Chương 61: A Nice Nap

Melia woke up, once again, in what could only be described as a nest. Or a den. Something very much not a typical mattress. This time, however, she wasn't disoriented, despite the darkness surrounding her when she opened her eyes.

"Good morning, Mistress," Lethia's voice drifted down to her from outside the many layers of blankets and coverings.

"Grflmrfl," Melia replied. It was meant to be good morning, but muffled and coming from slowly waking lips, it sounded closer to something like a weak monster's cry. A layer peeled away from her face, letting harsh, bright light sting her eyes. Lethia's smiling visage stared down at her like a small moon slowly crashing into a planet.

"Are you feeling rested this morning?" the elf asked. Melia realized she did, perhaps for the first time in a long time, feel incredibly rested. Like she was ready to tackle the day, head out on an adventure. It revealed all her previous mornings, where she thought she felt great and raring to go, for what they truly were: the convalescence of a woman realizing she was no longer on the verge of death. Of course, she would feel nothing but joy and elation, despite metaphorically being weak and out of shape.

Now she was like a professional athlete ready for a big match. She had trained, conditioned, and prepared; now all that was left was to conquer the big day. … which, speaking of day, was it actually morning? Melia glanced at the sunlight streaming through the windows, and those weren't the rays of an early morning sun. It probably wasn't afternoon yet, so "morning" would have to do.

"Yes!" Melia found herself replying brightly. She did feel rested, regardless of whether it was morning, evening, or night. And, now that she was actually thinking about it, she felt satisfied. The gnawing hunger, ever present and uncontrollable, was gone, banished for the time being. While she could probably go for a little bit of breakfast, it would be small, something much more closely aligned to what a gnomish body should consume instead of a meal prepared for 10.

"Wonderful," Lethia nodded happily, as if her lady's joy was her joy. Melia couldn't help but smile in return.

"Do you wish for a hot bath?" Normally, something hot in the middle of the summer wouldn't sound pleasant at all, but Melia suddenly found the idea of melting in a pool of steaming water to be quite relaxing.

"Yes!" Melia exclaimed again, a huge smile on her face. And yet, all this time, she hadn't moved an inch. All of her bluster about being raring and ready to go, and she was feeling incredibly lazy. As if reading Melia's emotional state, Lethia chuckled, reached down, and scooped Melia up. She let herself be handled as the [Retainer] carried her to an adjacent room, which turned out to be a literal bath room, with a giant tub for soaking and not much else.

Lethia got to work filling it with water, while the other two [Retainers] quickly joined the fray.

"Morning, Mistress!" L'menia said cheerfully with a flick of her tail.

"Morning," was all Layalee said in her bubbly voice. Melia smiled and waved at them both, and before she knew it, they had stripped her of her old clothes and tossed her into the lake. At least it felt like a lake to her, something large enough she needed to paddle to swim in, with the bottom far beneath her feet. Thankfully, there was a resting bench running all the way around the perimeter set at various heights, so she could stand up or sit down where she pleased.

She found a spot where she could lounge, submerged up to her neck, and let the water work its magic. As Lethia had promised, it was hot. Melia was sure that, if she had tried to enter water of this temperature back in her old body, even when it was healthy and whole, she would not have been okay. Melia guessed that it had to be near boiling, and yet all she felt was a soothing tingle as the faintest beads of sweat started pooling on her forehead.

As a dragon, she had much higher temperature tolerance than any mortal, and she could have lingered inside that bath all day. But eventually her [Retainers] lifted her out, placed her gently on a table like a freshly molded noodle, and began rubbing her with oils.

"Ohhhhh," Melia sighed as she could feel the strength of a level 1400 [Berserker] really digging into her shoulders and back, melting away the knots.

"A girl could really get used to this." Melia was on the verge of falling asleep again, her drowsy eyes struggling to remain open as L'menia lathered her in a delightful-smelling lotion. It wasn't a strong smell, but it tickled Melia's nose and reminded her of open, rolling fields filled with blooming flowers.

"You know you could have it if you wished," L'menia said from above her.

"We are yours to use as you see fit, you know." That gave Melia pause. She had [Retainers] now, real, genuine servants. As a simple girl who relied on other people in her old life out of necessity, she didn't know how she was supposed to feel about continuing the trend voluntarily. But if they enjoyed what they did, Melia enjoyed having them around. Melia gave the pillow she was staring into a thoughtful look.

