Story So Far:

* The Whales get Larkirks, big, intelligent messenger pigeons that come with charms to disguise their appearance.

* Ingrid gets a lecture on how air mail works in Terragalia.

* Kirtus and Selphie join the party.

* Arek proposes a side hustle of selling canned goods.

* The Whales secure lodging in an empty lot behind a storefront owned by Zarael, a family friend of the Enthanas.

Jormungandr Guildhall, Demon City of Teth-Odin

The Jormungandr Guildhall stood tall and welcoming in the city of Teth-Odin, where adventurers lived and died seeking fame and glory in the dungeons below. The Guildhall was sometimes called by the citizens as “The Chisel” due to it expanding more than a few times in order to keep up with the flux of arriving adventurers from near and far, causing the adventurer’s guild to buy up more property and in turn for the city to expand in the opposite direction in order to make room.

“Dorms for risk-takers like us.” Ingrid remarked as Siria explained the expansions of the Guildhall.

“If you’re thinking of college dorm antics, that's obviously not happening here.” Philia told her. “We’re dealing with tools and weapons that are life and death after all.”

“Also research labs into various monsters of the rift worlds.” Kvaris added, cuddling Zefir’s arm to her body “Knowing what sort of useful product you can derive from the monsters is important.”

“They pay a good amount for the body parts of unknown creatures.” Kinu said, cuddling Zefir’s other arm. “Or ones they don’t have an abundance of, and resell to reputable alchemists for medicine and other useful potions.”

Unlike the Fenrir Guildhall, Jormungandr was surrounded by walls like a fortress.”It also serves as a last ditch hold-out in case of an unexpected Red Moon from the outside or an Overflow from within.” Siria explained. “The other is the Demon King’s castle for obvious reasons.”

The Whales walked into the grand courtyard of the Guildhall, drawing more than a few glances. Siria Bluethorne as Ingrid learned had a reputation that preceded her. Ingrid herself was a Nemesis-Stalker and she learned that the Drow Solenrala that Fyrra gave her wasn’t just some stylish dress anyone could wear lest they earn the wrath of elves for committing the elven equivalent of stolen valor. The Enthana sisters weren’t unknown either due to their father’s reputation and the two had spent many years on the road with him.

Sammy’s appearance gave her away as a rider from the Nightmane Tribe; the type that rode ahead and got rid of any and all things that might give her tribe trouble.

The presence of the other “unknowns” also suggested they must have had other merits to earn the way they were treated.

There was also the matter of a whopping fifteen Tixi Mice wearing aromor and carrying unknown exotic staves with them while they marched like soldiers.

Zefir was the exception, he had a daughter of Amaduscia Enthana around each arm of his, causing more than a few onlookers to quietly make jokes about him being their “pounding boy” whenever the sisters got horny at night. A comment or two reached Ingrid’s ears.

“Pounding boy? Are they…is Zefir being seen as a bottom here?” Ingrid giggled.

“Welcome to a new world. Ingrid, and yes, Zefir being surrounded by girls makes him a bottom.” Philia said. “To Terragalia folks, this is like those hentai where a hundred doods keep one sexy girl and bang her by the hundreds.”

“You guys do like to keep me in the house all day…” Zefir said “N-not that I’m complaining.”

“For Zefir to be seen as a chad we shouldn’t crowd him.” Philia explained.

“But we need to!” Ingrid said. “For protection!”

“Mhmmm… gotta keep our breeding stud protected.” Kvaris joked.

“And that’s why it looks like he’s our slut.” Siria grinned widely, poking Ingrid’s cheek. “You don’t count, Ingrid. Every decadent aristocrat makes sure their war-beast is satisfied every night with the finest boys and girls from the pleasure districts.”

“Which makes nights with you extra special because you don’t act like the usual human in a harem, Ingrid.” Kinu said, slapping her butt lightly.

“Huh… so that’s where my market value in the master bedroom came from…” Philia remarked.

“Well, there’s also because you’re a princess, Philia.” Sammy said. “Feels good to fuck a princess, and you being human is a contradiction.”

Philia pouted. “I don’t know, I feel like I’m not being ridden by a real rider.”

Sammy ran a finger slowly up her spine, causing Philia to giggle. “Not sure my majesty could handle that.”

