When Aurelia finally woke up, she was sitting in a wooden chair, her hands and feet tied to the chair with rope. As her eyes opened, her head was stuffy and she had a pounding headache. Her neck felt pained from her head tilted at an odd angle for so long. She looked around her, noticing that she was in a dark room, only lit by a single candle. There was a single wooden door off to one side, with the only other piece of furniture in the room being a table filled with her satchel, the contents of the bag, and the mole dagger from her belt. Thankfully, whomever it was that had taken her hadn’t found the wand still tucked into her corset. That or they decided to let it stay there.
She then concentrated on the mana strings flowing around the room. Unfortunately there were quite a few in many different colors, but when she focused on her own mana trail, she noticed a lime green mana strand that seemed to parallel her own. As she focused on the green strand she saw how it stayed with her’s between the door and the chair, then left towards the table, it paced beside the table, and then wandered around the room. Aurelia decided that she would consider the lime green person her kidnapper.
After a couple more minutes of silence, Aurelia decided to see if her notifications held any clues on what might have happened to her. That’s when she noticed the long notification that had appeared after her forced rest.
Congratulations! You have received skill levels in the following skills:
[Running] skill level 5 has reached skill level 7
[Cooking] skill level 5 has reached skill level 6
[Basic Magic Bolt] skill level 1 has reached skill level 8
[Spatial Slash] skill level 1 has reached skill level 8
[Basic Mana Shield] skill level 1 has reached skill level 5
[Identify] skill level 1 has reached skill level 6
[Spatial Teleportation] skill level 1 has reached skill level 9
[Spatial Storage] skill level 1 has reached skill level 7
[Lightning Chain] skill level 1 has reached skill level 5
[Spatial Tracking] skill level 1 has reached skill level 6
[Ice Wall] skill level 1 has reached skill level 3
[Staff Proficiency] skill level 1 has reached skill level 2
[Ice Dagger] skill level 1 has reached skill level 6
[Hidden Meanings] skill level 1 has reached skill level 2
For a second, Aurelia just stared at the increased skill levels she had now received. After all this time fighting in the dungeon, with all her skills staying at the same skill levels, she finally found out how they increased in level. And that was by sleeping. All she had to do was sleep. If her hands were free, she would have smacked her forehead in frustration. At least she now knew what was up. It honestly made some sense and Aurelia felt she never would have felt comfortable falling asleep in the dungeon, especially while she was all alone.
Now that she had been forced into sleeping, her skills had finally leveled up. Her highest level skill was now her spatial teleport skill, which made sense. Aurelia had been using that skill almost the whole time during the dungeon, for both her fights and to travel faster. As Aurelia focused on each of the skills, she could see updated descriptions of the skills. Almost every skill that used mana had dropped a couple mana points per cast. Her mana shield had an upgraded durability and her identify skill could now identify higher leveled people and monsters. The spatial teleport skill now allowed her to teleport further by an additional ten feet.
As she was reading the updated description for her cooking skill, Aurelia heard the door creep open. Belatedly, she realized that she probably should have been escaping rather than just sitting there. Aurelia closed the notifications and turned towards the opening door. Two figures entered the room, one being a beautiful woman that looked to be in her mid thirties with dark hair, and the other was a young woman about her age with long golden curls.
Both women did not have the look of hardened criminals or even people who would resort to capturing people and tying them up. Aurelia looked between the two women as they approached her, the younger girl closing the door behind her. The older woman stopped in front of Aurelia’s chair, staring down at her.
“Who are you, girl? And how did you find us?” The older woman asked with a stern voice.
Aurelia shifted in her seat, looking between the two. Deciding there was no point in hiding her name, she answered, “My name is Aurelia, and I have no idea where I am or who you people are.”
The older woman tilted her head with a smile forming on her face. “It looks like we have a truthful one over here. Most people try to lie to me.” Her face turned stern, “Though you still didn’t fully answer my question. How did you find us?”
The younger girl stepped closer, her face curious. Aurelia turned back to the older woman and answered again, “Well, I was walking down the street when a boy came up to me asking questions. I only noticed a second boy stealing my money pouch from behind when a man pointed it out. I followed the second boy through the street, into a broken down building, and down a hatch in the ground. I didn’t get too far when I ended up passed out on the ground and tied up in this room. That’s how I found this place, wherever I am.”
“Hmm, another truth I guess. It seems Freddy and Jasper have been up to no good. What have you seen, Admium?” The woman looked up to a point behind Aurelia.
“She hasn’t moved since she woke up. Hasn’t even tried to escape her ropes. Not sure if she is incapable, cautious, or what,” replied a deep voice behind Aurelia.
Aurelia jumped in surprise, realizing she hadn’t been alone before after all. The owner of the voice walked around her chair until she saw… nothing. It was empty air, but she could see a lime green mana strand creating a path starting from behind her. Then, the invisible man became visible and Aurelia had to keep herself from showing her surprise again. He was tall, with mussed brown hair and a scruffy beard. He was probably in his early 30s and had a crazed look in his eyes. Aurelia felt slightly creeped out by the look.
