DD 301 Ch 9

Edit: Whoops, I think my laptop double clicked and I skipped the setup page. Enjoy the early chapter.

Our class finished up with our first day, and true to her word, Crimson made everyone run laps until they passed out. For a brief moment, I thought I would be excluded from the activity since it was, of course, a punishment for our failure to complete the completely made up summer assignment. But Crimson had decided differently.

The class had barely finished their laps by the time our session in the gravity chamber was up. My first step outside of it had me greeted by the Frothy Axe Heads of the Orkai group. They looked me up and down before peering into our gravity chamber that held the rest of my class. 

"It looks like the rest of your harem is here," Karnak said, looking into the room with the whole class. 

"It's not my..." I started, but Des interrupted me. 

"Yep! This is his harem.” Des stated.

“It's not all my harem," I said, only for Des to interject again. 

"That's right, his harem is far larger than this. There are even some just as strong as Crimson." Des added.

I turned to give Des an angry glare, only for Karnak to misunderstand and start chuckling. 

"You shouldn't have given the Incubus' real strength away," the Orkai chuckled, only for Des to blush. 

"Whoops. Hopefully he doesn't get mad at me." Des replied.

I rolled my eyes. 

"Don't worry, you're pretty enough to get away with it even if you don't have green skin." One of Karnak's party laughed. 

"Thank you," Des smiled, tilting her head like she was confused.

"You're welcome. That's quite the compliment for all you new humans that have been around Star City lately. I heard a couple of lazy louts even decided to join one of your guilds." Karnak stated, but then just stood waiting for me to reply.

It felt like Karnak was fishing for information. "Yeah, but you're completely right. From what I hear, they're lazy good-for-nothings." 

Karnak grunted. "I don't think that's a trait that escapes any group. This is why Orkai are all fairly evaluated. If more of your guilds are going to recruit Orkai, they should probably learn about the evaluations before they bring them home."

"I'll make sure to pass that along." Realistically, I would have Ambrosia first explain what evaluations really meant, and then I would pass that information along to the United Guilds. "I appreciate the heads up, Karnak. We'll have to get my own guild on this list.”

“Maybe if I bring a few other people to witness our fight, it can serve some metric of your guild's strength.” Karnak paused thoughtfully. “You can bring some of your guild’s members and let them be inspected too. That should help satisfy anyone looking for your rankings." He replied. Though, it felt like he wanted a better measure of me and was using this as an excuse.

“Well, thanks Karnak, but we need to get going.” I said, ending the conversation abruptly.

Karnak paused a moment longer before turning and walking away.

Des glanced at me, seeming to study me for a moment before she spoke up. "What's up?”

I shook my head. "Nothing, just a funny feeling. I thought he was acting strange." I was used to threats and posturing from Karnak.

This felt like more of a real conversation, meant to learn more about me. And I was not sure what had brought on that change. Maybe he was just trying to understand more before our sparring session.

I moved with the rest of our group, leaving the gravity chambers behind. Thankfully, Star City was extremely peaceful. No one would dare cause issues in the city of the Orkai unless they had a death wish.

So, even exhausted, we felt comfortable within the city. If anyone caused a problem, the Arbiters would swiftly settle the dispute, and that was enough comfort for me. I could train myself without end in the gravity chambers and drag myself towards the home that I shared with the rest of my group and Crimson without worry.

"You are looking well," Ambrosia said as she joined our group. "Would it not be easier, however, for you to simply portal back to your residence?" She asked, doing her best not to sound judgmental.

"A little walking will help with recovery," I said, flashing the angel a smile. "Or would you rather that I send you back ahead of us with the portal?"

"No need. No need at all," the angel held her hands out in front of her, as if warding off my teleport. "I am here to serve Mistress Crimson as per my contract. Of course, said contract includes portals from you or her, to surface zones. Where even a fragile angel like myself can participate in the dungeon." She was clearly reminding me of our deal.

I had come to understand that in Star City, the Angels were largely considered second-rate within the dungeon. Their constitutions were weaker than that of the Orkai, though in fairness not much could stack up against an Orkai. 

For someone like Ambrosia, however, being this deep in the dungeon meant that it was difficult for her to gain any experience, especially because she did not have a ranged class, as was most common for her people. She was a tank, which wasn’t great considering that she had hollow bones and easily got knocked around.

"As you said, walking home does help improve one's body, especially after a vigorous workout in the Gravity Chambers. Would you and the ladies like to have baths drawn up for you upon returning?" She did her best to sound casual as we walked.

"Do you need a bath, Des?" I asked.

"Oh, I'm most certainly going to get filthy tonight," Des grinned.

