Chapter 14 - Adventuring Aftermath

I spent the next few minutes getting congratulated by my co-workers, and discussing the encounter, before disconnecting from the dungeon. The next thing I knew, I was waking up in the projection room, the crystalline canopy on my bed slowly opening.

“That was a good performance, but a little dangerous,” Bella said from across the room, slowly rising from her own projector. “You should have at least allowed George to back you up.”

I rolled my shoulders, which were tight from both laying down for so long, and the stress I’d been under, before shrugging. “It was a fairly low stakes match, and I was fairly sure I could take them solo. I want to keep George’s abilities secret as long as possible,” I said as I pulled open the spider’s booth. “He’s my big fuzzy secret weapon, aren’t you boy?” George pushed his head into my hand, purring as a response.

“Fair enough,” Bella replied. “You did so well! I doubt that anyone around here will complain after a performance like that. Should we get dinner? I’m sure everyone will be hunting you down to get you to recount the experience before too long. Better get your strength up before that happens.”

“Wonderful,” I mumbled into George’s flank, “that’s just what I wanted.”

Bella sighed when she saw my crestfallen face, “Come on now, it’s not that bad. You’ll be a minor celebrity around here for a day or two, and after that you’ll be treated like everyone else.”

“Fine… but I want to change before we go. No point in getting my new uniform dirty,” I replied.

She smiled, leaned over, grabbed my hand, then pulled me to my feet, earning a grumble from George. “That can be arranged. How about I drop by the cafeteria and reserve a booth for about half an hour from now? That way people can drop by, and you won’t be completely overwhelmed.”

“That would be nice, thanks,” I replied, cheering up a little..

As Bella took off, practically skipping her way out of the room, I took a deep breath to center myself. I found today’s encounter a lot more stressful than I originally let on. I didn’t have many good memories working in the Arachne Depths, my mother's dungeon, and a large part of me had been concerned today would end up the same way that most days did back home. Criticism of my every action, no matter how well I did.

Hopping out of my projection bed and having someone show concern, then praise me, was a new and novel experience. It felt nice.

George apparently didn’t like the delay in leaving, and getting food, because he headbutted me, knocking me out of my reminiscence. I gently placed a hand upon his fuzzy head and gave him a good skritch before turning towards the door. “Fine, you impatient bugger, let’s go.”

I took my time getting ready. It wasn’t that I was nervous about meeting everyone, but more that I wanted a little time to decompress. George wasn’t having any of it, and by the time dinner came around he was crawling up the walls, literally.

When the two of us headed back through the residential sector, heading towards the cafeteria, I was stopped a couple times by people in order to congratulate me on my first victory. Thankfully there weren’t that many, and they didn’t keep me long, so I didn’t feel too overwhelmed by the situation.

The cafeteria was fairly busy when I walked up, thankfully Bella and Kassandra were waiting by the door, waiting to escort me to the table. “There’s our victorious hero, how are you feeling?” Kass asked, threading her arms through mine.

“Tired, a little hungry, but happy everything worked out properly,” I replied with a smile.

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“Good,” Kass said with a smile, “That was an amazing debut, you should be proud of yourself! Now come on, everyone’s waiting.”

Before I could ask who, Kass used all four of her arms to pull me into the cafeteria. Near the back of the cafeteria, in the same area where I had eaten breakfast, the entire floor had changed. Two booths had been pulled close together, which was impressive because I was pretty sure they were attached to the floor before. Sullivan and Luther were seated on one side, while Chelsea, Bea and an unknown woman sat on the other.

Chelsea was the first to see us, and she practically jumped out of her seat to start clapping at our approach. “The champion approaches!” The others rose to their feet a little slower, but joined in the round of applause. I probably would have stopped, if Kass hadn’t been pulling me.

“No need to be shy, not after a performance like that,” Sullivan said, his head still on the table. I had to admit, I still wasn’t used to talking to someone without their head attached. I guess that little fact managed to distract my brain more than expected, letting it reboot.

“Thanks? Isn’t it kind of my job now?” I asked, a little embarrassed.

“You’d be surprised, even at the professional level there are a lot of… lackluster bosses,” the mystery woman replied, “It actually takes some talent to do it properly.” As Kass pulled me right up to the booths, the woman stood up and held out her hand. “I’m Charlotte, Chelsea’s mother.”

I was a little surprised, but took the woman’s hand. “Talia, nice to meet you.”

She smiled slyly in response. “I’m guessing you heard that I was sick? Don’t worry it’s neither terminal, nor contagious. It’s mana waste disease, which means it can’t be healed magically, and it’s highly recommended that I don’t participate in combat until it’s treated.” She smiled, and patted Chelsea on the head, “Thankfully this little one has done an excellent job filling in.”

“Come now Charlotte, we came to celebrate, we can discuss your issues later,” Luther said from his seat. The man was dressed exactly like I remembered, a deep purple suit, top hat, and porcelain comedy mask. “Welcome young lady, it’s nice to actually meet you properly.”

“You too,” I replied, slipping into one of the booths beside Kass. “I saw a little bit of your fight, before I had to put the tablet away. It was impressive.”

Luther waved his hand dismissively, “It was nothing. As a poltergeist I can operate a dozen different bodies simultaneously without any issues. I just bind myself to a singular body, and limit the number of puppets, out of the spirit of fairness.”

“That’s very sporting of you,” I replied.

Chelsea shot the poltergeist a grumpy look, before turning towards me. “How do you feel about your first day?” she asked excitedly. “Good? It seemed like you had everything in hand.”

“It wasn’t bad,” I replied, “all the preparations definitely helped.” As soon as everyone was seated, the worker automatons came by and put a huge selection of food and drinks on the tables. George got cranky for a minute, since none of the initial platters ended up near him, but he quieted down when the second group placed a couple of meat dishes down in front of him.

From the other side of the small booth Bella picked up, and raised her glass. “We gathered here to welcome our new friend and comrade, and congratulate her on her first victory. May there be many more!” Everyone raised their glasses and clinked them together before digging into the various dishes.

“Do you have any plans going forward? It seemed like things went pretty well,” Bea asked, between mouthfuls of some sort of vegetarian dish.

I nodded, “I’ll probably need a way to deal with ranged damage dealers, like that Ranger. If I don’t deal with them quickly enough, I feel like they’ll just wear me down. I can withstand a little bit of magic, and I’ll try to outmaneuver the melee fighters; That just leaves me with the one serious weakness.”

“It didn’t seem like much of a weakness when you were fighting that elf. That was quite a punch you threw.” Kassandra smirked, then just as she was about to take a drink she paused. “Does this mean you’re planning on sticking around permanently?”

Everyone turned and looked in my direction, expectantly. “Well… it’s not one hundred percent, but I really like it here, and all you guys, so… probably.”

“YES!” The naga cheered, throwing all four hands in the air, before leaning over and pulling me into a massive hug. “And I thought today couldn’t get any better. Hooray!”

The others cheered, and then burst into scattered conversation. I just blushed at the attention, and tight embrace of my friend. Yeah… staying here wouldn’t be bad at all.