<~> Chapter 44The five of us slowly made our way back to the camp we had made when we first arrived here, our pace was set by me trying t the huge ass crystal on my back. It didn't take us too long to find our camp again but I was sweating by the time we were back. It didn't look like anything touched our tents or any of the supplies we had left here before our "quick peek" at the inside of the dungeon. I slowly set down my backpack full of crystal core ks, they cttered against each other on the ground.

  "Hey I eat one of those? They seem super ri mana," Mimi asked.

  Torien jumped up in shock. "No! We hose as proof! Lilith tell the mimiot to eat it!"

  I felt unfortable at Torien askio order Mimi around like a pet but I did see her point.

  "Mimi, why don't you shapeshift into your beastfolk form so we chat as a group please."

  "Uh, okay hold on." The sword once again began to melt into a puddle of what looked like liquid metal before resolidifying into a humanoid shape sittio me on the log by the fire. She still had the eerie look of a moving statue with static gem eyes but her movements gave away that she was a curious aable person.

  I put my hand on Mimi's shoulder. "Mimi seems as intelligent as any of us, I don't want you to get the wrong idea about this. I didn't tame her like a pet wolf, she chose to e with us and I gave her a means to avoid flict with us. She's an equal, not a pet, not a sve. I don't io treat you two like sves and I don't io treat her like oher. She has her own will and she will make her own choices."

  Torien looked flicted but it didn't look like she was going tue. Man had furrowed brows but didn't seem to want to ehis versation at all.

  I waited a moment to make sure Torien didn't actually want to respond before I turo Mimi . "Thank you for asking Mimi but no, please dohe remains of the dungeon core. We his to prove that it was a actually a duhat spawned demons. While we're traveling I'm sure we'll find you things to eat. If you do find things you would like to eat tell me and I'll tell you if it's okay. Sound good?"

  "Alrighty!" She didn't seem to uand what was happening here but she seemed to be in good spirits.

  I turned back to the girls. "I know this is... ued but I'll take responsibility for her. You girls are free to speak your mind though, if you have any s I want to hear them. Lets talk about this stuff before it bees a problem."

  Man raised her hand a little.

  "Yes Man?"

  "Well, I'm ed that a shapeshifting uh, creature, might cause problems if anyone found out about her. I don't think she would hurt any of us, to me she proved that when she saved your life from the vampire queen, but because she's a creature born in a dungeon I doubt she knows anything about how people behave in public. If nothing else I think she should remain in a disguised form until she uands us better."

  "I don't think that'll be an issue, from what I uand she'll be able to maintain a transformed state as long as she has a supply of mana." I turo Mimi again. "How is your mana supply doing Mimi?"

  Mimi smiled, somehow the expression on her face made her look less imposing rather than more for ohere isn't as much dense mana outside as I was expeg but the mana out here is flowing so quickly and tastes really good! I still absorb mana from the enviro but it takes a lot more tration than I'm used to so I 't stay aware of my surroundings while I do it. That means I'm at a small mana deficit, I'm slowly losing mana over time."

  She looks down at her hands and tinues, "Strangely, even though this form is moving and physically talking it is muana effit than almost all of the other forms I've tried. If I tried to move around a lot in another form I would burn through my mana reserve much faster even though I have a good amount of mana saved up. Staying in this form while talking and moving would st me a lot longer. I won't lose very much mana at all if Lilith tio carry me though, and if we stay still for a while and I'm protected I could fill up my reserve with enough time."

  Man looked intrigued, "Wait, what if I trated the ambient mana for you?"

  Mimi tilted her head looking fused.

  "You have mana sight right? Here watch." She held out her hand towards Mimi and gripped her staff. It looked like she reparing to cast a spell but rather than materialize anything she just swirled the mana in pd pressed it.

  Mimi sat straight up and leaned forward. After a moment of watg the mana collect itself she held her hand out towards the ball of ambient mana and absorbed it into herself.

  Mimi bounced up and down iement. "That was amazing! Ohhh, the mana tastes so good this way! you show me how to do that?"

  Man looked a little puffed up from the praise. "I try and teach you if you want, I'm not sure how easy it will be to teach but having mana sight already should make it easier." She hesitated a moment. "But I don't think I tonight, I'm pretty tired after everything we went through today. Maybe tomorrow?"

  "Okay!" Mimi said excitedly.

