We arrived inside the fortress that guarded the entrance to the dungeon. Jessica flashed her glowing platinum adventurer plate, and we were waved through without any questions or paperwork.
I followed her to a very fancy inn near the city center. This was the kind of place traveling nobility would stay at or high level adventurers. “Room for two and I wish to reserve your spa for tomorrow,” Squire Jessica said to the clerk.
“Of course. We are happy to accommodate you, that will be twenty gold,” the clerk said. Jessica pulled out the money with no hesitation and we were handed a room key. The other inns didn’t have room keys. I followed Jessica to our room, which had an attached bathroom like at the estate.
“Rest and sleep. Tomorrow morning, we will go the spa togeather.”
“Why?” I mumbled.
“To help your body and mind recover from what you experienced. Rest here. I will get food. Good food,” she told me. She was being a lot nicer now that I had almost died. I wanted to tell her not to worry, I wouldn’t complain to my mother, but I couldn’t bring myself to say anything. Jessica left and I took off my armor, which was heavily damaged before collapsing on my bed.
I hadn’t even picked up my sword and shield after the fight, Jessica had done that. Stupid. I was so stupid and useless. I was too tried to cry and just lay there with my head buried in a pillow. Maybe this was all a dream. I would go to sleep and wake back up in the dungeon.
“Justin, wake up,” I felt Jessica shaking me gently. I must have fallen asleep.
“Go away,” I muttered, keeping my eyes closed and my face buried in the pillow.
“There is food, I am setting on the table next to your bed. It will make you feel better,” she said and then left me alone. After a couple of minutes I took a peek out from my pillow and Jessica was sitting on a chair, looking out the nearby window.
I got up and looked at the spread of food she had brought here. I picked up a buttered role, my favorite, and took a bite. I did feel a bit better, but I didn’t know what to say or do. I quietly ate. I noted that fresh clothes had been left next to the food. I picked them up and went to the bathroom.
After getting a shower, which felt far nicer than the Clean spell, I got changed. It was nice to have a place with running water, even if the enchantments weren’t cheap to maintain. I then came back into the room and looked at Jessica. She still hadn’t moved in the slightest and it was getting dark out. I went to my bed and collapsed onto it again. So fluffy and comfortable.
I quickly drifted off to sleep.
The next morning I woke up and used the bathroom. It was nice to have a proper place to do my business in, rather than on the side of the road or in the dungeon. Jessica was still seated at the window looking out at the rising sun. She had gotten cleaned and changed as well during the night. “I will get some breakfast and then we will go to the spa,” she said.
There were more buttered rolls, eggs, and crispy bacon. It was absolutely divine compared to my poor cooking we ate down in the dungeon. It made me wonder if anyone ever brought a professional chef down there. They would probably be made fun of, but a noble probably had at one point brought a chef down into the dungeon.
Once I was done with breakfast, Squire Jessica finally stood up. “Come on,” she told me. I followed her through the large inn to an attached building.
“Welcome. We specialize in relaxation here at the Golden Spa. For two esteemed individuals like yourselves don’t hesitate to speak up if there is a problem,” a beautiful woman said. Jessica nodded at this as we were led to a room with two tables and told to lie down.
“Focus on your breathing,” Jessica said as a masseuse began to work me over. At first I was tense, but then I gradually relaxed. The tension draining from my body and a deep sense of exhaustion hit me.
The rest of the morning was spent having our bodies worked over. Then we had a light lunch of fruit and salad before a team attended to our hands and feet, while we reclined in comfortable chairs.
By the time we were done, my body felt much looser and I felt much more relaxed. We made our way back to our room which had been cleaned. Jessica went to get dinner and brought it back up to our room. “How are you feeling?” she finally asked me.
“Relaxed,” I replied, and she nodded.
“While your stats help, you ultimately control your body. Tensing certain muscles and being focused all the time, increases your stress. While some people learn to deal with it, it slows down their rate of growth,” she explained. I nodded at this, not really wanting to say anything or ask anything at the moment.
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Once our steak vegetable dinner was finished, I went to bed. The next morning, there was a magical carriage waiting to take us back to the estate. Self-propelled using Mana from Mana cores, which is where the demand for them came from. It was also a lot more expensive than using horses. Everyone needed Mana cores nowadays to run various pieces of equipment. That wasn’t even counting the enchantment work done with them as well. The magical engine was a recent development in the last 50 years.
I didn’t say anything as I got on board. I suspected that Jessica was trying to make up for what happened earlier. I didn’t know what to say and she didn’t either, creating an awkward atmosphere.
The enchanted carriage was much faster than my running and we returned to the Burnstock estate just as the sun was setting. The servants welcomed me back as I retired to my room. Jessica told me to continue with my mental exercises but rest my body for now. I just gave an affirmation but didn’t say anything else.
