Misaki followed Phillip and her mother down the street. Listening in as her mother, Pafi gushed over her newfound daughter. Misaki found it kind of cute. It seemed she was very happy to find that she was expecting granddaughters in a few months. Behind them little Lilyn trailed behind them pouting. She was happy that she would have sisters, but when she learned that eight months was a fairly long time she started pouting. She obviously wanted to meet them sooner, but Misaki couldn’t do much about that. She hadn’t really been looking, but she didn’t recall seeing any spells for speeding up a birth. Although now that she thought about it, she did see one for slowing a pregnancy. Not that she paid much attention to it. Hmm, maybe she could ask Dewari about it?

The matter soon left her mind, as they drew near the guild and she noticed the crowd seemed... more energetic than normal. There was a lot of gossip going on at the moment, which made her wonder if something was going on. She got her answer to that quite quickly when they filtered into the guild a minute later.

As soon as they were inside a well dressed elf noticed them and waved them over. Misaki couldn’t help but notice her four guards who were dressed in fancy armor. That was about all they had on, and they did seem slightly uncomfortable. Yet you wouldn’t know it just at a glance, as they professionally stood guard over their lady. She also noticed the other elf settled near her lady and wearing nothing but a pair of panties. Much to the apparent displeasure of her lady, but the lady was clearly trying not to show it.

When they drew closer, the lady addressed Phillip who had a fairly strange expression on her face. “I had heard something happened, but it’s hard to believe that knight I once met became such a cute girl.”

Phillip sighed, and bowed a bit, “Milady, I see even you have heard what happened.”

She waved Phillip off, “I did, not long after I arrived. Your staff was kind enough to inform me and there is no need to be so stiff. I am not here as a Royal. Just call me Eriko.”

“So, um Eriko? What brings you to my little part of the woods? If I had known you were coming I would have...”

“I know, that’s why I didn’t tell you, and it still took me longer than I thought it would.” She let out a breath before looking right at Misaki. “So, I hear I have you to thank for finding my daughter.”

Phillip blinked, “Huh?”

Misaki nodded, “Right, I forgot about that letter. I can take you to her now?”

Eriko chuckled, “I would like that, but first I have something to discuss.”

Misaki frowned, “Something more important than reuniting with family?”

As she settled into a seat a guard pulled out, Phillip dropped into another one, while her mother chose to stand a respectful distance away. Misaki also noticed the nearly naked mage casting a ward around the table. A privacy spell from the look of things, something to prevent eavesdroppers.

“A couple of things actually,” she glanced at Phillip. “One of which I would like to discuss privately, but first I mentioned my trip took a little longer than I would have liked.”

Misaki nodded, “I take it the first item has to deal with that?”

Eriko nodded, “It does, sadly. When I arrived at Sunblossom, I was almost immediately contacted by the local guard while I was arranging transport here. The details aren’t that important, but they had a problem they needed help with. A rather lost mermaid child.”

Misaki shot to her feet, “WHAT!? How does a mermaid end up this far inland?”

“From what she told me? It sounded like a mishap with warp magic. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to find her pod and I can’t just drop her in the middle of nowhere. So I brought her here. I figured even as young as you are, a dungeon would be willing to look after a lost child.”

“Gladly! I’ll take her in of course. I’m sure Lily would enjoy a new friend.” Then she sighed, “I’m just a little lacking in water, I have some ponds but nothing appropriate for a mermaid. They need space to swim after all.”

“That would be a problem,” replied Eriko, “But I am sure you can fix that when you are ready to grow a new floor.”

Sheepishly she scratched her cheek, “Actually, I’m rather ready to grow one now. I’ve been holding off since I want my current floors tested before I grow new ones.”

“Oh? I see and I can understand that.” She glanced at her four guards, “I guess we could help with that.”

“Sure, do you plan to fight or would you just observe?”

“I’ll observe, if you permit.”

