Marianne woke up as the sun shone onto her face. Gently opening her eyes, she saw the wooden ceiling of her inn room.

That's right. She was no longer living in her house.

It had only been a week yet it all now seemed like a dream.

She then sensed the tiny little creatures sleeping with her rousing up as well so she gently cast away her blankets to reveal all the insects that had been laying down with her all night. She then scooped up some of them to see that they did not react to her touch with fear at all. Instead, they gladly climbed above her hand as she brought them closer to her face. And when she ordered them with her mind to fly around her, they did so in perfect order.

"It seemed the bonding was a success," she spoke to herself.

The bonding process she referred to here was her bond with the insects, of course. And to perfect that bond, she knew the insects had to be familiar with the warmth and smell of her body. That was why she slept naked under her blanket this night, and the other six nights, so the insects would really be able to familiarize themselves with her well.

She had only received them a week ago when she first came to this city, from a specialized insect shop inside the Mage Emporeum. She only had to hand over the letter her father had wrote to the merchant, and he immediately gave her the goods. He told here they were the best he could give since all the stronger insects had been purchased beforehand by other mages, and they were pretty rare. She didn't really mind though. She would just have to look for better ones inside the labyrinth.

She started with the Steel Beetles. A naturally non-aggressive bug, it was easy for her to establish the first link with them. She did it in just under an hour.

The next one she challenged was the Killer Bees. Responsible for many deaths on the distant jungles of Ennuatu, she had to take it slowly with them so they wouldn't just swarm her all at once. The first one she faced stung her right on her cheeks. The second one aimed for her nose. And the third one preferred her forehead. Of course, she had drank the antidote to their poison beforehand, so their stings would only cause normal swelling, but it still hurt. She persevered of course, and eventually, after six hours with them, she managed to make them crawl on her body without them attacking her. Pretty much nearly every part of her body got stung by them at that point.

The last one was the Mantis. This one, the merchant needed to raise a closed up space inside his shop so they would be safe if it decided to go on a rampage.

And indeed it did. When Marianne feed it her mana, it immediately turned big and swung a claw towards her. Luckily, the barrier was sturdy enough to deflect its attack entirely. Marianne quickly cut off her mana flow afterwards, before grabbing the little insect once more and staring at it, letting it walk around her palm. She then tried again, and again, and again, until the twentieth try where the insect just sat there looking at her, still ignoring her orders but not attacking her.

Marianne declared it was good enough for today, seeing how she was quite tired already, both from the bee stings and the mana the mantis ravenously ate from her. The merchant was nice enough to give her a bonus of some ointments to help with her swollen skin.

And now, a week later, she finally had mastery of them all.

She ordered her insects to fly off her body, as she was going to take a bath before dressing up. She intended to look her best when she met with the other adventurers she was going to work with in the dungeon.



When Marianne stepped into the meeting place, there were already a bunch of people sitting on the round table at the middle of the room. Of course, the one who immediately stroke her eyes was the lycanthrope, since he easily towered over the others. She also saw an elf, an orc, and a cloaked figure whom she couldn't quite figure out.

She sat down, taking a seat near the elf at the edge of their circle, careful to wait for the insects around her bum to move away first so they wouldn't get crushed.

The host of the meeting then appeared, her name being Artemis. Marianne thought she was quite a pleasant person, judging from her relaxed attitude and her warm smiles. She gladly took some milk tea as she heard her talk. 

Looking at her form, she didn't find anything objectionable, so she signed it immediately. For the party name, she herself had no idea what to write. She had always been quite terrible at naming things.

Her meditations were disturbed, however, when the lycanthrope suddenly started his speech. She quickly glanced a look at him before looking back at her tea, all the while listening to what he had to said.

Of course, she realized she was a real beginner on tackling the dungeon. And of course, she would gladly follow the instructions of other, more experienced adventurers. But the way he said it... it displeased her.

She then heard the boyish-looking man answered to the lychanthrope, with the pommel of his sword aimed at him. He pledged his blade to him, and the rest of the party.

She wouldn't do such an overdramatic thing, of course, so she stayed silent, sipping her tea some more.