The plan to enjoy breakfast and then go to her classes was shot down almost immediately. Upon entering the dining hall she found Nayeli waiting for her, already dolled up in a gown fit for a Noble gathering. Without much fanfare, Ambrose was taken and led by her hand to the upper floors of the Royal Academy’s main building. Try as she might to get the details on her situation, Nayeli simply shook her head and led her on, stating that her brothers wished to have her enjoy breakfast with them.

  By the time they arrived in the dining area, Ambrose was already mildly annoyed. Then she saw who all was in attendance at the breakfast. The dining room, a fancy, elaborate space in the building with a long central table and elaborate placements upon its red, silken cover, was occupied by the four members of the royal family of Diestol that she knew. At the head of the table, in his customary furs, was Olferig, who seemed to be straightening up with her arrival, as opposed to his normal, broody behavior. Next to him, on his right, sat his brother, Brandr, whose muscular, powerful build filled out his straining tunic to the point of bursting. On the left of the headmaster sat the conniving and obviously displeased first princess, who was fiddling with her silverware and avoiding looking at Ambrose.

  With Nayeli behind her, blocking her exit, that made the set. Barring Nayeli, she had wanted to see none of them this morning, especially before she’d had anything to eat. With a sigh, she re-evaluated the table, looking for the space where they wanted her to sit. There was one open spot next to Laecia, which Ambrose would force Nayeli into before taking it herself. She had no intention of sitting beside that woman in any friendly context. Further down, at the other end of the table, there was another placement ready, and so Ambrose assumed that one was for her.

  As she waited in the doorway, the men at the table both stood to greet her, increasing Ambrose’s own apprehension. Ambrose was still considering turning and pushing past Nayeli to go find literally anywhere else to be, when Olferig gently placed his palms on the table and cleared his throat. “Lady Di, please. Come in and have a seat. We’re looking forward to your company this morning. My brother and I heard about your deeds last night and are well aware of your valiant service to the kingdom, as well as our need to… make up for certain mistakes that were made last night. Please. Allow us to treat you this morning.”

  His words were a genuine shock to Ambrose. They certainly weren’t an open apology, but they were… as close as she would expect any high ranking nobles to come to making an actual apology. If they wanted to buy her forgiveness, Ambrose figured she’d let them try. They didn’t have to know that she didn’t care for any of them and would sooner leave town than enact revenge. So if they thought she was a vengeful spirit, she’d let them keep that misconception.

  Taking a deep breath, she straightened up and walked over to her seat at the far end of the table. As she approached it, a maid stepped from the shadows in the corner of the room and pulled the chair out for her. Ambrose paused, not because she was overly surprised by the appearance from the shadow or worried about being attacked, but because the maid was not in Diestol colors. It wasn’t a Diestol citizen at all, if Ambrose was understanding correctly. It was Gizelle from the baths that morning.

  “Lady Di, your seat,” the maid offered, holding her seat for her, her eyes twinkling with admiration.

  “Um… Thank you, Gizelle,” Ambrose said, stepping in front of the seat and letting the other woman push her in until she was comfortably seated at the table. Without so much as another word, Gizelle was gone, back into the many shadows of the room. Ambrose did not expect the maid to genuinely be there to serve her past the moment she was in the bath. And by the looks of each of the members of the royal family, they did not expect her to have brought a plus one either.

  Rather than worry about it, Ambrose leaned back in her seat and observed the other end of the table. Olferig and Brandr took their seats after her, settling in. Plates were currently empty, and she assumed that the serving staff would bring the food in when ready. “So… what can I do for the royal family today?” Ambrose asked, hoping to get someone to talk to push off the silence and staring she was getting.

  “Do you have to be in that form?” Laecia asked, scowling at her from across the table. The fact that her appearance bugged the other woman satisfied Ambrose quite a bit, and she smiled, letting her dangerous horns sway with her head motion as she nodded.

  “Yes. I do. I have other things to attend to today. You and this meal were an unexpected occurrence,” she said, her smile widening as Laecia bristled.