Philia turned her head and wiggled her eyebrows. “We should see~”

Viel sighed and then giggled. “Philia’s gonna have a funny face tomorrow…”

“Would you look at that,” Ingrid said. As they walked past the “pedestrian gate” of the Guildhall grounds, it reminded her of an old university back on Earth, and one for foot traffic and another for wagons that circled a roundabout.

“The idea of having a pedestrian gate separate from a wagon gate got figured out here thousands of years ago. That’s the drop-off point for wagons not owned by the adventurers.” Philia explained “Ferrying services basically. This place gets a lot of traffic, so it’s much faster on foot. There’s another entrance somewhere to the big stables i.e. the parking lot.”

“I see…” Ingrid nodded, looking at the imposing statue that dominated the island of the roundabout. It depicted a large serpent in actual gold and gem finery and big cloth banners billowing in the wind. The serpent deity reared up in a dramatic pose while the rest of his body encircled a naked beautiful girl holding up a large Japanese-styled drinking cup in one hand which served as a fountain. The other arm held up a spear.

“Jormungandr’s Champion.” Sammy explained. “She goes naked without protection for she’s coiled in her God’s scales, and his venom defeats all opponents.” she paused a bit. “Of course the ‘venom’ seems to be a metaphor depending on which side of the scales your faith puts its weight on.”

“Faith is my armor.” Ingrid remarked. The felmoon cleric nodded.

“With time all opponents can be defeated.” Iohann said “exercising Fortitude and letting your opponent’s imperfections defeat himself, just like how a wise serpent only needs to strike once and pursue no further action to win.”

Several adventurers of all shapes and sizes milled about. Some were hastily making their way into the Guildhall ahead, while others walked arm in arm to make their exit. As they passed by, Ingrid, Philia, Zefir, and Cecil were reminded of class being dismissed. The conversations of what bars to go and what places to buy and upgrade weapons drifted through the air.

“Bvalinn’s…” Kinu said “That’s a name I hadn’t heard in ages, we should pay him a visit later, sis.”

“We do…” turning to Philia, Kvaris said “Your bullets and pellets can be made by him. Bvalinn’s forge is well-known and always upholds confidence.”

“Will do.” Philia said “Thanks for letting us know. We need these bullets mass-produced quietly.”

___

Ingrid saw adventurers looking for teammates. A few squirrel-folk timidly approached a muscle-flexing flexing minotaur. A few words were exchanged and the bull laughed good-naturedly before welcoming them to his group.

An elf and a turtle-folk were discussing something with furrowed brows with a pair of dwarves, their voices carrying the weight of serious negotiation, but after a few compromises the group broke out into smiles, slapped hands together and headed somewhere in the Guildhall grounds, leaving a trail of excitement in their wake.

At the same time, a motley group consisting of a goblin, a bear-folk, and a couple of feline individuals approached a pair of bird-folk that looked like ravens. Like the others she saw the two parties huddled closer as they began to feel each other’s abilities out to see how well they could work together.

And then there was a large brown fluffy rabbit standing on its hindlegs. It kept looking at Ingrid and the mice with big puppy-dog eyes. It wore a simple embroidered cape around its shoulders to differentiate it from an animal. On its paws it held a simple-looking wand. On its feet was a cloth sack which probably contained its belongings.

On seeing the group, the rabbit made, to Ingrid’s surprise, cute wheeking sounds like an excited guinea pig, putting its paws together and waving up and down.

“Bunny!” Ingrid cried out happily, breaking off from the group and running to it. The two were being incoherent with Ingrid completely captivated with its cuteness and babbling away with how adorable it is while the bunny put it’s paws to her cheeks and rubbed noses with her, also continuing to make adorable sounds.

“Wanna come with us? Wanna come with us? Awwww! I love you too!” Ingrid said excitedly.

“Oh god, that is just adorable!” Philia giggled as Ingrid held out her arms and the rabbit jumped to her for a big hug.

“Mhmm… Ingrid and the bunny.” Zefir laughed.

“Ingrid, if they’re humans with bunny ears, they’re rabbits. If they have rabbit heads they’re hares.” Philia said. “That’s a hare.”

The Tixi Mice had been marching alongside the group, preferring to be present at full force to impress onlookers. As the group walked, the mice kept a steady marching pace in pairs, with Arthur leading the group, occasionally squeaking in cadence while their armor rhythmically clinked as they moved about.

