--

"Alright! Alright! I get it! I’m sorry! That’s totally my bad! I got a little too excited! You can dock the emotional damage to my paycheck!"

Bruised and beaten, Derek was nearly in tears as he was forced to apologize. It had been delayed until they were out of the dungeon, but it certainly wasn’t forgotten.

Ren and Kaycee didn’t interfere with Jen’s mauling of Derek. They knew better. As for Jules, he could only watch with a wry smile.

"Emotional damage my perky ass!" Jen screeched before pinching Derek’s side and twisting it violently. "I swear, your penchant for explosions would be the cause of your death someday!"

Derek’s face turned ugly at the pain, but he didn’t dare to complain. He knew that he totally messed up just now, and this was his punishment.

Fortunately, Jules raised his shield just in time before the explosion happened. He reacted fast enough to protect Ren, Kaycee, and Jen from the blast. Derek wasn’t so lucky because he got blown off, but for the most part, he was just bruised; no big deal.

To be fair, the explosion did make the rest of their job easier.

The two elites, who were also the shamans, didn’t survive the direct hit of the blast. Even if they did, the whole estate collapsing on top of them would’ve been enough to finish them.

As for the Goblin Lord, it was miserable when it came out of the rubble. Its whole body was charred black, it was coughing out smoke, its aura was weak, and its whole body looked mangled as if it had been treated like a chew toy by some large beast.

It could barely even walk. Jules threw his shield at it, and that was enough to kill it.

The rest of the goblins didn’t pose any troubles. With Kaycee’s accurate arrows, they cleared the kill requirements pretty fast, and soon, they were out of the dungeon.

As soon as they returned to the plaza, Jen dragged Derek by the ears to their temporary lodging and proceeded to lay more pain into him by putting the whole party in danger.

That’s why Derek’s miserable now.

"When did he even develop an obsession with explosions, anyway? Do you know?" Ren asked Jules and Kaycee since he was really curious.

"I don’t," Jules replied honestly. "He was already like that when I met him."

"He inherited it from his father, who’s a demolition expert," Kaycee informed. "Explosion was one of the ways his father could connect to him since he’s mostly away from home because of his job."

"When he’s little, Derek copes with loneliness by staying in his father’s garage/workspace and studying what his father does and learning what takes him away from home most of the time."

"He once said that he’d make more bombs for his father so that he wouldn’t need to leave home again. That’s where it all started. But well...it turned into an obsession, especially once his father began teaching him in earnest. It became their shared passion."

"Most of the memorable moments with his father are probably accompanied by a cacophony of explosions too."

"His father retired now since Derek’s earning more than he could ever dream of, but they still play with explosions from time to time, much to his mother’s distress," Kaycee concluded.

"Oh, cool," Ren blinked. "How’d you know all of this? If you don’t mind me asking." 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

"I don’t mind. I know because we’ve been neighbors once upon a time. His mother would usually vent her frustrations to my mom in their usual tea time, and I happened to overhear them and pieced the whole story together myself. My family eventually moved to a better location in Q-city, but we kept in touch."

"Ah. I see."

Well, that’s a surprising lore about Derek. One that Ren didn’t mind learning at all.

Although Derek did endanger the team because of his obsession rearing its ugly head, the beating he received from Jen and his paycheck being cut was enough of a punishment for him.

It hadn’t gotten worse because Ren prevented it from happening. Because he warned Jules ahead of time, the others hadn’t been in true danger.

Even if they died, somehow. It’ll be fine; they won’t truly die in beginner-level dungeons. They can respawn unlimited times. That’s why Derek could mess around as much as he could without any heavy punishments.

But of course, once he goes to stage 31 and above, this won’t do anymore, and Derek himself knows that. He’s not stupid.

"Oi, Jules! Is that you?"

"Second Brother!"

A voice startled the team and called out to Jules. Upon seeing him, Jules stood up excitedly and ran over to the man he called ’Second Brother.’

