As i'm scrubbing away Faye came up behind me.

"You don't know the Clean spell?" Faye asks me.

"No, I don't." I tell her. I'm starting to believe that not knowing it is an oddity. "Can you teach me how?" I'm still washing, but I turn to look at her when I ask her this.

"Umm, sorry, but no, I can't." she looks very confused that I would ask her that.

"Oh" I say and turn around to keep washing. Suddenly I feel my shirt being yanked and pulled off over my head. I try to grab it and keep it on, but to no avail.

"Its okay i'm just going to clean you and your shirt." Faye says.

"Jesus! Well say something first next time. You scared me half to death" I admonish her. She starts to giggle at me.

"Who's Jesus?" She asks. 'Shit. This is tiring.'

"No one. It's just a swear word." I would be burned alive if certain groups of people heard me say that.

"Oh. I've never heard it before." She has already started cleaning my hair and face. The tingling really does feel quite good.

"Did you manage to come up with a way to get a key?" I ask her. Her hands pause and she says nothing for a minute.

"No. Master would be the only way, but to get it from around his neck.. I just don't know how it could be done." I can hear the melancholy in her voice.

"Can we just kill him?" I ask the most obvious thing for me. I mean, I've never killed anyone, but I would to set her free. 

"Uhh.. we could, but even if we managed to do it without alerting anyone, which is unlikely, they would not stop chasing us if we kill him. They would chase us until they caught and killed us or worse. Most likely worse." She resumed washing me.

"Oh! Should I have went with Mistress to her tent." I just remembered I may be in even more trouble.

"Hmm, I don't think so. She seemed pretty mad at you." Faye says.

"She is? Why?" What did I do this time?

"Well... you were, I mean, having a little trouble killing the goblins and hob-goblins." Faye tells me.

"The dagger was so dull, of course I was having trouble." I inform her. "Plus something just felt wrong about the dagger. Like it just didn't belong in my hand. I don't know what that was about."

"Uh-huh" She says skeptically. 'I'm not making excuses! I swear!'

"So.. why is she leveling me up anyway?" I ask.

"So you get bigger." She says matter of factly. Like its obvious.

"You said that before. What does that even mean? Will I get bigger as I grow up if my level is higher or something?" She stops cleaning my legs at this point and stands up and looks at me with her head cocked to the side slightly.

"You don't know?" ...… "How don't you know?" I finally stumbled onto something that I should know. That is common knowledge of this world. Do I tell her the truth. That i'm a 32ish y/o man that is from another world? Dimension? idk. I really think that would be a bad idea, but then I will have to lie to her for as long as I know her. And i'm bad at lying. Maybe i'll do a bit off both.

"I barely remember anything before I woke up in that forest that I was captured near. The things I do remember don't really make much sense either. They don't match up to.. this place.. at all." I try to explain. "Everything here is so strange. Like why are there three moons?"

"There are 4 moons..." She says. "OH! Its okay, don't cry!" She then hugged me pressing my head to her stomach. 'I'm crying?'

"Okay.. how do I say this. Umm.. well, when Beast-kin are born we only grow from a baby to the size you are now. From that point on no matter how much time passes we won't get bigger unless we gain levels. We all reach maturity at around level 20 and won't grow anymore despite gaining even more levels." She just blew my mind.

"So you are saying there could be a 100 year old grandma with a body just like mine?" This is just ridiculous.

"Heheheh, of course not silly." She laughs at me. 'Okay, so its not as weird as I thought.' Then she continues. "How could she be a grandma if she had a body like yours? She wouldn't be able to have kids to be a grandma." .......This is too weird.

"I-i have been wanting to ask. What's your n-name. If you can r-remember t-that is." Faye asks rather nervously. Why is she uncomfortable asking my name? Maybe its just because she is ashamed for not asking until now.

"When Mistress checked my status it said I didn't have a name, so she gave me one. Yuna, after someone named Yunalesca or something." I tell her as she starts to clean herself, only she isn't taking off her Patchwork armor first. She stiffens for a moment and I see anger flash in her eyes.

"Is that a bad thing?" I ask her.

"Well.. no." she shakes her head then adds "Its just a name."

"Whose name?" I hazard a guess. It must have belonged to someone she doesn't like to react like that. She doesn't respond for a little while as she cleans up. I get to she how the Clean spell seems to work. Both hands are coated in a little bit of water that seems to scrub away at whatever surface it is applied to. She finishes herself and then my shirt and hands it to me. It has no smell to it any longer, although it is slightly stained from the blood. I put it on.

"A long time ago the Beast-kin used to have their own Empire." Faye starts talking suddenly. "At the end of our Empire we had a Queen. A beautiful queen that drew the envy and lust of others. Hardly any of the history of her really remains and the things that we do know is all told to us by the other races. But they all tell the same stories. That she was a whore. That she was the cause of our downfall. She was violent and a warmonger that enslaved others. The stories around her are never very good, but they make sure every beast-kin knows something about our last queen. Her name was Yunalesca. She was also a Fox-kin."

