“What are you?” Alice asked skeptically.

“A little girl’s father,” Aster repeated.

Alice laughed. She pointed her dagger at him. “Not a little girl. A little monster!”

“All kids have their bratty moments,” Aster deadpanned. He strode forward.

The slimes scurried away from him, giving him room. Alice glanced around and nodded, understanding. “You’re a monster, too. Monster daddy.”

“Don’t say that. You’ll give me ideas,” Aster said, sighing.

“Tell me name. Before you die,” Alice demanded.

“Aster Zwei, a member of no clan, no team, and no guild, aspiring Dungeon Keeper,” Aster declared.

“Alice, of the Aces!” Alice returned. She darted in, blades flashing.

Aster spun his hammer, knocking her blades aside as easily as flipping his hand over. He kicked at Alice’s feet.

Alice jumped, kicking herself into a spin. Her arms whipped around, diving toward Aster’s neck.

Expression blank, Aster let the hammer’s head fall, using the spin to raise its butt to block his neck. With a backhanded grip, he smashed the butt upward, striking Alice’s wrist. Alice’s hand flew open, and her blade arced away.

The hammer’s own weight kept it spinning upward. Aster put his other hand on the very butt of the hammer and pushed down, sending the head up into Alice’s gut.

Still stuck in midair, Alice tensed, but couldn’t jump aside. The hammer slammed into her stomach and lifted her into the air again. Her breath left her body, and she bit back vomit. Grimacing, she flailed in midair, kicked off Aster, and bounded away, her aching wrist wrapped around her aching stomach.

“Why do you protect her? Protect monster!” Alice protested, scowling at him.

“Why do you think you have the right to kill her?” Aster returned, still poker-faced. He strode forward, his steps powerful and deceptively slow. He closed the gap between them and spun his hammer around, striking toward her side.

Again, Alice jumped away. The hammer still caught her. Aster hooked her body and slung her toward the wall. She twisted around in midair and put her feet against the wall.

A crystal crashed down toward her from above. Alice threw herself aside.

Aster paused. “Stella, let me handle this.”

Deep underground, Stella paused. “Why?”

Alice hopped away from the wall, brandishing her knives.

Hefting his hammer, Aster strode toward Alice. He shook his head. “I don’t want you to have blood on your hands.”

“Too late for that,” Alice chuckled.

Aster looked at her. “I know.”

Narrowing her eyes, Alice leaped at him. Aster gripped his hammer tight and raised it high. As she plunged down at him, he swung for the fences.

A meaty smack rang out. Alice’s head snapped back. She fell to the ground, limp.

Aster walked over to Alice. He knelt and gripped her chin, turning her to face him. Her eyes rolled. Blood rolled down her face.

Breathing out, Aster reached out and closed her eyes. He looked at the ground. “Stella, she’s dead. You’re safe, now.”

The ground trembled. Stone retreated, and Stella popped her head out of the stone. She shook her head, white hair flying, and looked around. “Safe?”

Aster nodded. He stood, brushing his knees off. “The humans are gone.”

A quiet cough sounded from around the corner. Milo stepped out with a smile, waving. “Hi.”

Stella flinched.

Aster snatched up his hammer. He stepped protectively in front of Stella. “Who are you?”

“He agreed to not hurt monsters anymore,” Stella said, running over. She grabbed Aster’s leg.

Quirking his brow, Aster gave Milo a long look.

“It’s true. I promised,” Milo said, nodding. “That is… I didn’t know I helped to kill someone’s mother. I thought it was just another monster. I’m sorry.”

“And what about that one?” Aster asked, pointing at Silas, frozen in the crystal.

Stella looked at the crystal and shook her head. “He’s not dead. Yet.”

“Should he be?” Aster asked darkly.

Stella hesitated. She shrugged, looking at the floor.

Aster pressed his lips together. Somehow, I have the urge to kill him.

Milo glanced at Alice, then stepped forward. “I have a revival spell. If you allow me to gather my magic, I can—”

“Bring her back, so she can attack us again?” Aster asked, crossing his arms.

Milo shrank back. “She’s… a beloved companion for me, so I…”

Stella peered at him. “You’re sad, because Aster killed her.”