In the morning, I sat down with my father, his first wife, and their children for breakfast. They were all in their 20s and 30s and would soon be starting families of their own. I knew that my father was looking for suitable marriages for each of them. His daughters had already been married off years ago.
Squire Jessica wasn’t present for breakfast, but I had no doubt she was being treated well. Since she wasn’t family, it would be inappropriate to dine with us in a casual environment.
“How was your trip into the dungeon?” my father asked, opening the conversation.
“It was an experience. I learned quite a bit,” I replied.
“I remember my first time in the dungeon. Absolute miserable. Your grandfather refused to pay for a full retinue. Said it went against the spirit of going into the dungeon,” my father said with a shake of his head.
“And you did the same to all of us,” his eldest son and heir Dereck said. He was 32 years old. All my siblings were much older than me. My father nodded at this.
“I did do that. It builds character and helps you understand the some of the hardship adventurers go through. And you will do it for your children as well. The dungeon is not some playground of the rich and idle. It does us well to understand the actual danger and hardships adventurers undergo as nobles,” my father explained.
“Not much hardship when you have an elite spellblade,” Dereck said while looking over at me. This was clearly a subtle dig at me, but I didn’t respond. My father had explained it was only natural for his other children to feel threatened by me, but the subtle insult was actually a compliment.
Technically I could kill them all and take over the Duchy if I was strong enough or if I asked my mother. Legends were given a lot of leeway, since only other legends could easily stop them. But that would be an overreaction and wasn’t something I wanted. Verbal sparring with family was also a way for nobles to level up their social focused skills in a safe environment.
Skills did better under pressure, and it was hard to level up social skills. It could even be seen as being kind to me, since they were challenging me. In the past they had been utterly polite, but that was meant to keep me at a distance so I didn’t get or improve social skills.
Being slightly rude in conversation was seen as being friendly in a small family meal like this. It was confusing, but a key part of Eldarin Etiquette for nobility. It was hard to say the reason behind the rudeness, but that was what nobles did to pass the time. “Squire Jessica preferred me to get direct hands on experience. She neither coddled me nor helped me out except for that one time I was about to die.”
There was complete and utter silence, and I realized I said something I shouldn’t have. “You almost died? Did your healing reserves bottom out?” my father asked slowly.
“Um, yes. I fought a champion monster the last day we were in the dungeon,” I replied. Everyone paled at that. One of my siblings hastily grabbed the wine bottle off the table and began pouring into his glass while his hand shook, which was a breach of etiquette.
“Oh fuck, oh fuck,” Dereck muttered while looking at his father.
“Everyone you are all going on a long vacation to Burnstock City to oversee matters there. Take most of the staff and leave today,” my father declared. My one sibling, Timothy, was chugging down all the wine he could and was waving at the servants to bring more. Dereck looked like he was about to have a nervous breakdown. Greg, the youngest of my half brothers, who was 21 had completely tensed up and was looking around in fear.
“Also, contact the builders and landscapes and have them on standby, there will be some remodeling needed to be done,” my father said. My sibling Timothy drinking the wine snorted a bit, almost spilling his drink, but kept going.
“Yes. Yes, we are leaving immediately. A vacation sounds like a great idea!” Dereck immediately stood up and rushed out of the dining room. My other two older half siblings quickly followed after him. I looked at my father in confusion and he let out a sigh.
“Justin. Your mother loves you dearly. No one questions that. But she can get a bit protective,” he replied.
“Um, really? It shouldn’t be that bad,” I said hesitantly, but my father shook his head.
“You don’t understand your mother. She only loves two things in this world. You first and foremost, her only child. And killing. Supreme Warlady Elena…is a supreme legend not to be trifled with. There is a slightly crass joke about her, but it sums things up quite well. The reason other people haven’t reached her level is that she has killed them all,” he explained.
“But what does that have to do with me?” I asked in confusion.
“The first time you were running in the garden and scraped your knee, the maid who was responsible for watching you died from sheer terror. Her heart literally exploded in her chest when your mother focused on her.” It took me for a moment to process that.
“My mother killed someone by looking at them?” I asked in shock and surprise.
“Yes. The maid was only level 28. A few seconds of uncontrolled rage focused onto the maid from your mother meant instant death. When one of your older siblings made a rude joke about you, she slapped him. That is why Keith has become a traveling merchant and doesn’t come back to the estate. He barely survived and required a lot of healing and Alchemy to reconstruct his jaw,” my father explained.
“Then, when she returns…”
“Squire Jessica’s life is currently undetermined. Running is futile. Your mother is relentless. That is why everyone is evacuating the estate at the moment.”
“Um, you could ask her to go elsewhere,” I said. My father shook his head.
“One does not turn away a Supreme Warlady from her own home, unless they no longer wish to be counted amongst the living,” he explained.