I could barely contain my excitement as we made our way through the merchant’s guild area.

Those two weeks of being essentially grounded were almost unbearable. All in all, they weren’t much different from my time training at the guild beforehand…so complaining about them might be a little ridiculous. I didn’t really do much outside of training. But not doing something and not being able to do it is vastly different.

Promising myself to get out more from now on, I take a look at the carriage before me.

It was much larger than the one that I had ridden in previously, with a much more grand and luxurious vibe to it.

It was framed in gold and attached to two massive groupers. 

My dragon master was almost slobbering as she set her eyes on the moving treasure.

In response to her girlfriend’s not-so-subtle antics, Ms. Kna’Ve shook both her heads ruefully.

Yep, Master had decided to invite her girlfriend on our trip to the netherworld.

Not that I had any problems with that decision. Ms. Kna’Ve was awesome as far as I was concerned. She’s super nice, smart, and pretty. Even her supposedly terrible lectures weren’t bad. She wasn’t trying to cram your brain with information or talk your head off, but whatever she was teaching she made sure you understood it.

I could think of several education professionals that could learn a thing or two from her. That aside, as the girlfriend of one of the most important people to me, and a great person in her own right, I found myself quickly starting to consider Ms. Kna’Ve as someone important to me.

I forcefully suppressed a giggle at the two’s shenanigans as I was ushered onto the carriage.

Soon after, we set off and I found myself bubbling with energy for a number of reasons.

This was my first time leaving the guild town while conscious, seeing my mama and Ms. Myri again, as well as truly meeting the denizens of the underworld, as well as the floors that I missed.

My curiosity soon overflowed, and I bound up to the window to take a look at the scenery outside, knocking down my hood in the process.

I expected to get scolded for my blunder that could’ve compromised the plan that I still had been put in the loop about.

That realization caused some negative feelings to flare up, but I quickly suppressed them using the already present and overflowing excitement.

The trip itself went by both smoothly and quickly, courtesy of several naps.

Oddly enough, Master seemed to have something to tell me, yet she never did.

She even woke me up out of my sleep, only to deflate like a punctured balloon.

Aside from the usual behavior of the dragonoid, we soon found ourselves in a small town.

It wasn’t that different from the guild town from what I could see, the exception being the lack of the massive guild building.

It honestly felt warm and inviting, like a nice home-cooked meal.

The groupers flowed through the town, stopping in front of a seemingly well-kept two-story brick building.

We all disembarked from the vehicle, with Ms. Kna’Ve leading the fish around the back of the building while I followed my unusually quiet master inside after putting the hood back on.

The inside all but confirmed what I assumed about the building from its exterior. It followed a similar layout to that of the Amoneni Inn, giving me a feeling of deja vu.

Fortunately for me, there was no food involved this time.

Master waltzed up to the receptionist desk, which was manned by what looked to be a crab woman. At least if the orange hair and claws were to be believed.

“Hi, I’d like to order your best room for…about a week,” she said, bringing out a wad of bills.

I watched as the crab lady’s eyes widen and her draw dropped as she looked

She dropped the stack of Riots on the desk. “Ah, also could you have our carriage secured? My girlfriend is waiting in the back with it.”

“Y-yes my lady,” the receptionist responded, reluctantly taking her eyes off the money on the counter. “I’ll get to it right away.”

“Your room is the first one to the left on the top floor.” she continued handing over the key and getting up from her seat.

“And before you go,” the dragon lady spoke again. “The leftover is yours….I’m sure you understand what comes along with that.”

“O-of course, my lady,” the crustacean employee gulped, affirming my master before rushing off to presumably secure the carriage.

With the receptionist gone I sidle up next to my master.

“What was that!?” I hissed at her. “I thought we were incognito? Wasn’t that like extremely flashy? Actually, if I think about it, haven’t we been anything but discreet up until now?” 

“Eh…it’s fine it’s fine.” she lazily waved off my accusations. “In any case, it's pretty hard to be subtle when  Kna’Ve and I are a part of your traveling party.”

“Huh?” I asked.

“Well, not to toot my own horn,” she grinned, grabbing one of the perturbances jutting from her head. “But we’re not the most forgettable people. We’re both tall and beautiful. Lovely and gorgeous. I got frigging golden horns coming out the side of my head and Kna’Ve has two heads for crying out loud! I don't think we could truly blend in if we wanted to.”

