Page 44

The five of us slowly made our way back to the camp we had made when we first arrived here, our pace was set by me trying to drag the huge ass crystal on my back. It didn't take us too long to find our camp again but I was sweating by the time we were back. It didn't look like anything touched our tents or any of the supplies we had left here before our "quick peek" at the inside of the dungeon. I slowly set down my backpack full of crystal core chunks, they clattered against each other on the ground.

"Hey can I eat one of those? They seem super rich in mana," Mimi asked.

Torien jumped up in shock. "No! We need those as proof! Lilith tell the mimic not to eat it!"

I felt uncomfortable at Torien asking me to order Mimi around like a pet but I did see her point.

"Mimi, why don't you shapeshift into your beastfolk form so we can chat as a group please."

"Uh, okay hold on." The sword once again began to melt into a puddle of what looked like liquid metal before resolidifying into a humanoid shape sitting next to me on the log by the fire. She still had the eerie look of a moving statue with static gem eyes but her movements gave away that she was a curious and excitable person.

I put my hand on Mimi's shoulder. "Mimi seems as intelligent as any of us, I don't want you to get the wrong idea about this. I didn't tame her like a pet wolf, she chose to come with us and I gave her a means to avoid conflict with us. She's an equal, not a pet, not a slave. I don't intend to treat you two like slaves and I don't intend to treat her like one either. She has her own will and she will make her own choices."

Torien looked conflicted but it didn't look like she was going to argue. Morrigan had furrowed brows but didn't seem to want to enter this conversation at all.

I waited a moment to make sure Torien didn't actually want to respond before I turned to Mimi next. "Thank you for asking Mimi but no, please don't eat the remains of the dungeon core. We need this to prove that it was a actually a dungeon that spawned demons. While we're traveling I'm sure we'll find you things to eat. If you do find things you would like to eat tell me and I'll tell you if it's okay. Sound good?"

"Alrighty!" She didn't seem to understand what was happening here but she seemed to be in good spirits.

I turned back to the girls. "I know this is... unexpected but I'll take responsibility for her. You girls are free to speak your mind though, if you have any concerns I want to hear them. Lets talk about this stuff before it becomes a problem."

Morrigan raised her hand a little.

"Yes Morrigan?"

"Well, I'm concerned that a shapeshifting uh, creature, might cause problems if anyone found out about her. I don't think she would hurt any of us, to me she proved that when she saved your life from the vampire queen, but because she's a creature born in a dungeon I doubt she knows anything about how people behave in public. If nothing else I think she should remain in a disguised form until she understands us better."

"I don't think that'll be an issue, from what I can understand she'll be able to maintain a transformed state as long as she has a supply of mana." I turned to Mimi again. "How is your mana supply doing Mimi?"

Mimi smiled, somehow the expression on her face made her look less imposing rather than more for once. "There isn't as much dense mana outside as I was expecting but the mana out here is flowing so quickly and tastes really good! I can still absorb mana from the environment but it takes a lot more concentration than I'm used to so I can't stay aware of my surroundings while I do it. That means I'm at a small mana deficit, I'm slowly losing mana over time."

She looks down at her hands and continues, "Strangely, even though this form is moving and physically talking it is much more mana efficient than almost all of the other forms I've tried. If I tried to move around a lot in another form I would burn through my mana reserve much faster even though I have a good amount of mana saved up. Staying in this form while talking and moving would last me a lot longer. I won't lose very much mana at all if Lilith continues to carry me though, and if we stay still for a while and I'm protected I could fill up my reserve with enough time."

Morrigan looked intrigued, "Wait, what if I concentrated the ambient mana for you?"

Mimi tilted her head looking confused.

"You have mana sight right? Here watch." She held out her hand towards Mimi and gripped her staff. It looked like she was preparing to cast a spell but rather than materialize anything she just swirled the mana in place and compressed it.

Mimi sat straight up and leaned forward. After a moment of watching the mana collect itself she held her hand out towards the ball of ambient mana and absorbed it into herself.

Mimi bounced up and down in excitement. "That was amazing! Ohhh, the mana tastes so good this way! Can you show me how to do that?"

Morrigan looked a little puffed up from the praise. "I can try and teach you if you want, I'm not sure how easy it will be to teach but having mana sight already should make it easier." She hesitated a moment. "But I don't think I can tonight, I'm pretty tired after everything we went through today. Maybe tomorrow?"

"Okay!" Mimi said excitedly.