  "You two seem like you'll be good friends." Bel said happily. I felt a little bad that I only just now realized how quiet Bel had been this whole time but it seems she just didn't have anything to add up until now.

  "What are friends?" Mimi asked while tilting her head.

  I put my hand on her smooth shoulder. "Friends are panions that help each other out and enjoy spending time together."

  "Then all of you are my friends!" she said happily.

  Her rea caught me off guard and made me a little worried. "All of us are your friends but be careful. Other people might try and trick you and lie about being your friend to make you do what they want for them. They might want you to help them out but don't want to help you out iurn. Or they might ask you to do something dangerous, especially if they find out you're actually a shapeshifter."

  "How I tell if people are lying to me? What if you're lying to me right now?" she asked.

  I smiled wryly. "It just takes experieo figure out when people are lying, the best I do is just tell you I'm not and hope you trust me. It's good to be wary though, even of your friends sometimes. It's possible your friends might not be thinking about your best is ht be taking advantage of you even if you both like each other. Just be sure to tell us if we're doing something you don't like, or if something we're asking you to do makes you too unfortable. Sometimes what we want will flict, if that happens we'll do our best to find a promise. You and I have a bond, our deal was that we would help each other out. But I won't always know the best way to help you or what you want and need, so be sure to tell me if you think of something. Make sense?" I asked.

  She tilted her head cutely. "Hmm, I'm not sure I fully uood everything but I'll try."

  Mimi was a curious creature. She doesn't have enough socialization to even know what friends were but clearly knew about things like the boss room, levels, and things ihe dungeon. She only retly gained a humanoid form but still did things like tilt her head when fused. Though I suppose even dogs do that sometimes, maybe that was more of a biological thing. Still, I liked her e, it was kind of refreshing. Maybe I just didn't like being the clueless one all the time though. Mimi tinued looking around and iing things like the trees and grass around our camp, likely never havihem before short of the potted pnts that decorated the halls of the faux-manor.

  The sun was fully down now and the stars and three moons were out. The red and blue moohe same fullness, but the white moon was on its own different cycle. How was that possible if the light of the moon was reflected from the sun? I shook my head, magic is such a huge influen the world I couldn't guarantee anything works the same way as it did where I came from. Things seem mostly simir, but who knows what's ged.

  I stood up. "Do you girls mind taking first watch? I think I o lie down with Bel for a while. Mimi, you don't o stay in that form any more, I think I've said what I o say for the night."

  "Are we taking a break? Should I focus on colleg mana?"

  "Sounds okay to me, are you two okay with that?" I asked Torien and Man.

  Torien scratched her ear, "Yeah that's a good idea. I think Man and I have some stuff to talk about so it'll be a good opportunity. I'll wake you up in a few bells then?"

  "Yeah that sounds good, I'll give you two some privacy then." I picked up my sword sheath that now held a dormant Mimi in her sword form.

  Bel was already at my side and took my arm as we walked to the tent together. She gently rested her head against my shoulder as we walked. I stopped outside of the small tent and carefully set Mimi down while I worked on taking off my breastpte. My new form meant that I didn't seem to sweat anymore, not that I ever really felt hot to begin with, so the shirt underh would have been mostly if not for the dried vampire blood that stai. Unfortunately I didn't have a spare with me so I decided to just deal with it for now. I looked over at Bel who was just watg me with a smile. I smiled back before pig up Mimi inside her sword sheath and climbing into the cramped tent. I left her o the fp, inside our tent without actually being on the bed rolls with us.

  We were far enough from the twins to not overhear their quiet versation but too close to actually have sex without them notig. I was actually too mentally exhausted to be in the mood anyway, I could tell that Bel picked up on that because she just cuddled against me quietly.

  "Are you okay? You've beey quiet tonight," I asked.

  She nuzzled her cute deer snout into me. "Yeah, I'm just not used to being around other people for so long so I'm feeling worn out. That st versation was kind of heavy too, I'm gd you said something though. I don't think I liked how the irls were treating Mimi..."

  "Yeah, I guess I uand though. Mimi was a demon and a monster from the dungeon. They don't uand what we did when I used soul tou her."

  "Yeah I know. I'm just tired."

  I hugged her against me and closed my eyes. We succubi didn't need sleep iraditional se it was being clear to me that it still helped with mental fatigue, especially when we were in such high stress situations.

  I hadn't even had my eyes closed for ten minutes when I slipped off into a deep sleep.

  Saine

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