Dungeon Chapter 22 (Patreon)

“Ken.” Crimson grabbed my shoulders. “Well done. Congratulations on beating Desmonda Renard. Really kicked her butt.” She egged me on in front of Des’s parents while Des stood with them.

“He is quite skilled, but the early levels can be so unpredictable.” Mr. Renard glared at me. “And things can change quickly as they level.”

Crimson just laughed as she pat me a little too hard on the shoulder. “Don’t worry. I can tell he has the potential to give me a run for my money in a few years. The Elven Envoy is coming here to Haylon and I hope they can help him understand his class.”

There was a flash of something that flit across Desmonda’s mother’s face, but it was gone as soon as it came. “Well, then you should join us for dinner. We’ll have dinner with Desmonda tonight before we leave.”

I looked up at Crimson. “What about the dungeon dive you owe me?”

“Can’t yet. Now that the UG believes it is the elves that caused the disturbance, Marlow will throw a fit if I leave. She expects me to be here to welcome the elves when they finally show, but after that, we’ll go down and let you see the deeper parts of the dungeon.” Crimson promised me.

Mr. Renard nodded at that and seemed to feel the need to keep up with Crimson. “Might not be a bad idea for me to bring my daughter down during winter break. Expand her horizons.”

Desmonda’s face lit up in surprise before she crushed that and kept her face neutral. The whole Renard family seemed to work to keep their faces neutral.

But I’d never compare Des to her father. She’d hate that.

“Okay, off to lunch with you two. Classes after lunch.” Crimson shooed me and Des away as the high level adventurers had polite conversation.

I saw Penelope’s father hanging on the edge of the group, but clearly not being accepted and understood where her grudge was coming from.

As soon as we left that group, Charlotte skipped over and joined us with two bags of envelopes. “You lost.” She seemed to blame Des.

“You saw what happened.” She pointed at me accusingly. “The idiot took a knife to the chest to do more damage to me.”

“My stamina is much improved since Des helped me get my secondary class.” I explained.

Charlotte pinched her brows, but nodded and handed me the bags. “This one is full of letters that Crimson sorted to the potential pile and this bag are ones she sorted into a ‘maybe’ pile.”

“Is there a ‘no’ pile?” I asked with a frown, wondering what they were.

But seeing the cute hearts on girls’ names or the little heart stickers used to keep them closed, I suddenly understood. The conversation from the girls at Des’s dorms clicked in my head with these. “Oh.”

Des misunderstood and thought I realized what happened to the ‘no’ letters. “Yep. Crimson sorted them. The ones she didn’t like no longer exist.”

“What am I supposed to do with these?” I asked, holding up the bags.

“They are full of love letters or requests for dates.” Charlotte puffed out her cheeks and eyed the bags like they were evil incarnate.

I stuffed both bags in my CID. “Sure, I’ll deal with them later. But that’s going to be a lot of girls I have to reject.”

Charlotte looked at me like an idiot. “You are going to respond to all of them?”

“Yeah, I have to turn them all down. They at least deserve that much.” I wasn’t a jerk, and it took a lot of guts to write one of these.

“Gimme.” Charlotte grabbed at my CID. “As your first girlfriend, I should help.”

My brows rose high. “Girlfriend?”

She paused. “Yeah. Uh… want to… officially… uh… you know…” Charlotte blushed all the way to the tips of her ears and stumbled over her words and couldn’t meet my eyes.

“Charlotte, would you like to go out officially?” I asked her far easier.

“Yes!” She looked up and smiled. “Now you have to ask Des.”

“Ken, wanna be official so we can hook up?” Des asked instead with a smile, telling me exactly what she wanted.

Charlotte nearly died in a coughing fit. “You can’t say it like that.”

“It’s what he wants. You should have seen the way he looked at me in my bedroom.” Des said, egging Charlotte on.

Charlotte spun on me. “You were in her bedroom!” Bun-bun shouted at me from atop her head.

I held up my hands. “Nothing happened.”

“Well, there were the candles, the chains, and you got a little blood on you.” Des purposefully made it seem far worse than it was.

Charlotte started stuttering uncontrollably until she just short-circuited.

I had to catch her. “Don’t tease her too much. But yes, we can be officially going out. That goes double for what we tell your parents at dinner tonight.”

Des’s face got serious. “Dress up nice. It’ll be a fancy place with four or five forks.”

Oh, multicourse meal. Got it, might have to go run to the UG shop. They had some suits there. They kind of have everything.

Charlotte recovered after a moment. “Ken… I might not…”

“Take your time.” I pat her shoulder and put her back on her feet. “Don’t let Des pressure you into anything. Besides, we have lunch and then class, then I’m being dragged off to dinner with Des.”

She nodded along and Des watched the two of us.

I somewhat expected jealousy, but there was none of that in Des’s expression, just a calm observation. Then again, harems and polyamorous relationships were common among long term adventuring parties.

