DD 204 Ch 23

Chapter 23

My eyes must have been like two giant saucers as I got caught staring into the bathhouse of the female angels.

Of course, then my eyes betrayed me, suddenly locking onto Ambrosia among the crowd and the massive mounds that she supported.

It wasn’t my fault, her black wings and my passing familiarity with her must have been like two powerful magnets that latched onto her… assets.

I swallowed audibly, and although I know it didn’t in reality, it felt like that sound also echoed around the entire chamber.

My eyes managed to peeled up as Ambrosia wrapped a towel around herself, and my eyes escaped the gravity spell they'd been held in and stared up into her red ones. 

Her pale skin was a blushing, bright scarlet, as her lips pressed into a thin line, and she glared at me. Several of the other angels had noticed me, as well, and began to squawk and make a fuss.

“He’s peeping! Someone get security.”

“The Orkai won’t stand for this.”

At the mention of Orkai, my mind flitted to the Orkai Arbiter and I panicked, looking back at Ambrosia for help.

There must have been something in my expression that told Ambrosia this was all a big mistake, as she suddenly jumped forward.

"Sir, what time is it? Oh, I'm late," she said, glancing at her wrist.

I coughed into my hand and averted my gaze, but kept my head high enough that I could talk over the fence. "Yes, I apologize. I was passing through and mistakenly looked over the wall for you." I said, coughing into my hand again. This was beyond awkward. 

"Oh, yes, I'm so sorry I'm late and he was looking for me," she repeated, bowing to the other angels in apology. She then hurried over. "You'll meet me out front," she said pointedly.

Several of the other angels seemed miffed, but less likely to bring in the guards or an arbiter for this. Others moved in to talk to Ambrosia.

I gladly took the escape, pulling myself away from the fence before glaring at Slytha. "You could have told me what was on the other side."

The Naga just tilted her head slightly in response. "What, that they are being social in the water?" She sounded confused. "I was unaware that it was a sacred ritual that could not be interrupted."

I went to open my mouth and argue with her before realizing it was completely futile. 

The Naga in front of me had no understanding of what she'd done. She wore the barest bits of armor right now and clearly didn’t understand nudity.

"Right, right," I muttered to myself. "Just know that most people, it seems, regard use of their body as something private." 

Slytha shrugged. "If it's private, then they should keep it covered. If you have a soft stomach, do you wear armor or do you ask everyone else to pad their blades?" 

I didn't know what to say to her. It seemed the Nagas had a very different sense of propriety. Then again, most of them ran around with next to nothing on. 

"Well, we shouldn't keep Ambrosia waiting.” I muttered.

“Certainly not the way you stared," the Naga matriarch said, slithering after me. 

"I did not stare," I said, perhaps a touch too sharply. 

"That wasn’t what I observed." She held up her hand as if I had slapped it away.

I wanted to groan and I wanted to punch something at the same time. I felt so incredibly stupid.

But thankfully, it seemed Ambrosia was willing to bail me out of the worst case scenario. I was going to have to find a way to thank her. 

I met her around the front, making sure anybody watching saw the excuse played fully out. 

"Oh, there you are, Ken." She came out, her hair still wet. 

"Here I am," I confirmed, awkwardly looking around.

"Is there anything you need?" She asked.

I hesitated. There was a wry smile on Ambrosia's lips. "No, I will be just fine. Please come back and manage the… thing.”

“Are you okay?" She asked, seeming curious at my reaction.

I put a hand on my chest. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just wasn't expecting the angels to be bathing when a certain Naga was convincing me to come see an interesting ritual of your people," I glared over at the Naga. 

“You appeared quite interested when you viewed it." The Naga replied.

"That's not the point." I shook my head.

Several other angels followed Ambrosia out.

I looked over at Ambrosia, only for Penny to grab my arm and start laughing. 

"I can't believe you looked over the wall just because she told you to," Penny said loudly.

I happily took the added defense, taking on the appearance of a properly chastised man, with a furiously blushing face that I didn't need to fake at all. It came quite naturally with what had just happened. "Yeah, well, next time we have to look over random walls, I'm going to leave that to you," I said, waving my hand for the group to keep moving. That was enough embarrassment for now, and standing around was not going to help me move on.

Ambrosia followed along with us.

"So, what were you looking for in the city?" she said, "besides peeping on me?"

