Around midday, while Phyllis and Misaki had joined in on the Kuron dress up session, a group of fairies flew into the guild hall. All of them were beautiful, and clearly sisters. Like most fairies, they were rather small with the tallest being about fifty centimeters tall. Which was about average for the race, given an average height of forty-five. Sarah had heard that greater fairies, while still small, were larger with an average height of ninety centimeters.

There seemed to be a mix in the ages of the group, and they headed straight for her desk. One of them, clearly older, with vibrant pink hair cascading down her back and delicate translucent white wings with swirling patterns of gold and silver poking through, stepped forward. In a quick motion, Sarah looked her over. She was about forty-seven centimeters tall, had a modest chest, and figure. She seemed well-fed, but clearly didn’t get out much or really exercise. Her skin was pale, and there wasn’t a lot of muscle on her frame. Her face was quite familiar, while different and more mature, it reminded Sarah of Suzu. She looked at the others and noticed a pattern.

Before the fairy could even speak, she sighed, and said, “If you are looking for Suzu, I suggest you find an inn. I’ll let you know when she gets back.”

The older fairy glared, “What do you mean gets back? She said she was going to meet us here. Why isn’t she waiting for us?”

Sarah let out another breath and wished Airi or one of her sisters was here right now. She needed something to pet, but Airi had just gone to the toilet. She had sent her there just a minute ago when she noticed that she needed to go. She already had a feeling this woman would be rather troublesome. “Adventurer Suzu and her party spend most of their time in the dungeon. Last I heard they were on floor twelve, but since they tend to be the leading party it’s hard to know where they are. Very few parties can even reach the tenth floor, so we don’t even have an adequate presence that deep.”

The woman’s whole demeanor changed, “You mean you are letting my baby do the dangerous work? What if she got hurt, or worse killed?”

Sarah schooled her features. It wasn’t the first time, she had to deal with an ignorant mother, and she responded, “It’s not all that dangerous pushing the frontier on this dungeon. Challenging, but not dangerous. It’s a nonlethal dungeon.”

She deliberately chose not to mention that there was a chance that an adventurer never came back, and ended up a dungeon pet. Then there was the rather high risk of being corrupted by lust. Being a lust dungeon, many came back a little different. Some were even willing thralls of other adventurers or demons. Not that the guild could really do anything about that. At least as long as the thralls continued to follow guild rules, which they did. Sarah knew that Suzu had become enthralled with the demon Aki who was the party leader now. The guild certainly had a good arrangement with that party. The dungeon got to test its floors, and adjust them. While the guild got info on floors other parties had not reached yet. From experience, she had learned when to strategically withhold information, and this was one of those times.

The woman gave her a look, “Don’t give me that crap! I’m not stupid. Nonlethal dungeons are worse than the lethal ones. My baby shouldn’t be risking curses in a dungeon. Now you will send someone, and bring her back here! Now!”

Sarah tried to keep her voice neutral and really wished Airi would hurry up. It was so calming to have a cute girl in her lap, and enjoying her affections. A few of these fairies technically qualified, but they were all too damn small for her tastes. Speaking of the other fairies, they seemed to be cringing and keeping their distance from mommy. It seemed they didn’t want to get involved.

“I don’t think you heard me. Her last reported position is on the twelfth floor. There aren’t any adventurers available that can go that deep. Even if there were, the guild isn’t going to risk a party to retrieve an adult old enough to make her own choices.”

The woman seemed very mad, “Now look here. If you aren’t going to send someone, bring someone who can.”

Sarah hated dealing with people like this. It would be nice if she could just get the guild master, but she was busy enjoying some time with her friends. Something Sarah was reluctant to interrupt just for an irate mother throwing a temper tantrum. She shifted tones, and said, “Adventurer Suzu is fine. Just wait, knowing her she will be back in about three days. If she isn’t back by then, I’ll review your request to send a party after her.”

In a huff, the fairy turned around, and declared, “Come on girls, we are going to retrieve your sister.”

The girls groaned but moved to follow. Sarah concerned said, “I really suggest that you wait. It’s not a good idea to go into the dungeon uninformed, and underprepared.”

