Chapter 12: Chapter 11: Even Outside of School, Grades are Inevitable

Ellie had to keep herself from skipping as the group made their way to Cub’s Den. Scenario D was a go and she could hardly believe it. It felt like her wildest dreams were coming true one after the other, the universe going out of its way to make her happy.

“So, when are you going to make a move?” Ker asked in a hushed tone, giving her a smirk.

Ellie blushed. “I-I don’t know what you’re talking about.” She lied.

Ker rolled his eyes. “Please. From an outsider’s perspective it’s painfully obvious that you’re head over heels for her. Do you want me to help you out? Give Tess some hints?”

Ellie glanced forward at Tess, who was talking with Jin and Alice, then sighed. “I appreciate the sentiment, but not now. First off, it’d be really insensitive to start hitting on her so soon after she changed. It sorta boils down to ‘Hey your life’s been upturned but now that it has wanna go out’ and that’s kinda scummy thing to do if you ask me. I mean, I know I haven’t been the best at not hitting on her, but by the time I realize what I’m doing I’m like halfway through the action and I figure it would be better to commit instead of being weird and stopping halfway through.

“Second…Tess and Grandpa don’t know I’m a lesbian yet. Once Tess has adjusted, I’m going to come out, but that’s not a bombshell I want to drop on her right now. When the time comes, I definitely want to make some passes at her, just…not now.”

Ker nodded. “Alright, that’s understandable. If you need someone to talk to, though, don’t hesitate to come to me. Just because it’s directly affecting Tess doesn’t mean there won’t be some hard times for you, too. No one’s got a monopoly on suffering.”

Ellie hesitated for a second, then shook her head to clear it. “Alright. I’ll keep that in mind.”

Her mood was only slightly dampened the rest of the walk to the dungeon and was bolstered again when she heard how they would be going about beating this dungeon. “It’s just going to be the two of us?!” She asked excitedly, “Aren’t you guys going to bulldoze through it like the other one?”

“Not quite.” Alice chuckled. “We’re still going to be watching you…in a way.”

Jin handed some bandlike object to Tess. “Here, a peripheral for your Status Band. It basically lets you stream your activities in the dungeon to people you choose. We have one for Ellie too, but she’s too low-level to use it. Unlike the last dungeon, this one is actually useful as a place to learn. Slimes don’t put up enough of a fight to really work as anything more than fodder. We want to see how you two will act in a fight without us as fallbacks.”

“Besides,” Ker added, “You’re in no danger whatsoever. Tess could go through this dungeon in her sleep.”

“Um,” Tess said bashfully, accepting the peripheral, putting it on, and watching it sink into her band, “I’m…not so sure. That’s only because I was confident that Ker could handle anything that came his way if I had to take my time picking an enemy off.”

“I can handle a few small fries no sweat. If they couldn’t take you down, then there’s no chance they’ll be able to do enough damage to take me down.”

“They…never attacked me.” Tess said, “I have no clue how strong their attacks are.”

Ellie raised an eyebrow. “How- oh, right. I forgot about Target of Affection.” That was a lie, at least partially. She couldn’t forget about it, not with its handiwork on full display in front of her. She had just forgotten about the other effect.

“Well, I just need to tank, right? I have a bit of healing from my light magic, and the stats to handle a couple of hits. The monsters can’t be that tough, right?”

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“Going to stop you right there.” Alice said sharply. “That’s an attitude that’s going to get you killed. You know basically nothing about this dungeon, and just assuming you can handle the worst it can throw at you by just bulldozing through it isn’t going to work long-term. It’ll work for this dungeon, and maybe some dungeons in the future, but you have to get out of that mindset. It’s going to be hard when you steamroll these beginner dungeons, but you have to remember that they’re beginner dungeons.”

“She’s right.” Jin added, “And even if death isn’t exactly…permanent for freelancers with enough money, that’s only if you can get someone to bring you back to a healer in time. In out of the way areas that’s not a guarantee.”

“That being said, you shouldn’t have too much trouble with this dungeon. If it came down to it you could just have Tess go and clear the floor on her own, she can handle it.” Ker said, turning to Tess, “So long as you’re careful and make sure to always one-shot the opponents it shouldn’t be much harder than going through it with me. Even if a few don’t immediately die I’m confident you can handle them without an issue.”

“If you say so.” Tess mumbled.

“I do.” Ker replied firmly. “Even if I was tanking, you took down Mama Bear with almost entirely your own damage. You can handle a couple of mooks.”

Tess’s attention was drawn away by something. That had been happening fairly often in the ten or so minutes they’d been together today, and that wasn’t like her at all. Ellie made a note to ask her about it in private later, in case it was something she could help with.

“Time’s a-wastin’, we’re talking too much.” Alice said impatiently, “Jin, you teach Tess how to use that broadcaster while Ker and I teach Ellie about the information sheet.” And, without waiting for a response, Alice grabbed Ellie and towed her over to the shop, then showed her how the information sheets worked. Roughly five minutes later, Ellie and Tess had finished their respective lessons, everyone was in a party, and they were ready to begin their delve.

“We got this!” Ellie said confidently, looping an arm around Tess’s shoulders. “We’ll see you on floor two in no time!”

Jin nodded. “See you then.”

And with that, Ellie steered Tess into the dungeon. “Alright, so, I’ll go ahead and tank, you just come in and snipe the monsters when you have a moment, alright?”

“Um…sure.” Tess replied nervously. “Let’s do that.”

“Right!” Ellie replied brightly, striding off further into the floor. It was time for her to implement Operation Keep Tess Safe, which was as simple as the name would suggest – she just would kill anything before it got close to Tess.

Her first opponent was a baby deer, and as cute as it was, she wasn’t going to show it any mercy. She stepped to the side, flicked out her sword in a dismissive motion, and watched with satisfaction as its head tumbled from its body.

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