"Now, who had the big idea of throwing explosives into a building filled with people? Go on, answer. I promise I won't be too mad," I asked the people around me. Keep in mind that I never said I won't be mad at all. These types of details are always important to take notice of.

"It was this girl here," Mira replied, as she pointed to the ground. Scratch that last word. She's pointing at the supposed culprit, aka Lily, currently collapsed on the ground with a rumbling stomach.

"...You guys didn't feed her yet?" - Garami

"How could we? Iron got up the split second after those necromancy adventurers cast their first healing spell on him and started running after you. And this girl here chased after him with no delay." - Mira

"Sorry. I couldn't let myself live down the dishonor of letting the two Misses get captured," replied the guilty ghost knight with his head down. Damn, I can't go and scold him now. He did the right thing after all.

"Fiiiine. Then how did you guys follow me?" - Garami

"The golden breadcrumbs." - Mira

The same way I did, huh. It seems we have all grown accustomed to each other's tricks and habits. It's a strange feeling for a former loner like me, a girl who used to spend their time having to survive on their own in a nasty old Dungeon. Now, I'm a freaking owner of a nasty NEW Dungeon. How times have changed.

The other adventurers who had gathered seemed to have taken notice of our group's exhaustion, especially the fainted Lily, who was now getting a piggyback from Mira, so they said we could retire and get some rest and grub. Honestly, I'd rather want a grow-up potion to counteract this stupid Dwarf-state. And that feeling just grew while we were eating our late dinner, when Revi's scorpion traits disappeared in a literal puff of smoke. Life's too unfair sometimes...

---

The next day, I was still a freaking munchkin!! Noire's still the same, catears and everything, but I'm too grumpy to feel good about it. Is this typical Dwarf behavior? God, please don't say that's true! Then again, the gods on this world, at least a selective few, would probably make that a thing, yes...

Aside from the transformation-related issues for the two of us, the gang's all in one piece. My wallet, after having to pay for Lily's food bills, is not so much.

"Man, you sure can eat..." I told Lily as she shoved loads of meat dishes into her mouth at the breakfast table. Is it okay to have such a big meal for breakfast? Where does she stuff all that grub?

"She has no other choice," replied Bloom in place of Lily. "Growth Chimeras are reliant on their meals to gain abilities."

"Yeah, speaking of chimera abilities, how did you manage to make those bombs yesterday?"

Mira switched the conversation from the ginormous pile of food that Lily had almost finished consuming at record speed to the fireworks from yesterday. Hmm, maybe I should consider scouting for places with those "food-eating competition" events. That should save us some bucks. Wait, have I already decided on permanently recruiting this hungry chimera to the Guild? Snap out of it, Garami! You're still judging her!

"*Gulp*! Bombs? ...Oh! You're talking about the fireworks!" - Lily

"Fireworks?" - Revi

"Yes! The stuff from yesterday was something I could make with my class! Uh, I mean the [Firework Maker] class, not [Brawler] or [Pugilist]." - Lily

Well, I'll be. It really was fireworks.

"Fireworks? Like, bonafide fireworks? Firecrackers and stuff?" - Mira

"Yes. I just increased the amount of gunpowder. Usually, I'd be using something smaller for the fireworks' shells, but the barrels were big enough to, well, 'overload' the fireworks and make them more dangerous. I noticed some discarded goods that I could use for an improvised firework. The adventurers that came with us helped gather them, and the barrels that I could use once I asked." - Lily

"There are many good-hearted people here in this underground town." - Iron

"Still, that's an interesting path for a martial artist to take," I said, remembering her more combat-oriented classes. [Firework Crafter] doesn't sound so STR-reliant to me. Sure, I have both [Weaver] classes and [Alchemist], but they help me with both my Assassin-based classes and skills, and my Necromancy-related work, respectively. So why fireworks?

"It is? I just like the flashy colors the fireworks make when they go boom~." - Lily

Ahaha...yes. Innocence. Maybe I'm a little too poor when it comes to that department. Now I'm sad...

"That's still an interesting career choice." - Mira

"Really? I just happened to get many Gunpowder skills, so I, my mom, and my dad all thought it might be a sign from the heavens." - Lily

Gunpowder? That's a weird attribute to get. Weren't Growth Chimeras' skill selection based on what they eat? Looking at her skill list, she also only has Fire and Poison attributes available...

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

Now I'm seriously feeling the need to feed this girl some decent food. Maybe also prepare some to-go bags she can bring back home to her parents. When did I turn into such a good girl? Is this Dwarf trait messing with my head? Eh, whatever.

In any case, now I've decided. If her fists prove to be just as explosive as her fireworks, I'll let her join the Guild on a full-time basis. The fight with that bubble-like sheep yesterday wasn't that impressive, so I need to see some better results before I can let her join.

We need a decent close-range attacker...or maybe not? We have Alf, Iron, and Mira for that role. I'm more of a "special attacker", while Noire and Revi are ranged and magic attackers, respectively. Hmm... We still don't have that easy access to explosives, even with my Alchemy letting me make some when I need to, so having a dedicated demolition expert wouldn't be bad. Okay, self-convincing complete. Let's start the day looking for some nasties to hunt and glory to earn for our little chimera girl.

