Reiko shifted slightly in her seat. She and her mother had been talking for the past few hours at a table in the room she shared with her master Misaki. While her sister occasionally made comments, and statements from the closet. Which Misaki had opened for them when they got here. Most of their talk had been getting each other caught up on events in their lives. She had learned that things hadn’t really changed from her time in the castle. At least in public, in private it was a different story. Her father was so worried about her that he had started drinking. Her sisters had started finding tasks to distract themselves, and her brother the prince had thrown himself into his training. 

“So, it was bandits just like we thought,” said Eriko interrupting her daughter’s recount of how she ended up a pet.

“Well partly. As I was saying I was in my carriage when the bandits attacked. It was a fairly large party, and my guards fought well. As soon as I heard the commotion I had left the carriage to find out what was happening. An arrow bounced off my barrier the moment I did, and I quickly found myself fighting for my life. Ultimately there were too many and my guards were barely able to create an opening for me to escape. As for the bandits, they were better trained and equipped than your average bandit,” said Reiko.

“Are you saying that you think someone staged the attack?” asked Eriko.

“At the very least someone was supporting them,” said Reiko.

“I’ll have someone look into that,” said Eriko.

“Don’t know why anyone was after your life. I can’t see anyone benefiting from your death,” commented her sister.

“I think they were trying to take me alive, but I managed to lose them in the woods. Although I had gotten hopelessly lost in the process. By the time the sun was setting, I was exhausted and just looking for shelter. When I came across a dark shrine. Passing its wards, I settled on the floor of the shrine. It felt safe enough, so I started tending my wounds. Of course, I did something stupid while I was there. I offered up a prayer to Yiran the god of the forest, that was a big mistake. Just not my first that night. Next thing I knew I was waking up in the grass in my underwear with a dark goddess. I made my second mistake by offering a prayer to Yiran in front of her. Yiran was all pissy from the last prayer, and well he had given me to her. Which meant I had technically insulted my new patron. Despite that, she kindly explained, what happened and gave me a quest. It was actually a really good quest now that I look back.

I should have humbly accepted the quest and asked for advice, but instead, I tried to refuse it because I didn’t like some of the rewards. It was only after she didn’t let me that I tried digging for extra info. The only info she gave me was demoralizing, to say the least. I don’t blame her on that. I was rude and disrespectful so honestly I got off kind of easy. With her forcing me to challenge this dungeon in my underwear and barely any info on it. Needless to say, I made another mistake in the dungeon, which led to me being reduced to a pet,” said Reiko.

“What’s this baby sis is actually admitting to her mistakes!!?” said her sister.

“My baby girl is growing up,” responded her Mom. While Reiko shrank into her seat as she felt a rush of emotions. Just then her sister came out of the closet with an armload of outfits. Reiko shuddered as she knew that her sister just loved to play dress up and every time she was the doll.

“Uh, sis I’m not playing dress-up,” said Reiko.

“Why not you’re already the perfect dress-up doll,” said her sister.

“Mei, I’m not a doll! I’m still a princess,” replied Reiko in a raised voice, followed by a pout.

“Yeah, a pet princess which as I recall can’t even dress herself anymore. Which sounds a lot like a doll to me,” replied Mei. Reiko was surprised by the mention of her changed subclass. She knew her sister wasn’t any good with analyze and that she had set that title and subclass as hidden. 

“How do you know about it? I never told you about it, and I know you aren’t any good with analyze. Also, that subclass means you can’t dress me either,” replied Reiko. Her sister only laughed, and then said, “Your master told me about it. She also gave me permission to play dress-up with you”

“Well, it’s nice to see some things haven’t changed. Go play with your sister,” said Eriko. Reiko decided not to push the point further. Once Mom got involved she knew it was better to drop the point. Although there were many games she would rather play with her sister than dress up. As she slipped out of the chair she wondered if she could get her sister to play something else with her later.

A minute later Eriko slipped out of the room to find a couple of her maids talking with the local demon maids. One of which was a naked cat girl with only a ribbon on her tail. The maids were having a talk about their jobs. The demons though had more tips about how to get your boss’s sexual attention than anything else. She chose to ignore the sexual side of their conversation. As for the naked demon, that was also easy for her to ignore as she had prior dealings with demons. Therefore she knew it was socially acceptable for demons to walk around naked if they so desired. Even if she preferred the girl having some clothing on. Approaching the maids she conversed with them briefly to find out where the guild master and the dungeon avatar went. The naked demon smiled, and happily told her that she would lead the way. She was vaguely aware of two of her guards following her as the maid led the way.

She found the two she was looking for behind the castle. The two were in the middle of a large garden sitting on a blanket in a large clearing. In front of them was some kind of structure that was slowly growing out of the ground. Neither seemed to be paying the structure any kind of attention. Instead, their focus was on the game between them. The game was one she recognized. It was quite a common board game in the region. The game is played with carved figurines on a ten by ten grid. Each player is given twenty pieces of black or white. Ten of these pieces are called pawns. The others breakdown as two towers, two knights, two priestesses, a queen, a king, and two mages. In her opinion, the mage was the strongest. It could move up to five squares in straight lines ( but not diagonal lines) and can jump over a piece once. The knight could also jump over pieces, but could only move four squares in an L shape. The tower can move any number of squares, but only in straight lines. While the priestess was the same, but could only move in diagonals. The queen had the strengths of both pieces. The pawn could only move forward up to two spaces, while the king could move in any direction, but only one square.

