Dungeon Menagerie 24 (Patreon)

Commissioned by InfiniteChaosRei

Dungeon Menagerie

Chapter 24

-VB-

She woke up blearily to an oddly familiar sensation. When she tried to sit up, all she found it hard to do it. 

“Athena, I share to God if you’re trolling me the first thing in the morning I will -!”

“Squawk!” 

She paused. “Mori? No, wait, you can’t be Mori…” she grumbled. Whatever was on her was too light. Mori can be heavy. He’s a big guy. She slowly opened her eyes, flinching a little at the morning sunlight blasting into her room, and finally laid her eyes upon the thing that was keeping her down.

She stared at it.

It stared back.

It clicked its large beak. Its fat legs and bulbous body remained seated on top of her stomach and had its head resting on top of her breasts. She just hadn’t felt the full thing in detail because she had been sleeping with a thick futon. 

Vanessa blinked a few times before she reached up to her face and rubbed her eyes. 

After that, she confirmed that, yes, she had a dodo sitting on top of her. 

Apparently, the Celestial Menagerie can send her new friends even when she was sleeping. Worse, because she was sleeping, she didn’t feel it coming. 

Did that mean she couldn’t find herself a hunky husbando because her secret would get out? 

She dropped her head. 

Wait. Mind out of the gutter. That can’t be the first thing she thought of in the morning. 

She laid there for a bit longer… until the thing squawked again.

This time, the door to her room banged open, making her whine, and Athena shrieked … in delight?

“Oh my Me, where did you find that cute thing?!” she squealed as she ran up to Vanessa’s bed and then picked up the dodo.

“Leave it,” she grumbled. “That’s dinner.”

“What?! No!” Athena snapped. “How can you even think about turning this cute thing into dinner! Look at its stubby legs and cute fugly face!” 

Vanessa just groaned. She wanted to sleep more…

Wait.

She cracked an eye open and stared at Athena.

Was her goddess one of those people who liked pugs? She was acting like the dodo was something cute and -.

Oh my God, her goddess definitely was one of those pug ladies. 

“No,” she hissed. “You are not becoming a pug lady! I refuse to accept!” she declared as she crawled out of the bed before shivering in the early morning cold breeze. She whined again as she crawled back under the covers. 

To her surprise, Athena shoved the dodo under the cover as well.

It was warm.

She wrapped her arms around it. 

… It was acceptably huggable. 

“Fine,” she grumbled. “It can stay.”

“YESH!” Athena squealed before taking the dodo away from her and running out of the room.

Vanessa sighed. 

Sometimes, it was hard to get a grip on Athena. On some days, she was a strict moralist. On other days, she was a petulant child like what she was like just now. Other times, she was a warmongering wastrel who only held back from fighting because she was the only familia member. 

“Ugh,” she muttered as she pulled the futon off. The morning mess already got her awake. 

She sat up and scratched her head. 

… Yeah, she needed to shower or bathe. ‘I think I want to bathe today. Not like I’m going to go dungeoneering today,’ she thought as she got up, allowing her silky red nightgown to flatten out, forming a curtain over her tits. 

Ugh, it was her fault for buying a nightgown that didn’t adjust for her breasts. 

Whatever. She’ll visit a tailor today or something. 

-VB-

Just after she got through the morning exercise, chores, and a bathe, she found a guest at her front door. 

It was Bell.

The boy refused to stay away from her, and she was too soft to tell him to sod off. 

“Miss Vanessa!” he squeaked.

She looked down at the short boy before yawning. “What is it?” she asked him before a yawn broke out. 

“I hit level 2!” 

She froze.

Bell hit Level 2. And instead of Ais Wallenstein, she was the one who he came to first to tell the news. She could just feel all sorts of attention shining their spotlights down on her. 

Ugh. There wasn’t anything she could do about it, was there? She really should have jus 

“And you came to tell me that?” she asked him. “Not someone else?”

“Ah, well, I do want to tell Miss Ais, too,” he muttered. “But you helped me first! So I thought you should also know first.”

“Cool,” she muttered. “Good job, kid.”

He grinned and laughed sheepishly. “Thank you,” he said. “I’m gonna go see Miss Ais now!” he said before almost launching off from the bottom of the steps and rushing back to the heart of the city towards Loki Familia’s Twilight Manor. That was what it was called, right? 

She yawned. 

“Alright,” she muttered to herself. “Time to do my chores.” And instead of armoring herself up with her usual adventurer leather gear not unlike Bell’s, she walked out of her house in her old clothes and a grocery bag. 

Being an adventurer didn’t stop her need for food, after all.