The lobby of the dungeon was set up…differently than the ones in the city. Walls had been erected, turning what was usually a wide-open space into something much more enclosed. The Party Crystal was still in the open area, and the path to the doors that would lead into the “proper” dungeon floor was still open, but the rest of the area was behind a door with a keypad, save for what looked strikingly like a receptionist’s desk.
“Hi there!” An elvish man said, walking out from the back and positioning himself behind the counter. “Welcome to the Reshi Suites, are you just here to challenge the dungeon or will you be staying with us?”
Alice gave the somewhat bewildered Tess a huge wink, then walked up to the desk. “Hi, my name’s Alice Reshi, and me and my friends Eyfura Almes and Tess Los,” She motioned to Eyfura and Tess, “Are looking for somewhere to stay for a few nights while we clear this dungeon. I trust you have some rooms available?”
Blood drained from the man’s face as he looked between Eyfura and Alice. “U-uh, let me get my manager.” He squeaked, scuttling back into the back area of what Tess was beginning to realize was a hotel.
She heard a brief argument that, even with her enhanced hearing she could only barely make out bits and pieces of, muffled through what sounded like multiple walls. Something about procedure and some sort of test.
Eventually, a grumpy looking…orc, by the looks of it, made his way to the front area. He pulled out a small stone plate, which he laid out on the counter. He gave Alice an unimpressed look and began to speak. “Here at the Reshi Suites we don’t take kindly to impersonators. If you are who you say you are, then I expect you know what to do.”
“Of course.” Alice said smoothly, picking up the plate and unceremoniously breaking it with a gauntleted hand. “If you would bring out the real one, please.”
The orc’s expression changed somewhat, becoming a bit more cautious. He bent down and picked up a much smaller plate, which he placed in front of Alice. She placed a finger on it and the plate began to glow softly.
The orc bent down squinting at something behind the counter that Tess couldn’t see. Then, as if a switched was flipped, he stood to attention. “S-sorry, ma’am.” He said hurriedly. “You know how it is. Have to check for imposters.”
Alice laughed. “Nothing to apologize for. I was the one who ordered this system be put into place, so I can’t exactly get angry about it, can I? We’ll have the penthouse suite, so long as it’s available.”
“Of course, let me check…” The orc tapped away at a computer for a moment. “It’s open. How long will you be staying?
Alice shrugged. “Three days, give or take a day. Depends on how long we take to fully clear this place.”
The man looked at Eyfura, back to Alice, and then at Tess. “For the little lady, I assume?”
Alice nodded. “This is Tess, she’s the guildmaster’s granddaughter. He’s tasked Eyfura and my party with training her, so we’re on something of an excursion.”
“I…see.” He was looking at Tess quite a bit more respectfully now, then he shook his head, bending down and grabbing three cards from below the desk. “You know when breakfast is, but if you’re hungry don’t feel afraid to ask for room service, we won’t charge you anything.” He said, handing the cards to Alice.
Alice flashed him a smile, reaching into her bag and pulling out a couple of gold coins. “Much appreciated.” She said, handing them to the man. “Here’s your tip, you may go. Please call the other receptionist out here, though, I’d like to speak with him.”
The orc bowed and retreated, and soon the elf was back, looking incredibly nervous. “Y-you wanted to speak with me, ma’am?”
“Yes.” Alice said, “What’s your name?”
“J-James.” He stammered.
“Well, James, you’re doing a fine job.” She pulled five gold coins out of her bag and handed them to him, then smiled and patted his shoulder. “There’s your tip, a little payment for having to deal with my teasing. Now, we’re going to be off, let your boss know the room doesn’t need to be ready until eight, we’ll be in the dungeon until then.”
“Y-yes, ma’am.” He replied, saluting.
Alice turned around, handing a card to both Eyfura and Tess. “Sorry about the delay, let’s get going, shall we?”
“Wait, you’re not just going to brush that off without explaining” Tess said, “Why is there a hotel here?”
Alice smirked. “This was my brainchild, actually. I realized that a lot of dungeon’s living spaces were going unused because they were just too far from anything, and it wasn’t convenient to live there full-time. But freelancers often go to out of the way dungeons like this, so I decided to negotiate with the guild and open up hotels in dungeons like this.
