Chapter 38 - 38

The anti Fairy measures seem to have worked. They made it through the night undisturbed at the very least. All the windows are locked, and the towels are still under the door.

When everyone is finally awake, Elmira does the ladies' hair, and everyone gets their armour on, ready to leave for the dungeon.

"Hey, did you sleep in your armour?" Cain asks Elmira.

"Sort of? This is the only outfit I own. Armour didn't really drop from the monsters in the forest."

"Oh, that will never do. Good gear is one of the most essential parts of getting ready for a dungeon run." Misha informs the tiny Pixie.

The group members search through their inventory for anything that might be helpful to the caster, finding a variety of items that might be useful.

"I've got a pair of rings with reduced Mana cost." Cain sets them out on the bed.

"I've got a necklace with mana regen," Misha adds.

"Leather boots and pants with increased spell damage? You don't use your daggers as much, do you?" Char sets them out with the rest of the gear.

"And finally, a leather jerkin that I didn't get time to trade in." Mythryll smiles. "It's got more mana regeneration on it, plus a healthy dose of defence."

"Oh, here's a pair of daggers for you." Cain laughs. "They are fairly low level but have a chance to poison on hit, a great compliment to your paralyze ability."

Elmira is so happy she's crying, flitting about from person to person, giving out hugs.

"Thank you guys so much. You have no idea how much this means to me. Eight years. Eight long years I barely survived out there and got two items. A single night in a real party, and I've got actual equipment."

"Well, put it on, and let's see how you look." Mythryll cheers.

"What do you mean? I look how I look."

"Your appearance will change with gear. Every piece looks different on every different race and class combination. So when you wear this, you'll have an entirely different outfit than you do now." Mythryll explains, bringing on another round of tearful hugs.

Elmira picks up and equips all the items laid out for her. All epic level trinkets and leather armour, better than most adventurers get as drops. The effect is fantastic. The tiny Pixie is now wearing pink Mary Janes with kitten heels and white bows on top, white tights and a pink and white lolita dress with a white ribbon in her hair.

"I thought she was supposed to be an assassin?" Mythryll asks, confused. "How is that an assassin?"

"Would you expect her to be out to kill you?" Cain laughs as Elmira twirls and giggles, checking out her new equipment.

"I mean, you've got a point. But still, it's not even leather armour." the Elf points out.

"Wait, I have a camouflage skill; I can do this!" Elmira says, her dress fading to a black and form-fitting short jerkin with leather pants and boots. "More what you expected?"

Everyone else nods. Yes, this is what they thought she would look like.

"Pixies get two appearances. At least Pixie assassins. Default and camouflage. Default is the pretty dress, and camouflage is this. She immediately changes back to the frilly Lolita dress and giggles.

" I always wanted dresses like this before I came here. Finally, I got one."

"I know it's rude to ask about the past, but how old were you when to transferred?" Mythryll asks softly.

"I had just turned four. I should be twelve soon, but it's hard to keep track of time here. There is only one season in this forest."

Four? The system brought a four year old here? What was it thinking?

"It's a good thing you could even read the menu to choose," Cain says, thinking of all that could have gone wrong in that scenario.

"I learned when I saw the screen. I don't think I knew before."

"Enough of that talk; let's see what the inn has for breakfast." Char changes the topic.

Breakfast turns out to be entirely vegetarian, as expected. But with a variety that surprised them all. Cain decides on a form of pancake stuffed with fruits, while Elmira goes for a small honey dish with a single blueberry in the middle. She squished the fruit into the honey and swirled it around with tiny chopsticks before wrapping up a bite.

Her happiness is infectious, and soon, everyone in the room is talking happily over their meals.

"Time to earn our keep," Mythryll says, hopping to her feet.

The group heads for the dungeon entrance, attracting attention along the way. Humans aren't familiar sights here, and there are two of them in the group.

"You sure you want to bring an evil Fae pet into the evil Fae dungeon?" The portal guard asks them.

"She's not a pet. Elmira is a transfer with terrible luck using the random character creation system." Cain informs him, garnering a look of pity.

"I'll let the fairies know so they don't attack her. Pixies are well known pranksters and assassins in this part of the world." Well, the class assignment she got fit her race at least, even if it was different from her temperament.

"So that's why everyone attacked me. They all thought I was evil." Elmira sighs, landing on Cain's shoulder to ride into the dungeon.

The entrance is dark, without the usual background light. Instead, the only light comes from glowing fungus on the walls. It smells like stone and not rot, which is a good sign to the group. The undead dungeon had a unique odour that they'd rather not experience again.

Elmira lights Fairie Fire in the air above them for better vision, and they begin to move forward, not knowing what to expect from this area. Cain realizes once again they have forgotten to ask essential questions. Like what they're going to be fighting.

The lights are bringing opponents to them, though.. First up being four grey-skinned Elves riding giant, black spiders.