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Taking a deep breath, Milo nodded. “Yes, that’s true. Even if she refused to talk and attacked instead, she still…”

“Like Momma,” Stella said, nodding.

“Eh? Oh, the dragon. Yes… I suppose she didn’t want to talk, either,” Milo said, nodding to himself.

Stella considered, then nodded. “What if I bring her back?”

Milo and Aster both stared at her. “Huh?”

“I can turn her into a monster,” Stella offered.

Aster blinked.

Milo rubbed his ears. “Huh?”

“I… feel like that would cause more problems than it solves,” Aster muttered.

Stella frowned. “Should I absorb her into monster food, instead?”

“N-no!” Milo protested.

“Well, most people have to be monster food. Monsters have to eat,” Stella said matter-of-factly. “Momma made people into monster food, too. I’m being nice, offering to turn her into a monster.”

Aster frowned, the thought suddenly occurring to him. “What do monsters eat, normally?” There are many theories, but as usual, no one knows for sure. The classic assumption is that the dungeon provides monsters mana directly, and they subsist off the mana without needing to eat. Others assume the dungeons have their own ecosystem… which might be true in larger dungeons, or in particular rooms of the dungeon, but based on how Daiyo can’t move around freely without Stella’s permission, the monsters clearly can’t freely roam the dungeons to find food.

“Monster food,” Stella declared, as if it was obvious.

Aster put a hand to his forehead. Walked right into that one. “Where does monster food come from?”

Stella shrugged. “Mana. But turning dead things directly into monster food is better than using mana. Ah, and if you can leave the bodies for the monsters to eat, that’s best. That’s what Momma said.”

“And… your Momma used the core to process bodies into…?” Aster prompted.

Stella shook her head. “The monsters listened to her, so she told them to do it. The slimes would distribute the food, because they can go anywhere. Mostly, monsters found their own food, though.”

Oh. So that’s why she didn’t know about absorbing corpses, but knows about making monster food and monster-corpses. Aster’s brows furrowed. Actually, what kind of monster would Alice come back as? An undead of some sort? Or a humanoid monster? I’m kind of curious.

Though… as a human, morally speaking, I probably shouldn’t be considering this so seriously. Still, bringing Alice back as a monster would solve a lot of problems.

“If she’s a monster… will she still be Alice?” Milo asked, putting a hand on his chin.

“Actually, is that where Daiyo comes from?” Aster muttered to himself.

Stella looked at both of them and shrugged. “I dunno.”

Milo took a deep breath. He looked at both of them. “Let me try bringing her back. If I can’t… if I can’t, then… then I can’t oppose whatever you want to do to her body. After all, we’re the ones who entered the closed dungeon and attacked the monsters inside, even knowing it was closed. We… we are truly the ones in the wrong.”

Aster nodded. “That’s reasonable.” It’s not as if it’s easy to say, ‘yes, turn my friend into a monster.’

On the other hand, his revival spell isn’t a sure bet. Every minute he waits, the chance of failure increases, and if he fails, no revival spell will ever be able to bring her back… maybe barring Stella’s monsterification. Given that he’s out of mana, he’ll be working with at least a fifty percent failure chance by the time he gets enough to cast.

I’m fine with Alice coming back as a monster. Stella needs to replace bosses, and Alice can’t hurt her if she’s one of Stella’s monsters… probably?

I’ll be here. If she attacks, I’ll put her down again.

Stella nodded as well. She bounced in place, staring at Alice’s body. Aster reached over and turned her head away.

“Huh?” Stella asked.

“You shouldn’t look,” Aster said.

“Why not? I’m not a human. People look at dead monsters all the time. It’s the same for me,” Stella said.

Aster hesitated. “I guess that’s true.” He hesitated, but released her head.

“What about Silas?” Milo asked nervously, shelving the monster conversation for the moment.

Stella looked at Silas, still curled up in the crystal. She shook her head. “Momma and I are just money to him.”

Milo took a deep breath. “That’s… true.” He looked at his own hands, then clenched them, tightening his grip on his staff. “But we’re just food to you!”

