They were ahead of schedule when they finished that last arch, the Village. The ninth arch, second to last.

  Now nine green glowing stones lit the chamber in a weird light, while one amber glowed dimly above the tenth and final arch. Signalling they could enter the final test, providing the dungeon didn’t throw them another curveball.

  They were sitting around the table in the dungeon's cooking area. Both Alicia and Kai are fulfilling their need for sustenance.

  It was only midday, the maze and village test taking far less time than they had expected, leaving them with a decision to make.

  Would they complete the dungeon today?

  “You know when I finally get my physical projection sorted, I’ll be able to join in on these meals; we’ll be out of the dungeon too, so much better food. No offence to your cooking, but I never thought I would have to install smoke detectors inside my soul.” Syl said as she painted her nails with nail polish she somehow projected in, her abilities obviously growing.

  Kai looked at today's stew. “None taken. I don't recognise half of the ingredients we have; examining stuff doesn’t exactly help when I don’t know what a cassabok is or how to prepare it. Being honest, being able to look up recipes online or just read the cooking instructions off of packaging spoilt me. Most of what I’m doing in the kitchen is just guesswork.”

  Syl eyed Alicia. “I would ask what your excuse was, but I'm guessing it was princess privileges.”

  She pouted, “Yeah… I never cooked anything until master insisted I at least learn the basics; even then, it wasn’t a priority.” Alicia said knowing Syl was just teasing her.

  He looked at the two of them getting along and sighed sadly.

  The sigh caught Syl’s attention, making her ask, “What is it?”

  “This, it’s all going to change. The three of us, together like this, probably won't have a moment like this ever again once we’re out.”

  Alicia looked concerned, frightened even; fidgeting, she asked, “Do you want to remove me from the party!? I can-“

  “Oh god, no! You’re staying, you and Gift both; without him, I’m a little worried I am going to end up completely outnumbered by women.” He said quickly, jumping in on what Alicia was saying before she could spiral. “I mean, we are going to have to look for more party members, you know, to round out our team.”

  “I vote we get a chef,” Syl joked.

  Alicia, realising Kai hadn’t even been thinking about removing her relaxed and quipped, “Finding an adventurer who has combat-focused cooking skills might be a tough one.”

  “Well, we don't need an archer or a mage. I was thinking a defender and some kind of sneaky scout type.”

  “I thought I was the sneaky scout type.” Syl said, affronted.

  “You are, but what do we do about your limited range? Using a physical projection could further complicate things in ways we haven’t anticipated. Switching into your invisible wisp form might not be a viable tactic anymore.”

  Alicia tilted her head as she listened, looking between the two of them before asking, “Did you two figure out the focus problem?”

  Syl looked over at Kai and gave him a soft smile. “It’s complicated; we have an idea, but we’re still working on it.”

  Alicia seemed to pick up that something was left unsaid but chose to leave it alone and instead broach another topic. “Speaking of complicated, you will have to figure out this whole world wonder thing soon… and to a lesser extent our contract, how far you want to take things. Depending on how things go, it could get unnecessarily political in both regards.”

  This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  Kai sighed again.

  “You stop that; your life’s not that hard.”

  “Sorry, I'm still adjusting to having magic, and now I have to figure out Alea and what to do with some world-changing system event. I’ve been thinking about it, and I am hoping I can pass it off onto Thanric or the house. They seemed to have a plan. Maybe then we can disappear for a bit… you can be our Alea tour guide.” He eyed Alicia as she chewed her lip; he definitely needed to figure that out.

  “I’m sure a contract can be produced where you maintain control, but they manage it. Might even mollify international tensions if no one really knew who held the power and that the houses could be in trouble if they mismanaged things.”

  Kai looked at Syl, then at Alicia. “We also talked about the contract… I know it was created on a whim, and I'm only just starting to wrap my head around the implications. I still have questions for Thanric… but I’ve decided…” He looked at Syl, who gave him a serious nod. “No, we have decided what’s important is what you want.”

