Dungeon Route Red Chapter 3 (Patreon)

Mobuseka Parody: Tier 1

Chapter 2 

Chapter 3 Tea Party

Leon split the rewards with Olivia, the girl was quite ecstatic. She came from very humble livings, she’s never had a lot of money and extravagance was never something she wished for, she’d rather have friends. So the bounty Leon gave her was more than she ever expected to have.

Miauler got a bonus, as a much needed thank you for the assist. The other demi humans can look down on him all they like for having a male owner, but he was making far more than them, and living a rather sweet life.

“What are you gonna do with the money Mr.Leon?” Olivia asked.

The mob smiled and blushed. “I think getting a new tea set would be marvelous!”

Olivia chuckled. “You really are a mystery Mr. Leon.”

“Am I?”

With the dangers of the dungeon event out of the way, Leon was happy to slip back into the “mob role”. His hope was to find a nice girl, get married, and avoid ending up with a witch like Zora. He managed to avoid getting killed as much as possible.

From his game knowledge, the next couple of events had no bad endings potentials, or death flags to worry about. One might call it the Bullying Arc. It was time in the game that set up the antagonists and villains of the story to make their moves, while in kind it was time for the protagonist to strengthen their bonds with the capture characters, get a demi human or elf character to add to the party to aid in battles.

This arc was mostly about Bond Development and Grinding, to prepare for the big event that was the Party Event which triggered the Angelica Duel. So with nothing to worry about Leon focused on his own endeavors.

From what he could remember is Angelica, or those working for her began harassing Olivia the game’s protagonist. This gets back to Julius who admonishes her, increasing her hatred for the main character. It’s never made clear if Angelica was the mastermind behind the bullying. As he’s observed Olivia gets mistreated regardless if she goes after any of the conquerable characters. Marie was taking the MC role so she was getting plenty of heat.

She wasn’t being subtle about it, making her motives for what she was doing pretty obvious. Marie was reveling in the attention, she had those pretty boys wrapped around her fingers, even if one thread was loose.

Even if her stuff got burned or damaged, the Prince, Jilk, Chris, or Brad would just buy her more stuff. Angelica was called before Julius and Jilk, shewas accused of bullying Marie. “I didn’t do it I swear!” She did her best to defend herself but neither one of the boys were listening to her. “I know nothing of any foul play towards that woman.”

“You may not have done it by hand, but perhaps some of your little friends did it for you?” Marie’s damaged items were laid out on the table. “The girls were interrogated say they were ordered by you,to do it.”

“I did not!” She could tell by the look in his eye he didn’t believe her. “Why won’t you believe me, I’ve known you for so long, far longer than…” She was cut off.

“Your relationship with his highness, will not save you.” Jilk said.

“If you thought I’d protect you because of our engagement, you are sorely mistaken.” Julius glared at her. “Stay away from Marie, me too for that matter!”

Angelica was shaken. This isn’t what she wanted, this wasn’t as his future wife, she was concerned as his friend. ‘Are we even friends?’ The thought crossed her mind and made her heart grow cold.

“Our engagement is an external affair, do not allow it to interfere with school matters.” Angelica was shaken and she could really use a friend right now. Though she didn’t know who to trust right now, her entourage was working against her.

Thankfully she did have one friend she felt she could trust Olivia.

-x-

Leon had sent out invitations to his tea party, but so far none of them were answered. He knew Olivia was hanging with Angelica today, he just didn’t know why.

The context found him as Daniel and Raymond visited him to lament their recent failures. The men of money were picking up the nice girls, Milly and Jessica, the two girls who were ever nice to them. Raymond was sweet wishing them both happiness. “Is it over for us?” Daniel wondered. “Even Leon’s not been getting any luck, and he’s a skilled adventurer.”

It was sad but true. Leon’s invitations were all but being ignored, being nice to Olivia wasn’t helping his situation. Not that it was stopping him. Her being Angelica’s friend was helping keep most of the bullies off her back. He wasn’t gonna turn his back on her, he owed her that much.

“Well I don’t feel my new tea set is going to waste.” He poured them some tea.

“I’ve heard from the upperclassmen, that in order to get solid marriage offers they’ve had to allow more than demi-human lovers.” There were women with enough influence to openly engage in bigamy.

Women sleeping with demi-humans or elves wasn’t seen as breaking the marriage vows anyway. It was a telling turn of events when a guy had to essentially agree to be cucked for the rest of his life just to get married. Most of the girls looked at their title first, money and looks next depending on the girl, accomplishments and ability last.

