“The map says that the Safe Room should be right up ahead, just around the corner here.”

“Thanks Hannah, good job leading us this far.”

“Haha, no problem, boss. It’s what you hired me on for after all.”

Heading a bit deeper into the tree’s interior, the Adventurer Party, the Three Scarves, does indeed find the Safe Room just like their hired Guide said they would. Heading inside and letting some of the tension from traveling through dangerous territory finally drop away, they all get to work on setting up camp for the night.

“Hey, Jakub, you’re on cooking duty today. Sam, you’re on dishes.” Max calls out as everyone is dropping their packs and stretching.

Sam lets out an annoyed noise and calls out, “Uahh, why do I have to do the dishes!?”

“Because you almost made us late this morning before we fought the first boss. Now we’re getting here just as the light is setting, when we should have been here with time to spare.” Max snaps back.

“Hey, I said I was sorry, but I had to take a shit.”

Hannah is blushing off to the side as she works on getting her sleeping role set up. Jakub just laughs next to the eternally burning hearth that can be found in every Safe Room. Setting out some pots and bowls, he says jokingly, “Couldn’t you at least say that in a slightly more lady-like manner, Sam? We do have Hannah here with us after all.”

“Hah! Please, lady-like my ass. I’m more man than you and Max put together. And besides, Hannah is an adventurer like the rest of us. I’m sure that she hears plenty of rude stuff all the time.”

Hannah just pretends to ignore them as she tries to focus on setting up her area. Sam, seeing this, lets out a laugh, but decides to leave her alone. Max has already gotten on her ass to not mess with the Guide too much, and she doesn’t want to piss him off. At least not for now. He’s fun to piss off, but the Dungeon isn’t exactly the best place for doing that.

Max, finding himself a place to sit, gets his sword out and starts working on maintenance while Jakub and Sam bullshit by the hearth. “If your guy’s gear needs some work, bring it over and I’ll take care of it.”

Hannah speaks up at this, “Is there anything that I can do?”

“Hm? No, you’re good. Just relax for the night. We hired you on to read maps and keep us from getting lost. Not to work the camp or anything else. We can handle that.”

“Oh, ok… Um, I’ll just do some reading then. Let me know if there is anything I can help with.”

“You could help me with the dishes later. Ouch, haha sorry!” Sam laughs as she rubs at where Max had just chucked a cork from a bottle at her.

“Ignore her, Hannah. You just read your book and take it easy.”

Getting comfortable on her bed roll, Hannah nods her head and proceeds to dig out her book. It is a thick thing that goes over the history of these lands and its surrounding nations. It isn’t the most entertaining of reads, but for long trips into the Dungeon, it helps to have something to do during your down time.

Off to the side, Sam and Jakub continue to bullshit as Max works on sharpening his sword with a wet stone.

Flipping the pages to pick back up where she had left off on last time, Hannah gets to reading by the light of the hearth as everyone else works. Getting a few pages in and trying not to get to bored by the flat and drawling writings of the historian that wrote this book, Hannah raises her head away from the pages to rub at her eyes under her glasses. In the corner of her vision, she sees someone walk into the entry way of the Safe Room, stopping a few feet in.

Hannah has to blink a couple of times as the figure stands there. She is very short, about the size of a child, but her face doesn’t seem like one that you'd see on a little girl. Her features are too defined, and she is lacking the baby fat of a little girl. Hannah's first thoughts go to that of a female Dwarf or a Hobbit. An uncommon sight around these parts, but one that is still recognizable by most.

Those thought are thrown aside when her eyes find the spiked horns that are growing out from the girl's head. They arch forward from her temples out of a mess of black and grey hair that pools over her shoulders, before going up and then back over her head like a black crown of bone and thorn. Even stranger yet, adorning the sides of her head and peeking out from the mess that is her hair, is a pair of long fluffy ears that twitch as the girl looks around the Safe Room's interior, taking in everything that she can see with her emerald-green eyes.

Part of Hannah is whispering to her that she should play with the ears. They look very fluffy and soft… She is quick to squash those thoughts.

The rest of the girl’s body from the chin down cannot be seen beneath a thick scaled cloak that is striped in greens and blacks. Even her feet are obscured beyond the shadows of the cloak, making it almost seem as if she had floated into the room.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

Hannah is quick to realize that she isn’t the only one that had spotted the intruder. Jakub has stopped where he was cutting meat for the soup. Sam is already reaching for her battle axe. And Max is slowly setting aside an oiled rag, his grip on his sword tightening as he readies to spring to his feet.

The mysterious girl’s emerald-green eyes scan over everyone from where she stands, a weird feeling of being… weighed, judged, evaluated? The feeling fills everyone and makes Hannah shudder a little as she tightens her hold on her book, ready to throw the heavy thing if she must. Some part of her mind is screaming that this girl is dangerous, like being cornered by a Sabretooth Tiger that is trying to decide between playing with or eating its food. But either way, you are still the food...

The girl gives a smile, her mouth showing perfectly straight pearly whites and sharp little canines. And then, most surprisingly of all, she speaks.

