Misaki was sitting in the garden, behind her castle. It had become a habit over the last few months. Her pregnancy was showing now. Along with it came new aches and pains. Eriko had been a real help with those when they’d started. It made her glad that she visited regularly via that gate she had set up in the new hunting ground. She had used her dungeon law ability to make special rules for the hunting ground and the gate on said grounds. Her dungeon law prevented the gate from being used by anyone who wasn’t a Stormwind. Since she had placed the hunting ground on her tenth floor she didn’t want just anyone waltzing into the dungeon from that gate. Of course she keyed the gate so that the Stormwind’s could bring a few maids with them. They could at most bring with them eight people, who must all be of a level lower than them.

She had also placed the entire hunting ground on a separate sky island. That way even if someone with ill intentions entered, they still had to challenge the floor to reach her. Of course, she had added a pair of hidden air docks for the Stormwinds to visit her town with. Again she had added special rules to those docks to avoid their misuse. She had found that the rules allowed her to make traps that would normally be downright illegal, since this was a special access backdoor. She had created a trap that would curse anyone that used the passage without authorization from her. Then they would be kicked out of the dungeon, teleporting them to the entrance. Since this trap was for a backdoor, she didn’t have to make it avoidable or create a puzzle or something that disarms it. Right now, however, her thoughts were on Phyllis who was practically stuck near the toilet. Her pregnancy had hit her harder than it had Misaki. Who was glad she didn’t have to deal with morning sickness. Both though were dealing with cravings.

Phyllis wasn’t handling the morning sickness very well, but she didn’t really know what she could do for her. Eriko had given her the recipe for an herbal remedy that helped, but she still ended up stuck near a toilet for a few hours each day heaving. Getting up, she found she had a newfound respect for mothers. Using her dungeon sight she checked in on Phyllis and found that she was currently in her kitchen looking miserable. While one of the maids was preparing her morning dose of the remedy. She then thought about Milith and decided to check on her personally.

She found Milith on the edge of the hunting grounds, resting against a rock and sitting on a blanket. Sitting on the blanket were several large plates stacked with prepared food, mostly meat and fish dishes. Nearby were several sisters of the swarm, all of which were busy preparing more. One was sitting next to her practically swooning over her. Eris was nowhere to be seen, but she suspected she was busy caring for her latest clutch of eggs. They hadn’t helped her with that group of eggs, but rather an unfortunate adventurer who got separated from his party. His party had actually made it to the sixth floor. Eris had sent him back to the entrance as a girl after having her fun with him. Misaki had found the entire incident rather amusing.

She settled down next to Milith and asked her, “How are you doing today?”

“My muscles still feel like jelly, and it still hurts to even use magic. Otherwise, I’m just fine if a little hungry,” replied Milith after swallowing a mouthful of fish.

“Uh, a little hungry doesn’t quite cover this. You have a feast set out before you,” said Misaki.

“Well, I did say my kind don’t eat very often right?” said Milith.

“I think I recall hearing that. Then again I don’t know much about your race,” said Misaki.

“Well, while my kind don’t eat often, when we do eat it is in large quantities. Of course, there are those who eat more often. Those who do need smaller quantities when they eat. Is there anything specific you want to know about my race?” asked Milith.

“Are the rumors true about you being related to dragons? What is your home like? What kind of fashions are the norm? Is your size normal and what do the men look like?” said Misaki asking of a string of questions.

“Hey, slow down, I’ll answer some of those questions. The rumors do have a grain of truth to them. We are indeed related to dragons, but not the way the rumors say we are,” said Milith.

“What does that mean?” asked Misaki, confused.

“It's not all that important. As for your other questions, I’m actually a little on the tall side for a girl. As for what the boys look like. They are a bit bigger than us girls, and rougher in appearance. Unlike human males, they don’t develop those ridiculous bulging muscles. Nor do they grow any of that body hair that is so popular with human men. Mostly because as a race we don’t grow body hair at all. Instead, we grow scales. Physically the only major difference between genders is size, with the male being a good ten to twenty centimeters larger on average. Most of our gender differences manifest in our magic. Women tend to be inherently better at control, while men usually have more spell power.

