Chapter Twenty-Six Lily, and Dungeon (Patreon)

Lily stretched and looked over at Asarya who had woken her up. There was a little smirk on her face. Lily, having a feeling, asked, “What did you do?”

Asarya smirk grew wider, and she produced a pair of panties. “Ivy might be in for a little surprise in a bit.”

Lily stared blankly at the barely dressed Imp for a moment. After a moment, her eyes grew wide like saucers. “Wait! You didn’t!”

Asarya giggled, “I did! She needs to wear less anyway. It’s not much, but it’s a start!”

A shout broke the early morning silence of the camp. Asarya chuckled, “Well I guess I better get going. She found out a little more quickly than I hoped. I’ll see you later for your lessons.”

“Bye, Asarya. Talk to you again later!”

A flash of light, and Asarya was gone. Lily slipped out of her bedroll and grabbed an outfit. It was time to get ready for the day. Which was a little different without a bathroom.

Lily poked her head out of the tent. She could see her mother and father having a rather... heated discussion with the two adventurers. Not hard to guess about what. She figured mom would eventually come and talk to her about the panty theft.  Lily giggled at the thought, Asarya had pulled an interesting prank there.

The coast, however, was clear. Lily glanced down at herself. At the moment she was only wearing a single pair of panties. It was warm, and honestly, she liked only wearing a pair of panties to bed. If she could get away with it, she wouldn’t wear much more during the day either. Of course, Mom had objections to that. Not that Lily entirely understood why. Sure, she knew what mom said about it, but for some reason she had a feeling that wasn’t actually why mom had a problem with her walking around in her undies. It’s not like she was going around naked. Slipping out of the tent, with outfit, and a few supplies in hand, she sighed.

The tree line was not that far away thankfully. She slipped behind the trees without being noticed, and made for the designated spot not far from the camp. They had even warded the location, to prevent monsters from showing. Regardless, she still took a look around to be sure it was safe. She smiled when she noted the wards were all still strong, there wasn’t even a bug in sight, not a single one.

She placed her clothes aside on a rock, and her bath supplies along with the bucket they were in next to the rock. With those set out, she focused on a spot, and focused her mana. In moments a nice little hole formed in the ground, nearby. She had to admit, this little spell was useful. She glanced at a larger hole nearby, one made last night. This one had been lined with hardened clay to serve as a makeshift tub.

With that, she was ready to take care of her morning business. So she dropped her panties. Squatted over her newly made hole, and took care of business. Before filling the makeshift tub to take a bath.

Lily sighed. She loved magic. It made camping out in the woods so much easier. She couldn’t imagine camping without the ability to have a bath wherever she wanted. This was heaven.

Sensing a presence, she looked up to see Ivy looking down at her. “Lily, you wouldn’t happen to know anything about my missing underwear, would you?”

She frowned, “Underwear? What missing underwear?”

Ivy gave her a look, “Oh, just the sets missing from my tent. Know anything about it?”

“Um, no?”

Ivy’s expression shifted a little. Her eyes taking on an evil glint, “Oh really? Well, tell Asarya that I want all of it back by the end of the day. Got that?

Lily nodded, as an icy feeling went up her spine. She had a feeling her mother was not happy. Not happy at all. “I’ll, uh, let her know.”

Ivy shifted, “Good. Now on a different note, we entered the Borderlands. You wouldn’t happen to know how much further until our destination?”

Lily shook her head. “I’m not sure.” Then she pointed west, “But I am pretty sure we need to go that way.”

Ivy sighed, “You mean you didn’t get directions, aside from the Borderlands?”

Lily replied, “No, but I’ve been getting a feeling about where we need to go for a while. One that has been getting stronger.”

“I see, Erosi must be guiding you then. Hopefully we are not too far,” said Ivy.

As it would turn out, they were indeed not too far from their destination. The sun was starting to set when the woods thinned out, and they came upon a clearing. One Lily felt strongly was their destination. Her gaze quickly noted a large hill that dominated the clearing. Built into the side of the hill was an old watchtower, surrounded by several low walls. A series of old stone steps led up to a small plaza that stood before two heavy-looking doors.

Vio took a look around, “I don’t recall seeing any watchtowers on the map.”

Lily said, “Well that’s our destination, I’m sure of it.”

Vio shifted and gave the tower a second look, and the clearing around it. “Um, I think this might be a dungeon, but there isn’t one on the map.”

A voice interjected, “Of course not, she is quite young. Welcome.”

They blinked, and looked over to find a naked demon woman standing there. Lily gulped, she was unbelievably beautiful. Her skin unblemished, and perfect, her breasts seemed to be perfectly proportioned, her skin was of just the right shade. It was just unnatural how perfect she seemed to be.

Ivy gave her a second look, “um, ...”

“Allow me to introduce myself, I am the Dark Goddess of Lust and Fertility, Dewari. I’ve been expecting you.”

