A Dash'in Legacy

Chapter 2

“Dad!! Something happened!!” Dash came back running, with a pale face and sweaty brows. With surprise and fear, there was also a hint of happiness mixed in.

“Hmm! Didn’t you say you won’t talk to me ever again? How come you changed your mind!?” Regarding Dash’s threat, Wil heard it more than a hundred times in these ten years.

“That doesn’t matter. I am no longer a Villager!” In his excitement, Dash blurted out without thinking.

“WHAT?” However, contrary to Dash’s expectations, Wil didn’t appear to be the least bit happy.

“You bastard child!!” In a feat of anger, he slapped Dash’s cheeks hard. Disregarding the pain he felt on his palms, which shouldn’t have been there, Wil grabbed on to Dash’s collar before asking hoarsely, “Since when?”

“W, what?” Not understanding his father’s extreme reactions, Dash stuttered while holding on to his slapped cheeks. There was no pain, not even a red mark, but the act itself was shocking for the ambitious teen. His father had beaten him a lot in the past. But ever since he had his Class Awakening, he had not even raised his voice at him.

The familiar stinging pain on his cheeks, coupled with the red eyes of his father, Dash felt confused as well as hurt.

“I am asking, when did you change your class? How??” The way his father looked, as well as his frenzied scream, Dash felt afraid of his father for the first time in his life. His subconscious told him that he had done something extremely unforgivable, but he couldn’t tell what.

Seeming getting annoyed at his dazed look, Wil grabbed Dash’s hands and dragged him out of their fields.

…

The same man who teased Dash not long ago was quietly watching everything from start to finish. When he saw Wil dragging Dash away, he stopped working on his fields and hastened towards their village.

“Where are you going!?” His wife, who had just arrived at the edge of their field, asked with a frown, not understanding what could make her husband rush in a hurry. “Don’t tell me! Did Daniel return!?” She charged with a hint of repulsion in her voice.

“It’s not about drinking. It’s something more important. I am going to see the village elder.”

…

Wil brought Dash into their home, threw him inside before closing their front door. His wife wasn’t home, but Wil was in no mood to think about that.

“Now tell me, when did you change your class, and how?” Wil inquired. His voice carried unmasked rage.

“Today,” Dash stuttered out a reply. He was shaking like a leaf while his shirt had already stuck to his back. He had never seen his father like this. “Not long ago, just after I left your side, I crushed a white cicada under my foot. The Class change notice came out suddenly after that.” He said it out without holding anything back.

“What class did you change into?” Wil inquired further. His eyes looked like they could spit out fire.

“Adventurer,” Dash mumbled in a mosquito-like voice. He already knew the word had become a taboo for his father, especially when coming from his mouth.

Did you kill any monster before that cicada?” Although he knew it’s a dumb question, Wil still inquired.

“No!” Dash violently shook his head.

Wil glared at him and raised his hand again. However, looking at how his son was shaking, he stopped. Dash’s clear as sky eyes had fear and rejection written all over it. As a father, Wil didn’t want to see those emotions in his own son’s eyes directed at him.

He pulled back before continuing to pace all over the room while mumbling something inaudible to Dash. When he discreetly craned his neck to try to listen, he heard a few bits and pieces.

“It’s not a productivity… trouble… it can’t be happening… why to my family!?”

Dash had already smelt trouble in the air. Moreover, it’s something that involved more than just his family. Or else, his father wouldn’t have been behaving like this. Seventeen was already considered to be marriageable age in Cono. It was no wonder Dash was able to understand these small things.

Knock!! Knock!!

Suddenly, a frenzied knocking came from their front door. Dash saw how his father jumped like a startled rabbit and suppressed a laugh. But the seriousness of the issue came crashing on his young head, making him feel like getting struck by thunder.

“Who?” Wil didn’t open the door immediately.

“Wil!? What are you doing? Open the door first.” On the other side was his wife, Ryne.

Letting out a breath of relief, Wil opened the door, letting Ryne, who looked worse for wear, inside. Her eyes were red, and her nose had already turned red. She rushed in, found Dash before engulfing him in a hug.

“Thank god, you are fine. Thank god… thank god!!”

“Mom, what is this? What is happening? Why is dad behaving like this?” Squeezed in a hug, Dash could only mumble in a whisper. He was afraid his father will hear and go ballistic on his again. He really didn’t want to get slapped like that again.

“It’s nothing. Son, it’s nothing.” While consoling her son, Ryne glared sharply at her husband and asked in a hushed voice, “what is happening? I heard some unpleasant things about our Dash. Is it true?”

“It’s already spread all over the Cono? Sigh, not again!” Wil’s eyes watered. He almost looked ready to breakdown on the spot.

However, the more he talked, the more Dash felt weird about the situation. Although he couldn’t wrap his head around it, he could feel that there’s something deeper behind his father’s tears.

As well as his mother’s.

He didn’t dare to ask, however.

“Is it true? Is this the same as Aiden’s case?” Ryne was being hysteric as her grip around Dash tightened.

“Worse!” Wil covered his face as his shoulders shook. “He awakened Adventurer. Aiden’s was only a Porter.” Towards the end, his voice almost cracked.

Crying! My parents are crying? Why? What did I do wrong?

Almost numbed, Dash was thinking sluggishly in his head. As he did so, he remembered bits and pieces of a kid playing with him. In odd times, before sleeping or while in sleep, he would dream of that kid whose face he couldn’t see or recall.

When he mentioned it once, his father kicked up a fuss and beaten him black and blue for ‘daydreaming’ instead of practicing on his plowing skills.

Aiden? Who is Aiden? Why haven’t I heard that name from my parent’s mouth?

“This can’t be happening! Wil, think of something!! I beg you, somehow save my baby.” Ryne cried as she begged her husband teary-eyed. Her grip around Dash didn’t lose but tightened instead.

“I’m warning you. If something happens to my son, I will also…”

“Shut up!”

Wilfred roared at his wife, stopping her from finishing that line. Then, with equally red eyes, he sat down on the concrete floor while holding his head in defeat.

“You think I want this?” Wil said, his voice sounding like a defeated soldier that was on his last legs, “I have already lost one son. Do you think I want to experience the pain again? But, what can a farmer like me do?”

“You…”

Knock!! Knock!!

Before Ryne could speak, their front door was knocked again. Although his parents jumped like deers, Dash wasn’t in the mood to laugh. Because he finally understood the gravity of the situation.

More than that, there was also a bigger revelation made by his parents amidst their talking.

I had an elder brother?