Violet looked over her contract with Avorn and Camellia, confirming one last time that this would, in fact, be their final night staying in the dungeon before spring arrived. It was sad to know things would be changing so soon, but, as someone with the potential to live forever, she was going to have to get used to the unsettling feeling of things changing far sooner than she'd like. Even if she could control much of what happened in her own dungeon, the outside world was likely to continue to change with the passage of time, resulting in those changes being seen within the dungeon, to some degree, as well.
Over the last few days, she had continued to amass dungeon points with 500 coming from the nightly rent payments and another 174 DP coming from various tributes. Gregory and a group with a young child, named Adam, had continued to visit the dungeon over the last few days, but most of their tributes were repeats. Still, thanks to Elivyre and the two Dungeon Diplomats helping her with the charity work, she had received some nice new [Base Resources] and [Items], including: coal, a fire magic crystal, thyme, and some marjoram.
Before now, Violet had actually only ever gotten two other magic crystals, which had been for the air and light elements. She did, technically, also have some earth magic, but that was from the dungeon absorbing a goblin earth elementalist, not from a crystal itself. Of course, something like fire magic was even more special because it meant she could now make [Items] that utilized fire in their design.
The magic light that Tobias had gifted her had allowed her to place magic lanterns along the dungeon walls, but they were rather expensive and far too tempting for adventurer's to steal. Thus, she had immediately reabsorbed the ones she already had placed and spent 10 DP to unlock wall torches, which she had placed throughout the first and second floor earlier in the week. At only 5 MP per wall torch, it was fairly cheap to light up the entirety of both floors' hallways. The other good thing was that it would also make it easier for adventurers to read the many wooden wall signs she had begun placing throughout the hallways to direct them around the dungeon.
In the past, she had wanted to make her dungeon labyrinth-like to confuse adventurers and force them to backtrack as much as possible. However, that no longer aligned with her goals. Making her dungeon easy to navigate for adventurers would be good marketing and it wasn't like intruding [Monsters] needed signs since they always seemed to hone in on the quickest path to the dungeon core anyway. So, now every entrance had a wooden sign above it stating what the next room held while hallways with multiple directions, like her roundabout hallway, had signs that stated what was in each of the directions. There would be no children getting confused and ending up in the boss rooms and no one could say that she was purposely leading people to their deaths.
Of course, that had been far earlier in the week and now she had an entire night's worth of mana to look forward to. Charity work was no longer a concern as Elivyre had come to collect the last batch of goods from her earlier in the week. Violet had chosen to give away all of her previously stocked merchandise at that time since she knew her priorities were likely to be different the next time she decided to play merchant. Besides, hopefully, there would be more adventurers regularly visiting the dungeon, so she would need to base her merchandise around that, not what was selling during the winter season.
As a temporary goodbye, Violet had invited Elivyre to one last round of tea with her pixies. Most of them were still uncomfortable with the half-elf's presence, but her friend didn't seem offended in the slightest. Violet was glad that her friend had such a good disposition and that she genuinely enjoyed her presence. She could only hope that whoever Theodore brought in to replace David was equally as kind, but she had no clue when that would be. She most certainly hadn't seen the man in quite some time. However, Violet was hardly the sort to hold that against someone and could only hope that he was doing alright.
After spending nearly 870 dungeon points and most of an entire night's worth of mana, Violet smiled to herself. She had wanted to get Avorn and Camellia a parting gift that she was certain they would be able to make use of. Now that everything was ready, she made her way downstairs so that she could catch them before they left. She didn't want to miss them, especially since she knew they planned to head to a nearby city to shop for new gear. That would make her efforts wasted, which was hardly what she wanted.
"Oh, Miss Violet! We didn't know if we'd see you before we left, but I'm glad to get to see you. We'll be leaving for a while, but we did want to express our sincere gratitude for your kindness in allowing us to stay here all season long."
Camellia said in a chipper tone. Violet smiled back in return, holding two bags out to them as she explained
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"Yes, that's actually what I was here for as well. You have both been such lovely guests that I wanted to give you a parting gift. You not only held up your end of the contract, paying your rent on time, never attacking the dungeon core, etc., but you've also been welcoming and cooperative every time I've come to see you. I've never had to worry about you trying to take advantage of my kindness either, something I've come to appreciate after having to end a messy situation with the first person I made a contract with."
