The young human was an interesting addition to our life. The human had a talent for farming and peeked his stats growth within a few short weeks. Mining, however, was much less about intuition and dexterity and more about strength and endurance. It took over four months to get halfway to the status gains as before. Still, as a child, we do not hold it against him. We just wish we could do more. It is obvious we lack the means to educate the child, but ‘cook’ has been teaching him cooking and simple alchemy. Which helped increase his intelligence slightly. In addition, once every other day ‘hunter’ will take him out to hunt or teach him camping skills or even foraging. Which also helped his agility and perception stats.
The talks with the youth and Boss also yielded great results. The most and greatest being governance. With Boss as the official head of the Kobolds, his orders to them became smoother and more detailed. Not to mention writing, which eased the very real problem of needing to teach the new generation via experience alone. Currency is another big one. If and possibly when we can start trading, having our own currency would be paramount. There was much more as well such as laws, land ownership, taxes, military organization, gambling, and ‘smiths’ favorite; alcohol.
As with everything in the world, change inevitably occurs. We were not aware at first. How could we have expected it? With winter’s approach, ‘hunter’ went out to catch one last game before they started to bed down for the cold. She did not come back to the cabin with only her prize. She was followed. What followed was even more entertaining than listening to Chrono’s count using symbols. Take a moment to figure that one out.
———
Mathew followed behind both ‘miner’ and ‘smith’ the two were carrying large loads of wood and he had a much smaller and more manageable load himself. That is till he found his vision suddenly blur and his load gone laying hundreds of feet away, where he was standing a second before. The kobolds just noticed this change as he realized he was being held closely by an adult woman with nothing on her.
“ My prince, I am so glad you are alive.”
“ Sir Linsey? What happened to you? How did you find me, and why are you naked?”
Linsey continued to hold him as she turned to face the now gathered five kobolds. Each armed differently, but ready for a fight.
“ I do not know what these monsters have been doing to you, but we must leave.”
Mathew was going to push her away to try to make a point of needing to stay, but instead, he wrapped his arms around her.
“Wait, Sir Linsey, they mean you no harm. If not for them I would be nothing but bones by now.”
Linsey took a moment to look at Mathew before looking at the kobolds.
“ I do not wish to question you, my prince, but how can you be sure?”
Mathew realized at that moment he did not have a sure answer for her.
“ My kobolds will not harm you, human. Now, can we talk before something is done that is irreversible?”
Linsey turned quickly as she jumped backward away from the voice. It came as a sudden surprise to her.
“ Who are you?”
From the mine’s entrance appeared a dragon whelp looking at the two. His demeanor showed surprise when seeing Linsey, yet the dragon never relaxed its guard against her.
“ I am the Boss of the dungeon ‘Hollow’. We have been graciously sheltering the youth till he grows strong enough to return to his people. Perhaps one day even trade could begin.”
This is when Mathew noticed one of the kobolds had already come into the cabin and fetched one of the blankets. It did not take more than a few moments for ‘miner’ and ‘smith’ to pick up the wood they and he dropped before. He even saw ‘hunter’ hitting ‘farmer with her bow because he had been staring at Linsey in a most relaxed manner.
“ As you know, human, that bosses are not allowed to leave their rooms unless a danger of a greater rating is present. I can feel the aura of an A rank on you and I am only a mere rank C. Now that I have dealt with formality, Care for some dinner?”
Linsey was completely bemused by the dragon, as one of the kingdom’s stronger individuals she, of course, knew of the divine laws of dungeons. After all, it is where anyone wants to break past C rank ability goes. Out here in the wild, she never expected the dungeon to be here. She has two thoughts on its attitude. First is the thought that the dungeon is old, so old in fact that it has no need for adventurers to travel. Yet, scrying had not shown any dungeons out this way in centuries. Then she thought about how often the area is actually detailed and examined so far from civilization. The second possibility is the dungeon is young. Which is more likely than the adventurer guild missing a dungeon in the wild. As a young dungeon, it is much more likely it was plumping up the young prince for a feast later. As likely as the second possibility is, the quick layout she had gleaned shows that it is the former.
“ Sir, Linsey, you are here now, nothing will happen now.”
A small smile formed on her face. He was back with her charge and nothing was going to separate them again.
“ So, why are you naked?”
