Wait. This isn't the Final Room?

I look at the chest and then I look at the new opening in the wall behind the chest.

"Chest, am I supposed to bring you back there? I didn't even know that there was a place back there."

I peek into the new room that was revealed. It is fairly small compared to the one I have been in this whole time, but it is much more ornate, and has a small flight of stairs leading up to a dark black chest on a pedestal.

"Hah! I have two chests!" Then it hits me, "Crap. That means I have two reasons to live now. Man." I walk over to the new chest, "You look kinda scary, new guy. Do you wanna be friends?"

The new chest isn't too friendly, but he did say that he wouldn't mind being friends. The next day I receive another note on the daily chest.

"You have shown some backbone, so we decided to reveal the next room. As your will to live increases, so will the amount of chests you protect."

"You hear that Chest and New Chest? We can get even more chests! More friends. All I have to do is want to live more... but I don't want to live even more... but more chests... but... waaaaaaah."

I am so engrossed in my dilemma that the female voice catches me completely off guard when it echoes in my cave.

"Hello? Any bosses here?" The voice asks.

I run down the the stairs and into my original cave, "Me! I am the boss! Wow. You are really pretty."

The woman that had walked into the cave is around my age with long red hair and fair skin.

"I don't want to fight you, though. Chest and New Chest? Should we fight her or do you just want to let her have you... better yet, we can have her kill me! She would be the perfect option." I say.

"Hey, I am not here to fight you, but I was wondering if you would kill me. I won't fight back or anything." She says.

Wait. She wants me to... does that mean.

"I met this weird dragon as I was wondering around and then he brought me to this dragon city, to meet this glasses wearing dragon, and no, I did not know that dragons could wear glasses. Next thing I know, here I am, they said I was on-"

No way, could it really be? Is she on-

"Guard Duty." We say in unison.

"No way!" I say, "You want to die, too?"

"We both want to die?" She asks, "But that won't work. If one of us kills the other than the other will be left alive. Take one for the team, will you?"

She walks up to me and bends over, sticking her neck out.

"Chest and New Chest, do you hear this?! She thinks I am just going give her the easy way out. Nope."

She looks at me with pouty eyes.

"What is your name?"

"Centi. Now will you kill me?"

"Nope. Centi, meet Chest. Chest is now your best friend. He is under your protection. Protect him well. New Chest will be mine."

"Ready? Someone is coming."

I toss her a dagger and take a seat on the bottom stair in the next room so that I have a good view. A old man with a mace walks in the door.

"Oh, Mister! Will you kill me?" She runs at him and throws her arms out in a gesture of surrender.

"Sure, I'll kill you." He rears his hand mace over his head.

"Wait!" I yell, "Isn't he too old to kill you or something? You should want someone more fitting to kill you."

She looks back at me, "I just want to die. Why would I care who did it."

"You... you... it's your death! You should take more pride in your death. You can't just let any random person kill you. It has to be the right person."

The mace swings towards her unprotected chest and I blast it out of his hand with a fireball.

"She has no taste, so I will inform you myself, you fossil. You are way too old to be killing her. "

The mace hits the floor and I yell to Centi, "Now. Tackle him!"

"What? I am not going to tackle him. I want him to kill me. Right here mister!" She pounded her chest.

This is not how this is supposed to go. Does she feel nothing at all for Chest? Oh, that is an idea.

The man pulls out a staff and starts channeling a fireball. He launches the fireball at her, and at that moment I call out, "Fine, Centi, I'll kill you."

When she hears my words, she scrambles toward me and drops to her knees, offering her neck. Meanwhile, the fireball that she inadvertently dodged hit Chest, causing an explosion of wood.

"I changed my mind. I can't kill you yet." I say.

"Hey! You can't get a girl's hopes up like that." She turns back toward the man and sees Chest in ruin.

"Wait a minute, you killed Chest! I mean you blew up my chest." She yells, "Killing me is one thing, but destroying my property is crossing the line."

She channels the inner strength that comes from seeing Chest get hurt and charges the man, tackling him to the floor.

"Take that, you geezer," she says.

They tumble to the ground, and his old frail body is knocked unconscious.

"Now that was a real tackle," I admire her work.

She stands up and brushes herself off.

"Wait a second. He was supposed to kill me. Guess I got a little worked up about the chest thing." She loots him, taking some light armor and his fireball staff. Looking over at me, she confirms, "Are you sure that you don't want to kill me?"

"I am sure," I respond, "Not unless you can find a way to take me with you."

Maybe I lost Chest, but I think me and New Chest will get to be good friends. That is not even mentioning how I now have another human to talk to. Dang it. They keep on sneaking in more and more reasons for me to live. I am going to have to do something about that.