A New Kind Of Grind

After our first delve, the next few were a piece of cake, although I had been persuaded to change my fighting style. After all, if all of my contributions to the delve consisted of using weapons, then all of my XP would go to Paladin, rather than Wizard, and when I really thought about it, I decided I'd rather have Wizard hit Level 5 first.

"So," I said, after another successful delve. "Glad we're delving a Level 5?"

"It has its perks," Nicky admitted.

We were all in the Sakurai apartment, enjoying a particularly nice and hearty meal, courtesy of Usagi; it turned out, when you had the kind of money delvers made, you could afford some particularly choice ingredients, and your girlfriend's dad would be more than happy to cook those ingredients for you. It also turned out that, much like Miners could do some minor crafting in terms of smelting ore into ingots, Farmers had abilities for crafting ingredients into meals.

"So, what's next for you?" Usagi asked, before biting into a chicken leg.

Before modern factory farming, a chicken was, primarily, a source of eggs and shed feathers. You'd only eat a chicken when it got too old to do its job, by which point its meat would be tough and require either long stewing or some acidic wine to make it tender enough to properly eat.

Of course, that didn't mean eating a young chicken, which was not yet tough and chewy, was off the table. It just meant that it was expensive, because nobody was raising chickens in bulk quantities specifically for meat. That's what pigs were for.

So, these roast chickens were a bit of conspicuous consumption. And the barbecue sauce caramelized on the skin? Well, that was conspicuously fancy, too.

"We've got one more delve to go before we hit Level 5," I said. "At which point... I think we're going to take a break from delving, and play around with some of the new options we have. I certainly am, at least. But it should be a pretty short break; after that, we'll be back to delving dungeon gates and raking in money."

Usagi nodded. "Good luck, then."

---

"Roxy," Akane began, right before our eleventh Level 5 delve, the one that would bring the three Level 4s in the party up to Level 5. "I need you to promise me that you won't fuck my dad."

Nicky started coughing, and Nel quirked an eyebrow.

"What... brought this on?" I asked.

"Because I know you," Akane said. "And I saw how you looked at her when she walked out of the kitchen in that 'kiss the cook' apron."

"To be fair," Nel began.

"You are also not allowed to fuck my dad," Akane said, folding her arms. "You only get one Sakurai you're allowed to fuck, and every last one of you has already chosen me."

"...You know what?" I began. "This is, like. The one boundary you've established, insofar as sex stuff goes. You don't really do that, so... clearly, this is important to you. In recognition of that fact, Akane... I will not fuck your dad."

"Thank you," Akane said, closing her eyes.

"What about your mom?"

"Also no."

---

"This is an interesting pattern," Akane said, once we'd beaten the mini-boss. "Two regular rooms followed by a mini-boss, at this level of Dungeon Gate, means we've got a ninety percent chance of this Dungeon having two mini-bosses. That's pretty uncommon up until the Level 7 mark."

"Yeah, I recognize this pattern," Nel said, picking the lock on the loot chest. "If I recall my courses correctly, it's known for giving pretty good loot, yeah?"

"Eyup!" Akane said, nodding.

"Looks like we'll see how true that is in a moment," Nicky said, as Nel opened the lock, and popped the chest open. "What's it like?"

"...Well, this right here is something good," Nel said, pulling out a red-and-white orb that I recognized as a monstergirl capture device. "It is... one bunnygirl beta exemplar, with the Litter Size 3 and Breed Speed 3 Traits." She tilted her head to the side. "And, also, maxed out base stats." She turned to face us. "This is, in fact, a fairly rare drop; usually, when a dungeon gives you a captive monstergirl like this, she has Traits equivalent to her wild-captured kin. Her Traits should be Level 1, but..." She shrugged. "Anyhow, this would sell pretty well; monstergirls with high base stats are valued as breeding stock, and only a few very specialized breeders have managed a breeding population with perfect, maxed-out stats. Plus, she's got the max-level Traits, which are usually quite difficult to transfer to a new Rancher. Buuuuut, she would also make for a pretty good familiar, if anyone here wanted one at Level 5."

Nobody said anything, for a few seconds.

"Akane?" I asked. "Do you... not want a bunnygirl familiar?"

"I don't really feel the need for a familiar just in general?" Akane said, shrugging. "I know I've done a lot of enchanting with you for your projects, but I'm really not that much of a crafter myself, so the synergies just... don't matter that much to me."

"That's a pretty clinical view of the benefits of having a familiar," I pointed out.

"Well, I also don't feel like I need a magically-guaranteed life partner," Akane said. "I already have some life partners- that's what a long-term delving party like this is."

Huh.

"She's got a point," Nel added. "I was a solo delver until I met you, so for me, getting a familiar was the smartest choice. El ended up not having the right temperament for delving, and preferred a non-combat Class loadout, but what was really important to me was that I'd have someone to come home to after a delve."

