CHAPTER 91: THE CONSEQUENCES OF SERVING GOOD FOOD

As she ascended from the bunker, Marron still smelled it--earthy and slightly musty. It clung onto her clothes, and more than that--she felt like she carried the Lieutenant’s words with her. Like pebbles inside sneakers.

In these tunnels, two pairs of footsteps echoed: hers and the mimic guard’s. He was silent as stone, sword dragging gently against the ground.

When they returned to the fourth floor, Marron kept her eyes down. She didn’t want to see the looks on the other mimics’ faces as they walked. One of them understood and instead whispered, "I can’t wait for you to feed us."

And then another mimic echoed, "feed us," but had awe in their voice. A third said "feed, feed, feed," in a hungry and desperate voice.

Marron imagined they weren’t looking at her, exactly. They were reacting to what her food could potentially do for them.

Feeding mimics until they were strong enough to overwhelm the Adventurer’s Guild.

She was also getting more worried by the day.

Why haven’t I heard from anyone in the Culinary Guild? Mokko and Lucy should have been able to talk to somebody by now...

Mokko and Lucy wouldn’t wait forever without doing anything, right?

She was jerked out of her thoughts with the System’s familiar

Ding!

[New Quest] Plan Your Next Move

Break into the seventh floor’s dining room and acquire Comfort & Crunch.

Her vision swam for a moment as she absorbed this new bit of information.

Seventh floor? The dungeon expanded that fast?!

She must have made a noise, because the mimic guard looked at her curiously. "Something wrong?"

"Uh, no, I just--stubbed my toe, is all," Marron said, flushing pink. She could feel the Mimicry skill adding some stretch to her face.

The guard shook his head. "You just got your own room. Don’t lose body parts until you’re inside, please."

His voice was very much this task is way above my actual pay grade.

They eventually left the narrow tunnels and into a more spacious area--an underground cave. It was massive, and housed a building with multiple doors.

"Your room is on the fourth floor." The mimic guard said, handing her a gold key. "Inside is a tunnel linking your room with the Lieutenant’s bunker, so you don’t get lost. Report by breakfast time."

Marron nodded.

A private room in a tall apartment complex.

These dwarves were more modern than they let on.

She walked upstairs, half-expecting elevators, but the dwarves weren’t that advanced yet. Marron was already breathing hard when she reached the fourth floor, and saw a door that faintly glowed gold.

As if to ram the point home, the golden key she held was shaking, pulling her with an invisible force toward the correct door.

Her "quarters."

But when she pushed the door open, her breath caught.

The room wasn’t the cold stone box she’d braced herself for. The walls had been softened with mimic-crafted furniture, rough at the edges but undeniably trying. A wooden table with mismatched chairs. A bed that looked... not soft, exactly, but less like a slab. Even a shelf, where someone had stacked a few books stolen from the Guild’s upper floors.

On the bed sat a box. Lacquered, smooth, gleaming.

[Reward: Storage Box Acquired.]

Marron lifted the lid. The interior shimmered faintly with magic, cold and clear. Preservation magic. Food stored here wouldn’t spoil, wouldn’t even cool.

Her chest tightened. A mimic wouldn’t need this. This was for her.

Marron closed the box quickly and pressed her forehead against the lid. She didn’t know whether to be grateful or furious.

The System flickered again.

Ding!

[Secondary Quest Unlocked: Tail the Captain]

Objective: Follow his trail before he vanishes deeper into the dungeon.

Note: Your stealth will be increased while you tail him, as long as you are in the dark.

Marron exhaled shakily, and unrolled the map tucked in her apron pocket.

She smoothed it out onto the table, and saw on the upper-right corner: Whetvale Mimic Dungeon: 7/7 Floors.

Marron felt emotional as she saw a small rectangle move slowly inside a tunnel, then stop. When she pointed her index finger at it, the System labeled it:

[Comfort & Crunch: parked in Seventh Heaven, diner of the Underdark.]

Finally, Comfort & Crunch was just a few floors away—and yet impossibly far. The Captain was still ahead, deeper, and the Lieutenant’s growing strength pressed like a shadow behind her.

She sat on the edge of the bed, bone shard warm against her hip, and tried to still her racing thoughts. The Jilted Lover was gone now—banished, silenced. But the cold truth remained.

The Lieutenant had devoured her food. He had claimed it was worth fighting for. And the mimics had already begun to change.

If the Captain used her food stall to cook food in Seventh Heaven, there was no telling what that would do to the mimics. Or how it would affect the dungeon.

She scanned the map and saw the words "Dungeon Core." It was further away from the diner, but that hardly mattered. Marron had no illusions about what her cooking could do for them. And no illusions about how dangerous it would make them.

Still, she had to get her cart back.

And since nobody from the Adventurer’s or the Culinary Guild had come to her rescue, she had to help herself.

No matter how much trouble it might cause.

But where to begin?

In games, Marron knew where to go next. A shop, to buy ingredients, or a smithy, to forge equipment so she could beat the boss and move forward.

Unfortunately, this wasn’t a game, and she had no idea where the smithy was, if there was any, on this floor.

Ding!

[There are some underground plants that can be foraged for stealth potions, dear chef.]

When everything looked dire, there was still...her system.

"Show me," Marron said out loud, and there was a medium-sized notification window, with images of four different plants. Two were mushrooms, and the other two were flowers...she had never seen before.

But, they were in silhouette.

[Rank required to unlock: C+]

[Force unlock for 500 gold?]

"If you were really nice, you’d let me have this for free," Marron mumbled.

[Nothing, even in your second life, is free, dear chef.]

Marron rolled her eyes and clicked the [YES] option.

[NEW CATEGORY UNLOCKED: Stealth Plants]

[Updated Gold count: 300 gold]

She was alarmed at that. "I thought I still had around 1,000 gold?!"

The system replied by showing her some numbers.

[Purchase: Mimicry Skill, Rent at Mimic Inn, Ingredients, and unlocking an advanced cookbook section has consumed your funds thus far.]

Marron scowled. Each night at the inn only cost her 5 copper--but she had forgotten all the other expenses, as well.

Okay. As long as I get my cart back, I can make my money back.

"I got a new apartment, and this bone charm...but they don’t pay me." Marron sighed. "Like my first year as a sales associate all over again."

She’d worked hard for every promotion, but she didn’t want to be in the mimic dungeon longer than necessary.

I wanted to be out of here by sundown if possible, but...here I am, maybe two weeks in? Marron had no idea how much time had passed in the underground, or if even time had passed outside the dungeon at all.

Okay, Marron. Crisis later, focus on the plants for now.