Friends Who Became Villainesses

By Henry Cobb

Chapter Eight: The Dungeon

"Lord Vurbor, may I ask Your Lordship some questions, please?"

"And why do I need to answer to a commoner?"

"Your Lordship, I have been sent by Her Highness to conduct a survey of the freshman class."

"Yes, you're that pet the princess keeps. But what is this about a survey? Does Her Highness intend to levy a tax on her classmates?"

"Your Lordship, I am Miss Angelica Pureheart, a ward of Princess Amesombra's. We sit three rows ahead of Your Lordship in two different classes. Her Highness has told me that the results of the survey will be strictly confidential to Her Highness' planning team for the upcoming dungeon expedition."

"Isn't risking your lives digging around in holes a job for you commoners?"

"Your Lordship, Her Highness has also expressed doubts about the wisdom of the academy's tradition but has concluded that the risks can be managed with careful planning. Do you have a few minutes now, or shall I meet with you at a later time?"

That Saturday Princess Amesombra sat in her room and reviewed my survey sheets. "Miss Lugt didn't say anything about Lord Vurbor, but he doesn't want to be anywhere near her?"

"She's a commoner," I replied.

"Well, we can accommodate his request." Amesombra pointed at the tiny bust of Lord Vurbor that was carved out of ice and Lady Yeuxpera used her power to move this from Malheurfla's group to her own.

Lady Depecia looked over the new configuration. "Yuki, you seem to be taking all the malcontents to yourself. I hope you aren't setting them up as sacrifices."

"Daiya, I'm reserving the quiet ones for your group. Both Amy and Misaki have their commoner girl pets, so Vurbor is in my group, who are all loud enough that I just need to notice when one of them goes silent."

As they were conducting the conversation in the Common tongue, I felt emboldened to speak up. "I thought you four would want to all be in the same group?"

Amesombra replied, "It's more sensible to have somebody who's already explored the dungeon in charge of each group. Don't worry Kitten, I'll keep you next to me."

"Your Highness has been informed as to which dungeon we're to explore?"

"It won't be discovered until tomorrow. Well rediscovered for the first time in a thousand years."

Depecia glanced over Malheurfla's notes. "Speaking of dates, we'll be in the dungeon on Angie's fifteenth birthday. Does that trigger any plot points?"

Malheurfla replied, "On his path, Prince Tenecoeur makes a brief mention of this when comparing Angelica to the statue of The Saint they find together. They're just about to kiss when Princess Amesombra shows up and triggers the main monster attack."

The four of them thought about this for a moment and then Amesombra turned to me. "Kitten, you and my brother are supposed to be trembling with suppressed love for each other at this point. What's wrong with you crazy kids?"

"Permission to speak freely, Your Highness?"

"Oh, always when it's just us friends. Go ahead, Kitten."

"Prince Tenecoeur sees that I am the property of Your Highness and avoids me on that basis."

"What? I've offered you to him several times. I've made an extra effort to be especially nice to him, and I love having a big brother this time around. I've even warned him how to avoid mistakes and how to gain his best advantage at every step. I don't see how anybody could ever have a nicer and more helpful little sister."

"Your Highness, I do not know anywhere near as much as the four of you, but that behavior of yours seems to be exactly the problem. The prince fears that he will be king in name only, with a sister who actually directs every aspect of the kingdom and his own life."

"Kitten, did he tell you this?"

"It was just a hunch. Sorry to have wasted the time of Your Highness."

"Nope. You are entirely correct, it's my bad. I'll let my brother learn from his own mistakes and then tell him what he did wrong. Kitten, you must learn to trust these insights into the feelings of others as this is a vital part of your powers. And that is especially important for this expedition because at this point you start to get a clue as to whether your apparent love is on a false path and is just playing you along for The Cult. Yes, everyone please carefully study the reactions of all the students to gather clues to determine which are secretly working for The Cult."

"Surely Your Highness already knows who these are?"

"No, I do not. This is randomly selected at the start of each game and becomes more obvious over time. The big switch when your true love steps up to save you from your false love is one of the big moments in the game."

"The false paths always have the best lines," Depecia replied, "Especially when the false love becomes the host of the Demon Lord." And the other three nodded at this.

Malheurfla asked, "Now that he's survived to attend the academy, what if Gnouian is a member of the cult or even the host of the Demon Lord?"

"Not a chance in hell!" Depecia stood over Malheurfla.

"Sorry, it was just a thought. Pity we can't seem to manufacture a path for him, but perhaps he'll be the hidden true love that overcomes the false love."

"Oh, that would be wicked." Amesombra replied, "I'd love to see that if we could."

"I thought Your Highness wanted to see myself wed to Prince Tenecoeur?"

