Phyllis entered her room, the babies were put to rest next door and she was tired. She had spent hours talking with Dewari. Learning about the guild system, and then she had done what she could to catch up with her paperwork. Not that she had made much progress, she had been interrupted a few times, and Misaki was still not back from whatever she was doing in the dungeon. That made things a little interesting, and she knew Jesse was just as tired as she was. The poor girl fell asleep as soon as the babies did, and she was now resting on some cushions in the nursery.

Heading for her closet she considered her plans for tomorrow. She was going to have to make a few changes to the guild. That new quest guide was interesting. It gave them a master book for the receptionists and staff to refer to. Even gave them some info on generating quests. Quests they can then put on the board for anyone to take. One item she wanted worked out is how they would handle advancement quests. There were a few quests that could advance classes or unlock skill sets. Quests that were best not just left on the board. Perhaps a simple information notice that required them to speak to a receptionist. Although she guessed she might need another receptionist just for that. 

Reaching her closet, she moved to remove her clothing only to brush bare skin. She blinked confused for a moment, and then looked down. Flushing deep red, she started working through her memories. Looking back she flushed even deeper. Her mind flashed back to that conversation with Dewari, and she realized that she had been in the same state even then. She had even left the office to talk with someone afterwards, and they never said anything. Slumping to the floor bright red, and feeling like she was melting, her mind shifted into overdrive as she worked through her emotions.

The rogue answered the question Darious had posed, “Well, I found the colony not too far from here, and ambushed them. It was a small one, so not too hard, and as for the girl. Well, she was so cute I could not resist.”

Before Darious could even say half the things he wanted to say. Well actually before he could even open his mouth the other Rogue spoke up, “Are you nuts brother!? You used a precious collar on a lust demon!? In a lust dungeon!? A collar that is less effective on Sapients!!!?”

He stammered a bit, and then pushed the girl in front of him, and lifted her face a bit. “Just look how cute she is. Isn’t she the cutest spider you have ever seen?”

The other rogue sighed, and said in a rather exasperated tone, “Stop thinking with the little brain. She’s a LUST DEMON. She IS humoring you.”

Darious had to agree, and while he did not really focus his demon studies on Lust demons he did know some. He actually knew quite a bit about demonology, mainly in regards to wrath demons. The church did require that he knew the basics about all demon circles and their connections to the Dark gods and the dark church. The first rogue however clearly did not know their proclivities.

“She is on my pet list. I’d say the collar is working,” replied the first rogue with an odd look on his face.

Darious watched as the two started arguing. Like he used to do with his own brother. At least before he had to exile him from the church. Last he heard, his brother was running a splinter faction of the church. Although that was two years ago. Honestly, he hated having to exile his brother, but he had no choice. His brother had a few loose screws and had done something. Darious had never gotten the full details, but it had pissed off a few powerful figures in the Theocracy. Along with a visiting noble from the Empire. If not for the noble, he could have covered things up quietly and given him a less public punishment. Now that he was thinking about it, maybe he should go find his brother. Just to see what he is up too.

Darious stared at the box that had suddenly popped up in front of him for a good minute. Quests did not normally start like this. Not unless a god was involved. However, he had never seen a quest so vague. It did tell him enough that he was worried, very worried. Just not for himself. He shelved those worries and added visiting a temple to his mental to-do list. Nothing he could do without more information. Then he glanced at the rogue twins who were still arguing, and checked the thugs who were giving clueless looks at the situation. He decided to step in before the noise attracted any hostile demons.

“Let him keep it, just make sure it stays out of trouble,” said Darious.

Meanwhile, not far from the dungeon. A man cloaked in robes that hid his features was chanting. The power of the spell that he and his acolytes were working was building quite well. He could feel it reaching across, finding the soul he sought. The perfect soul to be the hero he needed. The last spell he tried had not worked, and even if he had been kicked out of the church, that did not mean he did not want to avenge his god. So he had gone looking and found this obscure alternate version of a Hero Summoning spell. It had some cryptic warnings on the tome, but he had realized the potential of it right away.

