<~> Chapter 35"Mori!" Bel rao her and I took my pext to Torien.

  My rge sword is still a little cumbersome in this hallway, especially against ahat appeared to be so thin. It didn't leave a lot of room for precise pierg attacks. I decided I would iry to aim for the base of the debra, hopefully getting it in the equivalent of a foot. Torien wasn't in much better shape sidering she mainly used a bow. Most of our bined shots missed but they kept the thing at bay at least.

  I risked a look over my shoulder and saw Bel using healing magian's arm, it was covered in deep gashes. Fortuhe cuts looked like they were sliced ly with many knives rather than torn up by jagged teeth. We kept the mimic at a standstill for long enough that it decided we weren't worth the trouble and ran away. It retty bizarre sight to see the debra legs grow ih and scurry away. When I turned away from the retreating mohe reason why became clear to me, Bel had finished healing Man and she issed.

  I actually felt the magic around us swirl before I thought to actually use [Mana Sense] to look. Uedly there was a lot of fire attributed mana that she had been able to collect from the area. We might o be careful about fires in the close future...

  [Mana Sense has increased from level 1 to level 2]

  Well, small blessings and all that.

  "Are you alright Man?"

  "Yeah, it seems Bel's magic is eveer than I thought." She held out her wrist to show off her forearm. It was still a bit red but what had been deep gashes looked more like barely visible scratches along the surface of her skin. They'll likely fade before we eve back to town. Torien looked upset and was trag her fingers over each li she didn't say anything.

  "I'm gd, good job Bel."

  Bel beamed at me. "Of course."

  "So what happened?"

  Man turned a bit red but proceeded through it without skipping a beat. "I was going to ask you two a question but when I noticed you two were uh, busy, I just ran bastead. We wao know if you wanted us to try and collect valuables in the area but since you couldn't reply, we decided to just pick up anything that looked worth anything." She points to a desk along the wall. "When I went to open that desk drawer the debra o it came to life and bit me."

  I sighed. "We are going to have to be a lot more careful in this area now that we know there are mimics around. I probably got a little pt after the st stretch of the byrinth where nothing came out. Not seeing any monsters walking around probably made me think we wouldn't have to deal with them in this area either."

  "Mimic?" Torien asked.

  "Ah, I've heard stories of mohat disguise themselves as inanimate objects. The most famous examples are ohat look like treasure chests that like to bite off the heads and hands of advehat try and riffle through them."

  I followed Torien's gaze as she sed the surroundings. There were lots of random objects decorating the mansion's hallway. Mismatched pieces of furniture like chairs and ets, kniacks, rugs, paintings, and more debras. If anything here could be a mimic then we were in for a lot of paranoia.

  She eventually met my eyes again. "Lets get back to that saferoom." I o the suggestion.

  It was a short walk back, they hadn't gooo far while poking around looking for treasure. By the time we saw the door to the saferoom we could also see the four mattresses we had brought with us.

  "While we were out we found a few mattresses so we were dragging them baake sleeping in the dungeon a bit more fortable. I doubt there's anything wrong with them since we dragged them all the way over here but we should probably check."

  I walked over to them and stabbed ohe foot of the mattress with my sword. No issue, I tinued poking them until I got to the third. Just as I was stabbing it through the fourth mattress I hadn't gotten to yet bizarrely grew legs and began to run away. It looked so weird I just stared at it shocked until it turhe er.

  "Um... it's a good thing I checked..."

  "That was easily the weirdest thing I have ever seen." Torien remarked.

  Man absentmindedly rubbed her arm and grumbled out, "Lets blow it up ime."

  I just sighed and pulled the three safe mattresses over to them.

  "Looks like Bel and I are going to have to share a single somehow."

  Man's face flushed a bit and peeked over to Bel, Bel stared back silently until she realized something and her ears flushed red too.

  Torien saw the iion and just looked fused. "What? Why is everyone blushing?" All this did was intensify everyone's rea, and finally made my ears blush too.

  "What? Why is everyoing weird?" Rather than any kind of answer all of us just started moving the mattresses instead.

  Once we got all of the mattresses in the safe room, it became clear that trying to share a single wasn't going to be easy.

  "Maybe we should push together all three of them and asleep together. It'll be a bit cramped but at least no one will have to sleep on the floor." Torien suggested.

  Man bit her lip then turo Bel. "Would that be okay you think?"

  "Uhh..." Bel looked to me then back to her. "That sounds okay but why are you asking me?"

  "Oh! I uh, I just thought that maybe you wouldn't want that since you two are uh, you know..."

