"Your Mark is unfair," complained Simon, still clinging to Mum's back, despite the fact we'd already made it out of the dungeon and back to the camp outside. "How did you even get it?"

  "Chance. And before you get too jealous, you should know that it has downsides, too."

  "Five copper coins?" asked Mum, who was having a completely different conversation with a robed man in a fancy hat. It even had a feather in it. "Is that really all?"

  "Yes, and the fact that you—a random farmer taking a pair of freshly unlocked kids for a picnic—came out with two of them should be sufficient explanation as to why."

  "Downsides?" asked Simon, ignoring the adults, which I rather felt he shouldn't have been. The man was some sort of official working for the baron, and I'd assumed Mum was trying to sell him the [Farming] skill crystals, but he'd specifically mentioned there being two of them. That implied one of our skill crystals was not, in fact, [Farming].

  "Yes. Downsides. Don't ask for details, because I'm not sharing, but be glad you don't have to worry about them."

  "I dunno... I'd put up with quite a lot for boosted Stats."

  "Oh, I'm absolutely certain you'd take his Mark, if you had the chance," said Mum, who'd finished dealing with the official and had slipped another ten copper coins into her pocket. "I'm equally certain your parents would refuse."

  "What about you?" I asked.

  "At my age? Nah, it's a bit late for it. If I was freshly unlocked... who knows? Now, we need to decide how to split the loot. We weren't here for the money today, so we didn't stop to dissect the corpses properly, but we still have twenty coppers from monster parts and another ten from the skill crystals. There are also the bits of horned rabbit we brought back for our own use, and a [Sewing] skill crystal. I'd like to keep the crystal for myself, so I propose we split the materials evenly, and then give twenty coins to Simon and ten to Robin to keep things fair."

  "Fine by me. It's not like I want to learn [Sewing]," said Simon, attempting to shrug, which merely resulted in him almost falling off Mum's back.

  It wasn't quite so fine by me. Why should I get less than Simon because Mum took a share? Surely she was owed something for bringing us here in the first place, so if she'd kept the crystal and split the money evenly between me and Simon, no-one would have a right to complain. I opened my mouth to voice my logic, only to catch Mum's glare.

  "Fine by me, too," I said, my complaint dead in my throat.

  "Good. And with that decided, let's get home. Think you're up to walking, Simon?"

  "Yes..." he mumbled with obvious embarrassment.

  "Good. Not bad for our first run. Next time, we'll be a little more efficient."

  "Same time tomorrow, then?" asked Simon, who was once again standing on his own two feet.

  "Not a chance. How much spare time do you think I have? You too, for that matter. We'll make our next trip next week."

  "What?! But... I only got a few days' worth of experience here. At this rate, collecting enough money to buy citizenship will take... uh..."

  "About nine-and-a-half years, at twenty coppers a week," filled in Mum. "But don't worry; I'm not going to be babysitting you for that long."

  "We're definitely sneaking back, right?" he whispered to me. "We're not waiting till next week..."

  "Really?" I answered at a normal volume. "If you think I'm going to piggyback you back out of the dungeon, you must be joking."

  "Gah!" exclaimed Simon, apparently having already forgotten that he wasn't capable of climbing out of the dungeon on his own without rest breaks.

  "And sorry, but I agree with Mum. Add in travel time, and we're going to have lost a lot of sleep tonight. You need more Stamina, both to cut down on travel time and to get out of the dungeon without help."

  "I'll hit level three tomorrow..." he mumbled. "If I throw in all my free stat points..."

  Mum sighed from out in front, but didn't say anything. It wasn't as if using stat points in that way would be a waste; Stamina was as useful in the fields as any other Stat.

  "I'm more concerned about weaponry," I said. "Simon snapped a prong of his pitchfork, and mine are bent and blunted. It was definitely getting harder to take down monsters towards the end. Lana made us spare heads, but if we use up two per trip, they aren't going to last long."

  "Then you'll need to use those coppers to pay Boris for something better," suggested Mum.

  "We won't find anything in the dungeon?"

  "The Fluffy Meadow only drops equipment very rarely. Mostly, it's just skill crystals."

  "What about outside the dungeon? Was no-one selling weapons in that camp?"

  Mum sighed. "You don't seem to have noticed yet, so I'll spell it out for you. Serfs are not permitted to own or carry weapons."

  Simon stopped walking. "... What?" he asked.

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  "A law from a long time ago, after some rebellion or other in a distant corner of the kingdom. Our baron turns a blind eye towards things like misuse of farming equipment, but you won't get away with using a real spear or sword. It's not like you can't do some decent damage with a pitchfork, anyway."

  "Life is unfair," I complained.

  "I'm not sure you have the right to say that," pointed out Mum.

  "I have every right to say it. I never claimed I wasn't, in some small way, a beneficiary of that unfairness."

  "Farming implements are no substitute for a crossbow," complained Simon.

  "Hunting bow?" suggested Mum.

  "But they need oodles of Strength!"

  Mum shrugged. "Everyone has told you how difficult your task will be to pull off, so don't act surprised when we turn out to be correct."

  "But... Bah. Robin is right. Life is unfair."

  My best friend continued to grumble, but I couldn't claim he was wrong. "What was that thing you did to shut John up?" I asked Mum instead, in an attempt to change the subject.

  "I didn't do a thing," she answered. "His mother just reminded him how rude it is to ask someone's level."