Ambrosia nodded, not even batting an eye at Des's words.

"Out of curiosity, Ambrosia, about how dirty were your mistress and Ken getting over the summer?" Des asked as casually as she could.

The angel looked somewhat confused at the question. "Do they bathe with a regular frequency? If that's what you wish to ask, speak more plainly."

Charlotte cleared her throat. "I believe what she's asking is, how frequently were they having sex?" Charlotte managed to get the words out, but her face turned bright red as she asked.

"Ah, often," Ambrosia answered without any further details, nodding her head.

"What?" I asked Des, who was smirking at me.

"Oh nothing. I just have some summer homework to catch up on. You know, I haven't used [Delirious Pleasures] to train in quite some time. Not to mention, I should work on my own skills." Des added.

"Yes, these are all important areas that we should continue to train," Charlotte said with a straight face.

"The importance of stat training cannot be understated," Penny nodded in confirmation. "However, I think I would like to clean up first and then get some food in my stomach. Every time I come out of the gravity training, I am starving," Penny said, clutching at her stomach.

"I will have something made up immediately," Ambrosia nodded. "I do believe I remember all of your preferences." With those words, the black-winged angel shot forward, flying through Star City far faster than we could travel back on foot.

"I think those would be nice," Felin said, looking after Ambrosia's departing form with an itch like she wanted to jump up and catch the angel. "Don't you all think so?"

"Wings are fantastic," Des smiled. "I get some when I get prettier." She smirked, referring to her own metamorphosis ability.

"Is that what we're calling it now?" I asked.

"I like to think that's what happens," Des stared at me, daring me to say anything else.

"No, you're absolutely right. That's why we all knew exactly what you meant the second you said it," I smiled at her.

Des smirked. "Now, if only you were so wise all the time."

"But the beauty is in the contrast," I countered quickly. "What fun would it be if I were perfect?"

"If you were perfect, you would have more dicks to satisfy us all," she retorted.

Suddenly, I spotted a Nekorian peeking out from around the corner of a building, spying at us.

The second our eyes met, the nekorian darted down around the building.

I activated [Sprint] to chase after them, but the street was clear by the time I made it around the corner.

"Ken," Des's voice was full of concern. The rest of them all had their weapons in their hands.

"Put those away before an Arbiter comes," I said, glancing around.

Orkai around us all seemed to be activating their version of the CIDs.

"I just don't like being spied on." I grumbled, my eyes still scanning the area for any sign of the nekorian.

"Someone was spying on you?" Charlotte asked.

"Not only that. Karnak was also asking more questions from earlier. It felt suspicious.” I answered.

“I think Ken is a little paranoid. He might be an assassin, but not everyone's out to kill each other," Des said.

I smiled at her. "Yes, but the world's a whole lot safer if you just assume there are plenty of people willing to plunge a knife into your back if you give them the opportunity."

“Dark much?” Des responded with a raised eyebrow.

"Appropriately so, considering how many times we've almost been stabbed in the dungeon, I think.” I pressed.

“I mean, yeah," Charlotte hedged. "But it's not like everyone is out to kill you. Besides, we got rid of the SJS so we can relax, right?

“Right.” I didn’t want to push the topic, but I was certainly still on edge. “Well, let's go get the meal that Ambrosia promised us, along with that bath, and whatever other post-bath activities that Des has planned." 

The demonic mage's smile couldn't have gotten any wider. "I knew you loved me." 

"I do. But we should still be on our guard. After all, while we got rid of one giant enemy, we still have plenty of others." I resisted looking at Felin. Seeing that nekorian had brought me back to the conflict we'd had with the other tribe. But that issue had been solved by the Orkai and any further continuation of that conflict would be met with more force than even Crimson could keep away.

So for all intents and purposes, that conflict was supposed to be completely resolved. 

While it was forceful of the Arbiters, I understood why such systems would be beneficial for the dungeon. They stopped grudges from turning into feuds that took an eye for an eye until the entire dungeon was blind.

Even if the Orkai were advanced, they were all still keenly interested in pushing deeper within the dungeon, both for personal power and, I assumed, resources.

Though there were no directions to the Orkai world, it was mentioned often within the text of the city, which meant it existed even if Star City didn't know where it was currently located

 Given the dungeon shuffle, I thought that to be highly possible. Still the seven cities that were built deep within the dungeon all had their own thriving economy.

It didn't take us long to reach our home in Star City, only to be greeted by Crimson. She had already portaled back and was laid out on the couch, her feet hanging off the side and being actively massaged by Ambrosia while our teacher munched on a bag of chips.

"Teaching is hard work," Crimson groaned. "All of you make me work so hard." 

