Well, obviously I didn't name every single one of them, but I did name a good number of them in case I needed a few of them to appear as 'normal' people.
For some reason, Katsuki seemed to be a little wary of them, judging by how her tail was always still when they were around.
To make matters worse, when my Shadow Guards saw Katsuki, they used [Shadow Forge] on themselves and created matching sets of maid uniforms to wear without my instruction.
Yeah, Katsuki was definitely not amused when she saw that, though she refrained herself from saying anything and simply narrowed her eyes at them.
I decided it was best that I did not involve myself in that.
And for some good news, Mary returned with some sweets and I thoroughly enjoyed them with Mother that night.
The next morning, I joined Katsuki and the others in reporting for morning training with my Shadow Guards, which of course surprised the others who weren't there when I showed them to Mother last night.
"Sister Aster? Who are they? Why do they… Look like you?" Odeta asked.
"Err… Long story short, I went to the Dungeon with those Adventurers we met the other day and I kind of completed the Dungeon so I got a stone as a reward. Apparently that stone transforms others into monsters and it turned my Shadow Summons into them."
Delmare scribbled in her notebook, 'How are they different from the normal ones?'
"Well… For starters, Eins?"
The Shadow Guard I had given the name of 'Eins' turned to me, "What do you require me to do, Master?"
"Master?" All of them parroted.
I shrugged, "I asked and they insisted that they call me that. And yes, they can talk and have some self-awareness."
Lisa gasped, "Do you feel what they feel, Aster? Or even better! Can you control them like your own body?!"
I was about to tell her no when Eins spoke up, "You can, Master."
She continued, "You just have to will it and it will happen."
I closed my eyes and did as she said, trying to imagine myself controlling Eins.
When I opened my eyes again, I realised I was looking at myself while also looking at Eins at the same time. It felt like I was looking at something with my left eye while my right eye was looking at something completely different at the same time, except I was looking through both eyes.
I tried to reach my hand forward and my body responded immediately, though Eins followed my movement just a split second later.
I tried to pinch myself and Eins did the same, the sensation of being pinched carrying over twice when I did so.
Ok… This feels really weird… But I guess the good thing is that it actually works!
Do you know what that means?! I can use them to eat more sweets all at the same time!!
Lisa let out a gasp, "Aster!! Please spit roast me tonight!!"
… There's two kinds of people in this World I guess.
"Wahahaha! This is awesome, Aster!! Please let me spar with multiple of you at the same time!!" Odeta requested.
Correction, there's three kinds of people…
'Aster… Concert? <3' Delmare wrote.
Four kinds of people?
"Mistress, please be careful of them, you never know when they might betray you if you trust them too much," Katsuki advised.
Alright… Five kinds of people.
But seriously Katsuki, I don't think they could even betray me even if they wanted to though? The fact that they are summoned by me meant that they are dependent on me to survive and if I were to cut that off or even just die, they would not be able to continue existing without me.
I released my control over Eins and my vision went back to normal, though it gave me a sense of vertigo when I did that.
So… That was an interesting experience…
Tiara tugged me on the arm, "Why are you here then, Aster? I believe that we're here because we were being punished weren't we?"
"Oh, well I felt lonely after being separated from all of you so I decided to join all of you today~" I told them, which was actually part of the reason.
Lisa immediately came up to hug me while rubbing her face on mine, "Ahhhhh!! I missed you too Aster!! I love you, I love you~"
A deep cough interrupted us and we turned to see Sebastian standing there and eyeing us with a neutral gaze.
"We shall begin training soon, Lisa, Aster. Please ready yourselves."
Lisa separated from me unwillingly and moved to stand at her position.
Sebastian waited until all of us were ready before speaking, "Let's skip the preamble today and go straight to training. For today we will be doing something a little bit special. It will be a Dungeon dive and will last three days so make the necessary preparations for this."
I raised my hand and the Head Butler nodded at me to show that I could speak.
"Are we going to the new Dungeon?" I asked.
He shook his head, "If Aster is asking if I intend to bring you to the Dungeon that is still being surveyed, the answer is no. We will be going to another one that is inside the mountain. Prepare for a trek there as well. Any other questions?"
No one else did so he dismissed us.
I didn't really need to make any more preparations since I'll be bringing my Pack of Folding along, though I needed some time to rearrange the items inside since those three bastards messed up the order when they took my stuff out of it.
Ugh, just thinking about it is pissing me off…
"Master, does this make you feel better?" Eins asked, moving behind to start massaging my shoulders.
What the heck? Did she read my mind?
Not to be outdone, Katsuki suddenly appeared in front of me with a cookie in her hands.
"Mistress, please accept this to soothe your mood."
Awww~ You still know me the best, Katsuki!!
Ah, could it be? She was afraid that these Shadow Guards would replace her and I might think that I no longer need her by my side anymore?
Oh you silly Inugami~ Don't you know? I'm a pretty selfish person~ I've already chosen you to be mine, there's no way I'm letting you go any time soon~ You're stuck with me whether you like it or not~
Speaking of which… Cookie!! Om nom nom nom~
The rest of my companions went ahead to prepare their own equipment for the Dungeon dive, including preparing their own sleeping bags and food that they would be bringing along.
I did suggest making use of my Pack of Folding for this but surprisingly, Sebastian stopped me before I could with a stern gaze.
"No, everyone carries their own gear and items. All of you are also not allowed to share the things that you bring as well. Even if one of your team members is starving, you are not allowed to share your food with them."
Lisa frowned at him, "We can't share anything at all?"
"No, you're not even allowed to share a spoon. Nothing at all."
Somehow… I have a feeling that this training was specifically meant to train us to prepare ourselves in the event that we end up alone in the Dungeon without being able to rely on our party for help for some reason…
I bet Mary told Sebastian about my situation where I got betrayed and he decided to use this chance to train the others as well.
Well, you won't hear any complaints from me for that since I feel it's a good thing to be prepared for such a possibility too.
Not being betrayed while in a Dungeon, mind you, but being left alone since it has happened before. Specifically, me falling into a trap that separated me from the rest of the party.
I have quite bad luck with Dungeons don't I?
Then again, I suppose I did get that Monsterfication stone as a Dungeon clear reward so I suppose it's not all bad.
After Sebastian gave that instruction, everyone went back to prepare their equipment again and… Well… Most of them returned with a bag that was almost twice as big as before.
I wondered what they were carrying and at first I thought it was food until a picture of sorts fell out from Delmare's bag.
I was just about to reach down to pick it up when the picture was snatched up by the Siren in question in the blink of an eye.
"What was that?" I asked.
"Nothing, Aster! Don't worry about it!" She replied, going so far as to forgo her spell chanting just to tell me that.
That just made me more curious about what it was but… I didn't want to force her to tell me so I just forgot about it.
Still… That kind of told me that most of the things in those bags of theirs weren't food or water but something else… What exactly they were, I do not know.
Seeing that all of us were properly geared and prepped, Sebastian started moving in the direction of the Rejmar trade outpost.
New Dungeon, here we come!