Henry excitedly ran ahead of his father, eagerly jumping into combat with the slimes in front of them. It had been months since he had last been allowed to enter the dungeon, but he had been diligently practicing with his sword every day. Where he had struggled to defeat even one slime, previously, he now confidently dispatched of them, taking on small groups of them at the same time.
Gregory watched his son with amusement, but still scanned their surroundings nervously. It had been worthwhile to open up his home to David in exchange for his help training Henry. Both him and his daughter, Alice, had been taken away a short while ago. Gregory knew his son didn't quite understand why his instructor had to leave them so suddenly, especially in the middle of winter. However, he could only be grateful that the Dungeon Diplomats had left his own family alone.
As a farming family, they normally wouldn't even interact with the Dungeon Diplomats because they wouldn't enter dungeons in the first place. Gregory had chosen to take a chance to do something for his son because he wanted all of his children to lead good lives. Most of his other sons were content to go to become apprentices of tradesmen or to become farmers like he was. His daughters were all still young enough to be making up their mind on what they wanted to do in the future and he was hardly going to rush them. His wife, Ester, taught them valuable life skills like cooking and tailoring, but it was hardly as if their options were limited. They could just as easily ask to pursue a life of adventuring as Henry had.
"Father! I did it!"
Gregory looked at his excited son as he ran over to him, his wooden sword still in hand. Nodding his head in approval, he encouraged
"Good work. Shall we move on to the next room then?"
When they had initially entered the dungeon, they had gone and dropped off their tribute in the new tribute room. The room was strange, feeling half like it was a shop and half like an empty warehouse a big merchant might own. However, the magic lights in the hallway had made it easy to read the wooden sign in the hallway that labeled the room as meant for tribute. After quickly dropping off the tribute, they had gone the other direction as another wooden sign had said this way had the [Monster] fields and challenge rooms while the other direction was also supposed to be home to the boss room, somewhere neither of them were prepared for.
Looking a tad frustrated, Henry complained
"No! I mean, the screen, I can see it!"
Gregory's eyes widened in surprise. While he had believed in his son enough to arrange for David to train him and to bring him into the dungeon, he hadn't thought his son would be fortunate enough to be blessed with an actual class. Feeling his own enthusiasm increasing he asked
"That's great, son! What class did you get?"
Depending on what the answer was, he would have to make preparations for his son's future. Just because he had learned the sword didn't guarantee the class would even be combat related, after all. His son was supposed to return to school in the spring, much as his other children would. Many farming families had to pull their children out of school early, but he had done his best to make-do long enough for them to learn basic math and reading skills as well as the local laws and important dungeon information that everyone learned at their age. Even those without classes or any notable skills needed to know how to keep themselves safe from wild [Monsters] that could easily take their lives, after all.
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"I think it says I'm an assassin? What's that, father?"
Henry frowned, feeling unsure as he replied
"I'm sorry son, I'm not very familiar with the classes adventurers can have. It doesn't sound like a craftsman class, though, so it should be offensive. Does it say anything about skills?"
Henry was still rather young and neither of them had much knowledge on what a life of adventuring truly entailed. Luckily, once the adventurer's guild set up shop, they would be able to sign up for some beginner classes to learn more about it together. As much as Gregory half hoped it would be a craftsman class, since it would be safer for his son, he also knew this was better. The classes at the guild would be far easier and cheaper to arrange for his son than paying for a specialized trade school and trying to convince a merchant in some far off city to accept his son as their apprentice. Besides, he wasn't quite ready to say goodbye to his young son just yet.
His son's forehead creased and his eyebrows furrowed as he concentrated on the menu in front of him. Gregory couldn't see it and could only make do with what information his son could provide him. Unfortunately, it ended up being not much.
"I think my menu is broken... I checked the one that says skills, but there's nothing there!"
His son's voice raised as a hint of a whine slipped into his agitated voice. While Henry could act quite reasonably and had been quite dedicated to his sword training over the last few months, it was still a fact that he was but a boy of ten years old. As exciting as it was for him to make progress on his goals, there was bound to be a learning curve. Sighing, he patted his boy on the back and reassured him
"I'm sure it's fine. You probably just have to keep practicing with your sword so that you can unlock your skills. I'm sure we can figure things out if we give it some time."
Luckily, that was something they had now. Where the local town leader had banned them from entering the dungeon, the restrictions were as good as lifted now. The town leader had gotten into some trouble with the Dungeon Diplomats and it had been announced that some noble would be taking over come spring. Apparently, banning anyone from the dungeon, even while the safety was checked out, still went against the dungeon accords. There would be no punishment for them coming to the dungeon now, even if nothing could officially be done about the previous ban until the new noble arrived.
Moving on to the next room, Gregory told his son to go ahead and attempt the challenge, stepping in to help him push the wooden balls into place when he saw him struggling. They had a lot of catching up to do in regards to his son's dungeon experience, but he wasn't exactly as fearful as many of the other locals were. He had gone to get firewood from the lovely Miss Elivyre earlier this week and she had happily entertained his questions about the dungeon's current state. Apparently, there weren't any [Traps] on the first floor and everything was safe enough so long as they stayed away from the side of the boss room.
Everything he had seen since arriving today had only reinforced what he had learned. If anything, he felt more eager to return to the dungeon after seeing all of the valuable resources they were missing out on. The pond in the first room had fish in it, which sounded like the perfect excuse to break out his old fishing gear. There weren't any good fishing spots where they lived, so he hadn't gone ever since they had their first kid. He didn't want to leave his wife alone for so long, especially not for such a selfish endeavor. However, the fresh fish would be good for his family now and he'd feel less guilty than taking the limited food supplies that were being passed out.
David had ensured they had plenty of food stocked up at home. When he had been taken away, the leftovers had remained in his home. Considering how many reports he had heard of high neighbors starving and freezing this winter, he hardly wanted to take more than he had to of the limited supplies available. Hearing that the lovely Miss Violet had been responsible for the odd food being passed out was hardly surprising either. She had always been kind and friendly when he had visited the dungeon the previous fall. Still, what food supplies they had could always be supplemented and his son would certainly benefit from the time they'd be spending in the dungeon.