But for a Slime

Chapter 129 - 040.8 - Delving Deeply

<Continued - 8/10>

They quickly made their way through the exit to the dungeon before taking off down the street at a brisk walk towards where the kids had stashed their belongings. When they arrived, the family treated the lizard kids with irritation but changed to barely hidden joy when they learned that they would be leaving. The family rapidly began packing up the lizard kid's belongings with quite rude haste which quickly changed to reluctance when one of the younger children asked where and why the siblings were leaving.

When the parents found out about Joe and who he was, they quickly tried to bribe Joe into staying, offering him food and a place to stay which Joe rejected with firm politeness thinly covering his thick distaste. The family pressured several times and Joe had to drop his politeness and show his honest dislike when he bluntly rejected the parents which immediately silenced them. The parents then turned their efforts to quickly preparing the siblings for their travel in a stiff uncomfortable silence which had Joe leaving the room in embarrassment over letting his temper slip through for a bit. He waited outside and was soon joined by the three kid… well… I guess they're my apprentices, now, right? My three apprentices. Joe rolled the idea across his mind, a very small spike of excitement taking him as a large dose of fear smothered his mind over his greatly increased responsibilities.

The walk back to the inn was just as brisk although much more silent as Joe's mind rolled between fear, excitement, and a sense of being overwhelmed. Joe heard the three whisper behind him but was so lost in his thoughts that he registered nothing of their conversation until they had made it back to the inn and were once again sitting at the table for dinner.

Joe didn't see Kukurnal anywhere in the dining area, although it was quite a bit later than Joe normally returned, well after the sun had set and the dining area was almost as empty of patrons as it was empty of the priest of knowledge. Ah well. I wanted to focus on the kids anyway, and what we gained.

Garnedell ordered their food for them, Joe now long used to Garnedell's help in this, and quickly noticed that the kids seemed a bit subdued and worried. He cursed himself silently as he realized his outburst at the lizard kid's friend's house likely dampened the mood and he decided to resolve that issue quickly and try to lighten up the mood.

"Hey. Kilniara… Zilnek. I'm sorry about how I treated your friend's parents. I didn't mean to be… so harsh. Forgive me?"

Joe saw Kilniara and Zilnek's eyes widen with gratefulness before they nodded quickly and Joe smiled, grateful for their easy acceptance of his foolishness.

"Right! Great. Let's try to lighten up things a bit, OK? Let's take a look at what we've gained from this dungeon. And let's make your room here a bit more permanent, alright? Kilniara, do you need a private room?"

Kilniara's eyes widened quickly in fear, obviously not wishing to be alone and proved the point when she hastily rejected the offer. He was about to just keep their room for them, figuring she feel much safer having her brother around to protect her when Garnedell interjected with a surprising suggestion.

"Mas… Joe. I believe it would be best if all three of us stayed in the room with you. I think they would prefer such."

Joe looked to Garnedell with shock, eyebrows high enough to be hidden in his hairline but quickly realized that Garnedell seemed a bit worried with the suggestion. Hmm… he's trying to be a bit more assertive. Let's not kill that. He's trying to help! Joe calmed himself and looked to the lizard kin and saw their eager eyes.

"Is this what you really want?"

The two quickly nodded but Joe was still uncertain, "But Kilniara… um… she's a girl. It's not good for her to be with a bunch of boys."

Kilniara dropped her head with some embarrassment but Joe was shocked to find that Zilnek jumped to defend her ability, "Master! She is strong and can learn well! You do not need to fear she will be unable to train or learn well from you because she is a woman."

Joe was shocked to find his eyebrows were able to climb even higher before he was able to calm them enough to respond, "I'm not … I will still train her the same as you, but… we are boys… men. I don't think it would be good for her to see us naked, or for… well… she would not want us to see her naked!" Joe jumped in with both feet, figuring that bluntness was a better option than euphemism as all his attempts at euphemism in the past had been a bit useless. Besides, this isn't that embarrass… uh… maybe it is? Joe reconsidered when he saw Kilniara's blushing cheeks, surprised to find her face take on a very strange bluish hue.

"I don't mean to offend! I'm sorry!" Joe quickly interjected.

Kilniara quickly waved away Joe's apology before responding with just a hint of shyness but still quite a strong voice, "Master. I thank you for your concern for me, but I can place a small privacy blanket between my portion of the room and yours. I … would rather not be far from you."

Joe blinked for a bit, surprised, but then began to carefully reconsider. He hadn't seen anything indicating anything really bad, crime-wise, but with the way everyone was acting, maybe there was something happening he needed to be cautious of. Gotta trust the locals. Right… Um…

"Garnedell, see if there is a larger room with four beds and a way to separate one of the beds off for Kilniara to have for herself, but still in the room so she isn't afraid or too far away from us."

Garnedell quickly nodded, jumping to his feet to run up to the bar but turned when Joe yelled after him, "And food! Where's our dinner?!"

Joe watched Garnedell run off before turning to look to the lizard kin, smiling broadly, "Right. Let's see how the dungeon help us, shall we?"

The two lizard kin nodded happily and looked to Joe expectantly.

"Do you two mind showing me your status? I would like to see them, if that's OK?"

The two looked towards each other, the look undecipherable to Joe and he worried that he had offended them, "If you don't want me to look, that's fine. I'm just trying to help."

"Oh! Oh no, master! You can look. It is fine."

"Are you sure? I don't … You don't have to say yes. If you say no, don't worry. I'll still take care of you and teach you, OK?"

The two seemed to widen their eyes at that and Joe was able to guess that they were a bit worried about how he would react or maybe cut them off. Well… Masters have absolute power over their apprentices, it seems like…

"Really, it's ok."

"Uh… could I ask why?" Zilnek asked.

Kilniara quickly reacted, seeming embarrassed on behalf of her brother as she slapped him on the shoulder. Huh… maybe it's a cultural thing? Joe did the same thing to them before?

"Hey! It's OK. Asking questions is very good. I want you to ask questions. OK?"

Kilniara looked back at Joe with a bit of surprise while Zilnek looked at his sister with a subtle 'I-told-you-so' look. Joe tried to hide his smile at the sibling's interactions, although he was a bit unsuccessful and had to hide it by looking down a bit. Right. Focus.

"It's fine, Kilniara. Zilnek, I'm looking because I want to be able to help you grow the fastest or best. I hope I can see something that maybe will help you or something. If you don't want to show me, you don't have to! No problem at all."

The siblings reassessed once again with a silent glance before Zilnek returned his attention to Joe and both siblings called up their status, showing it to Joe. Joe took the time to flip through the status pages of the siblings and confirmed the titles once again, but found that his current job and basic status page were identical, just like Garnedell's and his when he'd only had one job. Kilniara's status actually was the same as well, although Zilnek was another couple levels higher than Kilniara. One thing that disturbed him quite a bit was the fact that both the lizard kin only had a single point for learning, crippling them significantly.