“You fuckers really aren’t going to tell me what happened?” Nerva asked for about the fifth time now as we made our way to Dragon’s Descent.

“Nerva just please believe me when I say that if I told you you wouldn’t believe me” Adam answers.

“Wait so I gotta fucking believe you when you tell me I won’t believe you? I don’t fucking believe you” Nerva responds.

“....Wait which part do you not believe?” Adam asks, stopping in his tracks due to his confusion.

“....T-the… first damn thing. Wait...no? I.....fuck, I lost track.”

Now the two of them are standing there with confused looks on their faces trying to understand what happened. It’s kinda funny to look at. I hold my laughs in though to tell them that we’re here. Hopefully Nerva will stop asking questions now because I already blocked the whole Kevin thing.

“Guys, it doesn’t matter, we’re here. Adam make sure you got the head ready.” I tell them.

We make our way into Dragon’s Descent and upon entering see a familiar site. There are two guys fighting in the bar area as people are crowded around them cheering. Jesus do people just fight here 24/7 or something? We awkwardly make our way past the crowd to get to the secretary’s desk. We get there to see Willow behind the desk filling out papers.

“What’s up, bitch?” Nerva greets walking up to the front desk.

She’s still too short to see over the desk though so she jumps to sit on the desk with her legs towards us and turns her head to look at Willow.

“Please get off my desk, Nerva.” Willow requests in a monotone voice without looking up from her paper.

“Not until I get my fucking money.” Nerva retorts.

Willow sighed in response. Shelooks up to see Adam and I. I motion for Adam to show her the Yero’s head and he does so putting the head on her desk.

“Yep. That’s a Yero head all right. Ok I’ll give you all your payment. By the way, where's Warren? Don’t tell me he’s dead.” Willow questions.

“No he’s fine. He’s just doing stuff.” I answer.

“Hopefully shaving that beard is one of them” Willow says half-jokingly.

Poor Warren man, everybody is dissing the beard.

“Bitch, you're just jealous cause you can’t grow one.” Nerva interjects.

“Yes, Nerva, I am extremely jealous of not being able to look like a homeless man.” Willow responds sarcastically.

I don’t think Nerva picked up on that though. She now has this confident look on her face like she just made Willow confess.

“Anyway, here’s your money. Sort it out amongst yourselves to make sure you each get a fair cut.” Willow states placing a bag of coins onto the desk.

“Um is there any way that we can get some more money? We had to do a lot more than just fight the monster. We got shot at by gangsters and getting shot at is not a pleasant experience” Adam inquires.

“Sorry Adam but we can only pay for the job done. Anything else that you went through cannot be considered relevant. The money comes from the village or city that posted the mission so we can only give their money to you. Also, gangsters, huh? What happened to you guys?” Willow asks.

“We took out the Yero but then a bunch of gangsters showed up asking for it. We then...handled them.” I answered.

“I fucking killed them.” Nerva adds.

“It was horrifying. . .” Adam expresses.

“Sorry you guys went through that. Hopefully you’ll be luckier on your next adventure. You guys want to start your next one now?” she asks.

Oh hell nah. I’m not going to do another adventure for as long as I can. By that I mean until someone makes me. I just want to go back to my room to become one with my books. That or sleep. Maybe I can do both, like read until I sleep. Oooh or sleep until I read. I have no idea how that would work but I’ll figure it out.

“Nah we’re good for now thanks for offering.” I say to her.

“Yeah, I’m done almost dying for a while. Maybe forever.” Adam voices.

“I’m down for another fucking mission. You guys are fucking party poopers. Fine, I’ll just kick it at Adam’s house.” Nerva states.

“Wait, what?” Adam asks with a scared look on his face.

“You fucking heard me. I want some more of that good ass tea your mom makes.” Nerva responds.

“Please don’t. My home is my only refuge.”

“Now it’s my fucking refuge. Don’t be such a pussy it’ll be fine. Your mom needs more bad bitches to hang out with anyway.”

Adam turns to me. I think he wants me to help. I won’t.

“Don’t be sad, man, you’re going home with a girl. I’m sure it’s what you always wanted.” I say in an attempt to comfort.

“Yeah with a real girl--not Nerva.” Adam quickly retorts.

Adam immediately realized the mistake he made as he turned towards Nerva to see she has an extremely angry look on her face. Yep he’s definitely getting punched in the nuts again or maybe he’ll just get murdered. He turns back towards me making puppy dog eyes in the hope that I would try to assuage her anger. Once again I will not help. Luckily Willow interrupts what could become a crime scene.