"Am I paying you enough?" was what she eventually landed on. She heard three sets of giggles float down to her.

"Mistress, you've kept us very well paid, even in your long absence," Lethia replied for the group.

"There's nobody else we'd rather serve."

"Looking at you now, I don't know how we ever thought you weren't a dragon," Jessica mused from the doorway.

"You eat, sleep, and have servants taking care of your every need." Melia ignored Jessica's teasing and flicked the tip of her tail.

"Are you actually alive, or are you a lump of lizard?" Sleeping in her draconic-humanoid form was second nature and she wouldn't deny her resemblance to the lazy creatures, especially if they lay outside, baking in the sun. After taking a hot bath and getting her muscles massaged into mush, Melia thought Jessica's words might have merit.

"I had the most amazing sleep ever," Melia eventually said.

"It was so comfy, I didn't want to get up."

"I'll say," Jessica did, in fact, say. But her tone of voice made Melia open her eyes and look across the room at her team member. Jessica had a slight frown with a genuine hint of worry.

"After stuffing yourself the other day, you were practically in a food coma. I'm surprised you managed to fly us back in one piece before passing out in Layalee's arms. It's a good thing you turned back into your small form or else we'd have had to leave you there." Melia started nodding her head: that checked out. Nobody was going to move her in her real body, no matter how many stats they had. Then she paused mid nod.

"What do you mean, the other day?"

"Melia," Jessica said seriously, "You've been asleep for an entire day. You took me flying two days ago and slept through the entire day yesterday. We were starting to get worried, but your [Retainers] said this was normal. Melody even said it was natural for most dragons to be even worse, especially if they're powerful: sleeping days at a time and only waking up to gorge themselves. Apparently, you're weird since you like to stay awake as a gnome so long." Melia almost froze. She was asleep for an entire day?

She would have freaked out about it so much more, but Layalee was still giving her muscles the rubdown of a lifetime and she felt like jelly. By the time she worked up enough energy to care, the initial shock was gone and Jessica's words had time to sink in. Dragons, in a lot of lore Melia had read outside of Ebonvale, were lazy, slothful creatures. If her retainers and the princess were to be believed, that was very much the case here, too. That relieved her to some extent, but Melia was still a bit unnerved.

"Ahaha," she gave a weak laugh.

"Just promise me you won't let me sleep for a hundred years again." She said it lightly, partly as a joke, but she was also dead serious. She didn't want to sleep her life away…or if she really was as long-lived as she feared, she didn't want to sleep her friends' lives away.

"Well, look who finally decided to wake up," Brandy's bright and cheerful voice called out as the tall elf ducked through the doorway.

"Good to have you with us, sleepyhead." Melia's worries instantly vanished at the sight of her best friend. Her face broke into a smile, and Layalee gave a tiny chuckle as Melia started practically vibrating under her hands. The [Retainer] took a few steps back as Brandy approached, bending low to mess up Melia's hair.

"Geez," Brandy laughed as Melia barely reacted.

"You're like Jello."

"You would be too if you had to suffer under the hands of a giant maid," Melia said with a huge grin. L'menia's stoic voice called proudly from behind her.

"I aim to serve."

"What's Jello?" Ellesea asked from the doorway. Melia noticed that the room was starting to fill with her party members, so it was probably time to get up and get dressed. At least before Alastair arrived.

"Ooh, I haven't had actual Jello in years," Brandy said, bouncing excitedly. Melia found it interesting that Brandy's subconscious body language was nearly identical to a high elf in the game. Was it because she was one herself now? Or had she always had those sorts of mannerisms? Just being able to see and hear her best friend in person, let alone hug and touch her, made Melia's heart want to burst.

She listened to Brandy ramble on excitedly as one of her [Retainers] picked her up like a wet towel and carted her behind a screen to change.

"It's great," Brandy was trying to explain…and failing.

"It's this weird, gelatinous treat that's sort of see-through and clear, it comes in lots of colors, it jiggles a lot if you touch it, and it really doesn't taste like anything except it does have a good flavor, and you usually chill it and cut it into cubes…."

"If you say so," Melia could hear Jessica's dubious reluctance to believe her. Melia chuckled in her head. Press X to doubt, Jess. Press X hard.

"So is it modeled after [Slime]?" Y'cennia asked from the other side of the screen.

"You're not taking her seriously, are you?" Jessica asked the catkin.

"I'm just thinking that [Cooking] is a lot like [Alchemy]," Y'cennia said defensively.