"It does occur to me, now, that getting a familiar- well, an awakened monstergirl familiar, at least, I don't know if there are other kinds-"

"There are," Akane said.

"-has a slight air of pathetic desperation about it," I continued. "Since apparently the main motivator for both of the people I know who have familiars is to gain a guaranteed life partner, and my intimate knowledge of the fact that you can also just make those out of ordinary human women with some charisma and luck."

"Hey!" Nel protested.

"That being said, I still want a familiar myself," I continued, "because, quite aside from the fact I won't turn down a fifth girlfriend, I also kinda am a big crafter, and very much would like a Familiar to get me as many synergies as possible."

"That's fair," Akane said.

"You do realize that, despite Akane's disinterest in having her own familiar, she is going to be constantly lusting over your familiar if you choose this bunnygirl, correct?" Nicky pointed out.

"I'm not going to complain about my the girls in my harem wanting to fuck each other," I said. "That is ideal, as far as I'm concerned, because it means everyone has more options than just myself. Buuuuuut... I'll admit I'm not... completely sold on this bunnygirl in particular. I think she's going to just be more breeding stock for Nel's ranch."

"I actually don't have a ranch," Nel said.

"...I think she's just going to be breeding stock for my ranch," I corrected myself. "Right, well... if nobody has any other color commentary?" I waited a few seconds for anyone to volunteer a witty jab. "Then let's move on."

---

The next sub-boss was a deeply obnoxious Bard, who used a whole bunch of illusions to distract and annoy us. Still, once Akane managed to set up a big spell for clearing away the illusions, it was the work of seconds for me to glue the Bard's feet to the floor so they'd hold still long enough for Nel to pop her with a headshot.

The chest was the work of another minute to open, and Nel grunted as she pulled out its contents.

"We have... yet another captive monstergirl," Nel said. "A foxgirl beta exemplar with no Traits, and mediocre stats."

"...We'll figure out what to do with her later," I said. "I do like me a foxgirl, and both the lack of Traits and middling stats are problems I am quite capable of solving, but, all the same..."

"You like foxgirls?" Nicky asked.

"I think she just likes girls in general," Akane said.

"Still, the fact that foxgirls have fluffy tails does enhance the experience," Nel pointed out. "They're like a perfect blend of a doggirl's fluffy tail, and a catgirl's fluffy ears and general build."

"I don't know, I think I prefer the doggirl build," Nicky mused. "You're just biased because catgirls are built like elves with bigger tits."

"And what of it?" Nel asked, folding her arms.

"Girls, girls, they're all hot," I said. "But, duly noted; Nel is going to want to fuck my familiar."

"Fair's fair," Nel said. "You did fuck mine."

"I did, yeah," I said, thinking back fondly to all the times I'd busted a nut inside Nel's girlfriend. I mean, she was also my girlfriend, but I maaaay have had a bit of a bull fetish. "Anyhow! Let's keep moving. We should be nearing the end, now."

---

The boss fight was tough, but nothing we hadn't handled before, and now, here at the end, we had our final chest full of loot.

"Alright, we have..." Nel paused, then sighed. "Fuck a duck, another captive monstergirl."

"The dungeon really wants us all to have familiars, huh?" I asked.

"No kidding," Nel said. "This one is... huh. Another elf. Not a wild one, either; she's still unawakened, obviously, otherwise she wouldn't fit in the trap, but... she's got the Traits and distinctive features of a proper Carmine Elf, from the red hair, to the pale and freckled skin, to the strong features and muscles."

"Hrm..." I tapped my chin. "...Tempting, but... I think I'm going to want to take the foxgirl as my familiar, and then use the bunnygirl and the elf as breeding stock for my ranch, so that nobody awakened has blood ties- if fairly distant ones- to any of the monstergirls in my ranch, so that all of us can freely partake of their sweet carnal pleasures without feeling that weird about it."

"That's probably for the best, yes," Nel said, nodding. "That was... I'm not going to lie, a big part of why I hesitated long enough on the elf ranching that I never actually got started on that."

"And not the fact that you, an awakened elf, would find the sight of unawakened elves to be disconcerting?" Nicky asked.

"Well, no," Nel said. "Pretty much only humans get weird about that, because there's no such thing as an unawakened human. My parents grew up in Vilane, and when they moved to Dorn, they brought their pet elf with them, and I grew up with her."

"Well, I think I've got a plan," I said, interrupting the argument. "Foxgirl familiar, then breed the bunnygirl and the elfgirl-"

"It's just elf."

"-the elfgirl for my ranch," I finished. "And if I decide I want more foxgirls, then it should not be hard to just buy another one." I clapped my hands once, then rubbed them together. "So! Let's go home."