When he bought it, the description on the Ice Chest said it was supposed to hold a tenth of the room’s size, 50 m³. That was the equivalent of a room five meters in length and width and two meters high. It was large enough to hold all the corpses but much smaller than the chest itself. As such, Stephen didn’t know if he would have to carry each body individually or if he could dump them inside as he had just done before with the garbage pit. It was easy to test, at least.
Stephen did have a few water flasks in his bag he had yet to use. And since he was about to test a storage item, using his storage skill became necessary. This time, Stephen’s intent to store the items worked.
2 Uncommon Proof of Reward – Weapon
1 Rare Proof of Reward – Armour
Book - “A Guide to Parseltongue”
3 Moonshade water flasks
- Empty -
- Empty -
- Empty -
- Empty -
- Empty -
- Empty -
Despite not looking the same, all three flasks had the same volume and were made of roughly the same material. However, the name given to the water retained Stephen’s attention. It made sense, considering its healing properties.
“Do you know from where comes Moonshade water? Or moonshade moss, most probably, since it was the plant responsible for the difference. Surely, many people among your kin went through this dungeon. Since it’s a resource found on the first floor, it would make sense if it isn’t considered rare to you.”
No matter how many times he already had proof of magic permeating his life since the portal’s appearance, it still was exciting when it happened. Just from this, he could already become rich. After all, a water source that could heal most internal and external wounds would be invaluable. It wouldn’t be surprising if it were the way the dungeon lured people into its depths.
The knowledge granted by his [Identify] skill was tantalising. Stephen had to shove to the back of his mind the urge to get out of the safe room to examine each of his items, the silvery moss in particular.
Instead, he went to open the Ice Chest, a surprisingly easy task. Its lid was as weightless as the stone doors leading to the dungeon’s depths. Another pleasant fact was how cool the chest was despite not being freezing. Stephen had been somewhat worried about that, as up close, he could see that the metal bands were indeed causing frost to form around. Yet they were barely cold to the touch. It made the novice delver all the more excited to own a magical item of its own.
The chest contents were empty, unexpectedly, and of a blinding white. Unlike the outer cover, the inside looked coated in a white and smooth material. It first made Stephen think of a pool liner. Then he realised it was some kind of metal when touching it.
With the chest having more capacity than its size belayed, Stephen was curious to see how the items would appear inside. Thus, he transferred the flasks from his inventory to the Ice Chest. They first appeared directly in his hands with but a thought. Then, once put inside the chest, no changes seemed to happen. It perplexed Stephen, as the chest’s apparent volume wasn’t even three per cent of its effective capacity.
Until he lifted his head and saw the underside of the lid, where a screen had appeared. One similar to his inventory skill, with a picture of each water flask. This time, they weren’t stacked in the same slot, though. The description also provided more details than while using identify, although it wasn’t anything he didn’t already know:
[Moonshade water flask - 91 cL - Healing properties]
Satisfied with his findings, each flask was moved back into his inventory. Then, the task of storing the nine specimens selected for dissection could begin. It went the same way as before, dumping the content of the sledge directly into its final container. This time, as the young man looked into the chest, he could only see one body, its size reduced to fit inside comfortably. The screen displayed each of the nine corpses, which would swap places with the one visible upon touching its miniature. The description also provided more details than while using identify:
The lamia corpses were referred to as
[Lamia – Male – Lv 6 – Corpse],
and [Lamia – Female – Lv 3 – Corpse].
The biggest of the Hyanuras were identified as [Hyanura Guardian – Male – Lv 1 – Corpse],
and the smaller ones as [Hyanura Soldier – Male – Lv 1 – Corpse].
“All right, so I’ve stored the two lamias. Maybe you would like to hold a funeral for them in the future? I don’t know if you know each other. I surely would if I understood what you told me when we first met.
You didn’t try to fight me off when I was carrying you away, so I hope you didn’t mind that I also took their corpses. I admit I’m a bit curious how you three end up there. I still can’t wrap my mind around it.
Well, no, that’s not true. More like there are some options I don’t want to think of.”
Stephen was confused about the level of the Hyanuras, as all the corpses he had identified were level one, without any exception. Until now, he had seen three kinds of occupation: Peon, Soldier and Guardian. While he hadn’t felt overwhelmed by any of those foes individually, it was puzzling for the guardians to be at the same level. Even more so when all three lamias he met were of a higher level than them. It made it all the more urgent for him to learn parseltongue and get to learn what had happened to them. However, getting the girl to open up about her trauma was another matter.
For now, he didn’t have much of a choice. There were people to meet, things to be done, and most importantly, an almost vital need to clean himself.
Indeed, with this last chore done, Stephen could return to the living. Whereas the lamia was still mostly unmoving and had left her food and water untouched, there was little doubt in the man’s mind that Comtess would be getting frantic from his unexplainable absence.