"Well Kitten, that's still your best path. But you do need someone who loves you enough to stand by you to see you through the dark days ahead. If we can't manage that then we're all doomed, and we've all died one too many times already."

"I am confident of the protection of Your Highness, and your friends."

"Well gang," Amesombra turned to her friends, "Shall we attempt to manufacture a spinster friendship path?"

"I don't think that would be strong enough against the manipulations of the Demon Lord," Yeuxpera replied.

On Monday the headmaster assembled the entire freshman class to tell us that we would be exploring a dungeon that had been discovered on Sunday and that normally the freshmen wouldn't be sent into a newly discovered dungeon, but since this one was beneath the slums of the capital it surely couldn't have that many monsters.

I turned and studied how Amesombra and her friends struggled to not laugh at this.

The headmaster then read off the team assignments the friends had settled on.

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

That afternoon when Yinshou stood up and walked away I already knew who was walking up to me. I didn't turn to face her, but my sense of her presence must have rattled me a bit because my next arrow hit just inside the rim of the target.

"Is that a new bow?" she asked.

"Lady Depecia gave me my birthday present early, Your Highness. She says I've made good progress and am now only two steps short of the Silver Bow. Can we go get it now, please?"

"Oh Kitten, I've asked you to call me Amy when we're alone like this."

I looked around and saw that the guards had already turned in for their dinner, leaving us alone on the practice field behind the palace. "Amy, how many students will die in the dungeon?"

"On a good run four or less, but now we're working with you and well prepared."

"Have you ever managed to not lose a single student?"

"Well not personally, but I think that Yuki did once."

"Then if Your Highness will please excuse this humble commoner who needs to practice a lot more."

"You're doing it wrong."

"What?"

"What's the point of bringing the great Miss Angelica Pureheart to a fight if you will be just another archer?"

"What other good am I against monsters who are not Black Magic aspected? Ask around for scrapped knees to fix up?"

"Here, let me show you." Amesombra stepped up, took the bow from my hands, put that on the ground then embraced me from behind, grabbed my hands, and positioned them as if I were still holding the bow. "Close your eyes and feel the bow in your hands."

"I'm not holding the bow."

"But you retain your power, and hence can create projections of light." She leaned closer to whisper in my ear. "Feel your power and draw the bow of light."

I shuddered for a moment then straightened my knees and put my back into the draw.

"Now, open your eyes and look at your target."

I did as the princess asked and saw that I held an arrow of light nocked to a bow of light. I let the arrow fly, and it passed through the target, to vanish into the ground behind it. "What good is that?" I turned to her.

Amesombra had picked up my bow and placed this back in my hand. "Now project the bow of light over this bow of wood. Good. And let loose an arrow of wood and light."

I trembled to keep my focus on both archery and spellcraft with the princess whispering in my ear. My arrow just barely hit the edge of the target where it exploded, scattering a cloud of straw off the target. I turned towards her and my lips almost touched hers as she quickly backed off a step. Embarrassed, I quickly made up something to say other than what I was thinking. "I'll need to carry more arrows, but at least I won't have to worry about having these shot back at me."

She applauded. "Well done, Angie! Few are the creatures of shadow that can survive one such shot."

My eyes widened as I considered the implications of her words. I stared at her, so lithe, fragile, and developing from cute to regal and beautiful. I quickly turned away. "Keep thee behind me, Princess of Darkness."

"Oh, I'd rather be in front, where you can see me clearly."

"Amy, I know exactly where you are, to the same ten-yard range that Yinshou has."

"And I can sense you both to a step or two further out, but it's an add-on for, not a replacement for sight. Master this overlay of the bow of light and then you will be worthy to draw the Silver Bow."

That was the first night I regretted sharing the princess' bed. I found myself keenly aware of how she pressed up against my back with her arms wrapped around my waist and her nose at the back of my neck. I fidgeted for a bit then settled for putting my hands over hers. It felt like hours that I lay there listening to her gentle breaths as they tickled over the collar of my nightgown before I finally slipped under these waves into the darkness of sleep.

When I awoke Tuesday morning, I found that my power had washed away my physical fatigue, and ensured that my senses remained painfully sharp, despite my tangled emotions.

"Good morning, Angie." Amesombra raised her arms above her head as she yawned.

I forced myself to turn away. "Your Highness appears to remain in high spirits, even knowing what is to come?"

"Strange, isn't it? I'm far more likely to suffer an even more untimely death here or be subject to supernatural hazards that simply didn't exist in my old life. And yet I have a contentment here that I never felt in my old life. Being treated like a princess helps, but perhaps I am abusing my position by forcing you to be my body pillow. If this bothers you then we can make whatever other arrangements you want."

I froze as I imagined her finding some excuse to toss me aside with a scowl of contempt for the way I looked at her. I forced myself to breathe then responded, "I am also content with the current arrangements," A dull silence hung in the air for two seconds until I forced out one more word, "Amy."

