16

"Did you hear about what happened on the third floor?"

"Yeah, some group found like fifty magic stones in one spot. It was like a mini Monster Surge."

The Guild buzzes with excitement when Ziggy and the girls enter. Ein has been sent back from whence he came.

Hearing the ongoing conversations, Blake frowns. "How does everyone know about this already?" she asks. "We were there and just got back."

"Pfft. Well, we didn't exactly take the short way back," Weiss says.

"Yeah, sorry about that," Ruby says. "I could have sworn that that corridor was the right way."

Ziggy smiles. He could have corrected the girl when she chose the wrong path, but he was having a nice time talking with them, so he didn't mind a few detours extending their outing together. It had nothing to do with delaying having the conversation with Rose and her feelings about adventurers having adventures.

Ziggy's smile fades a little, seeing Rose at the counter. He was nervous about her reaction. How do you dig through a person's fear of loss? It's such a prominent part of the human condition, yet some people have so much trouble dealing with it.

For someone like Rose, who has seen people she cared about not return from the Dungeon, the obvious choice is not to form attachments to adventurers. It makes her feel safe, but that safety is an illusion and, quite honestly, childish in its naivety.

No one is truly safe; when even gods could 'die.'

'So, what is she going to do, hide away from the world to protect herself from maybe feeling the pain of loss? Close off her emotions? That's what she's been doing, but what kind of life is that?' Ziggy thinks to himself, working up a head of steam. He wasn't going to attack her; that would be counterproductive, but he wasn't going to take her shit with a smile on his face either.

He sighs. "Why don't you girls cash your crystals and drops in, and I'll go make a report to the Guild? I have the most information about the incident anyway. I'm going to head home after this."

"Are you sure?" Ruby says. "I don't mind coming with you."

"Nah. It would just be a waste of your time. However, feel free to come by the courtyard in the morning for exercises. I enjoyed talking with all of you. Maybe we can make a real run through the Dungeon together sometime soon."

"That sounds like fun," Yang says.

Ziggy waves as team RWBY walks off. Weiss casts a troubled glance back at him as they go.

Lili stays behind. "The same goes for you, Lili. You should cash those in and head home," Ziggy says. "I'm going to be here a while, I think, and there is no reason for you to be stuck here with me.

Feel free to join us for morning calisthenics. I swear it seems to work with Excelia to improve the body faster. If you want, we can do a more serious dive tomorrow, and maybe the rest of my team will join us."

"But," Lili says, looking confused. "What about your cut of the magic stones?"

Ziggy waves her off. "I grabbed a couple of drop items and the stone from the Irregular. I'm more than happy with what I pulled today. Consider the rest a signing bonus for future adventures."

She frowns a little. "You're kind of weird; you know that?"

Ziggy grins. "I risk my life going into a Dungeon that is actively trying to kill me and throw myself against hordes of monsters from nightmares and fairy tales, and yet, I still want to form a harem of beautiful women, which is arguably even more dangerous than the Dungeon, because my former girlfriend made me promise I would. I don't think 'weird' cuts it."

"Pfft. You may be right. Insane might be a better word. Strangely, I think you might be able to pull it off." she says, shaking her head. She turns to walk away. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Sounds good. I'll save you a spot," Ziggy says with multiple meanings.

He glances to the side at the redheaded werewolf girl he's about to go see and mumbles. "Who knows, maybe she won't be all that concerned... Yeah, right."

.

.

The line in front of Rose shrinks until Ziggy stands in front of her. Her expression is as bland as always, though maybe, just maybe, there is a bit of light in her eyes when she sees him. Ziggy brightens up seeing that; until she frowns at the damage to his armor.

"The armor did its job; at worst, I was a little bruised. Not even enough to slow me down," Ziggy says, trying to diffuse any negative reactions from the taciturn wolf girl.

Her lips purse. "What happened?"

"Would you mind if we talk about it in the back?" he asks. Rose turns and walks towards the back rooms without a word.

.

.

A minute later, the two sit across from each other. She looks at him blankly, practically seething. "Well?" she says.

Ziggy purses his lips and frowns. "No," he says, shaking his head.

She blinks. "E-excuse me?"

"No," he says. "I'm not doing it."

She puffs up, but he cuts her off.

"I'm not talking to you about this, so you can use it as an excuse to distance yourself from me and hide in your bubble. It's not healthy for either of us."

"That's not your-"

Ziggy slashes his hand, cutting her off once more. "I'm not done," he spits. "I swear you and Eina are two sides of the same coin. She tells adventurers not to have adventures while trying to smother them with every piece of information the Guild has, and you withhold information from them for fear that they'll do something stupid with it."