Leon felt bad for Raymond and Daniel, as they were two good guys, who couldn’t catch a break. ‘I guess they are mobs just like me, and this world is tough for ‘em to.’ He couldn’t help but grumble. ‘Those damn hot guys have all the luck!’

After their lamenting Raymond had filled him in on the Marie drama. ‘So she’s really filling in on the main character role huh?’

Knock knock knock!

“Hm?” Leon went to the door. “Greg?”

The red head hottie was at the door. “Umm hi?” He waved.

“What um, what are you doing here?”

“Well I...I know you didn’t give me this but I thought I could…” He held up one of Leon’s invitations. His cheeks reddened.

“How did you?”

Greg had overheard some girls talking about the tea party invitations they had. “I can’t believe Bartfort gave me one of these, he’s just some lowly Baron.”

“We could use him as a refresher between parties?”

“Ugh, no way, I heard he doesn’t even buy high quality tea or sweets, he’s just a low class Baron.”

“You’re right, if I go to his party all those other low class losers will think I’m easy and send me invitations to, no thanks.” She was gonna rip it up.

“Excuse me ladies.” They turned and swooned at the sight of Greg.

‘He’s so hot!’

“If you don’t want that, may I have it?”

“Sure…” She handed the invitation over and Greg thanked her.

‘Well he saved my invitation from the trash, might as well.’ Leon sighed. “Come on in and have some tea.”

Greg smiled and walked in. Daniel moved over so he could sit down. Leon poured the tea and gave the red head some sweets. “Oh um, I’m not much of a sweets guy.”

“Well...give them a try, you might like them.”

“I actually wanted to thank you for saving me in the Dungeon Exam. I don’t think I’d have gotten out of that without you.”

‘Yeah you would have died.’ Leon thought and sipped some of his tea. “Well you are welcome.”

Daniel and Raymond dug into their sweets. “Mmm~!”

Greg eyed them. ‘Are they really that good?’ He picked one up and took a bite. Doki~Doki! His heart fluttered and his cheeks reddened. “This is good!” He scarfed it down, it was a perfect blend of chocolate and peanut butter. “Where did you buy this stuff.”

“I didn’t buy it, I made it.”

“You...made this…” Hand made sweets. Doki~Doki! ‘What the hell is wrong with those girls?!’ Greg thought. “These are tasty!”

He tried some of the tea next, and while it wasn’t some fancy or expensive blend, it was a good tea that paired well with the sweets Leon made. “This is great!”

Leon couldn’t help but blush at the compliment. “Aww thanks!”

“Believe it or not, I actually wanted to talk to you. I had heard rumors of a valiant adventurer who braved a dungeon and earned his fortune. You even have your own island that you discovered.”

“Sure did. I plan to return there when we’re on break, after visiting my family of course.”

“You must have trained a lot to conquer a dungeon at your age!” Greg said excitedly.

“Well, not hard enough, I nearly died, but I was highly motivated!”

“Bartfort!” Greg grabbed his hand. “You are the kind of noble I can respect. Would you do me the honor of sparring with me?”

“Oh um, sure I guess.” Leon was surprised. ‘What’s with this guy? Is he trying to show of for Marie or something, or maybe he’s trying to get close to me to get to Olivia?’

Greg smiled brightly. “Thank you Bartfort!” He began shaking his hand violently/enthusiastically.

‘Man he’s strong.’

Greg ate Leon’s sweets and drank his tea. ‘Well I gave Olivia a chance after judging her game counterpart so harshly, maybe I can give this guy a shot to, he might not be so bad.’ He played the game years ago, and this wasn’t a game, this was a world he had to live in.

“Bartfort, I’d like to thank you for saving me.”

“You already did, we’re cool!” Greg shook his head.

“I’d like to thank you with a meal, may I treat you to dinner?”

‘Oh yeah there is a thank you dinner cut scene after the event. Ehh why not.’ Leon shrugged. “Sure thing.”

Miauler returned with miss Olivia. Leon expected Greg to chat with her but instead. “I’ll see you tonight Bartfort!” He said and left.

-x-

After the tea party Greg treated Leon to a nice meal, some heavy steak, fine wine, it was delicious. Greg wanted to know more about Leon so asked him a bunch of questions. He learned that Leon came from a Baron family, had quite a number of siblings, he worked the lands.

Leon shared his training regimen which Greg found impressive. “I have Enhancement Magic and Lightning Magic, how about you?”

