While Kazue’s friends made their way through the series of plays, she paid careful attention to the other party. The shrine maidens were going to be a while, even in short scenes it was going to take half an hour or so per stage to give all six of them time to shine.
The priest and the warriors were being more cautious than they really had to be on the second floor, but there was wisdom in that as they were conserving their resources for tougher challenges. The huntress was not scouting as far as she had before as her main objective became to identify what the challenges were, such as trying each of the ascent paths while others covered her. The nature of the three options quickly became clear to them, and after some consultation they elected to focus on the central, easiest path and work together to defend against aerial attack.
Throughout the rest of the obstacles the huntress proved the most adroit at coping with the terrain challenges, and spent much of her time assisting the others when she wasn’t providing covering fire. The two shield bearers also switched to bows, while the spear wielder kept to her long spear, both because it at least had some range and so that at least one of them was armed properly if something did get close and needed to be dealt with.
For the tunnels all of them adopted their full kitsune forms, as those tended to be a fair bit shorter than their humanoid or hybrid forms. Well, except for the mage, who looked smug as she shrank into an actual fox form and trotted along completely unbothered by the cramped tunnels. The shorter kitsune forms made navigating the tunnels easier for the rest but did not fully alleviate the cramped conditions.
When the explorers had regrouped for the boss battle, Kazue let her bosses make their dramatic entrances. Hildegard went first, making her way majestically down the path to the central hill, and settling herself in a perfectly composed posture as the path disappeared. Then a beat later, about the time that the group might consider the room set up, Crios burst out of his pool with a spray of water and then scuttled over to hunker down in front of Hildegard’s little hill. Meanwhile, several ledges around the upper edge of the room became occupied by the fliers that had not been taken down by the group earlier.
Technically Kazue could add more without making the fight truly unfair given the power discrepancy since this was still only the second floor, but this setup should be enough to force a challenge. She’d not had the fliers do more than harass the party which kept most of them alive to become part of this fight. Numbers weren’t everything, but they meant a lot. Her strategy was simple enough, Hildegard and Crios were going to be very defensive. If the party tried to take out all the smaller creatures first, both of them had ranged attacks to make things more difficult. If the party tried to focus on the bosses, fliers would swarm them. This didn’t mean either strategy or a hybrid couldn’t work, it just meant that they’d have to use more potent spells to get through the fight faster or risk being worn down by numbers.
Resource management was what Mordecai liked to call it. For stronger parties, the early floors were never going to be challenges in and of themselves, but spending too much magic or using one-shot magic items too early could leave them at a deficit later on.
The party chose a hybrid approach, with the three warriors in a tight defensive formation up front and the priest, mage, and huntress in a looser grouping behind them, giving them more room to dodge as they couldn’t take the same hits their more heavily armored compatriots could. The warriors focused on the bosses while the others focused on clearing out the minions.
Their approach was hindered by Crios’s jet of sticky fluid, but the shield bearers managed to deflect most of the force of it before jumping out of the forming puddle, leaving them only slowed down a little instead of fully stuck as it rapidly thickened. Meanwhile, the mage and priest had started using stronger spells that could catch several fliers at once if they grouped up. This forced the fliers to stagger their attacks, which in turn let the huntress have a better shot at taking one down before it could bomb the group.
The mage in particular caught Kazue’s attention. She’d wrapped herself in an aura that Kazue recognized from Mordecai’s training, allowing her to both fling her foxfire further and to channel spells into it, allowing her to hit harder at the cost of the greater concentration slowing her down. But this also gave short-range spells a greater reach, so could certainly be worth it.
Kazue wouldn’t say she had mastered the technique, but she judged herself to be about as adept as this mage was. Spells that already behaved similarly to fox fire, impacting a single target it’s aimed at, were more compatible with the technique than other spells, but Mordecai promised that with further practice and experience almost any attack spell could be used, allowing the foxfire impact to become the origin point for a lightning bolt or fireball.
