Puzzle Progress

No adventurers visited Violet's dungeon that day, so the next person she ended up seeing was David and his daughter Alice. However, she wasn't disappointed since she knew her dungeon was still relatively new. It made sense that there wouldn't always be adventurers visiting the dungeon since it was likely that only a few people even knew the dungeon existed.

"I brought the blackberries, raspberries, and blueberries you were wanting. I can't just buy a single berry, so I just brought the whole bunch, hope that's alright."

David informed Violet. She smiled as she replied

"That's more than fine, I'll likely get extra resources from the extra berries, so it's a win in my book!"

David poured the berries out of leather pouches and onto the ground in the wildflower meadow. Then, he asked

"Have you given any more thought to getting a proper place for people to leave tributes? This is fine now, but the more experienced adventurers will be expecting a separate space to pay their respects and leave their tributes."

Violet pursed her lips, unsure, before replying

"Well, it isn't like I don't want to do so, eventually. It's just that I have a lot of other things to take care of right now. Maybe after I get a few more rooms built, I'll feel more comfortable investing in a room for that."

David shrugged as he replied

"Well, that's up to you. It's not like anyone is allowed to force you to build any particular way without breaking the accords, anyway. What have you been working on lately anyway?"

Violet gestured with her hand in a few directions as she explained

"I've been building a floodplains meadow over there. The rest you already know about. It's just the jigsaw puzzle room, slime parkour room, and hay meadow, outside of this one. I want to fill in the rooms I have already built before I build any new rooms. Still, it should only be a few days to weeks before there will be more rooms. Really just depends on how often adventurers visit. There weren't any today."

David nodded in understanding, but left it at that. He was starting to feel pressured to make money. Alice's mother had died a few years ago and it was difficult to cover the costs of renting an inn room. He had to pay for the lodgings daily and the costs quickly added up. It wasn't like he could rent a property either, the town just wasn't built to accommodate adventurers.

If it came down to it, they could always camp out in the woods, but that would leave them exposed to free-roaming [Monsters]. That really wasn't ideal and David didn't like the idea of his daughter getting hurt just because he couldn't afford proper accommodations. If it was just him, he wouldn't even bother with an inn room or renting a property. He had to camp in forests plenty back when he had been actively adventuring. So, it wasn't a big deal to do so now, even if his aging body wouldn't be quite as kind now as it had been in his youth.

David had a small amount of funds that he could spend on their accommodations, for now. However, it wasn't that much and it would make it difficult for him to ensure his daughter could afford any sort of higher education when she was old enough. It was only a few years until his daughter would have normally been sent off to an academy. It would have helped Alice learn how to use her class as well as decrease her odds of dying in a dungeon.

Of course, David knew he couldn't really blame Violet for his current circumstances. He couldn't be frustrated with the rate her dungeon was growing either. David had gotten himself into this mess and he'd have to figure things out on his own. Originally, things would have been easier. He wouldn't have to show up every day and he wouldn't have to remain for an entire year. He could have had more freedom to sort out his finances and could have left anything as tribute, not just what Violet needed or wanted. So long as he had put forth the effort to teach her swordsmanship, he would have been completing his end of the deal.

This was all David could think of as he struggled to complete the puzzles in the dungeon. When he finally fell into the water and failed the slime parkour challenge, he gritted his teeth as he gathered his gear and headed to the slime jigsaw room. If he could only complete the puzzle, it was likely that the strange candy could be sold for a decent price. 

A merchant would likely pay a silver or more for a single piece in the hopes of selling it at a markup to a well-off adventurer or someone among the nobility. Those with money to spend loved to collect all the strange and rare things available in dungeons. The fact that the lollipops were a consumable item just made it that much more valuable. [Items] from dungeons were always of perfect quality. No need to worry about things being burnt or the recipe being slightly different each time. So, the sweets would be the perfect way to make money, if only he could actually complete the challenge...

Alice knew her father was having a hard time lately, but she was quite happy. She was getting to defeat lots of slimes and was slowly increasing her experience. There were even fun puzzles she could do. Even having to collect flowers and other plants didn't bother her. Alice provided good company and it was fun to watch her father teach the nice dungeon master how to use a sword. It was especially cool when they dueled and Alice always cheered them on in her heart.

Alice gathered the puzzle pieces from around the edge of the room and set them beside the puzzle board. Every day she had gotten closer and closer to figuring out the puzzle. In the last day or two, she had even felt like she was starting to get close to finishing the puzzle. She had long moved past the issue of being confused by how to do the puzzle and now it was a race against time.

Since she only had so long to complete the puzzle, Alice had to come up with a system to quickly and efficiently sort out the puzzle pieces. She first had to locate the four corner pieces and then she separated the edge pieces from the other pieces. Once she put the border pieces together, she'd just have to figure out where all the other pieces went.

Violet watched Alice as she practiced swinging her sword through the air. The young girl was clearly on the right path to figuring things out. It would be a shame for her to have to stop before finishing the puzzle again. Violet couldn't help but feel endeared by Alice. She even thought about telling David to wait a little longer before taking a break today just so his daughter would have a better chance to finish the puzzle. It would be nice if she could complete the puzzle, at least, once.