"Why don't we visit the underground dungeon today? You know, instead of risking assassination two days in a row?" Mary suggests when Paige brings her over from next door.
"Now that you've learned to merge properly, you shouldn't get one hit killed like that again. Hopefully. But a visit to the other dungeon does sound fun; we've had great luck with mining-type dungeons in the past. I'm just worried that we won't be able to hold everything we get since I'm out of range of the Guild Bank."
"That's easily fixed. The Mages make a circle that you can place in your house. It allows access to the Guild Bank as if it were a Guild House but doesn't extend the usable range, so you'll still have to be in direct contact with the circle. It's not perfect, but it's decent." Paige explains while Cain and Mary smile.
"So, that's why I leave a Puppet in my apartment and have them pull items from my inventory to transfer to my parent's Guild when I've got too much stuff. They're merchants up in the northern region of the Eastern Continent, mostly trading along that coast or to the west coast of the Western Continent." Mary explains, and Cain nods.
He pulls the very last of his Doll form puppets from his inventory and instructs her to take care of the apartment, as well as what to do once they get a circle made to open the Guild Bank.
"I have ordered you one from the market upstairs. They're not a regular stock item, but since I'm asking, the Inscriptionist Guild should make it up right away and bring it to us here." Paige explains while Mary inspects the puppet.
"These are well made. Do they come in butler as well? Please say they come in butlers." the elven Puppet Master insists, giving Cain a pleading look.
"I can make you a butler, not a problem." Cain laughs, then forms an Elven Butler, taller than average for an elf, with well-toned muscles and an angular face that Cain pulled from Mary's mind when she imagined exactly what she'd like in a butler. He thinks a moment and gives it a sweet and romantic personality to mess with the elf before activating it.
The new puppet turns to Mary gently and lifts her hand to kiss her knuckles. "Greetings, Madam. I shall be your servant; won't you be so kind as to give me a name?"
Mary blushes and shoots Cain a dirty look before her attention is pulled back to the butler in front of her.
"I will call you Lenny, is that alright?" she whispers breathlessly.
"It is perfect, Madam. With your leave, I will get to my duties and await your return. Do you have any requests for dinner?"
"Vegetable stew, with mixed fruit juice. Wait, how well can a Puppet Cook?" Mary asks, directing the question at Cain.
"You'll see. No butler made by me would dare disappoint." Cain laughs, adding Master level Elven cuisine to the Butler's skills to complement his generic abilities.
There are still options, so Cain adds Sculpting to his talents, as well as Master level metalworking. That should let the Butler create high-quality dolls like Cain uses for his maid to help Mary out. If he gets a chance later, Cain will also gift her the book that gives all Puppets apprentice-level life skills as a welcoming gift as a new neighbor.
Cain also gave the Butler a few other "Advantages" over the average Elf that he's sure Mary will appreciate later, but she can discover those at her leisure.
"Let's go see that new dungeon. I've never been in an underground one. Is it like a natural cave or like a labyrinth?" Cyrene asks eagerly, but Daisy cuts off the answer.
"Before you all leave me again, where am I staying? What should I be doing? If you brought me back, you should have had a purpose for me, right?" The bunny kin looks fully confused at this point and is just looking around the small but beautiful apartment in wonder. Everything in this city is well beyond the living standards of her previous life.
"I just did it to see who was in the Soul Gem. As a Puppet, you share my level, so work is mostly unnecessary. I have a maid here; you can help her out if you choose to. But other than that, it's just whatever daily tasks Misha had for you as her Lady in Waiting." Cain shrugs.
"She wanted a particular item of clothing made, but that's only a few hours of work. Is it alright to take so much time off during the day?" Daisy sounds both shocked and offended at the notion.
"Tell you what, here are two Gold Coins; go do the shopping for dinner tonight, and make a list of everything you think this apartment needs. That's all that needs to be done today."
Getting Daisy used to the changes in modern society could take a while, having come from such a low baseline, but Cain is confident that she will adapt soon enough. Cain does notice that the bunny still keeps herself as far across the room from Cyrene as possible, though. Getting used to the Lamia might take her even longer than getting used to an advanced magical society and people with systems.
Cain takes one final look around, making sure there's nothing he's missing, but the apartment is well-appointed; even spare bed linens are stocked in the closet. Only one bedroom has a proper bed, the others have hammocks, but that's not a problem for Cain. A real bed might be too hot for this city anyhow.
"Let's get to work then. If the underground labyrinth isn't too large, we can finish it and mine it out twice today." Cain jokes, pointing to the door.
"Wait, mine it out with what? Do you have mining skills that I don't know about?" Paige asks, chasing after the group that Mary is leading, eager to see what Cain has in mind for this dungeon.
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