“Then why do you only see her when it’s convenient for you?” he asked, arms crossed.

“Like I said, I’m busy!” I exclaimed, defending my reputation.

“Okay, but I never saw you talk to her much when she was emotional,” he said. “In fact, every time she wanted to discuss the lack of interest shown by you, you always convinced her it was in her head like it wasn’t your fault.”

“Now that’s just false, I don’t ever remember that happening,” I said, pointing out holes in the statement.

“Heh, you got me there,” he chuckled.

“I knew it,” I sighed, touching my head.

Leon stopped, chuckled, and smiled, a genuine smile. This made me laugh as we made our way back. I hadn’t laughed this much in a long time. I guess this is what happens when you reunite with a long time friend.

It was nice.

Ah, I still remember those moments where we hung out more. We were really good friends, nah, we still are. It’s just that our reunion was shorter than expected so it was a bit awkward. Well, we quickly got over it.

You know, now that I think about it, maybe her strange behavior was due to her missing me. I mean, we haven’t met in a long time so when we briefly met, she had this unreadable expression. I even think I saw her crying, but I could’ve imagined it.

Anyways, we continued chatting, having a good time. We didn’t have to worry about monsters since we walked in a narrow hallway which removed any possible ambushes.

“Leon, how come you never told me you had a sister?” I asked a question I had ever since I met Abigail.

I was originally surprised when I learned her surname, Leon never talked about having any siblings. Now this random person comes with the Basset surname, so I’ve been meaning to ask Leon about her.

“Well, I don’t know how to say this, but she’s an illegitimate child…” he muttered, looking away.

“Gahahaha! Really!?” I bursted out laughing, hitting my knee.

“Haaah. I’m not proud about it, but my father had an affair with his wife’s sister…” he barely was able to say those words before he closed his mouth as if humiliated.

“You can’t be serious….Gahahahaha!”

I continued laughing as if it was the funniest shit I’ve ever heard in my life. This wasn’t appreciated by Leon as he faked coughed to gain my attention back.

“We just recently learned about this, for some reason she waited several years before revealing it to my father. So he had to take responsibility for it,” he said, gazing downwards.

Leon isn’t even involved yet he was acting this way. I guess it just shows how much he admires his father. To learn your father did something like that is embarrassing indeed.

Ha, couldn’t be me.

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I would never get caught.

Ah.

Wait, what?

Was I supposed I would never do that?

Shit.

I can’t take back my words.

“I get it, you have my condolences,” I said, sarcastic.

“Jajajaja!”

“Fuck you,” he replied.

“Gahahaha!”

Our conversation was halted when we made it close to our base. As such, I stood still, Leon doing the same. I was no longer laughing since I needed to act professionally.

“Wait, let me do something really quick. Go ahead,” I said, pointing my hand on the dust-like substance.

“Sure, just give me the bag.”

Since he was talking about the bigger bag, I nodded, handing it over. The group would probably want to examine our goods. Plus they’ll most likely ask Leon about the situation, he can go deal with that.

Leon was aware of this as he sighed, cracking his neck. “What a pain,” he said.

“Haha, it sucks to be you,” I joked, patting his back.

“Tch, just go ahead and do whatever you need.”

Although he sounded annoyed his face wasn’t visible. This man really doesn’t like being honest about his feelings. I encountered way too many women like this so I know how to deal with this.

We separated when we left the hallway, Leon went towards the cave whilst I headed in another location. In my hand, I had a container filled with the crushed unrefined mana stones. I strolled, touching the wall with my hands.

Something felt strange about the wall, so I gently placed my hand through it, a silky sensation was felt. I yanked the spider webs out, various tiny spiders crawled out, running at my location.

I cupped my hand, holding them as they got on my hand. There were twelve to be exact, they stood on my hand, seemingly staring at me. I gently patted them on the head with my pinky finger, I didn’t want to accidentally crush them.

That happened once when I was little, not a good experience. The sound they made when I squished them, and the liquid splattered on my hand.

Anyways, these spiders are the same ones I found during the first day of entering the dungeon. There was no use in killing them so I decided to raise them. As you can see they have gotten quite attached to me.

I guess after their parents death, they saw me as their new guardian. Well, it’s probably because I provided them with food and protection.

Speaking of food, I opened the container, sprinkling the crushed up unrefined mana stones on the ground. I let the spiders leave my hand so they could eat.

As expected, they dashed at the food source, quickly eating it, or absorbing it. One of them stayed in my hand, so I placed them with the others.

I pretty much fed them every day, this is why I kept crushing the unrefined mana stones. There had to be a food source to keep them alive, or else there wasn’t much meaning in keeping them. They’ll just be suffering from starvation.

I used the particles as bait for gathering monsters which in turn produced more unrefined mana stones. It was also an excuse to avoid suspicion from the rest of the group, if they found I was feeding monsters I don’t know how they would react.

It’s pretty strange to see someone feeding a monster inside a dungeon. While monsters can be tamed as pets, it is usually done when there isn’t any signs of danger. Inside of a dungeon isn’t the best choice.

But what can I do? I luckily found them without difficulty, it would be a waste to leave them here. Plus, as long as I hide them, nobody will know, and there won’t be a problem.

It’s not like they would find—

“What are you doing, Taetel?”

I knew it.

I shouldn’t have said that knowing my luck.