Thankfully, the noise wasn’t something dangerous, and Aifell told them that they could keep eating.

“Don’t worry about that. It’s probably just my husband, Kirk. I’ll get it, you guys just keep eating.”

It was pretty obvious that she probably wanted the warn the man of their presence, but Mash had the feeling that Kirk would know. The knocking had sounded a little urgent, so Mash guessed that he would know about it.

Mash just took a seat, at the nearest table and began eating some of the fruit. They looked mostly normal, although even the smallest of them was as large as his head. The fruit had a thin layer of skin and was covered in a mix of green and red. He took a bite of it, eating it without much care for things like seeds or the skin. It was pleasantly sweet, but the skin burned his tongue as a pepper would. The weird contrast actually made the fruit seem even sweeter.

He didn’t know how to eat it but didn’t really feel like waiting. His hunger had already started to get the better of him, and he didn’t hesitate to try another. The next he grabbed was hard and crunched in his mouth like he was chewing rocks. It was almost certainly the wrong way to eat the fruit, but he just kept at it. Eventually, he cleared his plate.

The others were being more careful, only eating the fruits that seemed recognizable. Those weren’t exactly the same as fruits from back home, but there was plenty that was close enough. They were saved from their struggle when Aifell returned to the room. Her husband was beside her, and he looked over the four of them carefully.

Aifell’s husband was surprisingly tall and was the bulkiest Vian that they had met thus far. Mash wouldn’t consider him to be particularly muscular though, as even Luke had more muscles than him. He had oddly green hair, that was styled into two long spikes that were combed back and ran off the top of his head. Other than that, he had the same hooked nose that the rest of their people had, and the multicolored feathers attached to his arms. The colors looked brighter for some reason. It looked like the man was going to say something but didn’t get to as Aifell looked over the tables.

“I forgot. I should have shown you how to eat the fruits. What happened to yours?”

She looked at the food they had eaten and saw Mash’s empty plate. Her confusion was obvious, and Mash just tried to downplay it.

“I just ate everything. Can I get some more?”

He shrugged his shoulders, trying to express that this was normal to him. It didn’t seem to change her perception though. She did snap her fingers again and more fruit began to form. This was the real reason he wanted seconds. While he was still a little hungry, he really wanted another opportunity to study her magic. Hopefully, Priscilla could capture the entire process. Her memory was perfect, and she certainly had the magical talent to replicate a spell.

“Some of the skins were poisonous…”

Aifell sounded a little apologetic, her voice trailing off as she didn’t know how to continue. All four of them looked at her strangely. While Mash would be immune to poisons, he consumed, the others didn’t have such a benefit.

“It’s nothing serious. The worst you can get is a twisted stomach.”

Kirk spoke quickly, obviously trying to save his wife from their scrutiny. Twisted stomach sounded nasty, but the way he spoke told him that it wasn’t a big deal. It was probably no worse than a stomachache. Hearing that got the others to relax, and Mash just started eating his second serving of fruit. Aifell started teaching the others how to properly eat the fruit, and Mash watched from the corner of his eyes. It was something he should probably know if he was eating food outside.

Kirk seemed ready to explode and constantly tried to get his wife’s attention. He looked annoyed with her. Finally, he couldn’t contain himself and just started speaking over his wife.

“Is fruit really the most important thing to be talking about right now? We need to tell them about the others.”

That pulled Mahs’s attention away from the fruit and the magic. He had been talking with Priscilla about recreating it, and he got some hopeful responses from her. Priscilla claimed that it would probably be a lot easier than trying to figure out telepathy. They were already used to the magic that grew things, and this seemed like a slightly more complex application of it.

“What do you mean others?”

Red asked the question, some obvious concern leaking into her voice. The concern was not directed toward the adventurers. Like him, the others were more worried for the natives than the adventurers. Not all adventurers were bad people, but they hadn’t had many good experiences with them. Kirk was glad to get some attention, and he quickly began explaining the situation.

“While scouting, I spotted several adventurers entering the forest. I’m worried about what will happen if they find their way up here. They looked much st-, more intimidating than these four.”

Kirk changed what he was going to say as he spoke, but they understood the meaning anyway. He obviously thought that the other adventurers looked stronger than them, though that was probably untrue. They were young and didn’t have the same ruggedness that older adventurers possessed. There were a lot of reasons for that, but the biggest one was their age. Their high stats would help them act more like adults, but their bodies were actually aging more slowly now. With how fast they were gaining levels, they would probably always look like teenagers, but that wasn’t so bad.

