The tailor’s shop turned out to be an interesting experience. Misaki didn’t know why, but she found that she really enjoyed trying on all the new clothes the tailor-made her try on. She found herself drawn to the more revealing options, but she had already figured out it was due to her lust demon heritage. Most of the lust demons in her dungeon preferred revealing clothes as well. As she was trying on the clothes she also, noticed Philip squirming a bit trying to find an opportunity to get out of here and clearly uncomfortable with the situation.

“Let’s see how you look in this,” said the tailor as she brought out a silver dress. It was cut low and would end halfway down Misaki’s thighs. A diamond shape in the middle of the dress revealed her stomach, and the dress only covered the bottom half of her boobs, and hung from her shoulders by a pair of thin straps. As Misaki looked at herself in the mirror, she liked the appearance. This wasn’t the first dress they had her try on, and she was pretty sure if she had still been Human she would have lost track by this point. In fact, this was the sixty-seventh dress they had made her try. The first twelve had been childish and covered too much, after much protest from her she had gotten them to try putting her in more revealing clothes, which she found more comfortable.

“I like it, very comfortable,” said Misaki then she glanced over at Philip, who seems to have given up and was just letting Sarah pet her. “Hey do want to try something on, too,” asked Misaki in the cutest tone she could manage.

“No, no I’m good,” said Philip as she remembered yesterday’s nightmare of being a dress-up doll. Something she didn’t want to repeat. She was much happier right here, stuck in  Susan’s lap.

“Are you sure? I don’t want to hog all the fun,” said Misaki, while putting a slight pout on her face.

“That's a great idea! I have a few more outfits for you to try on too!” said the tailor before Philip could reply. Philip who was seeing where this was going, turned pale and then said with a hopeful tone, “maybe we could go out and eat something, Jasmine was setting up a restaurant and I think she was planning to open today.”

“It’s a little early for food, go on and try some clothes on. We can look up Jasmine later,” said Susan as she pushed Philip towards the tailor. Misaki had no idea who this Jasmine person was so she asked. While Philip tried another protest, about being a dress-up doll to no avail, Melisa proceeded to explain.

“Jasmine is a good friend of Philip’s, she used to follow her around on adventures when she was still a boy. She is a little older than Philip and a great cook, but don’t let her appearance fool you she is also a former A rank adventurer,” said Melisa. Misaki hearing the good cook part found herself interested, while as a dungeon she didn’t need to eat she still enjoyed a good meal. She had made a habit of late, of having her maids prepare food for her to enjoy.

“Good cook! What is her cooking like? What kind of dishes does she make? When can I meet her?” asked Misaki curious about a good cook and a bit excited as well. Philip who was a bit desperate to get out of, being a dress-up doll latched onto Misaki’s curiosity and tried to convince the others that visiting the restaurant now was a good idea. Not that it helped much, she still ended up trying a number of different dresses on, before they finally left the shop. The dress Philip finally ended up in was a purple dress, that fell to her knees and had a large number of ribbons and frills. It looked great on her, but she wasn’t comfortable in it, she was too used to pants and wasn’t quite used to a dress yet.

Walking out of the tailor shop the group headed down the dirt road toward several stall set along the road. Jasmine's new restaurant turned out to be a stall with several tables set out in front. Misaki looked around with interest and relished the smell of cooking meat. Jasmine was an older woman, but she still had her looks. She was of about average height for a Human, with long auburn hair that fell halfway down her back and was done up in a braid. She had a strong gaze and a firm figure. She was wearing a simple dress and an apron which concealed her figure well. She was standing behind the stall over a built-in charcoal grill cooking some meat when the group approached. The meat looked like a good old fashioned steak, but it most certainly didn’t smell like one. On a second grill to her left, she had a mixture of seasoned vegetables that she was grilling.

Misaki wasn’t sure what the meat was, but it was seasoned in a number of common spices, that she could identify since she had seen them in the dungeon store as treasures. Curious what the meat was she used the skill Analyze on it. Turned out the meat came from a type of magic beast that resembled a large boar with reddish fur and a thick sharp horn on its forehead, which was unimaginatively called a horned boar. Melisa walked up to the stall and spoke briefly with Jasmine.

They then gathered around one of the tables and a few minutes later, Jasmine brought some plates out. When she saw Philip she smiled and then said, “I heard you got turned into a girl, but I can’t believe how cute you are!” Moments before she gave Philip a hug and ruffled her hair Philip took advantage of her proximity to quietly ask Jasmine a question.

“Could you help me find the three who did this to me, so I could go back to the way I was?” asked Philip, quietly.