The power built, shadows vanished as a blinding light filled the dim underground chamber. The chant became louder, and he felt something as the spell reached out. Finally he saw what he was looking for, a soul with the potential he sought. A young girl, not yet ready to leave her nest. Hell, she barely had an identity, but her magical potential was astounding. All he had to do was reach out and take her soul. Drag it across the realms, and bring it here. The spell would bind her, and help mold her into what he needed. What he desired.

He reached out, but the moment he touched her soul. He felt an incredible force block him. The light suddenly vanished, and then his head started to hurt as a brief, fleeting yet powerful presence seemed to enter the room. As soon as it was gone, a box appeared before him. A box that was red instead of the normal blue.

Deep in the dungeon, Misaki was busy. She had not really noticed the latest intruders in her dungeon, as she was busy with something else. Building her new floors. It was taking time for her to do it, but she wanted to do this right. She already had the next set built. She was just filling in the details now. She had everything laid out. Five new floors, with her castle and garden being moved to the last floor. Along with the city around it. She had kept to the old theme of her fifteenth floor, but she had increased the scale. Spending some resources to replace what she had moved as well.

Immediately before her final floor was the floor for her new ant queen. Lilia was a natural choice for the boss, and the floor would present a new challenge for adventurers. Afterall the chief threat was not the puzzles and traps, but the ants. She built the floor as discussed, and as such, it was both her nineteenth and eighteenth floor. Being vast and open, she had decided that the best way to balance it was to encourage adventurers to explore. Hidden paths and loot abounded on the floors. By far her most lucratively designed floor, the rewards here would be far higher.

For her seventeenth floor she had decided to build on Meira’s idea of a town on a lake. The floor was a large lake, and in the center was a large town built not unlike a certain Italian city with some differences of course. The town was the only safe zone on the floor, and she had placed a number of caves under the lake’s calm surface. One of which hid the path to the next floor. The town itself looked like it was rising out of the lake, it had sidewalks and bridges to connect the buildings, but between all the buildings were wide waterways. She quickly populated the town with mainly aquatic demons, but others were there as well. Aquatha demons would be most common here, and she was looking forward to people trying out this floor.

As for sixteen, she made it a nice rest floor. It was right after a major boss fight, so it seemed appropriate. It was a small floor, with a modest town placed in a forest. She made the forest a nice relaxing place for a walk with warm pleasant weather. Naturally even a rest floor would be a good place for corruption, and she had placed some nice establishments there to aid with that idea.

That was the gist of what she was planning, she just needed to finish it. She already built all the key parts, now it was just fleshing things out. Putting in those details, placing the traps and puzzles, and populating the floors with monsters. As she started with that, she glanced to the corner, where Melisa was sleeping. Her head rested comfortably in Meira’s lap, who seemed to have fallen asleep as well at some point. It looked quite cute honestly. As for Tammi(Thomas), she had already gone to bed for the night, and she had left just a few minutes ago. So she suspected that she was about to find out what her sister had been doing.

Now that she thought about it, she could use a brief break to distract from the pains of growing her dungeon. Perhaps she should look in on those two, and besides it might also be good to check in on Lily. Her mother especially might need attention given what happened. Besides, her friends were certainly more accepting of Lust Demon culture than her. Well, the one was a little reluctant to shed her clothes, but the other had no problems walking around naked. It might be fun to see how Ivy would react when she found out about that. So she shifted her attention to check on both groups and found that Ivy had not yet found out about her friends. She was waiting by the door, a note in hand, and clearly nervous as she stood naked in her front room. Misaki checked the note and giggled after she read it. It simply said that they were going to be late, as they were going to get some extra shopping done before coming back with the groceries. Something Misaki knew was not true.

So she decided to shift her attention to Tammi and Amy finding she was just in time for the show. Shifting in her chair, she made herself more comfortable as she watched the events unfold.