"We often use [Slime] as a base for many things." Melia had noticed that Y'cennia had shown a surprising interest in [Cooking] as of late. That was interesting; maybe she would have to encourage and cultivate that.

"Oh, if it's a [Cooking] recipe, I'm sure Melia knows it," Brandy bragged for her.

"Melia maxed that out long ago." Melia stealthily checked her [Cookbook] for any recipes for gelatin or Jello-adjacent substances. She didn't want to make a liar out of her best friend. Puddings…sorbets…even a mousse…but, strictly speaking, nothing quite like Jello.

"I'm sure I could make something work," she settled for. Her [Retainers] were finally done fussing over her and plonked her down in front of a mirror. Melia stared at it in disbelief.

"…what is this?" she asked, not quite able to comprehend her reflection.

"Don't you like it?" Lethia asked. By the tone of her amused voice, Melia began to understand that she'd just fallen for some obscure, servant-based prank. Clearly, she should have been paying more attention to what her [Retainers] were dressing her in. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it. Honestly, it was strikingly familiar because Melia had a cosmetic dress just like this one, which she had purchased from the cash shop.

One of only a handful of real money purchases she'd made over her many years playing the game. Her [Retainers] stuffed her into a dress, but it wasn't just any dress. It was a stereotypical "princess" dress, taken to the extreme. The same type of dress one might find in a cartoon or an exaggerated animation, because clearly, nobody in real life would ever be able to wear it. Or, more accurately, once they were inside it, they'd be unable to move, practically trapped.

Melia was sure the dress itself didn't fit into any specific style. Not that she had more than a vague understanding of "style" in general. She knew things like "Rococo," "Elizabethan," and "Victorian" were all types of dresses, but she was smart enough to understand that those weren't the only dresses of historical fashion. But this monstrosity was like somebody took all the poofy, exaggerated, billowing aspects of all of those and then blew them out of proportion.

It was a full-body dress with a very high neckline, showing absolutely no skin below her cheeks. It featured a massive brooch on her chest, drawing the eye, but there wasn't much else to emphasize her bust. Despite the presence of a corset, the waist was so high that it sat at the very top of her ribs, pushing everything up and making it look like she didn't have a torso.

In the meantime, the skirt, if it really could be called that, ballooned out so wide that Melia couldn't reach the edges of it even if she could bend over. Which she couldn't, if she didn't want to engage her stats and destroy the dress. The hoop made her look less like a particularly stout handbell, and more like the cover for a platter at a fancy diner. T here were enough pleats, folds, ruffles, lace, and bows to make her feel like a nicely wrapped present.

Melia waddled around the screen to test her movement before turning to pout at her tormentors. If they wanted to play dress up with a doll, which, fine, compared to their size, Melia practically was, they could do it on their own time.

"Magnificent," came Melody's voice from the door. Great. The whole gang was here. Melia quickly glanced at her status page, and yes, she was in fact [Magnificent], but that was beside the point.

"You've had your fun," Melia pouted at her [Retainers]. With full-length gloves running all the way up to her armpits, placing her hands on her hips felt extra childish. Did it make the pout more effective? Maybe.

"Put me back in something normal."

"Must we?" Lethia begged, but she was already pulling Melia back behind the screen.

"You only wear two outfits. Let us dress you in something civilized for a change." Melia looked, and sure enough, her [Reverie] and [Sultana's Favor] were lying out, waiting for her. Did she really only have two outfits? Maybe she'd have to look into that. But they were just so comfy!

"Hey wait," she said, fitting her way back into the [Reverie], "I also wear my [Stormforged] at times."

"That's armor," L'menia chastised.

"That doesn't count." Melia glanced up at the mirror, realizing that her hair wasn't in her normal twin ponytails, but an elaborate updo that reminded her of that children's game where you had to stack progressively smaller rings onto a tower.

"Did you do this too?" she asked. Like the dress and the sleeves, she didn't even feel it happen. Didn't styling hair take, like, literally forever?

"Yes," Lethia beamed.

"Never underestimate the power of domestic skills." Melia shivered. Scary. Back to normal, she shook her head, stepped around the curtain, and surveyed the room. Melody, Brandy, Jessica, Ellesea, Y'cennia, and even Alastair had shown up at some point. The whole group was here.

"Is it breakfast time?" Melia asked. The only other time she'd seen everyone gathered like this was at meal times, most recently breakfast the other day.

