Despite her cramped surroundings and uncomfortable bedding, Mia was able to get a decent amount of rest. The cramped space and hard floor still miles better than the steel metal floor of a metal cage she was forced to sleep in, in fact she found it somewhat pleasant and safe. She wanted to rest a bit longer but was awoken when she heard shifting from outside the chest.

She sat up, her ears shifting from side to side, trying to zero in on the muffled sounds. Was it another monster? That doll? How long had she been sleeping? These thoughts permeated her mind as whatever it was, she was hearing moved closer. She reached for her axe, finding it difficult to move it into a better spot in this cramped space, it was at this moment she heard the sounds clearly.

“Another chest~”

“We missed a lot yesterday, rushed too much.”

“We had to make up time, dungeon spawned too many mimics to risk dealing with them.”

“Going back not waste of time?”

“Course not! We finished the quest, everything on the way back is now just extra cash!”

“Hmpf, we should just head back.”

“Agreed”

“No no, look, we are only going after the treasure we missed, we can still ignore the mimics. Some new ones may have spawned too and we gotta walk all the way back anyways, so! It makes sense!”

Mia paused, by the sounds of it she heard three small voices. They didn’t sound bad, they were some type of adventurers on a quest heading home, arguing over heading home immediately. While debating on what to do and if these new voices could be trusted, she heard two soft taps as one of the three placed their hands on the top of the chest, causing Mia to freeze.

“Look, we will do this. If the next three chests turn out to be junk we will just head back, deal?”

“Fine, extra cash would be nice.”

“Want to head home, tired of sleeping on the floor.”

“That’s two to three, majority wins! And the first prize is-“

Light invaded into the inner part of the chest as the lid was lifted, Mia flinched, the light momentarily blinding her as she struggled to see a small figure, standing on the edge of the chest with their arms raised, lifting the chest. As her vision adjusted she saw the small figure and was confused, she saw a cat with black and white spotted fur wearing leather armor lifting the lid of the chest with their paws. She saw the cat’s eyes go wide.

“A kid from the fox tribe?!” The cat yelled, losing her balance and falling backwards, the lid to the chest slamming shut and leaving Mia in darkness once more.

“A what?!”

“She said a kid from the fox tribe.”

“No I heard her, but are you insane?!”

“I am quite sane.”

“Not you! Si!”

“No! I am serious! There is a kid in there!”

“Enough jokes! What would a kid be doing in a chest in this dungeon?”

“Fox tribe is close, maybe?”

“Aaaaa-! Just open it for yourself!”

“Fine! It’s probably some bad loot…”

They were arguing again, and making a lot of fuss, which was fair. Mia didn’t consider meeting anyone else, especially not like this. Upon hearing another two light thumps, the chest was opened again, what greeted her this time was another cat with brown fur wearing metal armor and a tiny metal hat that was perched atop its head.

The cat, like the one before it, had propped itself up on the chest’s edge while holding up the lid with both of its little paws “Well, I’ll be damned.” The cat tilted its head “Uhm, what are you doing here little lady?”

“See! I told you!” The voice from earlier shouted, and shortly after the cat themselves jumped up and joined the other on the edge “Fox tribe child, like I said.”

Mia looked between the two, it was the first time seeing creatures like this but they seemed friendly enough, wasn’t there a third voice? She sat up, feeling a minor cramp in her back as she did so. She peered over the chest’s edge and looked passed the two cats to see a third one behind them. This cat, standing on two paws had white fur and was wearing a white robe, three cats in total.

“Hey kid, you speak?”

Looking to the source, which was the cat in the metal suit of armor, she nodded “Yes… who are you?”

The cat furrowed its whiskers “I think we should ask the questions, what are you- Hey!”

The cat next to them, the one with the spotted fur and leather armor, nudged the cat out of the way “We are the adventurer group, The Cat’s Paw! And I am their leader, Si!” She said, looking happy as the other nudged back, butting heads with her as it held the chest open.

“What are you doing?! We don’t know if this is a trick or-“

“La.”

Mia looked down, meeting eyes with the third cat who had peered over the chests edge. She then looked to the final cat, who averted its gaze and started to grumble.

“It is just a kid, come on.” Si poked the unnamed cat in the face with her paw before he finally gave in, sighing as he introduced himself.

“Ra, the name is Ra.” Ra the gave a slight grunt, as he pushed the lid fully open and then jumping off the edge.

“Mia. “Mia nodded, standing up from the chest and stretching and looking the three over. Getting a better look, her initial appraisal on their appearance didn’t change, they were literally just a bunch of bi-pedal cats that she was a head taller than, wearing clothes and equipment, Ra even having a sword and shield on his back. ‘The look cute…’ Mia found herself thinking.

“Good, “Si clapped her little paws “now that we know each other, what are you doing so far from home Mia?”

“Isn’t that far, short walk away.” La said, Si only giving her an eyeroll in response before prompting Mia to continue, with Ra glancing over his shoulder with interest.

“Hmn, long story.” Mia climbed out of the chest, reaching inside to pull out her hammer and then placing it on her back, noticing Ra raising his eyebrow at how easily she lifted it. “Training? Need to become stronger.”

“What level are you, Mia?” Ra promptly asked, still eyeing the axe on her back.

Mia paused; she wasn’t sure if she should tell them but decided it couldn’t hurt. “Three.”

Si gasped, while Ra looked towards La, who after a moment nodded “You can’t possibly be level three, how did you survive in this place?” Si asked “Did you just fall from the ceiling and just camp out in this chest? You poor thing!”

“Couldn’t have.” Ra spoke, pulling out his sword and shield “This is pretty deep, kid like her couldn’t possibly make it all the way here from the tops.”

Mia was taken aback from this sudden hostility, considering reaching for her own weapon before La hit him, pulling out a staff from an unseen location and knocking his head with it.