"We feel utterly terrible for you," Des said, her tone dripping with sarcasm, as if our own exercise wasn't grueling enough. 

"Well that's just so you can get stronger, Desi-dear." Crimson sat up and pulled her feet away from Ambrosia. "Which is good, because after lessons tomorrow, I'm going to send you all diving into the dungeon." She pointed at me. "He's been doing lots of solo training and stat exercises, however, that unfortunately does mean he's a little behind in gear for a level 50." 

Des' eyes were practically sparkling as she spun to me. "Level 50! That's right, with everything going on, we didn't get to see your stats."

I scratched the back of my head halfway to the shower. "That's okay, I'm certain you'll see them plenty later."

"Oh, will we?" Des bounced her eyebrows and bounded after me. "Well, as Crimson said, stat training is just too important." Des continued to push me towards the shower. "Ambrosia, do be a dear and keep our food warm until we're done.”

The dark-winged angel turned to Crimson as the door closed behind me. "I do think those food warmers you got have turned out to be a wonderful investment, Mistress."

"Of course they were." Crimson lounged back as the door closed behind us.

***

Charlotte plopped down on the couch next to Crimson. "Thank you for your training today," Charlotte said, trying to stay on Crimson's positive side.

"Oh, you're welcome, Charlotte. By the way, where's Bun Bun?" The red leather-clad woman looked back and forth, her long, dark braid slapping against her shoulders.

"After class, he insisted on being unsummoned, which is honestly quite the rarity. Bun Bun usually fights tooth and nail to stay out here as long as he can." Charlotte answered.

"Well, since the cantankerous rabbit isn't here, have you thought about upgrading?" Crimson asked. "Everyone's doing everything they can to get ahead these days."

Usually, Charlotte would not entertain such a question. However, Crimson wasn't wrong. Most of the class would have upgraded their pet to a stronger or at least larger dungeon monster by now. "I'm content with Bun Bun's growth. While he is a handful, his stats have grown along with mine."

Charlotte could tell that even though Crimson was pretending to be lazy on the couch, she was paying a large amount of attention to Charlotte's words.

"Dungeon monsters scale faster than humans, at least in raw stats. We are all scaling both on gear and our stats. Meanwhile, monsters keep up and even get increasingly difficult with stats alone. If Bun Bun is just managing to keep up with you, then the truth is that he's falling behind." Crimson told her.

Charlotte went silent and looked down at her hands. "And if I don't want to throw Bun Bun away, how do I get him to keep up?" Charlotte felt like Crimson had a reason for starting the conversation.

“Though he's not a human, his level is always the same as yours,” Crimson stated. “The documents from the Orkai are a little hazy on the details, but it does sound like he can be trained similarly to the rest of the class. The only difference is that Bun Bun needs even more vigorous training, and if you can afford it, more food that comes from the dungeon, rather than the lettuce I often see you giving him. He's a dungeon monster, Charlotte, and in this case, 'you are what you eat' is more literal than many might think.”

Charlotte nodded, doing her best to take the information in and process it before she reacted. Talking to Crimson was often hard for Charlotte. The woman used harsh words and harsher realities to get her point across. Not to mention, even though she treated Ken like a lover, she was rightfully still terrifying.

"I see. Do the Orkai have anything more on the subject?" Charlotte asked.

It may seem silly to others that she didn’t replace him, but Bun Bun had been her partner from the start of her time in the dungeon. Just like she wouldn't abandon her dungeon party, she didn't want to abandon Bun Bun either.

"I'll look into it," Crimson said with less friction than Charlotte had been expecting. "I just wanted to make sure you weren't going to fight me on it, but I do think you were right to keep him out more. It will help with his improvement, and I think despite how much of a nuisance he can be, he is fairly alert."

Crimson leaned forward, looking Charlotte in the eyes. "Star City, of course, is as safe as it can get. But I always feel better knowing that there are more eyes and ears watching out for all of you."

Charlotte nodded, her brow furrowing slightly. Ken had seemed paranoid earlier, and now Crimson was also seeming more cautious than usual. Was she missing something? "Is there a problem?" Charlotte asked.

"No, I'm just a paranoid old woman," Crimson waved her hand in dismissal. Though she wasn’t even ten years older than them.

"I think few people would call you that without being laughed out of the room," Charlotte said and bowed her head towards Crimson, showing her due respect. "Now, let me go see what Ambrosia is cooking."

Charlotte got to her feet. "Thank you again, Crimson, for all you've done to teach us." Charlotte headed out to the kitchen to see what Ambrosia was making and to begin packing up a large number of meals that they could store in their CIDs while they were traveling the dungeon.