Dungeon Item Shop - Chapter 17

“Let’s go!” says Fresh, her eyes gleaming with excitement.

“Uh? Like hell? Sit your pasty ass back down,” snaps Jubilee back at her. “You aren’t leaving this room until you have more than one health point.”

“Huh?” asks Fresh, somewhat let down.

“Do you know the looks I’d get if you stumble over a chicken on the road and just die right there? No thank you!”

Fresh holds the air in one of her cheeks and makes an audible groaning sound. “I’m perfectly capable of walking through town on my own!” She turns towards the door to leave, taking another loud bite of her bread in protest, as if that was supposed to make a point. She doesn’t want to waste her time just sitting around here, she has a debt to pay back. A life to earn.

The girl grabs the door and pulls. It doesn’t budge.

“Ahem.”

Fresh turns her head and sees the key swirling around on Jubilee’s finger as they lean back on the chair and spin it rather theatrically.

“Ah! Kidnapper! Pervert! Let me out!” yells Fresh, pointing at Jubilee, her eyes growing wide at the realization that the stranger had locked her in a room with them. 

“Huh wh-?” The remaining chunk of bread slaps against the forehead of Jubilee’s mask and flops down to the dirtied floor at their feet.

    Fresh                         Jubilee 

   HP: 1/3                    108/109   

"FRESH HIT JUBILEE FOR 1 DAMAGE!"

The spinning key stops, the room is quiet. Jubilee now grips the key so tightly in their leather glove that Fresh can hear the straining creak all the way across the room, from how tightly they clench their fist shut. Fresh stops frozen, her arm still outstretched from the throw, just now realizing the incredible rudeness of her gesture. She really did it now with her thoughtlessness, thinks the girl, now that her thoughts had finally caught up with her actions again. 

“I’m sor-!“

“You…” Jubilee bends down to pick the piece of bread, hissing as they look at it.

“I’m sorry!” says Fresh, staying where she is, lowering her gaze.

“YOU STUPID JERK!” yells Jubilee, slamming the piece of bread down onto the table, the legs of the other chair rattling from the impact. Fresh winces as Jubilee jumps down from their chair. “What is your problem?!” The sound of their boots thuds out as they march straight towards her.

“Ah, wait-“ says Fresh, raising her hands. “I wasn’t thi-“

“Yeah! You weren’t thinking, dumb-ass!” Jubilee grabs the cuff of her robe and pulls Fresh forward down to face them, their other hand held back aloft and Fresh winces, expecting to feel the slap to come.

Nothing happens, Jubilee hisses between clenched teeth and lowers their gloved hand. “Can you even think?! Because I haven’t seen it happen once!”

“I’m so-“

They yank Fresh closer, their spring-tone eyes contorted with fury behind the slits of the mask. “Don’t you get it, jack-ass?! If you die, that’s it! The end! If you just wanted to die this whole time, then you should have said so before I got involved, which I only did because I was trying to do the right thing by the way! So fuck me, right?!” Fresh flinches. “This is what I get for that! If I knew you were like this, I would have saved myself the money and just bought you a rope so that you could hang yourself! Then all of us would be better off!”

Fresh pulls together, feeling her throat become tight. “I’m so-“

“Shut the fuck up!” Fresh’s eyes grow wet. “I don’t know what cow’s uterus you slipped out of, but I’m not your fucking mother. So grow the fuck up! Because your actions affect other people too.”

Jubilee lets her go, pushing her back upright and turning around to walk back across the room, stomping loudly as they fume away.

“I’m sorry…” says Fresh, sniffling and doing her best not to cry. A loud metal clanging rings out and something hits against Fresh’s boot. The key.

“I just wanted to go check something…” says Fresh, rubbing her eyes, feeling her legs shake. “Because- because I’m just trying to do it right!” Fresh clenches her fists and leans forward, stepping towards the small figure. “Because I’m trying to live right! I’m trying to pay you back for helping me!” She leans forward, crying now. “Because I’m trying to become happy!”

The room is quiet apart from the noise of the girl’s attempt at suppressing her sobbing.

 Jubilee watches her from the distance. “Are you seriously crying?”

“No!” yells Fresh, clearly doing so and turns around, rubbing her eyes with her arm to wipe away the wet.

“Why did YOU even want to become an adventurer?!”

“B-because I’m useless!” yells Fresh, gritting her teeth. “I always was and I still am! But I don’t want to be! I’m trying! I’M TRYING!” A strange, wet, squeaking sound escapes her throat, as she tries to gulp her emotions down and returns her gaze to Jubilee. “I’m trying…”

The room is quiet, Fresh rubs her eyes again.

“You need to speak to a licensed trainer,” sighs Jubilee, who is leaned back on the chair with their arms crossed, their gaze pointed upwards and away towards the ceiling. “You need to be level five and then go to a trainer. They’ll teach you about whatever particular class they’ve learned.”

“Huh?”

Jubilee is quiet for a moment, Fresh looks at them confused.

“Pragmatically speaking, with your health, you need to do something with magic or distanced combat. Wizardry, priesthood. But… we still don’t know if you have any soul points to begin with. Healing would be ideal, but we can’t let you near the church. Maybe something druidic? Though I don’t know if there are even any around here… but they can heal an-“

“What about a crafting class?” says Fresh, stepping towards the table.

“Huh?” Jubilee looks towards the girl, whose bright eyes stare back at them with the usual headstrong determination.

“I want a crafting class! So that I can work with y-you!”

Jubilee tilts their head, quiet for a moment. “You won’t be much of an adventurer if you want to just craft. You’ll be next to useless inside of the dungeon. Which… well, you know, is what you are now.”

“I know I already am! But are there any?!”

“There are, but, you can do some basic crafting without a specialized class.”

“But if I have one, then I can learn to make better things! Then I can be useful!”

“Once you choose a class, there’s no going back. It’s a right pain in the ass to undo, to the point that it’s basically impossible for schmucks like us. Once you choose, you’ve chosen for good.”

“I understand!” Fresh grabs Jubilee’s gloved hand and pulls it towards herself. “Please take me to the dungeon again tomorrow, so that I can become level five! So that I can choose a crafting class!”

“Are you sure you don’t want to try finding some magic cl-“

“I’m sure! Please!” begs Fresh, pulling the hand closer to herself.

Jubilee’s eye twitches beneath the mask, but their posture loosens, as they let out a long, protracted sigh. The tension in their arms and shoulders lessened. “Fine.”

“Thank you!” Fresh howls as she pulls the in-protest flailing figure into a hug.

A muffled voice comes up from her chest. “Easy there. Let’s keep it professio… are you still crying?”

“Noooo~” cries Fresh loudly, squeezing the figure tighter so that they can’t see her tears.