As the group noticed the hare, Arthur and the rest changed their pace to a cute waddle as they approached the hare, squeaking in a friendly tone. Seeing the mice, the hare jumped down and in a few seconds it was happily wheeking and squeaking alongside them, hugging each other.

“Awww guys! Look! It’s so cute! They’re getting along!” Ingrid said to the group, pulling Arthur and the rabbit in for a hug.

“A Fae-Marsh Hare.” Siria said. “They’ve been slowly getting more and more sapient over the centuries, they use magic naturally and this one’s crafted a wand for extra power.”

Ingrid asked “Was he looking for someone to adopt him as a familiar?”, as she playfully stroked its long ears, causing it to make a happy “ummmmm…” sound.

“Yes.” Gwen said, picking up the hare’s cloth-sack bag. “Like our mice, they lack the ability yet to communicate with us, so some have settled putting themselves up as familiars in exchange for food and shelter.”

Sammy smiled, affectionately petting the hare as it jumped onto her. The two rubbed noses. “I’ve seen Fae Hares fight.” She said, “They’re very agile and use magic in the wild to defend themselves or hunt.”

“They’re omnivores?” Ingrid said in disbelief.

“They’re not ordinary rabbits.” Philia said “Even if I put it coldly, this hare’s possibly a good investment. They regularly tangle with larger megafauna.”

“Don’t tell me they eat T-rexes in the jungle.” Ingrid said, needing something fluffy to cuddle, she picked up two mice, which happily squeaked and licked her face.

“No, they eat reasonably sized fruits and root crops and the occasional small mammals they catch.” Siria told her. “We can test him out in the courtyards. This place has one.”

“Cuddly hare.” Viel said as Sammy handed her the bunny. The two rubbed cheeks, purring together as they made their way to the courtyard to see what it could do.

“I’ll name him Cuddly.” Ingrid said. The hare ummm’d in response.

“I swear Ingrid attracts everything cute and fluffy.” Iohann giggled.

“Preach.” Zefir said quietly.

___

Siria pointed out the courtyard where various adventurers were sparring and testing out their abilities, Viel carried Cuddly in her arms as his nose rapidly twitched.

“Can you show us what you can do?” Ingrid asked, crouching beside him and scratching his chin. Cuddly made an adorable “ummmm” sound and nodded.

About thirty feet in front of Cuddly was a practice dummy, just one of many standing in a row where various other mages were currently practicing with.

“Go on, little one. Show us your best.” Siria said, nodding her head in encouragement. In response, Cuddly raised his wand and traced circles in the air. As he did, it created winged balls of light that trailed fairy dust, these flitted around randomly before Cuddly pointed at the training dummy. The winged constructs turned to streaks of light as they repeatedly rammed themselves around the training dummy from various angles.

“Fae Harriers.” Siria said. “Once a Fae Hare has designated a target, those Fae Harriers will constantly harass a target until the spell runs out of magic or the enemy is incapacitated or killed, that’s how they defend themselves from larger predators.” Philia explained. “Not very powerful at the moment, sure…but in the context of our group, Cuddly could definitely keep the stronger enemies occupied as it tries to swat away those little interceptors.”

“Ingrid you remember how a lot of people remarked ‘Fae Magic’ every time they saw you do weird things?” Siria said. Her eyes glowed with energy as she looked at Ingrid and then back at Cuddly. Ingrid did the same and looked her new bunny familar.

“Whoa! He’s using Ether!”

“Exactly,” Philia said. “Creating Fae Harriers takes quite a bit of energy to cast but after he launches them he gets most of his mana back. Probably nowhere close to your efficiency but still well enough to keep up with us.”

Cuddly was going to cast another spell when he suddenly crouched down and grumbled. He looked over at Gwen who was holding his bag and made adorable pawing motions. Gwen obliged and Cuddly took out from his bag a wrapped ball of…

“Is that a riceball?” Zefir asked.

“Oatballs…I guess he got hungry.” Siria crouched down and patted his head. “Ingrid! You’re his boss, feed him.”

“Right!” Ingrid sidled up to Cuddly and took out from her Traveler’s Valise her rations.

Arthur did the same, taking a bite to show it was safe. The hare happily took both, before going “ummmm.” and snuggling both, rubbing his head on Ingrid and Arthur.