Looking at the board it was pretty obvious that Phyllis was winning. She had only lost five pieces and captured fifteen. It looked like she was only two moves away from checkmate. Eriko sat down next to them, and asked, “So what is with the growing crystal structure?”

“Well all I’m willing to tell you is that I need it for a different ritual. One I’m only willing to use as a last resort. Anyway, can I help you?” replied Misaki.

“I was just leaving my daughters alone for a while. They’re playing dress-up,” said Eriko.

“That might be interesting to watch. Reiko hates dress up,” replied Misaki.

“I know most girls love dress up, but not Reiko,” commented Eriko. “Anyway, I’m impressed that you noticed.”

“Not hard to notice. I have been responsible for making sure she was dressed for months now. That simple-minded trait made it impossible for her to hide anything about herself,” said Misaki as she made her move on the board. Then Phyllis instantly made her next move and declared, “Checkmate.”

“Yeah, it was quite shocking to see how that daughter of mine was behaving when I got here,” said Eriko, “anyway I would like to see her in proper clothes before I head home.”

“I actually expected you to try and negotiate for her, but you're just going to go home?” asked Misaki.

“Well I am going to put in a gate so I can visit every once in a while, but Reiko needs room to grow. This looks like a good place for her, and I think she really likes you two,” said Eriko.

“Yeah, I wasn’t sure what it was before the ritual, but she hasn’t changed the way she is looking at us. Anyway, are you sure you are alright with that. We’re both girls, afterall,” said Misaki no longer feeling funny about that admission. Phyllis squirmed slightly, but otherwise showed no reaction to the statement.

“Two girls that can procreate with each other,” commented Eriko.

“Huh, we aren’t even showing yet! How do you know that?” responded the two simultaneously.

“That will be my little secret,” replied Eriko with a coy smile.

Elsewhere in the dungeon, Eris was currently watching her nest. Her young produced from coupling with Phyllis and Misaki had already hatched. Eight child stage infiltrator breeds were currently feeding on a pair of young girls that had been procured by her sisters for this purpose. The two girls had been members of an adventuring party that had a bad run of luck and been knocked out on the fourth floor. Her sisters had been going up to the dungeon town to find a couple of healthy girls to feed the young and brought these two back when they came across them.

Both girls were already implanted with neurocites making them part of the swarm. Which meant they were now highly cooperative with the feeding. Shifting to her feet, she moved out of the room and headed to the neighboring room to check on Milith. She was still weak, but unlike the last time she checked on her the girl was actually awake, but she was clearly tired.

“Do you have something to eat? I feel like I’m starving,” said Milith telepathically the moment she entered the room. She knelt down next Milith and brought her mouth to her chest. “Have some of my milk, I’ll have some meat and fish prepared for when you wake next,” replied Eris telepathically. She heard Milith mutter about it being a bit embarrassing before proceeding to suckle. A few minutes later she was asleep again, and when Eris was certain she had her fill. She put her back down gently before making sure her sisters knew to start collecting the large quantity of fresh meat and fish that she knew Milith would need. She guessed she would wake up again in a few hours, and the milk would only tide her over for that time anyway. She guessed they would be hunting for her for a while, since she was in no shape to hunt herself. Not only that, but in her condition, she would be vulnerable to her enemies.

As Eris thought about it, she decided to go ask Misaki to create a hunting ground in the dungeon. She could think of several good reasons for the proposal so she left Milith and made her way toward Misaki’s Throne Room. She was likely to be there given the hour. Leaving her nest area she found the corridors to be a little more crowded than the norm, but not enough to impede her.

Reaching the throne room she found it to be empty with no one there. She hadn’t been here long enough to draw any conclusions about this. So instead she considered the next likely spot and headed down the corridors to Misaki’s bedroom. Reaching the bedroom, she found a group of maids deep in a discussion about sexual techniques. They were too busy talking with each other to pay any attention to the naked Swarm Queen so she entered the room.

“Fine, I’ll wear the silly dress, but not the panties!” said Reiko.

“Why not!? You will look cute in them,” said the other girl that looked a lot like a small Reiko.

“Cause they will feel weird like the last several pairs you put me in!” replied Reiko. Curious Eris probed their minds.  Almost instantly she knew what the root of the problem was. She briefly considered mediating, but decided she didn’t need to. As for the problem, Reiko hadn’t worn a single pair of panties since she got here, and was no longer used to them. So it felt weird for her to wear them. Seeing as neither knew where Misaki was, she stepped out and telepathically probed the maids. She chose to probe them since she didn’t want to bother them. Stepping past the maids she headed to the garden behind the castle.

Sure enough, she found her in the castle garden with Phyllis and the Elven Queen. Eris walked over to the group and sat down, before introducing herself.

“So can I do something for you Eris?” asked Misaki, wondering why she was here. She had expected her to stay in her nest all day long.

“Could you create a hunting ground in your dungeon? Milith woke up earlier, and I would like to have some fresh meat and fish for her when she wakes up again. I was hoping you would be able to help me out, by creating a hunting ground,” said Eris.

“A hunting ground? I guess I could create one. Might make a good attraction. Sure I will make one,” replied Misaki.