Chapter 24: 24: Ariadne’s Many Talents

Despite how badly you want to eat, despite your stomach’s wild protests, your common sense wins over. Barely. You can’t risk eating these no matter how you cook them. After all, some pufferfish are considered a delicacy in certain parts of the world but are deathly toxic if not prepared by experts. And what’s the point in testing the birds on your bunny girls if herbivores would get sick no matter what anyway?

Still, you don’t have it in you to leave the dead troglodytes be. But carry them in your hands? Pockets? Gross! Then you remember something. Something that happened almost immediately when you first arrived in this world. Sure, at the time everything was happening so fast, so you just went with it. But how did you forget? How did you not remember sooner?

You look at your sister and say to her, “You summoned these clothes for me once before. Can you also get me a bag or two?”

“Of course! Such trivial matters”—she snaps her fingers and a small leather backpack appears in your hands—“are as easy as this.”

You inspect the backpack—it’s not exactly the best you’ve ever seen in your life, but it is real leather! The seams are strong and the two belts will not be coming off any time soon. Yeah, that settles it—you think—My sister is a total moron!

As you gather the charred bird carcasses you can’t help but think at the possibilities. This is such a game-breaking ability! And she says it’s trivial? Why is she not making theses by the thousands and selling them off? Why did she not open a practice as a doctor? Can anyone in this world make backpacks? Or just clothes, for that matter! Can everyone heal themselves too?

“Gamma, can you use any healing abilities?” you ask the big-tittied bunny girl who yawns from boredom.

“Nah,” she says dismissively. “Delta can, a little. It’s basically the only thing she’s good for anyway!”

“But then why—” you start and interrupt yourself because you already know the answer. You didn’t ask her to heal the wounded bunny girls back in the dungeons. In fact, you gave her very specific orders at the time—drag them to another cell, dress them, lock them up and then lock herself in a different cell.

One particular troglodyte body smells so nice! Unlike most of the others, who reeked of burnt flesh and fur, this one not only smells nice, it even looks great! Golden-brown and juicy! No, no, no! You throw it in the backpack and with all your might resist to lick your oily fingers.

After a couple more, you finish gathering the troglodytes that are still in one piece, get up and throw your new backpack over your shoulder.

“Let’s go!” you say and the party moves further. You take the lead, emitting an aura of confidence and, with a brisk pace, enter the first tunnel you see out of this cave. Anything not to think about the pain in your stomach.

I need to find some human guinea pigs. Fast! You quicken the pace in the dark, winding tunnels. Perhaps that weapons summoner? Yes, that would be a fitting “reward” for harassing my sister all this time! Speaking of which, your sister does her best to keep up and provide you with light. She probably doesn’t dare to suggest for you to slow down and instead tries to manage to provide you with light in front while keeping an eye on the two bunny girls behind, her at the same time.

“Ariadne, didn’t you ever try creating this type of stuff just to sell them for pure profit?” you ask your airheaded sister, pointing at the backpack. “Or the clothes that are on me? They’re very comfortable even if a bit bland. The weapons summoner manages to recruit fools to his cause this way! Why not you?”

“B-but you said it yourself that they are bland!” Ariadne says. You notice her voice start shaking. “All my creations are second rate garbage! Who’d pay for something like that!?”

Oh, good heavens, is she about to cry? You look back and indeed, you see the minotaur girl tearing up.

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“Erm, look. They’re not… that bland. They’re really, really comfortable! And the bag is sturdy!”

“You’re just saying that to make me feel betteeeer—” she barely finishes the sentence and starts bawling. “I can’t... even make armor... that would protect My Lord... from lousy arrooows!”

You resist the urge to let out an audible sigh, that would, no doubt, make things worse. God forbid, you ask her about her healing skills! You’d drown in these tunnels, as your sister cries about how she failed to heal her father or something like that.

The tunnel forks up ahead and you just go left, without bothering to waste time on uneducated guesses. With no way to tell the time in this place, you wonder how long it would take before you’d succumb to your hunger. As the disturbing thoughts worry you evermore, the tunnel just keeps getting wider—both you and your sobbing sister can now easily go side by side with room to spare. Soon she’d probably be able to swing her greataxe overhead with no issues.

Then you see light, far up ahead. Finally! You think and can’t help but smile. Spending your second day underground and starving is not something you’re looking forward to. Even if it’s not the bandit lair, at least you’ll breathe fresh air again! Speaking of which, the air is better!

As you approach the exit, you have enough sense to slow down.

“Stay quiet!” You whisper to the bunny girls and sneak ahead.

Shivers run down your spine when you hear the screeching of troglodytes. You slow down to a crawl, but the screeching only gets louder. You know what? Bring it on! You issue an inaudible challenge to the little monsters. My imps could use some more target practice!

And with a smile at that thought you move closer to the exit. As your eyes adjust to the light you see a large opening between the rocky mountains. Like a ravine, except there is nowhere to go, but climb the steep mountainsides.

Then you see that. A bird-like, female creature. The main body is, roughly, human size. With wide, long-feathered wings, that would probably cover your entire body with room to spare, like a warm blanket. Her feathered tail is wide and hangs behind the large rock she stands on, by clawing her long, sharp, black fangs into it. Even her hair is made of dark-brown feathers.

She hardly has any of her pale-brown skin visible, that is not covered by feathers or thick, brown fur, save for her shoulders, neck, and face, which is one of the few things that look human about this monster. Thin black lips, thick black eyebrows and long black eyelashes over her big, golden eyes. Surprisingly, her eyes look the most human, even beautiful, though you’d never see such eyes on a regular human girl.

“There you are!” She turns her head in your direction and smiles. Her voice is nothing like the pain-inducing screeching of the troglodytes. The flock of troglodytes swarming in this canyon is beyond the count. They screech in unison, turning their beaks at your party. Gamma grabs her long ears and pulls them down, trying to block out the sound. Alpha does nothing, but even on her emotionless face, you see one of her eyelids twitching.

“Quiet!” The winged female demands and raises her left wing. All the birds fall silent. “Can’t you see you’re hurting our guests?”

“Now, where was I?” She brings her wing to her mouth and looks up, trying to remember. “Ah, right! Ahem. My name is Pythia! I’ve been waiting for you! It’s been such a long time since I’ve seen any humans in this place... Alive that is!”

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