  “Any form our guest chooses to take is perfectly fine,” Olferig said sharply, pulling Laecia’s attention back off of Ambrose. “Though in future I will send an invitation well ahead of time along with a gown for you, that way you don’t need to dine in your uniform during our meetings,” the headmaster offered.

  Ambrose shrugged. She had no problem eating in her uniform while the royals played dress up, but free clothes were also free clothes. If they wanted to spend time dealing with a tailor for her sake, they could.

  Olferig clapped his hands and drinks were brought in, goblets and glasses carried on trays. A mug of the rich, pink juice that Ambrose had come to enjoy from the dining hall was placed before her, she smiled. It was interesting to know that more than just the girl who served her downstairs knew her personal preference already.

  “While the food is served,” Brandr said, speaking up for the first time since she had entered the room, “I wanted to go over a few things…”

  Ambrose perked up as Brandr spoke, his deep voice easily filling the room. As far as she was concerned the most credible people in this room were Nayeli and Brandr. He had, as far as she knew, done no wrong to her and had no ill intentions toward her. “I am listening,” she said, giving the man her attention.

  “As I promised before, your home village of Swallotale is now under my protection. No harm will come to it from any in the royal family. An expedition was sent, bearing gold, food, and supplies, to the village this morning and will likely arrive in 3 days time,” he said with a smile, leaning back and allowing the servants to set food before him, a steaming platter of various eggs and sausages wafting decadent aromas into the room. “While this is my brother’s school, and I won’t say what awards and rewards should be given to you on his behalf, as that would be overstepping my bounds, I will say that I have also led a line of royal gold into a bank account for you. This is to fulfill my promise to reward you myself, for winning your exhibition.”

  Ambrose paused at that, looking at him with a mild sense of admiration growing in her chest. That promise had been made less than a day ago, and yet the man had put it all into action with a sense of immediacy that bordered on frenzy. Either the man was naturally prompt in everything he did, or he saw her as important. Either way, she appreciated him. “I’m glad you went to those lengths for Swallotale. It is my home and very dear to me,” she said, giving him a genuine smile. “Thank you.”

  Brandr nodded, smiling back at her with a cheeky wink that she couldn’t quite place the meaning of. “Certainly. No problem at all. You were beyond impressive.”

  Olferig scowled at his brother after that wink, which Ambrose did not miss, but she was fairly certain the first prince didn’t catch the expression.

  “That being said,” Olferig jumped in as Brandr turned his attention to his food, “I’d like to talk about your rewards for last night.”

  Ambrose turned back to Olferig, though she did begin to fork some of the lovely vegetables on her own platter toward herself. This next part would be far less important to her, so there was no need to starve herself through the proceedings. It was best to enjoy the meal while the headmaster played “make nice” with the big bad Beastiary. That thought made her smirk.

  —

  “Skin and bones and bones and blood and-” Dortieh sang to herself as she gently nursed the marrow from the bone she’d purchased from the butcher in the market, her long agile tongue snaking past her full, black lips to scoop out more of the precious substance. The ox bone was a rare treat for Dortieh and she had been boiling it in the small, basement room she called home in the city.

  Living as she did, beneath the brothel on Lowcourt lane, bones were easy enough to come by, as people tended to simply discard them after picking the flesh from them. But Ox bones were normally chopped and hacked apart, and more often than not, oxen were prized beasts of labor, and not discarded to the butcher until they had completely lost their usefulness to the farmers outside of the city. Thus, the long, well cooked bone still steaming in her palms was a delicacy she would treasure for as long as she could.

  It had been a pleasant morning, thus far, the market having been relaxed thanks to the storm of magical power that had swept through the city the night before. The haunting call of some powerful monster had shook Diestol to its foundations before crashes of thunder had pounded through the streets for long minutes, the deafening booms resounding through the stones. Even the warding that Dortieh had put up on the brothel walls had been disturbed by the power on display. So she had needed to reset some of them upon returning to the brothel with her prize.

  Lawanda, the human mistress of the brothel, had thanked her for resetting them, though she had quickly ushered her back to her room after the fact so that she would not frighten the customers away from the cat girls, lapinae and lamia that were the brothel’s main staff. While Dortieh had considered becoming a working girl with the others, she had been told she was not likely to earn much doing so. So instead she made her money ‘enchanting’ objects while she waited for her listing for a party at the adventurer’s guild to gain any traction.