“Now, why would I do that? You’re so much cuter this way!” replied Jasmine with a smile, before heading back to her grill. Philip watched her go in surprise, of all the people she knew, Jasmine was the one she had most expected to help her, not leave her out to dry. Misaki, on the other hand, was trying her boar steak, finding it to be absolutely delicious and worth being dragged out of her dungeon for. She then tried the grilled vegetables, she normally didn’t care for vegetables, but these were well seasoned and tasted great.

The rest of the meal was mostly uneventful. After the meal Philip found herself being dragged around the young town, shopping. While the shopping district wasn’t exactly developed yet, a few shops had already sprung up. Including a couple of armor shops, a blacksmith, and a general goods store. Most of the shops that had appeared were nothing more than an open-air stall with some goods on display, that the shopkeepers had to pack up every night or risk them getting stolen. The group stopped at one such stall where a kindly older man was selling jewelry, most of it was enchanted, with some basic enchantments. He had a number of rings, called Ring of Minor Protection. These rings had a simple enchantment that reduces incoming damage by 10, useful especially for new adventurers. The real advantage of rings like these is that the bonus stacks with armor and other protection enchantments you have up to a limit of 12. The downside is that enchanted rings are expensive, so few adventurers could afford to have more than one.

The girls found a couple of pieces of jewelry, that they liked and then browsed the other shops. Philip finally got away a little after sundown, but she was too tired to go looking for the three responsible for turning her into a girl. So she headed straight home, but she made sure she locked the doors and had multiple detection wards up before going to bed. Misaki had fun exploring the town and browsing the shops. She didn’t know if it was her instincts as a dungeon or something else, but she found that she had a knack for finding the treasures at any given shop. She even traded for a few items she found, she was going to copy them and place them in chests as treasures in her dungeon.

When the group, finally broke about Misaki took her treasures and went back to the dungeon. Although she internally wished she had purchased dungeon gates, but that was expensive and she was saving her dp for other things. Fortunately, she knew her dungeon quite well and used her hidden passages to reach her castle in half the time it took Philip to drag her out, without getting covered in mud and leaves.

Daniel POV:

The next morning Daniel and a few priests and acolytes gathered in front of the dungeon. She looked at the group, their levels varied a bit with the acolytes being around level 20 and the priests around 30. Daniel herself was level 33, not that her level helped her last run, her group had managed to reach the third floor, only to be wiped out by the first trap they had come across. The trap was a monster room trap that summoned three waves of monsters that you had to fight off, since the exit was blocked by the trap.

Thinking to herself, she was pretty sure she didn’t want this mission to succeed. The church wasn’t what she had thought it to be back when she had joined, and she had no doubt they would use the dungeon for evil if their mission to capture the dungeon succeeded. As a result, she was now weighing the risks, she had the perfect plan for keeping the dungeon safe from the church’s machinations, but to do it, she would have to give up ever being a man again.

Her plan, involved the floor transfer trap, on the second floor. She would lead them through the dungeon to the trap, where she would deliberately activate the trap. Being dropped into the cells would make things far more difficult for the party. Losing this group to the dungeon would be a major setback for the church, as they would have to put together another group, which would then need to familiarize itself with the dungeon, before they could even attempt to capture the dungeon a second time. Of course, merely dropping her group into the cells, wouldn’t be enough to ensure their mission fails. Two of the members for the group were rogues, who specialized in unlocking doors and disarming traps, to ensure the party fails she would have to betray the group and kill these two.

She was pretty sure she could do it if she timed the betrayal just right, but the party would then kill her which was why she would never be a man again. Since a second death in this dungeon makes the curse permanent. The other downside for her plan was that she would end up being a dungeon pet, and she had no idea if she wanted to be one. On the other hand, being a pet sounds way better than being a slave, and she was sure if she returned after a second failure, that she would end up a slave. Just as she was about to make her decision, a wave of strange energy washed over her.

Misaki was taking a bath in her dungeon, as part of her morning ritual when she felt a wave of strange energy wash over her, it felt ancient and partly divine. Curious she asked Dewari what this energy was only to receive a strange answer.

“Something has happened in the realms beyond, an ancient being has awoken and the resulting energy is being felt across all the realms. Just leave me alone, we need to reinforce some old seals because of this,” replied Dewari.

Milith was talking with Elly and answering a question on her eating habits, when she felt the energy wash over her. Energy she recognized as being, similar to her own and her mother’s, only far older than even her mothers. While she wasn’t sure who this energy belongs too, she had a pretty good guess, her grandfather.

“We’re omnivores, but we have a preference for a diet of meat, fish and some fruits. Just we don’t eat very often, I like fish most and usually eat once every three to four months,” said Milith answering the question just as the energy washed over her.

“What is with this strange energy,” said Elly.

“I don’t know, but I think my grandfather did something,” replied Milith.

“What does that mean?” asked Elly only to be answered with silence.