Maybe trying to juggle two girlfriends could actually work.

As soon as we walked into the mess hall as a group, many of the students turned towards us, paying us close attention.

“Ken, why don’t you sit with us?” Some girls from our class waved at us.

“It seems the school is getting used to having a guy here and even eager.” Des narrowed her eyes at the table.

“We should get to know our classmates, though.” I didn’t see the harm in it.

Charlotte seemed torn. “Right.” She finally decided. “We still have years with these girls in the same class.”

I turned to the girls at the table. “Sure, just a minute.” Then walked with my ladies through the lines and out the other side.

The girls from our class were still there.

I smiled as I sat down. “Now, I’m terrible with names, sorry.”

“Don’t be.” The apparent leader of the group waved away my apology. “I’m Kendra. This is Bonnie, Taylor, Regan and Leah.” She quickly introduced each girl. “So, tell me.” She glanced at the two girls that flanked me as if guarding me from the rest of the girls at the table. “Are you dating anyone?”

She smiled widely as she asked that. I had pegged her as a high maintenance gossipy girl, then doubted it. Maybe I had been right on the first try. But she’d be the type to let the rest of the school know I was taken.

“Why yes I am. I went on a date with Charlotte last night and have one with Desmonda tonight.”

Kendra smiled. “That’s so awesome. They move quick, as the only boy in school, a lot of us are interested in dating you, you know?”

“Yeah. Crimson gave me a bunch of letters after the fights today.” I said and immediately all the girl here stiffened. I wondered how many of them had a letter in here. Shit.

“Really?” Regan leaned around the much larger Taylor.

Charlotte sighed. “Yes. Really. She didn’t want him distracted, but be aware, Crimson herself sorted them.”

The girls here had a flicker of some silent communication, but I ignored it and took a bite of my borrito.

The awkward silence stretched on. “So, have you guys all hit level two? Going to try your hand at the second floor when the dungeon opens back up tomorrow?”

“Oh, yeah.” Taylor flexed. “I need to pick up a shield, but then I got those little frog fuckers. We fought a few on our way out after the warning. I heard you guys had to get pulled out by the UG.”

Des rolled her eyes. “There was another group that got caught. We tried to play hero and help them out, but there were just too many of those frogmen. We got overwhelmed.”

“Fribbits.” Kendra corrected Des. “At least that’s what the reading for today called them.”

“Fribbits.” Des said the word with distaste. “Either way, they were stupid. I don’t think you read the lesson either.” Des looked at me with a smirk. “Not after what we were doing last night.”

I choked a little on my food as the other girls looked over at Des like they were asking her to spill more details. “Des, don’t say it like that.” Then I frowned, realizing that I wasn’t supposed to talk about the ritual, so what could I say?

Charlotte joined in, though. “Yes, you and Des were up so late together last night.” She said it even though it made her blush a deep red.

The girls at the table were all making sounds of understanding.

“So Des has sealed the deal, sneaky girl.” Kendra gave me a brilliant smile.

“I’d swear he was part incubus.” Des shook her head with a smile at the inside joke. “His stamina is incredible.”

“Des.” I warned her. “You are misleading them.”

“You’re attractive enough to be an incubus. I’d even let you take my soul if you really wanted it.” Kendra leaned across the table, making me suddenly aware of her chest as it threatened to spill out of her shirt.

“Look what you’ve done, Des.” I rolled my eyes at my newest girlfriend. “Sorry, Kendra, you are attractive, but I’m looking to build a strong connection with my dungeon group. I need to stay focused on diving the dungeon. That’s why we are all here, isn’t it?”

Regan laughed. “He’s such a dungeon head. Of course he is. Crimson wouldn’t pick someone that wasn’t.” She said it like she was consoling herself.

Kendra pursed her lips at me, but Bonnie jumped in to help her. “She’s a really great dungeon asset. Kendra is an enchanter. I know you have an opening in your party because we are a student short.”

Enchanters were a powerful support class, capable of some small offensive and defensive magic, but their true power was in their ability to enchant weapons and armor temporarily, increasing a party’s strength several folds.

Bonnie’s reminder caused Kendra and the others to suddenly become serious again.

“Right, you have a spot open.” Kendra tapped on her lip. “A warlock, a druid, and a bard. Plus a mystery bag.” She looked at me for the last. “Either you need a dps, a tank, or a completely new group if you are another support type.” She sighed. “You don’t have room in your group for me as it is.”

Bonnie pointed to Leah and Regan. “Wizard and Sharpshooter, or you could take a brute like Taylor.”

“I am not a brute.” Taylor slammed her hand on the table.

Bonnie only pursed her lips and looked at what she’d just done. “Seem like one to me. We just need to get you a shield before we go back into the dungeon. That way, you can officially be our tank.”

Taylor scoffed and rolled her eyes. “I’m a duelist, not some tank.”

“Tanky enough for now.” Kendra tried to squash what seemed like a repeat argument. “Besides, with me and Bonnie supporting you, you’ll be fine. The fribbits require a tank.”