  Of course, what Dortieh was really doing to the objects she sold to the customers who knew of her location was cursing them. After all, she was, herself, a living curse. Every object she sold was in some way askew from the natural order of mana and the world around it. Not that the object was necessarily harmful to its user. But Dortieh would tell any wise child to wonder where the power for a magical item that did not need to be recharged and did not draw power from its user came from before making use of it.

  Still, she shrugged and put the thoughts from her mind, humming her little song and enjoying her marrow until a knock came at her door. Working her way through her dark little space to the door, Dortieh carefully latched the guillotine blade in place so that it wouldn’t drop when she opened the door and then looked out into the open road where she found Haori waiting for her, bouncing on her feet.

  The bouncy minor divine was smiling broadly at Dortieh even as the door opened. Her fingers interlocked as she bounced in ways that would normally distract all of her customers. Dortieh admired Haori for her bubbly attitude and the way that she could attract and get along with the humanoids. She couldn't hope to be liked as much as the lauded Succubus of Lowcourt, but even just to be genuinely liked by a humanoid would make Dortieh happy.

  “Ah. A succubus come knocking at my door. Speak, devil, and be gone,” Dortieh said.

  Haori paused, then burst out laughing at Dortieh’s joke. Hugging her midsection and bending over as mirth made her shapely curves jiggle and her pink curls bounce. Dortieh smiled a wide, toothy, genuine smile, leaning on the frame of her door with her shoulder, her curse stained fingers enjoying the warmth of her meal while her friend enjoyed her humor.

  “You're a riot, Dorty,” Haori said, straightening up after a moment, but still giggling intermittently. “Don't go spreading that succubus thing around further, though. I'm a minor divine. Not a succubus,” she said.

  Dortieh stepped back into her space, gesturing for her friend and colleague to enter her home, but Haori shook her head. “No, no. I'm not coming in. You need to get ready! We've potentially got a party! With not one, but two humanoids! We can actually hit a dungeon!”

  Dortieh’s eyes widened and she began moving around the interior of her home, her inky tentacle grabbing her sword, while she found her armor. “Is there any more information?” she asked Haori as she began searching for her travel bag, finding it in its usual spot and tugging it free of the corner. The satchel had all of her travel necessities, including a tent and bedroll. It was a compressed space of her own making and the materials for the creation had still cost her a small fortune. Most of her life savings were inside of, or a part of, that bag.

  “You heard that rumor about the M Rank in the city, right? She wants Demi-humans on her adventuring team!” the minor divinity giggled, continuing to hop on the balls of her feet. “She can get us out of here and into dungeons!”

  Dortieh paused in her gathering of equipment, turning to look at Haori her own skepticism welling like a black pool in her chest, leaving her feeling colder than usual. “I have no interest in being a slave and pack mule for a person with too many blessings and too little sense. The gods are cruel and fickle, Haori, like careless parents with too many children. We already starve for kind attention. I do not need my belly filled with resentment.”

  Haori pouted at her answer, her bouncing ceasing for the first time since she had arrived. “Dortieh… I… look. I get what you're saying, but what humanoid could we possibly meet in this town who would actually value us, no matter how much we contribute,” she said, her face a mask of worry.

  “Then why do we bother, when we could simply make a small living off of the smaller dungeons. You and I could do well enough simply harvesting smaller dungeons.” Dortieh asked. She had brought the question up before, but Haori had shot her down, claiming any number of excuses from humans needed to guide Demi-humans to legally enter, to her simply feeling more comfortable with more support. Now, Dortieh was demanding a better answer. What would be the excuse this time?

  “I…” Haori looked at her, a pained expression crossing her face. She nibbled her bottom lip, her hands bunching and clenching her dress as she thought. Dortieh paused in her own agitation, concern bubbling up for her friend. “W-we're friends, right?” the lower divine asked, looking up at Dortieh through her long lashes, her tan skin flushing with some combination of fluster and bashfulness.

