The Dolus family was a busy-body family, that was the realization Erna Dolus had after almost a decade had passed since her son’s birth. She gazed at the table full of paperwork and listened to the faint sounds of magic whirring in the background as her husband continued making more magical tools.

Her daughter was also missing, out in the forge, learning magic and smithing from Dwobug Ironhelm. His son too was the same, out in the wilds doing god knows what with his free time in the morning. Ever since Eira Green had to leave for the capital for work at the royal academy, Braun had just found other ways to busy himself.

For the most part, the family really only gathered during the times they ate, a time which she greatly enjoyed. She sighed and finished with the last bit of the pile in the morning, before standing up, grabbing her apron, and proceeding to the kitchen.

She silently questioned herself if she should have just become a businesswoman rather than a chef at this point just so that the tedious job would be easier through the help of skills, but buried those questions away. She was a cook at heart, and nothing is going to change that.

Lighting up the magical stove and heating up water, she gathered her ingredients from the fridge and began preparing their lunch. Rice was washed, potatoes and carrots cut, and meat simmered and mixed with a sweet-savory sauce.

It was the all famous curry of the Pendragon Empire, a nice spicy blend of meat and vegetables along with grains and sauce. Erna even used some high-quality wyvern meat, using only the best of the best ingredients to feed her family of four.

Delmore walked out of his workshop, having smelled the familiar scent, and grinned. He entered the kitchen, replacing his work clothes with a simple beige shirt and blue shorts, and sat down on a nearby chair.

“Curry?” he asked.

“Curry.” Erna lowered the heat, and let the meat heat up.

“The kids are gonna love it.” Delmore smiled. “Especially Mina. She’s whining all the time that I should buy dragon meat since she’s going to leave in a week already.”

“You could indulge her wants, you know?” Erna hummed. “I know you’ve saved up a lot of gold coins.”

“It’s…” Delmore sighed. “Maybe, I don’t know.” Using those gold coins now may be worth it, but their plans for the future could be jeopardized if they spent that money willy-nilly.

“Delmore, honey, we’re not going to see our daughter in a long time after next week, we can be a little loose with our money,” Erna advised her husband. “Besides, even I, someone with a non-enhanced brain, could tell we would probably reach our money goals in four to six months.”

“Yeah, just a little bit more.” Delmore smiled hopefully. “And we could move to the capital without worries.”

“And is Dwobug coming with us?” Erna asked the important question.

“He is, luckily enough.” Delmore breathed a sigh of relief. “Took me over a month to convince that guy. He’s already rich enough, and his business is way easier to transfer since he only has one shop, unlike us.”

“Well, you’re not the only artificer our shops now have.” Erna slid the potatoes and carrots into the pan. “All you have to do, in this case, is just provide them the schematics and blueprints. They’re good enough to replicate your design by a respectable margin.”

“Heh, what can I say, I’m a pretty good teacher.” Delmore shrugged his shoulders with an aloof face. “Whipped those kids to shape if I do say so myself.”

“You know, I still can’t believe we’re owners of a business chain now.” Erna sighed. “Fifteen years ago, back when we just moved into town and you opened up shop, I only expected us to be your run-of-the-mill middle-class family… Not some capitalistic business owners.”

Delmore chuckled and played with his beard. “That’s life for you. It takes you to a lot of unexpected places, either good or bad.”

The door abruptly slammed open, and a boy who should be around the age of 11 to 12 based on appearance alone walked in. He had long black hair tied to a ponytail on his back, his green eyes shimmering with mana. His plain black clothes were tinged with the scent of blood, even if magic was used to wash the grime away.

He appeared tired as he slugged his way upstairs, and weakly said, “I’m home!”

“…” The husband and wife stared at the scene and sighed.

“He definitely went into a dungeon,” Delmore whispered. “I just know it.”

“An unexplored dungeon,” Erna added with a mischievous grin. “If we play our cards right, we could take ownership of the dungeon. That’s another easy stream of money for us.”

Dungeons are usually regulated places owned by the Adventurers Guild. Underage, unregistered children like Braun aren’t allowed to go into them. So, the only way he could explore dungeons is if it didn’t belong to the Adventurers Guild, a truth easy enough to guess for the two adults.

“I’m home!” Mina barged into the house, her clothes as clean as the hour she left in the morning. Magic truly was a convenient field of study to learn. All it took was one wave, a chant, and gone was the dirt and grime.

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“Call your brother to take a shower quickly so we can finally eat!” Delmore shouted.

“I will!” Mina walked up the stairs, and her voice faintly echoed from above. “Braun! Go take a shower already so we can eat!”

…

The family of four sat around the dining room table, with a wind spirit the size of a tennis ball hovering on the edge of the table. A plate of curry was presented to each fleshy human, while green crystals were prepared for the young wind spirit.

“Thank you for this bountiful meal, dear Goddess of Light.” Delmore took the lead in the prayer.

“Thank you for this bountiful meal, dear Goddess of Light.” The rest repeated.

While Braun was prejudistic against the Goddess of Light, a result of his trauma from the previous assault of ten gods against him, he had no reason to act out of place and not pray. If he only had to pray during eating time or other occasions, then he could suck it up and not complain. It’s not like the Dolus family, or the empire in general was a religious place.

Biting into the familiar curry, Braun was delighted and cleared his mind up for a bit. Constant dungeon delving and the feeling of impending doom had tired him, but eating was always a nice way to mentally heal himself.

“Are you ready for next week?” Erna asked, bringing up the elephant in the room.