Small-scale skirmishes in close quarters rarely lasted for very long, and this one was drawn out mostly by the minions not all entering combat at the same time, lest they all be caught in an explosion like the first group that got close to each other had. It was further drawn out by Crios going entirely on the defensive when the group got close, and Hildegard focusing on a mix of protective and healing spells. The warriors couldn’t afford to split up, and attempting to move around Crios was pointless as he would have been on the inside of the curve, and able to move in the sideways motion crabs preferred while still facing them. So they had to try and get through him while their compatriots kept them from being overwhelmed by the minions.
But there were only so many fliers, and when enough of them were down the mage was able to join in the assault on Crios while the priest bolstered the party’s strength with a prayer. Despite Hildegard’s best efforts several cracks were forming on Crios’s claws as they blocked most of the attacks, and when he lost one of his legs to a well-aimed blow from one of the shield bearers, Kazue knew it was time to call the fight. At least, if she wanted to keep both bosses available for the rest of the day, which she did, and they had done their duty in forcing the party to step up their resource usage. So she ordered Hildegard to retreat and actively despawned Crios, reforming him back in his cave where Hildegard would be able to reach him later to heal his wounds.
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Moriko’s sharing of that small secret amongst Orchid’s sisters had reached across a barrier, one she realized was mostly of her own making. Maybe it was her small city background, with a helping of most of her time at the capital having been spent at the monastery or pursuing entertainment, but she’d always dreaded the idea of dealing with the court or anything related to it. Mordecai’s thoughts were tinged with amusement as he suggested that open court might be more like what she feared, and the royal family just ignored what they could when in private. Of course, he also thought Kuiccihan was a strangely set-up kingdom anyway, so he acknowledged that he could be wrong there too.
The next several minutes were spent on what Moriko could only call gossip, starting with Princess Orchid as their common point. Really, she was letting the royals guide the conversation as she was less certain about what to say. She was also just leaving her mind open to Mordecai, letting her husband sort through the flow of her thoughts and recent memories as it was as close as they could get to letting him see through her eyes. It felt good to have him there, even with every indication being that the four of them intended this to be friendly and as minimally formal as possible. Standing in front of all those merchants had been bad enough.
One of the juicier tidbits that Moriko was let in on about Orchid was that apparently, she had learned an appearance-swapping spell fairly young, and that at least some of the rumored scandals about her behavior had actually been the results of her sisters’ actions. Which rumors and which sisters was not clarified however, which Moriko was more than happy with. Sometimes not knowing details was best. And all of this seemed to have been the result of Orchid knowing from a young age that she was going to be heading off to join the kitsune clan, so she felt she had less of a reputation to protect than her sisters did.
Princess Kagami eventually led the conversation back to the matter at hand, and the five of them rejoined the clothier to look over the patterns presented. Second Princess Kitiara, the somewhat stern looking blond, only gave the designs a cursory look over and noted that they were practical enough with an approving tone to her voice. She didn’t seem to particularly care about the appearance, and Moriko was getting the impression that the broad-shouldered woman cared far more about martial matters than social, though her own dress was certainly kept neat and sharp.
Third Princess Tiriana seemed to be the most enthused about the clothing itself and was quick to compare it against the fashions of the elven courts. The fiery-haired youngest, Fifth Princess Bridgette, rolled her eyes behind Tiriana’s back and leaned in close to whisper to Moriko “Ever since she got engaged, she’s been obsessed with everything about Danuana.”
Moriko did not dare ask how long Tiriana had been engaged, she was not good at keeping up with noble affairs. It had probably even been widely announced, which did not mean that Moriko had noticed at all when it happened. She rather thought Kazue would have paid more attention, but the kitsune was busy and Moriko didn’t see a reason to bother her wife right now.