  "And she just picked the exact moment you glanced at her to do so?"

  Mum shrugged. "She cares about appearances. She wouldn't have wanted me gossiping about John's behaviour back in the village. If the headman loses the respect of the serfs, well... life could become a lot more stressful for him."

  "Huh. Interesting..."

  "What's that brat even planning, anyway?" complained Simon.

  "I have no idea," answered Mum. "He obviously doesn't aspire to be an adventurer or soldier, given the mechanical way in which he was killing monsters. It's not like he can take over from his father anytime soon, nor is the baron currently planting new villages. Maybe he plans on joining a merchant company? To state the obvious, why don't you ask him?"

  "... Because that involves talking to him?" I pointed out.

  Mum shrugged. "He's a kid, flaunting what he perceives as his superiority. With a few mental Stats, he'll grow out of it."

  "That would be nice, but I'm not holding my breath."

  The remaining trip back went rather more quietly, mostly because the adrenaline was fading and it was already late. I was expected to be in the fields tomorrow, so this trip meant sacrificing some sleep. For all the good people said about the baron, wasn't it rather unfair of him to expect us to work seven days a week?

  Not that our exact hours were mandated. I could always start a little later, as long as I finished later to make up for it.

  And even then, it wasn't as if we were constantly watched. If I didn't quite put in the mandatory hours, who was going to notice? Other villagers would certainly spot if I skipped an entire day, but no-one was taking notes on when I arrived or left. Besides, for all they knew, I might have just moved to a different field. My parents were the only ones liable to notice, and they wouldn't rat me out, right?

  That was why I was rather surprised when, two days later, I looked up from a particularly deeply rooted weed when a shadow fell over it. Bruno, our village headman, was there, along with someone I didn't recognise but who was wearing a very official-looking robe. He even had a hat.

  "Uh... Uh..." I stammered. Yes, I hadn't quite done my mandated hours the day before, but I'd made certain no-one would notice. Not even my parents! Dad went to visit one of his friends after work, probably drinking, and Mum had started as late as me and so had come home later than usual. Did they spy on us with magic?!

  It hadn't even been due to tiredness or laziness. During our trip to the dungeon, I'd apparently pulled every muscle in my body. Working was agony, and as hard as I'd tried to complete my allotted time—even spending a few of my precious free stat points on Constitution—I hadn't managed it. We were allowed sick days! Yes, it was kinda self inflicted, but even so... There was no way he could complain!

  "Good morning, Robin," said Bruno. "This is Matthew, an inspector dispatched from Greenhold to ensure the residents of this canton are meeting their obligations."

  "Uh..." I repeated as a chilling feeling assaulted my face. I imagined my blood was fleeing it, probably pooling in my kidneys out of a desire to be as far away from the two men as possible.

  "No need to be so nervous," said Matthew. "There's no problem. Rather, it's the opposite. I've been watching you for a few minutes, to ensure you're putting skill points into [Farming] as required, but you've put in more than expected. Would you mind explaining?"

  The chilling feeling remained. This was not any better than him calling me out for playing hooky. If anything, it was worse. Thank goodness I hadn't evolved the skill.

  "You can tell what stage my [Farming] is at just by watching?" I asked. Just what sort of mental Stats did that take? Yes, each stage granted me new knowledge and improved my work, but how could someone pick up on it from a few minutes of observation? No E-rank Skill let you do anything that would be fundamentally impossible without the Skill. There was a reason I felt safe advancing it, but not evolving it!

  "It's natural for someone in my line of work to have an appraisal Skill or two, is it not?" he asked in turn.

  Judging from the feel of my face, there was no way I had any blood left in it at all. It was surprising I hadn't passed out. He had an appraisal Skill? Or worse, Skills, plural. Didn't appraisal Skills let you see another person's Status without their permission? Had he seen my Mark? My boosted Stats? My level?

  But he was only asking about [Farming]...

  "I've been visiting the local dungeon," I explained, praying to whatever gods the temple was dedicated to that he'd accept that as an explanation.

  "Oh?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. "While merely visiting a dungeon is not noteworthy in itself, spending enough time there to reach level five so soon after unlocking your System is certainly praiseworthy. But I'm rather surprised that you spent the extra skill points on [Farming]. You weren't under any obligation to do so."

  Phew. He didn't know my true level. Whatever Skill he had couldn't have shown him my full Status. Maybe he had to watch me use a Skill to know I had it?

  "I have a stat advantage over other people my level, and Mum helped," I claimed, to explain away how I'd done so well in the dungeon. "And I need to spend all day every day in this field anyway, so improving [Farming] gets me more experience. I'll max out [Expert Farming] soon enough, and then I can do what I like."

  "And what is it that you'd like?"

  "Uh..." I said for the fourth time, desperately trying to think of an appropriate answer. None came to mind.

  "Maybe that's another reason for putting points into [Farming]?" I tried, my extra Stats helping me realise that not having an answer was an answer in itself. Perhaps not a great one, but one that should suffice. "I haven't really decided what I want to do with extra skill points. For now, I'm just trying to raise my level as quickly as possible."

  At that, Matthew actually laughed. "What an interesting child you are. Bruno had already told me about your Mark, and the bonus Stats it grants you, and it's nice to see that you're putting them to use with such enthusiasm. It's just a shame that someone with such enthusiasm is wasting their time and skill points farming. What would you say if I offered to rectify that?"