Chapter Ninety-Three Misaki’s Day (Patreon)

Misaki stretched and looked around. “Sleep well?”

She looked over. It was Phillip’s Aide, Melisa. Misaki smiled, “I did.” She looked around, “So where is Phillip?”

“She went to look at the house. It’s been a couple of hours since then, but it’s a slow day at the guild.” She leaned back, “I was organizing the paperwork, but I am out of things to do. There is only one item that needs Phillip’s approval right now, and it’s not marked urgent. So, I’m kind of free.” She paused, “Care to go out with me? See the town maybe?”

Misaki nodded and did a quick look in on Phillip, who it seemed was in the basement with Aki. The two were chatting happily and seemed to be getting along well. Aki even had her panties off and was encouraging Phillip to touch her. She smiled, that was cute. For a moment she considered feeling threatened, but this was fine. She wasn’t human anymore and she wasn’t going to restrict herself either. So why restrict Phillip? Instead she decided to keep an eye on this, and hope it progressed into a nice friendship.

Turning back to Melisa, she replied, “Sure sounds fun!”

“Great! Now stay there, I got something perfect for you!”

Misaki frowned as she ran out of the room. Not sure what to think, but a moment later the other girl came back with a frilly dress. It was beyond cute with lovely ribbons. “I had Carol over earlier and we got to talking. Ended up making this together. What do you think?”

Misaki stepped closer and gave it a closer look. It wasn’t bad, and she noticed that the skirt was nice and short. The top had a pair of cutouts that would help show off the belly and breasts. It was cute, but also somewhat revealing. Worn right and it could be really nice and sexy. “Looks nice!”

“I was hoping you would say that. Care to put it on? I’d love to see you in it! We could show it off to the town!”

Misaki nodded and promptly stripped out of her current outfit. Nearby Melisa flushed and Misaki couldn’t help but give her a little dance. “Like what you see!?

Melisa gulped, “um... yeah you are very cute.”

She giggled, “Oh don’t be shy, we can play later.”

“Right, lust demon. Anyway, town, you need to get dressed for that.”

She laughed, took the dress and put it on. Didn’t bother with undies though. It just didn’t feel like something to wear with underwear. Misaki paused for a moment. It seemed she was adapting to her new demonic heritage better than she thought. It occurred to her that she needed to thank Lily for helping her out of that shell she had been hiding in. Being a dungeon was actually a lot of fun and being able to wear all these different things could be fun. She really liked showing off too, and then there was Phillip. She smiled at the thought and she couldn’t wait to see their kids.

Moments later she was dressed and she followed Melisa out of the guild. It was time to see the town and have some fun. This was going to be great!

The town was still young, with only a few buildings finished. As they walked from the guild, Misaki started looking around. Work crews were moving around. The road was little more than mage-packed earth. Solid and flat but certainly not something you would consider permanent.  At the moment however, it was perfectly serviceable. A cart loaded with fresh logs passed them as they left the guild and Melisa led her away from the dungeon and guild.

Misaki followed along, taking every moment to look around. Tents were everywhere, but houses and shops had already sprung up around the town. Before she knew it, Melisa was showing her around each one. Telling her about everyone in town. She even met a kindly old man opening up a fletching shop. He already seemed popular as well, as a few adventurers were already visiting him for arrows.

As they left, Melisa said, “He’s nice. Every adventurer and hunter in town seems to like him. That man is actually a former adventurer himself, but he’s too old for the job now. So he decided to open up a fletching shop as a retirement. When he heard about the dungeon here, he just had to come along. Said his heart couldn’t help it. I’ve heard he loves it when adventurers stop by his shop and share their stories.”

“Oh? He did seem nice. I guess a new town can attract all sorts of people.”

Melisa giggled, “You could say that. I wouldn’t be surprised if those Theocracy nuts from down south start showing up either.”

“Theocracy nuts?”

“Ah, right you wouldn’t really know about them would you?”

“I recall Reiko telling me about a Theocracy, the other day,” replied Misaki, scratching her chin.”