“Cecil!” Ingrid called. Cecil had been quietly taking pictures of the sights and sounds around them. He brought his portal down to pet the hare.

Cuddly jumped in.

“WHOA!” Cecil and Ingrid chorused.

“Fae Magic.” Siria said. “Cuddly’s Fae nature probably lets him bypass Cecil’s room’s barriers.

“Stay here, Cuddly!” Cecil said, patting him with a jiggly tendril. “Eat here and rest, you must have had a long day.”

“Ummmm.” The hare said, affectionately nuzzling Cecil.

___

Inside, the guildhall's grandeur washed over visitors with the warm glow of faerie lights and the conversations, arguments, and raucous banter of the gathered adventurers. The Guildsmen of Jormungandr however, regarded the newcomers from the far corners of the known world with mixed feelings. They had seen the hopeful glints in many eyes before, coming to this Guildhall and hoping to conquer the dungeons of Teth-Odin, wishing to claim their place in the annals of history, only to return with too few surviving friends or, worse, not at all. They have seen the once bright eyes and excited voices before a sortie become one or two figures slumped on a wall sobbing inconsolably at the loss of friends, the shuttered dull eyes of those who came to resign, or the news from an innkeeper weeks later that mister or miss so-and-so had taken their lives following the tragic battle that wiped out most of their team.

It was a story the guildsmen have seen only too many times. As such, the arrival of The Whales evinced no more than a casual glance or two from the seasoned adventurers of Jormungandr. The presence of Siria Bluethorne however, did hold more than usual interest.

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The girl was notoriously aloof, as befitting her title of "The Legendary Solo Adventurer" and so seeing her clinging to the arm of an unknown human dressed as a maid was quite the sight to behold.

"Heh, looks like even the Legendary Solo Adventurer needs a bed warmer," one of the burly dwarfs snickered, eyeing Ingrid in her showy maid costume that flaunted her status as Siria’s lover.

"Praise the Gods, even Siria has needs," another jokingly exclaimed, earning a round of hearty laughs from the nearby crowd of adventurers.

"Poor human, imagine how backed up that snooty elf is," one of them said, chortling, "I bet she doesn't get a wink of sleep having to please Siria every night!"

There was one thing wrong with the picture however, as it was Siria who was clinging onto Ingrid’s arm like and practically slobbering all over her, and not the other way around.

"Hey, aren't those..." A chameleon-folk began, his eyes focusing on the group "...those two are Amaduscia Enthana's pups!" His whisper grew into a murmur, spreading like wildfire through the hall.

Kinu and Kvaris glanced back, lightly waving to those who greeted them, the two sisters walked arm-in-arm with some poor ciltran who could only be their pounding boy, leading more than a few older adventurers to quietly crack jokes about how funny his face must be every night with this cock forced into arousal for hours while the sisters slaked their lust on his body as way of relieving stress, probably passed him around to the rest of the team.

"Considering they're of Amaduscia's pedigree, I wouldn't be surprised that Siria's thrown in her lot with those two." muttered one of the adventurers, nodding towards the twins.

"Indeed, they must be that good for Siria to even consider them," said a grizzled bear-folk wizard, stroking his beard thoughtfully.

"What about the others? I think I've seen that blond Daos-folk before..." asked another.

"The one in the red vestments is definitely a rider of the Nightmane tribe," said a tall, dark elf, leaning into the conversation with interest. "No self-respecting elf would go on a quest without a big strong orc to spill blood with."

"True." One hawk-like bird folk warbled, "Even for a legend like Siria, the dungeons of Teth-Odin are nothing to sneeze at. She may be aloof, but she's not stupid."

"I can't seem to find anything interesting with the others though." Spoke the chameleon. "One's a maid, probably another bedwarmer for the group."

"As is that boy." chuckled the bear-folk wizard, pointing at Zefir. "Looks like Siria keeps him for a different kind of swordplay."

The newly-minted fast friends collectively chuckled at the crass joke.

"And I suppose that other ciltran twerp is her disciple." said the dwarf. "She carries a staff after all."

"That dryad too probably." the dark elf said, "Looks a little too green..." the group chuckled at the pun.

"Now that golem of Siria's is definitely something though." The bear-wizard said. "Not quite often you'd see one made to look like one of the forest shepherds."

