A Family Man

Chapter 28

"Kindly think harder about things like this in the future," I said flatly. Even reading fast, Elim couldn't have done more than skim the contract this time. He was genuinely lucky I hadn't changed anything that would work against him.

"I sincerely doubt I'll be faced with this choice a second time," Elim replied with a grin. Cheeky little shit.

"Well… That's probably true," I conceded.

I wanted to be annoyed, but honestly, his quick decision made things easier on me. I could also test some stuff while he was still here that I couldn't have otherwise.

"Let me check a few things," I said as I started opening tabs. I knew how monsters worked, more or less, but Elim was listed as an employee. That wasn't covered in the tutorial, and after some looking, I found it wasn't in the manual either.

He showed up under the monsters tab, his entry featuring a picture of him and some basic facts. It made him look like a fighting game card, and I chuckled. I couldn't help but start humming the theme to a TCG anime as I took a look.

The only visual thing about his entry that stood out was the border was gold instead of black. It also auto-sorted to the first position on the page, which I felt was handy. If I needed to find his entry in the future, I'd probably be in something of a hurry.

"Okay, so I've found your information," I muttered as I started scanning the details.

"You’re level seven overall. Five levels of warrior and two of fighter," I added more clearly. I couldn't help but wonder if warrior was an NPC class. The heroes in the dungeon hadn't had secondary classes like that, and one of them had been a fighter.

[Reset: Yes/No]

I jerked my hand back as I realized I'd been unconsciously reaching for it like it was a physical button. I'd been about to flush this kid's life work. All without so much as a 'by your leave' in a moment of curiosity. Rude, to say the least.

"Oh, Uhm, I can reset your class," I said aloud. I felt embarrassed with myself for acting thoughtlessly.

"Like they do at the temple?" Elim asked in open shock.

"Uhm… I honestly have no idea. So that's a normal thing?" I asked. I had no idea what was available through the temple or otherwise.

"Normal? Well, it's expensive, but it can be done," Elim said, running a hand through his hair as he thought about it.

"I don't know if this is the same," I admitted.

"If it is, my levels will be reset to one, but I can progress as a fighter from the start," Elim explained.

"Is that worth losing all your other levels?" I asked.

"I have a friend in the Duello temple. He said that if you reset, your progress is faster the second time. I'd be able to get back most of my levels in a year or two… So yes," Elim said, his face suggesting he was doing some serious calculations in his head.

I did some calculations of my own. A D-level monster was stronger than Elim was currently. Even if he did end up back at level one, his guardian would be able to protect him from reasonable threats. At least as well as he'd have been able to defend himself.

"I'll do it if you want to give it a try," I said finally. Elim wasn't going to be much more at risk this way.

"Alright… Oh, hold on," I said as I remembered share mode from the tutorial—no sense in explaining everything when I didn't have to.

"Here, you should be able to see the interface now," I added after changing the setting over. There wasn't any indicator that it happened, but Elim blinked in surprise. A moment later, he started studying the interface.

"What does "hereditary qualities" mean?" he asked as he looked at the various info tabs.

"That means things you inherited from your parents at birth," I explained as I selected the tab. There were two listings.

[Magus Eyes]

[The recipient can perceive mana, allowing them to see if an object is magical, a spell is being cast, or a spell is in effect automatically. By concentrating, they can see spirits, mana's flow in the natural world and detect Ley Lines. With practice, they can come to see them at will.]

[Inherited from: Erica Silverleaf, Mother]

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

[Adaptive Bloodline]

The recipient's offspring are more likely to inherit positive traits.

Positive inherited traits are more likely to be in the active rather than dormant state.

Negative traits are less likely to be inherited. Negative inherited traits are more likely to be in the dormant rather than the active state.

Crossbreeding has a lower chance of complications and spontaneous negative traits.

[Inherited from: Castor Grey, Father]

The effects of adaptive bloodline made me wonder if his mother's condition was genetic and he'd just been skipped thanks to his father. It didn't really matter, but I had to say, more than a few nobles would probably kill for that kind of thing. Especially if they were half as inbred as the ones from my old world.

"That explains a few things. My mum didn't know why, but we could see things my father couldn't sometimes," Elim said with a thoughtful tilt to his head.

"Seems handy. Now that you know what it is, you can probably train it," I offered. I had no idea of how exactly, but knowing was half the battle.

"It’s saved my hide a few times," Elim agreed with a nod.

"Let's check the next tab," I said and selected the divine record tab.

This tab had two columns respectively labeled "Blessings" and "Curses." Each of those columns was subdivided into active and inactive. The active blessing was empty, along with both the active and inactive boxes for curses. The lack of curses was a positive sign about Elim's character in my book.