“Anyway, I’m almost done here. Soon enough, you should be able to breathe without fear.
I’d like to do more for you, but I’d rather avoid hurting each other. I’ve seen videos of boas constricting their prey. Seemed better not to tempt fate. Not that you know what’s a video in any case. Or a boa. No worries, you will once you get better.”
He didn’t know how long it would take for the smell to disperse. Nor did he know when the female lamia would wake up. He was tempted just to go ahead and force her awake or to clean her body and hydrate her skin. Only he didn’t know anything about her or her culture, and even if the events from the previous day seemed to indicate his actions wouldn’t be misinterpreted, startling awake a stranger having a nightmare remained a terrible idea.
The compromise Stephen found was to leave all three water flasks he still had with him with the rest of the provisions.
“Coming in ~ Just leaving you some more water. You should have enough for a while. I will return in a while to get you some real food.”
As he made his way out this time, he locked the door and exited the dungeon’s anteroom. The sledges were left inside, as he still had others available on his underground floor.
----------------------------------------
Back on Earth, the first thing taking his attention was, without surprise, Comtess, who started yapping as soon as she saw him. Stephen was glad it was securely attached from how she pulled on her cord. He was, however, worried she might be hurting herself.
The second thing to notice was how fresher the air was than inside the safe room. However, it was hard to say if the odour had dispersed thanks to the opened windows or if Stephen had anosmia due to spending too much time in a worse environment.
“I’m back and not going anywhere else for a while. Calm down, Tess, please.”
This time, she didn’t try to escape him despite the smell still permeating his clothes. It was a good thing since Stephen was worried she might want to explore where he had disappeared earlier. Yet even while he was holding her collar, she kept turning her head to get a scratch. She was very persuasive.
As he checked for the time, he saw it was 11:43 am. For the amount of work he did, and how draining it was, Stephen believed it would’ve been much later. Therefore, it was a pleasant surprise to him, as it also meant he would have ample time to cook for the three of them. While rare, preparing homemade food for Comtess was something he occasionally did. It allowed him to control her diet better, and it was also nice to know they sometimes shared a meal.
Before cooking could be done, though, there was a more urgent thing to do. Getting rid of his clothes and of the smell. The clothes were thrown into a trash bag, which was put outside of the house. Then, after cleaning up to get rid of the odour he could barely smell but knew was horrid, he dressed and went to cook.
A portion was put aside for the lamia, while the rest of the meal was brought outside for a picnic. Stephen hoped to redeem himself from spoiling Comtess’s morning. On the menu was pasta with meatballs, the sauce including some veggies. The portion for the lamia had the meat on the side, as he didn’t know her diet.
A picnic in the garden wasn’t the same as going on a walk, but at least they would spend some time outside together.
----------------------------------------
By 2:08 pm, ‘Tess was finally willing to forgive Stephen, enough that he felt confident he could deliver his other resident’s meal without risking his companion’s ire.
When Stephen returned to the anteroom, he thought he saw the lamia move momentarily, but she was still curled up in the same corner.
“As I told you earlier, I’m back. I even got some food for you this time. Real food, I mean. If you don’t have pasta in your world, I bet you’ll love it. I hope so, at least.”
While he didn’t know if she was awake, she must have woken up at some point: the food was gone, and most of the water flasks were displaced. Half of the six were even clearly empty. It didn’t matter much if she was faking to sleep. It was much too soon for her to feel comfortable around him.
To Stephen, it was a weight of his mind. He had already been lucky to find this healing water. Otherwise, he doubted what first-aid he provided her initially would have been enough. He could apply first-aid, but his medical skills didn’t extend further.
Her renewed awareness led to Stephen not entering the enclosure. Once again, it was better not to tempt fate. However, it didn’t prevent the human from acting as before, talking and conversing without expecting an answer.
“It’s great that you ate. You don’t have to worry about finishing the water. I brought you more, even if it’s mundane, still water.
I didn’t know if you ate meat, so I’ve put it on another plate. Feel free to ignore it if it’s not to your taste. The dishes are there, on your side, just three steps away. Or, well, three coils away? Uh, no idea how that saying works for you.”
The food and water were put on paper plates and a cup, respectively, as he’d prefer not to give her anything that could be used to harm either of them. He made some noise by tapping the bars while he moved the plates and cup into the cell. She didn’t react, though Stephen believed he saw her shift slightly.
“Oh, also, I have a book on parseltongue, so hopefully, we can understand each other pretty soon.
Get better, all right? I will try to come back in another few hours. In “Mississipi”, that makes… around twenty thousand mi-ssi-ssi-pi?
It’s definitely the worst way to say time.
Never mind, I’m gone! See you later~.”