‘She’s got a point but…’

“And on top of that….wait why are you looking at me like that?” She halted, seeing me scowl at her.

“Hearing you talk yourself up like that was gross. Even worse that it's actually true.”

“Ugh, you wound me,” she dramatically grabs her chest. “As I was saying, on top of our appearances, I’m kind of a famous Archduchess, and Kna’Ve is a countess.”

“Oh yeah, I forgot about that.” I sagely nodded.

“What do you mean you forgot?”

“Well, it's not like I’ve seen you do anything really noble-like? Like do you even have a dukedom that your reign over? I know for a fact you haven’t been there for a while, seeing as I’m with you every day.”

“I have you know that I’ve very much involved with my dukedom,” Master declared, folding her arms across her chest. “As a matter of fact, if this trip goes how we want it to, I’ll show you around the place.”

“Oh yeah? Sounds like fun,” I replied. “I’ll take you up on that.”

“I think you’ll like it. Oh, Kna’Ve’s back.” She turned to her girlfriend. “Is the carriage secured?”

“Yep,” the two-headed woman nodded with both heads.

“That means the only thing left to do is check out the room.”

We made our way up the stairs and to the room in question.

The dragon lady unlock the door with the key into the door and swung it open.

“Not too shabby,” she commented.

The comment made me vocalize the questions that were churning in my brain.

“Why did we stop here? And rent a room? An expensive one at that. There’s no way that we’ll be sleeping in here…right?”

“Correcttomondo,” my master affirmed, still looking around the rented space. “We won’t be staying here.”

“Then-”

“It’s for the carriage. The Grand Guildmaster would have my head on a platter with my wings as a side dish if someone stole her carriage. And it goes without saying that the best room would also receive the best carriage protection.”

“Then how are we going to get to the entrance to Hell then?” I asked with a tilt to my head.

“Cute,” Ms.Kna’Ve muttered something under her breath that I couldn’t quite make out.

Master must’ve heard it and nodded her head in affirmation. “Oh, right. I forgot to tell you where we are. This town is called Eresh. Eresh itself is a pretty ordinary town. Not too big, or small. What makes it stand out is its proximity to Hell. It's only a thirty-minute walk away.”

“Seriously?”

“Seriously. As a matter of fact,” The dragon lady paused, taking a look out of the window. “We’re actually late. We were supposed to meet the other two at the halfway point, an hour ago. And knowing my sister they were already there an hour before then.”

“Uh oh,” Ms. Kna’Ve shuttered.

Similarly, I felt a shiver pass through my body. I was fully aware of Ms. Myri’s ire when it came to people not being on time.

With that in mind, we hurried out of the inn and from there out of the town.

After that, we quickly made it to the halfway point between the town and the underworld, which was aptly landmarked with a sign that read: Turn Back…While You Still Can…

Standing close to the sign were two tall women. One with pink hair, vibrant orange eyes, and horns that looked like they were made of candy corn jutting out of her head. The other was a bit shorter than the pink-haired woman. She had dark brown hair and pink eyes that seemed to pull you into their gaze. Mama and Ms. Myri.

We stiffly approached, hesitantly readying ourselves for the scolding that was to happen.

In the end, only Master ending up getting berated by her sister. 

Well, no, that’s not quite true. Ms. Kna’Ve got admonished by the two women for not visiting the two of them more frequently.

Then they focused on me. I was engulfed by Mama’s hair tentacles and subsequently smothered in kisses.

When she was finally satisfied, I was apprehended by Ms.Myri. She kept it simple with a kiss on the forehead, and a sort of kiss between our horns…which was super cute as they clinked together.

With the greetings out of the way, we started on the second half of the trek towards the inferno.

Out of nowhere, a stray thought smacked me.

‘Ms. Kna’Ve and Master are a couple…and if I’m right Ms. Myri and Mama are one too. Doesn’t that mean that I’m going to be fifth wheeling in hell?! It totally does doesn't it? Grr. Couples should just go explode.’

Lulla

Heya! We're back with another chapter! Hoping to have the next one out with the same time frame....the day after tomorrow! I'm blanking on what to say....so yeah! Thanks for reading! Stay safe. Love you all!