"You two seem like you'll be good friends." Bella said happily. I felt a little bad that I only just now realized how quiet Bella had been this whole time but it seems she just didn't have anything to add up until now.

"What are friends?" Mimi asked while tilting her head.

I put my hand on her smooth shoulder. "Friends are companions that help each other out and enjoy spending time together."

"Then all of you are my friends!" she said happily.

Her reaction caught me off guard and made me a little worried. "All of us are your friends but be careful. Other people might try and trick you and lie about being your friend to make you do what they want for them. They might want you to help them out but don't want to help you out in return. Or they might ask you to do something dangerous, especially if they find out you're actually a shapeshifter."

"How can I tell if people are lying to me? What if you're lying to me right now?" she asked.

I smiled wryly. "It just takes experience to figure out when people are lying, the best I can do is just tell you I'm not and hope you trust me. It's good to be wary though, even of your friends sometimes. It's possible your friends might not be thinking about your best interests or might be taking advantage of you even if you both like each other. Just be sure to tell us if we're doing something you don't like, or if something we're asking you to do makes you too uncomfortable. Sometimes what we want will conflict, if that happens we'll do our best to find a compromise. You and I have a bond, our deal was that we would help each other out. But I won't always know the best way to help you or what you want and need, so be sure to tell me if you think of something. Make sense?" I asked.

She tilted her head cutely. "Hmm, I'm not sure I fully understood everything but I'll try."

Mimi was a curious creature. She doesn't have enough socialization to even know what friends were but clearly knew about things like the boss room, levels, and things inside the dungeon. She only recently gained a humanoid form but still did things like tilt her head when confused. Though I suppose even dogs do that sometimes, maybe that was more of a biological thing. Still, I liked her naiveite, it was kind of refreshing. Maybe I just didn't like being the clueless one all the time though. Mimi continued looking around and inspecting things like the trees and grass around our camp, likely never having seen them before short of the potted plants that decorated the halls of the faux-manor.

The sun was fully down now and the stars and three moons were out. The red and blue moons kept the same fullness, but the white moon was on its own different cycle. How was that possible if the light of the moon was reflected from the sun? I shook my head, magic is such a huge influence on the world I couldn't guarantee anything works the same way as it did where I came from. Things seem mostly similar, but who knows what's changed.

I stood up. "Do you girls mind taking first watch? I think I need to lie down with Bella for a while. Mimi, you don't need to stay in that form any more, I think I've said what I need to say for the night."

"Are we taking a break? Should I focus on collecting mana?"

"Sounds okay to me, are you two okay with that?" I asked Torien and Morrigan.

Torien scratched her ear, "Yeah that's a good idea. I think Morrigan and I have some stuff to talk about so it'll be a good opportunity. I'll wake you up in a few bells then?"

"Yeah that sounds good, I'll give you two some privacy then." I picked up my sword sheath that now held a dormant Mimi in her sword form.

Bella was already at my side and took my arm as we walked to the tent together. She gently rested her head against my shoulder as we walked. I stopped outside of the small tent and carefully set Mimi down while I worked on taking off my breastplate. My new form meant that I didn't seem to sweat anymore, not that I ever really felt hot to begin with, so the shirt underneath would have been mostly clean if not for the dried vampire blood that stained it. Unfortunately I didn't have a spare with me so I decided to just deal with it for now. I looked over at Bella who was just watching me with a smile. I smiled back before picking up Mimi inside her sword sheath and climbing into the cramped tent. I left her next to the flap, inside our tent without actually being on the bed rolls with us.

We were far enough from the twins to not overhear their quiet conversation but too close to actually have sex without them noticing. I was actually too mentally exhausted to be in the mood anyway, I could tell that Bella picked up on that because she just cuddled against me quietly.

"Are you okay? You've been pretty quiet tonight," I asked.

She nuzzled her cute deer snout into me. "Yeah, I'm just not used to being around other people for so long so I'm feeling worn out. That last conversation was kind of heavy too, I'm glad you said something though. I don't think I liked how the other girls were treating Mimi..."

"Yeah, I guess I can understand though. Mimi was a demon and a monster from the dungeon. They don't understand what we did when I used soul touch on her."

"Yeah I know. I'm just tired."

I hugged her against me and closed my eyes. We succubi didn't need sleep in the traditional sense but it was becoming clear to me that it still helped with mental fatigue, especially when we were in such high stress situations.

I hadn't even had my eyes closed for ten minutes when I slipped off into a deep sleep.