He shakes his head before continuing. "You're trying to hide from something as ubiquitous as loss. It doesn't work. By hiding yourself away, you only lose twice. You lose the potential relationship you could have had and the chance to help them succeed, maybe even save their life.

And if you think that civilians are a safe bet since they don't go into the Dungeon, think again. Wasn't it just a few years ago that civilians and adventurers were killed en masse? Do you think that couldn't ever happen again? There is always risk, no matter the person. Hiding yourself away is only a path to loneliness and regret."

Rose was upset, angry even, but Ziggy had one last thing to say. Reaching into his pouch, he pulls out the oversized claw from the Irregular and slams it on the table. "There was an Irregular kobold on the third floor. I killed it. I could have escaped, but that would have potentially put others at risk, and I was confident in my abilities.

As I was cleaning up, the Dungeon sent a large wave of monsters at me and a group of other adventurers I met up with. We fought our way clear and made it out. The scratch in my armor was when I got a little close to the Irregular, and it caught me with a sweeping strike. Zeke had my back. I hope in the future; you will too."

Ziggy gets up and walks out of the room.

.

.

.

Ziggy takes a few steps from the door before pausing to take a breath. "Well, I could have handled that better," he says, rubbing his head.

"So, why didn't you?" a voice asks.

Ziggy looks back at the girl leaning out of the door across from the one he had just come out of himself. Ziggy nods at her. "Hey, Eina," he says to the bespectacled half-elf. "I'm guessing you heard all that."

Eina nods, so Ziggy sighs and continues. "The Dungeon is a dangerous place. Everyone knows that, but some of the new kids don't know just yet how dangerous. That's where advisors like you and Rose come in. You're a little over the top sometimes, but your adventurers know you care, so they at least listen a little when you warn them and ask them to learn about the floors.

Rose is cold; the second someone gets even a little close, she finds an excuse to push them away. Most adventurers that come to her think she doesn't care, and so even if she does impart some measure of wisdom on them, they don't really listen. There is no trust.

The worst part is that when one of those adventurers dies, and they will, just like every other mortal being out there, she'll still feel guilty because she knows she isn't giving them her all. She's trying to shed her emotional connections, but all she's doing is guaranteeing herself a slow spiral into loneliness and depression."

"Well, what about me?" Eina asks.

"Hmm?"

"You told Rose she and I were two sides of the same coin."

"Oh! Well, yeah," Ziggy says. "You're both afraid of losing people to the Dungeon, so you try to influence the adventurers. Her by pushing them away, and you by being their mom."

"Huh!?" Eina chirps, surprise or maybe shock on her pleasant face.

Pfft. Ziggy laughs at her reaction. "You're the 'Mom-type' that tries to get them to eat their vegetables, clean behind their ears, and remember that adventurers don't have adventurers. Which, by the way, is my only real contention with your method.

Anyone who understands the first thing about Falna and adventurers understands that adventurers HAVE to have adventures. It's the only way they grow. If they didn't, they'd stagnate and never advance.

By saying, 'adventurers don't have adventures,' you're effectively saying, 'don't be an adventurer.' It's incongruous to the very nature of adventurers. Instead, maybe say, 'young adventurers should learn the trade before having adventures,' and even that is suspect. If it were me, I'd say, 'Your life is important to more than just you. Be careful.' That's it.

Regardless, you'd be sad or heartbroken if one of your adventurers were lost in the Dungeon. Still, because you've surrounded yourself with love instead of pushing it all away, you have a robust support system to help you recover. Rose carries her burden alone, which is weighing her down already."

"So, you said all that because you're worried about her?" Eina asks.

"No," Ziggy says, shaking his head. "I said all that because I'm tired. I just fought several waves of a mini-Dungeon surge after fighting a two-meter-tall kobold Irregular. The fact that I'm worried about her is irrelevant to what I said. If I hadn't lost my patience, I would have tried to reason with her more and slow-play the talk. I jumped the gun."

"Did what?" Eina says, cocking her head.

"Jumped the..." Ziggy pauses, realizing that the phrase probably didn't translate. "Ah, jumped the start? Horn? I dunno. What do they use to start a race around here?"

"Oh, I understand now," she says. "You started a serious conversation before you were ready to."

"Bingo," Ziggy says, pointing at her.

"Huh?"

Ziggy shakes his head and waves to the half-elf as he heads to the door. "Never mind. I should go before I say anything else stupid. Good night, Eina."

