I wake the next morning and stretch, and when I do I find myself alone in bed. Feeling the cool breeze I look over to see the double doors leading to the small balcony open. I crawl out of bed walking to the doors.

I find Belinda sitting on a bench just outside wrapped in a blanket looking out across Tobes. The sun has only begun to rise and lights are starting to flicker on in the buildings around town. When I step forward onto the balcony Belinda looks over and begins to blush.

Belinda: “What are you doing? Someone might see you.”

She slightly raises her blanket to reveal her nude body within and beckons me to sit. After I do she wraps the blanket around us both and leans on me while looking out.

Belinda: “Last night was amazing… But please don’t tell me I got to build you another mansion before we can do that again?” –She says jokingly while giggling.-

“I don’t think that’s going to be a problem.”

I can feel her cheeks heat up as she blushes while leaning against me. As the sounds of morning begin to fill the air, the sun finally breaks the horizon in the distance, and Belinda raises her head to kiss me. I place a hand on her cheek and briefly kiss her.

Belinda: “I love you.”

“I…”

Belinda places a finger against my lips. “It’s ok… I will wait as long as it takes for you to say it, but when you do I want you to understand it and mean it.”

After sitting there a few minutes longer Belinda finally says.

Belinda: “You know a cup of coffee would be perfect right now.”

“What’s coffee?”

Belinda: “Oh this we got to fix…I know you don’t like trying new stuff, but would you try it for me?”

After I nod we retreat back into the room. Belinda looks me up and down blushing again while keeping herself wrapped in the blanket. I gather are clothes that are tossed about and start to put on my own when Belinda stops me.

Belinda: “Hold on, try this.”

Belinda goes to the cabinet with the double doors opening it and pulling a set of clothes hanging from a pole inside, and then lays it out on the edge of the bed. The outfit looks much like my normal clothes but seems to be made out of a better material, and the colors are a bit brighter.

Belinda: “It should fit, but if it doesn’t you could store it in the dungeon inventory, and equip it that way and it should fit perfectly.”

While I get dressed Belinda gets some clothes out for herself as well, and retreats to the bathroom. After a few seconds she tosses the blanket out the door. My new trousers fit alright, but the shirt is a bit snug so I store it in the inventory and equip it that way causing it to be the perfect size.

I call to Belinda. “You know that is kind of cheating not having to worry about the size, if we could of used the [Menu] in the capital it would of saved us some headache…”

Belinda: “I simply love it, I can buy clothes now without having to worry if it’s going to fit or not.”

When I am finally finished getting my boots on Belinda steps out of the bathroom fastening the last button of her shirt with a ribbon hanging from her mouth, she then begins to pull her hair up and ties it with the ribbon.

She quickly puts her boots on then says. “Well let’s go make breakfast.”

When we leave the bedroom Lilah is standing in the hallway with sleepy eyes wearing a loose fitting pair of pajamas.

Lilah: *Yawn*”Good morning Master.”

Belinda: “I am going to make some breakfast, do you want some?”

Lilah’s eyes light up and she now appears wide awake while she says. “Yay! Food!” She then quickly runs down the stairs. After Belinda and I head downstairs I sit at the counter between the dining room and kitchen watching Belinda as she starts to prepare breakfast.

Lilah sits happily in a chair at the table eating on a piece of bread that looks like Belinda burnt in a fire, and the smell of the food wafts through the house. Slowly more and more heads begin to peer into the dining room taking seats around the table until everyone in the house is here…

Belinda brings a cup of steaming black liquid and sets it down in front of me while she leans across the counter and kisses me. Scylla gets up heading into the kitchen, and starts helping Belinda with the rest of the breakfast…

I smell the liquid and take a small sip of it while Scylla brings two more small cups of the black liquid giving it to both Zoey and Roxy. Lilah however gets a glass of an orange colored juice that Belinda squeezed from some orange fruit.

The taste of the liquid is extremely bitter causing me to shake my head, but I find myself taking another drink…

Zoey: “Boss you got to add lots of sugar!” –She says as she puts spoonful after spoonful of a white sand looking stuff into her cup.-

Scylla: “Master doesn’t like sugar.”

“I don’t?”