"It's almost lunch," Jessica replied, her hand instantly traveling to her stomach.

"But how can you even think about eating? After all those cows?" Layalee was right. [Crimson Cattle] were tasty. Melia definitely added them to her favorites list.

"Lunch?" Melia asked.

"I didn't realize I slept in that late." She patted herself down, as if that would suddenly confirm her suspicions about the time.

"It feels like morning."

"Then it's morning," Moeldywn said magnanimously, with a suspicious amount of authority.

"Morning is when I say it is."

"Really?" Melia asked. Perhaps that was a power royalty had?

"Of course not," Melody instantly scoffed.

"Oh," Melia laughed sheepishly.

"We were waiting for you to wake up." The princess paused with a smirk.

"You haven't given me my gift yet." Gift? Melia snapped her fingers. The daily teddy bear! She knew Melody was joking, but Melia could call this particular bluff all day long.

"Here you go!" She reached into her inventory and heard Melody groan.

"You really have another one? After what you gave me the other day?"

"Oh, I have plenty," Melia bragged. She may have gone overboard one day when crafting these, because she didn't want to bother making them every single day and ended up with a surplus. She wouldn't be running out any time in the next… few years. Today's offering was a patchwork classic. The bear, still exaggerated in its 6-foot size, looked stitched together from four large squares of fabric. One red, one blue, one green, and one yellow.

Altogether, it made an interesting combination when one did not try to view it as natural.

"Wait," Jessica gasped as Moeldywn reached forward to snatch her prize.

"Why do you have a giant [Melii Bear]?! And I've never seen one in that style?! My mom's crazy over those!"

"Ho ho," Moeldywn laughed with the back of her hand covering her mouth.

"Sweet child, I have every [Melii Bear] ever made. My collection is complete. Where do you think they come from in the first place?"" You are the mysterious creator of the [Melii Bears]?" Ellesea gasped.

"Those are all the rage in noble society! I'm sorry, Jessica, but your mother's collection is probably nothing compared to some of the collections of the ladies whose parties I've attended."

"Gods above, woman, no," Moeldywn scoffed.

"Use your brain for half a moment. Do I look like somebody with the time to create so many bears? It's in the name, child. They are Melii bears." The group turned as one to stare at Melia. She decided it was in her best interest to ignore any of the consequences her past actions may have caused and greeted their stunned faces with a cheerful smile and a wave. Jessica groaned.

"Aghhhh, Melii, as in, Melia? Is that one of your fake identities?"

"Hi," Melia simply grinned.

"But that doesn't answer why this one's so big," Jessica finally complained.

"Technically, the collectibles are simply very small," Moeldywn corrected her.

"Miniature replicas. The originals are all this size."

"I gave her a ton," Melia said in passing.

"You could ask Melody for a big one?" For the smallest of seconds, it looked like Moeldywn might agree. All the girls in the room looked at her expectantly. Then she shattered their hopes and dreams ruthlessly.

"Absolutely not," she denied.

"I could…but then there would be one I didn't have. They are mine," she said, sounding very childish in Melia's opinion, but who was she to judge? She did give them to Melody exclusively, after all.

"Well, you heard her," Melia shrugged.

"Guess you'll have to wait till it goes on sale." Moeldywn looked as if she were wrestling with turbulent inner turmoil before eventually capitulating and letting out a long sigh.

"Would you at least like to see the collection?" The answer was a resounding yes.

Several minutes later, after a short walk, the group found themselves in a museum. Technically, it was a storage room, but that seemed wholly inaccurate. Gigantic glass cases filled the floor and lined the walls in a warehouse-sized gallery with a second-floor mezzanine. If the room wasn't so well lit by the gentle glow of mana lights, it could have been mistaken for a mausoleum, each bear peaceful and unmoving, enshrined for the posterity of generations to come. And there were thousands of them.

"Holy…," Jessica gasped on entering.

"How many of these things do you have?"

"A little over two thousand," Moeldywn replied. The rest of the group looked stunned, but as they slowly panned around the room, they could see she wasn't lying. Melia did some quick math.

"I gave her one every day for…eight years? It checks out." What started as a way to gain reputation with an npc turned into a tradition as she completed the daily quest, long after she reached exalted. Melia turned to the others, expecting to see their curious eyes. Instead, most turned their judging stares at Moeldywn.

"You let a weird gnome visit you every day for eight whole years?" Jessica asked in disbelief.