Ren looked over curiously and saw the resemblance. Just like Jules, the man had brown hair and eyes. He was way taller and bulkier than Jules, and he lifted Jules off the ground so easily as if he weighed nothing.

Jules had his whole armor on, by the way.

There were some slight differences, but they’re hardly noticeable, buried and overwhelmed by the resemblance.

Jules looked happy and excited to see his second brother for some reason. And Ren saw that the man’s armor was in bad shape. He also wore a profoundly exhausted expression, barely hidden from others and from Jules, who was still all smiles.

The two talked for a bit before the man patted Jules’ shoulders and pushed him to return to the party. The man gave them a tired smile before turning back and dragging his exhausted body away.

"He looked tired," Jen pointed out once Jules returned.

"He is tired," Jules confirmed with a sigh. "He tried to hide it, and I acted like I didn’t see it, but it’s too obvious."

"Tends to happen in higher-level dungeons. Which one did they clear again?" Derek asked.

"Stage 75," Jules replied, causing Ren to raise his brow. "They probably spent days in there in constant focus and alertness. Brutal."

He then turned to Ren and said, "That’s my second brother, Carlsen. Carl, for short. He’s at mid Pulse Awakening and is one of the veteran defense specialists of Q-City."

"How many brothers do you have?" Ren curiously asked.

"Eight."

"Eight!?" Ren exclaimed in surprise.

"Haha! Yeah." Jules laughed at his reaction. "I’m the 9th child, the youngest. What can I say? My parents went nuts since both of them were only children and really wanted a huge family, so 9 it is."

Jules then shifted his gaze to his shield and continued.

"This shield came from my eldest brother, the one who passed away. Second Brother now replaced him as the next head of our family and has been working hard for the sake of maintaining our family’s reputation."

"Dude, that’s..."

"I know." Jules nodded. "Highly unusual, but they made it work somehow. I don’t know how they managed, especially since all of us were boys. I know it had been stressful, but damn, did they make it work."

Large families weren’t rare in this world. But a couple having more than five children is still rare.

Considering what kind of world this was, earning enough to sustain a large family like this was extremely difficult. Remember, every child will eventually start their martial practice. And their needs will depend on their talent.

Jules’ parents must’ve been billionaires to raise nine boys, BOYS, this well. There’s no way somebody without appropriate backgrounds or ability could raise this many children without suffocating.

"Fun fact, actually," Derek chimed in, "Jules had a green thumb. As in he’s good at raising plants, herbs, vegetation, trees...all manner of green shrubbery. He displayed this talent pretty early in his life, and his parents were fully prepared to support him in this path."

"Aww, come on, don’t tell him that..." Jules blushed, acting shy all of a sudden.

"Why not? It’s cool!" Derek insisted. He then turned to Ren and continued, "He never quite learned how to make potions, but he could’ve, if he didn’t insist on following the footsteps of his brothers. He too picked up the shield and began learning his family’s defensive arts."

"It’s my birthright," Jules insisted. "I’ll have to, anyway. I’m not as good as my brothers, but since I’m born in this family, I’ll have to learn them eventually."

"Besides...raising plants doesn’t pay as well as being a martial artist. I don’t want to be a burden."

"You’d never be, even if you wanted to," Derek rolled his eyes at him. "All seven of your brothers are martial artists, defense specialists, too, at that. All are extremely sought after by parties everywhere."

"They are earning so much that you’re practically a trust fund baby, or a nepo baby, or both. You can lie flat on your back for the rest of your life, and you’d never run out of money to spend. You are blessed, my guy. Sometimes, you’ve got to act like it."

"Wow." Ren smiled, amused by the things he’s learning.

Who could’ve thought that the shy and humble giant, like Jules, turns out to be a rich man in the making? He certainly doesn’t look like one, that’s for sure.

Appearances can, indeed, be deceiving sometimes.