“This was so not worth it,” Elizabeth panted as she stabbed the last Kobold in the back, cringing as the blood sprayed onto her chest, “I need a shower as soon as we get out of here.”
“Agreed,” Jessica groaned, lying on the floor beside Ayla as the two clutched their heads, Aurum nuzzling her with his snout, “And a long sleep in a proper bed.”
“How the hell did we even survive all that?” Alan muttered, “I was sure we were all dead like twenty times back there.”
“No clue,” Chris replied, barely standing as he panted heavily, looking around the now blood-soaked hall, “We just kept fighting and they just kept coming. I honestly thought it would never end.”
“I killed so many I’ve almost levelled up again,” Elizabeth hummed as she staggered back towards the group, checking her Status screen, “As cool as that is, let’s never do that again, okay?”
“Agreed,” the others said in unison.
“So, what now?” the girl asked as she collapsed to the floor beside her friend, “Everyone else is gone, and I don’t think we can leave anymore, so what do we do?”
“We’ll have to finish the last floor,” Chris replied, “After we rest, though.”
“Definitely,” Ayla muttered, glancing up at Chris, “Hey, come over here.”
“Huh?” the man said, staggering over to her, “Yes, what’s up?”
“Sit down,” she said, Chris complying, before she pulled herself up, resting her head on his thigh, “Much better. Thanks.”
“I…you…what?” Chris blushed, the woman giggling quietly at his expression, the others joining in as the man squirmed slightly, before accepting his fate.
“So, hell of a first date, huh?” Elizabeth hummed, grinning as Chris just glared at her.
“Most unique one I’ve ever been on,” Ayla nodded, “It was certainly fun though.”
“You aren’t seriously considering this our first date, are you?” Chris sighed.
“Nope, just joking around,” the Healer laughed, “But coffee seems a little tame after surviving a death fight with someone. Maybe we should try bungee jumping instead?”
“Sure,” Chris laughed as he leaned back on his arms, looking down at the woman resting on his lap with her eyes closed, noticing that her hair had come undone at some point during the fight, “Huh, it’s curly.”
“What is?” Ayla asked, cracking an eye open to look at him.
“Your hair,” he blushed, “It’s cute.”
“Thanks,” she hummed, “So are you.”
“Can you two stop flirting, please?” Alan called as he leaned against a pillar, “It’s annoying.”
“You’re just jealous that your girl is underage for the next two months, so you can’t even touch her,” Ayla called back, the man blushing as he tried to retort, “Admit it, you like her too.”
“I mean, yeah?” Alan blustered, before waving his hands in front of him, “That’s not the point! You sound like you’re calling me a pedo or something!”
“Do I?”
“Yes!”
“Okay, enough you two,” Chris laughed, “Once everyone has enough energy, we should see about finding somewhere to camp to properly rest. I still have all the gear in my Carry-All-Bag, so we have plenty of tents and stuff.”
“Wolf stew for dinner again?” Ayla hummed.
“Seems like it,” Jessica laughed.
“Good, I was just getting a taste for it.”
The group fell silent for a moment, before they all burst into laughter, the sound ringing off the high ceiling of the hall.
------
“Okay,” Ayla said as she lounged in the hot water of the bath, “I am definitely in love with your brother.”
“Oh? And what makes you say that all of a sudden?” Elizabeth chuckled from her own bath.
“He spent an hour just to make us some baths so we could clean off and relax,” the older woman hummed, “That’s a good man right there.”
“Alan helped him too,” Jessica added from her own tub.
“I don’t think morale support counts as help, Jess,” Elizabeth laughed.
“It does too!” the girl huffed, lowering her face into the water as she blushed.
“Still, it was quite the sight, wasn’t it?” Ayla said, the other two looking at her in confusion, “All that treasure just…disappearing inside that tiny bag. Makes a girl blush at the thought.”
“What do you mean?” Elizabeth asked.