Belinda: “Two-Twelve sugar is what makes cake so sweet.”

“Oh.”

Scylla: “I am sorry Bell, do you want something to eat or drink?”

Bell: “I… I don’t know… I have never tried it before…”

Roxy: “What do you mean?”

Zoey awkwardly laughs over Bell about to speak, and says. “She means breakfast.”

Roxy: “Oh you poor thing, at least Denova fed us three meals a day… Although she did add them to our debt…”

Belinda: “I will just give you a bit of everything, so you can find out what you like…” –She then looks at me. - “You sure I can’t get you to have some?”

“No thanks… I will stick to the coffee…” –When I look down I notice over half of my cup is gone.-

Belinda: “Then can I get you some more?” –She says with a smile bringing over a silver spouted container.-

Zoey: “Boss wants more of what he got last night!”

Roxy elbows Zoey and Belinda blushes and almost drops the container of the floor.

Breakfast continues, I end up drinking three cups of that black coffee stuff, while listening to everyone pleasantly conversing while they eat. Scylla excuses herself first to go get ready, then Zoey and Roxy leave next.

Scylla however comes back after five or so minutes and helps Belinda clean up.

Scylla: “Should we take Bell with us today? We are just going to do some commissions in town today till Master can get the dungeon back on its feet.”

Belinda: “Yea, we are going to have to get her an adventurer’s ID as well.”

I see off Belinda, Scylla, Zoey, Bell, and Roxy as they head into town… Lilah pulls on my shirt from the side…

Lilah: “Is Master going to take the Lilah off of watching the dungeon…?”

“No, you can still take care of the dungeon, but if something goes wrong make sure you tell me from now on no matter what ok?”

Lilah: “OK! Lilah promises!”

She quickly walks back into the house then transfers away… I now take a more detailed look around the house messing with varies things just to see what it does. I end up in the living room looking over the books when I get the urge to dispel the coffee I drank…

I use the toilet like Belinda made me promise but afterwards I am left there wondering what to do now… There is a lever on the side so I try pulling it but it opens a door in an empty bin in the back of the toilet and nothing happens…

I end up just casting [Clean] on the toilet and leave it at that… but by mid-morning I realize maybe I shouldn’t of had 5 cups of coffee… By the third trip figured out you got to use the water pump in the corner of the bathroom to fill the bin before pulling the lever and the water then washes through the toilet clearing it out…

Honestly it is more of a hassle then just casting [Clean], but I promised Belinda… I go through the rest of the screens that appeared last night concerning the secondary dungeon learning quite a bit about it. By noon though I have already run out of things to do…

I transfer to the dungeon and talk with Lilah for a while but she has everything under control and says I am distracting her… I transfer back to the house and decide to go see what Belinda is up too. I head to the adventurer’s guild and Belinda blushes and her eyes light up when I enter the building.

She takes a break and we visit for a little bit, but she then to has to go back to work… I stick around for a while helping out, but I end up getting in the way. I get in the way enough that when the other girls come in after completing a commission Belinda jokes by saying.

Belinda: “Why don’t you go with them on their next commission?”

“Alright.”

Belinda: “I was joking… You would have to get an adventurer’s ID.”

“I have been thinking about it since I had seen Queen get hers, and she had no problem. The only other problem you have been able to manage with so far, so why not?”

Belinda: “You are really going to get it?”

“Sure.”

Belinda takes me over to the machine that activates the adventurer’s guild magic and we go through the process of making me an adventurer ID…

Adventurer #52,292 [Two-Twelve] Base: Tobes

Race: Divine Being Gender: Male

Rank: D Level: 7

Class: Hexamage Favored Element: N/A

Commissions Complete: 0

Dungeon Crystals Destroyed: 0

“Hey look I am not human.”

The receptionists give me a questioning look and Belinda quickly hushes me.

“No I mean Queen’s showed human… Mine is showing the same are yours.” –I say with a lowered voice.-

Belinda: “Remember not to show anyone your ID… At least it doesn’t say monster or something… I have also never heard of a Hexamage before…”

Zoey: “Let’s get a good one for Boss’s first commission!”

Scylla: “… Our only options are stocking a shipment from the capital at the general store, or cleaning the Mayor’s house and office.”

