Devin, from the desk nearby retorted, "Maybe, if someone hadn't hogged all the alcohol, we could have split the hangover." He proceeded to drop a heavy book onto the ground which led out a loud explosion of a sound. With it, I could hear the blood in my ears begin to throb. I turned over and shoved my pillow into my ears.

"We need to meet Alex in an hour to see the Crypt, and you need to figure out what you want to do with that mage." He continued.

"Do we even need to see Alex today if we're going to work with the mage? Seems like we get a lot more money from working in the tower or with the government than doing these stupid expeditions to stupid cash grab areas." I said groggily. 

Normally, if you just met someone who offered you a ton of money, you'd be a bit skeptical. However, in this world, according to Alex, there weren't very many shady dealings that could get someone a lot of money. If a person had enough money to buy whiskey, a fancy jacket, etc. that meant they were making the money through the government or they owned a legit business. 

Drug rings simply didn't exist. Hell, most drugs didn't exist. Not only would it be difficult to get the ingredients to make them, but similar to how people can't make a gun, it seems that people can't make recreational drugs. There were rumors about some monster drops being similar to drugs in our own world, but those were too rare to start a business with. Other schemes such as these were usually thwarted through customers not having enough money for recreations and survival.

"It's always good to have options. What if the tower or whatever the Mage wants from us is more dangerous than these 'stupid expeditions'?" Jeremiah had given us some of an explanation, saying that he wanted to meet with us again and go over what we new about mana when I wasn't so inebriated. Apparently after showcasing my mana prowess, I proceeded to no longer be coherent. 

I had a good laugh when Devin explained his experience last night. A typical bad drunk might rip their clothes off and dance in the streets... However I apparently spent most of the night trying to rip Devin's clothes off rather than my own. Carrying me back to our apartment with me half inside his shirt had caused him to deal with quite a few hecklers. 

"It seems like he was willing to pay for your knowledge in mana, whether through teaching you spells or through money. I'll take either and if he offers us a job that pays the same or more than what we do now, but with less danger, we should take it." Devin had been looking at a map that was sprawled out on our small desk. 

The map was crudely drawn. It showed the town in the center and had a basic grid with markings such as 'Rocky Outpost', and 'Crypt' written in a few squares. The Crypt appeared to be directly behind the Rocky Outpost, however there were no markings to tell distance, and from what I could tell, it wasn't drawn with distance in mind. A person following the map was meant to just walk in that direction until they found their objective. 

"We should get going, we need to buy some food on the way," Devin had been preparing our gear all morning and was in charge of the food rations whenever we were drinking. Normally I was the one who would take charge and be responsible. Our relationship dynamic did a complete 180 when it came to alcohol though. It was almost refreshing to have a new look in our relationship with just a few swigs. 

"Okie, ready when you are." I said, doing some morning stretches. "Are you going to bring that not-holy water?" 

"I think I'll bring it and see if Alex has a recommended way of using it. We're just scouting today anyways, we don't need to fight anything." Devin put the vile into his bag and we both headed out the door. 

As I marched from my apartment to the food street, I could see a couple selecting some fruit from a produce stand. Mary stood massaging her temples and staring towards the ground. Devin was in a debate with the stand owner on the cost of whatever fruits they were buying. 

"Oi, you're the talk of the town ya know?" I teased at Mary who hadn't noticed me standing there.

"How would you know what the talk of the town is?" She said, not bothering to look up or stop rubbing her temples. 

"Rude. I had to go by the library to return a book on undead and the librarian told me I might not be going today because my companions were becoming... 'Street Strippers' I think was the phrase she used." I couldn't see Mary's face but I could tell this caused her to chuckle silently to herself. 

She stopped rubbing her temples and finally turned to address me, "Why were you reading up on undead, I thought you already knew everything about them?"

"I knew about the undead as they were a few years ago. I haven't participated in recent events and I don't go to the Crypt alone. People either learn new things, or the stupid gods change how things work." I said, beginning to inspect some of the fruit offered by the food stand. 

"They change often? I thought this world was like a game, wouldn't things stay the same in games?" She was mostly right.

"Sometimes game developers won't change a game because it's been out a long time and no one wants to go back and replay a level, or perhaps the level works well and they don't feel the need to waste energy on it. However, when something like the undead are used multiple times a year in an event the whole town has to play, it's a bit different. Not to mention, no one has actually cleared the Crypt." 