Melisa’s eyes changed, “Wait! Did you say Reiko? As in Reiko Stormwind?”

Misaki blinked and after a moment nodded slowly. Melisa turned to her, “You spoke with Reiko Stormwind? You know where she is?”

Misaki nodded, not sure where this was going. Reiko was just Reiko.

Melisa let out a breath, “That’s a relief, so where is she?”

“My fifth floor, why? What is this about?”

Melisa chuckled, “You do realize that she is a princess right?”

“I uh, forgot. But in my defense she doesn’t really act like one,” she sighed, “I guess her family does need to know where she is though.”

Melisa nodded, and then sighed, “I guess we need to go back to the guild already. Damn it, and I thought I was done with paperwork.”

Misaki frowned, “Do we? I was just starting to have fun?”

Melisa scratched her cheek, “I guess not. She’s waited this long, a couple more hours won’t hurt, and there are a couple places I just have to show you.” She pointed down the street, “Just over there is Carol’s new shop. Only apparel shop in town. Might be a little pricey right now, but new town and all. Not much you can do.”

Misaki nodded and the little town tour continued. They stepped into the shop for a moment and Carol gushed about how cute she looked in the dress and Misaki gave her a few twirls. Judging by her face, Carol was very happy and Misaki was more than happy for the chance to show off. It was a nice little side adventure.

After a few more shops and several fun interactions. Misaki found herself on the edge of town. She could see people building a fence around the tents. Men and women in armor were watching the perimeter and groups were coming and going. Numerous trees had also been cleared, as mages were preparing the land. Misaki watched them for a moment, then she recognized it: The land was being prepped for farming.

“Planning to farm?”

Melisa gave her a look, “Of course we are. Food is difficult to transport, we have supplies, but only for a few months. Hunters are going to help fill the gaps, but we really need farms here.”

“Hmm?”

“Right, you are young, aren’t you?” she sighed, “Food is a perishable good. Now with magic you can preserve it longer, but unless you have an Arch Master Mage of preservation it’s going to spoil eventually. Enchanted wagons can also carry more and move faster than conventional ones, but they also cost a lot more. So generally speaking you don’t want to transport food for much more than a day’s travel, as it gets more expensive to transport the further out you look. Sunblossom is a few days past a day’s travel, but if we really needed to we could buy food from them. Anyone further would be way too expensive. Of course if there was a waterway, things would be much easier. Ships are faster, carry more and can be equipped with better preservation than a wagon. They also cost more, so people are more willing to invest in preservation enchantments on a ship. The cost of transport is why most towns have local farms and farming villages in the surrounding area.”

“Oh, I see. I never thought of that.”

Melisa smiled, “Not everyone does.”

She took another look around. Her Earth had vast stretches of farmland. After the loss of all major cities in the third world war and most of the population. People rebuilt but they didn’t build things back the way they were. New towns sprang up where they made sense, and farms soon spread across the globe. As the colonies began shipping supplies to Earth, farmsteads sent food back. Farming was now very big business on Earth. So the look of farmland was something she had seen often. Outside the megacities on the Equator, it was hard to avoid.

Pushing that thought aside, she said, “Anyway I think it’s about time we headed back.”

“Yes, I agree. Let’s get you registered with the guild. Usually dungeons don’t bother, but it would make the paperwork easier on me. Would you like the reward?”

Misaki frowned, “Reward?”

“There is an outstanding quest involving the Princess. Since you found her, you get the reward. I’m just not sure how that will work with a dungeon.” she paused, “Ah, we will figure it out. Do some talking and don’t worry I’ll take care of everything. All you will need to do is read and sign a few things.”

Misaki followed along and then thought back to her notifications. She had a feeling things weren’t going to go the way Melisa thought. There had been something about her having a connection with the guild or something thanks to her bond with Phillip. She frowned. Sadly she didn’t remember the exact wording. Too much else on her mind. Hopefully, she didn’t forget anything important, but she had a feeling she was about to find out.