Ivy gave Lily a look, “Um, Lily, is there something you forgot to tell me?”

Lily shrugged, she was just as surprised.

Dewari chuckled, “Erosi is Lily’s Patron, but Misaki, who Lily is here to meet, is my charge. Erosi sent you to help her, and I felt it best to discuss a few things with you before you actually met.”

Lily frowned, “Discuss? Discuss what?”

“Your quest, silly. Now, you are here to help Misaki accept her gender. At the moment she has been avoiding dealing with her new gender by burying herself in her work, so to speak. That’s been good for her dungeon, but it’s not healthy.”

Ivy frowned, “And what exactly do you plan for my daughter to do?”

“Well your daughter, and my charge both knew each other in their last life. In fact they died together, but I won’t share the exact details of that. If your daughter decides to share it she can, but I will not. As those details could be considered rather private.”

Ivy gave Lily a look, “you never told me you remembered a past life.”

Lily shrugged, “Well Mom, what was I going to say? It’s not exactly something I wanted to talk about anyway.”

Lily turned to Dewari, “So what do I need to do?”

“Get her to start coming out of her shell. I don’t need you to get her to start having sex like a demon of her age should, but I want you to force her to confront her gender. Teach her about being a girl, you have more experience, since you were one in your last life, and she needs a teacher. You two knew each other before, so I believe you have a shot at getting her to open up.”

“SEX!? Demons!? I’ve already had trouble with my daughter and one demon, and you want...”

Dewari snapped her fingers, “Be polite. It’s your daughter’s choice anyway. You can’t protect her forever. It’s not good for her.”

Lily nodded, “I’d like to at least meet her. Besides, I already accepted the quest. I should, at the very minimum, try to help her.”

Dewari smiled, “In that case, let me introduce your group to her. This way.”

Dewari signaled for them to follow, and the group followed. Lily felt a mix of emotions at the prospect of finally meeting Misaki again. A part of her tried to remember her old name, but for some reason she could not. Ah, it wasn’t that important. She looked at the looming entrance to the dungeon, and gulped. Soon she would meet Misaki again, and Lily felt her stomach flutter at the prospect. For a moment she hesitated to step through the door, and then she made that step. Entering a dungeon for the first time.

Misaki smiled as she placed the finishing touches on her third-floor boss room. After much internal debate, she had made her choice. Why pick one, when she could do both? It would work with the theme of the floor better as well. As such, after adventurers made their way through either the treacherous trails, or the arachnid-infested caverns of her third-floor mountain range,  they would be faced with a boss fight against both a Harpy Demon and an Arachnid Demon. She had a feeling her third floor was going to be one of her favorites, and perhaps a little despised by most adventurers.

Since she had two bosses, she decided that the boss room would need to reflect that. It was a wide arena, with plenty of open sky, and floating platforms. Platforms that were connected by narrow bridges. The drop led down into an arachnid's web, which was strewn across a seemingly bottomless pit. All across the arena were webs, shadowy nooks, and even a few overhangs. Perfect for both her arachnid and her harpy to challenge the adventurers. Neither of which she had yet summoned. Something she was ready to do, and she could feel a rush of anticipation at the prospect of meeting her new bosses.

Suddenly, she noticed something going on at her entrance. The door leading into her halls, alerted her that someone was entering her dungeon. Realizing that, she put aside the boss summoning, and instead refocused her gaze upon the passage into her halls. What greeted her new found vision was Dewari leading a group of elves into her dungeon. Five of them to be specific, three girls, one of which seemed to be quite young, a child by the look of things, and two males. With the exception of the young girl they all seemed to be adults. Misaki frowned, “Who brings a child into a dungeon?”

Her gaze focused on the child, however, to the exclusion of the others. A thought came to her unbidden. She wanted her, not in the sexual sense. No, she wanted to give her a home, friends, a school, everything she would need. Misaki had the strong inexplicable desire to raise her as her own. Misaki blinked at the thought. Why am I suddenly thinking about raising her?

Pushing that thought aside, she found herself wondering. Why is Goddess Dewari escorting these folks into my dungeon? Innately curious, and driven by a feeling. She reached out with a thought, and ordered her monsters to let them pass.

An order that was quickly followed, and Misaki watched as the goddess led them down her halls, past her traps, and through her gate without even needing to solve the puzzle. Before she knew it, they were just steps away from her throne room. Misaki glanced at her avatar, briefly worried if she was sufficiently presentable. Once again she was struck by the fact that her avatar was a girl, and sighed. It was hard getting used to looking at that face in the mirror. It didn’t help that she was cute, so perfect. Didn’t help at all. Letting out a breath, she dismissed her mirror, shifted in her chair, and hoped her avatar would give the right impression. While idly her mind was still trying to figure out why Dewari had led these elves into the depths of her dungeon.