Chapter 117

Chapter 117

Nelly P.O.V

As we started traveling back towards the city all of us started to loosen up again. It may not be easy to see from the outside but all of us go on edge every time we head towards the dungeon. This time it was to a much lesser extent on the way there as the initial plan had been to stick to the first floor. I hope Tristan and Rob haven't been too worried that we extended the trip by a few days.

The carefree and competitive attitude of the Reavers also went a long way to push the rest of us into a much more relaxed mood. The only one I couldn’t get a clear read on was Ajax. Despite his young looks and reported age that had him at fifteen years old his actions didn’t match up with what I expected from him.

The only times I have seen other people that young act so mature was when they were noble heirs, the training and lessons having taken over their childhood. Not only that but it seems that Ajax is also a little, well not shy but maybe paranoid? I had thought we were making progress in relating to him but he retreated back as soon as the Reavers joined us for the trip back.

Then again I could see where he was coming from. We had done a quick checkup on him as soon as we learned his name and everything checked out. That background check was the only reason we weren’t convinced he was an illegitimate bastard of a high noble and being raised in secret.

I have to say the kid intimidated me. It wasn’t his personality or his attitude, he was acting the way I would expect a brand new guild recruit to act, doing any job assigned, looking to learn and get new skills, greedy to gain more experience. What intimidated me was his raw power. I was already almost sixty years old but as I looked at my status.

Name : Nelly

Level :42

Experience : 58600/95800

Traits: Mana Constitution

Health: 2200/2200

Mana: 2200/2200

Stamina :420/420

Vitality : 220

Strength : 38

Endurance : 42

Dexterity : 40

Intellect : 220

Wisdom : 220

Mind : 220

Perception : 80

“Speaking of the spoils, I wanted to ask if you already know what you wanted to do with them. My husband is the team contracted merchant you see.” I left the statement open ended so that he wouldn’t think I was pressuring him .

“Hmm”, he stayed silent for a moment. “I was planning on keeping my share of the cores for my brother's bond, his shadow cat is still a pup and can use all the manacores it can get. As for everything else I was planning to give them to my sister July and her friend Alana to sell for me.”

Seeing as he also had merchants in the family I didn’t want to push the matter. I could always convince him to swap over once we compared how much Rob got us for the loot compared to what his sister could get him.

Surprisingly enough when it came time to share the loot he was more than happy to take his share in mostly cores and the elemental water. The water was something we all avoided since we knew it would take time to be moved and doing so would have added costs.

After I arrived home I was greeted by both Tristan and Rob. Both seemed worried and exhaled a breath they must have been holding onto for a while.

“Mom!” Tristan said “You’re okay.”

“I am just fine.” I smiled. “The delve took a little longer than we expected since we also went to the second floor.”

“I thought this delve was just to get the new member used to delves.” Rob said.

“That was the idea but the kid proved himself too good to stick to just the first floor.”

“Just how good was he?” Tristan asked, he must have read something on my face.

“To be honest, like nothing I have seen before.” I said. “We all know you are talented Tristan, at twenty-five years of age you are already level twenty-nine and following a healer tract but he is something else. Despite being ten years younger than you he is already level twenty-four. Not only that but I don’t think I could take him in a straight up fight.”

This had both of them curious and I spent the next hour of dinner just explaining things about Ajax. Tristan was especially upset that he could already join the guild and us despite him wanting to do so for years, he only quieted down after I told him Ajax shared with us that his total stats were over nine hundred.

“So, what is the kid going to do with his share of the spoils?” Rob asked as we were heading to bed.

“Said he was going to keep the cores for his brother’s bond and give the rest to his sister Judy and her friend Alana.” I knew my husband well enough that the names of the other merchants was what he was interested in.

“Those two again?” he muttered.

“You know them?” I asked.

“Yeah, they started off small eight years ago and had a cash infusion into a small side business five years ago. From there their talent really shone and they just kept growing and growing. They’ve been having problems lately expanding into the higher reaches of neighboring cities.” he said and then froze a few feet away from the bed.

“What is it?” I asked.

“You just said they got their hands on water from the elemental?” he asked. “They could use that as a foothold to gain contacts in other cities. Seems like their bottleneck is about to gain a few cracks.”

That information was surprising to me. Did the kid accept the water on purpose for that?