With the use of Exorcism and Ghostbane, I quickly cleared the level and then headed down to the next one. I managed to gain three levels in True Dungeon Diver. I only gained 2 skills. I must have run into another duplicate. The skills were Basic Monster Identify and Resist Curse. Neither left me all that excited. I already had a strong spirit with White Mage, so an increase in resisting the dungeons curse wasn't needed. Basic Monster Identify only gave me a monster's name. That was it. I couldn't even see their weakness!
I reached the end of the level and immediately headed down to the next floor. This mansion didn't seem to have any traps like the last one. I had used detect traps a dozen times, and haven't even got a distant one. This floor contained a Ghost called Whithering Ghost and another one called a Spectral Howler. The Howler was annoying. As soon as it got hit, it would scream, summoning any other ghosts in the area. The only way I could fight it was to kill everything else nearby first, and then try to handle it.
I wanted to equip Cook and see if there were any food drops, but I still had a month of food remaining. When you packed to feed three, one person really could last a while.
I finally reached a room that looked vaguely familiar. Actually, it looked like a library, but it was a single room I could close the door on. Furthermore, there was a mural on the wall. That was right. This was a place we often treated as a safe room. I had been going on for probably 1 and a half days straight. I had depended heavily on refresh to keep myself going. Now that I had a place I could consider safe, I collapsed in a heap.
I went about starting a fire and trying to prepare something warm this time. As I set to work, the door opened a crack, and a small little person slipped in. The door closed again. I let out a sigh as I looked in Celeste's location.
"What is it that you want?" I demanded.
"Eek!"
She fled behind a bookshelf. I decided to ignore her. Instead, I equipped my Cook and concentrating on making my meal. With all of my skills, soon, a fire was raging a pot was boiling. Flavorful smells were filling the tiny little library which was never supposed to be used for cooking. I saw the fairy poke her head out again. She looked like she was drooling, her mouth open.
"Would you like me to make you some?" I asked.
She wiped her mouth and ducked again, but it wasn't more than a second before she was looking out again. She watched as I carefully cooked everything. I created a bigger dish than was needed and made sure to incorporate all my best vegetables into the stew. She was staring at it with a light in her eyes.
I didn't even know if fairies could eat. She had been in this mansion for 20 years, so what had she been eating? However, since she was responding to food, I decided to just go with it. I cooked slow and methodically, making sure to enhance the flavor to the best of my cooking ability. She finally floated out, heading to the fire like a moth to the flame, her tongue almost panting.
I took the smallest bowl I had and filled it with soup. I then pushed it so it was on the other seat across from me. The fairy eyed it suspiciously at first, but ever so slowly, she took a seat across from me. Finally, she picked up the bowl that was almost too big for her arms, and then drank from it like it was a cup.
"Mmmm!" her cheeks going pink as she let out a cry. "This is delicious!"
"What have you been eating the last 20 years?" I asked.
The fairy sniffed indignantly. "Fairies are creatures of mana. I feed off the natural mana of the world."
"Ah… so I guess I won't need to make you any more…"
"B-but fairies also have exquisite taste glands!" She suddenly shouted, almost spilling her bowl. "It's considered abuse to not feed your House Fairy! It's a rule! A definite rule!"
"Ah… I see…"
At least, she was talking to me now. We continued to eat the stew and sit by the fire. After a long day of dungeon diving, this kind of thing was starting to grow on me."