Author’s Note:

I didn’t have to work tonight. I got bored of revising the old chapters and decided to give you guys a surprise update.

Be sure to read the revised chapters as some of the previous details has been changed to fit the current direction of the novel.

Leave comments if you see some mistake/inconsistencies.

Chapter 33- Dinner

***June 5th, 965 A.F. (Night)***

***Belhern Village***

***Ajax McGuire***

“MOM! I AM HOME!”

It was dusk when I reached home. I took off my muddy shoes at the entrance and stepped inside. I grabbed a towel that was hanging next to the door and wiped off the mud that was sticking to my pants. My mom would kill me if she found out that I dirtied the house with mud. After inspecting every inch of my clothes, I hurried into the kitchen. When I got there, I saw my mother, a red-haired dwarf and green eyes, holding my baby step sister with one hand and stirring a pot with a wooden spoon with the other.

My sister was a two years old with a hazelnut hair and eyes, same as her father. With how cute she is, it could have been easily mistaken that my mother was holding a doll. My sister just couldn’t wait until dinner. You could tell from my step sister’s eyes, mesmerized by the simmering soup. Hearing my footsteps, the housewife laid down the wooden spoon on the kitchen counter and turned around to greet me.

“Welcome back dear! How was work at the rice paddies today?”

“Ug, it was the worst. The cart’s axle broke down. I had to stay next to the cart make sure nothing get stolen. I would have been back an hour earlier if it didn’t break down. I should have just left by myself.”

Of course, I did not tell her that I was attacked by a goblin. I did not want to worry her. I didn’t feel bad about killing a goblin even though I was one. Much like killing Sylva’s troops, it was simply a matter of kill or be killed. Crossing my arms and grumbling a bit, I showed my displeasure for coming home late. I acted childishly to cover the fact that I killed a goblin. Seeing my annoyance, she gave my hair a tussle with her free hand. With that, my frown quickly turned into a childish grin.

“Ajax. You are such a kind boy to help the others.”

Even though my mental age was of an adult, it felt nice to act like a kid once again. Freed from the shackles of responsibility, I can enjoy my life without worries. Eight years ago, I died as Cani, the goblin and I was respawned. Not as a goblin this time, but as Ajax, the dwarf. I inherited my mother’s hair. I was ecstatic that I was not bald anymore since my luscious red hair covered an ugly birthmark on my head, which was the same shape as the scar when I was a goblin. Contrasting with my hair, I had sparkling sapphire blue eyes. The appearances of dwarves were exactly like the classical fantasy dwarves. Everyone was muscular and stout. But since I haven’t hit puberty yet, I looked more like a halfling instead.

Our small village, named Belhern, was about 2 hours of walking, north of the next major town, Caedona. Caedona acts a central hub for the surrounding villages before connecting to the dwarven capital. Our main job was to tend the terraced paddy fields in the mountains for the Dwarven Kingdom. Speaking of which, I was shocked when I learned about the dwarven culture. It was a strange mix of the Japanese and European culture. I am pretty sure that the design team got lazy and just mashed everything from the previous world.

“Here, let me help you with Emily.”

I offered to hold my step sister while my mom cooks. Holding out my hands, I expected to receive her into my arms. However, my sister held on to my mom like a koala bear, refusing to budge. Emily let out a small whine of protest when I tried to pry her off of my mother gently.

“Come over here, Emily. Let your brother hold you.”

“No! Stay, mama.”

“It’s ok, Ajax. I am used to doing this. Besides, you know how much she like to watch me cook.”

“Catherine! I am home! What’s on the stove? It smells wonderful.”

“Dad! You are back early!”

A hazelnut-brown haired dwarf, slightly taller than my mother, walked into the kitchen towards my mom. When he got next to her, he brushed away his thick braided beard and gave her a light peck on her lips. It was my stepdad, Duncan McGuire. Even though he was quite a bit older than my mother, he is the youngest out of all the village chief. From what I have heard, my real father died before I was born and my mom was forced to move to this village due to some circumstances.

When my mother arrived at this village, he took care of her and soon fell in love with her. There were resistants from his father the previous village chief since she already had me. But when the former village chief fell ill and passed away suddenly, my stepfather became the village chief. With no one else opposing him, he almost immediately proposed to my mother and she accepted. I was rather concerned at first, not knowing how he would treat me. But after living with him for a few years, I could tell that he genuinely saw me as though I was his son. I was rather happy to have a father to take care of me, so I had no problem treating him as if he was my real father as well.

“Welcome home, how was the monthly meeting today?”

“Eh, it was boring as usual. So how is my prodigy doing today?”

Personality #29AName:Ajax McGuireRace:DwarfTitle:Giant Slayer, Dragon SlayerTribe:Iron AgeStrength:ExceptionalDexterity:ExceptionalConstitution:ExceptionalIntelligence:Above AverageEndurance:Above AverageCharisma:Above AverageWisdom:ExtraordinaryLuck:AverageAbilities:Leadership, Gamer's Mind, Crafting

I still haven’t figured out how to open my status page. However, I was able to memorize my stats once again. It looked like my theory was correct. Every time I die, my previous stats are being added to my current ones. Because of this, I displayed intelligence beyond my age by learning how to speak, read and write fluently by the age of one. My parents were overjoyed to have a genius in the family. However, I decided to keep my strength as a secret even to my parents. I had a feeling that it would cause nothing but trouble if someone finds out.

“The cart broke down today, dad. You will need to take some money out from the village fund and buy a new iron axle.”

Duncan scratched his head a bit and pondered.

“Eh? That’s going to be a problem. Our village’s budget is a bit tight this month. It is, at least, another month before we can harvest the rice and sell them. I don’t think that we have money to spare.”

“If that’s the case, just give me some tools. From what I can tell, I can fix the cart by transforming it into a three-wheeled version. It will be a bit harder to use, but it’s better than nothing.”

“Oh, that’s a great idea! As expected of my son!”

He put me in a headlock and rustled my hair. I laughed gleefully, pretending to fight back. Of course, with my strength, I had to be careful not to hurt father while I was roughhousing with him. He started to tickle me. I broke free from him, so he began to chase after me. I ran around the kitchen, screaming with delight. I should get an Oscar for my skill of acting like a child. At this point, our mother gave us the best news of the whole day.

“Alright, stop playing around. Dinner is ready!”

Before I knew it, my mother had already finished preparing our meal. A mountain of food appeared on the kitchen table. Dwarves eat a lot compared to their size. Cooking for a family of dwarves is a full-time job in itself. Usually, one of the family members will stay in the kitchen and tend to the needs to all the other family members while other family members went out and earned the income. It is not necessary always the wife that cooks for the family. Sometimes, it would be the husband. But in our case, it was my mother that stayed home and cooked for everyone. She loved being in the kitchen all day.

We sat around the rectangular kitchen table, my father and I on one side, and my sister and mother on the other. My sister had her little booster seat to help her reach the table. We put our hands together and gave our thanks.

“ITADAKIMASU!”

“ITADAKIMASU!”

“ITADAKIMASU!”

“IDADAKIMATHU”

My sister cutely tried to imitate the rest of us giving thanks for our food. We all gave a quick chuckle before digging into the mountain of food.