You prepare to visit Broadbridge

After soaking a few more minutes in the bath you finally **** yourself to stand up and get ready to go. Ari already ran off excitedly to get ready just after you finished making plans, so you head out to get ready, not wanting to ruin her good morning by being excessively late. You order your craftsdaemon to make facsimiles of some of the gear that you usually see adventurers wearing, then head out to find your various minions and let them know you might be missing for a few days.

You step into the library to find Mariel absorbed in a dusty old tome with Tlax snoozing around the chair legs in one of her favourite spots. Sneaking up behind her as quietly as you can manage, you suddenly drop your hands down in front of her eyes, causing her to spin around with an annoyed expression. "Fiend, I'm trying to—" you cut her off by pressing your lips against hers, and she melts into the kiss. When you withdraw she's panting heavily. "No fair~." Her face carries a cute pout. "Well, now you've interrupted me. What's up?" She skips to her feet.

One of your thumbs strokes her hair as you adopt a serious expression. "Ari and I are heading out for a while, maybe a few days. We need to fetch something for the tower." Worry crosses her face and she jumps forward and holds you; you still haven't gotten used to how small and fragile her form feels against your new, larger body. "Don't worry, we'll be back one way or another. You haven't seen it yet, but when we die we just reappear here a while later. It also doesn't seem like the adventurers are all that interested in the dungeon for the moment. But in the worst case I want you and your sister to fly as far up the mountainside as you can and hide, got it?" She nods into your chest then steps back, looking somewhat better from the reassurance and the contact, and you turn to head out.

The next stop is necessary but you really wish it wasn't. You give a polite knock on the witch's cottage door, and the moment she says "Enter" it swings open in front of you to reveal her lounging in a chair while looking over at the skeleton in the kitchen. It's a bizarre sight: a giant skeleton like a smaller version of the bone golem from the catacombs is hunched over, chopping herbs with a tiny knife. More necromancy practice, no doubt. You take a few steps in and she hops to her feet, walking towards you with a seductive sway on her hips and a smile on her face—a smile that doesn't reach her eyes.

"Azazel, it's so good to see you." She walks up and gives you an exaggerated hug, and despite her sarcasm you can't help but appreciate the feeling of her firm breasts pressing against your chest through her dress. "You know how I love your visits, and it's been much too long. But"—she pokes your chest for emphasis, then starts lazily roaming her finger around, scraping you slightly with the nail—"I've been disappointed to learn that your new toys joined you a full day ago and you still didn't think of little old me."

You gulp. Right, you had almost forgotten about that. "Don't worry, my lady"—you wince internally at the flattery, but you still need to stay in her good graces—"but I'm still working on... converting them. However, I was just coming to tell you that I'll be out for the next few days. I'll make sure to speak to one of them about attending to your needs as soon as I'm back."

"See that you do," her fingernail now circles one of your nipples, "because I've been feeling a little impatient recently, and I tend to make mistakes"—she stabs her nail directly onto your nipple, causing you to grunt in pain and her to don a mocking apologetic smile—"when I'm impatient." You nod. "Good talk. You may go." Her manicured hand waves dismissively in front of your face.

You seethe internally but turn to leave. You need to pick your battles, and this isn't the time. However, you look forward to seeing her on her knees. One day. With that out of the way, you head down to find Seramiel and Rishuzan sparring in the great hall—which you really should just rename to the training area at this point. You have to dodge past a number of fallen ones that you don't recognize on your way: apparently yesterday's impromptu recruiting drive was at least moderately successful. You stop once you reach the doorway to quietly watch the angel block a few swings from the hulking daemon's huge greataxe, impressed at how she seems to easily deflect each blow despite her fragile-looking arms and thin sword. You shake off the temptation to stay and watch for a while and clear your throat, prompting them to set aside their weapons. The angel nods while the daemon salutes you with a "welcomes to great red guy!"

"Ari and I need to run a little covert operation to get some materials for the dungeon. Things seem quiet so there shouldn't be any problems, but we might be gone for as long as a few days. Rishuzan, you're in charge. Try not to burn the place down. Seramiel, take care of your sister." She nods and you turn to leave, hearing the sounds of blows resume as you walk down the hall. Honestly, you're not sure that her sister needs too much taking care of, but if it's what the angel wants to believe then there's no sense messing with the primary thing that's keeping her loyal to you and your dungeon.

With your farewells said, you head over to your craftsman and pick up your new gear, then head to the entrance to the dungeon. You're just finishing getting everything attached correctly when you arrive at the gate and see Ari dangling her legs off the edge, eliciting a giggle as she sees you battling with the straps. Unfortunately you can't yet craft backpacks with proper enchantments like inventory extension: this is just fake gear meant to look the part. You grumble and she hops to her feet, grabbing your hand and practically dragging you out the gate.

"So, where to, miss expert?" You catch up and walk hand-in-hand down the trail away from your lair.

"Well, I was thinking we should check out Broadbridge. It's a little town right by Highcastle that's a popular quest hub in the area, and part of Lady Eleanor's domain. We should able to figure out how to get in from there, or at least do a bit of recon."

You make some more idle chit-chat then fall silent, just enjoying the weather and the relatively peaceful way you can walk down the slope, completely differently than a few years ago. You don't feel entirely comfortable as Adam the Human Magus—the straps chafe and you miss the weight of your tail and wings—but there's a different sort of comfort in knowing that you're unlikely to be attacked by adventurers and are high level enough that most monsters on this part of Imporne will steer clear.

Your eyes drift to Ari, who is happily swinging your joined hands and skipping down the path as she pauses occasionally to admire something or other. Now that you think of it, you've never really seen this side of her before: it's usually been business or pleasure. You had originally just planned to corrupt her as a pet to keep around for your use, but seeing her like this you can't help but feel something tugging on your heartstrings in a very un-daemonic way.