Chapter 74

Bright and early the next morning, after a quick, cold breakfast, Natalie attended to her punishment: kitchen duty.

Their team hadn’t been the only one sentenced to it. Unsurprisingly, a significant portion of the freshmen student base had overstayed their dungeon first run. Five hours from class end to curfew didn’t leave much time to get anything done, and pushing for more had gotten them caught. Real delves took a full day at least. The smaller week-day ones were plenty for earning experience, though. Both the literal sort and the class-based sort. And monster-core farming, which, while not the only way to start working toward credits and gear, was definitely the predominant method.

The looks of muted outrage amused Natalie. Conforming to how Tenet ran every other aspect of the campus, status of birth didn’t exempt princes and princesses from cleaning floors and scrubbing dishes. Some were less happy about that than others. None looked pleased, but to be fair, that was probably because who would be pleased attending kitchen duty this early in the morning? Natalie certainly wasn’t. Only some of their indignation came from their noble status, and the rest of it, from a mundane source.

There were three cafeterias scattered through campus, and the good news was, she did get assigned to the same one as Jordan. The bad news was that things were hectic enough there weren’t many opportunities to talk. Though, one did eventually come. Scrubbing dutifully away with hand-brushes, on their knees, they found a chance to chat.

“You think they’d give us a mop, at least,” Natalie grumbled. “This is so inefficient.”

“I get the feeling efficiency isn’t the point,” Jordan said. “They have actual staff for that.”

“Still.” Being put to work was one thing, but being put to busy work was another.

A few moments passed, rough bristles scratching away at tile.

“So,” Jordan said. “Explanation time?”

Natalie sighed, knowing it had been coming. She’d even been looking forward to it; she wanted to get the ordeal off her chest. Still, she couldn’t be wholly excited to detail all the bizarre stuff that had gone on, yesterday.

“Which part should I start with?”

“How about why you snuck a core out?”

“Because it’s full of potions of infertility.”

The scrubbing stopped. “Excuse me?”

“You heard me.”

“Infertility?”

“Yup.”

“Okay,” Jordan said slowly, drawing the word out. “And how did that happen?”

“Remember the ‘trap’ I fell into?”

“Could hardly forget.”

“Not so much a trap.”

“Kay?”

“More of an encounter.”

“Of ... a different type?”

“Very sticky sort, yeah.”

“Meaning?”

“Meaning I got shown a very good time by an excited mass of vines.”

Jordan stared at her.

“And once it was done having its way with me,” Natalie said, “I was rewarded with practically a bathtub’s worth of infertility potions. The dungeon cares about my career, I guess. How considerate.”

For a long moment, Jordan didn’t respond. Natalie didn’t blame her for that.

Finally, Jordan shook her head to clear it.

“That’s a lot to take in.”

“Tell me about it.”

“So when are we testing it?”

“Testing what?”

“The potion. If it works. Next session?”

It took several seconds to piece together the meaning of the words.

When she did, her mouth dropped open, and she gaped at her friend. Seeing sparkling green eyes, she flushed and returned to her scrubbing.

“Stop teasing,” Natalie growled, adjusting her skirt, which had, at the imagery produced by Jordan’s suggestion, suddenly grown strained. “You’re going to get me caught. This thing isn’t as easy to hide anymore.”

“That is a problem,” Jordan admitted, sparing a glance at it. “But I think I’ll take the risk. It’s too much fun making you blush.”

“I’m sure it is.”

“And,” Jordan said, “I like seeing it. It’s a reminder of what I get to play with, tonight.”

“Jordan.”

“Look. It’s getting even bigger. You’re right. It really doesn’t hide well, anymore.”

Natalie scrubbed the floor, pointedly ignoring her friend, and the unwieldy bulge in her skirt. Really. When this thing had been six inches, it had been troublesome. At eight, she hadn’t a clue how her secret would remain a secret.

Though maybe that wasn’t the goal. While mortifying, the truth getting out would make romantic encounters simpler. Rather than having to explain it to each partner.

“I think we can trust the potion does what it says,” Natalie said.

“But you don’t want to make sure?”

“Jordan.”

“What’s a creampie between friends?”

“Jordan!” Natalie said, scandalized.

“Okay, okay,” Jordan laughed. “Putting aside how insane the ... vine stuff ... is. And the potion. It’s not ideal that you had to hide the reward.”

“Don’t like stealing from the team, that’s for sure.”

“Especially since you might get more in the future. Doubt it’s one-off.”

“Yeah.”

“I get why you did it, though.”