“Your brother is pretty much rich now, isn’t he? All that gold and those jewels, not to mention the items he was talking about,” she sighed, stretching as she looked up at the ceiling of the side room they were in, “It really was a dragon’s hoard of stuff.”
A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
“Oh, so you’re only after my brother for his money now?” Elizabeth asked.
“Well, we’ll have to see if he’s half as good in bed as he is on the battlefield, first,” the older woman said, giving the two girls a knowing look, “Then we’ll see why I stick around.”
“Okay, gross,” Elizabeth mock gagged, “I do not need to know about what you two are going to do behind closed doors.”
“Hey, you should be more jealous of your friend,” Ayla teased, “I’ve seen what Baxter is packing, and it’s impressive.”
“Really?” Jessica said as she blushed harder, “C-cool.”
“Can we please stop talking about penises?” Elizabeth sighed, “Especially my brother’s. It’s weird.”
“Hey, I know a couple of girls you might be interested in,” Ayla added, “Depends on if you’re a top or a bottom though.”
“A what or a what?” Elizabeth asked.
“Oh dear,” Ayla cackled, “You have so much to learn.”
------
“What do you think they’re talking about?”
“Huh?” Chris said as he glanced at the tent they’d hung between the two baths for privacy, “Who?”
“The girls, obviously,” Alan continued, “I wouldn’t mind being a fly on the wall to listen in.”
“Jess is still underage, man,” Chris laughed, hearing the water splash as the other man jerked around, “You’re really not helping your case.”
“I am not a pedo!” Alan shouted, “Dammit, I have younger sisters too! They’d never let me live this down if they heard about this!”
“You have sisters?” Chris asked, “What’re they like?”
“Better than me, that’s for sure,” Alan laughed as he lay back in the tub, “Rebecca is on the track team and wins gold medals all the time, Tracy is a literal genius, and Mandy is…well, she’s young, but she can draw like a pro. A real art prodigy.”
“And you?”
“Me?” Alan chuckled, the sound turning into a sigh, “I’m not that good at much. My grades were middling, I wasn’t the fastest runner, and even I can barely read my handwriting, all I really had was my strong body.”
“Well, that certainly helped you over the last few weeks,” Chris hummed, “What about your parents?”
“Dead,” Alan replied, startling Chris, “Truck t-boned their car one night when they were coming home from work. Luckily, I was already out of school and in the army, so I could take my sisters in, but it devastated all of us.”
“I’m sorry,” Chris muttered.
“Don’t be, man,” Alan laughed, “They weren’t always the best parents, but they tried their hardest. I’ll just be happy to see my sisters get through college or university or whatever they want to do.”
“Well, you should be set to do that once we get out,” Chris chuckled.
“What do you mean?”
“Your share of the treasure,” Chris replied, “I’ll probably have to give a good chunk to the government, but I’m planning on keeping at least half to split amongst us.”
“What? Seriously?” Alan gasped, “You don’t need to do that, man! You were the one who killed the Boss!”
“And you all helped me survive the Kobolds afterwards,” Chris shook his head, “You each deserve a piece of the pie as much as I do.”
The two sat in silence for a while, before Alan spoke again.
“Thanks man. With that money, I’ll be able to treat my sisters like the princesses they deserve to be.”
“Just don’t spoil them too much,” Chris laughed, “I lived the consequences of doing that.”
“Beth doesn’t seem spoiled though?”
“Not her,” Chris sighed, “My stepmom.”
------
“Where. Is. My. Daughter?”
Each word was harsh and pointed as Steven sighed, looking up over the dining table as his wife glared at him.
“Still in the Dungeon,” he said calmly, “She’s fine, Chris won’t let anything happen to her.”
“How can you say that?!” Lorraine spat, “All he ever does is play games on that stupid computer of his!”
“Have you ever actually seen him play a game?” Steven asked, the woman nodding angrily, “What game?”
“I don’t know, one of those violent ones with shooting and gore!”