“And AoE.” Regan chipped in. “We should pool some gold for Leah, myself, or Taylor to get an AoE attack, or you know what? Taylor probably needs it most if we are going to make her keep agro on all of them.”

Des leaned over. “We should really think about it, too.”

“Bun-bun can tank for now, right?” I tried to throw out a suggestion, but the way they both looked at me made me realize I might need a shield in my near future. “Hey, I’m not a tank.”

“That Earth Stomp of yours would suggest otherwise.” Charlotte smiled prettily.

“Earth Stomp? Yeah, we saw you use that.” Taylor overheard our conversation and used it to pull herself away from the topic of tanking. “Looked it up, it is on a few classes, but they all have at least a little tank vibes to them. Plus, it is an area attack, which we all desperately need for the second floor.”

Everyone at the table seemed to agree with the need for area attacks.

“Wonderful. Do I get a shield now?” I joked with Des, who only smiled back like she was ready to buy me one before dinner. It made me a little uncomfortable.

I checked the time. “We should probably head back to class.” I grabbed my tray and stood up from the table without consulting them further.

But they followed my lead, their trays clattering as they snatched them up and got up, following me out of the dining hall.

Charlotte kept up with me. “You aren’t interested in any of them?”

“I mean, all the girls here are attractive.” I clarified. “But what’s the point of just dating girls to have more? When we go for larger dives in the dungeon, they could take weeks. What am I supposed to do about anyone who’s not in the group?”

Des had caught up and heard that. “Eventually, in the lower floors, people will gather multiple groups into a raid.”

“Great, that’s for later. Besides, that’s not until past level twenty, and mostly for bosses or special areas.” I frowned at the two of them. “Do you two want me to have more?”

“Nope.” Charlotte said quickly. “Keeping it to our group is perfect. You are absolutely right, it would be too hard to keep up relationships that aren’t part of our group. By the end of our four years here, we’ll be diving for weeks at a time.”

She echoed a lot of what I’d said with an eager face.

The two of them were being weird.

I had decided to pursue the two of them and I knew that Crimson was hoping that I’d pursue the elven envoy when she arrived. Three was plenty.

“Anyway, here’s class. Let’s try to drop it. I mean what I say.” I opened the door to the classroom. There was a veritable mountain of love letters around my desk, to the point that I couldn’t even sit down. These must have been the ones that Crimson scared away.

Charlotte cleared her throat. “Would you like my help in getting rid of those?”

“Actually, yes, please.” I turned to her. “Got room in your CID?”

But the cute and innocent druid was accepting a lighter from Desmonda. “Oh, that might be safer. Dessy, we need a fire spell if we are going to keep getting these.” She handed Desmonda the lighter back for now.

“My father will have a list of skills for me tonight at dinner.” She said with a shrug. “I wouldn’t be opposed to getting some for you. Three is probably more than I can effectively incorporate right now.”

“Ken!” Harley came bounding in. “I went to find you. Look at all the love letters. Wait, why is Charlotte taking them?”

Charlotte gave the bard a flat stare. “Because I’m going to get rid of them.”

“Ken, you have the opportunity for the biggest harem ever!” Harley gasped. “You’d throw that away?”

“There’s only room for five in our group. It is pointless going beyond that way.”

Harley frowned. “Are you kicking me out?”

“No, you are a wonderful buffer.” I said with a straight face. “Now I only get three.” Three was plenty.

Crimson walked into the front of class while we were joking. “Ken, you have one minute to clean that up before I help you by replying to them.”

Des stepped up and started to clear the letters and I worked with Charlotte to stuff them in our CIDs.

“Now, while Ken cleans up, let me clarify everything. The UG sent me in yesterday and I found the dungeon had shifted. This doesn’t happen often and when it does causes rippling effects like what we all experienced on the first floor. UG has resolved the issue and is clearing the second floor to ensure that there aren’t any overly dense populations of fribbits. All of you can enter the dungeon starting tomorrow morning. If we can get through the lesson for the second and third floors today, then you won’t have class tomorrow morning and can reenter the dungeon.” She clapped her hands with a finality. “So, Ken, what are the three types of fribbits and what are their specialties?”

I had just finished putting the last of the letters in my CID and sat down.

Of course, she was going to pick on me. “There are the melee ones carrying crude weapons, a slightly larger champion fribbit and a shaman class that throws a variety of crude spells.”

Des and Charlotte looked at me strangely when I answered so smoothly, given that I hadn’t had time to study last night.

But after we were attacked by them, of course I went and looked them up in the textbook.

“Good, good. Now we will talk about the various multi target and area of effect spells. There are only a handful of them you can get with your starting class skills, but there are several that come from skill books and later on as your class hits higher levels.” Crimson’s arm blurred, and the blackboard was suddenly covered with different skill names. “Understanding abilities helps you both plan your progression and fight your opponents.”