As one might expect, none of the restaurants Vee, Luna, Hanako, and Alforde tried to go to were willing to serve them. Even Big Simon gave them an apologetic smile and waved them away with a request to return another time.

Though disappointed, Vee totally understood. The reek of the sewer was pretty bad, and Hanako was starting to fall behind as they walked from place to place, so Alforde suggested that they meet up the next morning for breakfast instead. As they waded through the bugs on the way back to Hanako’s house, the girl and the armorsoul struck up a conversation about enchanted crystals.

Alforde explained that he was looking to socket one into his new hammer, and Hanako asked what he had in mind.

“Well, I don’t have a particularly strong preference, so I’m open to suggestions,” Alforde said.

The girl clapped her hands together.

“Ooh, let me help! Are you looking for a spell that’s thematically complementary or are you looking for skill coverage? I think you’d do well with a projectile attack, but then again an area-of-effect skill might really suit you too. Since you’re all frostnickel though, you might want something ice themed. Maybe an [Icewall] or something?”

Alforde thought for a moment. “I’m not really sure. What do you think Vee?”

Vee was surprised by the sudden change in the girl’s tone to something that was so focused. So far, Hanako’s whining had been the perfectly ordinary sort: almost question-like complaints about her hair, or that she was tired, or cold, or had to pee. She reminded him all too much of the girls he’d grown up with, and to be honest, he’d thought her pretty annoying. Seeing such a different side of her was nice.

“I like the thematic angle, but I think you should try a couple of different options,” he said.

“If you’d like, I can bring a couple crystals with me tomorrow,” Hanako said. “I’m afraid that I can only make D-Rank crystals right now, but they should be good enough to give you an idea of what you want. Then we can ask my dad for an S-rank version.”

Vee doubted that they’d be able to afford an S-rank crystal any time soon, but it was a nice thought, and so he didn’t press the matter any further.

The rest of the walk was spent discussing the specifics of what Hanako was going to bring, and they ultimately settled on a collection of six enchanted crystals. [Fireball], [Frostvent], [Icewall], [Boltsphere], [Aquastream] and [Pearlshot]. The fact that she could make so many different kinds was rather impressive.

Alforde seemed quite excited as they dropped Hanako off at her sprawling mansion. The armorsoul was practically bouncing up and down as Luna also said farewell and the boys were left to return to Sculla’s.

The ogre was sitting on her stoop with her pipe in hand, and Vee felt Reginald’s brim tighten around his head for a moment before the spirit relaxed. He wondered what that was all about.

She looked up at them and nodded. “Got some boxes down the street for you to take downstairs before you go on up.”

Alforde set Slammy down with a nod and went to go start hauling boxes.

“You should go help, Vee” Reginald said.

Vee tried to protest, but the hat was oddly insistent. “Find a small one and get to carrying. It’s not fair to make Alforde do all the work. He was down in the sewers all day.”

Grumbling, Vee went and did as his [Majordomo] suggested. He managed to find one that was just light enough for him to carry all the way back to the boarding house.

Sculla didn’t say anything more to them as they lugged the boxes past. She simply nodded and kept smoking. Vee shook his head as he headed up to the room.

Not even a thanks? Some people just didn’t know how to be grateful.

The next morning, Vee and Alforde went to the market to meet the girls. Reginald stayed behind, claiming that he didn’t want to have to go through another day of being swarmed by bugs.

There were a few more people out and about. Though still annoying, the pests weren’t as bad as they’d been the day before, thanks to the efforts of the adventurers and the [City Guards] who’d been leading raid after raid into the sewers all night in an attempt to eradicate the blightbeast nest and the adventurers wandering the city and toasting swarms with a variety of skills. The whole city smelled a bit like a campfire, which was actually a pleasant improvement compared to the usual stench of filth and garbage.

Bug carcasses littered the ground, and as Vee crunched over them, he idly wondered how long it’d take for the city to get around to cleaning them up. Based on what he’d seen so far in Oar’s Crest, he wasn’t terribly optimistic about it happening anytime soon.

But maybe he could help with that?

It was still too risky to try and bring the fiends into town, but he didn’t think people would react so negatively to slimes. With a bit of ectoplasm, he could rig up harnesses and let the little monsters go to town on the bugs. They were always hungry, and it would probably do them some good to have something in their diet beyond the debris brought in from around Westown.

He’d get started on that as soon as breakfast was done. If the gate was open, of course.

