Duelling Dungeons

The next few days passed in a blur: more planning, more practices, and more candy-based psychic resistance training. I considered holding workshops to provide staff with more in-depth training on detecting and disrupting psychic attacks, but in the end, I decided against it. Not only would it take a significant amount of time for everyone to understand the underlying principles fully, but if they didn’t grasp the techniques, it would actually cause more harm than good.

The little tricks were far more reliable.

With only a few days left until the match, Kass finally returned from her vacation. When I found out she was back,k I ran to the atrium and waited eagerly for her to come down from the staff entrance.

“Kassssss…. I missed you,” I blubbered, throwing my arms around her as soon as she slithered off the stairs.

Whoa,h Talia, easy there,” she exclaimed. “I missed you too, but could you let me put my luggage before you clamp on to me?”

“No,” I muttered.

“Fair enough,” she chuckled. “I take it you had a rough week?”

“I’ve just had a lot to deal with,” I said, finally letting her go. “I’m guessing you’ve already heard that the next round of confrontation matches have been decided, and that our next match is in a few days.”

“Of course. Everyone back home was excited to see what the matchups would be. I couldn’t go more than twenty feet without someone bringing it up,” Kass said. “I don’t understand why that would keep you so busy, though. I thought we were fairly well prepared for our next match.”

“We are… sort of. I just wanted to make a few minor adjustments to our tactics so we’d be better prepared for whatever the Black Sanctum throws at us. Since the Sanctum has a few psychics on staff, I also wanted to give everyone a few tips on how to deal with psychic attacks,” I explained. “Finally, we had a couple of staff changes, and I needed to evaluate the best way to use those staff in the next match.”

“Staff changes?” Kass asked. “Did Sylvia decide to join us?”

“She did! The Anthophilans also evolved, so I wanted to know how capable they were in their new evolved form,” I explained, before leaning in closer and whispering conspiratorially. “Turns out, they’re VERY capable.”

“Good to know,” Kass laughed. As we wandered towards the residential area, she glanced over at me suspiciously. “You haven’t been working ever since I left, have you? I know there are a lot of things you could do to prepare for the next match, but if we lose, it’s not the end of the world. I’m sure everyone would rather have you in good shape for the match than have slightly better tactics.”

“We did have a games night while you were gone…” I admitted.

“And did you run it for fun, or to evaluate the Black Sanctum?” Kass asked.

“Both…?” I slowly replied.

Kass sighed. “Talia… You really need to learn to take a break occasionally. Although we appreciate your planning skills, you won’t be a help to anyone if you burn yourself out.”

“I won’t,” I exclaimed. “I enjoy doing this sort of thing! It’s like putting together a puzzle! No, it’s more like I have to go around, collecting all the pieces of a puzzle, then putting it together in a coherent picture!”

“Even if that’s true… Whenever you evaluate or plan, you put everything you have into it. Just because you enjoy something doesn’t mean it won’t burn you out in the long run,” Kass said.

“I took a couple of days off before you left, remember?” I asked.

“Only because I forced you to,” she grumbled. “If I hadn't, I probably would have found you collapsed at your desk, instead of waiting for me at the stairs.”

I glanced over at her in surprise. “Wait, are you mad at me for working while you were gone?”

“Mad? No. Disappointed, yes,” Kass admitted, shaking her head. “I guess I just have to work harder at making you realize there’s more to life than work.”

“I know there’s more to life than work,” I pouted.

She glanced over at me and smirked. “You’re right, I’m sure, with that big brain of yours, there’s not much you don’t know, but there’s a difference between knowing and understanding. I’m going to have to teach you that difference.”

“I… don’t get what you mean…” I said.

“I know, and that’s fine for now. We’ll work on that,” Kass chuckled. “Did anything else happen while I was gone?”

“Uhhhhh… something happened? Not really. Something we may have to deal with later? That’s another matter,” I said.

“Oh?” Kass raised an eyebrow. “How so?”

“Sylvia is having a hard time,” I told her. “From everything you’ve told me, and everything I’ve seen, she's a good person, but she seems to be having issues adapting. I got the impression she’s extremely uncomfortable being in the dungeon, and that’s affecting her performance. I somehow managed to convince her to stick around for a little while, and talk to you about it, but I honestly have no idea how to help her myself.”

“You managed to convince her to stay?” Kass asked. “How? Did you bribe her with food?”

“No… she just seemed to be unsure about what to do, so I told her she could join the Manor on a trial basis and decide later,” I told her. I considered for a moment, “I’m pretty sure I told her about the free food ahead of time.”

“So, your social awareness is improving? I’m so proud of you,” Kass remarked. “Do you know where Sylvia is now? How is she doing?”

“Actually, I haven’t seen her since the practice a couple of days ago,” I replied. “I kind of expected to see her in the cafeteria once or twice, but I guess I’ve just missed her.”

“You didn’t go looking for her at all?” Kass asked, giving me a strange look.

“Why would I go looking for her outside of practice?” I asked back. “I don’t want to disturb her.”

She shook her head. “And that just goes to show that you have a little bit more to learn. If she’s having a hard time, you should have looked in on her occasionally, make sure she’s okay.”

“But… what would that have done?” I asked. “She wanted to talk to you about it.”

“People like to know they’re appreciated, especially when they’re having a hard time,” Kass explained, bonking me on the head. “I know you have some emotional intelligence in that big head of yours somewhere. I just wish it wouldn’t get suppressed by the analytical part of you.”

“I’m sorry,” I muttered. “I guess I didn’t think…”

“I know,” she replied. “I also know you don’t do it out of any sort of malevolence, it’s just because you get distracted, and stuck in your own head.”

“I’m not going to deny that,” I muttered.

Kass hefted her bag with three arms and threw it over her shoulder before patting me on the back. “It’s alright. Let’s go talk to her now and see what’s going on.”