“So, you’ve never actually seen him playing a game, then?” Steven hummed, “Because as far as I’m aware, Chris has never been all that interested in video games. He thinks they’re impressive and plays a couple of management type games, but other than that-.”
“You don’t know him like I do!” Lorraine interrupted, making Steven pause as he looked at his wife in interest, “All I hear from his room is horrible sounds and shouting! He’s potentially violent and dangerous, and you just left my daughter with him!”
“I won’t deny you there,” Steven nodded, “Chris is certainly dangerous, though not for the reasons you think. And I have personally seen him kill to protect our daughter, his sister, in the Dungeon.”
“So, you agree with me?” Lorraine huffed, smirking at her husband for a moment, before she carried on, “Then why did you leave her there with him?”
“Because she chose to stay,” Steven replied, “She’s grown up, Lorraine, she’s not just our little girl anymore, she’s becoming an independent woman. We’re going to have to let her go, maybe sooner than you would have liked, but we are.”
“This is ridiculous,” the woman growled, “You basically abandoned her! My father would never abandon me like that!”
“Lorraine,” Steven said, placing his knife and fork quietly on the table as his voice went deep, startling her into silence, “Let’s not talk about this now. We can discuss your relationship with your father at our counseling session tomorrow.”
The woman watched as her husband picked up his utensils again, continuing to eat his meal in silence as she felt a cold sweat run down her back.
------
“Everyone ready?”
“Yep,” Elizabeth said, checking her new gear excitedly, “I can’t believe there was all sorts of cool stuff in that pile of gold! All of this is way better than the previous equipment we had!”
“It’s mostly C Rank, so yes, it would be,” Chris chuckled as he looked at the rest of the group, also dressed in their new equipment, “I hope the alterations I made are comfortable enough, it’s not like I have a specialized Skill for tailoring or armor crafting.”
“Feels good man,” Alan said as he gave a thumbs up, currently dressed in a set of gleaming steel half-plate, the edges of the armor gilded in gold, “What does this lot do again?”
“It’s called Champion’s Half-Plate,” Chris explained, “And its effect is that it draws more attention to you, as well as boosting both physical and magical defense, but it slows you down.”
“Pretty much perfect for me, then,” the man laughed, hitting his fist to his chest, making a loud clanging sound.
“And mine?” Jessica asked, spinning in the flowery robe she was wearing, a bright grin on her face, “How do I look?”
“Great!” Alan chuckled, “It really suits you.”
“That’s an Elven Robe,” Chris explained, “It increases the effectiveness of any spell you cast, while making it cost slightly more Mana. From what I can figure out, the ratio is about three to two though, so your spells will be three times as powerful for twice the cost.”
“Okay, I’ll have to keep an eye on my Mana, then,” the girl nodded as Chris turned to Ayla.
“I know what I’ve got,” the woman smiled, “You said it’s called Priest’s Garb, and it increases the power of Healing and Light Magic while weakening all other kinds of magic Skills. Good thing I don’t have any of those then.”
“Yep, also, here,” he said as he held out the scepter the Kobold King had been using, “This is a Power Scepter, it does something similar to Jess’s Elven Robe, but it doubles the cost and power of your magic.”
“I think I’ll stick to my staff, thanks,” the woman chuckled, “You made it for me, after all. I couldn’t just throw it away every time I see a shiny new toy.”
“Enough with the flirting,” Elizabeth interjected as she pulled the dark hood of her new armor over her head, “I want to test out this Assassin’s Dress!”
“Doesn’t look much like a dress to me,” Alan chuckled, the others looking at him blankly, “What? It was a joke!”
“Bad sense of humor aside,” Ayla said as she looked at the large iron door in front of them, “Shall we?”
“Yes!” the group shouted as they all touched the door, blinking as they suddenly found themselves in a field of frozen flowers, a large shape at the far end moving as they watched.
“Holy shit,” Alan muttered, “Is that a fucking dragon?”