Misaki smiled, “Done! Enjoy your run! It will give me time to prepare a proper reunion for you and Reiko.”

Phillip interjected, “What is Reiko doing in the dungeon anyway? I thought she was missing?”

Misaki sighed, “She was my very first challenger, and was just dropped on my doorstep.”

“Oh I see. Was it Tina?”

Misaki shook her head, “No, actually she apparently angered her former Patron and mine.”

Eriko sighed, “That sounds like my girl. Always doing something stupid.”

Phillip nodded, “She still hasn’t grown past that?”

“Sadly not, unless things have changed?”

Misaki considered telling her, but decided not to. Instead she changed  the subject. “So aside from the mermaid, what else did you want to talk about.”

“Phillip dear? Could you and your friends leave? I’d rather talk about this matter in private.”

Phillip nodded, and filled out of the ward. Along with her mother, who dragged Lilyn along. The little girl had been rather excited as she listened. Misaki merely ignored her as she chittered about possibly meeting a mermaid. The chittering ceased as she passed through the ward, or more like they could no longer hear it, but in return she would not be able to hear what they said. The ward worked both ways, after all.

The only people left inside were herself, Eriko and the mostly naked elf mage. Who was the one to speak, “Given you were the one who sent my queen the letter, I presume you registered with Phillip’s fledgling guild?”

Misaki blinked, “I uh, did at her aide Melisa’s suggestion. Why are we talking about that?”

The girl leaned forward, “So you did! I’ve heard dungeons can join a guild, but it’s so rare and never have I heard of it happening with a guild so young. I am curious; did you get a notification about the guild system?”

Misaki blinked, she wasn’t allowed to say, but then suddenly a new figure appeared as the wards changed, one entirely naked. Eriko sputtered a bit, as Dewari smiled, “Curious are we? You know that system isn’t to be talked about except by those in the know? You are lucky she is in the know.”

“Um, is it okay to talk about that here?”

“To a degree, I mainly chose to show up since I have something to discuss with young Eriko here.” Then she turned to Eriko, “I’ll be seeing you later at the shrine. We have quite a bit to discuss, and there are a few other matters to take care of.”

With that Dewari left, Misaki blinked, “Well that was something. So what did you want to know about the guild?”

“Well, fledgling guilds are different from established ones. In the past cases a bonded dungeon joined an established one, but we know they were granted a position by the system in the guild where they acted as the highest advisor to the guild master or mistress overseeing the local guild.”

Misaki nodded, “Yes, I was given the Position Mistress of the Dungeon, and have the highest authority on matters related to the dungeon.”

“I see, but how does that work when Phillip isn’t yet able to make the real decisions for the guild?”

Misaki fidgeted and turned a little red, ‘um well... “

Unable to find the words, she simply shared the old message she got when she joined the guild. 

She figured it was safe since Dewari suggested something along those lines and sure enough she got another message from the system. Skimming it she let out a sigh of relief it was alright.

Eriko giggled, “Oh? Poor Phillip finally got her dream job, and you control her guild. I hope you haven’t done anything too egregious.”

Misaki shook her head, “I tried to avoid doing anything big. Just set a few things that needed to be set sooner rather than later. Dungeon Policy, childcare policy, that sort of thing.” While leaving out the whole dress code she wrote.

The other two sighed, “Of course a dungeon would set the childcare policy. Mind sharing the one you thought up?”

She thought about it for a moment and then shared a window with the policy. Only it was the wrong one, while she was red she got to hear some interesting banter.

The nearly naked elf, chuckled, “Well Eriko, I guess this means you are rather overdressed”

She glared at the other elf, “Shiori!”

Shiori giggled, “Oh, don’t be like that, I liked the old you, before you went all hardcore textile.”

Eriko glared for a moment then sighed, “Anyway I guess we have things to do. A dungeon to visit and since Phillip’s mother is here, I guess we have a renaming ceremony to attend to.”

Misaki blinked, “What!!!?”