Chapter 6 - Breakfast with the Bosses

I awoke the next morning slightly disoriented. The guest rooms here were exceptional, but I was so used to the tiny subterranean room back at Myra’s place that it took me a minute to remember where I was. While it was still a subterranean dwelling, the room was decorated with dark marble and wood compared to the rough stone I was used to. I briefly considered relaxing for a few minutes, until I realized George was half way up the wall prodding a relief on the wall. If he was left to his own devices the huge spider would methodically prod, pull apart, and generally ruin all the decorations in the room out of boredom.

With a sigh I signalled the beast, “Down George.” All eight of his eyes swivelled my way, but he didn’t move. Instead, George let out a gurgling burp, which I took to mean ‘No’.

“Either you get down, or no breakfast!” I said, more forcefully. We stayed locked in a staring contest for several long seconds, until someone knocked on the door. I briefly glanced at the door, then back at George, before I decided to give up on my conflict with the stubborn spider; I didn’t have the time to discipline him right now.

Since I slept in my Arachne form I had to shift back to my humanoid one, before throwing on a tunic and cracking the door open. To my surprise it wasn’t Bella or Kassandra, but a tiny girl with a giant mass of golden-red hair, and some sort of reptile tail. “Good morning!” She said, with a smile. “I’m Chelsea. Bella and Kassandra had meetings to attend this morning so they asked me to take you to breakfast, and answer any questions you may have.”

I looked her up and down, she didn’t LOOK dangerous, but I didn’t know many races that fit her description off the top of my head. “I appreciate it,” I replied wearily, “I need a minute to get dressed, if that’s ok with you.”

“No problem, take your time.” She smiled, revealing a row of razor sharp teeth and fangs. I gave her a weak smile in return, before closing the door. My headstrong spider had finally come down, probably at the discussion of breakfast, so I just had to throw on my slacks and jerkin before throwing the door open once more.

Chelsea hadn’t moved from her previous position, she was just rocking back and forth on her heels, waiting for me. “Welcome back!” The girl said, excitedly. “Bella told us a lot about you, so there are a lot of people that want to meet you.” She paused for a moment, and turned to look back at me, a worried look on her face. “I hope that’s ok, Kass did tell me not to overwhelm you.”

“I’m fine, thanks for asking.” I patted her on the head, which brought a smile to her face once more. She reminded me of some kind of small, soft, cute, creature the way she acted, but I was pretty sure that’s NOT what she was. I wasn’t going to be impolite and ask on our first meeting.

Chelsea skipped down the hallway, stopping to say hello to everyone we passed, as we made our way down to the cafeteria area. I was once again impressed by the variety of races we passed by. Granted, I’d only been dealing with amateur-level dungeons for a while, with five levels each, but even on the pro circuit most dungeons specialized. The Wailing Manor must have unique encounters on each floor, instead of a single unified theme.

It took us a couple minutes to make it all the way to the end of the residential area, which spoke to the size of the staff on site, and make it to the cafeteria. I was expecting a basic, utilitarian setup, with long tables and a counter with mounds of self-service food, the sort of thing you find in most dungeons; What I found was something else entirely. The entire setup was filled with a number of private booths, and tables, and served by autonomous servers, like a high class restaurant. Several people turned around, and waved, when we arrived, but no one really bothered us. Chelsea led me through the area, weaving between the different tables, before arriving at a private booth at the back where a couple people were waiting. She turned excitedly, and introduced the pair. “This is Sulivan and Bea. My dungeon wing partner and subboss,” she said proudly.

My brain glitched out for a moment, but I still managed to introduce myself properly. “Nice to meet you both, I’m Talia.” I paused, then turned to face Chelsea. “You’re one of the floor bosses?”

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The girl nodded as she slid in next to Bea, “Yup, didn’t I mention that? I’m the final boss of the Garden zone, although Bea helps me with administration and stuff. That’s why Bella asked me to look after you this morning,” she said proudly. “Sullivan here is in charge of the Training Yard.”

As I slid into the booth next to Sullivan, Bea sat up a little straighter. “Chelsea here is strong, but still needs to learn the proper protocols and respect that most floor bosses require,” Bea said. The woman was wearing a lightweight, but regal looking dress and, most noticeably, had a pair of black fuzzy antenna peeking out of her short, streaked black and blond hair. She was leaning back in place, but I would bet she had a small set of wings on her back too, most Anthophilan, or Bee races, did.

“Hey! I’m learning… sort of,” Chelsea replied, although I did notice she was looking at her feet and not Bea when she said it.

“Indeed, the young one is trying,” Sullivan boasted, before extending his hand. “It is nice to meet you Talia. It’s not very often that Lanivia looks for new talent outside the dungeon, I look forward to working with you,” the large dullahan said. It wasn’t hard to identify his race, there were very few races that carried their heads around under one arm.

I shook his outstretched hand. “I haven’t decided whether or not to join yet,” I replied honestly. “She made an enticing offer, but I’ve had some bad experiences with dungeons in the past.” Bea just nodded.

“Let’s eat,” Sullivan said, raising his arm. As he did, a clockwork server started to make its way across the room. “We can tell you a little more about the Manor, and answer any questions while we do.”

The clockwork slid a small crystal slab onto the table in front of me, which listed the available meals. There was quite a selection, more than I cared to look through, so I just selected a basic meal and some meat for George, then the clockwork retreated.

“Kass mentioned she went over some of the basics when you arrived, is there anything specific you want to know?” Sullivan asked. He took the glass of water off the table, and carefully poured it into his mouth, which was a lot more fascinating when his head was sitting on the table.

I took a sip of water myself, wetting my throat. “You said I’m the first external hire in quite awhile?”

Chelsea nodded enthusiastically, “Lanivia switches things up occasionally, but we have a pretty solid team here. The Wailing Manor has one of the lowest conquest rates, and one of the highest payouts, so it’s popular with the adventuring teams. Many of the bosses here even have their own fan clubs. Talent is nurtured from within, and many bosses, and sub bosses, were promoted for good work. Like Bea!”

The well-dressed bee woman nodded, “I used to be just another worker, but always did my best, and Lanivia saw promise in me. She provided opportunities for me to lead the others, and plan strategies. I didn’t want to let her down, and after months of hard work I proved her trust wasn’t wasted and evolved into a queen.”

As she was talking a set of clockworks came to the table and placed down the food, they even placed George’s food without prompting. “I thought Anthophilans had a strict hierarchy,” I said, cutting into my ham.

Bea nodded, “Normally, you’d be correct. My family and I wanted to get away from that suffocating atmosphere, so they left the hive. Lanivia invited them to stay, and now we exist in a more communal community. Even though I’m a queen, I only order the others around during a dungeon run. Outside of work, we’re all equal.”

“What about you?” I asked Chelsea between bites. “You’re pretty young to be in charge of a floor.”

“Oh,” The girl’s face fell a little, “I kind of inherited the position, my mom used to be the boss of the Gardens. She got sick last year, and hasn’t recovered, so I’m filling in,” she replied quietly. I didn’t have an attachment to my family, but I understood most people did.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to make you upset,” I told her.

“It’s alright, she’s still around, she’s just not as active as she used to be.” The girl gave me a gentle smile, then went back to picking at her food.

The table got quiet, the atmosphere awkward as we picked through our meals. Just another meal I’d ruined with my lack of social skills.