"Whaaaa" Mary said, almost feigning excitement past her hangover. "Why has no one cleared it?...Nevermind, the council only cares about the tower right?"

I gave a sharp thumbs up to my student who was taking well to my lessons on the inadequacies of our society. 

"I also learned that the knight's are something called 'Wraiths'. Apparently someone knocked a helmet off of one and revealed a flaming skull underneath. The group had to spend 2 months before the last Halloweek just planning on how to get close to one. Then they made a full plan on capturing it, but apparently the wraith had also prepared for attacks from the backline and the group only landed a few hits before having to retreat or risk being overrun."  

It's nice to know there are groups out there trying to conquer battles outside of that stupid tower. The reason I don't participate in the Halloweek event is because the council doesn't take it seriously. The Council has decided that the event is a 'defense' event and isn't meant to be won. Who goes into a battle hoping for a stalemate? 

The council needs to spend more time fixing the area outside of the tower before working on the tower. There's undead, goblins, golems, and who knows what else in the outside world that can just march into our town. But the creatures in the tower have never left the tower. 

"Sir, are you gonna buy something?" The annoyed merchant was eyeing me as I had forgotten I was holding an orange. 

"Ah, yes. 3 oranges and 2 apples please." I put on a smile and handed the merchant a few coins. 

The three of us began walking towards the gear street where we would continue walking past the Rocky Outpost until we hit the Crypt.

"How far is the Crypt by the way?" Devin asked while holding out his map. I could see he'd put some of his own markings on it with distances written on how far things were. It looked quite different from when I had given it to him.

"Well, it's about 30 minutes from the town to the Rocky Outpost, so once we leave the Rocky Outpost, it'll be 30 minutes until we hit the Crypt. Everything belongs in zones and each zone is separated by a forest which takes 30 minutes to cross. Some zones take even longer to walk through though." I had found a rock on the path of the gear street and began kicking it along as we walked. 

Devin began writing while he walked and scripted the time it would take to get to and from the Crypt. He had a few other writings on his map and I was pretty certain what they were about. Devin, while not completely competent in his abilities with the halberd, had been the one to put himself in the more 'dangerous' positions at the Rocky Outposts, not that the danger there could be considered serious. Now that Mary was getting good with magic, she'd possibly be taking on adventures without him to make more money, if he couldn't find a way to contribute more. 

I've never been in a relationship before and I don't know what one should be like, but even I knew theirs was cute. Mary had always been in charge and Devin seemed almost like a lazy comedic sidekick. The first few weeks they had been venturing with me, I could tell they began to be at ease and accept their life in the new world. They'd talked about their dates and their old life. They talked about plans they were going to fulfill once they were more stable in this new life.

However, once Mary learned magic and Devin struggled to get better with his weapons, it became obvious that the danger would no longer be pointed only at him. His girlfriend might be off in the tower or on some grand adventure with perilous danger while he would simply have to wait for her to return, with no way to protect her. Personally, I think he may have been hoping the Crypt was lucrative enough to be their last hunting grounds. Or that they would eventually find some other form of income that wouldn't possibly kill either of them.  

Lily may have had an annoying way of telling me to be social, but she may have been right in how much I could learn by being near people. I wouldn't have understood why someone would struggle so much to make money for someone else, unless I had seen a relationship like theirs. With each part hoping to gain the strength to keep the other out of danger.

Was this something that would eventually happen to me? I can't recall having seen any benefit in having a relationship since coming to the new world. If, someone was constantly trying to keep me out of danger, wouldn't I lack progress in my skills as a blacksmith? The only reason I was able to learn new techniques was through my acquirement of new materials. While the last year or so had been spent stockpiling metals from the Rocky Outpost, my time before then had been spent acquiring rare materials in far away places.

I had to doubt that Devin or Mary would let the other go to the Seraph Nests that laid beyond the Goblin Camp. Especially with how much they struggled with easy grounds such as the Rocky Outpost. Despite how successful I was in gaining various materials, I had nearly died almost everytime I went. Yet I had gone there many times when attempting to make various swords imbued with holy attributes. Of course, none of the swords were viable, or I would have equipped them for the Crypts we were now venturing towards.

Whether or not a relationship was a professional hinderance, I couldn't help but desire the atmosphere my two companions gave off.