Lord Nathan Blackwater had met his wife, Lady Amelia Blackwater, long before either of them had ever been considered for positions of nobility. They had started out as low-ranking adventurers who had no clue what they were doing, each in their own parties. They had seen each other a few times in passing whenever they were in their local city's adventurer guild. However, they had never properly talked with one another until after an incident had occurred with Amelia's previous party.
The man in charge of the party had been foolhardy, rushing into battles they were nowhere near ready for. Despite the other party member's protests, he had insisted they take on a floor boss far too quickly and without waiting long enough so the others could gather information from their fellow adventurers at that. Everyone but Amelia had ended up dying that day and she had come close to it as well. After she had spent more than a week huddling in the corner of the room, avoiding the boss, the Dungeon Master must have taken pity on her, or grown bored, as another party was let inside the room. They easily defeated the boss and then were kind enough to escort her to safety.
When she had gone looking for new party members, Nathan had easily convinced the others in his party to accept her. He was a rather talented shield tank class that utilized the sword and board to ensure he could give as well as he could take. Despite his class being limited in the strength and agility department, he had ensured his training more than made up for it. If one of his party members needed to be rescued, he wanted to be able to carry them out of the dungeon. Being able to take a beating might have been what his class prioritized, but that didn't mean he had to leave things at that.
Amelia had been shy, but she had a small crush on him, so she was more than happy to be invited into his party. He hadn't known that, though, at least not until a few years later when she had worked up the courage to ask him out. Their party members had been happy for them, but they had still all gone their own ways, save for him and his now wife, Amelia. That had been back when they were only C-rank and B-rank, but they had managed to make it to B-rank and A-rank in recent years before stalling out. It was only because of his own rank and show of leadership that he had been considered for a position of nobility when a new position had opened up.
Amelia was a skilled assassin class, but that had limited her ability to rank up quite as easily as he had. She could dish out damage just fine, but the class and skill quests tended to require more strict conditions to fulfill, which had slowed her progress down more and more as she had gone along. Still, they were both fairly happy with their progress since it wasn't exactly super common for Humans to make it as far as they had, much less to S-rank, in their lifetimes. Many of the other races with their extended lifespans had that as an advantage over them.
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
Now, they were mostly ready to retire and start a family of their own. While they had been surprised when they were offered a noble rank, even if it was the lowest one, it had also offered a unique opportunity, one they were eager to take advantage of. Thus, they had sold all of their non-sentimental belongings, save for their armor and weapons, and invested in a luxurious home, if modest for a noble, in the town of Millstone. Then they got to work straightening out the affairs of the town and cleaning up after the mess the previous town leader had left them.
As a mere Lord and Lady, their responsibilities were minimal, as was the land they were in charge of. They had to report to a baron alongside a number of other nobles who were in charge of the larger territories that their new town was part of. They likely would never be able to earn a higher title for themselves, but their children would now have the ability to continue building up their estate with the hope of earning better titles for their families. Of course, there was also the possibility that they could lose their titles if they didn't measure up to the expectations society placed on the nobility, but it was still great just to have this much.
It had been a bit confusing to learn of the circumstances in Millstone and there had been a learning curve when it came to learning his new responsibilities. He wasn't sure why the previous leader had tried to ban the locals from entering the dungeon, as it sounded like pure insanity. Did the man have no fear of the dungeon accords and the Dungeon Diplomats who enforce them? Of course, that was only one small facet of the things he had to deal with as there was also the influx of merchants and adventurers wanting to move to the area and build new shops and homes as well as the locals who wanted to move away. That had led to an abundance of paperwork and meetings to attend to for the entire spring season.
Nathan did have to admit, though, the place looked a lot less like a ghost town now that the new shops were built and traffic through the city was picking up. He was still trying to get word out about their local dungeon, but that was likely to be a slow process. He didn't know enough about the dungeon, nor had it been established for nearly long enough to draw more than the low-ranking adventurers who could afford to make the journey. In fact, that was why he and his wife were on their way to the dungeon now.
Amelia looked beautiful with her leather and cloth armor that practically clung to her every curve and her red hair tied back into a beautiful bun. She was wearing a cape as well, but her hood was down, for now, since she didn't need to worry about stealth until after they entered the dungeon, if at all. The dungeon was unlikely to present them with much of a challenge, but they both preferred to be over prepared rather than risk their lives unnecessarily.
As they entered the Thornkeep Sanctuary dungeon, Nathan gripped his shield tighter. It was exciting to be back in a dungeon after more than a season away, but he couldn't help but feel nervous. He had heard plenty about how strange this dungeon was, that it wasn't anything like those that were dotted across the entirety of the Deepvein Kingdom. Well, he was hoping things would go well.