Red phased through the wall of the Alchemical Oak, looking over the gardens, plains, and the river that separated them. The roots of the tree were starting to get more comfortable around the surface, not twisting too much and instead giving small slopes that individuals could sit at. Such as what must have been a riveting game of cards the previous night. Two of Red’s strongest creatures were still passed out despite the day progressing to where the sun was just beyond the leaves of the branches above. ”If I wanted to know what happened, I would wake them up. They have their own lives.” Red said with a sigh as he floated over them and headed towards the house of his first [Guest]. It was hard to believe that only a month had passed since the little half-angel girl had appeared at his doorstep. It was her presence that made the majority of the first floor possible. The constant passive mana income had made it to where Red was never hard for energy to spend. Which was why he felt so bad that he had upset her before he met with the Bureaucratic Spirit.

As he stood on the porch of her shack, he contemplated what he was going to say to her. She could easily ignore his words by dismissing any notifications that she got. But at the same time that would mean that there wasn’t any talking to her anyway. As much as he was terrified to do so, he needed to show that there was no reason to be jealous of Velua. He reached out to knock on the door before it was pulled open by someone on the other side.

“You just gonna stand there on the porch like Beatrice or are you going to come in and talk to Addison?” Ivy asked with a sigh as she pulled open the door. His first labor minion, though she had graduated to being an Architect by this point. She was between the two-to-three-foot fey that some of the fairies had ascended to and the height that Lotus now climbed. Her forest-green skin shined in the light that filtered through the tree’s branches. She was broad-shouldered and more muscular than any of the other fairies in his dungeon. The Soldier Fey were similar in their builds, but she was more lithe in her musculature. She had changed to having her blue locks in a ponytail in case any work orders came through. She was standing there, looking at Red like he was some drunkard who was coming home after a long night.

“Right. Wait- Beatrice?” Red asked with a bit of confusion as he looked at her, having not heard that name before.

“Beatrice? Ah right, Lotus was wandering the grounds last night and ran into the Banshee, decided to give her a name after a nice long walk together.” Ivy explained as she brought Red into the front room, it being a bit different than how it was in the original dungeon. Addison had painted it a nice pink color and had an arrangement of beautiful flowers from around the dungeon on a little coffee table. There was a bookshelf to the left of the entrance that had an arrangement of games that Ivy had made for the girl.

It was the kind of living room that one would expect a child to put together. The only thing that he wasn’t sure about was the strange wreath that was on the door to the bedroom across from the front entrance. It was a solid iron ring with what looked like a skull with flowers blooming out of the eye sockets.

“What’s with that thing?” Red asked as he gestured towards the strange item, walking over into the kitchenette. It was interesting to note that Addison seemed to have been at least working some on making meals for herself. He saw that she had some plants, a few shelled crawdads, and even a few pots and pans that Ivy must have made. ”It’s the symbol of the faith she was with. Life in Death, Death in Life. Didn’t get the formal name for it, but it is just as creepy to me.” Ivy whispered, not quite certain she wanted Addison to hear her talking about the religion like that.

“Right… where’s Addy?” He asked as he sat down in the chair next to the living room table, wanting to talk to the young girl and see if she was doing any better. ”Bedroom, I’ll see if she is awake.” Ivy commented as she went over to the door and gave it a few knocks under the strange religious symbol. She put her ear to the door, seeming to be listening to whatever noise was made on the other side of it.

“Ras, what’s that symbol?” Red asked as he waited for Addison to come out, trying to see if his system would give information on things that weren’t made with the knowledge of what they were.

[Analyzing. The symbol was made by Architect Ivy with the description provided by Addison Cloudwatch Von Zinglemeyer. It is a symbol of the Mortae religion, commonly worshipped by Humans.]

The puzzle pieces were starting to fall into place, Red hadn’t been prying too much about the caravan that Addison had come with. He didn’t want her to relive the trauma that was watching the people die and be gutted by the undead of the swamps. Now he could confirm that she was a half-angel whose other half was a human. The holy caravan was worshipers of the Mortae religion. The next step was making sure that her parents weren’t part of that ordeal. Addison stepped out of her room and looked a bit rougher than Red had seen her in a minute. She was wearing one of the dresses that Lotus had commissioned, this one being purple flower petals all intricately dried and woven into a pliable material that didn’t restrict her movement. Her skin was pale as ever, even though she regularly was out spending time with his creatures in the sun. Her long silver hair was an absolute mess, showing that she hadn’t brushed it today. Her beautiful violet eyes scanned around the room, giving a puff of frustration as she noted that there was no one in there except for Ivy.

