Dungeon Item Shop - Chapter 52: Night-light (Patreon)

The girl smiles, satisfied as she finishes the lock on her door, having already finished the one in Jubilee’s room just before. Happy, she looks around the room that is in the same state of dismay as it was the last time she was in here. Jubilee never cleaned their room much. She wonders if she should get rid of the broken glass? She doesn’t want Jubilee to hurt themselves. The girl ponders, looking over towards the broken mirror. Though she feels a warm feeling in her chest as she sees the small, dried pink flower sticking out of one of their empty potion bottles, sitting on the dresser next to it. The flower is the one she had given Jubilee down in the boss room on floor eight of the dungeon.

Was this here last time, when she spent the night? The girl tilts her head, wondering if Jubilee had hidden it away before letting her in.

Fresh shrugs and returns to her work. What else needs to be done? Well, the walls all needed to be patched up to stop the constant draft in the entire building. The windows could use some shutters maybe, especially the large storefront window downstairs. She taps her chin, looking around for more things.

The stairs could use a hand-railing, just to be extra safe. She hasn’t fallen down yet, but the girl doesn’t want to end up scaring Jubilee if she falls down and breaks her neck and dies in front of them. It would be really awkward when she walks back in the door ten minutes later.

The floors are pretty worn out and they needed to be redone too. But that isn’t so much of a safety issue and more of a cosmetic one. Maybe a few rugs would help patch that problem in the meantime? Plus it would help keep the building a little warmer. The girl nods as she walks to the pantry to put the scraps of her materials away, that makes sense to her.

Maybe she should make some night-lights? She taps her chin again. Maybe a few glass rectangles, filled with her potions. If she gets some wood, she could make a little frame for them and they could put a few in the hallway. Sort of like… a lantern, but with no fire. Actually -

She stops mid-step.

“That’s a really good idea,” she says, surprised at her own ingenuity. If she can find a way to make the potions glow a little brighter, they could sell magical lanterns that never died. As a bonus, if she seals the glass to be airtight, they could even work under shallow water or in the rain.

“They’ll love them!” she says, realizing how popular such a thing would be among adventurers, hitting her fist into her open palm. Torches were free in the dungeon, but they burnt out, especially if they got wet.

The girl returns to her room, flipping through her grimoire for anything to make her potions glow brighter.

Instinctively, her fingers dart through the book, peeling apart the damp pages until she stops on a page near the end.

“Brewing alterations…” her finger runs along the text. “…Modifying potions.” She tilts her head, trying to read the words below that someone had gone to great effort to write in gigantic letters, but they’re smeared away and illegible now. She shrugs, her eyes following her finger that moves down to an entry near the middle of the page.

“Ferns… Ferns symbolize magic, particularly in regards to the concept of shelter. Smoke from a fern will repel and exorcise corrupting forces.”

She looks at the line for a while. Shelter sounds sort of like what she is looking for, though she isn’t sure how this is going to help her make her potions brighter? But the book hasn’t led her astray yet. Fresh smiles, nodding to herself and runs downstairs.

“…A fern?” asks Jubilee as she tells her about the idea.

“Mm!”

“What kind of fern?”

“Huh? Oh, uh…” Fresh thinks for a moment. Obviously Ferns aren’t a specific kind of plant, they’re a group of a type of plant. She knows this thanks to her botany knowledge. The girl taps her chin, thinking which one would be the most suited. “Something with a budding flower.”

“Why?”

Fresh smiles, raising a finger. “Because I need to burn it.”

Jubilee stares at her. “…What?”

“Can you get it? Pleeease?”

Jubilee groans. “Well, I’ll ask around if I see someone who looks like they’ve been to floor fifteen. There are plenty of ferns down there. It gets a little swampy.” They nod to her. “It’s a good idea though.” They think for a while. “There might be more to this than just the adventurers. Magical lanterns are expensive enchanted items. But if we can make some cheap ones…” Jubilee looks around the shop, seeing how far away the customers perusing their wares were. “There might be some big names interested in them. The church for sure, maybe even the town-guard. Hell, maybe even the military.” They look up to her. “It’s a good idea, but why are you always thinking of weird shit that might get us killed?”

Fresh isn’t listening, instead thinking as she stands there, wondering what color she should make the light for Jubilee’s room.

The day goes on and Fresh sets to work, going to town to where Jubilee told her to go to order more wood, stopping by the guild on the way to pick up some of their saved money for the materials.

The man at the counter nods and tells her they’ll have it delivered in a few hours as she pays for the material.

Fresh returns to the city, running around to collect bits and pieces on the way. Her next stop is to get some more dried food for their pantry. Fresh sighs, wishing they had a kitchen. It would be nice to just eat something substantial, a hot breakfast once a day. Sure, they had food from the vendors now and then, but sometimes she just wants to eat something boring and home-cooked. Plus she quietly hopes that Jubilee would be interested in cooking with her. They could spend time together that way. The girl wonders why Jubilee never wants her to go into the other rooms. Surely they could use one of them for something like that?