Zoey: “Aww I wanted to take a fighting commission I wanted to see Boss in action…”

Scylla: “The only commissions concerning fighting are the dungeon commissions.”

Roxy: “He just got his ID you can’t expect him to hold up in a fight…”

Zoey: “But Boss is an awesome mage!”

“I don’t know about awesome… I just know the basics…”

Scylla: “Then why don’t Master and I do the Mayor’s house, while You, Roxy, and Bell hit the general store?

Zoey: “Awww…”

Roxy leans over and whispers in her ear.

Zoey: “Alight let’s do it!” –Zoey rushes to the counter and Roxy slowly trails behind her.-

Scylla: “Bell please make sure they do the job correctly, and don’t leave all the work to you…”

Bell: “A…Alright…”

Bell then follows Zoey and Roxy…

Scylla: “Well Master, let’s get you your first commission.”

Scylla and I accept the commission to clean the Mayor’s house and office, I have been there quite a few times and it is only a single floor home, but with the adjacent office it might take quite a while… While heading towards the Mayor’s house I look over the commission…

“Scylla, is this right? It says the reward is only 2 gold.”

Scylla: “Of course it’s a D-ranked quest.”

“Isn’t this going to take a lot of work for just 2 gold?”

Scylla: “Well I don’t really have anything to spend gold on, so I don’t really pay attention to the reward. I just do it because you and Belinda suggested it.”

“So you don’t like doing the commissions in Tobes?”

Scylla: “No it isn’t that… I really don’t mind one way or another, but not to sound like Zoey, but I was starting to wonder when we get to go training again.”

“I am sorry… I have had a lot going on lately with the elder selection and then the meeting with Queen.”

Scylla: “It’s not your fault Master. It’s just the way things are.”

“Maybe we can talk to Belinda this evening about it, after all we got Bell now and she needs some training. I just don’t know how Zoey will take it not being able to take Roxy along…”

Scylla: “Well Zoey will understand, but the question is how will Roxy take it…? Especially if Bell goes.”

“And we don’t have enough xp to make her a boss monster so she could go…”

Scylla: “Maybe Zoey can find a way to explain it to her.”

“…”

Scylla: “I know I realized what I said the moment it left my mouth…”

“Zoey isn’t unintelligent… She just…”

Both of us at the same time: “Zoey…”

We reach the Mayor’s place and greet him telling him we came to take care of the commission.

Mayor: “She finally talked you into it? I am surprised you held out for a year…”

“Well I just thought the time was right was all…”

Mayor: “How was your trip to the capital? First time wasn’t it?”

Scylla: “I am going to get started.”

“I am sorry let me help.”

Scylla: “It’s ok Master, when you get done there will be plenty left its ok.”

Mayor: “Good girl you got there, she took care of things real well while you were gone.”

“Yea sometimes a little too diligent though… The capital was alright though, very busy… I got to meet a couple of Belinda’s brothers, her sisters, and her father.”

Mayor whistles and says. “The king… I bet that was tough…”

“Belinda’s oldest brother Logan managed to smooth things over with their father pretty well, so he seemed to like me.”

Mayor: “Moving up in the world… I need to watch my back or you might take my job from me.” –He says laughing.-

“I have enough trouble keeping up with Belinda in just the adventurer’s guild. I wouldn’t know the first thing of taking care of the entire town…”

Mayor: “Hell I don’t either most the time… Sure the old Tobes was easy, but now things growing so quick… Did you know there is a whole new street behind the inn? Oh… Yea I guess you do…”

The Mayor then shifts gears and gets serious.

Mayor: “But in all honesty I really am thinking in stepping down at the end of the year. I know you are just being modest, because I have seen you handle yourself while Belinda has been gone several times. I think you should really consider it.”

“I am sure people wouldn’t want some ex-slave that just appeared in town one day to be their Mayor.”

Mayor: “A lot of people in town like you.”

“They don’t know me. They like Belinda, and just associate me with her because we are together.”

Mayor: “You would be surprised how many people have their eyes on you Two-Twelve… Well it’s just an idea. You got a few months to think about it.”