Her voice is filled with bitterness as she told me all of this. I'm not sure what to think about this. Other then I like my name even less now. I wonder how much is even true though. I know for a fact that history is written by the victor. But I don't know anywhere enough about this place to judge it either way.

"Oh" I say. It seems I need to change the subject once again. "Ummm.. Wait! How old are you then?" I just realized this ten y/o is probably not ten. She could be older or even younger.

"Me? Oh, i'm 4" she tells me with a smile.

"What!?" She's only 4. WTH! I don't.. She's just a little kid. What a-

"Heheheheh" she starts laughing uncontrollably "You should see your f-face! hahahah!" she continues to laugh at me. "I-I'm sorry I couldn't help myself. That was too much fun. I'm 16, truly."

"Hah, Hah." I say sarcastically. Now that i think about it a teenager might be worse then a kid.

"Do you know how old you are?" Well shit. My status said 2..

"Mistress said my status said I was 2.. , but I don't think that is right. I think I might be older then you." I try to explain.

"Uh-huh" she's going to treat me like a little kid isn't she? Activate skill "subject change". 

"Sooo I need to use the bathroom." I've already drank out of the fountain. It looks like it filters and cleans the water somehow or maybe its just completely new water drawn from somewhere. But I am hungry. I look around and no one is starting a fire or cooking anything.

"We need to go up to the last floor to do that." Faye says while heading that way. I follow after her.

"Back to the matter at hand. Escape." I bring us back to what matters right now.

"I know. (Sigh) John said he cant do anything." wait what?

"John? He knows!?" I ask

"Yes, somehow he just knew what I was planning to do. He has been helping in every way he can, but he is very limited in what he can do." She tells me. I look at her in a confused way. I mean cant he just break us out himself? "He has a Slave Seal just like us only his has complete control over him. He can only act according to his instructions." right.

So we need a key or we are doomed. Key.. Keey… She said that Mistress had one, but is most likely in her inventory and who knows how that works. James has one but it is around his neck at all times. John has one, but even so he can't use it or lend it without being told to. Rastlin has multiple keys, but he isn't here right now and she didn't find one when she was-

I suddenly tripped going up the stairs. I hurriedly check my inventory as Faye asks me if i'm okay.

I'm an Idiot. 

I held my hand out palm up and willed the key out. When it appeared in my hand I heard Faye gasp. She just stared at it in my hand.

"How?" she finally asked.

"I completely forgot, Plus i didnt think it was anything important at the time, When I was getting my Slave Seal or w/e I was bored so I started looking through stuff. I was almost caught with this is my hand and without looking at it I put it into my Inventory." I hurriedly explain in one breath.

"You-you have I-inventory?" Her eyes are bugging out "How?"

"I don't know. I just do" I shrug at her. "Is it that strange?" She just looks at me and nods her head yes. She then shakes her head back and forth forcing herself out of whatever thoughts she was having.

"T-this means, I can get you out of here!" She exclaims and grabs the key. "This is wonderful!" she said looking at it. Then she grabbed me hugged me tightly against her. Too tightly.

"C-can't-can't Breath!" I manage to yell out.

"Ahhh! I'm sorry. I'm just so happy." There are tears falling from her eyes. 'Oh no. am I going to do that now too? Cry when im happy?' 

"So what should we do now?" I ask her.

"I'm not sure. We could leave tonight or.." she drifted off. 

"Or?" I ask her to continue.

"Or, we can stay another day so that we level up more." She says. "Also you should start putting things into your inventory. Do you have any other things in it?" She asks.

"I don't know. It sounds really risky. We don't know what will happen tomorrow. If we'll even have a chance to run away." I tell her. "And my Inventory has a big bow and another Collar in it."

"Hmmm..." She starts to tap her cheek with one finger while she thinks. "Maybe your right. We should leave tonight."

"How are we going to get away? We don't have a map and we have to go back up five floors. And do the Monsters come back?" I ask her. I mean they will be able to back track much faster then us and if they 'respawn' I just don't see how we could get away. "Also where are you going to go once you get away?" 

"Oh, we can just port back to the entrance, And... you're coming with me, right?" She hesitantly asks me. 'Oh'

"Of course! I mean, If you want me to" There's no way I wouldn't. She just hugged me a little tighter. "So tonight. Oh no! but what if Mistress wants me to sleep with her tonight?"

"Uhhh, I guess we can only plan to leave then see what happens. Okay?" Faye says. "Also take the key back." She hands the key back to me.