  “My fondness for you surpasses mere acquaintanceship, certainly,” Dortieh agreed.

  “You'll keep my secret?” She asked, idly toeing the wood floor panels.

  “To the grave if you so wish it, though likely more because I don't think it relevant, rather than because of some sacred principles,” the black siren admitted.

  Haori stifled a laugh, eying Dortieh to see if she was being serious or not. “You… you won't tell anyone.”

  “By the eternal misfortune that is my nature I vow I will tell no one you do not permit me to,” Dortieh sighed, gradually losing patience.

  Haori nodded at that, looking away and then taking a deep breath before finally spilling her secret. “I'm desperate Dortieh. I need to get out of here and make some money. Otherwise I'll be stuck doing… this… until my divinity frays and I waste away. I'm meant to spread love, Dortieh, to lavish those worthy of my heart with affection and nourish their souls. This job… the sex. It's breaking me. Slowly tearing away at my purpose,” she said, her eyes roaming the floor.

  “Then… why do you persist?” Dortieh asked, confused. “Why continue? There are many other ways someone of your beauty and talent could make money.”

  “Because… the madame owns my halo… she has me on contract and if I can't buy it back from her in time, she'll… she'll pull me into the brothel permanently. I'll become some sort of fallen. I w-won't be me any more,” she said, tearing up. “I… I need money, and I need a lot of it by the end of the season. If I can't get it then I'm as good as doomed.”

  Dortieh didn't know what to say. She didn't know how to ensure they would make good money, or that the adventurer wouldn't just refuse to give them proper shares. Yet, even following that line of thought, she didn't know of any job that Haori could do that would make the kind of money she needed to get out of being a sex slave for the rest of her days. If Haori was telling the truth, teaming up with a powerful adventurer would be her best bet. Even the scraps from a high level dungeon could add up.

  With that in mind, Dortieh came to a conclusion and continued packing. It seemed they would be meeting with this new adventurer today.

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  —

  “Nayeli, you know her best,” Olferig said, looking over to his younger sister. “How did that go?”

  It was several minutes after Ambrose had excused herself from the dining table, stating that she had business in town. The gifts that Olferig had offered her, and Brandr's own assurance of his support for Swallotale seemed to have been received well enough, but the entire time, Ambrose had seemed stiff and uncomfortable to him. So he turned to the closest person to an expert he had and searched for an answer to the issue.

  “She seemed like she was just accepting whatever you gave her so that you'd let her leave,” Nayeli said openly and honestly to her brother. The disappointment must have shown on Olferig’s face, because she panicked for a moment after, looking for something else to tell him.

  Brandr chuckled, reaching out and patting his brother on the shoulder. “Worry not, brother. She seemed pleased that you agreed to give her the things she requested. Allowing her to delve dungeons this early in her career is its own reward is it not?”

  Olferig blanched at the statement giving his elder brother a put upon look. “Brother, her level and growth speak for themselves. I couldn't stop her from diving without good reason, and if I had tried to, she would have thought I was intentionally getting in her way to keep her from gaining strength. We're already treading on thin ice!”

  Brandr patted him again, more firmly. “Yes, yes. Still, she was pleased. That is what we want to see,” he responded, smirking.

  “What we should have seen to is her demise,” Laecia hissed, looking around the table in agitation. “She was glaring at me the entire meal. She wants me dead,” the princess said plaintively.

  “She barely looked in your direction,” Nayeli protested, unsure as to why Laecia was suddenly so blatantly frightened of Ambrose as to be pleading for an assassination.

  “Well when she did, she did so with a defiant scowl. She has it out for me,” Laecia insisted. “Olferig, she's dangerous! How could you agree to give her more power, more resources? She's a monster and only growing stronger.”

  Olferig sighed and looked over at his older sister, unsure of what he should do to handle her. “Sister, if you make an enemy of her now, we will be on the losing side of the battle that follows,” he said, trying to sound as patient and understanding as he could. “She has already gained power from her fight with you. She's even stronger than when you clashed while you gained nothing. To provoke her into more violence is madness. We should be appeasing her.”

