Harvest Dungeon 9 Chapter 9 - Suspicions

Note From Author:

Sorry for being away so long. For those who have been reading this series, you should be aware that I have done some editing and revisions to the previous chapters. There have been no major plot changes(It is only eight chapters) but I think I was able to clarify somethings a bit better than I had the first time. Many of the changes will probably go unnoticed by you but I did them to give me some wiggle room later for some of the things I have planned. Thank you all for reading and I hope you enjoy the story as it continues on. I plan to release two chapters a week for now as I still have other projects.

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I had to admit, the hot water alone was worth the price. Standing under the shower head letting the hot water rain down over me rinsing away the dirt, filth, and stress, felt absolutely amazing.

Outside of feeling amazing, it was giving me a chance to really unwind and catch up with everything that had happened today. Vanessa's appearance, and then Candice's.

Vanessa was incredibly attractive, and despite everything else I was more than a little interested in her. Which I felt was a bit odd since I usually wanted to know more about a woman before I jumped into bed with her. I had my share of one nighters in college, some were fine with a quick tumble, but those girls seemed to be few and far between. At least amongst the girls I knew anyways.

After Melissa I wasn't willing to believe in love at first sight, and in truth I could recognize that what I was feeling felt a lot more like l.u.s.t than love, but the attraction was still there. Even thinking about her now was starting to get a reaction out of me.

I closed my eyes then s.h.i.+fted so the water fell onto my face. I tried not to think about anything, but given what I had been through that was hard.

Candice had said that I had only been here three days, but it felt like much longer. Especially without a toilet, or toilet paper.

Thinking about Candice got me to wondering how I should feel about the company pulling her into all of this. I smirked then wondered for a moment how they did it. Candice was overworked and underpaid, but she loved her job. We had even argued a few times about it. I thought she was qualified for a much better paying less time consuming job, while she didn't, she felt she made enough to get by on, and loved what she was doing.

I shook my head then stopped as I realized something. I had no idea what she did. She had been working at her current job for two years, but in all that time I had no idea where it was or what she did. Whenever we discussed it she would talk about her coworkers and their antics, but always steered away from what it was she actually did.

For a while I had thought she had just been promoted to a corporate position with the company that owned the coffee shop she used to manage, but that wasn't the case. Candice didn't know it but I had tried to figure out where she was working to surprise her on her birthday once. Instead I had learned that the coffee shop, while having several stores in our city and those around it, were owned by an older couple who managed everything themselves. There was no corporate. I hadn't thought anything of it at the time, Candice had always had her quirks. However now? I knew she loved me, and she felt bad about how things were when I was growing up, but I couldn't see her giving up her job for me, not if they were telling her I was doing immersion pod testing for a year. Was there something else they had told her? Or was it all a ruse? Make me think they had access to Candice in case Vanessa couldn't get me to do what they wanted.

It was a lot to consider. Yet the more I thought about it, the more convinced I was that the company rep Candice wasn't the real Candice. So what should I do? Test her? That was a given, I needed to know if she really was my sister or just an impersonator. Then what? Should I blow her cover? No, if they thought I believed she was Candice then they would think they had one up on me. If they realized I knew the truth then, well, I didn't actually know what they would do. I doubted it would be good. They had already kidnapped me, Candice couldn't be that much harder. I didn't feel I could trust Vanessa, she was a part of the company after all. She might be stuck here too, wait, was she?

I groaned s.h.i.+fting out from under the water then quickly soaped up before getting back under the water to rinse. Nothing had changed. Vanessa was here with me, but I couldn't trust her or anything else. Everything was just too fishy. I had been here two days before Vanessa showed up. In that whole time I hadn't heard or seen anything. Now she is here and not only does the imposter Candice appear, but so did two monsters that threaten my farm, and more importantly me. The timing of her appearance was also suspect. What were the odds that she would only show up after I had grown the one plant that was obviously the one they wanted me to grow. Though if that was the case why had there been other options? Was it the Euphoria? A bit of truth amongst the lies, some kind of laws against out right forcing someone to grow the neglism.

It was too much to think about on such a small amount of information. I just had to keep my eyes open and pay attention. If I could leave this place I had no idea how. Realizing that I was probably still being lied to and cheated ruined all the good feelings I had started to have for this place.

With another sigh I stepped away and washed my hair before getting under the water again.

As for a plan? Keep doing what I was doing. There wasn't much else I could do until I hit level five. Then I could see if that barrier really did disappear, and look into finding a weapon. See if that would make a difference against the mice and slimes.

Clean, refreshed, and a plan in my mind I shut off the water pulled away the curtain to find that my clothes were gone. The towel Vaness had brought me was where I had left it, but my clothes were gone.