“So, we house employees here, drop them supplies when needed, and we make a killing. It really beats the camping out people had to do before.”
“Why didn’t they just use the empty rooms?” Tess asked.
Alice shrugged. “Dungeons can somehow tell the intent of people trying to use the rooms. If they’re not there to permanently maintain them, then the dungeon won’t give out the keys. We’ve basically got a couple of caretakers with all the keys who maintain the rooms.”
She frowned. “It’s not perfect, though. Some dungeons just won’t let it happen. Usually the ones in cities. Dungeons out in the middle of nowhere are much more likely to let us use them. Anyway, we can talk about this later. I’m itching to get started.”
“Agreed.” Eyfura said, “Let’s use the Party Crystal and get going.”
The three women formed a party, and soon were in the dungeon itself. The interior was akin to that of the first dungeon she had been in; discrete brick rooms separated by doors, archways, or halls.
“You’re up front.” Eyfura said, nudging Tess forward. “You’re gonna make for an extraordinary scout, so get used to looking for traps. Remember what we taught you in Rogue’s Den, look for suspicious points and especially check areas like places between rooms and chests and stuff.”
“Got it.” Tess crept forward carefully, looking for anything…wrong. Once she gave the go-ahead, Alice and Eyfura followed behind her, and they made their way through the floor. The monsters were slightly tougher looking goblins, as well as some wolves that the goblins seemed to have…controlled, for lack of a better word.
They had leash-like chains, and weren’t directly attacking the goblins, but they didn’t seem to be trying to directly help them, either. The goblins basically just let the chains go and let the wolves attack the party, which didn’t always work out for them; sometimes the wolves and goblins would trip each other up, letting Tess finish them off much easier.
They proceeded through the dungeon for a while, going through a couple of floors before the first big change of pace from the previous dungeons; a treasure chest. “Check it for traps before opening.” Alice cautioned.
Tess dutifully checked the chest and found it to be safe, so she opened it up. Inside was a set of bottles in a small container, filled with liquids of all sorts of colors. Tess gingerly took the box of potions out, showing it to Alice and Eyfura. “Do you know what kind of potions these are?” She asked.
Alice shook her head. “Not off the top of my head, no. Hotel staff should be able to identify them for us. If you’re not with me that’ll cost extra, but…well, you know how it is.” She smirked, “Just put those in your bag. We’ll deal with them later.”
As they went through the dungeon, the teamwork between the goblins and the wolves became better and better, eventually reaching the point where the goblins were riding the wolves. Tess was also clearly able to see the difference in length between this dungeon and the beginner dungeons; even accounting for the fact that this dungeon apparently lacked a Challenge, it had been five hours and 15 floors, and they were only just getting to the boss.
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The boss was a pair boss, consisting of a goblin knight and a big wolf she was riding. It was like Big Bertha in that there weren’t any special mechanics, just a straight fight against a tough enemy.
It went pretty smoothly. Eyfura kept the wolf distracted while Alice did the same for the knight, and Tess just kept attacking until it died. Tess picked up the cores, and then went to the Rewards Crystal, claiming her prize, and then they went back to the start so they could do it all again.
After their second run, which was about an hour or so faster now that Tess was getting a feel for the dungeon’s trap placement, they identified the potions and other loot Tess had received. They then retired to the penthouse suite, which was just as fancy as the name implied. From there, Tess had her nightly call with Ellie, absorbed the cores she had gotten that day, shuffled around her Attributes, and then got to work on the homework she still had to do.
After all that was done it was around eleven o’clock, and she went to sleep, feeling fulfilled; she had a goal now, and working towards that felt far better than just doing the dungeons because she wanted to be stronger.
----------------------------------------
“Ker, can we talk? Like…alone?” Ellie asked, somewhat hesitantly. They had just finished the day’s training and were in the guild taking off their armor and just generally getting ready to finish the day off. And, well…Ellie was just feeling a bit lost, and Ker had made the offer to help her before, so she figured it was worth a shot.
Ker gave a nod to Jin, and the goliath gently took Ellie to the side. “What’s up?” He asked, concerned.
“Um, I had just been thinking last night and I realized that…I’m really happy that Tess became a girl.” Ellie admitted, looking down. “It’s something I had fantasized about for years and just…I realized that it’s something that’s causing her a lot of stress. And it’s like...like I’m happy about her suffering. I don’t know, I just…feel really bad about it.”
