NOVEL NEXT WORLD Chapter 39: Melody’s… house?
“So, what about Sunday?” I asked Melody, sitting up just as she was, then sliding to the edge of the bed until we were beside each other. “How are you going to see if our team is good?”
“Have you ever been in a dungeon, Scar?” Melody asked, placing a hand on my right leg, the one closest to her.
“No…” I didn’t have a system. It’d be stupid to enter one before awakening.
“There’s a dungeon about twenty minutes northeast of the academy,” Melody said, then suggested, “Why don’t we raid it? As a team.”
Uh… what? “You want to raid a dungeon before classes begin?”
“Yep,” Melody replied, giving my leg a random squeeze, which kinda made me horny. “How else would we know if we can work together effectively?”
“Can’t we just do… like some random team building activity?” Like in high school or middle school, you just play a game and… bond and whatnot.
“You really think any activity is going to mimic the conditions of a dungeon?” Melody asked. “The only effective way is to enter a dungeon.”
I mean, that’s true… “But isn’t that way too dangerous?”
“We’ll be fine,” Melody countered, pulling her hand off my leg. “You have your shield and I’ve been in a dungeon before.”
“You’ve been in one? After you awakened?” We awakened Monday, and Tuesday until now, I’ve never left her side… except that visit to her parents? But I doubt she had time, she probably had the flight, talked, slept, then the flight back. It was a short trip. “When?”
“Keep this a secret,” Melody said as she brought her hand up to her face, zipping her lips, before whispering, “I awakened a month early.”
“Huh? How?” It’s run by the government, you can’t just do it whenever, they designate the yearly date and they give you a time slot to appear… run by the government… Celestria is close to the royal, imperial really, family.
“Asked for a favor,” Melody explained. “So, are you willing to enter a dungeon? Just the first floor.”
“Still, no.” We wouldn't be the only ones entering, it’d be our whole team... “What about Silvia, Amane, and the other two?”
“Forgot their names already?” Melody chucked. “But I can have one of our raiders, an S tier, run with us, just watch unless things get hairy.”
What… how does someone become so powerful they can command S tiers? Wait… I could command S tiers, couldn’t I? Even if I’m not that powerful right now… if I tell them my rank, they’d listen. Dang. “I guess it’s okay… first floor only. And teach me how to use stats…”
“I will, I will. Can’t have my team dying on me,” Melody agreed, standing up off the bed. “Let’s go watch a movie.”
“Okay.” I stood up, and followed her downstairs, where she turned on the TV, logged into a streaming service, and found a police and crime show. Of course, the protagonist had a weak B tier system but had some magical hidden ability and they found the bad guys, who were A tier, and interrogated them. Speaking of interrogations… don’t they seem a little fun? Being chained to a chair and yelled at… maybe hit a little… and of course, some questionable actions… no? Just me?
After the movie ended, Melody and I went upstairs since it was almost ten o’clock. Not super late, but late enough to sleep. Plus we talked to people today so I was feeling especially tired. Once we made it to our doors, I turned to Melody. “Uhm… your room?”
“Come on in, cutie.” Melody chuckled, grabbing my arm and pulling me into her room, turning off the lights, which were still on from earlier, as we entered and we stumbled our way to the bed. Melody pushed me onto the bed where I stayed while she changed her clothes to some set of pajamas that I couldn’t really see.
Once Melody returned, she fiddled with the covers and pulled them over us, then she spooned me, her arms reaching around my naked body as if I was a plushie… or body pillow. That fits a little better. With the lights off, both of us soon fell asleep, although I think I fell asleep a little later. Melody’s steady breathing brushing my head was very distracting.
The next morning, I woke up in the same pose, with Melody still hugging me. She didn’t wake up early and tie me up or anything which I kind of expected her to do, but oh well. I guess I can survive a normal morning for once. As normal as being naked while she’s fully clothed is.
I spun around in the bed to look at Melody’s still sleeping face, which was made easy by the fact that her grip had loosened as she slept. Her chest slowly went up… and down… and up… and down… and then her eyes opened. “Hi.”
“Hey… Scarlet,” Melody replied drowsily. “What time’s it?”
“I don’t know,” I answered, explaining, “My phone is downstairs…. somewhere, I think.”
Probably wherever I threw my clothes as I stripped them off yesterday.
“Mmm…” Melody nodded against the pillow. “Go… fetch it, kitty.”
I really didn’t expect you to be this silly when you wake up Melody. It really makes me want to take advantage… and do silly things to you… Not today though. Today is a busy schedule. Not really, but we have stuff to do.
I slid out of Melody’s loose arms and got off the bed, then quickly walked downstairs and found the pile of clothes from yesterday right beside the door. I rifled through them eventually finding my phone. It was just past nine am. We had a long sleep.
