Katrina, Aura, Tilly and Peaches are seated at one of the tables outside Ali's. The two humans have become quite close friends and the elf is no exception either.

Peaches just likes to be one of the girls and has been spending more and more of her time with the trio of women. She's still accompanied by two Sweets wherever she goes, however, and they're sitting at a different table eating cake. The seating arrangements outside only have space for four people and women always sit together.

"When are you going to move out of the Privacy Palace and get a real house, Kat? Surely Abi's offered you one?" Tilly asks. The only person other than passing merchants or travelers that still stays in Abi's Inn.

The Privacy Palace has been home to Katrina ever since she was contracted to the dungeon and she's grown fond of it. Not that she hasn't thought about owning her own house. The ex-Categoriser just appreciates the extra security that the penthouse floor offers. Which isn't much except for being four floors off the ground, but her early morning horizons are almost as good as Abi's own. Why would she want to give that up?

"I don't know. I wouldn't mind a house, but I love watching the sun rise over Varona in the morning. I don't think I'd get the same experience in a house," she explains. Tilly and Aura nod along, but Peaches seems confused by her sound reasoning

"Why don't you just teleport up the mountain? Then it doesn't matter where you live." Aura, Tilly and Kat stare blankly at the Slimes statement.

"That's... not a bad idea." The elf Aura, one with nature, has watched the sunrise over Varona many times herself now and she knows why Kat doesn't want to miss it.

"True, Peaches' idea definitely has merit, but it's much nicer seeing the sunrise from your home." Tilly adds her opinion to the mix as she sips on her tea.

Humans still appreciate the beauty of nature, but are less inclined to spend their time in the elements than the elves themselves.

"I'll think about it." Kat tells the group, soliciting smiles all around. "Anyway, did any of you see Veris this morning?"

"No, why," Aura asks after another serving of the sweet treat. The mouthful of cake not-hidden very well behind her hand.

"She had a goblin on a leash, walking it around as though it was the most natural thing in the world." None of the women had seen it, but they all laughed as odd sights in Varona were not a rare occurrence. Veris being the cause of quite a few of them in fact.

Not many people know that the Goblin in Veris' care is actually the late King Aldus, but as a small, green, smelly monster, he poses no harm to anyone as even the children of the growing city could serve him a whooping if needed.

"Ignoring the growing list of oddities and Veris' new pet, it's almost time for our support group, Aura." The elf nods in acknowledgement, her mouth still full of cake.

"Do you still get a lot of new members these days?" The doctor Mage asks, curious as to how their group is doing.

"Not as many as when we first started, but there's still at least one new face every session. Honestly, there's like a thousand of them now. I might have to ask Abi for some more chairs at this rate." Kat sighs, wondering why people keep turning up even though the dungeon she's contracted to has the city on lock.

"More chairs and a bigger space," Aura adds after swallowing the delicious piece of heavenly delight. "The back room of Talia's is lovely and all, but it's just not big enough anymore. I was thinking Abi might let us use the hall at the Academy seeing as though classes are finished by the time we have our meetings."

"I like that idea. We could get a bigger circle going and people wouldn't have to stand against the wall anymore." Kat bounces in her seat. She is definitely going to bring that point up as soon as she can to Abi. That and potentially asking for that house she's always offered. Only, she might want it building somewhere secluded and in a less-than normal location.

With thoughts of the future, the women finish their tea and split for evening activities. Kat and Aura head off to their meeting while Tilly heads back to the hospital. A cleric's work never being finished and all. Peaches and the Sweets head back to the Pleasure Palace to see what nightime entertainment Veris is cooking up.

Afternoon Tea x

Dungeon Stories Volume 4

With my expansion thanks to Land Acquisition, I've been steadily unlocking more and more of the continent of Tira as I make my way towards Ishda.

The forest surrounding Varona can no longer be seen from my current position as I'm not that far away, but the mountain though... my mountain is beautiful even from here. The patchwork forests blend together to add colour and vibrance to what would usually be a boring and plain sight.

Not that I can even see the entirety of it. A third of my home's dominating landmark is hidden above a thin layer of clouds that always seem to be present. I might have to look into why that is soon, but that's not today's job. Today's job is a family picnic.

Seeing as how Varona is mainly self sufficient nowadays, that means the people that run the show and everyone in between can spare a few hours to relax. Even Sacha.

Finding a suitable place wasn't terribly difficult and I chose a golden meadow as our setting. A small hill crested to the left and a river was visible to the right. The area was large enough to accommodate everybody.

I began to summon row after row of tables and benches which appeared in neat lines on the level ground. Tableware and cutlery followed after and various eateries and sections were set up for the more monstrous members that would be attending.

