Violet spent the mana from Elivyre's visit on an extra magic bag and firewood to use for charity. She needed her mana from nighttime to work on some of her other projects, but she also knew she'd need to start working on creating goods for the charity work sooner rather than later. Actually, the project she was working on today was meant to help with her mana costs while ensuring her quality of life was still consistent.

As soon as Camellia and Avorn arrived for the night, she made her way through her rooms until she arrived at the first unused room after the mystery falls, which sat between the pear and orange orchard [Monster] field rooms. Much like she had done for the fae circles room, she cleared away some of the unnecessary trees in the center of the room.

"Pardon me, Miss Violet, but what are you working on?"

Holly asked. This room was where she had assigned Willow and Holly, the pixie royalty she had summoned just yesterday. While the pixies had all been calling her different things when she first summoned them, they had all seemed to agree calling her "Miss Violet" was the best choice. Considering she didn't actually want to have any titles used, she supposed she would have to accept the wins she could get. Being called "Miss" wasn't nearly as stuffy sounding as "Madam" or as strange as "Mistress" anyhow.

"Well, I'm sure you've heard from the others that I tend to make all of the rooms you are assigned to challenge rooms."

"That's correct, Miss."

Willow interjected. Smiling, Violet continued

"Well, I'm doing the same here, but I was thinking of having it be tea party themed."

Willow creased his eyebrows in confusion, but Holly was cheerful as she exclaimed

"How fun!"

The way these two spoke certainly made them stand out from the others. In fact, Violet almost felt like they had an accent of sorts that made them sound more like aristocrats, but she couldn't quite say whether that made sense or if it was all in her head. She most certainly wasn't used to her pixies being anything more than carefree and informal, save for when they called her name.

With the space finally ready to start building, Violet opened her [Dungeon Status] screen.

Dungeon Status:

Current Mana 100 / 100

Current DP: 5,960

Current Floors: 2

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Current Rooms: 36 (18+18)

Monsters

Construction

Research

Missions

Despite how poorly things had gone when Violet last interacted with David, she had still managed to do their weekly trade. This was mostly because she had opted to do so before they began their swordsmanship training for the night, something she had conflicted feelings about now. There was no way she would have willingly done so after what he pulled that night, that much was certain. However, she couldn't help but wonder whether it was better to have made the trade and have gained the extra 2,500 DP or if she would have preferred not to have traded with him, ensuring that he couldn't benefit from her efforts.

The rest of the gains she had received had been from things like Avorn and Camellia paying rent, the tribute from the Dungeon Diplomats trio, and the tribute of herbs Elivyre always brought her. Elivyre usually brought along two different herbs to give as tribute as she was always generous, but she had opted for just one this time around. Still, the apple mint was intriguing to Violet who always loved to see what new and interesting herbs her friend would bring her next. Besides, she was fairly certain that she would easily choose Elivyre visiting without any tribute at all over her friend not visiting just because she didn't have enough to give as tribute. Violet just enjoyed her presence that much.

The diplomats themselves seem to have chosen to give a separate tribute each. As to who had given what, Violet wasn't sure, but she could certainly make some educated guesses. There were two steel daggers, luminous moss, and an iron chestplate with a protection enchantment. Knowing Theodore, she was fairly certain that he had given her the moss since she had asked him for glowing mushrooms previously. Beowulf seemed like a tough guy while Elder Kendric seemed like he'd be wealthy, but cautious. So, she thought it likely that Kendric had given her the enchanted chestplate since she could, potentially, use it as a reward for adventurers.

Regardless, Violet was quite happy to know that she had 5,960 DP because she was most definitely going to need all of the dungeon points she could get for her current project. Normally, she cared more about making a fun challenge with a good reward for the adventurers who came through. This time, however, she was more interested in cutting costs on future tea parties. While she wasn't sure if her dungeon [Monsters] required food to live, there was no denying the fact that their nightly soirées made everyone happy.

While the charity work would only be affecting them for a matter of a few weeks, now that winter was almost over, there would be other things Violet needed to save her mana for later on. She didn't want to worry over the tea not being hot, the cookies not being fresh, or a lack of variety just because she wanted to build a new challenge room instead of spending all her mana on foods that could range from anywhere from 1 MP to several tens of mana points in cost.

Besides which, Violet was more than a little aware of the fact that she wouldn't always be able to prioritize her pixies as the dungeon would only continue to grow. When she, one day, had a dozen or more floors, she would have to consider the needs of other groups of [Monsters] as well. She didn't feel the need to worry about the ones like her slimes who weren't capable of higher thought, much less properly communicating with her. However, if it was possible to get pixies on what was only her second floor, who was to say she wouldn't end up with even more powerful sentient creatures? Wouldn't something like a dryad or a shapeshifting werewolf require love just as much as her pixies did?

However, just because she had to balance her attention in other places, later on, didn't mean she couldn't ensure her pixies were happy. Making them homes and a tea party that refreshed daily, without any input from her, would guarantee they'd always be able to get by without her. Violet just hoped they'd still be as happy to see her in the future as they all were now. She certainly knew distance didn't always make the heart grow fonder, even if she still hadn't gotten over her deceased husband, Lee.