Marching out into the bustling meadow, a slight breeze caressed Vale.

Squinting while looking up at the artificial sun, he said:

"Welcome to Floor Two of the Dungeon of Lust."

All around, tiny red imps were mulling about, scratching crystals and honing their craft; however, upon spotting the new addition, many split from their tasks and bounded over to Naiad.

Naiad, despite her lascivious nature and propensity toward anything sexual, held a tender look in her eyes as she knelt and began patting Dickless Jr.’s head.

"Hello, little cave spirit."

"badu!"

A joyous grin plastered across her face as she held out her hand, letting a small ball of water form. A ball of water that then grew a line that shot out and struck the nearby imps in the chest, healing them.

The imps screeched and cheered as they inspected their revitalized limbs. Limbs that had recently been worked to the bone trying to clear the crystals.

"Baaduh!"

"Ba-ba-duh!"

Naiad continued to play with the imps.

"Master Vale, I’ll take it these are the Workers?"

"Yes..."

Vale’s eyes drifted from Naiad and the imps to the ball of gloom and doom sauntering toward them with an annoyed look on her face.

"Dumbass?! Who the hell is that?"

Awilix, with Toy in tow, had noticed the commotion and was walking from their makeshift home on the forest’s edge.

"And that would be Awilix, a Champion. Behind her would be Toy — you can think of her as a Champion as well."

Naiad’s mossy eyes found Awilix’s golden ones. It was as they did that a slightly different look appeared on the sea nymph’s face.

Awilix shuddered, then said:

"Why is she looking at me like that?!"

Vale sighed, then called back:

"That’s the only way you used to look at me."

Awilix clicked her tongue, then made it to the edge of the imp pile. It was as she and Toy stood on the boundary that Naiad’s [Nourishing Wave] found the two new targets.

As vitality filled the cat, her eyes widened.

"She’s like the raggedy rose bitch! She’s on our side, right?!"

Vale shook his head upon hearing that weird name for Ophelia, then reluctantly smiled and nodded.

Awilix, having had her ankle snapped in half, been gutted, and her shoulder nearly sliced off, shrugged.

"Y’know what... welcome, non-raggedy water... uh... water... water spout!"

The sea nymph, while letting a few curious imps scale her body and inspect her pale skin, said:

"It’s Naiad."

Awilix nodded.

"Right, right."

Toy chuckled a bit, then said:

"It’s nice to meet you, Naiad. You can call me Toy."

"Toy?" Naiad tilted her head, causing her hair to fall into Hope’s beady eyes. "Well, it’s nice to meet you, Toy."

Vale took in a deep breath of relief.

"I wasn’t expecting that introduction to go so smoothly."

Awilix reeled back.

"Hhh?! Are you insinuating I’m some sort of violent fiend?"

Vale stepped out of the imp crowd and motioned for them to get back to work. A few did, but many were too busy relishing the effect of Naiad’s heal.

"Precedent, Awilix. Precedent."

"You still haven’t explained what that is!"

Toy sighed.

"And he never will. I think he gets some twisted sense of joy from it... I still don’t know what alluvium is."

"What?! I do not." 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

’I most definitely do...’

Her longtime annoyance breaking through her usual composure, Toy screeched:

"Then what is it?!"

Vale’s neck swiveled, looking back at Naiad. Then, he beckoned for the sea nymph to follow.

"Come, let me show you around your new home... I don’t know how long you’ll be confined to this floor, but you should at least become acquainted with its geography."

The geography of the place wasn’t exactly hard to glean, seeing as they were in a gigantic open plain, but Vale more so meant showing her around the facilities.

"Also, Toy, Awilix, as I just said, she will be here with you two. So... do treat her well."

Naiad, wading through the red imps, said:

"They will..."

Awilix stepped back, her eyes narrowing.

"Heuh?"

Then, Naiad did... something.

Naiad approached Awilix, then lightly touched the back of her hand — something the confused cat awkwardly allowed.

A moment later, Awilix’s golden eyes lit up, almost like she was Charmed once again.

Though, despite not actually dancing with embers of lust, it was clear what desire was hidden behind that gaze.

"Oh?" Naiad giggled. "Yeah, we’ll get along just fine."

Awilix stepped back while rubbing her thighs together.

"W-what did you just do?"

"Oh? All I did was ignite the spark of passion within your essence... which, might I add, is very bright."

Vale sighed as he realized what had just happened.

Naiad had used [Essence Cradle] to ’heal’ Awilix in a way that boosted her carnality.

’Wait... Did she try to do that to me?!’\

Vale sighed.

"For now, let’s keep our clothes on."

Naiad looked Awilix up and down, then her leer drifted to Toy.

"What a pity..."

The cat, who was contending with both desire and humiliation, hissed:

"D-don’t do something like this to me!"

Vale smiled, then said:

"Awilix doesn’t take kindly to her passion being ignited by an outside force... due to a past experience; not that it’s her body saying that."

Awilix, who was comfortably uncomfortable, shivered, then turned and began retreating toward the tree line hidden behind a stone wall she and Toy had made their home.

Toy looked over at Naiad.

"I think she likes you..."

Vale looked down at the goblin at his side.

"Are you sure about that?"

"Oh... I’m positive," Toy’s glowing eyes found Naiad’s silver hair. "Though I’m not too sure the reason is a good thing."

Naiad tilted her head.

"Whatever do you mean, small forest spirit?"

Toy shrugged, then began to slowly follow after Awilix.

As she walked off, Vale scratched his cheek and thought to himself:

’What did she mean?’

Confused, Vale and Naiad began sauntering after the two, making for the forest’s edge.