It was then that an even stranger sight greeted everyone’s eyes.

“Ingriiiiid!” Cecil said, flying into the Guildhouse. “Sorry about that, Cuddly wanted some of those kebab skewers, he IS omnivorous!”

The people in the guildhouse looked on in disbelief as they witnessed Cecil’s Dialog Window hover silently through the air, the slime accompanied by a Fae Hare. Following the portal was an unbelievable fifteen armed and armored Tixi Mice, four of them were of the mythical gold color. The mice marched quickly in synchronized steps with Arthur leading the procession as they went in pairs, squeaking some kind of cadence as their armor rhythmically clinked as they moved.

“That’s good.” Ingrid said, walking over to them, crouching on her heels to give the mice cheek rubs. Everyone watched as the mice followed Ingrid which seemed to indicate that-

“Have the mice marked her as the Alpha?” A lizard man wondered out loud.

“That’s ridiculous!” A kobold scoffed. “Obviously they’re Siria’s familiars and they just see the human as just someone who feeds them.”

“Yeah I mean…look at that! It’s a talking slime! And it’s on some kind of portal flying around.”

“Why am I here?” Neith asked. “This spider-bot is a mule.”

“We should have you registered as an adventurer as well, Neith.” Philia said. “I made you sentient, time you act like one.”

“I don’t have thumbs.” Neith said.

“Print a QR code and rick roll them with it.” Philia remarked.

“Yes, Dark Queen Melrondia.” Neith replied with an obvious robotic filter in her voice.

“Dark Queen?” Selphie asked, looking up at Philia curiously, “...are you a Lady of a Demon House?”

“Sadly no…” Philia replied, ruffling her hair. “It’s just some awkward long story for another time.”

___

The pheasant bird-folk receptionist looked up as The Whales approached the counter.

“Good evening Lanae!” Siria said cheerfully.

“Siria!” Lanae cooed happily. “Once again you don a Riflana-Biscana. Having a bad case of wanderlust, have you?” her eyes then flicked over to Ingrid. “And I see you’re showing off your new lover.” she leaned forward to Ingrid “...hope Siria’s not pestering you too much to do night duties with her.”

Ingrid giggled “...I’m the team’s bed warmer actually.”

Lanae shot Siria a look and then stood up to do a headcount of the group.

“Siria! That’s cruel!” she squawked. “What are you doing to this girl?”

Siria laughed. “No! This is Ingrid Lily… she’s the leader of our team.”

“This is not funny, Siria!” Lanae said “you shouldn’t abuse a… Nemesis-Stalker?”

Ingrid’s Masquerade piece caused her Maid Couture Ensemble to break down into curly puffs of smoke, and it’s its place her usual Drow Solenrala ensemble materialized.

Lanae’s eyes bugged out as she took in the sight. There was no way anyone, especially a non-elf to don a hallowed garb like a Drow Solenrala in the presence of an elf AND and orc and not end up on the ground half-dead. Especially not in front of the Legendary Solo Adventurer Siria Bluethorne. The only way Ingrid could wear this around Siria of all people, meant she would have had to have rendered an unmistakably heroic act. As Ingrid transformed, she also had glimpsed the collar around her neck wasn’t some vanity piece but rather a Kobold Padloi.

“W-well… if Siria says so….still.” She narrowed her eyes. “Don’t have everyone hump this poor girl every night… there’s too many of you!”

“Don’t worry!” Kvaris and Kinu chorused, each putting an arm around Zefir. “We work him every night too.”

“It’s an obligation.” Zefir nodded, his voice sounded meek though his expression did look rather smug.

“She does too.” Sammy said, putting her hands around Philia’s shoulders and rubbing them. Philia responded by reaching up and scratching Sammy’s ears.

“Yup, we earthlings get ridden.” Philia said. “They work me to the bone everyday and I’m ridden all night. It’s a brutal life.”

“Alright, alright.” Lanae giggled, taking out her pen. “Let’s take some more pertinent information now.”

“Oh and after this.” Ingrid said, leaning over. “We do need to speak with guildmaster Mi… Mi-”

“Guildmaster Mittens.” Siria said.