“Girl, do you know who we are?” The older woman asked her.
“No, I have no idea who any of you people are. I just wanted my money back.” Aurelia replied, just annoyed by all the questioning. “What are you some secret organization or something?”
The girl with the golden hair stifled a laugh, before avoiding eye contact with anyone else. The two older kidnappers gave the girl a look, before returning their gaze to Aurelia.
Admium fingered what looked to be a potion bottle at his belt. “Why are you here in Rainy Hollow?”
“I just needed some supplies,” Aurelia answered defensively.
Admium and the golden haired girl turned to the older woman as if to confirm her answer. Aurelia realized that the older woman really must have some sort of truth seeking spell. She hadn’t been untruthful this whole time, but she figured it would be prudent to continue being as truthful as she could.
“I am new to the area, I just wanted to get my bearings here before I move on,” Aurelia continued on.
“Marge, I really don’t think she means any harm. None of us recognize her, so she probably isn’t anyone important.” The younger girl gestured towards Aurelia with a hand, as if to say, ‘I mean, look at her.’ Aurelia shifted uncomfortably in her seat, but didn’t say anything.
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The older woman, Marge, gave Aurelia another once over before nodding. “Alright, we will let you go, as you don’t seem to know much about us. I do caution you, though. If you speak to anyone about what you have seen since being down here, we will find you. We have eyes and ears everywhere and you don’t want us as an enemy. We do make loyal friends, however, so do keep that in mind.” Marge flashed her a smile, and Aurelia got a feeling of danger coming from the woman.
“I don’t mean anyone harm, I promise,” Aurelia kept her hazel eyes locked with the woman's deep gray eyes.
“Belle, my dear, would you please help our new friend reach the upper world once more? It might also be prudent to lead her to little Jasper to get her money back. We wouldn’t want to give Aurelia a reason to return with any ill intent, now would we?” Marge gestured to Admium and the two headed to the door and out of the room.
Aurelia and the golden-haired girl, Belle, looked at each other before Aurelia said, “Soo, can you untie me now?”
Belle gave a soft laugh before pulling a knife from her belt and began cutting the rope keeping her to the chair. “So why didn’t you try to escape? Admium said you were a level 12 mage, I’m sure you have some sort of skill that could help you out of that chair.”
Once her wrists were free, Aurelia began to rub them, the red lines itchy from the rope. “Honestly? I was only awake for a couple minutes before you guys walked in. I hadn’t even thought about escape yet. Though I guess I probably would have failed with Admium still in the room.”
Belle nodded, smiling, “Well, yeah. We never leave prisoners alone. We really don’t like it when people try to escape.”
Now that she was fully free of the ropes, Aurelia stood up, stretching her arms out wide. She yawned, still feeling tired and exhausted. “How long was I asleep for?”
“I am pretty sure only an hour or two. I got back to the hideout like a half an hour ago, and everyone was talking about you. Oh,” Belle paused, “I probably shouldn’t be giving you so much information.”
Aurelia walked to the table with her things and asked, “I won’t get in trouble for taking my stuff back, right?”
“Oh, no! It’s all yours! You have some pretty cool items, but no, we won’t steal them from you. Admium usually acts first then asks questions later, which is why you were knocked out in the first place. We only looked through your things to make sure you didn’t have anything dangerous to us.”
Aurelia started putting stuff back in her satchel and put her knife in her belt, before slinging the bag over one shoulder. “Okay thanks. Yeah I really was just trying to follow the boy, Jasper or whatever his name is. Money makes the world go round, right?”
Belle gave her a curious look before leading her out of the room, “That’s a curious saying, but it does make sense, I guess. Yeah, Jasper and Freddy are messengers for the village, but they also work for us.” Belle gave her a look, “If you know what I mean.”
“Um, not really, but okay.” Aurelia followed Belle out of the room and into a tunnel. They first went right, following the tunnel until it branched out in three different directions. Belle took the middle tunnel, and continued speaking to Aurelia.
“I know you don’t know who we are, but even most of the village folks know of us. It’s a small place and everyone knows everyone, but not everyone knows the members of our, uh, group. In that sense, you know more than most of our villagers. But, I think Marge likes you, so she didn’t do anything drastic.” Belle smiled at her. “Most people who wander down here uninvited either never return to the above world, or get their memories wiped. For some reason, Marge didn’t do that for you. And we need to go this way,” Belle indicated a new intersection, and took another left.
Aurelia winced at the idea of what could have happened to her instead of just being knocked out and questioned. Maybe since she had told the truth and really had no idea what was going on was what had saved her from a worse fate. “So who are you guys, really?”
Belle paused for a moment, causing Aurelia to run into her from behind. “Do you really want to know? If you don’t like what you hear, those other two options are what await you instead of walking away freely.”