After gathering up the clothes, I went upstairs and stopped by my room, dropping them all into… on top of our laundry basket. We need to do laundry… like a week ago. Then I returned to Melody, who surprisingly was changing her clothes… I spun around. Why does it feel wrong to look at her? We slept together… and I’m naked… gah but I just… I don’t know!
Thankfully, Melody called out, “You can look Scarlet. Also what time is it? My phone’s dead.”
“Ah…” I spun back around, Melody had already put on a black skirt, and was wearing a bra, with a sweater currently in her hands… her body is nice. She was skinny, but not so skinny you could see ribs or anything, just skinny and defined. I wanna touch her… especially that small belly button… poke my finger in there… oh, yeah. “It’s nine.”
Melody pulled the sweater over her head, and patted it down a little… she never put on a shirt. “Are you not wearing a shirt?”
“Didn’t feel like it.” She shrugged. “We should get a quick breakfast, then buy your car.”
Who doesn’t feel like putting on a shirt? What if it gets hot and you have to take off your sweater? Whatever. “Okay.”
Melody left her room and I followed behind as we went toward the staircase, then paused in front of the door to put on our shoes—ah. “Um… what should I wear?”
Melody chuckled. “Whatever you want, I’ll be waiting in my car.”
Then she opened the door… while I was standing right in front of it, completely naked. I spun around… and ran back up the stairs… no one saw but imagine if someone was right there, she opened the door!
Back in my room, I found a random light blue skirt, then grabbed the last sweater I brought with me. Yeah, we really need to do laundry. Usually I’d wear sweaters for two days in a row too… just didn’t happen this week. Tonight, laundry shall be done.
Setting aside the skirt and sweater, I grabbed some panties and a bra, put them on, then searched for a pair of socks… you know what, thigh-highs. I put on the black socks, then my light blue skirt, and finally my light blue sweater. Unfortunately, the light blue shades were very different. It looked a little off…
I went back downstairs, out the doors, and found Melody waiting in her sports car. I joined her and soon we were off… to somewhere. “Where are we going?”
“A brunch place I like,” Melody replied while focusing on driving.
“Okay.” Not sure what I expected. Kinda obvious.
The drive took about ten minutes, and then we pulled into a parking lot and entered the restaurant. Melody ordered an eggs and bacon sandwich thing and I ordered the same, both to-go. Back in the car, Melody ate a few bites before beginning to drive, while I munched a little slower… The sandwich was pretty good, but honestly it didn’t taste that special, just average. I’d go again if Melody ever wanted to though.
About twenty minutes later we arrived at a car dealership, different from the one we visited a couple days ago. Melody and I entered, at some point Melody had already spoken with them about the car, so it was really just a bunch of paper signing, and an hour later we were back outside with a new car.
Pretty boring, but now… “Your house next?”
“Yep,” Melody nodded. “I’ll send you the address and we can meet there.”
“Kay.” Melody pulled out her phone and typed away, and I received an address. Fifteen minutes away. I waved bye for the moment and got into the all-black compact SUV.
Sitting in the driver’s seat, I began the usual things one does with a new car. Familiarized myself with the essential controls, figured out how to work the screen and popped on some music from my phone, then went and adjusted all the mirrors.
Melody pulled around that time, and I moved to follow… and that gas pedal is sensitive. That’ll take a little getting used to. Way stronger than my old car. Maybe it’s because it's four-wheel drive?
Driving right along, the car was bigger than I was used to, although I have driven a similar-sized one, my dad’s car, before. I was a bit slow, trying to make sure I was in the lanes and whatnot, but soon I found myself at Melody’s… uh… mansion. Like, really big mansion.
The mansion had a tall black gate surrounding it, with intricate little post caps of a spherical wire design. Within that gate that probably wrapped around acres of land, was a giant mostly three-story Victorian-style structure, a few places went well above to four or five stories… Hell, it looked like a fucking castle. A small castle, but a giant mansion.
But man, that’s one crazy mansion. Details absolutely everywhere, a giant loop out in front, with a fountain in the middle, hedges along the road, and pristine trees and grass behind them as if it was some national park. That’s a terrible comparison. National parks are nowhere near as well maintained as this garden. There weren’t many flowers, unfortunately. I’m sure it’d look beautiful in the spring.
Shifting my focus back, I drove my car through the open gate, and pulled up into the loop, parking along it, a little past the center. Doesn’t feel right to be in the center. The long driveway also had a side road that led to the back somewhere, probably a garage, but that doesn’t feel like a place I should go to uninvited.
As I left my vehicle, Melody walked out of the house, waving. “Long time no see!”
I locked the car, then spun around. “Is it fine to park here?”
“Yeah,” Melody replied. “No one’s around right now, other than a few maids. If it’s busier for some reason you can always park in the garage. I’ll show you mine.”
You’ll show me your garage? Uh… you have your own garage?
