I woke up, feeling quite refreshed, but even so my sleepy mind needed a few seconds to realise where I was: inside of Mimissa's chest. Which happened to be closed. Also, I was naked (or at least as naked as cursed 'clothes' allow one to strip down) while Mimissa was underneath me like a pillow. Also naked - if obviously chocolate-covered - as before. I briefly wondered if I should buy her at least a swimsuit or something.

How I could suddenly see in the dark I didn't know. Mimissa's eyes were closed because she was sleeping herself. At least it made sense I could only see in greyscale.

(Some kind of microwave-based night vision, perhaps?)

Her sleeping face was too cute for me to dare wake her up, so I simply map-placed myself outside. I then realised I was covered head to toe in chocolate because of course; Mimissa didn't will it to not stick to my body.

(Is there maybe some cleaning spell?)

I checked the Treasure section and bought a skill scroll of [Purification] for the cheapest price of any scroll, a unique 50DP. Scrolls for basic element spells like [Fireball], [Icicle], or [Lightning Bolt] cost 100DP each, while stronger spells got exponentially more expensive. Based on the numbers, it seemed utility spells got 50% off, so it basically went 50, 100, 500, 1000 and so on.

(A Light element scroll of [True Resurrection] costs 1,000,000,000DP!??!?!!?!? Yeah, nope!)

In any case, I infused the [Purification] scroll with some mana by focusing on my body in a meditation-like way to feel my magical energy. It collected in my hands and was slowly sucked up by the scroll, which contained arcane text and a magic circle - of a simpler design than the summoning ones - and promptly crumbled to dust.

*Ding* [Dungeon Core Czara has learned 'Purification' Rk.N/A.]

(Neat! I already knew knowledge infusing is a thing, but I wish I could've done that in 𝟲𝟴𝟲𝟵𝟲𝟳𝟲𝟴𝟮𝟬𝟳𝟯𝟲𝟯𝟲𝟴𝟲₣𝟲₣𝟲₵; I'd have been a genius in no time!)

"[Purification]!"

A warm, fuzzy feeling and a faint smell of vanilla soap overcame me, and from my head to my toes the chocolate and perhaps other things simply vanished, leaving me standing in my glorious, for-all-intents-and-purposes nude form. Now I just had to find my armour and get dressed, but then a thought came to me - I still had to visit the prisoner at some point.

For this I first checked the DP amount, realising it had gone up by quite a bit as we were at a comfortable 1503. I found that odd since I doubted the prisoner was worth THAT much, but apparently because she was both in a locked room AND a designated prison - I had no idea why that would be such a pedantic distinction and doubted I'd ever find out - the DP we got from her being around was doubled for each condition met, i.e. a total multiplier of four.

(I need something to look trustworthy. A bit pitiable, too. This world has maids, so perhaps a maid dress? Maybe something that shows some skin coupled with a collar? I think slaves were mentioned who have their ears mutilated...)

I was quite certain that even in my dazed state of nearly-dead-then-isekai'd I had heard them mention slaves who have rounded ears. It was my best bet, in any case. The woman had white hair when I watched her group on the screen, so she was probably blonde. She also wore a pretty tall hat; a bunny kin perhaps?

I enacted the plan to disguise myself as a maid, and checked the Treasure section again. A 'Maid Servant Dress (Dark Blue) (Evening Hours)' and a 'Slave Collar' cost 185DP, an amount we could nearly get back in a day now. I bought some basic food for 10DP as well, so that would be the daily cost. Still, an additional 164DP/day were secured.

I equipped the Maid Dress after ensuring it was belly-free and a bit short but not too fetishistic - I wanted to look like a slave maid but not a sex slave after all - and then foolishly motioned to put the very real Slave Collar on, only to stop it mere centimetres away from my neck.

(What the fuck am I doing!?)

I felt like that one time I was cooking, holding a very sharp knife and absent-mindedly almost stabbing myself with it before very slowly putting it on the kitchen counter. In a similar manner I put the again very real Slave Collar onto the pile of stuff we'd looted, then bought a similar-looking dog collar for a mere 10DP.

(Right, that's better. But wait, what if she got [Identify]? I'll also need [Identity Protection].)

I bought the scroll for 500DP - plummeting our budget but knowing this would pay off in the future - and activated it.

*Ding* [Dungeon Core Czara has learned 'Identity Protection' Rk.3.]

(Rank 3? How cool is that!?)

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'[Identity Protection]. Perk. Grants user protection from [Identify] and similar skills, making their stats unavailable to others unless opposing skill has rank greater than user's.'

(In other words, if they don't have at least a Rank 4 [Identify], their attempts would just fizzle out.)