"Good night, Ziggy."

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.

.

Ziggy lays in his bed, staring at the ceiling, running the scene with Rose through his head, when a knock sounds at the door.

He rolls his head to the side. "Come in."

The door opens, and a golden head of hair pops in with crimson eyes. "Hey," Yue says.

Ziggy smiles, but it doesn't reach his eyes. "Hey."

"Want some company?" she asks.

He shrugs. "I'm afraid I won't be very good company right now."

She walks over and hops on the bed, lying beside Ziggy. "All the more reason to have some?"She folds her hands over her stomach and looks up at the ceiling. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"Not really," he says.

"Okay."

They're quiet for a few minutes as the pressure builds up in Ziggy's mind. Eventually, he surrenders to the inevitable.

Sigh. "I don't know if I can do this," he says, sounding drained.

"Do what?"

He waves a hand in the air. "This. Everything. The harem plan. Being an adventurer. I don't know if I can balance it all."

"Is this because you had a fight with Rose?" Yue asks.

Ziggy frowns. "How did you know about that?"

She shrugs. "A little bird told me. Can I ask you something?"

"You just did," he says blandly, looking back at the ceiling.

"Why do you want a harem to begin with?" she asks.

He shrugs. "It wasn't really my idea. My old girlfriend made me promise that if anything ever happened and I ended up in a place like this, I wouldn't be like the saps we would wa-read about in the stories. I wouldn't be oblivious to the romantic feeling of the women around me; I'd be bold and claim them as my lovers, form a harem, and surround myself with powerful and loving women."

"Well, you're doing a terrible job at being bold. I was practically humping your leg last night, and here I lay, still a virgin."

"You were under the influence of my blood, and I didn't want to take advantage of you in your artificially induced state," he cries, feeling aggrieved.

"I thought I made my feelings on the matter perfectly clear before that blood incident," she retorts.

"I wanted to get to know you before first. It'd feel shallow if we just started having sex with nothing else between us," he says.

She rolls her eyes. "Please, you already decided that all three, now four, of us were going to be part of your harem that first night, but that's beside the point. An ex-girlfriend making you promise to be some sort of heroic playboy isn't a particularly good reason. If that's it, you probably should give up on it."

Ziggy felt his blood surge in his veins and teeth clench. "No!"

"Why not? You were just saying that you weren't sure you do it. Why not make it easier on yourself and give it up?"

Ziggy mumbles something.

"I thought you were going to be bold?"

"Because I want them!" Ziggy says.

"Who?"

"All of them! You, Asuka, Rose, Eina, Shea, Kaori,..." His eyes seem to glow. "...Tio, Blake, Ruby, every one of them... Lili, Lefyiya, the goddesses... Ais. I want them all. I want to pin them beneath me and watch them ride above me. I want to hear your moans and screams of ecstasy. I want to feel your body and taste your skin. I want to make you mine and mine alone."

His breathing is labored, and Yue can feel power pulsing from him. It reminds her of what she felt last night. Gradually, his energy calmed, and his eyes returned to normal.

He leans his head back against the pillow. "What the hell was that?" he mumbles.

He's quiet for a few minutes, and then Yue touches his shoulder. He flinches, and she pulls her hand back, but he catches it and returns it to his arm. Her eyes widen in surprise.

"Sorry," he says. "I'm just processing."

"Was that the skill that affected me last night or the one that made you target Tio?" she asks.

"No. Well, maybe a little," he says, frowning. "The aggression and increased drive might be, but overall... At the core of it, I meant everything I said."

He almost sounds surprised when he says that. Like it was the strangest thing. "Huh," he says, almost laughing at himself.

"So, you want to pin me beneath your body and taste my skin?" she says, her voice flat but not cold or even neutral. It's just how she usually speaks, but there are subtle inflections that point to amusement and warmth. Her lips quirk slightly to show a smirk.

Ziggy closes his eyes. "Absolutely. I can barely contain myself. I want to watch that tight little ass of yours bounce on my waist and hear that stoic voice break in ecstasy," he says, matching her tone.

"Ready when you are," she says, moving closer.

He rolls, wrapping her in his arms and pinning her to his body. "Not tonight," he whispers into her hair. "Too much personal introspection, no head space left for sexy fun time. Besides, I still want to spend a little more time with you first. You know, dinner and a movie stuff."

"What's a moo-vee?"

"Don't worry about it," he says, yawning.

"So, am I sleeping here tonight?" she asks.

"Shush. No more talky talky. More cuddle puddle."