shouldn’t. The dungeon is closed. Besides, all the traps and monsters still exist, right? It’s… as safe as it can be,” Aster concluded. Somehow, he still felt somewhat nervous. She is almost out of mana right now, and there’s always a chance someone will ignore the dungeon closure, or barge in without realizing it’s closed. It’s not entirely safe.

Still, I’ll only be an hour, maybe two or three at the absolute worst. And Stella has ways to protect and hide herself in the worst case. Besides, who can charge through a dungeon in an hour? Sure, there’s adventurers and delvers that can manage it, but unless they’re dungeon scholars like me, there’s no reason to challenge a tiny backwoods dungeon like this one.

Stella nodded and climbed onto his back. She wrapped her arms around his neck to hold on. Her heartbeat pounded against his back, a little faster than usual.

Is she scared? “Don’t worry. I’ll be back before you know it,” Aster assured her. He took off, blasting through the dungeon again.

“I know,” Stella muttered.

Daiyo followed after them, clunking along as usual. “I don’t know why all this is necessary. I’ll keep her safe. I will, I really will! You can trust me. I'm a trustable monster.”

--

They ran deeper and deeper into the dungeon, Aster retracing his steps for the third time today. Stella bounced on his back, leaning against him, her head nestled against his shoulders and her blue eyes half-shut. Daiyo broke away at his corridor with some grumbling about how he really, truly wasn’t a threat, while the stone spirits swarmed him, as happy to see him back as puppies.

At last, racing through the labyrinth and dodging past the giant snakes, they reached the boss room. Aster set Stella down and knelt down to her height. She wobbled in place, wiping her eyes with half-curled fists. Seeking out her gaze, he nodded reassuringly. “Be good while I’m gone, okay? If you wake up, see if you can figure out some new traps to add to keep yourself safe, if you have the mana, but don’t push yourself. Stay in the boss room. If anyone comes, hide immediately. Shape the stone if you have to. You can always run away, even if it means carving a path through the wall. I’ll come find you, no matter what, so keep yourself alive. If they—”

“Okay. I got it,” Stella said, her words distorting under the force of a huge yawn. She stumbled across the boss room to a place shielded by a spray of crystals growing from the floor. Laying down behind them, she tucked an arm under her head and curled up to sleep.

Aster’s brows furrowed. She sleeps on the floor? That’s no good. All alone, in this big empty boss room… This is no place for a kid to sleep. I’ll have to do something about this.

“Shoo,” Stella mumbled, waving him away. Her eyelids dipped low, already half shut.

Today was a lot of excitement for a young Dungeon Spirit, wasn’t it, Aster thought, smiling to himself. He nodded and backed away quietly, all the way to the edge of the boss chamber. I have a lot of work to do. We’ll have to discuss dungeon layouts, boss distribution, the placement of mobs, get her to visit the town, introduce her to ordinary people… all kinds of things.

But first, I need supplies.

At the threshold to the boss room, Aster paused and looked back at Stella. From the entrance, the crystals completely hid her from sight. He pressed his lips together, suddenly unwilling to leave. What if someone comes in, even though the dungeon’s closed? What if Daiyo was lying, and he does want to be boss, and he can enter this room? What if—

Closing his eyes, Aster took a deep breath. Calm down. She’ll be fine. She lived here for a long time before you got here, and she survived after her mother died without anyone’s help. I’ll only be gone for an hour or two. It’ll be like I never left.

“Stella, I’ll be right back,” he promised.

A sleepy “hmm” was his only answer. Aster cracked a smile despite himself. A warmth welled up from deep inside him, an emotion he didn’t quite have a word for. He looked at the crystals for another few seconds, then ran off into the dungeon.

Supplies, and right back. And a bedroll for Stella! Oh, and… does she eat? What does she eat? Should I bring some new clothes for her? Argh, so many questions! I’ll ask the old ladies in town what a young girl needs.

Right there, and right back. No diversions. Aster closed his eyes, then opened them to find a giant snake rushing at him. A vicious grin split his face, and he drew his hammer with a flourish.

“Get out of my way! I’ve got errands to run, dammit!”