"How do I look?" I gave Rivi a little spin. I was wearing the Dragonfly suit, which, although it was called a suit, was more of a shimmering hooded cape with translucent orange wings resting down my back. Underneath I had the black dress with white and yellow flowers that I had gotten from Bellum's shop. It made me feel a little exposed armour-wise, but Rivi assured me that the barrier ring on my finger would be more than enough for now.

We had also uncovered a bracelet of fire protection that I wore on one of my wrists, as well as some earrings of water-breathing that I'd tucked away in our bag, since my ears weren't pierced and I didn't exactly have need for them yet. I had really wanted to find some good magical shoes as well, but all the ones in Rivi's storage were gimmicky and unhelpful, so I ended up with just a comfortable pair of lace-up boots.

"Oh you look great! Perfect image for a starting adventurer who has a little more money than common sense."

"Hey! I would have chosen the armour if you hadn't been so confident about this ring of yours."

"I know, I know," Rivi said with a laugh. "I'm just saying how people will see you. Best if they underestimate you, right." She gave me a wink.

"Ok, so now what, are you going to evolve me before we go, or is that an after thing. Also how exactly are we going to get out of here? I haven't exactly seen any dungeon exits lying around, and I would assume Noe would know if you magic'd us out of here."

"Correct on both accounts," Rivi said with a sigh. "But don't worry! I've got a full-proof plan I've been cooking up for decades. Trust me, this will work."

"Why does you saying that make me worried." I put my head in my hands. "Also, when are we going to pick up Rufi? We're taking her along, right?"

"Oh absolutely! I wouldn't leave her behind for the world. But she does…have kind of a special relationship with Noe, so…I was planning on leaving her in the dark till the last moment." Rivi folded her hands guiltily.

"What do you mean special relationship?" I took a seat on the edge of a ruined piece of furniture, seeing as we weren't exactly leaving yet.

"Well you know how Rufi isn't exactly a cub, right?"

"Uhhh, what do you mean?" I frowned.

"Noe just limited her power to pair along with you as you made your way through the dungeon, and Rufi also limited her size to be more of a cuddle buddy than a terrifying companion."

"Wha, so, what exactly are you saying?"

Rivi sighed. "I don't know if it's a big deal, but Rufi and Noe have known eachother way longer than you've even been alive. Now, Noe does have like a dozen companions at any given time, so I don't know how close their relationship was, and I'm sure Rufi likes you a lot too, but…we can't entirely trust her not to rat us out, is all I'm saying."

"I don't know if that's true." I crossed my arms. "Rufi's been a great girl, she cares a lot about me. It's not like we're doing anything to harm Noe. Rufi will play along."

"I hope you're right," Rivi put up her hands. "But regardless, let's save her involvement to the last moment, just so…she doesn't have to put her loyalty to test."

"Fine," I grumbled. "But once we get out of here and Rufi proves herself, you owe her an apology."

Rivi laughed. "Ok, ok, ok. But enough with the sad stuff. Let's do this thing." She rubbed her hands mischievously.

"And lot 266, let's see…Should be heading to our troops on the border of the Ice Kingdom. Warp portal 412. Give it a once over to double-check the inventory, then put it in the queue."

"A-Alright," Candy gave a short bow to her supervisor, who walked away muttering to themselves as they double-checked the documents on their clipboard.

Candy didn't like inventory duty. Not only did it involve talking with people like the warehouse supervisor, it also meant having to use physical or magical means to check every crate going out the door. Normally she would be buried in the paperwork flooding through the administrative office with only numbers and her practically mute office mates to keep her company, but today the warehouse was short on people, and the administrative office short on paperwork, so her services had been commandeered.

"Move over I don't have enough space."

"What are you talking about space? We're in a crate, just suck it up and wait till we're there."

"Rewr!"

"See even Rufi's upset!"

"This was your idea!!"

Candy froze at the sound of the whispers. "Uh h-hello?"

"Oh crap."

"Shhhh, stop wiggling!"

"I-is s-someone, uh, is." Candy was trembling. This had never happened before. What was she supposed to do? She didn't work here! She was a temp!

