When the the Batter awoke, it was much darker. Night must have fallen. He could already hear the sound of that woman about to strike, and hastily flared up a torch. A hiss of defeat reached his ears, and he knew he had put off his death once again. There didn’t seem to be any of those shadow beings in this cave mouth, for whatever reason. He felt much better now that he had some sleep, and he wondered if they couldn’t follow him into the cave.

As he walked further into the cave, his torch revealed a set of stairs leading down in a long spiral. Certainly not natural, and this only confirmed for him that this was the right way to go. Perhaps he could find something down here related to those specters, some weakness he could destroy.

When he reached the bottom of the stairs, it wasn’t a building that greeted him as he might have expected, or even an underground town, but instead what looked like a vast forest made of mushrooms and giving off a pale light. Several smaller plants were here or there, little plant bulbs that gave off brighter light. This was a bit reassuring, and the Batter put away his torch for now, instead retrieving his bat. The area was silent but bright, but he could already tell that this light wasn’t very pervasive. If he wanted to get anywhere, he would have to venture into the darkness eventually.

Ib was a little surprised to see Mary so calm as Madotsuki restarted the fire. She supposed by now she had to be used to it. She sat by the fire herself, partly because it would keep Mary from sitting next to her. She wanted to trust her, but she couldn’t help being a bit worried about being so close.

Once the fire was up, Madotsuki got out the charcoal that Mary had sent her off for this morning. She sighed, thinking of everything that had happened in just this one day. It had been very long indeed. “Mary. Here’s that charcoal you wanted.”

Mary brightened and walked over. “Yep, that’s plenty! I got everything else together, so now we can make something!”

It certainly wasn’t the first time any of them made something without knowing what, but Madotsuki couldn’t help but wonder if it wouldn’t be something dangerous, especially given charcoal is involved. Nevertheless, Mary piled everything needed into the Science Machine, and it spat the charcoal back out, then three thick wooden sticks, and finally a large pot, a cooking pot. Mary seemed to realize the same, and soon got it set up, Madotsuki actually got the charcoal warmed up for use, and they could get to cooking.

Mary seemed exceptionally eager to try it, and she snatches up some some of the frog legs Madotsuki had acquired and some carrots. The pot seemed to get to cooking them on its own, without their doing anything afterward. “Aww… I wanted to make stuff myself...” She sat nearby with a pout.

Shortly after, the pot started rattling and Mary rushed over to pull off the lid. To everyone’s shock, a sub sandwich with frog legs in it appeared out of the pot. Mary examined their new meal with confusion, but it certainly smelled good. After a moment of silence as they admired the food, Mary took a bite out of it. The other two leaned in quickly, watching with bated breath, before Mary swallowed. “It’s good!”

Madotsuki smiled. “Let’s try something with honey next.”

Adding honey with some meat quickly produced nuggets with honey dipping, and Ib decided to try her luck. She put in a lot of berries, imagining it would produce something sweet and interesting; and she was half right. It simply produced a plate of jam, with a spoon. “Seems more like something you put food in...”

“Can I try that?” Madotsuki asked. “I’ll share these nuggets with you.”

Ib nodded with a smile, and soon the three were eating merrily. As they ate, they talked about food in general, and the sort of things they managed to find. Mary and Madotsuki were especially surprised to see Ib had a lot of cactus they could roast.

“Didn’t it hurt to get that?” The dreamer asked.

“Yes, but only a little. And it’s nothing that can’t heal.”

Mary’s face lights up, realizing what she meant. “Oh right, that rose!”

Madotsuki looked puzzled. “Rose?”

Ib pulled out a rose- it was red, and seemed to almost glow, showing a sort of perfect beauty that made normal flowers pale in comparison. “It’s something from the gallery. When I ended up there, I found this rose. If I got hurt, it would lose pedals. But if I put it in water, it grew them back and I got better.”

Madotsuki marveled at it, considering the implications. “Where did you find water exactly?”

“The ponds. Those frogs always chased me, but I didn’t have to stay long.”

“If you want,” Madotsuki offered, “I could escort you there. We could use more food from them anyway.”

Mary thought of something. “Ponds… are there things besides frogs in them? Like… fish?”

Ib thought it over. “Maybe we can make a fishing rod or something?”

Mary nods eagerly. “I think so! It’ll just take a bit of web...” She got up to go make one.

Madotsuki smiled. “She always seems to be full of ideas… and now we have something planned for tomorrow.”

Ib nods. “It’s kind of nice to see her like this, actually. This is what she wanted, right? To be free, and do stuff like this?”

Madotsuki was about to answer, but Mary ran over to show them her new fishing rod, excited as can be. Yes, she seemed quite happy. For Mary, this strange world is a dream come true. It made Madotsuki wonder, what did Ib seek? And what did she seek herself?

The cavern was not too different from the surface in some respects. There were ordinary trees in addition to glowing mushroom trees, large grass tufts along with the glowing stalks. It made the place seem like a more peaceful, empty version of the surface. Batter couldn’t help but approve- it reminded him of the Zones he had purified in his own world, devoid of life and free of vile spirits.

Or at least, he had assumed that before he spotted a spider nest. This was just a deeper level of this impure world. However, as he wandered after destroying the nest, he did notice some odd signs. Plants ripped out, tree stumps where trees should be, and the occasional lump of what was definitely monster meat among the remains of other nests.

All of this pointed to there being someone living down here, someone human if they couldn’t eat that. This person must have knowledge of these caves, knowledge the Batter could certainly use. He started looking around more carefully, looking for something that would give away what direction they came from. It may take a while, but the Batter was nothing if not determined to see it though.