The woman glared, and said, “We’ll be fine. I have destroyed hundreds of monsters with my magic. A young dungeon’s creatures won’t be a problem.”

She was out the door before Sarah could stop her. She sighed and noticed Airi coming back clearly finished with her bathroom break. Sarah signaled her over, really needing the calming sensation of petting a cute girl. In her mind, she wrote off those girls. They likely would not be back quite the same. Suzu was a dark fairy now. It was kind of hard not to notice that she had been corrupted by the dungeon. Airi entered her lap, and she pushed those thoughts aside. Focusing her attention on Airi instead, and relishing in the relaxing petting session she was giving Airi.

The young fairy had a twisting in her gut as she flew after her mother reluctantly. She knew that chasing after Suzu was a bad idea. Suzu was an experienced adventurer, and she knew this dungeon. All they knew about the dungeon was that it was young. Mom never even asked what kind of dungeon it was. A question she knew they needed to ask. The answer would affect how they tackled its challenges. Suzu had told her a bit about dungeons, and that same knowledge was why she was so worried about going in like this.

Unfortunately, when her mother was like this talking to her was rather difficult. She sighed and held back what she wanted to say. All she could do was hope that Mom would cool off before things got difficult. The first floor of a dungeon was usually easy, it mostly sets the tone for the rest of it. Otherwise, the floor was nothing special, just enough to get your feet wet.

Before she knew it, they had reached the dungeon entrance. Her mom just went right in without even pausing. She puffed and followed after her. Mom was already fighting the first two guardians, and the first thing she noticed was that they resembled small girls. Both had horns, red eyes, and tails. They were of different variants but she recognized them. They were both demons.

She dodged a spell and then watched one go down to a lightning bolt cast by mom. Her level clearly showed in how quickly she dispatched the demon. Despite the debuffs she had from not exercising regularly. Sure those affected an individual’s physical stats more than the magical ones, but all stats were affected. Her magic was a full ten percent weaker than it should be, and slower to cast as well. It had something to do with how the physical body affected a mage’s ability to use their magic.

The young fairy chanted a spell of her own, and a bolt of pure light flew from her palms. It slammed into the second demon’s side and singed her tail, but otherwise, the cat demon was fine. She internally cursed the high magic resistance of demons. Her own level was okay, and normally she would wipe out a group of monsters with levels this low, but that magic resistance changed things. For a race that specialized in magic, there was no greater counter than a race that was resistant to magic. Even her mother who had a respectable level of fifty-five would struggle against weaker demons because of it. Well not these two, as evidenced by one of her sisters finishing the last one.

Mother didn’t even pause when it went down and headed deeper into the dungeon. She looked at her four sisters, and they all shared a look of understanding between them. None of them wanted to be here, and they all knew this was stupid. It would be easier if they could just leave their mother, and wait for her to come to her senses. They couldn’t though, it would not sit well with their conscience if they left her to face the challenges alone. They followed, but none of them were happy about it. She considered mentioning that they had just fought a pair of demons, but the words died in her throat. The young fairy didn’t want to frighten her sisters, and that fear kept her from speaking.

Before long they came across a fork in the path. Her mother paused for a moment, looked both directions, and turned right. The young fairy sighed and followed her, along with her sisters. They were already deeper in the dungeon than she would have liked. At least they didn’t have to worry about traps so far. If there were any, they weren’t triggered by mechanisms that could be tripped by a flying delver. She just hoped mom calmed down, before they were beset by anything challenging. 

The tunnel they were following turned back towards the entrance, and Mom went down the turn without a thought. She paused, but followed after. The young fairy had a feeling they were going the wrong way. Not that it really mattered, it gave mom a little more time to cool down.

Before long they reached a single small room, with about a half dozen demons standing around. There were no other exits, but there were three chests against the rear wall. They stopped for a moment, and then suddenly there was a clattering sound behind them. The young fairy looked back to see that the passage had collapsed, and two more demons were behind them. They were now facing eight demons, and had no way out. This wasn’t looking good.