Stuck as a Dungeon Mob

A cold wind blew past the usually lively Arbor town as the leader of its freedom union branch descended from his carriage.

That was to say, Samuel Oakley was finally home. He heaved a huge sigh of relief as soon as he stepped foot on Arbor Town soil. He could finally see his family!

After all the things that happened in the capital they must have been worried sick. Fortunately or unfortunately, Samuel's house was a bit isolated from the rest of the town. That meant that his wife and son might be behind on the news as long as no one had informed them.

But just because Samuel had alighted from the carriage, it didn't mean he could fly off into the sky and head back home in a hurry. He wanted to first assess the situation of Arbor town.

In a great display of control and power, the wind that blew past the town diverted into soft breezes that enveloped the entirety of the town. Through this, Samuel could almost see what was happening around him.

This was what it meant to reach a higher level, to connect to the mana at an almost social level. It was as if the elements knew his thoughts and acted upon them.

For this amount of communication to be possible with such a minimal amount of mana… It was truly a miracle.

"The population seems to have increased" There was lots of construction going on around Arbor town as well. Everyone must have predicted that the price of land would soar as the dungeon rose in popularity and came to get a piece of the land.

It was one of those self-fulfilling prophecies. The population was nearing the thousand.

Just as Samuel was about to sprint off, he suddenly noticed an anomaly.

"Mr. Coachman, what's wrong?" Samuel asked curiously noticing that the man that brought him home was also descending from the carriage.

"I have something to do here" The coachman replied succinctly.

Samuel didn't think much of it, he was the one that had the wrong impression. He thought the coachman would hurry back to Pith as the king had promised to give him a bonus for safely delivering Samuel.

"Well, I wish you luck then" Samuel said before beginning his departure.

The coachman watched as Samuel disappeared into a crowd of people. Cold sweat ran down his back even after knowing Samuel was gone.

'That was close' W thought a bit weak from the surprise. He had no idea he was traveling on the same carriage as Samuel, that could have been dangerous!

He took over the coachman after noticing that they weren't moving and he was back at his destination. How was he supposed to see that the man was giving Samuel a lift?

'Fortunately… Fortunately he didn't notice me' W didn't know if Samuel simply didn't keep a constant vigilance or if he thought nothing of him when he did sense him. Whatever the reality, W felt he was blessed with fortune.

'I can fuse back with Ed!' He had lots of experiences to share with him so W was naturally excited. Not just that, but he was sure Ed also had many experiences to share with him.

The coachman disappeared into the crowd just as Samuel had. He didn't secure his carriage and nor did he pay attention to those around him. He walked towards a path walked only by daring adventurers, he was heading towards the cave of myths.

While W disappeared into the crowd, Samuel was already appearing near his home. The house had a large back and front yard but as more houses were being built, his large yard would eventually be encroached on if he didn't buy the land.

With such idle thoughts, Samuel walked towards the front door of his home. He wanted to put on a solemn expression but the moment he thought to do so he formed a wry smile. 

He couldn't do it. Samuel wanted to play a prank on them but he couldn't do it. Knocking on the door, Samuel tried to hold back his anticipation.

After a short while, he could hear the door being unlocked.

"Sam- Samuel!" Samuel's wife, Maya, exclaimed.

The smile on Samuel's face widened as he stretched out his arms for a hug. That was when Maya's hand arced towards his face. Samuel didn't know if he should stop her hand or not, he was paralyzed by the surprise.

"How could you do something so dangerous!" Maya screamed while holding Samuel's chin in admonishment.

"I- I- wosry" Samuel could not find the right words to describe his surprise. No wait, Maya still had her hand on Samuel's chin and cheeks forcing him to only let out muffled noise.

When she finally let go, she fell onto his embrace.

"Sammy keeps talking about how great you are but… I'm worried" Maya said in a low voice.