The silence that came after was even more terrifying to Candy. Are they just ghosts playing a prank? But why would ghosts be here? They're not supposed to be in the warehouse. Should I report it? I should report it, right? But then what if I report it, and they're gone by the time I get back so the supervisor thinks I just made it up? Candy stood there still frozen, unsure of what to do. "Umm."

"Ruf!" A little grey head poked through one of the crates.

"Rufi! Get back here!"

Rufi clawed her way on to the top of the crate and bounded toward Candy. "Ruf! Ruf!"

"R-rufi!?" Candy recognized the Shadow Chimera.

"Rufi!" I sat up, poking my head above the crate in an attempt to grab at her, only to freeze as I saw Candy staring at us. "Oh! Um, hi Candy. Uhh…crazy seeing you here." My face flushed red in embarrassment. I swear this is the most embarrassing moment of my life. If we get out of this I'm going to kill Rivi.

"Who's there? I wanna see!" Rivi cast a spell and the rest of the crate lid shattered as she sat up.

"M-Mistress R-R-Riviera!" Candy dropped her clipboard in shock. "I-I'm s-s-sorry to h-have d-disturbed y-you." She bowed deeply. "P-please d-don't m-m-mind me. I-I-I'll j-just b-b-be b-be g-g-g-g-going now." She swallowed still with her head almost touching the ground.

"Rewr?" Rufi mewled and dropped at Candy's feet, rolling on her feet so that her belly was exposed.

Candy froze seeing that the creature was now on her feet and she couldn't exactly leave like she said she would without disturbing her. After a moment with her head still bowed I saw a tear drop to the ground from her hidden face.

"Ohh Candy." I got up from the crate and rushed to her side. "Are you alright? You can stop bowing now."

"S-Silvie!" She sobbed, collapsing as she wrapped her arms around my shoulders. "I was s-so s-scared!" She buried her head in my shoulder as the sobs wracked her body.

"Ohh Candy, it's alright, you're alright now." I rubbed her back reassuringly as I shot a dirty look towards Rivi.

"What?" She asked in response to my gaze.

"This is all your fault." I mouthed to her, while continuing to reassure Candy.

Rivi stuck out her tongue at me then sat down with her arms crossed. "Just make it quick, remember we're on a schedule." She looked around to make sure no one else had seen us.

After a minute or two Candy began to calm down and we sat down on the ground together with Rufi. "Are you ok now? Sorry for scaring you, Rivi wanted to play around in some of the delivery crates." I said, hoping that would be enough to explain our presence there.

"I-I kn-know, but I-I'm s-supposed to r-report i-if a-anything's a-amiss in the sh-shipment." She sniffled.

"Ahh," I saw why she was so terrified.

"B-but I c-can't g-g-go a-against M-M-Mistress R-Riviera, s-s-so I d-don't kn-know what t-to do."

"It's alright, Candy." I rubbed her head, feeling immensely guilty. "Why don't we do this: Mistress Riviera and I will get back in that crate, and you'll give the sign off that everything's alright. Because we really do have something to do on the other side of that warp gate, and it's important we do things this way, but then after that you can go to your supervisor and say that we were in this shipment and you caught us, but we made you not say anything. How's that?"

"But!"

"B-But!" Candy and Rivi said at the same time.

"They've already caught us, Rivi." I glared at her. "No use putting the poor girl through more torment. If they want to catch us it will probably be easy enough to figure out where we went even without Candy telling them."

Rivi frowned, but shut up. "What were you going to say, Candy?" I turned to her with a gentle smile.

"I-I-I g-guess I c-can d-d-do that." She sniffed and wiped some of the tears and snot from her face. "B-but—"

"You'll be alright," I put a reassuring hand on Candy's shoulder. "It was our fault, they won't punish you for that. Right?" I looked to Rivi.

"No, you'll be fine." She shook her head.

"Sorry to do this to you, Candy. Next time I'll make it up to you, I promise." I helped the girl stand up.

"Alright," I turned back to Rivi. "Let's get back in the crates, and this time, I swear to god, if you get us discovered again on the other side of that portal, I'm going to kill you."

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