DD 203 Ch 22

Chapter 22

The excitement in camp had hit full swing when I stepped out to celebrate finishing the raid. Most of the excitement was centralized in the Haylon set of tents. Five tents each from one of the parties in the class made a half circle set into the corner of the room.

Meanwhile, many of the Pendulum and Trusk students were joining the celebration with a smile, but not quite the jubilation of the Haylon students. A slight dark cloud hung over the Royal College.

I couldn't imagine why. It wasn't as if their favorite prince had just lost. I couldn’t help the extra pep in my step. It was going to take a few days before I stopped wanting to rub my win in the prince's nose.

The man was absolutely insufferable, and it brought me joy. It might be even better than putting a dagger in his back because this way, I got to watch him squirm for far longer. 

"Drink?" Harley thrust a red cup in my hand before pouring a mixture out of a clear, unlabeled bottle. 

"Harley, what's in that?" I barely had time to react as she pulled me out of my musings.

"It's just party punch." She clicked her tongue and winked at me. 

"No, Harley, what's actually in there?" I asked.

"It's great. Drink it. You're going to love it." Harley waved me away and then bounced off to pour some in another cup.

I stared down at the drink and gave a sniff. It smelled like a bag of candy. Multiple fruit flavors were trying to vie for dominance, only for a subtle hint of something strong enough to strip my throat raw lingering in the back.

"Harley." I called out, scolded the bard. We really shouldn’t be drinking in the dungeon given our current situation.

Harley bounced back over, handing Des a cup and pouring the mixture in her cup as well. Des did not hesitate like me and instead tipped the concoction back and drank nearly half a cup in one go. 

I rubbed my face with my hand. "Harley, don't get Des drunk." 

"Why?" Harley asked innocently before she topped Desmonda off. The temptress turned to me and I could see for a moment the eye that was normally kept hidden by her purple hair. The heart shape of the pupil bore into me with a dangerous promise. 

"Just go easy." I held a hand out to caution Des. 

"Yeah, easy." She took another big sip, watching me as she drank.

I knew when to keep my mouth shut, glad she had not downed the entire glass.

"Tonight is a time to celebrate." Des tapped her cup to mine in a cheer before taking another sip. I joined her this time.

The sickly sweet concoction barely managed to ease the burn of the alcohol. I let out a breath that I felt like would catch on fire if there was a spark. 

"Alright, no one's letting Harley mix drinks again," I grumbled.

Harley turned around, offended. "If it gets too bad, just take a weak antidote potion. And if you need some, I brought plenty." She pulled a potion out of her CID and wiggled the vial at me. 

"Harley, that was for detoxing the scorpion poison," I sighed and rubbed my forehead. We were well past those scorpions and most people had bought plenty. Not to mention, most groups had someone to remove poisons now. "But you have figured out that it works just as well for having a few too many drinks, doesn't it?"

"It works like a charm," she said, and twirled back around, continuing to pour people drinks.

It felt a little awkward, drinking in the dungeon without being in a safe zone. Yet as I looked into the pink concoction, I decided we had earned ourselves a celebration. And sometimes, in the midst of great trials, it was best to give your body some time to decompress.

"There you go," Des smiled, giving me a kiss on the cheek. "We're gonna have lots of fun tonight. We're not gonna go farming stats, or farming monsters at least. We aren't going to go kill anyone either." She said the statement so casually, it was almost strange. "And finally, we're gonna have fun!"

"You already said that."

"I know, but I'm gonna have twice the fun." She tipped back her drink. "You think Harley has an extra one of those, where you can just claim a whole bottle?"

"Des," I spoke with a tone of warning, but the alcohol was starting to hit me and I no longer felt the same conviction I had before of not getting drunk.

"What? If consent is the problem, I mean, duh." She laughed and kissed my cheek again.

"That's, that's not the problem.” I grumbled. “What if something happens?" I looked over to where we had barricaded the entrance to the raid. 

"And what if something happened in a safe zone? Someone gets in a drunken brawl, and smashes down the building? Or even on the surface of our world, what if there's a gas leak and the building explodes?" She sipped her drink, looking over the rim at it. "We have an opportunity. We have a reason to celebrate. Don't let the what-ifs get to you." She poked me in the stomach twice. "Besides, Fayeth is making sushi. When that happens, you know it's going to be a great party."

I looked over at Fayeth, who had a Felin hustling around her, cutting up several slices of meat and chopping vegetables. I frowned, watching the Nekorian so diligently working for Fayeth. "What's going on?"

Des had a knowing smirk. "Oh, just wait for this. It's the best part."

Nekorian finished chopping everything with blinding speed, handing the fish back to Fayeth like she was turning in a job. I was stunned that Felin didn’t try to eat any of the fish.

