Another moment of silence... A flash of memories went through Five's eyes. He clenched his fists tighter and took a deep breath to calm himself:
"It is nothing... Just personal issues. I will deal with them myself later when I will have my own dungeon," answered Five with an expressionless face.
Harriet sent him a doubtful look, but there was nothing she could do if Five did not want to share his past. "It does not look like a minor thing. If you want to share the burden, I am here to help. I wish you no harm," replied the harpy.
"Yes. Thank you, but I think I will be able to deal with it by myself"
"Fine then. Come with me to the communal room," said Harriet as she accelerated her steps
...
The two resumed walking. Five felt the change in the harpy’s mood. Their previous conversation created an invisible barrier between them.
Eventually, he decided to apologize for his behaviour. He could feel that Harriet tried to help him while he was roughly replying to her. She was the only person he knew in the dungeon apart from Kroff. He did not know how long he would stay here but it was better to maintain good relations.
"I am sorry for what I said, Harriet. I lose my temper when I think about those things," sincerely said Five," But these are private things that I will solve myself."
Harriet who was walking with a pensive expression turned around to look at him.
"No. It's me who needs to apologize. I should not have asked such things. But there is something I should say. Building a dungeon is not a solitary task. If you do not trust your monsters, you will never succeed. Monsters are not born loyal to their masters; they choose to follow them out of trust. Even I can choose at any time to rebel against Kroff."
"I will keep that in mind."
"Right."
"Let's put all that behind us. Come, let's go eat," said Harriet with a smile as she pushed open a double-sided door. Casting the previous discussion aside, she readily invited Five in.
Five nodded and went in but he could not help but freeze for a moment. There was nothing dangerous, it was the exact opposite, the appetizing smell of food assaulted his nostrils but that was not the important part.
In front of him, a group of 20 to 30 winged girls were happily eating and talking all over the place. Laughs, conversations, and sounds of cutlery hitting plates filled the room. While some were eating happily, some girls were just lazing around. The reason Five froze was that they all wore quite revealing dresses. His eyes wandered around, looking around for the prettiest one.
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A thought crossed Five's mind, 'Is that girl's paradise? Cough Cough. No! I need to calm down. Get away, evil thoughts!'
"Clap Clap"
As they entered, Harriet clapped her hands twice to gather their attention. The room quickly became quiet as the girls looked at the newcomers.
"Everyone! I will like to present you Five. He is the disciple of Master for now. Please welcome him!" said Harriet while stepping to the side, allowing the girls to see Five.
They all turned to look at him. A few chose to ignore him, but the majority warmly smiled and greeted him. A few harpies even flapped their wings gently and flew to Five:
"Wow. Are you a human? It is the first time I am seeing one!" cheerfully declared a yellow-haired Harpy.
"Where do you come from? Can you tell us about the open world?" asked a red-haired Harpy as she landed right next to Five.
The latter was overwhelmed by the girls. Although he once had a fiancée and was not a virgin, in front of so many winged girls wearing revealing dresses, his heart could not help but beat faster. His eyes feasted on the white cleavages for a moment, but he quickly recollected himself, recalling his training to not lose focus.
He politely introduced himself and answered the questions of the young harpies, but they would constantly assault him with even more questions. They were very curious about the world Five came from. Even the other harpies who first ignored him, turned their attention to him while finishing their plates.
"Cough Cough! I think that that's enough. Give him some space, girls. He won't disappear after today. You should all go back to the village," said Harriet while laughing at the situation Five was in.
"Ahhh "
The harpies let out some complaints but obediently left the communal room. Harriet was after all their leader and they all respected her.
Five let out a sigh of relief and looked at Harriet's teasing smile, "Was all of that necessary? Why are they all here? Don't they need to defend the dungeon?"
"This is the communal room of the harpies. You don't expect me to bring you to another race's communal room, right? They do defend the dungeon but since they are positioned on the 50th floor, there is no real need to stay there. Adventurers are not strong enough to climb that high. Only high-level commanders or heroes succeeded in reaching them, but that occurs very rarely. Also, there are a few sisters who stay there to guard the floor in case some adventurer would survive till there," answered Harriet.
She instructed Five to sit on one of the nearby seats and quickly brought two trays full of food, one for him and one for herself, and sat in front of him.
"Bon Appetit," happily said, Harriet, as she readily sliced the sausage in her plate.
"Mmmm" Five nodded and attacked his own plate.
The two ate silently. Five did not find the atmosphere awkward anymore. He thoroughly enjoyed the potato mash and salad in front of him. It was his third decent meal since he was imprisoned. The meal was not of the highest quality but the flavor reminded him of the good old times.
"You know. If you want to say anything, this is the right place. You are a smart person, I am sure you noticed that walls have ears, especially dungeon walls, but communal rooms and our personal rooms are different. Kroff give us some privacy," said Harriet to break the silence. Having had a difficult past herself, she was still resolute in finding out about Five's past.
"Mmmm. There is nothing to talk about. These are just minor things don't worry about it. If I need help, I will definitely ask you," politely replied Five still avoiding the subject.
Harriet, unsatisfied by the answer, stopped eating and looked at Five. She placed down her cutleries and took a piece of napkin to wipe off the sauce off her lips before speaking.
"Five, I am talking to you as a friend. You have a bright future ahead of you. Why is it that you don't want to join the Cyclone Alliance? Kroff is just very conservative and narrow-minded. If you are not his ally, then you can only be his enemy. You should have noticed his attitude. He would be more inclined to help you if you agree... "
Hearing that, Five also looked at Harriet, "I did already notice that he won't teach me much, but right now, I don't feel like I need his help."
"Huh? Do you think it is just about learning about dungeons? You should be aware that your mentor also has the authority to gift you a certain amount of DP and a monster, but these are all at the discretion of the mentor," quickly added Harriet.
"What? I am also supposed to receive such things?" asked Five with surprise. This was something he did not expect. Although he could do without any proper teaching, the DP and the free monster were a huge incentive.
"Yes. He can give you any amount of DP as long as it does not exceed 20000 DP. For the monster, Kroff must give you one that is at least above level 20. Else, how would you be able to protect your dungeon when you will get started?"
"This...", It was an unexpected turn of events. Dungeon Points were essential for quickly improving his strength and a level 20 monster? They could be considered as mini-bosses.
Seeing Five's expression change, Harriet quickly continued, "You see? Having a good relationship with your mentor can prove to be useful. Sometimes, it is better to lower your head to gain greater benefits."
"I..."