“Oh...I just have Enhancement Magic. I don’t have a magic affinity.” This was true even in the games, Greg was the brawler character, the enhancement magic boosted his stats when he was in a pinch or needed to deal a heavy blow. He was often paired up with Brad in combat, who was the group’s magic caster, as a tank.

“Well there’s still plenty you can do with Enhancement Magic.” Greg was shocked, he was expecting Leon to laugh at him for not having an affinity. Doki~Doki!

“You know Bartfort, I like you!” He declared. “You aren’t like a lot of the other nobles!”

‘Well yeah, I’m a mob.’ Leon thought. He enjoyed the steak and the wine. “I have to admit, I like you too, you surprised me.” He thought Greg would be more of a tool, given how he acted in the game.

Doki~Doki!

Their bond was growing more and more.

Leon wasn’t expecting Greg to keep on trying to get close to him. He showed up on Leon’s morning run and asked if he could join, the two had a fun little race. Greg even offered to let Leon share his gym time and the two worked out together.

The mob thought he was getting a bit soft away from the farm, so it was good to get back to basics. Their spar was still a ways off. In the game the sparring room was a place you could train your characters and raise their stats, but in this world it was a place for guys to show off their fighting skills for girls. The spar rooms were booked up for the month.

In the games if you had Greg under high affection, he pulled strings allowing you extra access to help grind your characters up and get them stronger for dungeons and stuff. Greg pulled some strings and got them some time slots to train.

So they began jogging together, lifting weights together, and enjoying tea together, Greg even offered to buy him dinner. Leon even sent him an invitation to join them for tea. Them being Daniel, Raymond, Miauler, and sometimes Olivia.

Bartfort was a bit dense, for some reason expecting Greg to focus on Olivia and try to start something with her, but nope. Luxion tried to give his master a clue. “I believe you and Greg are becoming quite close.”

“Yeah, he’s not as big of a jerk as I thought he was. He’s more than just some stuck up hot guy.”

“If I may master, I believe that may be from your influence. I’ve detected Greg’s heart beat increasing when you are around. I think this is what humans call having feelings for someone.”

“That’s not possible, he’s destined to fall for the main character, not some mob. Plus I’m a guy.” As far as he knew there wasn’t a yaoi option in an otome game world so why even consider it.

“If you say so master.” The robot didn’t understand Leon sometimes.

It wasn’t just Luxion, Daniel and Raymond also noticed how close the two were getting. “It’s actually nice to see you two getting along.” Daniel said.

“Greg’s even being nice to us, in the hallways some jerks were messing with us, and he actually stepped in and helped us out.”

“Yeah, he’s a nice guy.” The two shared a look.

“Leon, are you and Greg sleeping together.” Leon had been sipping some tea, and comically spat it out.

“What?!”

Raymond adjusted his glasses. “I have heard rumors of guys playing for the other team. It was something I thought was odd, but lately…”

Daniel blushed. “How would that...I mean if the guy was cute...or maybe...gah!” He ruffled his hair in frustration.

“Guys guys, it’s not like that. Greg’s just being nice because I saved his life.” His cheeks were red. ‘Wait there’s yaoi in this world?’ Leon had no idea.

“I figured I’d ask as there were some rumors about you.”

“Me?!” Bartfort gasped.

Raymond nodded. “You did come to school with a demi-human servant, for a guy that’s not common, and given what goes down between girls and their servants…people talk…” Bartfort’s jaw dropped.

“Well that doesn’t happen, right Miauler, you wouldn’t want to do that stuff with me right?”

Miauler eyed his master. “Well, you are quite cute, fit, strong, have a really nice ass. So yes, you’d be my type. If you were interested Master I’d gladly rock your world.”

Leon’s face turned bright red. “Well I can tell you Greg doesn’t play for that team!” Going off his gamer knowledge. “We have our sparing session tomorrow, and he’s probably gonna be showing off for Marie, or some other girl.”

“I’m not so sure about that, given my information Greg hasn’t spoken to Marie once all week.”

Leon shook his head. ‘Stay focused Leon, you know what you have to do to survive this world. You can be friends with Greg and Olivia, but you know what’s gonna happen, sooner or later. We are just gonna have a friendly spar tomorrow, no big deal!’ He didn’t want to think about it, this was hitting too close to home, especially with what his sister blackmailed him with to get him to play this stupid game in the first place.

To be continued...A “Friendly” Spar