“PFFFT!-”

___

The meeting with the Guildmaster would have to wait as a man of his position was clearly still busy with other things. For the meantime, Lanae directed the team to attend a lecture that was going to be held in half an hour. Guildsmen have been taking shifts giving an orientation for the newcomers on how to conduct themselves while in the dungeons below. As the team would learn, it wasn’t all just hack-and-slash.

“Feels like the first day of class all over again.” Zefir remarked as they entered the room.

“Can’t relate…” Philia said lightly. “Not only did I have to reincarnate from scratch, I wasn’t that important enough to be sent to school, though most of the reason why that happened was by my own initiative, I had better things to do after all.”

“I bet you did that on purpose then showed up everyone else despite your ‘lack’ of formal education.” Ingrid remarked.

Philia wagged a finger at Ingrid “Tutoring does count as formal education. They’re not available for rank-and-file citizens anyway. But yes, not attending a ‘prestigious’ school and still showing up everyone else helped cement my status back in Elion-Nosco.”

“Sis and I had tutors.” Kvaris said “That said, we were quite itinerant. Father said that if we didn’t come along we would’ve been academy taught, and sponsored by the Freidian throne too thanks to Father’s services to the crown.”

“What about you Viel? Did you attend an academy?” Ingird asked.

“N-no.” Viel said shyly. “I’m mostly schooled by my family, and on magic I’m mostly self-taught. Mostly, after I had a decent grasp on spellcraft that was when my mother and foremother then began to share the secrets. Sammy though…” the short ciltran girl gestured to her orc companion. “She’s formally educated.”

Sammy shrugged “Every orc has to be. Elders love to say ‘you have the best classroom in the world, it changes every few months, as does the tree you sit under when receiving instruction…” she looked far away as if remembering a very picturesque scene in her head. “The Blackstone Bluffs… it’s just so surreal to sit high and gaze upon that ancient land, book in hand as you read of what happened aeons past…the world changes so slowly while our lives burn up fast…It really puts a lot of things into perspective.”

Philia nodded sagely “Agreed, having something picturesque really gets the brain going.”

The lecture hall was quite crowded though every member of the team was able to find seats. Cuddly and ten of the mice were cuddled on everyone’s laps while the rest were gathered in Cecil’s room.

The crocodile-folk guildsman was currently lecturing the adventurers regarding those that should be left alone in the dungeon. Among them were Grudge Walkers, undead warriors who seemed to be interested only in attacking monsters.

“Is this common, Siria?” Ingrid whispered, scratching Cuddly’s ears.

“So far, only Teth-Odin’s dungeon has the ability to reanimate the slain, but it’s still quite a small number.” Siria whispered back, giggling slightly as her mouse nibbled on her ear.

“Now, these folks aren’t interested in stopping to chat, but for now we got them to tolerate us cleaning their armor or equipping them with better arms and protection.” The crocodilian guildsman said, his baritone voice had a slightly deep gurgle that matched his reptilian ancestry.

“What about familiars?” Cecil squeaked. The mice also looked at each other squeaking amongst themselves and then looking back at the crocodile, who smiled and shook his head.

“Fortunately we’ve never had a case of Grudge Walkers attacking familiars. Two years ago, we once had a crested raptor run all the way back up from the dungeon to deliver the remains of his master. Several parties had witnessed this, some have seen the mournful familiar pass by Grudge Walkers who merely kept… walking. Apparently they all recognized him as a familiar taking his master away for his funeral and not some wild creature taking back prey.”

“That’s like a raptor with a cocaine-addicted chihuahua’s disposition.” Philia leaned over and whispered, taking the change to pat Cuddly’s head.

“I’m convinced.” Ingrid replied.

“You think Wolfgang’s doing alright?” Cecil asked.

“I hope he is.” Ingrid said, smiling fondly as thought of her pet dog, hugging Cuddly.

“Oh please.” Arek said. “I already told you he’s here with me. And don’t talk about him like he’s a tiny chihuahua… he’s the most well-behaved good boi I’ve ever seen. Shame his owner was such a violent, brutal freak…”

“First off…” Cecil said “he’s not well-behaved, he’s a Border Collie, and second Ingrid’s never attacked anyone without provocation. That would be me, and third, a big brute like Ingrid needs fluffy cuddly things to unwind.”

“And that’s why all your teammates are fluffies.” Arek said with amusement.

“Proudly yes.” Ingrid said, putting an arm around Zefir’s shoulder and pulling him in, causing him to purr.