“Alright… Well I better help Scylla or we won’t have to worry about it because Belinda will end me.”

The Mayor laughs and I begin helping Scylla. She cleans manually for most of the tasks but if something is difficult or stubborn to get clean she uses the [Clean] spell. I use [Clean] more liberally, and although it seems Scylla has a little more magic then me I don’t have to cast my spell but nearly half as long as she does so I quickly begin to catch up to her in the amount of cleaning done.

It still takes a couple hours to finish cleaning the house and when I start to celebrate Scylla reminds me about the office… The days are pretty short this time of year so the sun is already beginning to set when we finally finish.

The Mayor tries to hand us each a gold coin after stamping the commission, but I wave mine off so he gives them both to Scylla. On our way back to the adventurer’s guild Scylla asks me to hold on a second a she runs up to a small shrine placing several gold coins along with the two she got from the Mayor in a small box locked to the side of the shrine.

When she comes back I tell her. “You know that shrine is for the water god Faron, and Faron isn’t a god… He is just a dungeon core…”

Scylla: “I know that, but the priest uses the gold they collect in that box to feed people that can’t otherwise eat. I don’t have to ever worry about that so I give what I can. However if it makes you feel better Master once you have your own shrine with a box I will put all my gold in it instead.”

She laughs and we continue on our way to the adventurer’s guild. When we walk in the door Zoey, Roxy, and Bell are standing there across from Belinda. Belinda has her hand covering her mouth with a big smile trying not to laugh.

Bell has her head drooping looking scarred, while Zoey’s ears are hanging low as well. Roxy on the other hand is laughing out loud while talking to Belinda.

“What’s going on?”

Then girls turn to look at me when I speak and I notice Zoey has a black eye.

“What happened to you Zoey?”

Roxy: “You’re going to get a kick out of this!” –She says while laughing.-

Zoey: “Please don’t tell Boss!”

Bell: “I… I’m sorry… Zoey…”

Roxy: “Ok I promise I won’t tell… But Belinda can.” –She laughs again, then kisses Zoey’s cheek and pulls her past us out the door.-

Bell is still standing there with her head drooping not sure what to do now…

Bell: “Be…Belinda I… I’m really sorry…”

Belinda can’t hold back anymore and she laughs as well. “It’s ok, she asked for it.”

Scylla: “What in the world did we miss?”

Belinda: “You told Bell to make sure Roxy and Zoey didn’t slack off, so when Zoey started to goof off Bell told her to do her job right.”

Belinda stops to wipe a tear from her eye and sniffle after laughing so hard.

Belinda: “Zoey asked Bell what she thought she could do to make her, so Bell socked her. Roxy said it knocked Zoey clean on her butt… They didn’t have any problems after that…”

Belinda starts to laugh again and Scylla starts to laugh as well…

Bell: “I…I’m so sorry… Two-Twelve…”

“It’s ok Bell… I think Zoey’s pride was hurt more than her body.”

Scylla and I turn in the commission leaving me with 1 whole commission complete, and then Scylla leaves heading home with Bell. I sit down in one of the chairs at one of the tables and wait for Belinda.

Belinda brings me a mug setting it down on the table and says. “Sorry Two-Twelve I still got a bit more to do, so I thought you might like this while you wait.”

I am not sure which she meant because as soon as she finished talking she brushes her hair from in front of her face and leans forward kissing me.

“Ok… And thanks for the alcohol too.”

She blushes and quickly heads back to work… I sit back in the chair a bit while slowly drinking from my mug… Maybe it is because of what the Mayor said, but when I look around the room I notice quite a few of the adventurers looking my way, but once I look at them they avert their eyes…

A bit later a beastkin woman enters the guild. It is Diamond, one of the beastkin girls that Queen sent. I never did figure out what kind of beastkin she was, I didn’t know if it was considered rude to ask. She moves over talking to Belinda.

Oh I know that face. Denova must have been the one to send her. I guess since our history Denova thought she could use Diamond as a go between. It appears to not be working though, but Belinda does give Diamond a form, and Diamond looks a little discouraged as she leaves.

Belinda looks over to me and smiles. She then stretches and then talks to the receptionists for another minute before walking over to the table.

