Chapter 6 Dungeon.

'I don't understand?' I said looking puzzled over at Mia and Iris. 'cat folk are not particularly liked by the locals as they are seen as a lower rank citizen.' Iris said quietly to me. 'do you think so as well?' I asked calmly to them. 'no. we actually like them but… we immortals are skeptical because of other reasons.' Mia said smiling awkward at me. 'what other reasons?' I asked puzzled. 'w-well, some of the immortals like to change genders and pretend to be a girl to um… make money or get a peek at girls.' Mia explained quietly to me. 'peek you mean like those paintings?' I asked smiling awkward to her and she just nod.

I looked over at the other group of carriers and saw a girl that had the scent of a man. 'you do it as well?' I asked straight out to the girl that looked wide eyed at me. 'w-what… n-no.' she replied a little worried as she glanced embarrassed around. 'hey. Don't be rude man. She is a transgender as I know her in real life.' a guy carrier said looking firmly at me so I looked awkward at Mia. 'eh… t-transgender is a woman trapped in a man's body.' Mia said smiling a little awkward at me. 'how were you trapped a mage or a curse?' I asked acting dumb about it.

'n-no… I mean she was born like a man but she um… feels like a woman.' Mia said calmly to me. 'ah… I apologize Miss. it was not my intent to suggest you were a peeper as I am new to civilization so I do not understand much.' I said bowing politely to her. 'o-oh… t-that is fine.' she said smiling a little embarrassed at me but glanced worried around but relaxed as nobody looked at her as I just turned to look at the little girl. 'you can see peoples soul?' she asked curious to me. 'to an extent yes. so you were picking the flower on your free time and still they called you thief? Did nobody stand up for you?' I asked calmly to her.

'eh… they don't want to get branded as a thief as reputation is everything and the party I was traveling with was not good people as their leader Greg wanted me to work for fifty copper but I haven't seen him and I need to earn for food.' she said quietly as she glanced a little worried at me and I saw Mia and Iris glanced stunned at me so I just turned and smiled happy to them. 'how about her. she is honest and we kind of owe her after putting her former employer at house arrest…' I asked not so quietly to them. 'Rose…' I heard someone call out so I turned and saw Greg and his friends looking towards me and saw the little girl turned to walk over to him.

'we pay better…' I said calmly to her and saw she stopped and looked worried at me but I saw Greg walked frowning towards her so I just walked up next to her and looked plainly at Greg frowning at me. 'shouldn't you be at house arrest?' I asked plainly to him but he just ignored me and looked down at the girl. 'we are leaving Rose.' Greg said firmly and was about to turn around. 'she is taken.' I said plainly to him but he just frowned as he looked at me. 'we have an agreement so she is already working for me.' Greg said clearly to me but I just placed my hand on Rose's shoulder as I leaned down.

'go back to my friends and let me handle this.' I said quietly with a calm smile and she gave a little nod and walked over to Mia and Iris as I stood up but saw he reached for her so I grabbed his wrist. 'assaulting a little girl is a new low for you… I told you she is already hired by us and Everyone here knows how you framed her as a thief. You want to argue about it?' I said calmly but clearly to him as he looked worried at his hand. 'w-who are you?' Greg asked frowning firmly to me so I just smiled as I leaned closer to him.

'how about you turn off your safety settings… does that ring a bell or do I need to drag you out to the lake and refresh your memory?' I whispered calmly to him as I let go of his wrist and saw his face paled.

Greg took a few steps back looking scared at me as I stood up straight. 'you are always welcome to try and extort other carriers to work cheap for you… anyone feel like getting extorted, threatened, or having their reputation tarnished just like Rose?' I said calmly but asked the group of carriers but nobody said anything and only glanced at Rose standing behind Mia so I just glanced at Greg before I walked over to Mia and Iris smiling calmly at Rose glancing a little worried at me.

'hm… five hundred iron. Isn't that too…' I asked glancing over at Mia and Iris that nodded amused at me. 'b-but I do skinning too…' Rose said worried as she looked up at us. 'way to little. She have expenses too and she knows skinning probably better than you…' Mia said crossing her arms pouting a little cute at me. 'okey, okey… 30 silver.' I said calmly to her. 't-thirty?' Iris asked stunned to me. 'y-yes…' I heard Rose say worried but I ignored her and looked calmly at Iris. 'fifty… and she gets food covered.' Iris said pouting cute to me as she crossed her arms. 'prepaid and after the trip is over she get her gear upgraded…' Mia said calmly as she glanced at me a pouting a little amused.