“Not a doppelganger, they don’t spawn here.” La said.

Ra faltered backwards a few steps, clutching his head with his hand that held the sword “Y-you-, then how do you explain this then? Huh?! No way a level 3 child made it this deep, even if we were clearing out the dungeon!”

La forwarded her gaze to Mia, after staring at her for a second, she nodded to herself “Lucky.”

““Lucky?!”” both Mia and Ra shouted in confusion, looking at each other briefly. Mia herself wanted to protest she was anything but, but Ra took the initiative, shaking his head. “The weakest monster in here is level 30! There is no way that she-“

“Ok, enough.” Si leaped down from her position on the chest “La, you took a peek at the kid right?”

La nodded “Mia, fox beastman, age eight, and level 3”

Si about faced, spinning on her foot to face Mia “Then that is that, no doppelganger is dumb enough to disguise themselves as a child in a place like this, a rather young one at that…” She paused, looking Mia over before bowing “I am sorry for my companion’s rudeness, I am sure you had the skills to get here.” She then trotted over to Ra, forcing him to bow “and my friend here is sorry too, riiiiight~?”

Ra grumbled, freeing himself from her grip, regaining himself he took one final look at Mia and sighed, sheathing his weapons on his back “I… apologize.” He then turned away from her.

“Never doubted, free of regret.” La spoke, Ra flinched in annoyance but grit his teeth. La then trotted up to Mia placing a paw on her clothes “Must have been scary?” La asked, patting Mia’s clothes a few times “There there, save now.”

Mia frowned, but for some reason she didn’t feel angry at this cat treating her like a lost child, instead she plopped down besides her “Not lost child, came here to train, get stronger.”

La just smiled in response.

Si sighed “If you are here for that reason then you picked the worst area.” She spoke, approaching the two while waving Ra off towards the entrance, to which he nodded and went to stand guard “Do you even know what dungeon you are in kid? Do your parents even know you are here?”

“No, did kill two Twiggy Nuts, wasn’t that hard.” Mia shrugged; ignoring the phantom pain from where one managed to skewer her. Besides the constant traps and the doll and mimic, this dungeon didn’t seem to hard…Ignoring how many times she had died already.

“Twiggy Nut?” Si raised an eyebrow, looking towards La who shrugged “What is a… Twiggy Nut?”

Mia brought both her hands up, making a ball with her fist in one hand while incasing it with the other “The things in branches with the hard eyeball center.”

“Brambles.” La nodded, Mia guessed that was their official name.

“Brambles? And you killed… two of them? “Si clutched her head “Those are mid-level sentries, and you killed…wait, you killed two of them? You were level 1?! How did you manage that?! How long have you been in here? How have you avoided the dungeon cleaner, high level monsters, the spiders, and traps?!”

“Lot of questions.” Mia grumbled, to be honest, she had no clue how to answer any of that. She couldn’t just say she had died to almost every single one of those things, not having a clue what a dungeon cleaner was, just she can retry because of skill. She’d rather keep that a secret otherwise she’d have to explain it to everyone she met, and that was a pain and with her experience it didn’t always work… she wouldn’t be here if it did.

“S-sorry, sorry.” Noticing Mia’s distress, Si backed off a bit “It is a, lot to take in.”

“Strong skills?” La asked.

Mia glanced towards the still smiling cat and nodded “Yes.”

La then faced Si “Leave it at that? Move on?”

Si stared at her, her paw on her forehead as she struggled to comprehend the situation “Yeah, that might be for the best.” She sighed, “Though, no matter how strong the skill or how strong of a tribe you come from, do your parents know you are here? Training?”

Mia paled, she had tried to avoid the question, but it had been brought up again, she averted her gaze “…yes?”

“Question, lying.” La jumped up, flicking Mia in the head “Bad girl.”

Mia held the spot where she was flicked with one of her hands, shocked “Ow…”

“Yeah~ your mom is probably worried sick about you.” Si sighed, looking over her shoulder towards Ra, who was guarding the entrance “Up for making a straight shot out of here?”

Ra nodded “Should be safe enough, fox tribe isn’t that far away, we can get out and hopefully get her home before sundown.”

“No, can stay here, it is ok.” Mia protested, knowing they meant well but at this rate she’d waste a whole day’s worth of experience and potential skill level ups. She stood up, giving her best nobleman’s bow “I appreciate the help, I am fine on my own.” She said, staying bent over in her bow.

The three looked between each other, before giving each a nod “ok, but at least see us to the exit? Ok? We can show you a lot better places to train.”

Mia frowned; they were not going to give up. She was sure that was just an excuse to get her to follow them. She looked up at the entrance, the entrance Ra was blocking and mentally sighed. She considered loading, but that would lead her back to when she was about to go to bed and as comfortable that chest was, she did not want to spend another night in it. Deciding it wasn’t worth it and would probably lead her back to this moment anyways or killed in the dark, she decided to play along.

“Mn.” She nodded.

“Great!” Si clapped “Then let us go, Ra, you are up front with me and Mia behind followed by La in the back, sound good?” The two nodded in response, then she turned to Mia “Sound good Mia? If any stronger monsters come I want you to stay calm and let us handle it, ok?”

“Ok…” She replied, knowing at some point she’d have to try and sneak away from them but for now she’d play along and hopefully get some information out of them, hopefully…

“Alright, lets go!” Si cheered, getting them all ready to leave the room.

Mia mentally sighed, while she didn’t necessarily have a plan, sticking around these cats, albeit cute, was probably not going to be much help, especially with them seeing her as nothing more as a lost child lucky enough to be alive but she didn’t have much of an option.

And while Mia was worried this would hamper her progress, she had yet to realize she had forgotten something very important.

Something very, very important.

That something being what day it was.