  Bel seemed a little fused. "It's fine, we're just going to be ying together in bed. Nothing to worry about." She turo me. "Lilith, do you mind being in the middle? I'd rather lie on the edge."

  "Sure." I id down kinda in the middle towards one side. The crease betweewo mattresses was a little unfortable but a lot han ying on the hard stone floor. I would have sidered looking for another but with mimics around it didn't seem worth it and I was tired mentally from everything we've dooday. ly sleepy though, sleep still seems optional for me, even through this stressful situation.

  While als to avoid ying on the crease the twins pyed some sort of game I guessed was an equivalent to rock paper scissors. Afterwards Torien smiled smugly and decided she would get to sleep oside of the bed. I id on my bad closed my eyes with Bel on one side and Man oher. Bel was out immediately, as soon as she rested her head on my shoulder and cuddled up to my right side she was out like a light. It seems a bit arbitrary what onalities we share and which we don't after her transformation. I suppose she could have just chosen to sleep like I usually do at night but I haven't asked her if she still needs it or not.

  Passing right out wasn't in the cards for me though because I have a tossing and turning catgirl o me. Man seemed like a bundle of nerves ever since she caught me and Bel fooling around. I leaned up a bit and peeked over her to see Torien passed out half off the bed. Since everyone seemed to be sleeping I figured I should say something.

  I rested my hand on the fidgeting cat girl's arm, "Hey Man, are you okay?"

  She went stock still before nodding. "Y-yeah, I'm alright why do you ask?"

  "You've been a little odd since I caught you peeking on us," I said with some humor.

  "...So you did see me."

  "Yeah. I personally don't mind much but Bel is kind of vulnerable right now. She was freaking out a little when I told her you were peeking."

  She covered her eyes. "Oh no, she knows I eeping too? Oh gods, I'm so embarrassed."

  "Is that why you were ag so awkward around her?"

  "...ly." There was a long pause and I noticed Man poke her sister in the side a bit before tinuing. "T-truth is, I kinda like girls too. And... and seeing the two of you go at it has been driving me crazy. I'm not jealous! I'm not! It's just, you two seem so okay with it, so rexed, so... open, normal. But I'm afraid of telling anyone, even my sister. It's not like I'd really get the ce to be with anyone by choiyway since I'm a sve but knowing that my best hope for my future is being the sex sve of a man is crushing..."

  She paused only long enough to catch her breath before tinuing, "I don't, hate being around men but I just 't really get close to them. The strong, manly, muscur men that all of the irls like just gross me out. The only people I've ever had crushes on were irls but not only do I not get to choose for myself, there's a good ce I'd be skinned alive by the Tamin church if anyone found out! I hate feeling like this, I wish I liked boys like everyone else, then this might not be so hard... Y-You're the only person I've ever been able to talk to about this because you're so open about everything! And probably because you'd be in just as much trouble with them as I would... maybe more actually."

  I grabbed Man's hand and squeezed it gently to calm her down a little. "The things yoing through, they're rough. S through feelings like those be really hard. But you shouldn't feel bad about who you are. Who you're attracted to and who you aren't. These things are out of our hands, you 't trol who you like any more than you trol what color your eyes are."

  I paused to collect my thoughts for a moment. "I'm attracted to both girls and boys, in some ways it could be easier to pass myself off as being straight. But even still, you don't get to choose who you fall in love with. I know it's hard, especially since your situation is so much harder than normal, but you o accept yourself as you are, that's the first step towards figuring things out. You're a really great person and I like you a lot. You're fun to be around and you're really smart. Liking men or liking women won't ge that. It won't make you a better person if you do things that might make you more accepted to others who wouldn't already accept you as you are. You're already great, who you're attracted to won't ge that."

  "Thank y-you," Man half sobbed. She turowards me and buried her fato my side as she quietly wept into my fur. I gently pulled her against me into a hug since she seemed like she right now.

  "I don't know how long we'll have together but I'll be here for you whenever you . I do think you should talk to your sister about this though. I'm sure it wouldn't ge how she feels about you. It's obvious that she's very protective of you, she would do anything to make sure you're safe and happy. At least as much as possible uhe circumstances."

  After a moment of quiet weeping she replied, "S-She won't think I'm gross and a-abandon me right?" she mao say through her tears.

  "Of course not, I'm sure she'd love you just as much. I'm positive about that." I gently rubbed her bad rather than reply she fell asleep right there, hugging against me. I sighed. I still wasn't sleepy iraditional way but mentally I was wiped out and now I was a bit emotionally draioo. I turned and kissed Bel on the head before I closed my eyes a myself drift off as well.

  Saine