As for fashion, well, we aren’t really big on that. Makeup is highly unpopular with us. After all, why use lipstick, when you can just alter your lips to make them look better? Clothing tends to be minimalistic since we enjoy showing off our bodies, and as for jewelry. We prefer practical jewelry. So most of our rings, bracelets, hair clips and the like are multi-functional. For example, a girl might be wearing a bracelet. Well that bracelet not only looks good, but it likely also serves as a communication device, microcomputer, storage device, and timekeeper. Along with any other features, she might have wanted,” said Milith.

“That does make a lot of sense and a lot of it seems obvious in hindsight. So out of curiosity, are there any other races you are related to?” asked Misaki.

“Yes, three races. We are related to the Terrans, the Cavalonians, and the extinct Ancient Human races,” answered Milith.

“Wait you’re related to humans? How is that possible?” asked Misaki.

“That easy. I assume you noticed how adaptable humans are? Well, Humans can metamorph into any sentient humanoid race given the right conditions. Our race was forged in the fires of an ancient storm from a group of Ancient Humans. Now before you ask the difference between modern humans and ancient humans is that the ancient humans we came from didn’t possess magic. They just couldn’t use it,” said Milith.

“Related to both humans and dragons? Wouldn’t that mean you are technically half-dragons?” said Misaki.

“No, it doesn’t. It would take too long to explain why, however,” said Milith. Taking the hint, Misaki got up. It was clear the Milith was getting bored answering the questions, and wasn’t going to answer anymore. So she decided to go looking for Reiko. She didn’t have much to do today. The church of light had been gathering in town, but so far she hadn’t seen anyone worth worrying about. Still she found that concerning as well, but there wasn’t anything she could do about it. Not only that but she had other things to worry about. Her search for Reiko ended as soon as it began, as something drew her attention to the people from the church. Someone new had arrived.

The person who drew her attention was a large man in heavy armor. She didn’t see a lot of heavy armor as most adventurers preferred light armor. Often choosing to use leather armor as it was easier and cheaper than steel armor. Not only that, but it weighed a fraction and didn’t impede mobility as much. Still, there was often at least one person in any given party that had heavy armor. They were often served the party by protecting the mages and healers, and needed the extra protection to help shrug off attacks. This person felt like a paladin, but his aura seemed stronger. A quick cast of analyze later and she learned that he was an Arch Paladin named Nathanial. Even worse he had crossed the threshold of level two hundred. As such he had apparently been through a second evolution. He was still human, but he had a much stronger affinity for Light and Celestial magic. His musculature was far denser than normal as well. Apparently he was something called a Lesser Celestial Human. Which might explain why his presence had drawn her attention. Her natural magic was infernal in nature, and as such his aura was laced with magic that was anathema to hers.

He had so much of it leaking of him, that his presence made her uncomfortable. So she started to listen in on the conversation. 

“Alright Darious, I heard you had a little problem. What exactly can I help you with?” said Nathanial.

“Remember, that world event? Well the girl wanted by the gods is here in this town. She is being protected by a high-level Arch-spellsword. Who has hidden her somewhere in the town. Since she seems to have a relationship with the dungeon, I suspect the girl is also in the dungeon,” said Darious.

“This is the dungeon that our god wanted bound to him right? Why is it still being allowed to produce this tainted mana?” asked Nathanial.

“The group that was supposed to bind it, never came back. It seems they decided to defect to the dungeon,” replied Darious.

“Those of little faith will be brought back into line. I’ll start looking into this dungeon. Give me a few days, and then we can start looking,” said Nathanial.

“I thought you would want to go immediately,” said Darious.

“Only a fool would challenge a dungeon without preparations. Even young dungeons can be a dangerous opponent to the unprepared,” said Nathanial.

Misaki did not like what she had heard. She still had several months left on her divine quest and someone that could seriously hurt her chances of completing it had already appeared. Worse she didn’t think Phyllis was in any condition to fight him off for her. She had recently finished that ritual chamber, and it was looking like she would need to use. She decided to talk with Phyllis about this first however. Hoping she would have an idea, something that didn’t involve a contract with a powerful being.