  Alicia looked between the two of them in confusion. “I want to help.”

  “We know. But what Kai means to say is, forget the world wonder, forget the protection being married to a princess would provide. If it was just you and the two of us, what would you want?” Syl gave her a cheeky smile. ”If it was just me, I’d have you in a heartbeat, but it’s not just me, it’s us, and it’s always going to be us.”

  “I- I know what I want.” Alicia said as she nervously played with her stew.

  “Which is?”

  She looked up slowly, her eyes darting between the two of them, before mumbling, "I want it…”

  It? She wants it, Kai felt a headache coming on. He had to ask, “What is it to you?”

  “It? it is what you two have.”

  “That is still too vague,” Syl smiled. “Keep in mind, what we have is unnecessarily complicated.”

  “I know it is complicated.” Alicia’s head shot up, and she gave Syl a determined look. “But the way you two look at each other, the way you know each other without actually knowing each other, that is what I want…” She chewed her lip, thinking for a moment before deciding something and putting down her spoon to address them both. “I have not told you this yet, but you should know why I became my master’s apprentice, why I became an adventurer.”

  Both Kai and Syl gave her their full attention.

  “There was a noble, a suitor; he… wanted me. Not for love or anything like that, just wanted to own me, use me, tout his position and power. I was against it. The problem is he had connections, and no matter what I did, he persisted in insisting I would be his. And do you know what the worst part is?”

  Kai shook his head; that was disgusting. He couldn’t fathom what could be worse about such a situation.

  Alicia continued, “Even if I dissuaded him, there would be another man just like him waiting to take me up like I was a political piece with no other purpose but to be used for children and political means.” She smiled, “So yes, I am sure I want it. I want what you two have; I want the two of you to look at me the way you look at each other.”

  Alicia set her shoulders and looked at the two of them with determination.

  “You need to realise this would not just be protecting Kai from unwanted advances, but it would also protect me. I’m not saying we have to rush anything; I have another twenty years before I need to present myself before my mother and prove I’m more than her youngest daughter with duties to fulfil.”

  Syl got up and drifted over to wrap her arms around Alicia‘s shoulders. It looked awkward as Syl couldn’t quite get the positioning right. But it was clear, Alicia felt something as her demeanour softened as she looked up at Syl as she gave her an exaggerated kiss on the forehead.

  He was stuck on the fact that an older guy was creeping on Alicia and said as much, “Some older guy was trying to force you into a political marriage to be what, his mistress? But Thanric said you were a child, that it was too soon for you to be engaged.“

  Syl palmed her face. “Kai I have tried explaining this to you; el’vei don’t age differently from humans. On Alea, heck, in the vast majority of the multiverse, all three of us are considered children. You need to realise when everyone with a functioning mana core lives to be nearly two hundred years old minimum; anyone under fifty is like a teenager to everyone else. Me, you and Alicia, we are all well below the age of majority.”

  “Huh.” He had a lot to relearn. Everything was out of whack.

  Syl looked, “Okay, clearly the three of us need to sit down and make some decisions before we head back out into the world. I vote we take the night to sit down and actually talk to each other about whatever we have on our minds.”

  “I would like one more night before I have to explain everything that has happened to the three of us to my master,” Thrum, “Gift votes to stay, but I think he thinks that will mean more enemies to shoot.”

  “So that’s the majority.” Syl said as she grinned at him, “It will give us time to pack up and sort ourselves out… Not that there is anything to pack up out here.”

  “About that, I have been thinking about stealing the chamber pots for future dungeon runs. Do you think that will upset the dungeon master?

  Syl sighed, “Won’t work; they’re tied to the dungeon itself. You can take them out of the dungeon, but they’ll just be regular chamber pots outside… We will get you a magical chamber pot as soon as we can. And I think it’s about time we let you see yourself in a mirror.”