'f-fine… how long are we going for?' I asked sighing a little to them. 'five days.' Mia said but looked over at Iris. 'four as we have school but she gets paid days off if you are planning a long term hire.' Iris replied casually and I just sighed lightly as I nodded. 'fine… that's two-hundred and fifty. Guild card?' I said nodding to them and but asked Rose that looked perplexed as she looked between us but took up her guild card so I bent down and tapped it against hers and paid 250 silver coins. 'a-are you not going t-together?' Rose asked confused as she looked at us.

'of course. now let us find a food stall and make him buy us snacks and food.' Mia said giggling as she grabbed her hand and Iris grabbed her other and walked towards a food stand so I just walked after them as the other carriers silently gasped after us. after buying a bunch of food for another 250 silver coins we walked inside the portal and I felt a suction and found myself looking out at a vast cave and I glanced curious back at the portal and saw the gate area on the other side.

'feeling sick?' Rose asked holding up a candy stick of fried meat so I just bent down and took it. 'not sick but just wondering if a portal like that would work to your world…' I said honestly as I stood up glancing at the portal. 'Lily said you were studying magic to see if you could find a way…' Iris said calmly as she smiled amused at me. 'isn't this a game?' Rose asked baffled to her but glanced at me. 'for us yes but he is a local.' Mia said calmly as she held out her hand to Rose and she walked over and took it. 'local?' Rose asked curious to her. 'npc's… none player characters.' Mia said quietly to her as they started walking.

'is that normal?' I asked pointing at them holding hands. 'yes…' Mia said pouting a little cute at me as she continued to walk with Rose that glanced a little shy back at me but held out her hand to me so I just held her hand. 'why did it look like Mister Greg was scared of him?' Rose asked quietly up to Mia that quietly giggled as she glanced at her. 'Aleph is a dragon and actually saved us from Greg trying to take advantage of us at the lake outside the city.' Iris said smiling happy as she walked up next to me and took my hand making Mia pout at her. 'what… you said it yourself that it is normal.' Iris said smiling smug to her as Rose looked a little confused up at me.

'ah… you said you were dragon-kin earlier.' Rose said relaxed thinking about it. 'he just said dragon-kin so the others would not be scared but Greg is scared because he is an actual dragon.' Mia replied with a calm smile making her speechless as we kept following the path for an hour. 'I haven't seen one beast we could hunt.' Iris said looking worried around. 'eh…' I said glancing awkward at her and saw she turned and looked at me with a little pout. 'you did something didn't you?' Iris asked leaning closer.

'well… I thought we were just walking so I um… let my dragon aura leak out a little so we wouldn't be bothered.' I said smiling a little awkward to her as I leaned slightly away from her pout. 'how are we going to earn money if you scare away the beasts?' Iris asked pouting a little firm to me but she wasn't angry at all. 'it is fine. this way we save time to go down to floor two.' Mia said pouting a little as she glanced over at Iris that leaned back glancing at me with a slight smile. 'higher beast is better pay so I guess…' Iris said casually as she looked around.

We came to a cave entrance that had a light staircase going down but Iris and Rose let go of my hands and walked in a line behind me. 'what's up with them?' I asked over to Mia that glanced back at Rose and Iris. 'some beast like to take shelter in the staircase so usually warriors and archers go at the front as mages cover the back but since you are a dragon…' Mia explained calmly to me before she walked straight to the back so I just started walking with them following behind me as I looked around the cave but there was nothing but a couple of spiders up at the ceiling.

After a short half hour we came down to an opening where the cave was a little bit smaller but still vast forest looking area so I just turned and looked at Mia, Rose, and Iris. 'I know I am a dragon and everything but what happened up at the top of the stairs is not going to work.' I said calmly to them. 'what do you mean?' Mia asked puzzled to me. 'I am new to dungeons and I might be strong but informing me that there might be beast at the stairs is bad planning on our part…' I said smiling a little worried at them looking a little confused at me.

'we are team. What would happen if six or more beast have ambushed us?' I asked calmly to them. 'we might have to run?' Rose asked quietly to me so I just nodded quietly and looked at Mia. 'probably run or you fight them…' Mia said glancing a little worried. 'but you are thought and um… we are immortal.' Iris said with a quiet voice glancing at Mia and Rose. 'that might be but, if something happen to Rose would you just use her as bait to escape?' I asked glancing over at a pair of adults calmly walking up the stairs letting them think about it as I looked over at the two adults walking up to the stairs entrance.

'excuse me. there are some spiders up on the ceiling…' I said politely to them and they looked puzzled at me. 'did you not come from there?' a lady asked smiling calmly to me. 'we did but we used a spider repellent so we did not get attacked or um… clear the stairway. Just wanted to warn you.' I said politely and bowed my head a little then looked over at Mia, Rose, and Iris looking quietly at me. 'I understand that you have some special ability that keep you from dying but we should formulate a plan for the worst as there are parts that is worse than death.' I said smiling a little sad at her.