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“Yeah, I am sorry Addison. I will look into ways that you can see me, but I don’t have much idea how to do that.” Red said with a frown as he leaned back into the chair. He frowned as he didn’t see a familiar pop-up appear in front of her. When he looked up from where the pop-up was supposed to be, he saw her eyes blinking in shock.

“What? Ras, why didn’t she get the pop-up?” He asked with a frown as he looked at his menus, wanting to see what was going on.

[With the ascension to the Second Floor, new features have-]

“Red? Is that what you sound like?” Addison asked with a bit of confusion as she looked around, causing Red not to see the rest of the message that Ras was giving to him. He looked at her as the disgruntled girl was starting to get a smile on her face.

“Addison! You can hear me. You can finally hear me!” Red cheered with a smile before the girl jumped up and down with clear excitement. She was ecstatic and Ivy joined in on the excitement with her as they all celebrated the fact that Red had gotten a voice that non-dungeon individuals could hear.

“I can hear Red now, Ivy! He sounds a lot younger than I expected, but he is there! I don’t have to guess where he is anymore.” Addison cheered out happily as she danced around the room, having not been this happy since Red had saved her from the monsters of the swamp.

“I noticed, Addy! Now you can finally see how much of a dork he is.” Ivy said cheerfully as she went over and gave Addison a big hug, knowing that Red wished he could do the same thing. For now, he was still essentially a ghost, but unlike Beatrice, he had people who could do physical actions for him.

“You know what? We should go find Velua and tell her about this!” Red offered with a smile before he saw Addison frown slightly at the mention of the dwarf. It was clear that she was not happy at the idea of seeing the dwarf again. “Come on, Addy. She is going to be living here too, and she is actually from the outside world.”

“Yeah… but she is a dwarf, and you gave her the ability to see you.” Addison pouted slightly as she went over to the kitchen and opened a cabinet, taking out a pitcher of water and pouring herself a glass to drink from. She took a drink without looking at where Red’s voice was projecting from, trying to have her words mean something.

“Wait… aside from the fact that it was because she became an [Employee], what’s wrong with her being a dwarf?” Red asked with a frown, clearly upset by the idea that Addison was judging someone just because she was a dwarf.

“The church says that Dwarves worship the Mountain that they come from, and that makes them bad. Just like humans who worship at Vitom temples. My momma always said that those who don’t worship the same thing as us aren’t good.” She explained as she looked back at him, able to pinpoint where his head was supposed to be. She was rather firm about that, but at the same time, her words weren’t as confident.

“Addison. No one here worships your religion or any of the religions that are in the world. Yet, we let you in without any worry about that kind of thing. Religions are a choice, even if they can give you some kind of power. Making people your enemies just because they think differently isn’t going to do any good.” Red said firmly as he looked down at her, hoping that she wasn’t already ruined when it came to her opinions.

Addison frowned as she put the glass back down on the counter, taking in a deep breath as she tried to think of a reply. She seemed to be thinking of how to answer or argue with what Red was saying. As the thought began to work its way into her head, a few tears began to appear in her eyes as she thought about that. “So you’re saying… you’re saying they could be wrong, right?”

Red was shocked by the timid nature of the question, having never known Addison to sound so scared. She was a brave little girl, and even though she was surrounded by traps and monsters there was nothing that rattled her resolve. No matter the raid, the monster, not even when they were worried about the worms shattering the dungeon.

“Yes. The people who told you to hate were wrong. Why? What else did they tell you to do?” He asked softly as he looked at her, trying to understand what was going on.

“Th-they said that I had to die… or else the swamp would spread.” She whispered with shame, tears beginning to roll down her cheeks. Red’s eyes went wide, before looking at his menu.

“Ras, send a message to get Velua to come to the entrance. We are all going to talk about the outside world.” Red said firmly, knowing how to kill two birds with one stone.