Darting around the corner, Aster took a deep breath. He glanced around. Right. The kitchen. Looks like everything’s still working fine.

The slimes bobbed, happy to see him, and their flames flared up a bit. Aster glanced up, checking that the smoke still vented through the narrow chimney in the roof. He set a few pots of water to boil and paused, bending down to peek into the small cellar Daiyo had dug into the floor. Cookie dough waited there, sitting in stone bowls covered in waxed leaves. Should I put more cookies in the oven?

A few seconds later, Milo hurried in. “Most of them want normal tea, but there’s one order for dungeon tea and one herbal tea.”

“Did you mention they were dungeon herbs?” Aster asked.

Milo paused. “No…”

“Eh, it’s probably not important. What about the cookies?”

“A plate for each table,” Milo said, collecting the cookies onto a plate and setting them neatly into place. He nodded at Aster. “Stella’s a little further in, with Daiyo. She was sitting by the entrance, but she fled when she saw the humans—er, the councilmen coming up the mountain.”

“I was just thinking… should I put some more cookies in?” Aster wondered, putting a hand to his chin.

Milo froze. He bit his lip. “Uh, maybe… let me handle that? I’ll put these plates out and be right back, okay?”

Laden with cookie plates, Milo vanished into the front of their small teahouse. Aster stared after him, then shook his head. I’m not that bad at making cookies. The batter’s already been made. At this point, all I have to do is put them in the oven! It isn’t even hard.

The water continued to boil. Aster watched it for a bit, then wandered deeper into the dungeon, poking his head around the wall. Daiyo crouched there, his featureless face pressed up to a narrow slit in the wall that looked out from under the largest floral arrangement. When Aster appeared, Daiyo glanced over and gave Aster a casual nod, not embarrassed in the least.

“Where’s Stella?” Aster asked.

Daiyo raised a finger to his forehead. “Shhh.”

Aster crossed his arms and looked at Daiyo expectantly.

Daiyo thumbed over his shoulder. “A little deeper in. She’s hiding.”

Aster nodded. He followed the dungeon path, wandering along. “Stella. Stella, are you there?”

“Aster?” Stella peeked out from a nook in the wall. She climbed down and wandered over to him, hesitant.

“Hello there,” Aster said, smiling. He held out the piece of candy the old lady had given him. “One of the old ladies that came to our shop gave me this for you.”

“What is it?” Stella took it. She squinted at the brightly colored wrapper. “Poison?”

“Candy. It’s sweet!” Aster said.

“Sweet?” Stella asked.

“Like cookies.”

Stella unwrapped it. She sniffed at the pink-colored ball of hard candy, then popped it in her mouth. After a second, she shook her head. “Not like cookies.”

“But is it good?”

Stella nodded. “Good.”

Aster smiled. He patted her head. “You know, you could get lots more candies and sweets if you went down to town.”

Mid-crunching the candy, Stella paused. She thought for a long moment.

“So?” Aster asked.

“No,” Stella said, but she sounded less certain this time.

Aster looked at her for a long moment. “Are you sure? You know, you should go watch the townsfolk with Daiyo. You might learn a little more about humans.”

Stella started to shake her head, then paused. “Learn about the enemy.”

“Well… I’d rather you not see them as enemies, but it’s better than nothing,” Aster said, shrugging.

Stella hopped up and ran over to Daiyo. Aster watched her go, still crouched for a moment. He shook his head. She’s a troublesome one, alright. But what can I say? It’s just part of what makes her so adorable.

“Aster! The pots are boiling over!” Milo shouted.

“Coming, coming!” Aster called, running back to their makeshift kitchen.

Patrons came in and out. Some only came to look, leaving rather than having some tea, but the majority stopped and had a drink. One by one, the tables they’d built filled up, until at last, a group occupied every table in the room.

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

Milo and Aster crouched by the ovens, quickly conversing. “There’s a group of four at the door. What do we do? Tell them to wait?”

“What about the town council? Have they left yet?” Aster asked.

Milo rolled his eyes. “They’re old. They’ll be here all day.”

“True… ugh. I hate to turn anyone away. That’s lost mana, as far as Stella is concerned…” Aster bit his lip. He peeked out at the floor, where the group looked around, slightly lost. “What do you think? Will they stay and wait?”

Milo shrugged. “Hard to say. It’s only tea, after all. They’ll probably move on, right?”

Aster bit his lip. He glanced at the ovens. “We’re running low on cookies, too… at least there’s plenty of tea.”

“Yeah… at this rate, I’ll need to make a second batch of dough, but we don’t have the materials for that,” Milo said, nodding.

Aster frowned. He rubbed his chin. “Maybe they’ll agree to stand? Do we have any materials left from the cookies, or are we completely out?”

“We’ve got sugar, and not much else,” Milo replied.

Stone scraped. Daiyo loomed over them, head tilted. “Are you having troubles?”

“Not enough room,” Aster said, thumbing at the chamber outside.

“Oh. Then… should I widen it?” Daiyo asked.

Aster blinked. That’s right. I forgot. We’re in a dungeon. Monsters can do all kinds of wild things in here!

He pointed at the furthest, darkest wall. “What if you create a hallway there, and then expand a space inside? Simple furniture is fine. Mostly, I don’t want to startle any of the patrons when the dungeon starts changing around them.”

Daiyo considered, a hand on his chin. He twisted his lips. “It’ll be hard without line of sight…”

“I can,” Stella chirped, popping out from behind Daiyo.