Thinking about it that way, Mash wondered if he should really be trying to age more quickly. He could live with his appearance, and there was probably someone with the skill to change someone’s appearance. He wondered why he had been so concerned about appearing young before. He already looked mostly like an adult, and that wouldn’t change that much in a few years.

“I had actually come up with an idea for that. Have you guys seen any weird portals or gateways to other worlds? Any that just appeared recently?”

As she asked her questions, Kirk seemed to stiffen uncomfortably. It was obvious that he had some information on the matter. He fumbled with some sounds, and Aifell spoke for him.

“Yes, there has been one that just appeared yesterday. How did you know? Our people do a lot to hide them.”

Finishing her response, Aifell eyes fell on Mash. She probably expected he had some involvement in the matter, but he just shook his head slightly. Red wanted to share her plan, and Mash had no intention of interrupting her.

“We’re in the same situation back home. You can use that to get rid of us though. Most people here want to get out. If you lead them to it, they will probably just leave. So, try creating a trail for them to follow.”

Red’s plan was simple and effective. Almost all the adventurers who had been waiting by the entrance would have been eager to leave. Honestly, Safa’s group probably would have left given the opportunity. Their group was probably more used to hunting people outside of dungeons and had just been tempted by the bonus rewards new dungeons usually granted. Remembering them made him lose his appetite, and he stopped eating. Most of the food was gone anyway.

Mash tried to change his focus and tried to come up with something to help. He made a wooden sign. It was like the one he had made earlier, but the text was different this time.

I am an adventurer and have found the way out. Follow the path for an exit from the dungeon.

Once the sign was finished, he held it for the others to see. Red nodded, and Mash explained what it said to Aifell and Kirk.

“Just put this in front of the path you make. It will make it seem like I made it and am trying to help other people get out.”

Aifell only nodded, but Kirk looked at it with a little suspicion. He probably expected Mash to betray them and try and take advantage of them. Aifell could read the words though, and she reassured Kirk of the message. Kirk nodded his head.

“Thank you, I will get everything set up in the morning.”

Mash was about to ask Kirk why he would wait and remembered that no one would do any work at night. The very thought that he would delay for something like that baffled Mash, but he was not here to challenge their philosophies. Although, he was probably in the position to do it if he really wanted to.

The rest of the meal went by quickly, and the group separated to go to bed. The room they had been in belonged to Aifell and it was extremely large. Having several smaller rooms dedicated to her work within it. The four of them had received a similarly sized room across from hers. The way the building was designed, there were only five rooms on each floor.

The room that his group had received was luxurious and had many bedrooms within it. There were enough rooms to fit another person if they needed it. They also had a dining room and kitchen, though they had nothing in them. A communal living space separated all of the bedrooms, and there were two bathrooms for the group. They were enormous bathrooms, made with the intention of fitting multiple people at once. Since their group was nicely split between guys and girls, each pair got a bathroom to themselves.

The others were tired and just went straight to bed. However, Mash decided to take advantage of the luxurious baths. Unlike their world, these baths were large and filled with hot water constantly. He didn’t know exactly what he was supposed to do, but mainly just wanted to relax in the hot water. Rather than immediately jumping into the water, he looked for something that resembled soap. The closest thing he found was some strange wax-like substance that smelled surprisingly nice. That looked good enough, and he used it to clean himself before entering the bath directly. Public baths usually worked like that, and he assumed that this would be the same.

As he relaxed in the water, he found his mind wandering again. The real reason he had chosen to stay awake popped into his mind. He remembered the fight with Gerard and his near-death at the hands of Brock. It wasn’t that he was afraid of death or dying. Well, he was but that wasn’t the problem for him. He had been in life and death scenarios a few times now, but those hadn’t stuck as this one had. This reminded him of Leah rather than the demon. It was worse than both though. His fight with them had shown him how weak he was without his class.

His whole goal so far had been to be free from that system but only now did he realize what that could mean. Would he lose all his power? Was he willing to give up his power for his freedom? The questions frightened him. The weakness he had felt after getting the seal had disgusted him. Above all of the other things he wanted to get done, he wanted to find power that he could use without his skills. Plus, he wanted to make sure that he was always prepared for a fight.

The response felt like she was chastising him, but he accepted the advice. He had been confident that he could manage something in any situation. Although, she was right. He had ignored doing things like preparing things beforehand. Many ideas popped into his mind, as Priscilla sent him strategies he should’ve been employing. A lot of the things were stuff he had thought about before but had dismissed in his arrogance. With all the things he needed to do now, he doubted that he would be sleeping anytime soon.