The elf reached to her CID and pulled out a bottle of Irish cream. She handed the whole bottle to Felin. The Nekorian took it like it was a treasure possession. 

I stepped forward. "Don't give her a whole bottle. Don't you know how--?" My words were useless.

Felin had already stripped the cap off and tipped the bottle upside down, beginning to guzzle the Irish cream.

I reached over to stop her from drinking the whole thing in one go. "Felin."

She licked her lips. "Cream," she said excitedly, with a smile that was a little too wide. "The Irish cream is really good. Fayeth said if I helped her chop everything, then I could have a bottle.” Her tail wandered over to play with my thigh.

“How about we drink the bottle in slower increments?" I offered, not that there was any danger to the Nekorian for drinking, nor any of us. Adventurers were barely human anymore.

"But it's cream," Felin whispered, and took another long sip. "Besides," Felin pulled the bottle off her mouth. "Des said that I should be ready tonight." She gave me a grin, showing off her dangerously large canines.

"Did she now?" I glanced back at Des, who quietly turned away while lifting her drink up and finishing it. "I'm going to go get another." She waved the empty cup at me and sauntered away, swaying her hips. 

"Am I the only one who's going to be responsible?" I said, looking around the group. 

Harley was flitting around like a social butterfly, pouring drink after drink. None of the bottles had a consistent color, and I had to wonder if my next drink would even taste similar. 

Des managed to get her refill and then swindled Harley out of a whole bottle. She come back over to our area behind where Fayeth was manning the grill. Someone was starting a bonfire in the middle of all four colleges, and people were slowly forming a ring and sitting down to mingle.

"I feel like we're about to dance," Elysara said, joining me at my side. 

"The two of us?" I asked. Dancing wasn't necessarily my strongest skill. 

"No,” she gestured around, “Everyone. I feel like we're going to eat, we're going to drink, and then we're going to dance." It felt as if her words had been prophetic. 

Someone's portable stereo kicked up, and there was music playing in the area.

I looked around, taking in the moment, and I could not help but smile.

"Screw it," I downed the rest of my drink as Des finally made it back over to us with her proffered bottle. 

"That's it," Des said, giving me a half-pour. "Let loose, Ken. You're always so uptight."

"Assassins tend to be uptight, Des," Elysara corrected her. 

"All that tension and brooding is kind of hot," Des laughed. "It is. It really is. It's even better when he backs it up with some actual skill and then, you know, lets us participate in whatever harebrained scheme he has. Did you know he ran off with your guard the other night? And he fought four assassins?"

Elysara gasped playfully on my other side. “He didn’t.” She said playfully.

I rubbed my face. "You're never going to let me live that down, are you?"

"Oh, which time? You mean the time when we were in the single digits or literally a week ago?" Des cocked a challenging eyebrow at me. 

I held my hands up in surrender. "You got me. In fairness, Neldra dragged me away."

"Oh, so we are talking about the most recent attempt.”

“The most recent one, Des," I conceded. "Again, Neldra dragged me away. I had no say in leaving you behind." I was going to stick to that story and hold on to my innocence as long as I could. "Besides, she just used me for my eyes of wisdom to track them down."

"Uh-huh." Des didn't believe a word. "That's why there were cuts on your robes and why you had a yore on when you came back."

"Something like that." I flashed her a cheeky smile and put a hand around her hip. 

"Oh, you don't get away that easily, mister." She poked my chest before she leaned in and kissed me. The temptress was wearing a low cut dress that she’d gotten on one of the earlier bosses. It was light blue with gold trim that opened down the center, flashing her legs every time she moved.

Elysara let out a soft whistle to the side. "I see you two are going to be loads of fun tonight."

"Loads of fun," Des echoed and grabbed my head starting to make out with me. "I'm even going to get Ken to dance."

"I would pay to see that," Elysara smirked. 

Charlotte wasn't quite the social butterfly that the rest of my ladies were. So, when I saw her deliver something to Fayeth, I pulled away from Des to go scooped the shy druid up and brought her over with me. "Charlotte, you can stay here. I need someone to protect me from Des."

She blushed. "Who said I won't help her corrupt you?"

I put a hand to my chest. "Even you?"

Des wrapped her arms around Charlotte's shoulders. "Don't you know I've corrupted our cute little druid?" Charlotte was blushing bright red, but she didn't refute Des’ words. 

"Where's Bun-Bun?" I said, realizing that something was missing. 

"Oh, I bribed him with a few carrots to stay out of trouble." Charlotte glanced and pointed at Fayeth's grill. The little rabbit had curled up next to it. It was soaking up the warmth. 

"What a content little guy," Elysara watched him. "He's so cute."

"Yeah, cute. Tell that to all the times he's thrown a tantrum." I huffed and ran my hands through my hair.

"He's not that bad," Charlotte defended the rabbit. 