"I was nine years old," Moeldywn hissed.

"She gave me gifts and told me stories. Don't judge me."

"That makes it so much worse!" Jessica exclaimed.

"And nobody else found this strange? I'm totally judging you!"

"Well, I guess you don't really want to see my collection, do you?" Moeldywn threatened with narrow eyes. Jessica didn't miss a beat.

"I've judged that you're a magnanimous and benevolent ruler! Don't send me away from your sight, oh Queen! Your taste in questionable companions is without equal!" Moeldywn snorted but didn't actually have Jessica removed. Instead, she led them to a specific display, which happened to be a very special bear.

[Melii Bear] Level: 0 Rarity: Common Created By: Melii A large bear with light brown fur, a red bow tie, and black eyes.

* The one, the only, the original: this bear spawned an industry and generations of envy and greed.

"Hey, that's not entirely fair," Melia grumped, having finished reading the plaque before anybody else. She didn't intentionally make this thing to pit housewives against each other like Karens at a Black Friday sale. The others weren't in any condition to register her complaints. Jessica, Y'cennia, and Ellesea were all staring up at the bear with open-mouthed wonder.

"Wow," she heard Y'cennia mutter.

"I'd recognize that anywhere," Ellesea agreed.

"I never knew it was so…big."

"They all are," Jessica said, looking around.

"I can see several my mom has. But if these are the originals, why don't they have the M brand on the left foot?"

"The company that procured the rights to reproduce them added the mark as a way to authenticate their bears against forgeries," Moeldywn explained, leading them to the next bear.

"It's a magical mark that shows up under [Inspection]. As you could guess, the originals don't need that mark."

"Why?" Jessica asked before she could stop herself. But Moeldywn humored the question and answered anyway.

"Because the system recognizes the creator. Good luck trying to falsify that." They moved on. Brown bears, in every minor shade of brown, from golden to burnt. Black bears. One so dark it seemed like a cut-out of space itself. One suspiciously patterned with a white belly surrounded by a pink ring. Jessica and Y'cennia stared at Melia pointedly, but she smiled innocently, and they moved on. Bears of solid primary colors. Red, blue, green. Pastel bears. Washed out bears.

Bears that looked purposefully worn and faded. One bear was tie-dye with a bright orange sunburst over yellows and reds; one bear was a complete rainbow.

"I know this one!" Jessica pointed at the giant bear uselessly, as if the others could possibly not notice the thing looming over them.

"They release this once every four years! I think a fight broke out the last time a merchant showed one off!" Yup. 100 percent Karens.

"Limited quantities will do that," Moeldywn sighed.

"It's regrettable, but it feeds an industry and drives the economy. I couldn't stop it if I wanted." The girls harumphed but continued with the tour. Melia herself was fascinated at first, but quickly grew bored. She liked the idea of collecting just as much as the next nerd, but somehow it felt different when the collectible was something she herself made. She noticed Alastair following the group silently and patiently, but he didn't seem nearly as enthralled as everybody else.

"Seen enough?" Melia asked shrewdly.

"They're quite remarkable," he said.

"Don't get me wrong, but…."

"No, I agree," Melia sighed.

"I never imagined it would become…this. I just wanted to give fun gifts."

"I'm sure they were well received," Alastair encouraged her. He pointed to Moeldywn, proudly showing off her collection to the girls.

"If the gift wasn't wanted, they never would have been so well loved. Celestara bless you for your thoughtfulness."

"Huh," Melia said, feeling a very surreal little tingle after Al said those words, as if they carried a real blessing. But that also reminded her of something.

"Speaking of Celestara," she began, casting her eyes over toward Brandy, whose left ear twitched at her name. She was probably listening, but she, too, was engrossed with the bears.

"Do you think you'll be able to take Brandy along?"

"She already fits right in," Alastair chuckled.

"Look at them. Like a bunch of sisters, the lot of them."

"Totally," Melia smiled, "But not quite what I meant. I was thinking more along the lines of having a [Saint] in your party. I'm sure that will cause waves once people find out. And also…can you keep up? I won't let her stay low level for long."

"No, I imagine not," Al sighed.

"We'll adapt. We always have. We're good at that…perhaps the only thing we really excel in."

"Don't sell yourself short, Al," Melia said earnestly.

"You're a good man."

"Your praise is too kind," Alastair said humbly.

"But for your question, I suppose only time will tell. And on that note, I think it's time we head back to Lakeridge."