Belinda: “Ok, I am ready. Let’s go home.”

I finish the last of my mug and stand up. Belinda wraps her arm around mine and interweaves her fingers with mine and lays her head on my shoulder. We walk outside into the cool night air and begin walking home.

The chill in the air is starting to get low enough that our breath can be seen when we exhale.

Belinda: “It’s going to be winter soon. I it’s going to be a bad one this year.”

“What do you mean?”

Belinda: “Yea I guess this is only your second year… And last year we didn’t even get any snow. Do you even know what snow is?”

“Well I am pretty sure, I mean I haven’t ever seen it but I get the idea.”

Belinda: “Well we usually get two to three big snow storms each year. We got one early, last year but I guess that was before you were born… But we didn’t get one the rest of the year. When that happens the next winter is a lot colder and we get more snow storms.”

“That means we will have a lot less people coming up to the dungeon won’t it?”

Belinda: “Yea I am sure the trail up the mountain would be pretty bad in the snow.”

“I guess that means we need to talk about what Scylla and I discussed.”

Belinda: “And what’s that?”

“I guess before the snow starts you guys should make a trip to Madam Erin’s dungeon again. Bell needs the training and we need the xp until the secondary dungeon gets established.”

Belinda: “But we have barely only gotten to spend one night in our house together.”

“Well I didn’t say tomorrow… I just said soon.”

Belinda: “What about Roxy.”

“…Yea I am still working on that one, and what about equipment for Bell? Can she use Bo or Ike’s gear?”

Belinda: “Her class is martial artist, so she if anything maybe that armor you had Lilah wearing for a while, and she should be fine.”

“What about a weapon?”

Belinda: “Well Zoey’s eye shows she already has her weapon.”

“Can she really use her fists? I mean she doesn’t have any claws or sharp teeth right?”

Belinda: “Yea that is kind of a martial artist’s thing.”

Once we round the gate heading up to the house Belinda says. “Oh and you might want to keep an eye on Lilah tomorrow, I don’t know how strong they are but a group that said they were going to hit the dungeon first thing in the morning, looked to be packing pretty decent equipment.”

Entering the house we find that Zoey and Roxy have already retreated to their room. Belinda goes to check on Scylla and Bell while I check on Lilah. I transfer to the core room to find Lilah holding on to Thirty-seven’s stuffed cat while asleep in the chair.

Oh she kept that one, when she broke everything down from the rooms I thought it was gone, I guess she held on to it because it was Thirty-seven’s… I pick her up out of the chair and transfer her to her room covering her with a blanket.

After putting Lilah to bed, I head to my bedroom. Belinda still isn’t here yet, but I go ahead and get ready for bed. After crawling in bed Belinda finally walks in the room.

“Scylla and Bell go to bed yet?”

Belinda: “They were chatting while sharing a bath, and they said they were going to go to bed after. Is Lilah in bed?”

“Yea she fell asleep in the core room, but I transferred her to her bed.”

Belinda just uses [Menu] to change from her clothes into her pajama night clothes that she wore during our trip. She then crawls into bed and snuggles up to me.

Belinda: “Good night Two-Twelve, I love you.”

Before I am able to drift off to sleep I receive a startling message.

Dungeon Core #2 Greaks has perished at the hands of the dragon [Karma]

Greaks died? I almost can’t believe it I read the message several times over. He just got the imitation core did he not place it yet? He wasn’t killed by an adventurer though it says it was a dragon named Karma.

He was supposed to get a dragon for voting for Maric wasn’t he? With the dragons name I wonder if it was sent by Maric in retaliation. Maric did say some revenge like words after he wasn’t selected, but I didn’t know he would go that far.

After such a peaceful day like today I find the somber news of Greaks death hitting me a little hard. If it really was Maric I wonder if he is going to attack the rest of the judges as well or just hit Greaks because he backed out of their deal.

I decide to open [Menu] to check the observation window and find it looking in on Maric as well. It only shows Maric for a few moments before the screen goes black, and I don’t manage to learn anything new.

Belinda has already fallen fast asleep so I don’t want to bother her with the news, so I just lay there in bed watching Belinda’s sleeping face until I am finally able to drift off to sleep.