Idle talk

"Weren't you informed? Navi told me that you would be contacted if the mission took longer."

"Mission? All miss Navi told me was that you had a large dungeon event."

"Well, sometimes humans try to conquer larger dungeons. For this, a big group of adventurers and porters is needed. Clearing the dungeon takes quite some time and by the time my part was done, it was already too late to return home."

"Is this going to happen often now? The girls miss their father, you know?"

"I don't know if they plan another event but look on the bright side. Until the event part of the higher leveled adventurers is over I'll be on vacation. Now I have a lot of time to spend with the girls."

"Except that they are at school at the moment so you couldn't spend time with them even if you wanted."

"I bought orc meat."

"You already said that... At least the girls will be happy once they return home."

"So I'm forgiven?"

"Not by a long shot! But I will let it slide for now."

Forgiveness obtained!

I smile contently and lean back into the sofa. Now, what will I do with all this free time...

"If you've got nothing better to do you can help me by doing some chores."

I nod and grab some clothes from the pile in front of her start to fold them as neatly as I can. Folding clothes doesn't seem like a particularly hard or complex task but I could tell mine apart from Melody's from a mile away. It was just folding and yet there seemed to be something more to it.

"Melody, do you have a skill for folding clothes?"

"Yes, but why do you ask?"

"No reason in particular, I just wondered why your folds looked so much neater than mine. So you really can get a skill for everything, huh."

I really am curious now. What is the condition to learn a skill? Could it be just the repetition of an action or did that action have to be recognized as something worthy of becoming a skill? If I knew that I'd be able to learn skills much more efficiently.

Melody and I finish folding clothes and place them into their respective wardrobes. After that Melody suddenly decides to begin a deep cleaning action for the entire apartment. I help her vacuum, mop, and then polish the floor. We clean the kitchen and the bathroom before finishing by making all the windows shiny again.

Melody seems very satisfied now while I am bone tired. How does Melody do this? I definitely have higher stats than her and I've been using Edward's breathing technique the entire time.

"Do you have a cleaning skill too?"

"Yes, but why do you keep asking about skills. They are just household skills!"

"I'm just trying to figure something out. What level is your cleaning skill at?"

"It's at level 7."

"Seven! But that's away too high for a normal skill."

"So what? I like cleaning so I do it often and until I'm exhausted. Since I've reached level 4 I have always been able to brag when I was talking to our neighbors."

Melody looks to be very proud of the fact that she got a usually mundane skill to such a high level. I feel like my own skills pale in comparison.

But I'm not given much time to think about the inadequacy of my skills since our daughters are at the door. I take a look at the time and discover that we spent most of the day cleaning and it is early evening now.

The girls are very excited to see that I'm home and I'm assaulted by another aggressive double hug. Unlike last time my stats have increased making me nearly twice as strong as my old self and allowing me to effortlessly catch both of them and hug them back.

"Welcome home daddy!"

"Did you bring us something nice?"

Quinn, the older one, immediately asks if I brought them something. Clearly, they too had been unhappy with me not coming home yesterday so now they expected some compensation.

Good thing I'd bought that orc meat.

"Of course, I brought you something really special. Remember how you once said you wanted to know what orc meat tasted like? Well, today's the day you will want for that no more!"

"Daddy, did you eat something strange? You're talking all weird and didn't you say last time that our family couldn't afford orc meat?"

Cassidy, the slightly younger one, is a sweet child that has a far too good memory. I had indeed told them that we couldn't afford orc meat back then.

"You see, Cassidy, I got a new job that pays more and since I worked overtime last night I even got a bonus."

"So we can have orc meat every day now?"

"No, Quinn, we can't. For that to happen I'd need to get at least a few promotions and raises in my salary."

Both girls look very disappointed. They are such gourmet gluttons!

"Now both of you go to your room and do your homework. I'll cook the orc meat and I'll call you once it's ready."

Melody's words bring a smile back to the girls' faces as they lick their mouths in anticipation of the feast. I follow Melody into the kitchen and offer to help with the cooking.

"Since when are you so interested in cooking?"

"At my company I can teach the skills I have to people in exchange for money. Having a carrier learn some basic cooking might be a good idea."

"They pay you for teaching skills? I wish I got paid for teaching people how to clean. Do you think they'll offer me a job if I asked?"

"I'm sorry to bash your dreams but I can't see the use of a cleaning skill while in a dungeon. But if you want I can still ask."

"No need. Let's focus on cooking."