Although Alice is the immediate threat, Silas might actually be more dangerous, long-term, Aster thought, crossing his arms. After all, Alice just wants to kill Stella. Silas… if he truly wants money, then he won’t hesitate to sell out Stella’s secrets or attempt to monetize the dungeon. But at the same time, it’s not as if I have the right to kill someone for being greedy.

He looked at Stella. “Do they know…?”

Stella tipped her head. After a second, her eyes widened. “About being a Dungeon Spirit? Yeah.”

Aster sighed. “Stella, you shouldn’t just tell people that.”

“Why not?” Stella asked.

Milo stepped forward. “There are people who don’t believe in Dungeon Spirits, who would take you as a monster and try to kill you. Like Alice.”

“That, and… it’s possible that someone would try to take advantage of your control over the dungeon to exploit it,” Aster said.

“Exploit?”

“Turn it into money,” Aster explained patiently.

Stella’s eyes widened. She shook her head. “No!”

“Right. It’s too late now, but don’t tell people in the future, okay?”

Stella nodded. She paused, then pointed at Silas. “I didn’t tell him.”

Aster nodded, taking a relieved breath. Thank goodness.

“I won’t say a word. If you let us leave, Silas will never know. I won’t even mention Alice,” Milo promised.

They all turned to look at Silas. He hung in the crystal, curled up in the center of the translucent cluster. Aster frowned. “How did you do that?”

“I made crystals come out around him. I wanted to stab him!” Stella gestured enthusiastically, and Milo winced. “But it didn’t work the way I thought it would.”

“You can say that again,” Aster muttered.

Stella looked at her core again. “He’s a mana battery.”

“Huh?” Aster and Milo said in concert.

“A mana battery. If I put people in crystals, they stay alive and turn into mana batteries,” Stella said, nodding.

“Interesting,” Aster said, putting a hand on his chin. He raised his eyebrows thoughtfully. Stella does need mana, and he is still alive. Isn’t this a peaceful solution to all her dungeon’s problems? Maybe we should make more.

“That’s horrifying. Trapped in the crystal forever?” Milo muttered. He shivered. “He’d be better off dead.”

Aster glanced at Milo. Right. For a human who doesn’t care about dungeons or Stella, it would be horrifying. I want Stella to survive, so it sounds like an easy, peaceful way to get mana for me, instead of some kind of life-sucking human trap.

Stella put her hands on her hips. “What if I keep him for a cycle?”

“A cycle?” Milo asked.

“Long enough to recover the mana I used on this boss,” Stella said, running over to slap the spiky fire slime on the side. The fire slime jiggled like gelatin under her palm. It wobbled happily, wiggling around

“A whole cycle… Wait, what’s a cycle?” Milo muttered.

Aster nodded. “Actually, if I reported you to the guild for breaking into a closed dungeon, you’d get a much longer sentence than that.” A cycle is probably about a year, right? Or… maybe closer to a month? Either way, it’s a reasonable length of time.

Stella looked at Aster expectantly. “Longer?”

Aster waved a hand. Let’s not actually imprison him for a few years. In the first place, we aren’t exactly a jury, and secondly… I don’t want the guild to see Stella as a threat, whenever they find out about her. These mana batteries sound useful, but they’re also… well, look at Milo’s reaction. They’re pretty scary to ordinary people.

Milo took a deep breath. “That’s true. I… should have stopped them. I thought it was better to go along as a healer rather than let them go alone, but…”

Stella ran back over to Aster and tugged on his shirt. Aster looked down. She twisted in place, gripping her skirt, then looked up at Aster. “Can I monster her yet?”

“Monster her…? Turn Alice into a monster? No, no. You have to wait and give Milo a chance first,” Aster replied gently.

“Okay,” Stella mumbled, sighing loudly.

Milo chuckled. The two of them looked at him, confused. He waved his hand. “No, no, it’s just… you really looked like her father for a second there.”

Stella looked at Aster. Aster looked at Stella. Stella ran to his side and hid her face.

“Well… I am her dad,” Aster replied, patting Stella comfortingly on the back.

Stella looked up at him and nodded. “Dad!”