118 Explore a dungeon (1/2)

”Alright, Alright. You really are no fun.”, Jenny complained. ”How is it going between you and Ivan?”

”Quite good, why?”, Lara responded. She was unwilling to tell this aunt of her more. If she did that, she would only have to listen to her lecture her. Saying just this would be the safest.

”That's good.”, uncharacteristically Jenny didn't continue to ask. ”Then I'm sure you don't have a problem if Lin lives here?”

This question didn't come unexpectedly for Lara. She had already prepared for it when she had heard about Lin.

”Of course I don't have any problem with it. After all, she is Ivan's wife too. And I think we will get along quite well.”

”Great, then this is settled. Now let's get to why we came here today. We want you to come with us to explore a dungeon.” , she then stated the reason.

The sentence really shocked Lara. Ever since she had gotten pregnant with Jane she had stayed in the capital, so why would they want her to come to explore a dungeon?

”Why?”, she asked confused.

”Because you have the right skill set and we trust you.”, knowing that this answer wouldn't be enough she then continued on. ”The dungeon we are planning to go to is a bit unusual. It not only requires fighting, but there are puzzle sections too. And these puzzles are mainly on management. ”

Hearing her explanation cleared up her doubts, but she was still surprised, that they had found a dungeon like this. They were very rare, as most dungeons only required fighting and sometimes solving logic puzzles. The ones that require a special skill set would often give much higher rewards, but were much harder too. And it wasn't like one could just take someone specialized in the object of these puzzles. The fighting in the dungeon was too difficult for that.

Not only that, the puzzle themselves would often require the rest of the party to trust the one solving them, which made it only harder to find someone.

Lara fell silent, as she contemplated. It wasn't like she wasn't tempted. In fact, in the last few months, she had thought about trying out adventuring once again. But she had decided against it. Not only would it split her up from her daughter, but also her job of managing her company.

Just when she was thinking about rejecting, Ivan's voice stopped her. ”You should go.”

”Huh?”, she looked at him in surprise.

”I asked madam Tanner about it and she said that you haven't taken a break ever since you took over that company.”

”I took some breaks.”, Lara hurriedly protested.

”Really? From what I have heard, the only breaks you took were ones, where you did stay at home to take care of Jane.”

What Ivan said was the truth. The only times she had taken a break, was when Jane required it. It wasn't like her whole life revolved around her job. She didn't work in the evening or on Sundays, except if there was an emergency.

Seeing her not responding, Ivan continued on. ”It is important to sometimes do something entirely different. Only this way, you can keep your mental health. And exploring a dungeon, will not only be something different, but also something you'll enjoy a lot.”

”But what if something happens to me? What about Jane then?”, Lara asked worriedly. This was the true reason, she had stayed in the capital all the time. After her close brush with death, she unconsciously feared that it would happen again if she went out. And this time there wouldn't be someone who would save her.

The others looked at each other. While this dungeon wasn't that dangerous, it would be highly unlikely that anyone would die, but there was no guarantee. So they didn't know how to alleviate her fears.

Finally, Ivan was the first to break the silence. ”This is all the more a reason that you should go.”

Lara looked at him in bewilderment and the others too looked at him in curiosity.