"Well, that's good to hear. We'll just take each day as it is handed to us. Keep up the positive attitude and we'll all get through this together."

That afternoon I stood frozen in the corridor in the Academy, as I tried to remember what Amesombra had sent me to fetch. My attention had been so focused on how her lips moved that I had paid no attention to what she had said.

Thus, I was almost relieved when Lord Vurbor forced me back to stop with his hands against the wall above my shoulders. "Commoner, why are you in the same party as Her Highness, and I am not?"

"Lord Vurbor, Her Highness has done this at your request."

"What?"

"You said that you didn't want to be in a party with commoners, and so Her Highness moved all of these to her party and that of Lady Malheurfla. Does not your barony border on the duchy of Lady Yeuxpera?"

"We are already on good terms with the Baieducs. What our border region lacks is strong ties to the capital. Switch with me."

"Her Highness herself has selected me, and what of the other two commoners in her group?"

"Your insolence insults my title. Surely my higher duel ranking is the only reason Her Highness requires."

"Very Well, Your Lordship, I challenge you to a duel."

"I do not have to accept a challenge from a mere commoner."

"No, you do not. However, should you win, I will personally request Her Highness to switch out the three commoners in her group for yourself and two other nobles of your choice."

"Fine, I accept. Commoner, go make the arrangements."

Relieved at being stopped from fulfilling Amesombra's request that I had forgotten, I reported the duel to her, and she had this scheduled for that very afternoon, pushing the other matches back a day.

Amesombra and her friends took the front seats at the arena, as befitted their ranks. They wore the darkly tinted blacksmith's lenses that Lady Malheurfla had invented and shared an awful dish from their old world they called popped corn. It tasted like wood shavings covered in salt and butter to me, but they seemed to enjoy it.

The professor gave the signal to start and Lord Vurbor started his chant.

I started with a flash then blinked to clear my vision and created three light shadows that mimicked my motion in different directions as I ran across the arena.

Lord Vurbor finished his chant and sent a bolt of fire that flew through one of my light shadows to explode against the arena wall.

I stopped his next chant with a stun from a light bolt and kept these up as I closed the distance. When I reached him, I crouched down and swept his legs out from under him with my left leg, then as he flailed around, I caught his arms with mine and rolled him over me to the ground. I then moved on top of him with his face to the ground and held both his arms behind his back. I whispered in his ear, "Should Lady Yeuxpera come to harm due to your incompetence and buffoonery then you'd best pray to the gods that you yourself do not return, Your Lordship."

The professor dabbed at his eyes with his handkerchief then looked down at the arena. "The winner is Miss Pureheart."

I released Lord Vurbor, and he reflexively accepted my hand to help him to his feet, then yanked his hand back.

"Lord Vurbor, I believe that my dueling rank now exceeds your own. Feel free to challenge me again Your Lordship, once you have had time to practice."

He left the arena without responding to this.

On the day of the expedition Princess Amesombra wished me a happy fifteenth birthday as we awoke. After breakfast we dressed in our school field uniforms. In addition to my two daggers and new bow, I had a quiver with a dozen of Lady Malheurfla's latest arrows, a backpack with survival items, and two waterskins. I did not of course bother with a light source other than myself, but others in our group would have their own in case we were separated.

Amesombra needed no light to see in total darkness and while most of her kit matched my own, there seemed to be something lacking.

"Amy, are you sure you only need one dagger?"

"I won't even touch that, Kitten. My spellcasting shall suffice."

"And if we encounter Black Magic monsters?"

"One of the more annoying things Princess Amesombra does in the game is to seize control of shadow creatures and use these to torment Angelica. I have studied the theory and feel confident in my ability to do so. Should that fail, I shall cry out Eeek! and hide behind you. So let that be your signal to act."

Four wagons had been assembled at the palace stables and we rode in one of these, followed by the empty three, across the city square to the Academy. The freshmen class all gathered, and the friends alternated calling out a name from their lists, then (along with the professor assigned to her group) checked the field gear of each student before loading them onto their wagon.

Ladies Depecia and Yeuxpera were each down one student, but unfortunately, Lord Vurbor was present and accounted for. Amesombra's group included Synthia, who was dressed as a maid.

As Amesombra's group rode through the streets of Mursol in our wagon, Dame Yoryman asked, "Your Highness, why are you bringing your maid?"

"I thought that perhaps the dungeon just needs a light cleaning."

We all chuckled at Princess Amesombra's joke.

We disembarked at the edge of the slums and made our way on foot through the alleyways to an abandoned house that I had never dared enter when I lived in the slums. Amesombra talked briefly to the half dozen of the city watch who had been stationed there then led the way inside the doorway and I followed right behind her, with Synthia at the very rear of our group.