Feerse was nothing impressive. About halfway between Losca where they were and Ekrin where they were going, it was a small-ish town. Larger than where Alister had grown up so far, but not by much. They stopped there for the night to allow their horses and servants a rest.

Wisteria had spent much of the last day and a half or so helping out wherever she could for some extra coin. It was really sweet to watch her try so hard, but it meant she was too tired to wander around with Alister when they stopped.

In Feerse, though, there was a dungeon they were going to try out. Something simple, but Alister was still excited as it was the first time he got to see another of the Opal System’s marvels. In his day and age, a dungeon was just a crypt or a collection of monsters. A cave or a man-made labyrinth.

Now, it seemed that it meant something completely different. Dungeons were things that the system made out of nothing. Pockets of space turned into dangerous zones with loot and monsters in them.

It made no sense. None at all. But Alister was all for the adventure they offered and decided to stop questioning everything every two minutes. He still wanted answers but he had to accept that he couldn’t get them for a long while. When he was at an academy or the sort, he’d vie for resources then.

The dungeon in question was a cute one - not for the faint of heart if you disliked bugs - but Alister found honey bees to be sweet and misunderstood creatures.

Bees and Their Honey. It had a simple title and a simple premise. There were bees that were trying to protect their honey and monsters that were trying to get the honey. You could side with either. If you sided with the bees it meant that you would end up gifted some honey, more than you would be if you went with the monsters. Either way, there was a “boss” at the end of the dungeon that was a more hearty and difficult version of a normal enemy that had a title and a name. After it was killed, loot was distributed to all who participated.

Where this loot came from or why bees or monsters had it, he didn’t know.

His mother and father were both coming with him to the dungeon, something that surprised everyone but Blas.

“I assure you,” he said, waving the rest of them off, “She can handle herself. She’s no combat class but she is my wife, after all.”

“I’ve had to be ready for attempts on my life since I came of age. I didn’t go with you when you unlocked your system, but I don’t want to miss you exploring your first dungeon, dear,” Alliana quickly explained.

Alister didn’t care whether they came along or not, but he wasn’t having Wisteria miss out on the little adventure regardless of if she was tired. He left the office of the house they were renting and meandered to Wisteria’s room.

He knocked, but got no answer. There was a moment of hesitation. Wisteria was a young girl in her prime. He hardly wanted to be some creepy old man walking in on her, regardless of his current body. He was in no way attracted to the girl and didn’t want any ridiculous shenanigans.

But she was just tired. That was all. She was resting. So after hesitating he let himself into her room, cautiously peeking the door open. Alister let a tiny ball of magic light float out of his hand into the darkness of the curtain-drawn room, which drifted over top of her head. She was in fact asleep, sprawled out on the small bed with the blanket unflatteringly twisted around her petite frame.

With an evil grin, Alister got a cruel idea. It was simply too fun a notion to pass up.

A tweak to the light spell had it expand loudly, making a flash and bang that, while not enough to rattle the room, was enough to knock a few light objects around and had the girl flailing awake, yelling something in a foreign tongue. While this had Alister curious, he knew that he probably didn’t want to be there in the moments following. Even if it had been at least five hours since she laid down, he knew he’d certainly be grumpy about it… but Wisteria was a much more patient soul than he was, so it should be fine.

He would soon learn how wrong he was. Even as he ran back to the great room before walking in calmly, where his parents and Morgan were gathered, he heard angry stomping after him. “Alister!” yelled Wisteria, as she made her way into the room. “You…! You…! What were you thinking, you rude little brat?! I spent all day helping YOUR servants, making YOUR life easier! Yet you couldn’t even give me a few hours of sleep! No doubt you have some daft plan in mind that I just HAVE to take part in, but you could have at least let me get a bit more sleep first! Or AT THE VERY LEAST not wake me in such a terribly improper way! What if I slept undressed?! What if my clothing had entered an improper position during my sleep?! I know you’re not a pervert, but are you really so selfish and rude that you couldn’t have a lady come wake me?!”

As she gave this lecture, Alister couldn’t help but wince a bit. At the start, he was grinning in amusement, but by the end, he was pouting, “It was just a joke…”

“Just a joke?! You could have violated my privacy MOST intimately!” This set her off again, and the lecture continued for some time.

Blas telepathically reached out to Alliana, clearly entertained, ‘Are you not going to intervene?’

The noblewoman simply sipped her tea, not seeming to pay the situation any mind, ‘Intervene? With what? I don’t see anything improper happening here.’

Blas snerked, hiding his face in his cup, ‘Taking Wisteria and her mother in as employees will be fun. Just listen to them bicker.’

‘I was worried at first he would catch feelings for her, or vice versa, but I’m pleased to see they’re merely friends.’

‘I feel the same. His mind is far beyond his age, but he’s still physically far too young for any romance in my opinion. I know some nobles marry off this young, some even are pledged since birth to another, but we aren’t in such desperate straits that something so vulgar is necessary.’

‘…I love you. I’m lucky we married.’

‘I consider myself pretty lucky too.’

‘Oh hush. You know what I mean. It was luck of the draw that I was to be married to you. It could have been far less pleasant for me.’

‘And for me, not to know your beautiful charms.’

Alliana tapped Blas’s arm with her fan for that one, blushing beneath her teacup, ‘Ridiculous…’