Chapter 209

After sorting out the rest of the less important loot, Liz and Ana headed back to their respective dorms. Likewise, Sofia retired to her room, and Natalie headed to her own, with Jordan remaining in the living room, giving Natalie and Malice a moment to speak privately. There were a number of topics Natalie needed to hash out with Malice that were too important to put off until tomorrow. Since she was carrying around an actual person inside her pocket.

Pulling out the [Capture Core] and activating it, the busty wolf-girl materialized in an outline of pink motes of light, before solidifying into her complete form. Malice spun around, looking for threats, since she obviously had no idea Natalie had simply called her for a chat. Seeing nothing, the Hellhound relaxed, then faced Natalie.

“Back to safety, I see,” Malice said. “On the surface, as well. I wasn’t sure whether that would be possible.”

“We weren’t either.” Natalie had mixed feelings that it had. But ultimately, she was happy. She didn’t want Malice to be trapped, even if it eliminated certain complex complications of this arrangement.

“Hmph. Why have you summoned me, then?”

Natalie paused. “Well, there’s a lot we need to talk about.”

“There is?”

“Don’t you want to straighten out how ... all of this is going to work?” She waved around, indicating their general circumstances.

“You summon me when you’re in need of a warrior,” Malice said slowly, as if stating something extremely obvious. Then, the wolfgirl hesitated and glanced away. “Or, when you have other uses for me, as your earned conquest.”

Natalie opened her mouth, then closed it. Even in her exhausted state, the idea of taking advantage of that aspect of her victory over Malice admittedly made her heart jump.

But that obviously wasn’t why she’d released the wolfgirl, tonight.

“Malice,” Natalie said firmly. “I don’t care what the dungeon told you about how the capture core works. We’re figuring something out that you’re happy with. You don’t belong to me.”

Malice turned confused orange eyes toward her. The concept clearly baffled her. That Natalie would try to work out something, well, ethical, for her ‘conditions of servitude’.

Natalie sighed. “What’s it like in there, anyway?”

“The core?”

“Yeah.”

Malice paused. “Not dissimilar to waiting between assignments,” she said. “I’m vaguely aware of time having passed, but only after the fact.”

“Like sleeping?”

“Close,” Malice said, but she didn’t specify how it varied. “How long has it been?”

“A bit more than an hour.”

Malice grunted. “That feels about right. But it also seemed like seconds.”

That was one point of relief for Natalie, then. If Malice was left alone inside the [Capture Core] for extended periods of time, she wasn’t sitting around being bored to death. To her perception, she jumped from summon to summon.

Natalie plopped down onto her and Jordan’s bed. “We need to talk about how this’ll work,” she repeated, looking at Malice, who remained standing. “Do you care if I leave you inside?”

Malice bristled. “A weapon expects to be used. Did I not demonstrate my capabilities to your satisfaction?” Her voice grew heated. “Surely I wasn’t found wanting.”

She definitely hadn’t. Malice’s contributions to the mad frenzy of the dungeon’s wrath had been crucial to their survival. She was easily as skilled—and as powerful—as the rest of the team. And not only did she not leech experience from them, but she funneled it toward her summoner. It would be moronic to not call on Malice whenever they possibly could.

But that wasn’t what Natalie was getting at.

“No, you were great. You probably saved our lives. I meant, day-to-day,” Natalie said. “Between dungeon expeditions. While we’re at class, or doing whatever. Are you fine being left alone, inside the core?”

Malice looked at her blankly.

“There’s some pretty serious complications involved with bringing you out in public,” Natalie continued, sighing. “Sapient, talking dungeon monsters would have a lot of scrutiny on them, from just about everyone. Scrutiny I don’t want, by association, on me, considering my class.”

Which she maybe wasn’t doing the best of hiding, seeing how Elida had sussed her out. But maybe that had happened thanks to extenuating circumstances. The possibility of her own involvement with a deity.

Gods, she still had to deal with Elida. There just wasn’t enough time in the day. In the week. In the year. And the eel was avoiding her on purpose, letting Natalie stew on her ultimatum.

“We could make up a story about you being a charmed familiar or something,” Natalie said, “but those don’t talk. And usually can’t be brought out of the dungeon, I think. So it’d still be a huge deal. But if you played the part, it’s a possibility.”