She must have come in to grab them while I was in the shower. I was a bit offended that she invaded my privacy like that, while being a bit disappointed that she hadn't just joined me. Though it did solidify the impression that the company wanted her to play the role of little wife. How far that was supposed to go would be seen when I left the bathroom and saw how she arranged the furniture. Would there be one bed or two?

Once I was dry I peered around kind of expecting to see clean clothes folded up and left for me, but there wasn't anything of the kind. I wrapped the towel around my waist then opened the door to the main room.

Candice was still there standing by the orb as she spoke with Vanessa who was moving around the room with a speculative look on her face as she pushed the furniture around. There was a small table with two chairs, two dressers, and two beds. The wide bed and comfy bed were set close together against the back wall, but there was still a foot and a half or so of s.p.a.ce between them.

I couldn't say I wasn't disappointed, but I also had to admit I was expecting it.

"Umm what happened to my clothes?" I asked catching the two women's attention.

They both turned to look at me.

My question about whether Candice was really my sister disappeared. The looks both of the women gave me were like hungry predators looking at a well cooked side of beef. Never once in my entire life had Candice ever looked at me like that, not even in jest. We might not be related by blood, but we considered each other as siblings and treated each other that way. She would appraise my and give her honest opinion on how I was looking, but never the l.u.s.t filled gaze the hologram was giving me now. It only lasted a moment then the imposter seemed to realize what she was doing and fixed the way she was looking at me.

I hid my thoughts in the back of my mind as I smirked at Vanessa like I hadn't noticed how the fake Candice looked at me. "See something you like?" I asked playfully.

Candice snorted. "Why would she want to look at you." she retorted.

"Wasn't talking to you." I replied back my eyes on Vanessa who still seemed rather impressed. I was in good shape, not the best, but still good enough to be impressive. "So my clothes?" I asked again.

"I was going to try and clean them, but given their condition, it would be better if you just replaced them." Vanessa replied eventually. "Some of the stains weren't going to come out."

I nodded though personally I wondered why it mattered, we were stuck on a farm in a world well removed from others. There was no one else but us. I wasn't prepared to go around naked, but a few stains on my clothes weren't something to worry about, not when there were more important things to buy with that money. Rather than voice those thoughts I decided to just go along with them.

I strode over to the dungeon core while trying not to feel self conscious under their gazes, accessed the general store and bought a set of clothes that looked a bit better than the ones I had been wearing.

I went over to the small bin on the counter grabbed the clothes then went back into the bathroom to get dressed. I dressed quickly then rejoined the women. In the main room.

Now that I was sure that the Candice from the company wasn't my sister I felt relieved that my sister wasn't in any danger. However that still left the fact that they were trying to fool me, and if they were willing to lie about her, what else were they lying about?

"Two beds?" I asked playfully. "Wouldn't sharing a bed help save s.p.a.ce?"

"It would." Vanessa replied as she s.h.i.+fted the location of the table then strode over to me getting really close, almost touching me, then looking up into my eyes, "But I don't think you could handle me yet." she told me with a smirk.

I opened my mouth to retort but she had already moved past me to the bathroom, closing the door behind her. "My turn!" she shouted through the door.

I glared at the door as fake Candice started to laugh behind me. I gave her a glare too then headed for the dungeon core. Looking through the selection I chose a meal of steak, baked potato, and steamed broccoli for my meal. I also took a look at the growth times of the new crops to be sure I knew how long they were going to take and get an idea when they needed to be watered next. Once I was sure of the times and when I would need to water the crops I sat at the table to wait.

"Did you get all your training finished?" I asked the fake Candice as I would my actual sister.

"Most of it. It's more company policy than anything else. Lots of warnings not to give you special treatment or it would be unfair to the other testers." fake Candice replied casually.

"How many other testers are there?" I asked.

"I can't say." she replied just like Vanessa. "Though to be honest I don't know. They only have me working with you at the moment."

I nodded then frowned. "What about time off?" I asked her. "Will there be anyone if I need a.s.sistance when you are off?" I asked.

Candice nodded. "Yeah, your time in game is adjusted so that the hours you are most active are when we are at work." Candice replied. "Outside of my hours there is another woman who will act as my backup. I haven't met her yet, but I am told she is fairly nice." Candice rea.s.sured me.

"Just make sure they don't overwork you." I told her trying to sound like a concerned brother. I was never a good actor so I hoped I did well.

Candice nodded then looked away from me focusing on something on the wall.

"Speak of the devil! I have to go Jason. She just showed up. I will let her know to introduce herself when she gets set up. See you tomorrow!" she told me happily.

I nodded. "Alright laters." I replied.

Candice smiled then disappeared.

I walked over to the orb as I was reminded that I needed to find a weapon in case something worse than the mouse came to investigate.