<~> CHAPTER 36

I followed at the tail of the group through the forest. Now that we've killed the alraune there wasn't much left worth fighting on this floor so it was just a matter of navigating around the plants that occasionally tried to grab you when you walked by. Our new guest looked a bit uncomfortable walking mostly naked between Piper and Luna and was a little anxious since she didn't have any of her weapons according to Luna. She had been her party's rogue and was responsible for finding and disarming traps on the floor we had just come from but without any of her gear, she was looking a bit out of place. I was a little disappointed that I wouldn't get to see Luna in that silky underwear instead but I would live.

The new woman was clearly interested in Maxwell. When we stopped or took breaks she often kept her eyes on him. I was a bit wary of her focused attention on him at first until I realized why she was looking at him so much. My sense of smell had grown considerably since I survived that wolf attack and after smelling it a few times, I was able to recognize the scent of her arousal. It didn't help she was mostly naked wearing only underwear. It felt a bit awkward once I realized what the scent was but no one else seemed to notice it so I kept the observation to myself. I'm not sure if it would be more embarrassing for her or for myself if I told everyone just how sharp my sense of smell was in this case.

("What's her name?") I asked Piper through the rings.

Piper glanced back at me before answering. ("The catkin? Aria.")

("I know we don't exactly have spare clothes or equipment for her but what will we do if we come across another chest?") I asked.

She shrugged. ("Depends. If the clothes fit her and none of us want them, we can give them to her. Don't know about weapons though. I think Maxwell is still a bit touchy after fighting with those guys in the clearing, even if this situation is a lot different.")

("You think she would try and backstab us or something?")

("Not sure,") Piper said. ("The dungeon can be a lawless place. If you kill someone and take their stuff most people will just think you died to the monsters. It makes trust a little bit of a luxury. Since we don't know her very well, we'll wait. The floors get easier as you head back up so unless something weird happens she shouldn't need a weapon anyway. Most of the monsters from here on out will be easier to fight than that alraune was.")

("Is she going to be cool with that?") I asked.

("She doesn't have much choice. Either we let her follow us in her underwear or we leave her behind in her underwear. Giving her a weapon and leaving her behind isn't much better and it would only make her more likely to kill us in our sleep if she decided to follow after us. This is kind of the best we can do for now. I'll tell you if something changes though, Maxwell is kind of a softy when it comes to pretty faces in trouble.")

I laughed. ("Would that include me?")

("Sure but you only have a pretty face less than half the time. But starting by saving our asses from a goblin horde garners plenty of trust on its own. He's not one to mess around when someone has clearly staked her claim on you though,") she said nodding to Luna who was too busy scanning the trees to notice we were talking about her.

("I'm not really interested in men anyway,") I told her.

("Hmm? Well, that's no business of mine as long as you don't start flirting with me the way you're flirting with Little Luna. I'm not really into women, just so you know.")

("Noted.") I said with a chuckle.

Piper pulled one of the slime cores out of her bag and started pulling the mana from it as we kept walking. It wasn't exactly a dismissal but it was a signal that we had probably already been using the rings too much for her comfort. It was odd not being able to talk to the new person through the rings but they didn't have any more rings to share, it seems I got the 'spare' ring they lend to different party members when they have one. It had gone unsaid but I didn't think anyone else would be taking this ring from me now. In exchange, I would be committing to helping them pay the rings off but I didn't mind that. I thumbed the ring on my finger. Especially if we got engaged.

".... stairs are .... ahead," Maxwell said pointing.

I smiled in anticipation. While this floor had been mostly peaceful and had good meat, there was a kind of anticipation that hungered inside me when exploring a new floor. I wondered what it would be. I hadn't asked the others what it was yet but I had been excited for a new floor since this one didn't have anything to eat. Not that satiated the more animalistic side of me anyway.

The catkin asked Maxwell something who responded back to her with a short answer. I didn't understand enough to figure out what they were talking about. I nudged Luna on the shoulder who turned to me and then back to the others before realizing what I was asking for.

("Oh, the catkin was asking if she would be allowed to wear any of the armor we'll find on the next floor. Maxwell told her that she could wear whatever she could salvage as long as it didn't stink,") Luna said.

I frowned. ("Why would it stink?")

Luna sighed. ("The monsters on the next floor are like, featureless people made out of shadows. They wear old and unmaintained armor and weapons. The issue is that a lot of the equipment can be old and covered in blood which is sometimes really gross. If you know what to look for you can actually make good money on this floor but it's kind of random whether or not you'll find anything worthwhile. We were headed down to the goblin floor because we wanted to gain some strength but we were going to try and salvage some things on this floor on the way back to earn coin. I don't think we really have the room in our bags for that plan anymore but we'll still keep an eye out for any good weapons and armor.")

Maxwell said something to Luna and she turned to me. ("Maxwell is asking if you wanted to do anything else on this floor before we head down.")