Aurelia opened her mouth, ready to say yes, but closed it again. Did she want to know? She already held many secrets including her being from another world, the fact she’s a princess, and that it was because of her tutorial that there now stood a dungeon nearby to the town. Another secret like some sort of secret society might just put her in more danger. Or, maybe it was a chance to gain allies in a world where she was all alone. Aurelia looked up into Belle’s eyes, “Marge said you guys make great friends and bad enemies. Maybe what I’m looking for is good friends.”
Belle smiled at her reply, “Yeah, we are pretty great, but I have to admit, life isn’t easy for us.” She began walking again and Aurelia followed close behind. “I grew up here, just like Jasper and Freddy. Marge is like a mother to me, she helped raise me and my brother when our parents died and I owe this group a lot.”
“Isn’t Marge like ten years older than us?” Aurelia asked.
Belle laughed, “More like thirty years! Marge is a lot older than she looks, she has some skill that helps her age slower than normal, so she looks pretty good for her age.”
“Wait, that’s a thing? You can gain an anti-aging skill?
“There’s basically a skill for everything,” Belle grinned. “What kind of education did you get growing up? I know you are a mage, so you must have gotten some training in order to gain the class?”
“I honestly didn’t get too much training. Maybe I was lucky or something.” Aurelia avoided Belle’s gaze. “I’m not sure I am ready to talk about it to you right now.”
Belle sighed, “That’s alright, you don’t have to spill all your secrets to someone you just met. But, if you do want to be friends, I am definitely open to that.”
“Why? You only just met me?” Aurelia asked, a bit wary.
“I like you, besides I am looking into creating an adventuring team! With the new dungeon nearby, it is finally an economical proposition for the re-...” she paused. “For our group to send people out to gain levels and get new dungeon goodies.”
Ignoring whatever slip-up Belle had obviously made, Aurelia replied, “So what does that mean for me? Are you asking me to join your new team?”
“Oh, I would love for you to join my team!” Belle looked at Aurelia, her eyes brimming with excitement.
Aurelia couldn’t help but laugh, “How many people would be in the team?”
“Including you? Two people,” Belle grinned.
“Ah, I see. Well, I’ll think about it.”
Belle looked as if she wanted to say more, but they had reached an open area filled with people. Well, there were like five people, but as there had been no one else up to this point, five people seemed like a lot.
“You!” Aurelia stormed over in the direction of two boys sitting around a bag of coins. Jasper and Freddy looked up at the sound of her voice, both looking panicked when they realized who was walking towards them.
Jasper jumped to his feet, a handful of silver and copper spilling out of his hands. He seemed as if he would run off, but the boy was too late. Aurelia reached forwards with both hands, grabbing each boy by their shirts. “You stole my coin, and I want it back!”
Freddy looked to Belle as if seeking for help, but whatever he saw from the girl caused him to wilt in defeat. Jasper still seemed ready to get out of there as fast as he could, but a look from Freddy caused him to also relax.
“Alright, fine!” Jasper squeaked out, his voice high-pitched. Jasper dropped the coins he was holding and they clinked on the ground.
“I want them all returned,” Aurelia looked between the two boys. They gave each other a look, then upturned their clothing, taking coins out from pockets, a pouch at their belts, from their socks, and even a gold coin in Jasper’s shoes. Aurelia looked at both boys, then turned her gaze to Belle. “Do you think that’s everything?”
Belle laughed at the sight of the disgruntled pair and nodded to Aurelia, “I believe that’s all of it. They know Marge would tan their hides if they didn’t return it all to you.”
Aurelia let go of the two boys and they raced off out of the room. She crouched low to the ground and spent the next minute or two picking up all the dropped coins. She collected them back into the pouch they had come from, then tied the pouch to her waist, the bag nestled on the inside of her belt. Aurelia only looked up when a voice spoke up.
“Look what the drake dragged in, boys. The sick songbird and a forest peasant.” Aurelia looked up to find the owner of the annoying voice. She found three boys, the youngest around sixteen and the oldest about her age. It was the oldest boy who had spoken, his sandy hair tied back in a ponytail, a sword strapped to his waist.
“Oh buzz off Mazer, nobody wants to listen to your grating voice. Don’t you have training you could be doing?” Belle scoffed and took Aurelia by an elbow. “Let’s get out of here Aurelia, there’s a reason these boys still hang around the messenger children. They never learned how to grow up.”
“And there’s a reason your brother left you here alone. He didn’t want to be dragged down by a girl who couldn’t hold her own on a team.” The older boy retorted.
Belle paused for a moment, but kept walking out of the room, taking Aurelia with her. Aurelia didn’t say anything as they walked out, the boys all throwing insults at the two girls. Aurelia could see Belle’s face turn red with either embarrassment or anger, but decided it wasn’t her place to pry.
As the tunnel ended with a ladder leading to the surface, the two girls stopped walking. Belle turned back to Aurelia and had a forced smile on her face. “Let’s get out of here, I want to show you around town.”
Aurelia nodded in agreement, and she followed her new friend out of the secret hideout and back into the town of Rainy Hollow.