  “She's a commoner! She should be appeasing u-” Laecia hissed back, obviously ready to argue until Brandr firmly slapped the table, slowly moving to stand.

  “I think that's enough talk from you today, Laecia. Send a few men after her. I want her followed and monitored. I want to know what quests she takes and who she chooses to party with. It will be easy enough to discern how to proceed from there,” he said.

  Laecia stammered for a long moment until Brandr set his eyes on her, his fierce expression turning stern. She immediately folded before Brandr, standing and bowing over the table. “As you wish, brother.” She said.

  Brandr took a deep, slow breath and smiled over to Nayeli. “Do see if she'll allow you with her into the dungeons from time to time. If nothing else, nurturing your relationship with her will be a reminder that she has a positive opinion of at least one member of the royal family,” he said, giving her a gentle nod. She stood and bowed as well, though not as deeply as her sister.

  “As you say, brother,” Nayeli replied, not so sure Ambrose liked her as much as her brothers thought. “It will be done.”

  Seemingly done with conversation, the prince straightened up, stretching his massive, powerful body, cracking his neck before moving around the head of the table and moving for the exit. Olferig assumed he also had plans to act on in the short term, and made no attempt to stop his brother from leaving. He had much to consider himself.

  —

  Ambrose walked into the guild feeling fairly happy with the compensation she had managed to get from the royal family. Permission to spend her class time either in training with Lyssandrea, or attempting dungeons was excellent as a way to keep herself busy and out of the clutches of the royal family. So long as she didn't take any of the students from the school with her, Ambrose could limit the number of spies monitoring her, as well as continue growing. So long as she became too powerful for them to challenge, she would be saving herself a mountain of heartache.

  Looking around the guild hall again, Ambrose found that she was not yet familiar with the guild building. It made sense for her, having only been inside once and having her visit cut short because of the trio of bigots from the night before. This time she paused beside the entryway, taking a chance to really examine the dining area, quest wall, stairs, service counters and the area that read ‘ACQUISITIONS’.

  She took in the masterworks of masonry and carpentry before her while she deliberated on a course of action. She was about to hop into the relatively short line for the service counters when she noticed two people standing and moving to approach her.

  When she focused her attention on them both, something in her chest tightened. She could feel her eyes dilate and her mouth water as she observed the two creatures approaching her. She'd never seen either type of Demi-human in person, but she could immediately tell what they were.

  One of them was a planar divine. Some minor angel associated with one of the more common deities. The other was a black siren. Both of them seemed to be companions as they approached her, each of them seeming apprehensive and confused.

  The divine was beyond naturally adorable, with a sweet, cute, dark skinned humanoid face and big, raw pink lips to go with her candy pink hair that flowed down her shoulders in soft, bouncy curls. She had a body made of luscious curves that Ambrose might have been jealous of, if not for the stunning bounty of her own natural blessings. She wore a tight fit, white dress that came down to cover the tops of her thighs and very little else. Long stockings that were stretched tightly enough to allow the hue of her skin color through the fabric were struggling to contain her thighs as she shifted her weight from side to side, swaying her hips in the process. Her big eyes were a pretty, frosty blue and she batted her lashes every time she blinked, as though she couldn't help but do things in an endearing manner.

  That narrowed down the options Ambrose could come up with for what kind of divine she was significantly. With her naturally endearing behavior and the soft, warm aura of light that flowed from the very pores of the woman, she was likely associated with some god of love and affection. While Ambrose would expect the woman to have wings and a halo of light, natural divine creatures were able to hide those things to walk comfortably among humans. So Ambrose could only hope to see those parts of her later.

  The other woman was… beyond gorgeousness and transcended into almost obsession inducingly beautiful to Ambrose. She was short, maybe around a head shorter than Ambrose in the form of the Hollam. Her hair was short, straight, and wet as though she'd just left the water, though it didn't drip. The inky tail tendril at the base of her skull lashed behind her, coiling in whorls that told her the woman was nervous, but pushing through her feelings to approach Ambrose. Her skin was ashen pale and and her cheeks seemed to naturally darken under her long, midnight black lashes and the deep, endlessly dark pools that were her eyes. Her adorable heart-shaped face gave her the look of a porcelain doll with black painted lips. Yet her macabre details didn't end there. Her slender neck went down to shallow, sloped shoulders that were girded by a woven sweater with long sleeves long enough to hang over her hands, leaving the black tips of her fingers and nails exposed to the air.