“Ankhegs…” The crocodile said next. “There’s six colonies of them in the dungeon. They’re intelligent enough to leave adventurers alone and we regularly send guildsmen or hire you folks to travel to their nests and ensure it’s free of parasites or intruders. As with the Grudge Walkers, don’t provoke them. They scavenge carcasses and hunt monsters that they can reliably overpower.”

“Wonder if they keep treasure.” Ingrid whispered. Her hands were rubbing Cuddly’s cheeks causing him to close his eyes and murmur happily.

“You’re playing with fire.” Philia whispered back, while stroking Cuddly’s fur. “It’s been done before but most won’t dare, you’ll cause an international incident, so to speak. Don’t be surprised if your fellow guildsmen decide to chuck you back into the Ankhegs nest, good luck with the kangaroo court there.”

“Pffft, they actually have a court?” Ingrid giggled.

“Nah, more like a tapas bar, and you’re the Hors d’Oeuvres. If you’re lucky you get to play daycare with their larvae, who don’t know a thing or two about killing prey quickly.”

“Next…” the crocodile paused, making sure everyone would hear what he had to say next.

“Due to the monster explosion that happened a few days ago, we have gotten reports that some locations have had their fairy lights either broken or not working. I don’t need to tell you what you need to do in places with little to no lighting, but we have had one too many cases of adventurers who think they could handle the increased population in those dark sectors. This is not just a case of a lack of visibility, but also a case of increased activity.”

He waited for the murmurs to die down, he had no illusions that some adventurers would still try their luck, but at least he had exercised his due diligence in informing them of these matters.

“Finally…” the crocodile said. “There are sections in the dungeons that are far more dangerous than usual. These zones should be kept to monster populations only, letting their infighting lead to more deaths on their side. Keep your heads on your shoulders and avoid them, no matter how tempting it may seem.”

Zefir leaned over to Ingrid. “He’s talking about the more video-gamey sections, like a bridge over lava, or corridors with multiple swinging guillotines.”

“If you see these, then you’re approaching a habitat zone for the monsters. Approaching these are extremely suicidal, so think twice before thinking of seeking more glory or filling up your itemboxes. We’ve designed the dungeons like these so monsters can have a place to build their nests, and they fight off interlopers that seek to uproot them.” the crocodile continued.

“That means don’t bother trying to wipe out monster nests in those areas.” Zefir said, rubbing his mouse’s belly. “There’s plenty enough to go around as it is…”

Ingrid raised a hand.

“Yes, ummm…”

“Ingrid. Assuming it’s possible,” she began. “Would there be any objections to starting a power vacuum in the dungeon?”

“She’s asking if we could root out one monster colony.” Sammy explained, rubbing her mouse’s cheek pouches.

A few snickers rippled through the crowd of adventurers. The idea of a single team taking on a whole monster colony wasn't unheard of, but those adventurers tended to have reputations that stretched beyond the confines of the guildhall and their presence would've been heralded by hordes of screaming, adoring fans long before they entered. Ingrid's question hung in the air, a clear display of her confidence. Some of the chuckles grew louder, the sound of doubt and amusement echoing through the cavernous room.

Nevertheless the sounds of amusement quickly died down as they realized the speaker of this peculiar question and the company and familiar she was keeping. She was dressed in an attire right near an elf who had every legal right to kill her ten days till Sunday unless she actually earned the right to wear a Solenrala and that told everyone to consider her question seriously.

“No objections.” The crocodile said. “Assuming the team’s capable then by all means. Just know that near those nesting areas are smaller, lesser nesting grounds. We call them Usurper Nests. They’re built so other monsters have a motivation to constantly contest residency. So if you wipe out one monster next, you may end up drawing in the usurpers who will opportunistically take this chance to snatch the newly-liberated nest.”

“Alright, thank you.” Ingrid said.

“WMD’s are off-limits in these places.” Philia said, leaning over and whispering quietly to Ingrid. Philia’s mouse closed his eyes and slowly shook his head, holding up a paw and wagging a finger.

“Of course…” Ingrid said, scratching the mouse’s head.

___

“We’ve finished our registration as adventurers…” Selphie said. After the lecture and subsequent meeting with the guildmaster, the Whales waited by the lounge, busying themselves by playing with the mice.

