Dungeons and Dalliances

"First," Liz said, sticking a finger up—and Natalie couldn't help but have a flashback to the last instance of a teammate structuring an argument for her. Except that had been Ana convincing Natalie to cum inside her, so it was a rather different situation. "I don't think your class is going to stay a secret for much longer, even if you wanted it to."

"Oh? Why not?"

"Not with, you know, um…"

"What?"

"You know." Liz tried to give her a Look, as if she didn't want to say it outright, but Natalie just returned confusion, because she didn't know what Liz was getting at.

Liz coughed. "How obvious you're being," she said. "Or us, as a team, not just you. The waking Passions isn't even a complete secret to begin with, seeing how Elida probably knows, which means the Parda-Halt family does. So with the general concept out there, combined with the ridiculous rate you're growing at, and how we're all wearing skimpier armor by the day, and not to mention that, when it comes to Lust specifically, you, um, well, will probably have worked your way through half our class by the end of the year—"

"I don't get around that much," Natalie protested.

Liz paused, then tactfully decided not to press the point. "Not to mention whatever else will be going on with your class in future levels, it's pretty clear that people in the know will make the appropriate deductions. I think sooner or later, people will know you're a paladin of Lust, even if you started being a lot more careful. I wouldn't be surprised if a few people, more than Elida, have already figured it out. It depends on what everyone knows … which is another reason to 'get into the loop,' so to say. So we have a better idea of what's going on too."

Natalie made a noise of agreement. There wasn't much to refute in her logic. It would come out on its own eventually. Maybe the biggest giveaway was their equipment. While it was possible to get revealing armor from dungeon drops, why in the world would their whole team be getting such ridiculous items with such consistency? And every passing week would have them equipped in even lewder items, likely. Especially now that Natalie could mine and commission erotite gear.

"Fair point," Natalie conceded. "But there's a lot more to the situation than just me being a paladin of Lust."

Liz deflated slightly. "Yes, that's true," she said. "And you could probably get away with keeping all of that a secret, the specifics at least, for much longer." A small frown tugged at her lips. "But that doesn't mean it's the right thing to do. Particularly for the wellbeing of Valhaur and its people, whose leaders need to be informed about a growing threat."

Liz hesitated slightly, as if wondering whether to press that point. Natalie had mixed feelings. She did have loyalty to her kingdom, but at the same time, she had a much greater loyalty to her friends and family. And herself. It wasn't remotely a similar dilemma to her as it obviously was to Liz. She felt no acute, specific obligation to the crown. As was maybe fair, considering the huge contrast in their upbringings. The crown was literally Liz's family; Natalie had grown up out in the country.

"But I also think it's the right choice for you as well," Liz said. "On a personal level. It's not just about obligation."

"You think so? Seems like involving myself with the Beaumons would be a major headache," Natalie said mildly. "And almost certainly turn me into just another pawn of theirs."

Liz winced, and quite noticeably, didn't disagree. "It's not that you'd be a pawn," she said. "Or, rather," she struggled with how to phrase it, "Everyone is, to an extent? Even the highest-ranked delvers in Valhaur kneel to the King. Well … to varying extents." She shook her head. "What I'm trying to say is, it's a two-way street. I won't lie and say involving yourself with the Beaumons won't place certain expectations on you, especially later in your career, but it's not like you'd be getting nothing in return. Sponsorship from the Beaumons, especially the King's attention, comes with opportunities. That's just how society works. I wouldn't call it being a pawn."

"I had this conversation once," Natalie mused. "Camille was talking to me about it."

"Camille? From our class?"

She nodded. "She seemed to think I'd be throwing my lot in with the Beaumons simply because you were on my team. Not even mentioning all the other stuff."

"Well, yes, I suppose that wouldn't have been unlikely, even without the extenuating circumstances, assuming we stay teammates in the long term."

Natalie sighed. "You're not wrong with anything you're saying. This has obviously grown too big to keep to ourselves." As much as she wanted to remain low profile and have a 'normal' year at Tenet, that wasn't going to happen. Already wasn't happening. "But there's one sticking point."

"Which is?"

"Malice."

"Malice?"

"We can tell the Beaumons about everything, except for her."

"Oh?"

"Don't take offense," Natalie said. "But I don't trust your family. I only trust you. And I also don't think you could overrule anything the King wanted," or even that Liz had all that much sway, since she wasn't even his daughter, but rather his brother's daughter, "so Malice has to stay a secret. Because I'm convinced they wouldn't just let her be. I don't know what they would do, but I'm not going to roll the dice and find out."

Liz hesitated, then slowly nodded. It was clear it was a heavy concession—her loyalty to her family went deep, and she didn't want to hide anything.

"That's … fair."

"We could feed them any information we get from her, though," Natalie said. "We can even say we have a way of talking to dungeon monsters, through…" she winced. "Through erotite arrows and carnal boss fights." Heavens above, explaining all of that to the King of Valhaur would be interesting, to say the least. In some ways, it would be more mortifying than having to explain her class to her own parents. "We'll just neglect mentioning the capture core, and that we can have persistent contact with carnal bosses like Malice."

Liz perked up at that, that they would give all the pertinent details, just leaving Malice out. "Yes, that would be fine." She sighed. "As long as they know everything, whether they're told about Malice herself doesn't matter."

Natalie nodded. "Though," she said. "I'm surprised you're so unconcerned with the actual telling them part." Amusement twitched at her lips. "I mean, what are your parents going to think about you being on a party with a paladin of Lust? As her support? Don't you think they'll … make some assumptions?"

Liz stared at her, then blanched.

"Uh," she said.

Natalie laughed. Everyone had their blind spots. Liz apparently hadn't considered the implications there, too worried about the 'big picture.'

"M-Maybe we'll go straight to the King," Liz finally said, a bit strangled-sounding. "There's no need for my parents to know. Yes, definitely, we'll go straight to the King."