"Okay" Its really all I can do. If I make Mistress mad I could end up chained to a wall or something. I put the key back in my inventory. Faye lets go of me and we head up the stairs to use the bathroom. The ground is solid so I can't dig a hole. This is really uncomfortable. Still no way to wipe myself. I really wish I knew that clean spell. Faye and I had separated, but not by much. The limit of the Collars reach was only about ten feet at the top of the stairs. God this is embarrassing...

"Umm.. Faye?" I have to.

"Yes" She asks. 

"Ca-can you c-clean me? D-down there?" I hate this.

"S-Sure" She answers weirdly. I don't blame her. It has to be weird for a 16 y/o too.

___________

We are now back downstairs with everyone. Mistress is out of her tent talking with James. Faye and I are sitting near the fountain. John must be in his tent. Zak and Bear are sitting next to each other with there backs to the wall. Everyone is still wearing their gear except Mistress, who is wearing a simple pair of pants with a blouse.

My nerves are on edge. We may be attempting to escape in a few hours. I wonder If this body has adrenaline or the equivalent of it. I Have so many things I want to ask Faye. There just doesn't seem to be a appropriate time to. Like how will leveling up affect normal puberty? I'm kind of dreading female puberty. Also how will we grow? Is our growth just suspended until we gain levels and resumes like a normal afterward? Or does it happen in spurts? Like i'm just walking along an-

"Yuna! Faye! Come over here." James calls out. I look at Faye and she shrugs at me. I get up with her and head over to them. As I get closer I can see two Tablets like the one from before in James hands. I think I know what is going to happen so I offer my hand up to Mistress. Faye does the same. She doesn't say anything and just cuts my palm and then Faye's. James hands her a Tablet then presses my hand onto it then lets go after it glows. 'God damn! Having my and sliced to ribbons sucks.'

"Level 12, Great! We won't even need to stay very long tomorrow!" Mistress joyously exclaims. "What about her?" She turns to James and asks. 'So I am still acquiring Xp and leveling up? Well that's good news.' 

"Less progress. She gained 4 levels. Putting her at 15." James responds. Mistress's joy diminishes when she hears him. "But I told you this Dungeon was going to be good for leveling since hardly anyone comes here. Everything is spawned in."

"You tell John that he had better pick it up tomorrow. She better be at lvl20 by the time i'm done with Yuna." Mistress says. "James feed them some meat." She said then turned to look at me. "You'll be sleeping out here tonight. Consider it part of your punishment~" Yes!! No, calm down. 

"Y-yes M-mistress." I try to say in a mopey way. She smiles at me then goes into her tent. I turn to Faye and I see a gleam of excitement in her eyes. She gives me a little nod. I wonder if winking is a thing in this world. i'll have to try it out sometime.

James comes over to us and hands us a piece of dried meat each. Its some terrible smelling jerky. Then he retreats to his tent. I walk back to the fountain with Faye and start eating the meat. Its not as bad as it smells, but not very good either.

"So what now? Just wait?" I ask while looking around. Only Zak and Bear are still out. I was planning on stealing as much as I could before leaving, Shoving it all into my inventory. The problem is.. no one left anything outside of their tents.

"Yup" She said in a excited whisper. "You should get some sleep before then."

"You should too." I tell her. I'm sure she needs sleep just as much as me. "I told you i'm older then you, so you should be the one to sleep." God knows I've just gained some ability to go without sleep. She just narrowed her eyes at me and frowned slightly.

"What are you talking about? How could I sleep right now?" I guess that's true. I couldn't sleep right now either. But then don't tell me I should sleep.

"Okay fine. So how do you plan to 'Port' back to the entrance or w/e?" I ask her.

"Oh. Umm.. in every safe room you enter there is a fountain, and from it you can port back to any other safe room you have been in." She answers me.

"Wait. So they can just as easily chase after us?" But I guess its better then the alternative of making our way back up through the levels where we would be at a heavy disadvantage. Its better to be on equal terms. 

"Yeah.."-Faye

"Okay.. What will we do then? Once we are out of the Dungeon, Where will we go?" I really want to know how far she has planned.

"First I think we should grab one of the horses then head towards the village and see if then is any supplies we can get." She continues "You having Inventory is unbelievably helpful. I still can't wrap my head around how you have it. But since we don't have any money we will need to steal whatever we can." She looks at me with questioning eye's.

"It's okay. I'll steal w/e you tell me we need. Or at least try to." I wouldn't normally, but nothing is normal about this place. And I was already labeled as a thief when I ate a tiny little bit of that soup. Plus its not so much for me as it is for her.

"What about after the Village? Where to?" I ask

"I think we should head towards Gaia, but.. it wont be easy." She says after some hesitation.

"Okay, why there?" I continue.

"All slavery is illegal." She says. Well sounds good enough to me. So I just need to get her there.. 

At this point Zak and Bear have retired to their tents. It's Time.