Ker sighed, placing a comforting hand on Ellie’s shoulder. “That’s rough.” He said. “I can’t say you shouldn’t feel bad at all, but…I think the fact that you’re feeling bad is a good sign. To me that says you care about how Tess feels. But that’s a hard thing to reconcile. If I were you, I’d give her a call and talk it out.”
“But...I want to let her broach the subject.” Ellie said, “I don’t want to force this on her when she’s feeling so confused. I might feel bad, but she’s got a lot on her plate. Her wrestling with her new sex has to be just as difficult as wrestling with my sexuality was, and I wouldn’t have wanted complications like this coming up when I was coming to terms with things.”
“That’s fine, then, but what are you going to do if she doesn’t bring it up? Just feel awful for however long it takes for her to accept things? That doesn’t seem healthy to me.”
“It’s just going to be a month.” Ellie said confidently. “Then she’s going to come to talk to me about it. Um, if she wins, that is.”
“Ah, so you know she knows, then.” Ker replied. “Honestly that makes it easier. You’re not springing things on her, in that case. Just talk it out, I can guarantee you’ll both feel better for it.”
“But…she’s not talking, so she’s not ready, right?”
Ker raised an eyebrow. “I wouldn’t be so sure. I’ve lived a long time, and in my experience a lot of awkward misunderstandings and bad feelings can be cleared up with a simple conversation. Try it, I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised. If Tess was here right now asking you what to do about your feelings, regardless of whether or not she reciprocates I’d tell her to talk it out with you.”
“But what if I hurt her? Like…now that she’s a woman I’m gunning for her and saying something just reminds her of what’s causing her problems?”
Ker hesitated. “I don’t think that’s going to be the case, I don’t think it would be nearly her bad as, say, her period will be. But if we’re all right and she’s trying to prove to herself that she’s worth you, then I think it’ll be good for her to hear.”
“She doesn’t have to prove that.” Ellie protested. “She’s out of my league. I mean, have you seen her? She’s super sweet, really enjoyable to just…relax with, has a huge amount of potential, and she’s unbelievably hot.”
“Have you told her that?”
“…No.” Ellie admitted.
“Then tell her.” Ker pressed. “She’ll feel better for the compliment, at least.”
Ellie was silent for a long moment, thinking on that. “Alright, I’ll tell her tonight.”
Ker smiled, patting her on the back. “Let me know how it goes, okay? I’m rooting for you.”
Ellie gave a weak smile in return. “Thanks.”
The two rejoined the main group, and Ilmir gave Ellie a curious look. “You doing okay? You look like you’re about to head into battle or something.”
Ellie looked away. “Something like that.”
“Well, if it’s anything I can help with, let me know, I’m always here for you.” Ilmir replied.
Ellie bit back a retort. “I’ll keep that in mind, but I’ve got to get going.”
Ilmir smiled at her. “Well, you have a good night, I’ll see you tomorrow, kay?”
Ellie frowned internally but gave a polite “See you tomorrow” in response.
Soon, she was back in Gramps’s office and was creating the door between there and their house in Mael. It was as simple as just pouring some of her Mana into the right area of the wall, though, from what Gramps had told her, that would only work for people he had allowed.
She went back to her room, and began to do her homework, checking her phone every few minutes to see if she had any messages from Tess. Finally, after a couple hours, her phone began to ring. She jumped in surprise, then hurriedly grabbed the phone, answering the call. “Tess, how are you doing? Is the dungeon raid still going well?”
“I’m doing pretty good, and the dungeon was pretty much the same as yesterday. I’ve gotten a bunch faster, though, so tomorrow Alice and Auntie are going to start clearing enemies and traps and we’re going to try and finish off the rest of this dungeon tomorrow or early the next day. How are things on your end?”
“Um, things are about the same.” Ellie said. “Just going through dungeons and trying to tune out Ilmir.”
“Let me know if you can’t handle it anymore. I’ll talk to Eyfura and we can stop the whole training thing. I don’t think it’s worth it if it’s making you that upset.”
Ellie couldn’t help but clutch her heart. Tess was too sweet. “No, it’s fine. Jin and Ker are keeping her under control. She didn’t say anything too bad about you today, it’s more that she’s constantly complimenting me and kissing up to me and it just…feels bad when I think about how badly she’s been treating you.”