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("Do we still have venison left?") I asked her.

She scratched a message in the dirt for him and he nodded.

"We still have .... of meat, Helena," he told me.

I looked at Luna and repeated the word to her.

("Plenty,") she replied with a smile.

I nodded.

"Let's go," I replied to him.

He smiled and headed towards the stairs.

The catkin looked at Maxwell in disbelief. "You're .... that umber wolf, .... to speak ....?" she asked.

"We are. She learns quickly," he told her. "And she's not .... ...., she's ...."

I hoped that was a compliment. Either way, the catkin looked dumbfounded by his reply. I wasn't really sure where all of her disbelief was coming from, she saw me in my human form. Even if my eyes are spooky, that should be enough to know that I'm not a dumb animal.

Luna was looking more and more miffed at the woman over time. I wasn't sure how much of it was her defending me and how much of it was her seeing the catkin as some sort of threat. I kind of got the impression she was acting a little jealous. I wasn't sure why though, I hadn't even said anything to Aria directly yet and she was obviously more into Maxwell. That should be pretty obvious even if I couldn't smell the signals she was giving off. I'll bring it up to Luna at the next break, it seemed like too distracting a topic to get into on the way.

Once all of us seemed ready, Maxwell lifted his shield to his shoulder and started moving up the stairs. Piper went second followed by Aria and Luna. I followed last this time since Maxwell was plenty familiar with this upcoming floor and was comfortable in the lead. Once again, my eyes lit up the tunnel the staircase was in which caused Aria to look back at me every once and a while. She was still getting used to my peculiarities.

The first thing I smelled before stepping out on the new floor was blood, iron, and rust. The walls of this place were made of rusted metal, though the walls didn't quite look man-made, it was odd. It was more like random slabs of metal had fused into the walls without any rhyme or reason and then they all rusted over. There were several spots where blood had been smeared or sprayed on the walls and then left to dry. The floor looked like worn steel but luckily didn't have the same sharp edges that many of the walls did.

("People call the thirteenth floor the bloody halls,") Luna told me. ("Despite the less than pleasant looks, this floor isn't as dangerous as the others. The only real hazard other than the shadow enemies is that you can get some diseases and poisons if you're cut by one of the walls or a rusty weapon. It's nothing Piper can't heal but it takes a lot of mana so try to avoid it as best as possible. Other than that it's just another maze. But, as long as you generally head in the right direction and don't get turned around, it's not that easy to get lost compared to some of the other floors.")

I nodded. Most of these floors so far were either open like the forest floors or mazes like the trapped floor with the minotaur. The only floor that really broke that pattern was the cavern floor I met them in but even that one had some maze-like elements to it, it had been a hybrid of the two.

("Is Aria going to be okay going barefoot in here?") I asked.

She frowned a little. ("That might actually be a bit of an issue.")

I looked at her feet. I wasn't sure if my boots would fit her or not but I wasn't exactly using them in my wolf form so I could probably stand to lend them to her.

Before I could follow that train of thought any farther I heard the sound of rusty metal scraping together far down the hall. Like the trapped floor this one echoed all over the place but it was even worse since most of the metal walls echoed sound a lot more than the stone did. At least in some places. I could tell the pseudo-echolocation I gained had some issues if the walls were too patchy.

"Monsters up ahead," I said out loud to the group. "They don't see us... yet."

Maxwell turned to the hallway and lifted his shield. I was told the area around the entrance was usually free of monsters but that didn't mean they wouldn't come toward us if they knew we were here.

I pointed at the catkin. "Aria has no..." I didn't know the word so I kinda gestured toward my feet. "not... good?" I asked, struggling with the words.

Maxwell's eyebrows rose in surprise, it seemed he hadn't thought of that.

I nodded. "You and Piper fight? We wait here?" I asked.

He glanced at Piper and she nodded back to him. Aria started to argue but a strong word from him made her ears flatten back. Maxwell was in fight mode already, he didn't want to be challenged right now. I stepped in front of the new girl and Luna facing the monsters and perked my ears as the two of them ran to meet the small group of three. They were slightly outnumbered but with the relatively tight hallways, I wasn't worried about it with Maxwell's experience fighting like this. I could almost see the fight as if I had been there. Two swordsmen and a spearman. When Maxwell bashed one with his shield I realized I was hearing the armor and not what was inside of it. The shadows didn't block sounds as if they were entirely incorporeal so the armor rang like a bell whenever it was smacked around.

The fight was a little harder to follow because of that but soon enough Maxwell and Piper had defeated the three armored monsters. Maxwell had gotten a few cuts but Piper was able to heal him up without any trouble it seemed. When the two of them returned, Maxwell was carrying a pair of heavy and only slightly oversized boots for Aria.

Despite the awkward fit, the catkin smiled up at Maxwell as she laced up the boots. I got the sense that she was a bit thankful towards me but I wouldn't count on that making her any less scared of me yet. Still, it's an improvement.