After the short exchange between the representatives of the Dungeon Raiders and the Dolminico company, it beca clear that reaching an agreent wouldn't be possible unless Kalos and his sister went directly to the Dungeon Raiders island.
As important as Miss Dragonfang was for the operations, she lacked the ability to make big decisions or agree to any conditions and she decided it was best to invite them over.
Although reluctant, Kalos ended up agreeing claiming that sending his little sister alone was too dangerous, but Phlox sensed there was more to it and eyed him with suspicion the entire way back.
The first few islands they needed to cross were unclaid, which ant that passing through them was easy and fast. However, the hunters who built the bridges charged a fee for every person that crossed it and Miss Dragonfang was forced to part from a part of her rations, sothing she didn't particularly enjoy.
Apart from the cozy hogans Uriel first built, there were new buildings built with scrap tal salvaged from the surface. Each of them had their own purpose, but it remained a mystery to the visitors as they weren't allowed to peek inside.
Kalos scanned the place the entire ti as though he was searching for sothing he lost, but his sister remained blushing in silence until Miss Dragonfang returned with a short girl with a cute, but stony face.
"Huh? I was expecting sobody else." The Dolminico girl muttered.
"Let assure you, in spite of her stature she's a very reliable hunter and used to be the top of the dicine class." Miss Dragonfang explained.
"I'm... uh... Moonlight." Luna extended her hand to the girl in a movent that seed rehearsed, especially because she did rehearse it many tis just for the occasion.
No matter how many tis Luna asked to try giving out so samples to hunters from other companies to test if they were safe to eat, Uriel kept refusing in spites of her explaining that her moral code allowed human testing as long as she explained the possible outcos with honesty.
"Pleased to et you, hunter Luna, I'm Chiara." The girl replied politely. Her brother, Kalos, would usually introduce himself to any cute girl, but Luna seed too young for his taste and he didn't mind being ignored.
Luna nodded in reply and led them towards her 'lab' which was actually little more than a warehouse, though it was well stocked with lab equipnt.
Managing to get their hands on such equipnt was already a feat considering how they were inside a dungeon, though in reality it was made possible by Uriel's souvenir shop and Luna's insistence, but what really shook Chiara was the presence of a well known figure leaning over a microscope.
"Professor Lamar!" The girl exclaid, but the man ignored her altogether and remained with his eyes fixated on the lens.
"Yes, he's my... uhmmm... lab assistant."
"Collaborator." The man scoffed without taking his attention from the microscope.
"So, what are the conditions you ntioned."
Despite their reputation, Kalos didn't expect such a small company as the Dungeon Raiders to have that many resources and hoped to be able to pressure them into a deal much more favorable to their own. Now he didn't know how to even begin the negotiations and it fell upon his sister's shoulders.
"I'll tell you exactly what plants are safe to consu, but in exchange I want exclusive rights to produce them."
"No." Luna said without hesitation.
"Without us, you only have a few weeds. I am the only one who..."
"No." Luna insisted.
"Then..."
"No."
"You can't just say no to everything I say."
"I... can." Was all Luna said.
Chiara stomped her feet in frustration as she was used to getting her way, but soon realized her overbearing attitude had no effect on Luna despite her seemingly short age. Because of that, she shifted her tone entirely and what she said next left her brother in utter disbelief.
"Then, I want to date Sage."
"Done." Much to Miss Dragonfang's surprise, Luna replied without so much as batting an eye.
"You can't be serious!" Kalos exclaid as he felt his soul abandoning his body knowing that if their father found out about this, he would raise hell.
"Don't be foolish, brother. Besides, I'm the one with the relevant trait and you're only here as my guard dog, be a good boy and stay quiet." She spoke to her brother in a condescending tone in spites of him being obviously older than her, though he didn't seem to mind it and just lowered his head.
"Families are complicated." Dragonfang muttered before exiting the room to let Uriel know about the deal Luna just stroke with the Dolminico girl.
"My trait is to communicate with plants, I can hear sothing like their thoughts which is usually what they need in order to grow up healthily. I can also tell them to do things, so I can technically control them, but it's mostly useless against cryptids. Of course, my trait is in high demand right now.
This ans that if you want my help growing food, you're going to have to pay extra." The girl explained.
"I didn't ask, just... uhm, do it." Said Luna, then pointed at the table where several plant samples were placed.
"It's already done, of all the plants that woman had on the briefcase a stem and one type of leaf were the only ones edible for hunters. But it seems..."
"They co from the sa plant." Luna cut her short.
"Exactly."
"It's just as we feared, Professor. The plant in question... it's troubleso." Luna said, causing professor Lamar to forget about the microscope and turn his attention towards the conversation.
"Troubleso?" Echoed Chiara who didn't understand the weight behind that word.
"It's a mythical plant the gods supposedly consud. It was said that heroes who ate it were able to beco gods themselves, but it's deadly for regular humans."
"I doubted wether this plant would be toxic to humans because the amount of calories it possesses is beyond the charts. You could say it would be like eating mineral coal..." Professor Lamar explained.
"This is unfortunate." Luna sat on the closest chair available and refused to continue speaking. Lamar was just as taken aback, but his reaction was different.
"It is not, dear colleague, I believe this to be the opportunity we were looking for. It doesn't matter if only hunters can consu it, it will still reduce the rate at which our rations are being depleted."
"I'm not worried about that, it's just that the place where we found this sample is... complicated," As Luna spoke and in spite of her aloofness, her expression seed darker than usual and a strange glint in her eye shifted her usual cuteness into ominosity. "The first ti we explored this dungeon we barely scratched the surface.
Even this world that seems open and safe hides its secrets, but that's nothing compared to the third world."
"Is that the place with the rainbows?" Kalos asked after gulping down his saliva.
"It's called Happy hunting grounds, but don't let that na misguide you. That place is made of concentric islands. The first circle is mostly safe, if you consider butterflies made of iron that are sohow capable of flying easy prey, that is. But the second one, the second one hosts all sorts of carnivore cryptids, too varied for to identify.
Their hunting strategy consists in following their prey until they get tired, but there are so entity level cryptids that we were able to surpass only due to the presence of a holy rank hunter. But that's not even the worst..."
"It is not!?" A terrified Chiara shouted and Luna nodded, the shadows inside the poorly illuminated makeshift laboratory seed to dance behind the tiny huntress.
"It's not," she somberly echoed. "The bridge to the third island is broken, but that might be a good thing. It seed like so sort of sanctuary. In there, we found a pond and in that pond..."
"That's enough," Uriel said as he walked in. "Luna, what you were about to tell them is supposed to remain a secret. You can't just decide to share that information with random people."
"I can't?" Luna asked with innocence.
"No, wait, let her tell us!" Chiara begged.
"Hey." Kalos walked closer to greet Uriel, but he reacted by grabbing him by the collar with hostility.
"Are you the pervert who wants to date my sister?"
"I- I don't even know who your sister is! I'm here for dusa..." Kalos replied, unaware that he was only making things worse for himself.
"You have the gall to co here to flirt with my ex, in my face!?" Uriel felt the anger rising up his neck.
"Uhm... she's not your real sister." Luna muttered, sowhat jealous that Uriel was suddenly so protective of Emma.
"This is a misunderstanding, I don't want to date your sister, I want to date you!" Chiara explained, triggering dusa who was just outside watching the scene unfold.
"Who is this howrecker!?" dusa shouted at a random direction. Things beca hectic with no one to break the fight, causing everyone to be at each other's throat until the most unexpected person intervened.
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