“Hello! Ah, I finally found you guys, hahaha~! I was really worried that I wouldn’t be able to catch up with you after the lights went out. I was bumping around in the halls until I saw the light coming from this room. Thank goodness! Hahaha!” She says with a joyful and full smile, her voice like a bell ringing softly in the wind, soothing to the ears and pleasant to listen to like that of a songstress in a King's court.

Sam’s hand finds her battle axe, and she moves to stand and say something, but she is stopped as Max raises a hand, his eyes refusing to leave the girl.

“Who, or what, are you? And what are you doing here?” He asks, a weight to his words like he is seconds away from attacking.

The girl seems unperturbed by this and keeps a little smile on her face as she gives everyone one last look over. Her green eyes eventually settle on Max, and she speaks.

“My name is Bug, nice to meet you. And I am here because I saw your lights. It is dark outside after all.”

“Bug? You said that you were trying to catch up with us, why were you following us?”

“I just said, it is getting dark out. I don’t have a light, but you guys do.”

“Besides light, why else are you here. Are you here to fight? Planning on robbing us?”

This just makes the girl smile more, her fluffy ears wiggling with her apparent happiness. Sam shifts, ready to charge the horned girl, but stops as those green eyes shift to her. A bead of sweat rolls down her forehead as she stares at the girl named Bug, and Bug stares back.

Max whispers something to her that Hannah can’t here from her corner of the room, but Sam responds for everyone else to hear. She is the closest to Bug right now.

“She is a mage. I can feel her Field. Not a strong one, but enough to be felt from here. I don’t recognize the element, but it feels dangerous…”

“Shit…” Jakub curses quietly.

Bug tilts her head at this, “Now, now, no need to worry about me. As long as you don’t attack me first, I won’t attack you. Like I said, I just came here because I saw your lights.”

“Well, you found us, now leave. We got to this Safe Room first and we aren’t sharing it with… whatever you are.” Max says.

“Well, that’s just rude. But fine, I don’t need to share a room with you. Instead, could you help me out by answering some questions real quick? It would be a big help.” The mysterious girl asks sweetly.

Max narrows his eyes, weighing over his options before finally answering. “What do want to know? As long as we can answer it, we will, but if you take one more step into this room, we will attack you. Understand?”

“Yeah, that’s fine. Then first, can you tell me about this part of the Dungeon? I am sort of lost... Am I supposed to just keep walking, or am I supposed to find a way to get to the lower branches?”

Max tilts his head at such a weird question, but answers it none the less. “You are supposed to head down to the lower floors, or branches, until you reach the ground.”

“Is that where the second boss is?”

Again, Max seems taken aback by this, but he just nods. “Yes… What are you doing in the second layer if you don’t even know that?”

“Hm? Well, obviously I am trying to get deeper into the Dungeon, no? So, what is the boss? And what is the second layer, I thought I was on the sixth floor?”

“Ah… Ok… You really don’t know anything about the Dungeon, do you? Uhm, the second boss is a giant poisonous spider that makes its nest in the entry way to the third layer, or the eleventh floor. The layers are what we call segments of the Dungeon. The first five floors are layer one. This forest, down to the ground level, floor 10, is the second layer. Each layer of the Dungeon is different and has different challenges.”

“Oh? Like what?

“Uh, well, the first layer is all just beginner stuff really. Gremlins and Goblins. Nothing crazy or complicated. The second is where the Dungeon starts to get hard. There are ambushes, poison, and the risk of falling…”

“What about the third?”

“It is a series of flooded caverns. You have to use rafts to get around. Now, I answered your questions, what are you? Tell me. You can’t be a monster, because you are in the Safe Room, so what are you?”

“Oh! So that’s why it is called a Safe Room… Because the monsters can’t get in. Interesting…”

“Oi, what are you? Answer the question!” Sam demands.

Bug gives a frown towards Sam, but eventually relents, tilting her head in thought, her eyes look to the wall before eventually returning to Max.

“I’m a person.” She answers cutely.

“No shit, I’m asking what you are. Your face looks human, but we obviously don’t have horns or ears like yours.”

“Maybe she’s one of those Demi-Human things?” Sam tries.

“This far into our lands? She would have been hunted down, forget even getting into the city.” Jakub counters.

Bug speaks over them. “I know I look like this, but my magic lets me change my form.”

Jakub gawks. “What? What kind of magic would let you turn into this?”

“Rude…”

Hannah speaks up from where she is tucked in the back of the room, grabbing everyone’s attention. “Are you a Body Mage? You use Body magics, right?”

Everyone turns slightly to glance at Hannah, but refuse to remove Bug from their sights. Bug herself looks towards Hannah with a smile, but says nothing. Hannah can’t help it as a blush comes across her face. She can’t remove her eyes from Bug’s as they shine like emeralds in the dancing lights of the hearth.

“Hannah, what’s a Body Mage? I’ve never heard of one before.” Max asks.

Hannah tries to focus on the question, but is a bit distracted as Bug continues to watch her, she eventually manages to work the words out of her mouth and answers. “They uhm, they are mages that use a very rare type of magic to enhance and change their own bodies. There isn’t very much written about them, at least not in any books that I could find outside of some museums, but from what I know, they are very powerful and are basically immortal. Supposedly, even if you cut their head off, they will just grow a new one…”

A bead of sweat runs down Max’s face as he shifts his attention fully back to Bug. “You a Body Mage? Like she said?”