Mina had grown more beautiful and mature in the last two years. Her dark brown hair was cut shorter and knotted into a bun. She had grown taller and more muscular thanks to the constant stream of dragon meat flowing into her belly, a privilege that Braun had also enjoyed. A brilliant, lively glow was emitted from her blue eyes, a trait she inherited from her father.

“Almost.” Mina wore a wry smile. “I’m close to finishing my last project, and I’ve done my research on the culture of the capital.”

“Including noble culture?” Delmore added.

Ugh, Nobles. Those good-for-nothing rich young masters. They practically infested the capital with their presence, existing in every street and in every avenue.

Mina groaned but nodded her head to say yes. She didn’t slack off with her preparations, since the place she was going to was unlike any other places she had visited in her fifteen years of living.

“Just chill in the capital,” Braun advised. “You’re rich, powerful, and you’d be living with a familiar face. Eira would show you the ropes in that place.”

“I hope so.” Mina sighed. “It is sad that I won’t have access to such an amazing smithy anymore.”

“Nonsense!” Braun dissuaded her worries. “A true blacksmith doesn’t need a smithy to smith! All they need is their trusty hammer and their flame! The world is their smithy.”

“The world is their smith…” Mina’s eyes shone. “You’re right! I don’t need any smithy!”

“That’s the spirit.” Delmore laughed.

“How about your clothes? Your items? Are you done packing them?” Erna worriedly questioned.

Mina raised her hand to show her parents her storage ring. “I’m almost done, just a few more.”

“Okay, good.” Erna appreciated her daughter taking care of herself and her preparations, but inwardly still felt worried. While her daughter may be a capable Rare Class Magic Smith, she was still a child in the mother’s mind, and she was anxious her daughter would fall victim to some vile creature in the wild.

Rogue mages, bandits, mercenaries, monsters—all kinds of dangers lurked out in the wild.

“Honey, you don’t have to worry so much.” Delmore, after years of being married to Erna, could basically read her thoughts. “Mina’s accompanied by a caravan protected by a powerful group of adventurers, mages, and knights! That’s probably even safer than staying in town.”

“Still.” Erna couldn’t stop her worries.

“I’m going to be fine, Mama.” Mina puffed up her chest. “I’m already a grown-up. I’m fifteen! I’m also an elite Rare Class Magic Smith! In any case, the bandits should be wary of me instead of me being wary of them.”

“Fine.” Erna finally relented.

“What about you, Braun? What have you been doing all these while?” Delmore glanced at his young boy who voraciously ate curry.

“I’ve been dungeon crawling,” he said bluntly. “Don’t worry, it’s populated with Gloxes.”

Gloxes, a weird hybrid fusion between foxes and goblins, a green-furred four-legged abomination of unspeakable horrors.

“Ew…” Mina reeled back in disgust. “You’ve been hunting gloxes of all things?”

“Hey, it’s the only dungeon I know, okay?” Braun rolled his eyes. “Beggars can’t be choosers.”

“Sigh, so you really have been dungeon diving. I know gloxes are weak and you could easily handle a whole group of them, but you know that you’re still a child.” Delmore appeared disappointed, but on the inside, he was fucking pumped that his son was killing monsters. Who wouldn’t be proud when their almost ten-year-old boy was killing monsters in the morning so casually?

“Papa, Mama, trust me!” Braun wore his most amicable, persuasive look. “I can handle them no sweat! I’ve finished that dungeon so many times already. I’m just repeating it to rank up my combative skills.”

“So you really plan on taking a combat-oriented class?” Erna asked with a defeated sigh. She already knew that once her son was set on something, it was virtually impossible to change his mind, so might as well guide him on a better path rather than oppose him. It would have been better if he took a class like an artificer, just like his father. Just why does that boy have to be so fond of danger-

“I plan on becoming a Rare Class Sage.” Braun dropped the bomb.

“SAGE?!” Delmore almost choked on his curry.

“S-sage?!” Erna was also shocked, but she didn’t have as big of a reaction as her husband.

“I plan on mastering every field of magic by the time I’m a hundred years old, so I suppose the Sage class is my best bet on that.” Braun acted nonchalant, but he was inwardly giddy over their reactions. “It has major soul and mind developments, perfect for my current specs and unique skills.”

“I…” Delmore cleared his throat. “I didn’t know that you had access to such a class.”

“I also have access to some other classes like Rune Weaver, Grand Enchanter, Rune Smith, and other classes.” Braun wore a ‘told-you-so’ look. “See? You guys doubted my decision back then to be a Jack of all Trades, but look at me now! I’m a genius just a step beneath heroes!”

“I have to admit…” Delmore struggled to comprehend just how ridiculously talented his son was. “You had proven your point.”

“The only thing bigger than your talent is your ego.” Mina rolled her eyes but was secretly awed as well.

“I’m so proud of you, Braun!” Erna showed the most joy. “The Dolus Family would have a Sage! A sage!”

A sage! A master of the arcane arts. They’re even more magically attuned than the undead Liches, grandmasters of every field of magic. Divination, the elements, esoteric magic, they could learn it all!

Perhaps only Archmages, wizards of extreme strength, could contest the wise magi.

“The Dolus Family would be known all throughout the land, my magic shop would prosper for ages to come!” Delmore laughed maniacally, the light of a capitalist shining in his eyes.

Indeed, what’s not to love over a Sage son?

[Lie (F) -> Lie (E)]

[Deception (F) -> Deception (E)]

Sigh, he truly was a pathological liar.