Draft: 42 Open-Door Policy

Apparently, the door was unlocked, and fairly easily dislodged, as it opened with her knocking motion. Hesitantly stepping into the dusty environment, James coughed a little and waived her hand in front of her face. With the sunlight streaks visible in the particle-filled air, she examined the living room she found herself in.

The three-seater couch was a soft cream color, facing the left wall where a nice, opulent fireplace resided underneath a large flat screen TV. There were two leather armchairs on either of it, one with a soft faux fur pelt draped over the side. It was not something she expected from a cottage in the woods, even if she was in France.

Behind the sofa were some bar stools along a white marble counter. The kitchen itself was a practice in extravagance, with every appliance looking top of the line and ready to be used. All that, despite giving the appearance that none had ever been touched.

James was forced to consider what the rules for squatting were in a System Tutorial. To be fair, the owners had left the door open, did the Tutorial have some open-door policy she could take advantage of? Shaking her head at the ethics of it, and conceding that she had just upgraded her sleeping arrangements, James resolved to only borrow a few essential items.

“Hello?” Silence was the only reply, and with that James grinned a little and took another step in. Heading straight to the kitchen, James searched through the drawers. Spices disappeared into her earrings one by one, along with two sets of utensils, two plates, two cups, a pot, a pan, and a spatula. She figured that those items would be enough for her to make decent meals from here on in. Her cooking skills may have been lacking, but even she knew salt and pepper made all the difference.

Next to the kitchen were two small rooms and the dining area, or so she assumed by the long wooden table with chairs. She didn’t bother looking at the artwork there though, she wasn’t going to take it for one, and for another, nothing about the space was personalized. One of the doors was to a pantry, but it wasn’t really stocked and she refused to take food that could have been contaminated by rats or mice. The other door was to a small bathroom with a sink and restroom.

She would have thought that the cottage would have had some pictures or objects to show the owner’s personality, but it was suspiciously empty of any such artifacts. Regardless, even if the house was for sale, she wasn’t going to steal anything.

Going back past the living room, she went up the stairs to the second floor looking for a proper bathroom and linen closet. She desperately wanted a towel as well as toiletries. Similar to the downstairs, everything she found was upscale, and she became increasingly wary of taking too much. Rich people tended to have rich lawyers and all that.

Having everything she needed now in her earrings, James took out a pen and paper she got from the boutique out of her earrings. Scribbling a note explaining the circumstances and what she took, she said sorry and left her email for the owners to contact her about how much she owed them as a result.

Nodding her head in satisfaction, she turned around to the closed door and went to open it.

You have entered a Dungeon.

Well, James wasn’t expecting that. Unlike her last dungeon, the notification was different and there was no mana, green or otherwise, in the atmosphere. That being said, though, James didn’t really have a lot of experience with dungeons. She only had experience with one particular dungeon.

Looking around her, though, she had to admit that it certainly wasn’t the worst place that she found herself in. The cottage was much nicer than any home she had been in, whether it felt homely or not, and she didn’t feel like she was in any danger. Her Mana Sense wasn’t even alerting her to any mana in the area.

James wondered at what point she would get a quest notification since she had already been through the whole house. Well, she wasn’t going to worry about that, this dungeon didn’t specify that she couldn’t leave it without completing it first.

She had always wanted to know what expensive wine tasted like. Well, she didn’t, not really, but she had discovered the passion when glancing into the pantry. And since this was a dungeon, the owners had much bigger concerns than her drinking a few cups of an expensive bottle.

Going to the wine fridge, James grinned in anticipation. She had never gotten really drunk before! And if anything drove her to drink, shouldn’t it be the Tutorial?