But she shakes her head. It’s Jubilee’s house and she’s just going to have to respect their privacy, even if it bothers her. Her curiosity isn’t strong enough to want to betray her friend’s trust.

Walking through the stalls, the girl buys a load of various breads and dried fruits and meats. Her attention falls on a weaver’s stall, the man behind it selling rolls of various fabrics. Looking at them, she buys a few in different colors. Maybe they could start making their bags in more than one color? Something eye-popping. Or maybe they could even do something seasonal?

The girl taps her finger against her lips as she walks, adjusting her bag with the other hand. “Green for spring, red for summer, yellow for fall and maybe white for winter? Hmm…” She looks around, wondering if people in this world liked ‘gimmicky’ stuff like that.

Returning towards home, she stops, taking a moment to look up towards the dungeon. The grand gate is just as awe inspiring to her now as it was on her first day here. She wonders who built it? What’s the story behind it? Did people make it? Or did people find it and just build the city around it? Probably the latter, from what she’s understood so far. But who made the dungeon then? And why?

She shrugs, if only to herself.

Apparently there are other dungeons and other big cities like this one. Each dungeon has its own ‘flavor’. Their dungeon here is pretty diverse, encompassing a large variety of monsters and themes that change every segment. But apparently there were some particularly grisly dungeons in the world where really dark things stirred beneath the surface, where only the strongest of adventuring parties dared to set foot.

Fresh sighs, turning away to go home. Maybe one day she would be strong enough to fight Mr. Mushroom on her own. It isn’t worth thinking about such exotic dungeons for now.

As she turns away, her eye catches a glimmer of a robed figure, standing outside of the dungeon, looking up towards it. Stopping, she looks at the red-wizard, who she recognizes now even from behind and watches as they step into the dungeon, one of their full tote bags in their hand.

Fresh smiles, walking home. It was stupid, but she was worried about the wizard who hadn’t shown up anymore. Especially after hearing whispers of a murder in the city. The odds were obviously incredibly small, but her brain still couldn’t help but subconsciously make the connection.

“I’m back!”

“Yeah, your wood’s here,” says Jubilee, looking up from the ledger in front of them. “You just missed your favorite customer.”

“Mm! I saw, did she get the potions again?”

“Same as always,” says Jubilee, looking back to the book they are writing down numbers in. “Said something about being away for work.”

“Oh, that’s…” Fresh thinks for a moment. “Good?” she finishes, uncertainly. In truth, she was also relieved that the wizard was slowing down for a little too.

Jubilee taps their finger against a silver coin on the counter. “It’s good. We got the money.”

The girl sighs, Jubilee just doesn’t have the same level of empathy that she does.

Going upstairs, she unloads the fabric and food into the pantry and, feeling an odd sporadic doubt in herself, takes a second to bend down to peer into the little hole by the leg of the shelf.

Fresh drops her empty bag down, lowering herself down onto her knees and grabbing a glowing potion to see better.

It’s gone.

Her heart beats fast as she presses her face closer towards the hole. It should be here. It has to be here.

But it isn’t. The cursed necklace is missing.

The girl’s legs shake beneath her as she looks around the pantry in a panic. It has to be here. It has to be here.

But it isn’t.

She didn’t move it. Did… did Jubilee find it? Did Jubilee put it on?! Her eyes shoot open wide as she jumps up, running downstairs.

“JUBILEEEEEE~”

Not shocked by her scream in the least, Jubilee looks up to the girl rushing down the staircase with bored, frustrated eyes. “What is it this ti-IAH! Let go!”

Fresh grabs Jubilee, lifting the fabric by their neck to see if they’re wearing a necklace. Jubilee places a hand against her face and one to her shoulder and pushes her back with surprising force. “I TOLD YOU NOT TO -“

“JUBILEEEE~” Cries Fresh, clutching her face. “I’m sooooorrry~”

Jubilee twitches, reading the room. Their posture loosens, but their eyes narrow in suspicion. “What did you do?” They ask plainly and coldly.

Fresh’s lips quiver as her eyes grow wet, the girl gets up to look if the store is empty. It is. She leans back down. “Did… did you find a necklace upstairs in the pantry?”

Jubilee thinks for a second. “Uh… what?” They shake their head. “No, I didn’t.” They look at her, somewhat confused. “Wait.” Jubilee leans in closer. “What about it?”

Fresh clenches her fingers together. “Do you promise you won’t be mad?”

“No,” snaps Jubilee back instantly.

She flinches. “Can… can you promise you won’t yell at me…?”

“No,” says Jubilee warily, towards the girl who is on the verge of tears.

“…Can you-“

“Out with it!” barks Jubilee, jabbing a finger into her gut. Fresh winces, leaning in closely to whisper into Jubilee’s ear. Their eyes grow wider and wider beneath their mask, as the girl tells her story.

“YOU DID WHAT?!”