The two seemed almost embarrassed by her words, so she merely continued
"Right, well, I've made you both magic bags in the style of camping backpacks. They hold 100 Units each, double what your current ones can handle, and they've been packed with some other [Items] as well. I know you both have been sleeping on old blankets without proper tents or anything since your initial gear was just normal backpacks that couldn't hold much, so I made you leather tube tents, leather bedrolls, and cotton sleeping bags.
The backpacks and sleeping bags use zippers, which have a little tab you gently pull to open and close the seam, when necessary. I'm not sure if that's something you all have seen before or not, I really don't mean to belittle you or anything. The tents have loops with steel tent poles you hammer into the ground to hold the tent down while at the top you just string the included cotton paracord through and tie it to two trees. It should be big enough to fit both of you under one, but I have provided two tents, in case you prefer sleeping separately.
This section of the backpack right here is for holding these steel thermoses I made for you. You have to twist the caps off, but they work just like the waterskins you use, except they can also hold hot liquids like tea, not just water. Inside the magic bags, I've put sixteen-piece mess kits that include tea kettles, a skillet, and a pot with a lid. All of them have collapsible handles so they can take up less space. Then there are two cups, two three-piece collapsible silverware sets, a short wooden rice spoon, a collapsible ladle, a wooden dish scraper and a knitted cotton sponge. The last two will require some soap to work effectively, but should make cleanup easier. All of the mess kit pieces can be used over a campfire, so I'm sure it should serve you both well since you seem to often spend your nights outdoors instead of at an inn.
The last two [Items] are a camping multitool and a fire-starting kit. The kits include lighters, which have fire magic crystals in them, so I hope one of you can use magic. Unfortunately, I didn't have any flint to make a non-magic option. My dungeon is still fairly new and it seems like I've mostly been getting plant-based tributes, thus far. I did also include things like fatwood and wax infused hemp ropes, which should set fire quite easily and function as a useful tinder for setting your firewood on fire. As for the multitools, they include an ax, hammer, saw blade, file, bottle opener, straight cutter, and a whistle. They're super compact, but should help solve a lot of your camping needs, including setting up those tent poles."
Camellia was speechless as she stared at Violet, unsure what to say. Normally, she would be the spokesman for both of them, but she wasn't sure how to react to such an insanely generous gift. It felt too good to be true and she wasn't sure whether to reject the offer or not. Luckily, Avorn's survival instincts kicked in and he didn't have as difficult of a time responding.
"Thank you, that's very generous of you. Do you mind if we take a moment to transfer some of our valuables? We'd like to leave our old gear with you, even if it isn't worth much, but we have to keep some of our things. I don't know if you're aware, but there are bandits and such on the roads as well as wild [Monsters]. It would be a shame if we left everything we owned for you only to be unable to defend ourselves and lose such a precious gift as this before we could even properly enjoy it."
Violet couldn't help but look confused as she handed the bags to Avorn and Camellia. She was glad they weren't refusing the gift, as she had worried they would. She was well aware they didn't want something like weapons from her as they had discussed that the last time they met. However, she wasn't sure why they felt the need to pay her back in such a way. She didn't personally mind if they sold off the 50 Units magic bags she had previously traded to them in order to afford better gear, nor did she expect them to give her anything else in return. However, she was hardly going to argue with them either. She was too afraid of them changing their mind and no longer being willing to accept her own gift.
While their gifts had been rather costly, when it came to the dungeon points investment, it was hardly a big deal to her. In fact, she had actually chosen to reabsorb her old magic bag and replace it with a set of the same gear she was now gifting to Avorn and Camellia. A backpack was less accessible than a satchel was, but the backpack and other gear would still be fairly convenient and had the added bonus of blending in with other adventurers. The only things she retained of her old gear were the patchwork teddy bear replica Gregory had left as a tribute the other day, her iron sword from David, and the engraved steel scabbard Matthias had gifted her so long ago. Outside of that, she just had the clothes she was wearing and her purple cloth shoes she had reincarnated into this world wearing that had been stuffed into her new magic backpack alongside the teddy bear.
After some more brief, if slightly awkward chit-chat, the three of them parted ways. It was finally time to unlock the third floor.