Aster shook his head. “We’re doing this to get you mana, not for you to use it.”

Stella sighed and shook her head right back at him. “It won’t take that much. And I have dungeon eyes, so I can see everywhere in the dungeon. Line of sight isn’t a problem.”

Aster looked at Daiyo.

Daiyo shrugged. “She’s the boss. If she says she can do it, she can.”

I’d rather not have Stella use her mana, but… between Stella using her mana here, or startling the townsfolk by having Daiyo go out, or simply turning patrons away… I’d rather have Stella use her mana. “If it isn’t much,” Aster said, meeting Stella’s eyes.

She nodded. “Not much!”

“Alright. Then go ahead.”

Stella closed her eyes, her face squinching up. “I’ve never made furniture before,” she muttered under her breath.

Uh-oh. Aster swallowed, then shook his head. Oh well. It can only be so bad. Even if the chairs are janky and the tables are uneven, it’s better than turning people away!

The dungeon thrummed around them. Blue light pulsed through the crystals, ebbing out from Stella like ripples in still water. The light flew out through the chamber at the dungeon’s front.

The patrons looked around, surprised. One of the women startled and jumped out of her chair with a shriek, causing a ripple effect of shrieks and screams.

Shit! If this keeps on, then… Aster charged out from the kitchen, pasting a smile on as he went. “Wow! What a rare phenomenon. Ladies and gentlemen, what a treat we have today?”

The startled patrons stopped in their tracks, turning to look at Aster rather than retreat. One or two fled out of the cave anyways, but the majority paused.

“Yes, this…” Oh shit. I’m not good at ad-libbing. Uh… “… this dungeon phenomenon happens when… when the dungeon refreshes! Yes. It’s a rare situation, but every now and again, a pulse of mana hits the dungeon from deep in the earth. That kind of pulse can make the crystals grow more brightly for a moment or two, and sometimes, even the monsters react!”

“The monsters react?” one of the woman asked, startled.

“Oh, only on the most severe version of this phenomenon. This version is absolutely mild, only a flicker of the lights, so to speak. It’s the same as when a candle flares or a light-stone suddenly brightens,” Aster explained.

Most of that was true. It’s not what’s happening now, but everything else… dungeons do get hit with pulses of mana from time to time, and it can make the crystals suddenly glow! Not in pulses like that, but close enough. I’m lucky there was a phenomenon like that in the dungeon books I read, or else I would have been really out of luck!

The darkness of the darkest corner of the room grew deeper, then faintly brighter, as crystals pushed through the newly-formed walls. A room formed where no room had been before. Aster waited a few moments, then gestured for Milo to come out and went to inspect the new room.

About bedroom-sized, the new room sported bench seating and long, simple tables. Unlike the main room, the earth completely blocked out the sun here, so crystals and only crystals lit the room. Thanks to that, the room had an eerie pale-blue light, dark and intimate, not unlike the depths of the dungeon. Aster nodded. Alright. I can work with this.

He emerged just as Milo came over, leading the new group. Made up of four young adults, either a friend group or a double date, the two young men and two young women looked around as they walked, taking the dungeon ambiance in.

Aster beamed at them and nodded at Milo, indicating that he’d take over. Milo retreated, and Aster gestured them on. “This is our most authentic dungeon seating. It’s a bit dark, but it feels the most like being in the depths of the dungeon. You’re the fortunate first group who gets to experience it!”

“Oh, wow,” one of the girls half-whispered.

“Fortunate? Aren’t dungeons all gloomy?” one of the boys grumbled.

The other girl slapped his arm lightly. “Come on. We’re here to experience a dungeon, aren’t we?”

“I was against this from the start. Dungeons are awful places, and there’s nothing good about them,” the boy complained.

Aster forced himself to keep smiling and gestured them on. “Right this way, right this way…”

The group stepped into the small side room. The two girls and second boy all stared around in open amazement, but the first boy crossed his arms, unimpressed. “Dark and dreary. How boring.”

“Well, if you just…” Aster stopped himself. Dammit, I’m so tired of this customer service nonsense. When I became an adventurer, I thought I was getting away from this, not plunging into it!

Nearly at that moment, the crystals all flickered. For a moment, the room plunged into darkness, only for the crystals to slowly come back to life the next. From out of the pitch black, faint points of blue light glowed, as distant as the stars, slowly growing back to their full brightness.

The girls grabbed onto one another, eyes wide but jaws dropped. The first boy stared, and even the second boy blinked, startled by the cold beauty of the space.

After a moment, he wrinkled his nose and turned away. “Boring.”

Aster chuckled under his breath, shaking his head. Ah, youth. I remember being young. He took their orders and retreated.

Milo ran to his side. “We’ve got to mark the cookies as sold out. Either that, or run back to town…”

Aster bit his lip. He shook his head. “We don’t have time. Mark them sold-out.” Besides, I don’t want to leave Stella alone for a moment while this many humans are in her dungeon. That, and there’s still Fontea and Jaro. I don’t believe for a second that they’ve suddenly decided to leave us alone.

Nearly as soon as he thought it, a familiar pair of silhouettes appeared in the door. Fontea and Jaro stepped inside, looking around. Their eyes met Milo’s, and all three of them froze.

Fontea reached for her sword. “You! Why didn’t you find us? Why are you hiding in the dungeon?”

Aster pressed his lips together. Ah, shit.