I left the breakfast table, accompanied by Iron (who didn't need to eat in the first place but joined us anyway to be polite), and left the restaurant to head for the local Adventurers' Union's HQ. The quest board there should give us some clues regarding the materials we need to gather, and potentially some big game to hunt for our chimera. Both for the prestige and the meat.

When we entered the building, we saw a large group of fellow adventurers making merry in the main hall. Is this common down here? Nah, probably not. Using the Union Hall back in Velantas as a comparison, adventurer parties are more likely to discuss their quests over at pubs or at their inns.

One of the adventurers took notice of us when we entered the door and gestured for us to come closer. This is starting to smell like trouble.

"Excuse me, you're Miss Garami and Mr. Iron Tirnog of the Nightmare Voyagers, right?"

"That depends on who's asking." - Garami

It turns out they were adventurers directly employed by the local Union branch. They had been trying to figure out a problem regarding last night's kidnapping attempt with the adventurers who had joined in on the rescue mission, and wanted our assistance as well. Now that he mentions it, most of these guys looked familiar. Like that group of obvious necromancers wearing black cloaks. Now, regarding that problem...

"The numbers aren't matching?" - Garami

"Yes," answered the guild-employed adventurer. "We were told that the Chaos Church members who took part in the kidnapping incident yesterday were 7, correct?"

"Ehm..." I started with an unsure while roaming my memory bank back to yesterday. "There was one loudmouth who wanted to be the boss, one who got KOed by said wannabe leader, and five more grunts..., ah, and one of them is especially nasty. The one with the stealth-related Extra Skill-"

"Stealth-related Extra Skill!?"

"Eh, that's right," I replied anxiously. The adventurer's sudden reaction took me by surprise for a moment before I remembered: Extra Skills are supposed to be goddamn rare and difficult to obtain. I never paid that aspect of the skills too much attention. We have three people owning Extra Skills in our 7-member Guild, and I even have two of them.

After a quick briefing on how that stealth-dude's skill worked, the adventurer's face went dark with worry.

"Tsk, now things are starting to make sense. If they had someone like that among their members..." The adventurer fell into deep thoughts before looking at me again. "In that case, could you try to identify that Extra Skill user? You're the only one who had a good look at the bastard's... Wait, that's not going to work."

"Why not?" - Garami

"The Guild Master has a good memory." - Iron

"No, it's not like I'm doubting that. There's a different problem..."

Saying that, the adventurer took out some documents and showed them to us. What are these, mugshots? I must say, the people in the pictures are quite amusing-looking. That one goldfish is kinda weird, I have to admit.

"What's all this?" - Garami

"*Sigh*, these are the pictures taken of the Chaos Church members from last night."

"HUH?! No way! I'd remember someone this funny-looking!" - Garami

"I concur. Even I have never seen any of them," said Iron beside me. He's got no clue which of the Chaos Church goons has the Extra Skill, but he wasn't beaten black and blue by their mecha fists for nothing.

"That's the problem. Like you people, the Chaos Church's kidnappers were all doused by Changeling Rainbows and transformed. It seems their case is more severe than your group's."

Yeah, no kidding. The goldfish is one thing, but there's even a guy who's changed gender. I don't remember there being any bombshell beauties among the Chaos Church brutes I beat up last night.

"Hmm, nope. Even if you say that, I can't recognize any of these guys." - Garami

"That was what we were afraid of. And they also have a type of anti-Identification curse placed on them, so we cannot look through their status pages either."

Anti-Identification curse? Man, that sounds wild. Is there something super-alarming about these guys' status pages then? I can't imagine anything special. They've already outed themselves as Chaos Church goons. Isn't that incriminating enough?

"At worst case, the one guy missing might be the one with the Extra Skill..." mumbled the adventurer. Ah, now I see. There are only 6 mugshots, so one of the goons hasn't been caught.

"Hey, there's a secret tunnel thingy back at that factory." - Garami

"We have already sent some people to look at it, but there are almost no clues that it has been used. All we found was that the door had been opened and was just barely open. Far from a large enough opening to let an adult man pass through."

"Could the Changeling Rainbows have changed the man's size?" - Iron

Crap, that's quite possible. Also, Iron? It's fine to join the conversation, but don't pat me on my head to demonstrate your point! I don't like being a Dwarf Demon, so don't go and remind me about it!

"It seems like it. Damn. If that man's skill is what I think it is, we might have to gather a raid party..."

A whole raid?! For one guy? Buddy, I managed to knock that guy's socks off last night easily. Just be aware that he might be sneaking around and there's nooooo-, okay, not "no" dangers, but "very low" danger, at least.

"Okay, then if you would excuse us-," - Garami

"Chief! We have found the escapee!"

A loudmouthed guy dressed like a ninja (they have those here?) came storming into the Union HQ and started pointing at a map located beside the quest board. Hey, is that thing showing the whole Underwood? Please let there be portable copies of it you can rent.

"There's no doubt," started the ninja, "their Hideout is here. Right where the wild Boogeybomb Pepper fields are!"

...Daaaaaammit. That's one of the items on our shopping list. And here I hoped we could slither away from this mess. Can we just ignore this and wait till the dust's settled? But there might be a chance those fields get made off-limits if there's some big crime ring that has put up shop there, right? There's no guarantee, but knowing my luck...

Yeah, let's give these guys a hand. But only a "small" hand. I don't wanna get too caught up in any trouble related to this freaky Church, and besides, I'm part Dwarf now. My hands are mini from the beginning~.

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