Later that night, David and Alice came for their nightly visit. As it was winter time, David couldn't continue to bring what little food Gregory's family had available to the dungeon anymore. Instead, he had gone hunting earlier that morning and killed a wild boar that he then brought back for their household. The meat would be broken down into various roasts, boar bacon, etc. while the fat was cooked down into lard that could be stored and used for cooking throughout the winter. This was what David brought as a tribute for Violet in a nice little ceramic butter pot.
David was by no means a skilled hunter, but he did have some practice with a sword and he had gotten lucky by finding the boar. With more food secured, David wouldn't have to worry as much about his daughter and himself going hungry this month, but he'd certainly have to figure out something else later on. There wasn't exactly a lot of food available for sale during the winter since nothing could be grown and many animals would hibernate for the season. Gregory's family wasn't rich enough to afford a magic refrigerator either, so they had to make do with an ice box and preservation methods like smoking and curing meat or sun drying and canning produce.
Of course, David made sure not to mention any of his concerns to Violet, instead he merely gave her a forced smile as he greeted her and put the tribute down.
"Good afternoon, Violet. It's interesting to see you out here again, you normally make me come get you."
Violet shrugged before explaining
"I've decided to try something new out. I've been trying to exchange some of the [Items] my dungeon produces with others so that I can get the [Items] I need more quickly. It's been going pretty well, thus far."
David frowned, feeling a bit hurt. Violet had offered to exchange some [Items] with him previously with the stipulation that he bring her several tributes. As her swordsmanship trainer, surely he should be the one Violet was closest to. Gritting his teeth, David questioned
"How can you trust others so easily? There is no guarantee that one of them won't just take the [Items] you offer them without ever returning with the [Items] you request. It's not like it is with me, I couldn't do that even if I wanted to."
Violet glanced at David, sighing before turning away and starting to walk out of the room, motioning for him to follow her.
"First, I have a new challenge for you to try out. I'll show you the way and we can continue talking after that."
David continued to fume as they walked in silence until they came to the room. Violet let David look over the puzzle instructions for a moment before explaining
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"I don't have to worry about whether others are trustworthy or not. I have the [Items] they want on my person, so they can't steal them, even if they were to kill me. I would just respawn in the dungeon core room with all of my belongings. They also tend to just offer me what they have on them or say they'll have to return another day, I don't just take them at their word."
Violet didn't bother mentioning the fact that she wasn't sure she even needed David to continue to instruct her after their year contract was up. She'd likely have to mention to Theodore, when the time came, that she had no plans on renewing. While she was hardly going to be a master swordsman with just a year's worth of training, there was no point in keeping someone around who didn't want to be around her. Violet could just continue to practice by herself and see if she could make some new friends who wouldn't mind having friendly sparring sessions occasionally.
Who knows, maybe she'd end up with a useful [Monster] when she unlocked her next floor. It didn't even necessarily require a [Monster] capable of speech or that was incredibly talented at swordsmanship. Even something on the level of a goblin could work since it would still allow her to practice regularly. Besides, there was no need to worry that her own dungeon creatures would kill her or otherwise betray her trust, which was a lot more than she could say about David.
Violet quietly practiced her sword skills while David tried to solve the rainbow ball maze challenge. After watching him struggling for quite some time, Violet called Alice over and hinted
"Hey, Alice! Have you ever seen a rainbow before?"
The young girl nodded and Violet continued
"Have you ever noticed that rainbows always have the same color patterns? Try to remember which order they're in and you can help your dad solve this puzzle. I bet the system will even give you some cookies to enjoy if you do that!"
David glared at Violet for talking to his daughter, but went back to ignoring her after she returned to her sword practice. She rolled her eyes, feeling a bit frustrated, but she was used to his behavior by now, so it was hardly surprising. Considering Violet was supposed to forever not put [Traps] on her first floor, she kind of hoped that Alice, at least, grew up to be a more trusting and friendly person than her father was. Otherwise, it would be a shame if she had signed this contract only to get a grumpy middle-aged man to barely teach her swordsmanship skills.
Alice had a hard time remembering the colors of the rainbow exactly, but she knew enough that David managed to figure things out after a few hours. They then went out of the dungeon to take a break while Violet spent 30 MP on ten lavender meringues, 15 MP on five chamomile shortbread cookies, and 5 MP on a wild violets and honey lollipop. The sweets were put in their respective glass jars in her bag and then she returned to waiting for the two to return.
Later that night, when the two finally left for the night, Violet again spent her mana on sweets. Only, this time, she spent 30 MP on ten chamomile and honey shortbread cookies instead of the lavender meringues. Doing the opposite of what she did last time , she ended up with a total of fifteen lavender meringues, fifteen chamomile shortbread cookies, and two wild violets and honey lollipops to add to her stock just from David visiting the dungeon. Hopefully, these would sell better than the potions had been.
After the lard tribute, Violet had a total of 649 DP, so she was more than halfway to her goal. It would only take a little bit longer and then all her efforts would surely pay off as she unlocked her next floor.