After all, Spiders, Bats and the other rabble weren't able to sit on benches or at tables in the same way the others would be. After I solved their seating and eating arrangements, I stocked every table, bowl, and trough with an abundance of food. It wasn't the same quality as what Ali would produce, but the Gourmet also deserved to relax for once.

I hadn't actually told anybody about this hastily thrown together gathering yet. Not that they're likely to refuse. There's always a reason to spend time together.

Amber instantly got antsy and ran off to test the food. I made no effort to stop her as I can always summon more and it makes me happy to see the triplets happy. Violet and Bear are usually satisfied when they're together - so that's all the time in their case, whereas Blondie loves to talk to people as though they're best friends and have known each other for years. So she keeps her own spirits up. All in all, it's quite easy to keep them pleased.

All that was left was to inform my family and Blondie's unsuspecting victims, to close their respective businesses for an hour or two while we all enjoyed each other's company. One by one they began arriving. Taking their places and sitting down on the benches. Happily greeting one another as more and more Assassins, Magi and Monsters appeared one after the other. Blondie was rushing round greeting everyone she could personally.

I wouldn't be surprised if she knew more people than I did at this point. She speaks to them more often than I do. Then again, there are a lot of them now and it's easier to listen to my commanders, delegates and council than it is to follow up on everyone's personal requests.

There aren't enough hours in the day for that.

The Employees Association, which consisted of all the workers in Varona arrived with their respective colleagues and neighbours. Hana and Mira led the entire troop of guards to the picnic as the humans were fully capable of taking care of other human problems in their absence. Even if they were stretched thinner than usual due to their reduced ranks.

I informed my city liaison officers, Light and Raff, who brought Simon, Sophie and the Noble Vampires to the countryside picnic.

I hadn't thought too cleverly there as some of the Vampires were unable to attend. After a quick word with Light, however, and a frugal use of his Grand Skill, Night's Embrace, the Lesser and regular Vampires were given a bubble of darkness to eat in. Granted it was only a small area, but they were still here and I was happy about it.

The Council, my Priests and everyone else arrived after them and they were shortly followed by Veris and Goblin King Aldus in tow. The dominatrix tied him to the closest tree, which was quite a distance to the river, but still in view, and took her place with the Sweets. They themselves were with Peaches, Anya and Lola, and were all engaged in debate over whether or not the Pink Slime would be able to morph into a Dragon Slime.

Katrina, Anon and my fully-fledged Categoriser Simon, were with Tilly, Aura, the Eduine. Marie was also at their table. They were discussing the small elven unit that had helped close the portal and how beneficial they'd been. Well, it was mainly Eduine talking them up, but no one disagreed with him. Especially not my own Space Mage. Marie was probably the most grateful for their aid, after myself that is. Their timing couldn't have been any better.

Tara and Lara, better known as Cloak and Dagger were with the Taskmaster Talia, the Headmaster and her aid, Mystique and Coral, as well as Dum, Dee and a few other coupled-up Assassins.

It was getting strange. I'd call it incestuous as I summoned them all, but they're not technically related. Not that it matters, that's an easy to ignore matter which doesn't require the slightest amount of delegation. I turn away and the problem is gone.

Simple.

Tara and Lara don't often get out much and they run what was once called The Shop of Secret. The small wooden shack that showcased an even smaller amount of dungeon loot is now like the rest of my features and no longer resembles a market stall as it did long ago when it was originally placed.

Now a thriving part of the highstreet, the Assassin Shopkeepers operate under the name Cloak and Dagger. Much like the Towers of Torment though, that's not the information the System tells me.

She calls it The Black Market.

I was confused about the description at first. How can I be trying to make humanity a better place while operating backroom deals and shady acquisitions? The only answer I came up with was that we would choose our deals carefully. That way we wouldn't partake in anything that was likely to alter the colour of someone's soul for the worse.

Last thing I need is to be giving myself more work.

Either way, everyone had arrived and I decided to make a quick toast. Talking in front of my family is different from speaking to others. Not that I'm still terrible at it, but my family are like a piece of myself. It's much easier to talk with them and they understand how I feel at the same time.

Hell, I could even give a whole speech without moving my mouth and everyone would hear it. The link we share through the dungeon is unlike anything I have ever experienced before and is far more advanced than how people communicate. Through tone and facial expressions, it's easy to misread a spoken sentence. When directly given information through the dungeon, however, their feelings and thoughts go as one.

If everyone on the planet was able to communicate the way we do - I'm not saying it would bring about world peace, but there would have been far less petty squabbling than there had been. That's for sure. Sometimes fighting is inevitable - for now at least and that is something Future Abi is still working on, but for the most of it if we were able to understand each other better, more clearly, then life would be that little bit easier.

Me and my family are proof of that.