  Those hands and fingers clutched a long, slender, straight sword that rested in a black wood scabbard, holding it before her like a ward against evil. The weapon was long, almost enough so to match the length of her shapely legs, which ended in the same black flesh as her hands did. The living curse wore simple sandals that allowed her legs and feet to breathe while she moved, something that was not matched by the closed toe heel shoes being worn by the divine.

  As a pair, the two of them were such an endearing sight next to one another that Ambrose almost didn't hear the question the minor angel posed.

  “Um… Are you the M rank? Are you even human?” She asked, her eyes traveling over Ambrose with deep curiosity. As they stopped on her chest, her legs, and her hooves.

  Ambrose smiled and nodded before shaking her head. “I am the M Rank person looking for a group. And I am looking for Demi-humans to join my party. But I'm not really human any more. My race is listed as shifter,” she said before choosing to prove the statement.

  Shifting to her humanoid form, Ambrose smiled at both of the wide eyed women in front of her before she summon one of the Paola’s wings from her shoulder the limb ripping through the back of the uniform on her humanoid body, before Ambrose bent at the waist, crossing her body with her right hand to touch her heart while the wing followed her hand to cross in front of her body. Crossing her right leg behind her left so that all of her weight was on one leg, Ambrose dipped herself and balanced into an elegant bow that was meant to be a traditional greeting between divines if Ambrose's long months and years of reading and speaking to passersby was correct.

  “I'm Ambrose. It's good to meet you both,” she said, maintaining the bow until her introduction was done. Then she straightened up, spreading and banishing the wing with a little flourish.

  The diving gasped, hands covering her mouth and her big blue eyes wide in astonishment. “That bow! Where did you learn it?” she asked, seemingly genuinely shocked.

  “I read about it in a book given to the people of my village by a hag,” Ambrose said, not particularly put off by her response. “Did I do it right?”

  “Almost!” The girl nodded, her pink hair jumping with the motion of her head. “ It's supposed to be the left wing. Not the right. To help with balance. But other than that, it was perfect,” she explained, seeming to be very excited. “But why did you bother learning it? I've never seen a human bother learning anything about Demi-beast culture.”

  Ambrose winced as the angel called herself a beast, but closed her eyes and shook off the discomfort. If she chose to keep the word for herself, Ambrose couldn't and shouldn't stop her.

  “I have always loved and lived around Demi-humans. Learning their culture just came naturally,” she said simply, returning to the form of the Hollam and sighing as she enjoyed the feeling of familiarity that came with the form.

  “Oh. So… you just really like Demi-beasts?” the minor divine asked, batting her lashes again as she stepped closer to Ambrose.

  “I guess you could put it that way, yes,” Ambrose said. Not sure she liked how the conversation was going or not. “Either way, I'm looking for Demi-humans to join parties with once I'm done here. I was planning to get my registration finished today and then scout the area. You two are welcome to come with me when that happens, she said with a smile. “For now, though, I need to get in li-”

  “Lady Ambrose Di?” Came a richer, deeper voice from a few paces away.

  Ambrose turned, looking to see whom it was only to find herself looking into the pale eyes of another night elf. His skin was a sparkling gray-blue, his hair the pale, silvery-white of a well cared for drow male. His ears were long and had a regal up tilt at their ends. His body was slender, built for movement, like that of a dancer. Yet his face was young, angular, and keen. He had a sculpted handsomeness to him that Ambrose found was beyond that of even other elves. Whomever this male was, he came from good stock.

  “I'm Ambrose. Yes,” she replied, looking the male over again just to see what he needed. “Can I help you?”

  “I… Am the son of Yolanda Friedweiss, the guard captain,” he said, standing proud as he declared who his mother was, but didn't actually introduce himself.

  “Oh… Did Yolanda need something from me? Couldn't send another guard to fetch me?” Ambrose asked, turning fully to face the young man.