“Thank you Siria for pulling strings for us.” Neith said quietly over the radio. “We don’t have to do any kind of testing.”

“Considering what we’ve done so far, it’s the least the guilds owe us.” Siria said. “Let’s go get some seeds for Selphie and our farmers.”

“What sort of seeds could Selphie use?” Ingrid queried.

“The bigger the better that’s for sure.” Siria told her. “The pellet guns the mice were using gave me the idea. If we could have wooden pellets, Selphie can then shoot them at the enemy, assuming of course there’s a gun for that.”

“Not too difficult.” Philia said. “I’ll have to make one from scratch but yeah, making a wooden repeating shot-type gun is something quite a few engineers in my world have made. The bullet velocity won’t be as fast as the metal guns but still comparable to an arrow shot from a heavy bow.”

“Let’s do it then!” Ingrid said excitedly. “What about the rest? This is a good time to shop if you need anything.”

Kvaris and Kinu were thinking.

“We were planning to walk around town and see if we can establish some old contacts.” the girls said in sync with each other.

“Good idea.” Philia said. “Ingrid, Siria, and Selphie, you three head to the market, the rest of us should go with Kvaris and Kinu and see where we can buy our daily supplies and stuff.”

“Wilco. Everyone stay in touch.” Ingrid waved, putting an arm around Selphie. “C’mon, let’s get you armed and good to go.”

“Th-thank you…” Selphie said.

“We’ll arm Cuddly as well.” Philia said, cradling the hare in her arms.

___

“Medusa, Euryale, this is Starchaser Actual, report, over.” Ingrid said, referring to the callsigns of Amalla and Kaolla respectively.

“This is Medusa.” Amalla replied. “Quite a few villagers stepped out to shop for personal effects. Over.”

“Copy your last, Medusa. Well done in learning radio etiquette. Starchaser Actual out.” Ingrid told her.

“Medusa?” Selphie asked.

“Call-signs.” Siria said “We address each other using our call-signs while out of sight. You should come up with one yourself. Otherwise Ingrid will find a funny name for you.”

The three of them arrived at the produce section of the market, among the wares at one stall sold bags of dark gold kernels that were the size of sunflower seeds though it was shaped like rice, with an odd crisscrossing grain along the hull.

“Silkbloom seeds.” Siria said. “A cash crop, it’s a common plant so we don’t have to worry about availability, quantity or price. The seeds themselves are ground for oil or roasted and shelled as food.”

“And if you get about a hundred of them boiled up for hours you get some weak toxin, nothing useful though.” Philia added. “Just in case you’re thinking of making Isekai Ricin, Ingrid, not gonna happen, just stick to the local fauna here, we got cobras as thick as tree trunks… no dice trying to make their venom an aerosol though.”

“Aww shucks!” Ingrid said in mock dismay. “Alright Siria, why this seed in particular, is it the size?”

“Silkbloom seeds are in the same family tree as Whipcrawlers, mutating them to act like their cousin should be much easier, in theory.” Philia explained. “I’m guessing there’s a dormant gene in their DNA sequence that lets it grow wildly thrashing vines.”

“What about getting actual whipcrawler seeds?” Ingrid asked.

“Hah, get this. Whipcrawlers don’t use seeds, they’re more like…runners.” Philia said.

“One’s a weed, the other’s a seed. Heh.” Ingrid smiled.

A few minutes later, Ingrid found a stall that sold decorative beads.

“I got eyes on a stall that sells wooden beads, King Fish. They’re bigger than the seeds and look aerodynamic enough. Pull up your phone…|

“Standby, Starchaser.” Philia replied.

Ingrid picked up one bead, it was unvarnished, as it was meant to be taken by craftsmen to be further processed into the final product such as necklaces or bracelets. It had no holes drilled into it as it was up to the craftsman to drill the holes to the size of the straps they would use.

“Scanning size. Using Starchaser’s digits as reference. Standby…” Neith said. It only took a few seconds and then she followed up with “You may purchase them now. Dimensions logged.”

The price of the beads per bag was low and Ingrid estimated she got about a near 1:1 for the seeds she bought.

“We got seeds n’ beads, sadly not from Chuck’s.” Ingrid snickered.

“You’re on a roll today.” Cecil chuckled.

Party Information

CUDDLY has joined the Party.

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INDEX: The Whales Party Sheet