In the inactive blessings area, there were four total from two gods—three from one named Glemora and one from Duello.

"Seems like you've made a good impression on Glemora," I said jokingly. The three blessings were labeled minor.

"My father liked him best out of the various agricultural gods," Elim replied, expression blank in a shocked rather than unimpressed way. Belatedly I realized that getting a god's favor was probably a huge deal.

Well, shit. I decided to let Elim take his time reading while I did some quick research.

[Glemora, Deity NG]

[Glemora is concerned primarily with agricultural practices, animal husbandry, and family. Though most commonly worshiped by farmers, he is not concerned with the size of the land managed. He considers kitchen gardens or window boxes of herbs to be valuable.

His blessings are harder to come by than most agricultural deities because of his focus on family. He has no interest in those who tend their plants well, but neglect their relationships.]

I looked at the entry nonplussed. Glemora was humanoid, emerald green in color, and ripped. I didn't know what I'd been expecting when I looked him up, but bodybuilder wasn't on the list. His weapon of choice was a scythe. He was married to a female deity named Thelia, who ruled over the home, emphasizing the hearth, and family.

Thelia was the color of soot, and her hair was a literal fire. They made a handsome couple and had several children who I wasn't going to look up for the moment. I looked at Elim a little differently after reading about them.

He'd already come across as caring toward his family in my limited experience, but this was different. Just worshiping Glemora would require a very family-centric mindset. Elim actually managing to earn the deity’s favor meant he'd not just lived up to those teachings, but impressed the god—several times over in this case.

Belatedly, I realized I was looking things up out of order. I knew what the word blessing meant, but not in the context of the system or this world.

[Blessing]

[The favor of a god expressed as a tangible reward. May take the form of items or abilities. Non-heroic classes can receive them in the inactive state but require church intervention to activate them due to ###### constraints.]

I looked at the redacted word and felt my orbs flicker. That was odd but not as strange as when I'd tried to look up the Root Eater. It struck me as weird that something stopped the gods from handing out their favor freely, but it wasn't relevant to me either.

"You can activate blessings?" Elim asked me. Surprised, since I was thinking about other things, I looked over at his entry again. Sure enough, there was an option. The blessings from Glemora would cost twenty-five mana each, while the one from Duello would cost fifty.

"Oh, yeah… That is legitimately a little strange, given what I am," I said, as I mulled it over. Gilmore and Duello were both neutral good deities. It made more sense I'd be able to activate things from evil or chaotic ones. Or possibly just curses, for that matter.

"I'm too broke to do it today, but I'll think about it. The one from Duello looks pretty useful," I added.

[Linguist]

[The blessed one learns languages more quickly than others. They will be blessed with knowing one language of their choosing they have encountered but not learned immediately. They will learn other languages they encounter passively at a rate of 1% per day or 2% per day if pursued actively.]

Despite the cost, I made a mental note to buy the blessing in a few days. Shoring up my dungeon's defenses was more critical, but it was too useful to pass up.

"Do you have any idea how you earned it?" I asked, genuinely curious. Elim looked a little uncomfortable, a slight blush spreading on his cheeks.

"Not exactly, but… There's really only one thing it might have been," Elim admitted uneasily.

"So, I was a little drunk at a festival," Elim began, and I was all ears. I felt like no matter what would follow, I'd be entertained.

"It wasn't one of Duello's, but there were still a lot of acolytes around. They started talking about Nocta, Duello's daughter, and said some things..." Elim's mouth hardened into a thin line as his jaw tightened visibly.

"Nocta? Hold on a moment," I said and quickly looked her up. She was a minor chaotic neutral goddess of trickery. Not well-liked, even by her father's followers, though there didn't appear to be direct antagonism between the two.

"Okay, go on," I said. Elim nodded, seeming to appreciate the chance to compose himself a bit better.

"My father taught me never to speak ill of a lady, and they were talking about their god's daughter. I'd have been enraged if someone talked about my Bess like that," Elim continued. I wanted to laugh but held it in. I didn't know how the locals thought about it, but I felt his perspective was likely a bit unique.

"So I'm guessing you tried to reason with them, but that failed. How many of them were there?" I asked. Elim was talking in broad terms, so I doubted he'd have volunteered that on his own.

"Started with two, ended with four, and took two men from my unit to drag me out of the mire," Elim said flatly, blushing hard. I couldn't hold it in and finally laughed.

He'd fought four men over the honor of a disfavored minor goddess. Not out of devotion to her or her father. His actions had been motivated by nothing more than his values, the same ones he applied to other mortals.

No wonder Glemora and Duello liked him.