I shook my head and smiled, this was going to follow me for a while. "We were looking for entertainment, and we discovered Slytha." I gestured to the side. 

"Oh yes, we have a variety of races." She replied.

I paused at that information before nodding to myself. "Would you be willing to, I don't know, show us around? I think we'd all be interested in learning more about the races of the dungeon. You would certainly help keep me out of trouble, if nothing else." I offered.

"I heard about your run-in with the arbiter." Ambrosia gave me a sidelong glance, but her lips threatened to crack into a smile. 

"Yeah, don't think it's too funny. The Nekorians tried to kidnap a Felin. I would do it again." I told her.

"Of course," Ambrosia replied diplomatically. "I am happy to hear that you're so protective of your own people. That bodes well for your continued success in Star City."

"What does that mean?" I asked.

"It means everyone appreciates those that are willing to protect their own. That's the sign of a good party to join." She answered.

I nodded, thinking about her words for a second. "Are there groups within the city that we should be looking at? Back on Earth, we have guilds."

Her following frown caused me to quickly describe the organizations. 

"Ah," Ambrosia nodded. “Yes. As for the entertainment you were looking for, I can't say that we have very much of it." She bowed apologetically. 

"No entertainment at all?" I raised my eyebrows in surprise. 

"We have learning centers. The Orkai are quite fond of those. And if you ever travel back to the home world, they have many forms of art. You would probably recognize some of them, plays, poem recitals, and much more. However, what you describe as daily recreational activities," she hesitated, "we do not have. In the dungeon, you're going to see and focus on more practical needs. Instead of doing activities for entertainment, the focus is simply on those tasks that allow deeper diving into the dungeon. It is the Orkai way. Those of their people that have come this deep often don't think of much else. They do have a gathering for young parties to exchange stories."

I latched on to a particular part of that wording. "Those that have dove this deep, meaning there are others that stay on the surface?"

"Of course. They have plenty of people, as you would expect from any race, that don't desire to dive. Rather than diving the dungeon, they do things like performing art. Though, a decent number of those are retired adventurers." She said.

I nodded along, completely understanding. 

"Do they have a large world?" I asked. 

"I do not believe it is greatly different from your own, at least by your explanations." She shrugged. “Like most races, everyone seems more than capable of consuming most of the land of their worlds. The Orkai are no different, though I hear they have towering skyscrapers, as if they're all in a competition to see who can touch the sky first.”

The Orkai did seem a little more human than I would have expected from the large green orcs with far superior technology. However, I suppose all life had to have some similarities.

"Have they divided it all up into neat, orderly grids?" Penny joked.

"I do not know," Ambrosia answered honestly. "I have never been to their world; I have only briefly touched upon your own. We do not often get the chance to leave the dungeon." 

I felt bad; it was almost as if the angels were caged birds and Star City’s pillars became their cage.

"Do you want to leave the dungeon, Ambrosia?" I asked the dark-winged angel. 

She turned to me, her red eyes alight. "Yes, and I would like to learn to dive the dungeon," she said with a blush of honesty. 

"What do you mean?" I asked. "Can't you learn plenty from the Orkai?" 

Ambrosia shook her head. "I can read books, and I can practice on dummies. However…” She gestured around her. “Living this deep in the dungeon is not exactly helpful when it comes to learning the dungeon from the beginning." 

I nodded in understanding. "You need a low-level place to practice."

"Precisely." Her eyes held a glimmer of hope.

"Well," I glanced sideways at Penny, "do you think we can just send her back to Haylon?" 

"I don't see why not," the Frost Knight said with a shrug. "I mean, if nothing else, the UG would probably love to interview her. That is, if you're willing," Penny added the last hurriedly. 

The dark angel turned to me with wide eyes. "What would be the cost of such an opportunity?" 

"Usually there's tuition to pay, but..." I shrugged. "Why have billions if you don't use them? I think I would be more than fine paying for the tuition." 

Ambrosia’s eyes went wider, and she bobbed her head.

"It's not in mana crystals. Instead, the payment is our surface currency. So it's not too much of a burden." I tried to explain as she snatched up my hands and stared into my eyes as if I was her savior. I wanted to escape. 

Penny shifted to put a protective, possessive arm around my shoulder.  "Like he said, I'm certain our people will be very interested in learning more. There'd probably be more than a few willing to pay your way in exchange for information alone."

