Diversions

Rather than linger in my office, I'd moved to the sitting room and was curled up on a couch. Henry joined me, but he was looking at the notices I'd put up on a chalkboard. It was hard to keep my tail from lashing in agitation.

All things being considered, I gave Elim and company a return order. Talking to him and Tiller about their potential participation in a raid was going to be my first order of business when they got back. My current goal though was trying to scrape together a team so I could avoid sending them if at all possible.

Why was simply and it wasn't a question of skill but rather utility. They were much more valuable to me long term. Ideally I'd just send my dungeon denizens to deal with the issue, but they couldn't leave without becoming a guardian to a contractor.

"42, this isn't without risks, but I don't think it's a b-bad idea," Henry offered. He'd been looking over my general plan for how to handle the raid. I'd had a decent list of volunteers already and they were already sorting themselves out into teams like they would for the usual raid league.

Team cohesion and was going to be a big deal going into an unfamiliar environment. They needed to work well together and understand each other's strengths and weaknesses.

"Leveling might be a problem since I'm not sure how well they'll progress, but hopefully it won't be that hard to manage," I said.

"Not once they are be-beyond the dessert. There will be plenty of creatures for them to hunt if Mira and Hetcha's reports are accurate," Henry said. I'd been keeping in contact with them but he'd asked for more strategic information to help with the planning. Information I hadn't looked over yet.

I glanced over at the chalkboard even though I knew exactly what it said. Make deals, fix builds, level up, kill Dr. Satan. The steps were simple even if pulling them off wouldn't be.

Investigate Stromholt and liberally apply murder would be the next phase once that was dealt with. Again, easy to write on a chalkboard, but certainly not going to be easy to actually do.

I intentionally turned my thoughts back to the current issue. I wasn't worried about the dungeon denizens. They would be fine and could respawn in the worst case scenario.

With regard to the mortal element, I was going to have to form five additional contracts if I found enough volunteers to leave Tiller and Elim out. The most obvious path to getting said volunteers was approaching people already involved with the dungeon develing like the Rusty Daggers and making a deal. I couldn't help an annoyed sigh.

"Something on your mind?" Henry asked. He'd turned away from the board and was looking at me curiously.

"I'm trying to think of what to say when I try and convince them to make a deal," I admitted.

The advantage of me resetting them and getting a higher level member of their class to optimize their build would be obvious. It would probably still be difficult to sell them on the idea of that being worth risking themselves in Dr. Satan's dungeon.

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I didn't know anything about him, but given how he operated I doubted that anything in his dungeon would be as pleasant as my monsters. Thoughts of deadly mushrooms, parasites, and other morbid guardians haunted my thoughts.

"I'm sure it will be fine. They aren't strong, but they aren't s-stupid either. Just offering to help them gain levels would likely have been enough," Henry offered after a moment of thought. He walked over and joined me on the couch and my tail immediately wrapped around him like it had a mind of its own.

"Maybe, I'm just… I'm going to make it a three run contract. They'll still have to keep my secrets as part of it, but if they survive three tries or kill Dr. Satan sooner, they can choose not to renew," I admitted. If they couldn't do it in three runs even with the skeletons to assist then the team was fucked anyway and their wouldn't be a point in making them keep going.

"Worried what they'll do-do with newfound power?" Henry asked.

I just nodded. I'd get the skeletons assigned to them back along with any gear I didn't want them to have long term, but they'd keep the levels and other increases.

"Probably something stupid," Henry said with a shrug. I snorted at that.

"Probably," I agreed. It really wasn't worth that much though, what might happen if the Daggers were less than ideal after all. I doubted that the world didn't have its share of shitty people with more power than they deserved.

"Fuck, planning really doesn't agree with me. Not for things like this. I'd rather just get it all moving and see how it goes rather than sit and fret about things I can't predict or do a damned thing about," I admitted. Really, underneath it all, I'd rather just go tear the bastard out of the ground and kick in his core myself.

It wasn't an option, the system saw to that, but it didn't change the impulse. One I felt it had been trying quite hard to push down, along with who knew what else.

There wasn't an easy way to tell apart what was natural to me vs what the system imposed aside from one glaring issue. The feelings I felt certain it gave me, they made sense. They were orderly and fit with what I was.

Hide in a hole, protect yourself, distrust everything that wasn't of my own making. Fear the light of the world above because you are vulnerable outside of the shelter of the dungeon.

They contrasted rather violently with my anger, joy, and curiosity. I was interested in the world above and the people there. I loved making my dungeon interesting rather than just efficient or deadly. What was probably unbridled rage that barely registered as a ripple when I heard about whatever new fucked up thing someone was doing to the world.

Someone else who fit the role better probably wouldn't have noticed the shackles the system placed on them. I only really did in moments like this where I wished I had a sturdy pair of legs and a tire iron to go sort this annoying fucker out with.

"I don't think it agrees with much of anyone," Henry said with a smile.

"I also think I wasn't a particularly kind person, even before all this. I've been thinking about how to get around the restrictions on myself and go kill him," I admitted.

"Hm? How is that n-not kind?" Henry asked.

"Beating someone to death?" I asked, confused by the idea.

"To take the duty on yourself and protect your own, how could that not be kind?" Henry clarified.

"Then I'm truly a kind person," I said, laughing.

"Yes, but not harmless," Henry said, kissing the knuckles of my hand.

"Oh? Is that what you like about me so much?" I asked playfully even though I wasn't exactly in a playful mood. It felt better than lapsing back into my other thoughts though.

"One of them," Henry replied easily, lips moving to the back of my hand. I very much liked where this was going and locked and barred the door. I wasn't in the mood for an interruption and it seemed like Chris had a sixth sense for intruding.

"Sly," I chided without any real rebuke as he kissed my wrist.

Henry's lips traced a path up my arm, each kiss sending a shiver through my body. The world beyond the room ceased to exist. There was only Henry, only this moment, only us and I reveled in the relief of it.

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