'like what?' Iris asked curious. 'what if we get attacked and I have to drag Mia and Rose away. There are beast that capture their pray and spiders are one of them… would you be fine holding out until I return?' I asked over to Iris that fell silently as she thought about it. 'but we are only on floor two…' Mia asked quietly. 'floor does not matter. Life is unpredictable and even if I am strong I am not invincible. Even if you are immortal I don't want to see any of you die or get hurt in front of me so if we are going to train together we need to set up conditions for escape and security as…' I explained calmly to them but got interrupted as the man came running back out as the lady waited ready so I looked calmly at them.

I saw a spider crawled after him panting a little so I glanced over at Mia that took out her bow and gave her a little nod so I looked back at the two adventures ready to defend themselves but looked a little firm at the spider that froze on the spot and I saw an arrow flew at its head killing it instantly. 't-thank you. do you have any more of that spider repellent?' the lady asked smiling a little awkward to me.

'I don't but are you in a rush or something?' I asked looking a little curious at them as they came from floor two so those low level spiders shouldn't be an issue. 'we are teachers and we have been scouting the floors for a couple of days so if I am honest we are just tired…' the lady said smiling a little worried to me so I looked over at Rose. 'can you take out some juice for them Rose and if you don't mind let us clear the stairs for them Mia? Iris you keep guard over Rose and call out if anything happens.' I asked them and saw they nodded happy to me.

'y-you really don't have to go true so much trouble…' the lady asked smiling a little worried but I casually waved my hand a little. 'no trouble so let us clear the way as you rest up with my friends but I have to warn you that if you try to take advantage of Rose or Iris I be less friendly.' I said politely to them as Mia walked up holding a bow nocked with an arrow. 'i-is that a t-threat?' the Man asked looking stunned at me but the lady calmly held out her hand to him.

'I think that was more of a lecture for his friends to be vigilant around strangers… we are immortals.' The lady said smiling calmly to me but I saw Mia smiled awkward at the man. 'is that you Teacher Blake?' Mia asked awkwardly and I understood they knew each other from his puzzled reaction. 'y-yes, sorry but do I know you?' Blake asked a little puzzled. 'Mia Holden… w-we talked at the tour of the Blackland Collage.' Mia introduced herself as she bowed politely to him making me smile a little nervous as I saw Iris walked up to the lady teacher smiling wide.

'Hi Teacher Claire… it's Iris. You gave me a tour of the school.' Iris said smiling shy but politely. 'ah… Miss Parken. I almost did not recognize you.' Claire responded and I felt my shoulders sank a little as these were teachers at my school but luckily I had not gone to the tour as I was busy moving so they should not recognize me. 'this is Aleph. he is a local but also a dragon.' Mia said calmly to Blake that held out his hand smiling calmly to me so I glanced awkwardly over to Mia as I shook Blake's hand. 'dragon?' Blake asked a little stunned to Mia.

'y-yes. nice to meet you.' I said a smiling a little awkward. 'these are my teacher from the other world so you can trust them.' Mia said smiling calmly to me and I had to think of a plan quick on the spot. 'o-oh okey. m-mind if I ask you an awkward question?' I said glancing at Mia but asked awkwardly to Blake. 'sure.' Blake said calmly smiling friendly to me. 'did you receive a notice that a student Aleph Valence is joining school?' I asked smiling awkward as I could just wing it and I heard the chatting between Iris and Claire quiet down as they looked at us.

'no. did you Claire?' Blake asked calmly to her. 'no. I cannot recall a student with that name… we are teachers from another world and we just started working here in Haven.' Claire said smiling calmly to me. 'I um… m-mean in the Blackland Kingdom Miss Claire. I understand one need to send a letter of application so um… I sent one to your academy and it should have arrived.' I said smiling nervously as I was unsure how to play this as I glanced slightly awkward at Mia looking a little baffled at me. 'oh… we have not gotten an enrollment from Valence…' Claire said smiling a little awkward as she glanced at Blake glancing silently at her.

'you h-haven't…' I asked stunned as I was sure put it in the right box at school but maybe I messed up in real life. "d-do this mean I be held back a year?" I thought about it. 'he is trying to find a way to traverse into our world…' I heard Mia whispered quietly to Blake but I pretended that I did not hear them as I looked up at him. 'correct me is am wrong but do one not send the letter to the school?' I asked puzzled as even if the facade broke I did not want to get held back a year.