"He's bad enough," I said, knowing Bun-Bun was never going anywhere.

"Oh, all the chocolate bunnies that died," Des reminisced. "We could have made Harley so fat, she would have eaten all those chocolate bunnies. Feels like just yesterday that we were starting the dungeon."

"It hasn't been that long," Elysara chided her nostalgia. "You've been in the dungeon for less than two years."

"Well, if this goes the way I think it will, we'll probably get to a year and a half soon. And this will be quite the dungeon dive," I said, only to get looks from all three ladies. 

"No brooding," Des chided me. 

"Fine, no brooding. Sorry."

"Yeah, it's almost been a year and a half. Not that long, but there's been so much adventure that it feels like it's taken up the dominant part of my life." The ladies around me all nodded in agreement.

The celebration continued. Fayeth stuffed me with some of the most delicious burgers I had ever eaten.

Soon other people started to pull out drinks and pitch in, and Harley's seemingly bottomless tap began to run dry. Or the pink-haired barb decided it was time to start holding back, knowing her she likely had enough stockpiled in there to last us for years. 

Some adventurers were hoarders with their CIDs, stuffing them with uncountable number of things. Harley was absolutely one of those hoarders. She had shown me her wardrobe tab once upon a time, and I nearly passed out with the realization of how many clothes she had inside her CID. It was entirely impractical.

““Ken!”!” Selene waved at me as I watched people dance. I turned my gaze to the black-haired healer, who was wearing a green robe that matched her emerald eyes. She shimmied, pushed and pulled. Her body a constant fluid motion on the dance floor. Somehow, she was leading the taller Penny in a dance.

The blue-haired tank blushed a little, noticing our attention, Penny was out of her gear, but she wore a white blouse and black leather pants underneath her gear and now without the bulky armor I was reminded that she had curves.

Selene beckoned me over with a hooked finger, and I found myself moving towards her before I even realized what I was doing. She immediately turned her back to me, continuing to dance as she grabbed my wrists and guided my hands to her hips. "Dance with us," she said, then took Penny's hands, leaving mine on her hips as they swayed and gyrated against me. 

The dark-haired healer was very forward, but my attention was more captivated by Penny. The woman was just as tall as I was, her blue eyes meeting mine as she danced with Selene. She bit her pink lip before executing a move that removed Selene from me and spun her around, taking Selene's place.

Selene played along well. "You go, girl," she encouraged Penny. 

I swallowed, unsure of what to do, only to be bumped from behind and pressed firmly into Penny's rear.

The woman took that as my answer, grinding against me. She managed to grab my wrists and wrap one of my arms around her waist, pulling herself closer to me. Penny shot a blushing look over her shoulder before she twisted and twerked her hips.

I could feel every inch of her rear pressed into me. The tight pants she wore accentuated her smooth curves as she rolled them against me. Pushing and pulling her hips to the music, I let myself enjoy the moment.

After a few songs, she pulled away and held my arm before she started doing a strange dance. It was perfectly in beat with the music and somehow incredibly familiar.

My body reacted before my mind, and I found myself hopping in tune with her before I realized it was the dance we'd been doing on the penultimate boss to avoid all of the abilities. The realization made me roar with laughter and Penny beamed with a giant smile as we started really getting into the motions.

It took Selene only a moment longer to realize what Penny and I were doing, and she hooked my other arm, creating something like a conga line as we started jumping to the beat and stepping to the side as if we were doing the boss fight.

Our little dance spread like wildfire.

Other members of Haylon joined in, and even the other colleges. Everyone had been fighting that boss enough for the steps to be ingrained deep into their psyches. We all joined the conga line amidst the dungeon, all of us familiar with the beat. 

All around the fire, everyone was laughing as we continued the dance, completely to the beat of the music. When the song finally ended, the whole group broke up, and everyone laughed.

It was a natural moment for some people to step away, and Des slid up behind me, pressing her chest to my back. "I'm sorry, Penny, but there was a certain man who was naughty today, and I promise to punish him." Des smiled up at me.

Penny awkwardly scratched her cheek. Her face was flushed with something that I wasn't quite sure of, either embarrassment or perhaps a hint of lust. 

"Go ahead and take him for the night. He's all yours," Penny said in a hurry.

"I'll make it up to you." Des stepped around me and easily pulled the taller woman down to her level before kissing her on the cheek and whispering something in her ear. Penny had a smile growing on her face before Des grabbed my hand and pulled me back towards our tent. “Until next time Penny.” Des wiggled her fingers.

“And what are you planning.” I kissed Des.

Her attention shifted back to me and her eyes looked like they were about to consume me. "Don't worry, I already sent Charlotte after Felin. I'm going to get us started." Des nearly sprinted as she pulled me back to the tent.

As we stepped in side, she licked her lips and pulled me into Crimson’s unused bed.