Once the princesses who cared had agreed with the current design decisions, the topic turned to shoes. Or rather, boots. “Hmm,” Tiriana began as she tapped her lips. “I’m guessing you want to go with something you can wear rather than ditch in case of a fight, and given how expensive Mistress Ula’s designs are we’d rather buy you something that you will wear again in the future. So I’d suggest nice leather boots with a low wide heel. As the dress is floor length they won’t be seen much anyway, so all that matters is the little bit that will be glimpsed. Which brings up the question of how long should they be?”
“Oh, I think she’d look great in thigh highs!” Bridgette interjected excitedly. “I mean, if we want her to wear these again, we should make sure she has options for mixing with other outfits too!”
Moriko frowned a bit at this. “While I appreciate the idea, my training already makes my calves difficult for most boots, thigh highs don’t fit me well. And Mistress Ula doesn’t seem to be a cobbler, shouldn’t we be discussing this part with someone else?”
“Oh, that’s not a problem.” Ula responded. “I have a subcontractor for that, I want to make sure my outfits are completed to my standards. As for the boots, there are a few tricks to make them fit better, starting with more detailed measurements, which I can do here. They may be a bit trickier to get on and off, but they’ll fit snugly without chafing or binding. So the question is simply how tall do you want them?”
She considered the question for a moment, but it didn’t take long for her to decide. She didn’t have any tall boots like that, and being difficult to remove could be an amusing boon under the right circumstances. Moriko couldn’t suppress a slight smirk at the thought, and she nodded at Ula. “Alright, let’s make them as tall and tight as we can get away with then.” They wouldn’t be a surprise for Mordecai, given that he was in her head right now, but that didn’t mean it wouldn’t work. And they would be a surprise for Kazue.
The stout woman raised a brow. “Oh-ho, I think there’s someone you want to make an impression on with these. Well, I can certainly keep that in mind. Now, for materials-”
“No expenses spared.” Princess Kagami interrupted. Ula turned toward her with an inquisitive look, and the First Princess nodded for verification. “Your only limitation is time. Other than that, make it the best you can.”
Ula pursed her lips thoughtfully. “Well, that answers that question, I just have to see what I have in stock for the appropriate types and amounts to make my final decision.” She smiled slightly at Moriko’s confusion. “The design of the dress already constricts the options of fabric weight, softness, and other properties. Going to the best materials for something that is also durable restricts it even further, so you’ll just need to entrust the choices to me. Now, what about colors?”
The four princesses turned toward Moriko and offered no suggestion here, though Kagami made a small encouraging gesture. This didn’t take as much thought. “Well, Mordecai’s core is a bright purple, and Kazue’s is a bright gold, and I think both of those work well as trim or embroidery. For a base dark colors work best, except for green which doesn’t work with his purple at all, and I have decided I like red best of those.”
Ula nodded as she took her notes, then paused with a look of surprise. “Wait, cores? As in dungeon cores? You’re the ‘Dungeon’s Bride’?!”
Moriko’s eyes widened a little at the title, and a quick glance at the slightly guilty-looking princesses revealed that they at least knew about it. She clamped down on her irritation and took a deep breath so that she could keep her voice soft and chose her words with care. “I haven’t heard that appellation before, but while it has some technical accuracy and I am proud to have them as my husband and wife, I find that title sounds more than a little reductive.” And like some fairy tale princess who got carried off in the night, but she felt it best to not mention that part in her present company. “I would like to ask that you not use it, and suggest to others that they not use it either.”
Ula winced a little as she realized her faux pas. “Ah, I am sorry. I hadn’t thought about how it sounded, and I only heard the rumor earlier today. It makes sense you wouldn’t like it, it does make you sound a bit like their property. I’ll see what I can do to squelch its use, but I am afraid that it’s probably too late.”
Moriko sighed and nodded. “I understand. Well, back to the topic at hand. Do you think you can work with those colors? And if you can manage any designs, well, Mordecai has a dragon theme, Kazue loves all things cute, and as for me, well, I think my uniform speaks to my specialty.”
“Indeed. Hmm, yes, I think I can manage that. All that’s left now is to measure you. Let’s take you to the back.”