  His cheeks darkened to a soft violet, and he averted his eyes for a moment. “Uh… No. My mother told me of your deeds and… I wanted to see you for myself, to ask you if you'll accept me on your adventuring team.”

  Ambrose's eyebrow arched as she heard that, though with the length of her bangs, he couldn't see it. “O…Kay. Well. I won't say yes or no to any of you right now,” Ambrose said, looking at each of the three people who had asked to join in on her adventures. “Like I was saying, I need to pick up my ID, and then I will be scouting the area for profitable dungeons which you are welcome to join me in. While I'm doing that, you three should work on some better self introductions,” she said, sighing and turning to step away from all three of the people she'd just met and step into line.

  —

  As Ambrose stepped away from them to get into line, Haori began her customary bouncing all over again, her chest doing things that Dortieh had been fairly certain required natural gravity magic to achieve. “Dorty! Dorty, she likes Demi-beasts!” the divine said, excitedly grabbing Dortieh by the arm and shaking the other girl with her excitement.

  “Are the two of you also looking to join her party?” the drow boy asked, looking over to the pair of them with a curious expression on his face. He was likely of something close to noble birth amongst the drow as the matriarchal people only treated their pretty males well, and those males were bred half to death if they weren’t being protected by people with a good amount of influence. Or at least that was what Dortieh knew of their societal standards.

  “Yes! I’m going to join her party!” Haori said, bouncing and pulling Dortieh into a very tight hug. “And then we’re going to be rich!”

  Dortieh didn’t say much in reply. She was still unsure about the M rank woman, and watched her with keen eyes as she waited in the line for her turn at the service desks. The woman wasn’t particularly tall for a cow. In fact, Dortieh would call her short, for one. Her hair covered her eyes and made it hard to read her expressions, but at the same time, her ears and her tail were so expressive it was hard not to notice that she was excited and hopeful. “Ambrose” as the woman called herself, genuinely seemed more like a holstaur to Dortieh, than she did a human, which genuinely confused her. The guild would not let someone fake their ranking on a listing, and so that meant that this woman had been humanoid for 18 years. So why was Dortieh just seeing a happy, hopeful cow standing in line for a registration and ID?

  “Uh… I don’t think aiming just to be rich is a good motivation for going dungeon diving,” the drow male said to Haori, who looked back at him with a discerning scowl.

  “You don’t think much, do you?” Haori asked, looking him up and down.

  The man’s cheeks darkened and he glared at Haori, his anger flaring. “Don’t insult me!” he said, seeming genuinely offended at that statement.

  “I wasn’t,” Haori lied plaintively, putting her hands up as though she was innocent. “I was just asking a question. You seem like a drow who never has to think if he doesn’t want to,” she said, her smile pretty and not showing her insidious cruelty at all as she made a dig at the drow. “Such a handsome boy~.”

  The male grew flustered, his eyes flicking between Haori and Dortieh before he huffed, turning and stepping away from them, obviously unsure what to say.

  “Unwise,” Dortieh said when he was out of direct earshot. Elves had good hearing, but with how furious the male was, it was likely he wouldn’t be paying close attention to them for a little. “If we will be working together, antagonism will only ruin the chances of long term profit,” Dortieh continued, her eyes locking on Haori, who batted her lashes and continued to act innocent.

  “I know, I know. I’ll say sowwy later,” Haori said, pulling herself close to Dortieh, the swells of her pillowy breasts conforming around Dortieh’s arm as she leaned in. “I just didn’t want him listening in while I told you the plan.”

  Dortieh blinked at that revelation, and then nodded, listening, her tendril whorling behind her.

  “We are going to seduce her,” Haori whispered into Dortieh’s ear, holding her arm more tightly when Dortieh tried to pull away and look at her. “No, no. hear me out, Dorty. She’s a pervert. She likes demi-beasts and likely only really wants us on her team to fuck. She’s M rank, so she’ll clear any dungeon in the area on her own. She just wants some willing, horny rewards after she’s done showing off all of that muscle. Between you and me, she’ll pay super well for us to be at her whims and not tell her little secret,” Haori conspired.