The girls arrived a few minutes later, and Hanako held up a small black box. “I brought the crystals we talked about and a few others that didn’t take too long to make. There’s nothing that says you have to pick one crystal and stick with it forever, so you might want to have a few different ones and swap them as you need between fights.”

She handed the box to Alforde and the armorsoul thanked her profusely. His eyes gleamed as he opened it up and picked up a blue crystal rimmed with white.

“What’s this one?” he asked.

“That’s [Frostvent]. It’s an area of effect spell,” Hanako said. “It blows freezing air a few feet, and if a target remains inside it for too long, they’ll be temporarily frozen in place. How long that takes depends on how big the target is, how much they’re moving and a bunch of other stuff. You should try it out for yourself, but I think that’d be a good one for you to use at least some of the time.”

Alforde looked torn for a moment, clearly wanting to test the crystals but not wanting to keep everyone from breakfast on his account.

Alforde had earned a bit of playtime, and Vee wasn’t that hungry, so he stood up and gave his friend a thumbs up. “Go ahead and try a few of them out now, buddy. Joleimna is setting up over there and I could go for some candy right about now. Do you want to join me, Luna?”

[Guts +1]

The [Pumpkin Witch] smiled at him and nodded. “Sure, that sounds like a lot more fun than watching crystals get tested. You gotta be careful though, guys. If Hanako gets on a tangent she’s interested in, you won’t hear about anything else for weeks.”

Alforde chuckled as the younger girl glared at Luna. “Would you be willing to show me how to properly socket the crystal? I’m afraid I haven’t don’t it before.”

With Hanako distracted, Vee and Luna walked over to Joleimna’s. The [Candy Man] only had a few bags of candy at his stall and wasn’t trying to make any more with all the bugs around. The salamander complained about the insect infestation, but shrugged his shoulders in a what-can-you-do sort of way and happily sold them two bags of caramel apple candies. Vee paid for both.

“Thanks, this is my favorite flavor,” Luna said as they walked away from the stall.

“Really? It’s mine too,” Vee said. “I like the orange cream ones too though.”

“Those are good, too,” said Luna. “But they’re nothing on those blueberry lemonade hats he sells.”

Vee chuckled and from there they talked about other little things. It wasn’t the most groundbreaking conversation Vee’d ever had, but it was nice, and he was proud of himself for not like, choking in the middle of it or stumbling over his words too much. Baby steps, he told himself.

While they chatted, Vee and Luna watched Alforde test the crystals. The first one Hanako helped him socket was [Frost Vent]. To Vee’s eye, it seemed a bit underwhelming. The cloud of frosty vapor wasn’t very big. To its credit, it did freeze the bugs pretty quickly. Alforde seemed to like it quite a bit.

[Fireball] was exactly what anybody with a brain would expect when they heard the name, and the scattered projectiles of [Pearl Shot] looked like they might be marginally useful in arena fights while being completely useless against the bugs.

Alforde was about to socket [Boltsphere] – if the yellow crystal was any indication – but Luna’s stomach rumbled and that was it. Vee walked back to his friend and suggested that the armorsoul try the rest of the crystals later. With a slight nod of his helmet, Alforde agreed, and the group set off to find a good restaurant for breakfast. At Hanako’s suggestion, they stopped in front of a small restaurant called Mystique.

As soon as they walked in, Vee took one look at the “art” on the walls and knew it was going to be one of those fancy restaurants. The kind with tiny portions, egregiously high prices, and an inexplicable affinity for serving everything on square plates or in cones of twisted iron. He’d been to enough such places back in Bardis to recognize the vibe.

The food was just okay. Vee’s creamed eggs on toast and hashbrowns didn’t taste like much, but it was bug free and that counted for plenty. Hanako ordered herself two jelly-filled somethings and devoured them noisily, and Luna ordered a plate of eggs and sausage.

When they were finished, Vee went up to pay the check and grimaced at how expensive it was. He resolved not to come back here anytime soon. The Grinning Pig had better food for barely more than half the cost.

Luna smiled at him after they left the restaurant and Vee relented. That alone was worth the price of the check and then some.

“I’m going to go and see if I can join up with one of the other adventuring parties going into the sewers,” she said as she stopped at the intersection. “Thanks for the candy and breakfast. I had fun. Next time it’ll be my treat.”

He grinned and nodded. “Sounds good,” he said, hoping that wasn’t too lame of a way to respond. It was hard to think when his brain was blasting RED ALERT SHE SAID NEXT TIME on repeat.

The [Pumpkin Witch] waved and walked away. Vee watched her go with a stupid grin on his face.