For the sake of appearances, I made one more purchase - a silver ring worth a paltry 1DP. Even if the [Identity Protection] trick worked out, the Commander woman would probably wonder next how a 'simple maid' got such a skill. The ring should hopefully throw her off; since it's not enchanted at all, she would probably assume it's too high-tier to get truthful results on.

I was finally ready, headband and collar in place and properly visible. The detached sleeves, short-ish skirt with lower-body apron and dark, thigh-high socks set in shiny black shoes made me look like a maid from a fanservicy loli manga, but that was the whole idea after all. I started to blush looking at myself on the screen.

~~~~~

"And you are? If you're a monster in human form, know you will get nothing out of me!"

She was certainly attentive. I had provided her a loose shirt and short pants alongside the pieces of wool for her bedding - I was not so cruel as to force her to be naked - and she was busy doing stretches yet immediately noticed me opening the door and stepping inside. Around 2 metres from the door was a row of diagonal steel poles of which some could retract into the ceiling so a crouching person could go into the sectioned-off part. 15 square metres of walking space, basically.

The woman was in fact silver-haired, but my guess regarding her being a bunnykin was on the money, ears and tail being both present. She was also tall and athletic, with an assortment of scars but not a hideous amount.

I gulped as I took her form in, feeling actually intimidated by her. This must have worked to my advantage, since her stern face softened ever so slightly; for all intents and purposes, to her I was just a random little girl dolled up in a maid outfit you'd find in a slightly risky moé manga - or maybe some mildly pervy noble's mansion - and meant her no harm.

"I am... just a maid. Offered a new life by this dungeon."

"Just a maid, sure." She was looking at my bare belly, then my neck, and cracked a sneer. "So you are to bring me food for the dungeon's sake? Yet you even look like her."

I feigned ignorance, even though I knew she was obviously talking about the me before I entered this place. I carefully placed the food tray down and slid it under the one slightly-raised steel pole into her section.

"Who is... she?"

She sniffed the food, but made no attempts to eat just yet. Her expression turned sour, regretful.

"Someone we were told to guard. We weren't told the reason to bring her here nor who she really was beyond a strange name." She studied me again for a moment. "Actually... you do look remarkably like her. What's your name?"

"What is yours? I heard it is courteous to name yourself first."

"Ah, of course. I am... was Commander Anastasiya. My squad is dead, I am certain. Such failure can only result in demotion, which means I am merely Anastasiya now. Now name yourself, maid."

"...Feema." A name I'd read in a novella once. In a cast of nutcases, she was the only sane one. Also a maid, incidentally.

"Feema. Feema, Feema. Might you know a 'Constanze'?"

"You could... say that."

"Truly? Is she your sister perhaps? Oh, that would certainly explain some things... [Identify]! ...What!?"

The spell fizzled and failed, harmlessly deflected by a wind-like magic barrier around my body. Rank 3 or less, confirmed.

She looked at my ears. Yes, they're round. Round ears are unusual. Only slaves and heroes have such round ears. Next she looked at the Slave Collar (fake) and the Identity Protection Ring (fake) which I helpfully kept visible. I could see the gears turning in her mind.

I smiled a faint smile, those acting lessons really coming in handy. I'd taken them for the sake of fashion modelling.

"Please, you need to eat something. I can only visit you once a day, I've got other duties, too. Others who rely on me..."

Anastasiya finally grabbed the halved bread spread with butter and a piece of cheese. She had not noticed how hungry she actually was, ravenously biting into the soft, warm bread. The cup of hot but not boiling tea helped her wash it down quickly. She repeated that with the other piece.

"Before you go, how did you get here from Alheim? When did you get enslaved? Does the dungeon have a direct hold over you? A slave to the dungeon?"

'Alheim' was a new term, but it sounded Germanic.

(Are there fantasy Germans in this world? Are they elves maybe? If they are it'd make sense they look pretty much like 𝟲𝟴𝟳𝟱𝟲Đ𝟲𝟭𝟲Ɇ𝟳𝟯 with long ears. Maybe if the ears are some sort of status symbol, cutting them is done to criminal slaves?)

I again realised I need much, much more information.

"...I am bound to it for reasons I cannot tell. But before you suggest you will attempt to escape and take me along, I can tell you this: you'll fail." I tucked on my slave collar. "The dungeon has ears everywhere. Any plan you hatch will be known as soon as you voice it."

I subtly pointed at my eyes while pretending to fix my headband, then pointedly stared at Anastasiya. With a very shallow nod, Anastasiya confirmed she understood the idea I tried conveying to her: 'I'll be your eyes.'

"Well then, at least I thank you for the food. May we talk some more another time?"

I smiled and bowed lightly; I figured I'd managed the first step to fool the woman. Did I feel bad about exploiting her hunger or tricking her like this? No, of course not. I'm a Dungeon. These sorts of people would send someone to destroy me without a second thought if they knew better.