  Dortieh sighed, looking back over at the cow, who had made her way near the front of the line while they had been talking and was still minding her own business. She was… unsure how to deal with the idea of trying to seduce a woman who, at least in her mind, was more interested in learning about them than actually trying to take sexual advantage of them. But she did remember that Haori needed the money to buy back her halo. If seducing a woman would help them do that then Dortieh’s only real worry was that she had never successfully seduced a person in her life.

  “I am… not certain I can accomplish such a task,” Dortieh admitted, glancing at Haori to find her bouncy friend giving her divine patented puppy eyes. The living curse immediately looked the other way, forcing Haori to let her go and move around her to bounce into her field of vision again.

  “C’moooon~ Dorty! Please? I need this! And she’ll love it! She’ll love everything we do because she’s a filthy degenerate who loves demi-beasts more than her own kind. If we cater to that, she’s ours. Wrapped around our fingers until we’re beyond rich,” Haori said, her eyes twinkling with excitement at that prospect.

  “Did you not tell me that your essence was thinning? That you are dying because you cannot spread love and affection to the deserving?” Dortieh questioned quietly, choosing to try and get out of this prospective arrangement on the grounds of Haori’s own needs. If she could convince Haori that taking advantage of their team member was a bad idea, it might save the situation and save her the embarrassment of attempting false courtship with a woman who she wasn’t so certain deserved to be fooled.

  “This is spreading love and affection, Dorty. She’ll be so happy she gets to indulge in her little fantasy! She’ll fall for us, love us, pay us!” Haori said, tugging at Dortieh’s hand. “Heck, who knows, she might spring on the money for marriage! Be a full blown perv!”

  Dortieh still felt uneasy about it, and looked away. Luckily for Haori, she looked up just in time to clap a hand over Haori’s mouth before she could get them in trouble as the cow approached them from the counter, a warm smile on her face.

  —

  “Hey!” Ambrose said, looking between the three of them, a little confused at the condition of her potential team. The drow was huffing, his arms crossed as he faced away from the other two as though someone had said the most offensive thing in the world to him. The adorable little black siren was staring at her, unblinkingly, while her hand was clasped tightly over the face to the minor divine. And the divine was looking at her wide-eyed as though she’d been caught doing something uncouth.

  Ambrose chose to put all of that aside and just move on to what she’d come back for. “So, I got my ID and I’m clear for most dungeons in the area, but I still have to do an evaluation because of my rank. I was going to get that out of the way, but my party is allowed to be there for my evaluation. I was wondering if you three would like to see me tested?” she proposed, leaving the invitation open to all three of them. She had originally wanted to only take demihumans onto her team, but she had a fondness for Yolanda, and was willing to give her son a try if he wanted to try to dive with her.

  “Oh! I’d looove that!” the minor divine said, moving the black siren’s hand away from her face before skipping over to Ambrose and hugging her arm, pressing her bountiful curves into Ambrose’s side. The soft squish of the minor angel against her made Ambrose pause, though after a moment, she smiled.

  “Okay. Then follow me. They have a sparring and testing area behind the building,” she said with a smirk, turning gently so as not to throw the angel off, and walking back to the desk, where the staff member was patiently awaiting their return.

  —

  Dortieh paused for a moment, watching the way Haori clung to the M rank, pressing her body to the other woman like she would a customer at the Lowcourt brothel. Something about the approach still felt wrong to her, especially when it seemed to have such a mild effect on Ambrose. The mere fact that the ‘pervert’s reaction was barely a reaction at all made Dortieh wary. Wouldn’t someone who was infatuated with monsters be blushing fiercely and stammering? Or maybe trying to cop a feel like the customers at the Lowcourt would?

  The fact that Ambrose had done nothing and basically shrugged off the advance gave Dortieh caution. She didn’t trust the notion of trying to slip into the adventurer’s bed at all. But if Haori really thought that seducing the co-... adventurer was her ticket to freedom and happiness, then Dortieh wanted to support her only friend. Sighing, she followed the other two, letting the drow skulk behind her and hoping things would work out.