Hanako bowed to them both.

“I should also be returning home,” she said. “My tutors will be expecting me for my afternoon lessons.”

“When should I return the crystals?” Alforde asked.

Hanako waved dismissively.

“You can keep them,” she said. “They’re not hard to make, and it was good practice for me. My dad’s always pestering me to spend more time at the bench. He says its our family legacy and that I need to take it more seriously. I always tell him that if I had something interesting to practice for I’d be more diligent, but he never listens. Anyways, if you find one you really like, come visit me and I’ll see if I can get my dad to make you a higher rank version. He’s a really talented [Enchanter].”

“Sure, we’ll be sure to do that,” Vee said.

Hanako stayed where she was, and though Vee was definitely no master of reading body language, it was pretty obvious that there was something else on her mind.

“I just had an idea. Do you think you need any crystals for the dungeon?”

Vee thought for a moment. “It’d be good to have them for traps and things like that, but I’m afraid that money is pretty tight right now, so I’m afraid we can’t afford any.”

Hanaka shifted nervously back and forth on her feet. “Well, I could make you some for free. We have more crystals than we know what to do with at my house. Tons of [Miners], [Crystal Farmers], and [Gem Traders] send my dad samples of their wares. He never uses any of them, and my mom is going crazy with all the crystals in the basement.”

Vee raised an eyebrow. He wasn’t going to say no to free enchanted crystals – the union prices for those were crazy high – but something wasn’t adding up.

“And what’s in it for you?”

“You make me a dungeon intern and give me a place to enchant crystals three or four afternoons a week,” Hanako said.

“That’s all?”

The girl nodded.

“Yup, that’s it.”

Vee looked over at Alforde. The armorsoul shrugged, and as Vee didn’t have a good reason to refuse more help around Crestheart, he held out his hand and Hanako shook it.

“Deal,” he said. “Welcome to the team, Hanako.”

She grinned at him.

“Thanks, boss.”

[Congratulations! You have successfully gained the help of five people. Hidden quest ‘Recruit others to your cause (Oar’s Crest)’ complete!]

[Quest Reward: You are now a Dungeon Master, Level 14!]

[Your underlings will now earn more experience from their dungeon tasks!]

[Leadership +1]

[You can now use the Boost Drops skill!]

[Citizenship +2]

[Failed to receive quest! Reason: Citizenship too low! (Requires 20 points)]

Vee closed his eyes and checked the skill.

[Boost Drops]: Three times per day, double the chances of all passive monster skills for the duration of a run. Affects shards of chaos.

Huh. Go figure. That actually sounded pretty useful.

Now he just had to get adventurers back into the dungeon.

Main Character Sheets:

Vee Vales:

Primary Class: Ghost Maestro (Locksmagister University), Level 22

Secondary Class: Dungeon Master (Oar’s Crest), Level 14 (+2)

Tertiary Class: Guy-Who-Takes-Things-WAY-Too-Far (Self), Level 4

Might: 9

Wit: 28

Faith: 18

Adventurousness: 6

Ambition: 9

Plotting: 13

Charisma: 6

Devious Mind: 13

Leadership: 14 (+1)

Guts: 10 (+1)

Intimidating Presence: 7

Citizenship: 9 (+2)

Alforde Armorsoul:

Primary Class: Hammer Afficionado (Self), Level 18

Secondary Class: Right-hand man (Vee Vales), Level 11

Tertiary Class: Dungeon Champion (Oar’s Crest), Level 10

Additional Class: Clunker (Vee Vales), Level 3

Might: 20

Wit: 10

Faith: 24

Adventurousness (Bound – Vee Vales): 7

Endurance: 12

Intimidating Presence: 9

Heart of a Champion: 2

Citizenship (Bound – Vee Vales): 4 (+1)

Vigilance: 4

Reginald:

Primary Class: Core Spirit (Unknown), Level ???

--~[email protected]#!$d o% ^[email protected] B&#e K#[email protected] (#$%#$%#[email protected]!)~--, L$#@& ????

Secondary Class: Loudmouth (Self), Level 35

Tertiary Class: Majordomo (Vee Vales), Level 8

Additional Class: Announcer (Vee Vales), Level 4

Might: 1

Wit: 27

Faith: 9

Ambition: 25

Greed: 21

Deceptiveness: 29

[email protected]: 34

F^#$#$%@#

Loyalty: 41

[*--__#4%_--------]

Citizenship (Bound – Vee Vales): 2