The moment Samuel became engaged to Maya was the day his adventuring ended. Maya was not willing to settle down with a man whose job was to court death on a daily basis.

Apart from the implication that one was being cheated on with death itself, there was the huge emotional distress that came with the knowledge that your husband might come back in a body bag.

"When you first entered that dungeon to save your subordinates I said nothing…" Maya obviously had her protests but she believed Samuel wouldn't be at risk and she believed that it was something Samuel had to do at the time.

"But your repeated absence and expeditions into danger… I don't know if I'll be able to take it" Maya said at the verge of tears as she let out her pent-up frustrations.

Samuel's smile had slowly deformed into an expression of shame.

"I'm sorry" Samuel said sincerely.

"Sammy wants to be just like you" Maya continued.

"You fought a dragon!" Maya said grandly. That was pretty cool!

"But that means… that means he'll want to fight a dragon- I just can't fathom allowing such a thing!" Maya said with a broken voice.

Samuel was frozen. The first thing that happened after he got home was being thrust into a difficult spot. Couldn't she understand that he did it for her and their son!? Couldn't she see that it was a calculated risk-

"I thought that it was the best way to protect you both" If the dragon went to Arbor town he wouldn't be able to forgive himself.

But Samuel was not a fool.

"...Now I see that I'm wrong" Samuel thus added remorsefully. It would be foolish if he believed that although his intentions were good, so was the outcome.

He wanted to protect the life of the two most dear to him but… But was a life full of stress a life worth living? He had been disregarding the feelings of his family in his attempt to protect them from a dangerous future that may or may not come to pass.

At the thought of this anger rose to Samuel's chest, he clenched his fist and gnashed his teeth. He was so freaking stupid! He admonished himself.

"Let's head inside… Where is Sammy?" Samuel said now lacking cheer. Thankfully the little bundle of joy that was his son would lift his spirits.

Maya thought Samuel was changing the topic but she didn't interject.

"He is playing with some friends" Maya said much to Samuel's surprise.

"Friends? Sam made friends?" Arbor town was small and they lived quite far so making friends was difficult for Sammy.

"Yeah, we have some new neighbors…" Samuel's wife began to explain to him the changes in the neighborhood. She became particularly proud when she spoke about Sammy's exploits.

A clear indicator of this was the way time flew. Before both parties knew it, an hour had already come to pass.

"I've been missing out" Samuel said truthfully. So much could change in a short span of time, if he wasn't there for Sammy he might lose the more precious moments.

"Now you know, so I hope you can stay home more often and keep me company" Maya said teasingly. Samuel raised an eyebrow.

"Oh? Really?" He said feigning surprise.

"Mhm" Maya said nodding matter-of-factly.

While the two of them got spent some more minutes in their bedroom getting reacquainted, Sammy came home on his own while in a jovial mood.

"Mom!" He screamed as soon as he entered the house. He bounced up and down exerting happiness with his action.

"Is mom upstairs?" Sammy asked himself before heading towards the front door. He glanced at the stairs positioned in front of them and after careful consideration went up to find her. 

Sammy hurried over to his mom and dad's room and turned the door knob with elation. He did so many cool things with his friends! Sammy even won some spars he needed to brag about!

"AAAAAAAAAH!!!" After that, someone let out a high-pitched scream leaving a confused Sammy at the door.

The unfortunate timing made things awkward for Samuel who now needed to have a man to man talk with his son.

"Listen Sammy, so when…" But before he could even get started, the rude little bugger interrupted Samuel from imparting onto him his wisdom.

"I don't care! I heard you fought a dragon!!! Did you kill it!?!" Sammy asked excitedly. This put Samuel in an awkward spot. How was he supposed to take this turn of events?

"Well, no… but I did get in a some clean strikes hahaha…." Samuel said awkwardly. His son's eyes gleamed with adoration.

"You are the best, dad!" The boy shouted with genuine emotion. Samuel could only smile, he really didn't want to miss these precious moments.