"It was a dungeon break," The unfamiliar, weak voice answered his questions. Arthur was startled and turned around with a face of someone who knew he was guilty of intruding. Ellen's father walked in and lightly patted his shoulder.
"It's okay, just don't talk to Ellen about it. She didn't take it well."
Arthur nodded his head, a sympathetic look on his face. He kept his head down and the two left the room. After washing his face in the bathroom and finishing his business, the three gathered for a meal. They chatted idly and Arthur took notice of the fact that Ellen's father ate barely three spoons.
After thanking them for the dinner, Arthur helped clean the dishes before he left. His shadow was long as it stretched along the pavement on his way home. It seems that everyone had circumstances that they fought against.
Dungeon breaks became common a few years ago. There was a state of instability after the appearance of new dungeons everywhere. Avarice, one of the sins dungeons in their city, was one such dungeon. Until now, no one had cleared it. That was the reason Kera city was expanding by the second. Even though dungeons meant danger, it also meant opportunity.
Arthur reached his home, entered it, and locked the door. His mother was leaning on the counter, reading something.
"Oh, hi Art."
"Hey Mom, what are you doing"
His mother waved the bank's notice, that has just arrived, for him to see. She was already seeing Arthur was an adult, one she could share the worry with. Arthur took it and read through it. He has been too busy to pay them back, but he had already received the money from Joe for the cores he sold.
"Don't worry, I made some money lately."
"Uh-huh," His mother sulked and turned the faucet on, cleaning the kitchen's utensils. Arthur sighed and placed the letter on the table before he hugged her.
"I'm sorry for leaving for two days, I had to." He remembered how his mother was against him leaving to hunt in the wilderness. Even though he didn't explain what he was doing, she had the general idea of it. She disapproved of it.
"I just, it's been hard losing one of my family again. I don't want it to happen again." His mother's body slightly trembled, making Arthur's heart heavy. He hugged ever tighter and she held his hands that were wrapping around her.
"Promise you won't do anything dangerous." His mother pleaded.
"I won't," He lied.
Playing it safe was no longer an option. He was already planning how to find the truth about his father and then venturing to the other world to find his father. If not because he wanted his family to reunite, it would be because he wanted to give this woman, whom they loved dearly, her husband back.
Arthur went upstairs and opened his bank account on his phone. He then paid this month's installment and checked what he had left afterward.
'5632 dollars,' Since low-mid-tier cores were no longer useful to him, he gave them to Joe to sell. Joe sent the money to his bank account number through a direct transfer, keeping Arthur's anonymity.
They have taken a loan of $500 thousand to buy this house and pay for Oren's education. If not for his father having some friends here and there, they wouldn't even be able to take that loan. Now that Arthur was also studying at the academy, he needed to make more money.
The goblin's village was a good project, but it needed some time to ripe. For now, he messaged Mr. Tate about some cheap armors and he replied instantly that he should drop by at any day. Arthur smiled and closed his phone. He needed to study for the upcoming exams.
After he was done with all of this, he took out his books and started to study. Even if he got stronger, that didn't mean knowledge would still appear in his head. He needed to work hard to stand out in the college exams.
Even though it was a plain book, filled with details about monsters and different species and what countered them, Arthur still enjoyed it greatly. Every piece of information would be crucial one day to him, and it was simply fascinating to read about exotic creatures. When it was late at night, Arthur placed down his books and stretched his body.
He didn't need a lot of sleep, so he took out the cords and the brush. He tried a couple of times but he still failed, so he redirected his training toward how to make his usage of rune look normal.
After an hour or so, Arthur was done with all the cords. The moment he supplied them with mana they would shrink. Faster than the ones the others did. Arthur decided to keep them for now so he wouldn't draw suspicion.
***
The next day, Arthur spent another day at school before leaving to meet Mr. Tate. Markus and Amelia tried to invite him again, but he flatly rejected them. He decided to hunt in the golem dungeon again to get some cores before going to Evening Hues district, where Mr. Tate shop was.
People, dressed in all attires, went around going into shops or wearing armor while heading toward dungeons. Arthur followed the main road before taking a turn, another, and one more before he found the shop with a sign of 'Tate'.
Knocking on the door, Arthur went inside. Behind the counter, where Mr. Tate used to stand, were a young man and woman. They were about Arthur's age with similar features, making Arthur draw the impression they were siblings.
"Ah, hello. How can I help you?" The young woman ignored the man beside her and turned toward Arthur.
"Hi, I'm here to see Mr. Tate?"
"Oh, he's working right now. Can I know who you are?"
"Just tell him it's Arthur Silvera, we talked yesterday?"
"Silvera?" The young man interjected mid-conversation, his voice suggesting he did it more out of anger than surprise. Arthur turned his head to see the fury in the man's face.
"You're the leech who's being begging at our doorsteps?" The man walked from behind the counter and stood in front of Arthur, looking him in the eye. Before Arthur could answer, the man was already grabbing him by the collar.
"I don't care what friendship your father had with mine, stop coming here! Our business is already suffering enough!" His words were loud and incoherent, a clear sign of his agitation.
Arthur, on the other hand, was quite calm. He looked at the man and saw the resembling he bore to Mr. Tate, concluding this must be his son who he has never met.
"You bastard!" Before Arthur could answer, a roar shook the shop as the man was sent sideways with a smack on the head. Mr. Tate, clearly agitated, stood in front of Arthur and his son who was on the ground groaning.
"Dad! Why did you do that?!"
The young woman hurried to help her brother, looking at her father with dissatisfaction. Mr. Tate, rage-filled, pointed at the two and spat each word.
"You think you have the right to interfere in my business?! How dare you disrespect my friend's son this much!"
"Friend this, friend that! Isn't it supposed that family comes first?! Our business is dying yet here you are giving away free weapons and armor!"
"You! You!" Mr. Tate was clearly about to have a heart attack, making Arthur feel like he should step in. He held the old man by the shoulder, making him turn to face Arthur.
"They're right, Mr. Tate." Arthur wasn't offended in the slightest. He welcomed this event so he could establish a proper business relationship instead of one of friendship. Even though he was immensely grateful for having Mr. Tate on his side even against his own family, he still preferred the old man wouldn't hurt his financial situation for him.
"I'm here to pay for the debt, the price of the ten-thousand dollars for the armor and sword." Prices of the equipment were a lot more expensive, but the ones he had taken from Mr. Tate, his father's old gear, was simply a primitive tier weapon that held no special characteristic.
Within a moment, Arthur sent the money to Mr. Tate's account. Mr. Tate stood there, still unsatisfied, giving his son a look of wanting to beat him to death. Before he could say anything, Arthur continued.
"Furthermore, I'd like to buy another primitive grade armor." It was time to make some weapons and sell them. Using Mr. Tate's son's words, he didn't want to stay a leech. He would become a tycoon by selling runic weapons.