Tess was silent for a bit. “Well, I’m going to prove her wrong, whatever it takes. Then we won’t have to worry about this.”
Right, well, that was sort of a tie-in to what she really wanted to talk about right now. “Um, can we…talk? Like, about something a bit more serious? You might want to be somewhere Alice and Aunt Eyfura can’t hear you.”
“Oh. Uh, yeah, give me a sec.” There was some shuffling and the sound of a door opening and then closing, and then Tess began to talk again. “Alright, I’m in a private place now. What’s up?”
Ellie took a deep breath. “Well, um, it’s come to my attention that you, uh, figured out that I am…kind of in love with you.”
There was a long, long silence. “Yeah.” Tess said eventually. “I did. Um…” She trailed off, obviously unsure of what to say.
“I…just wanted to clear the air.” Ellie said, “To be honest, I was really, really, really happy when you turned into a girl. It’s something I’ve had fantasies about for years and years. I always thought you would be just my type, but…I’m not into men at all. And so, when it finally happened, I was over the moon.
“I…just guess I want you to know that I’m sorry. I know that’s a really awful thing to feel happy about when it’s stressing you out so much, I just…can’t help myself. You’re really sweet, I love to just…hang out and chill with you, you’ve got so, so much potential as a freelancer, and you’re honestly the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen in my entire life. I…I don’t know. I know you’re way out of my league, but I was hoping we could maybe go on a few dates when you get back and see how things go from there?” Ellie stopped to catch her breath, waiting tensely for Tess’s reply.
“What?” A flustered Tess said, “I’m out of your league? I’m pretty sure it’s the other way around! You’re like...the most sought-after girl in school, I swear! Do you know how many of my friends have had crushes on you at one point or another? I had a crush on you for a really long time too, but…nothing ever came of it, so I just sort of let it go and had to be content with being your friend.”
“I…I know. I noticed, I just really, really didn’t want to hurt your feelings, so I pretended I didn’t. Looking back on it, it probably wasn’t the best to give you hope for as long as you had it, I should have come out a long time ago, I was…just scared.” Ellie admitted. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s…it’s fine. That stuff is hard.”
There was another long silence, broken when Ellie spoke up. “You…don’t hate me, right? As soon as you realized you left on this trip and I…I don’t know, I’ve been really clingy and overbearing lately.”
“What? No, absolutely not!” Tess said immediately. “I was happy too. I…might not be as over you as I thought I was. Um, I…might have left to prove that I was worthy of being in a party with you. I don’t want to drag you down like Ilmir is claiming I will.”
Ellie laughed, though there was an edge of shame to it. “See? Stuff like this is why you’re too good for me. I’ve been having all these really, really selfish, hurtful feelings and you’re always thinking of others first.”
“No, you’re totally fine.” Tess said soothingly, “I would have been just as happy if you suddenly had swapped orientations and were interested in me and were all panicking about it. This sort of thing doesn’t bother me, especially when I feel the same about you.” There was yet another long silence, neither sure what to say.
“So…what now?” Ellie asked.
“I…still want to finish this outing.” Tess said determinedly, “It’s something I feel I have to do if I want to be serious about this. But…um, after I get back, if I manage to do this, then…maybe we can just go straight to dating? It sounds like we both are interested, so…why bother with seeing where things go? We know each other well enough at this point.”
“Yes!” Ellie squealed. “I’d love to! I’m going to come out to everyone too, so we can “officially” be an item. Um, so long as you’re fine with coming out too. I don’t know how you feel about that.”
“Yeah, that was always my plan.” Tess confirmed. “I want as few men coming onto me as possible. I’m not attracted to them, so I just…don’t want to deal with any of that awkwardness.”
Ellie laughed, this time with pure, relieved happiness. “I totally know how you feel. I’ve had to turn more than one guy down, it’s not fun.”
They talked for the next hour, and when it was over Ellie was grinning from ear to ear. Ker had been totally right – talking it out had made things better for both of them. Well, she couldn’t be completely sure Tess was feeling better, but it sounded like she was. It was like a wall neither of them knew had been erected had been torn down, and Ellie couldn’t be any happier.