The dark angel bit her lip and nodded, still staring up at me with a strange look.

I cleared my throat and glanced over at Penny. "Anyways, weren't we going to go look around? That place for young parties to exchange stories might be interesting." I awkwardly tried to disengage, only for Penny to hold tight and glare at Ambrosia.

“They mostly tell stories and drink. It is often a source of trouble for the guards.” She cautioned me.

I opened my eyes wide. Ambrosia was going to help us find the Orkai version of a guild hall. "If you would please show us the way," I gestured for Ambrosia to continue.

"Oh, right. This way!" Ambrosia tucked a lock of her dark hair behind her ears and continued forward.

Penny was giving me a strange look from the corner of her eyes before she held tightly onto my arm. 

"What's wrong?" I asked, glancing at her, only for her to set her jaw. 

"Nothing's wrong," she said, this time with a little heat underneath her tone. 

"Oh, that's good," I said, only for her to squeeze me harder. "I was kidding. If you're not going to tell me what's wrong, then I might as well ignore it." I wasn’t going to try and read her mind. 

"It's nothing," she insisted once again.

I really didn't want to have to pull out a woman's 'it's nothing' and tease it into more, but I was certainly aware that the current situation was not ‘nothing’.

"I believe she is jealous," Ambrosia said from the front, only to get a deathly glare from Penny, who quickly looked away with a giant blush on her face. 

"Okay. Um, why?" I asked, trying to replay the last few minutes. My mind drifting off while I stared at the dark angel’s back.

Ambrosia certainly had classically attractive features. She had narrow hips, a bombshell hourglass figure, and a pair of angel wings that made her look like an underwear model on a runway. 

Penny followed my gaze and the way I was looking at Ambrosia. "That," she said, pulling at my arm. "Do I have to spell it out for you, Ken?" She huffed. 

I felt like saying ‘yes’ was the wrong answer, so I just stayed quiet.

Felin decided that was a good chance to pipe up. "Des says he can be really dense.” 

"Fine," Penny sighed. "I'm jealous of the way you're looking at her." 

I frowned, glancing back at Penny. "Why? You're attractive as well, though in a different way." I turned and stared into her eyes, and I was being completely honest. 

The way Penny blushed, though, told me I needed to be even more honest with her. 

"You have a statuesque quality to you, Penny. I mean, sure, you're not quite as soft as Ambrosia's figure, but you've got the kind of hips and, I bet, the kind of toned stomach underneath that many women would kill to possess. Not to mention, there is a highly attractive intelligence within your eyes. Maybe it's because you don't get to stare into them like I do, but sometimes it feels like they could swallow me up with what's hidden behind them. An intellect, I'm sure, has something to do with your fantastic ability to write." I offered.

Penny blushed and looked down at her feet. "You're not supposed to read it." 

I held my hands up. “And I have not. However, the way the rest of the class talks about it, it makes it clear you have to have some considerable talent. Please don't look down on yourself."

Penny nodded, becoming incredibly docile after I'd showered her with praises. The woman could go from fierce to cute in the blink of an eye.

"How about we keep moving to this guild hall? And after that, I think I need to take Penny somewhere for the rest of the weekend. I hope you don't mind, Felin." I looked over at the Nekorian who shook her head.

"Not at all. I think Penny needs the time." Felin said quickly, earning a slight glare from the other member of her party. Felin let out a mischievous chuckle.

"Fishy, you should come with me, and we should let them go have fun." Felin said as she looked over at the Naga matriarch.

The matriarch raised an eyebrow all the way near to the fin that stuck up almost like hair. 

"Yeah, you're Fishy," Felin pointed a finger at her. "And Ambrosia is our guide while we go explore other parts of the city."

“Please keep her out of trouble.” I asked both Slytha and Ambrosia.

The dark angel opened her mouth to argue, only for Felin to point back towards me and Penny.

"You can tell them where to go. You don't have to lead them there yourself." 

Ambrosia hesitated for a second before quickly realizing she was being commandeered by the Nekorian. She nodded her head before swiping at her wrists, surprisingly able to send directions straight to our CID. Seeing my confused expression, Ambrosia explained that the Orkai had already adapted their technology to work with ours. 

I really needed to stop being surprised by their ingenuity. I grabbed Penny’s hand to continue on.