Upon returning home after that weird week, everyone took their time to enjoy the feeling of standing on the ground… It was quite weird to stay that long in a submarine, even though it didn't shake like a boat or small ship. Meanwhile, Billy checked for news of his spies and Icarus and Lucyna. None of them reported anything important… things were as calm as they could be and that only made him more suspicious. As expected, it was time for him to increase the scope of his investigation.
"I suppose no news is good news…" Billy thought.
In any case, Billy left the underground and looked for Sarah and the kids, and he found them in the garden, alongside Samuel. Only the twins hadn't seen Helen yet, so they probably had come to visit and do that, but Samara was nowhere to be seen. That was new, so Billy decided to investigate the matter. It would be better if he learns why as soon as possible instead of leaving it alone only to regret it later.
"Hey, it has been a while," Billy said while he patted Hector and Christina's head. "Are you alone today?"
"You can tell that Samara isn't here?" Samuel asked. "We came together to see Helen one week ago, but she left five days ago. She is a bit busy looking after some kids in the fire dungeon."
Billy wanted to ask more, but he decided to do that later since Sarah was looking at him, and she also wanted to hear the details of the mission since it seemed that everything was fine with his little sister. Still, it was weird for the twins not to be together… However, Billy could more or less tell that Samuel wanted to spar again. Naturally, he wouldn't challenge him as soon as he returned.
"Good work, I take it that everything went well," Sarah said.
"Yes," Billy said and then looked at Helen sleeping in Sarah's arms, she looked like an angel, and her expression alone made Billy's fatigue go away. "Nothing major happened."
"Jean came a few times here after hearing that the number of monsters showing up decreased," Sarah added.
"It seems that he knows what we have been doing, but he also knows that we have some reason to keep this as a secret," Billy said.
"And that is?" Sarah asked. "It can't be that weird Aquatic vehicle… It isn't like someone can steal or try to replicate it."
"You shouldn't underestimate others…" Billy said and then sighed.
Truth to be told, that was only half the reason. Billy wanted to make sure that whoever created the dungeons wouldn't know what he did. The surprise factor would help him once he gets his hands on some Intel about the necromancer and their connection with this incident… Although he didn't make any progress in that regard until now. He will eventually, but he will have to be patient in order not to make any mistakes.
While the others were exhausted and went to bed earlier, Billy spent some time playing with his kids spoiling Sarah. That being said, despite the fact that he put a strong front, as soon as he got in his bed, he fell asleep almost instantly. Still, he woke up the next day alongside the sun and then found Samuel waiting for him at the training grounds.
"As expected of Billy, even after such a long trip, you still don't skip a single day of training," Samuel said. "Can we spar a few times, I have gotten a lot better since the last time."
"Just like I am not the one to decide if I have gotten stronger, you also aren't the one to decide if you have gotten stronger," Billy said. "Nevertheless, I will humor you for a bit. Before that, though, why aren't you with Samara?"
"Lately, she is spending a lot of her time helping newbies with dungeon exploration and training," Samuel said. "While she can do whatever she wants with her time, I don't feel like wasting time with newbies… I would rather focus on improving myself."
It seemed that Samara was walking a path similar to Billy's friends. Maybe she wanted to build her own guild or something. As for Samuel, he wanted to become as strong as he could be. While that wasn't bad in itself, it was a bit… troublesome for Billy. Just becoming stronger couldn't be a goal on its own. Billy wondered what he should do now to help Samuel… Still, for the time being, he had no idea aside from trying to become a good example for his older brother.
In any case, Billy began his sparring with Samuel. As usual, he sparred without using weapons, with weapons, without using magic, and while using magic. Samuel was stronger than Billy recalled when he was sixteen, but he still had a long way to go. He managed to resist more than a few hits this time, but in the end, he didn't land a good hit even once.
"You have gotten better, but you still are very impatient," Billy said. At the same time, he watched the exhausted Samuel breathing roughly on the ground.
"Is that so?" Samuel asked. "I find it hard to believe seeing how little progress I made despite that much training that I had."
"You progressed a lot, but I never stopped moving forward as well," Billy said. "That is why it looks like you haven't improved a lot. Still, you are stronger than I was at your age. You probably can clear my second dungeon by yourself, even if it might take a while. Regardless, pursuing strength alone won't take you anywhere, Samuel. If you look at only one direction, your vision gets narrow and you might lose some chances of learning new things along the way since you are too focused on yourself. I will show you something in a few days that you made me realize now."