“Guys, as fun as it is watching you all--can you please get out of here now? You got your money and a line is starting to form.” Willow says.

“Oh, sorry about that. Come on guys, let’s leave.” I suggest while I grab the bag of money and put it in my pocket.

Nerva gets off the desk but won’t stop staring at Adam with murderous intent. Adam’s eyes dart everywhere looking at everything but Nerva, sweating profusely now. I walk back to the bar area with Adam walking really close to me perhaps in the hopes that I would protect him. Nerva is walking right next to Adam, staring with furrowed eyes. Yep once we get out of here Adam is dead. I hope they don’t ask me to attend the funeral. We made our way to the front door when a group of people came through it. I didn’t pay much attention to them until I saw an evil looking power ranger. Oh snap, it’s Will. His group was about to pass ours until Will and I made eye contact. We both stop making everyone in our respective parties stop as well. Now our two groups are facing each other.

“Oh, hey, Will.”

“Oh, hey, Quincy. Guys, this is the second hero I told you about.” he tells his group.

Suddenly a big buff guy with a cannon on his back emerges. Jesus he’s big. What do they feed him?

“Sweet, it’s the second hero! Wow, you’re right, man--he is black!” the buff man states.

I turn towards Will with a look of disappointment on my face.

“Really, Will?” I say saddened.

“Sorry, I was describing you to the members of my party you haven’t met yet. They didn’t get a good look at you when we left on our adventure. That detail just came out without me thinking.”

“Uh huh” is all I say in response.

While Will and I were having our conversation, I could hear Adam and Nerva interacting with members of his party as we all sort of just spread throughout the bar. At least to areas that’s not where the fighting is. I’m gonna have to see how they interact after I stop talking to Will because knowing them it might not end well. Anyway back to the conversation at hand.

“Who’s the JoJo character?” I ask.

“This is Ryder. You know when Colonus almost exploded? That was him.” Will informs.

“Oh, ok. I almost died during that. Everything around me exploded.” I mention.

“Yeah, I get that a lot. Sorry about that. Had to show my power, you know? Here you want a flashbang?” he offers, pulling a flashbang out of his pocket, nonchalantly.

Oh my God this world has flashbangs. Why is all the modern technology not in the capital? I take the flashbang with a smile on my face because who wouldn’t want a flashbang? I changed my mind, this guy is cool in my book. Wait, his name is Ryder? Oh sweet, that means I can give him a cool nickname like low Ryder or something.

“Ryder! Stop handing weapons to people you don’t know!” A girl with blue hair calls out from the side.

We all turned to see where she called out from. Surprisingly it looks like she and Lilith were talking to Adam before she called out to Ryder. Well I’ll be darned, he’s not only talking to one girl but two at the same time. But knowing him the conversation is probably really awkward since he’s sweating like crazy. I’m definitely going to try to inch my way over there to hear what they’re talking about.

“It’s fine, it’s fine, he’s the second hero Azura!” Ryder assures.

She squints at him as if saying he better not do it again and turns back to her conversation with Lilith and Adam.

She must be the last party member I haven’t met yet. I haven’t really talked to her or Ryder yet but I got the gist of their dynamic. He’s the bombastic one and she tries to minimize all the damage he causes.

“Well, like what Ryder just said, that over there is Azura. She’s a magician and Ryder here is an archer.” Will explains.

“Archer? Since when do archers use cannons?” I inquire.

“I’m a bombardier. We use all the cool stuff. Like bombs, grenades, and more bombs.” he says excitedly.

This guy may be cool in my book but I would never want him to be around any children.

“Ugh, ok. Well I’m a monk, so there’s that. The guy who looks like he’s about to pass out is Adam and the short angry girl is Nerva.” I say pointing to each of them.

Speaking of Nerva, it appears that she’s having a conversation with Remi and Nazuko. That’s her name right? I just remember her being the loli Will owns. Still don’t know how old she is.

“Wasn’t there another guy in your group?” Will asks.

“Yeah that’s Warren. He’s doing his own thing right now so you’ll have to meet him later.” I explain.

“So I’m assuming your group came here to report on their adventure too?”

“Yep. Just got paid. Though it was not as simple as you advertised. I was not able to read during it at all. ” I complain

“Wow such a shame” Will says sarcastically.

Curse you, Will. Why can you not understand how important it is for one to read?

“Books? You got a test to study for?” Ryder asks.

“Nah it’s for fun.” I answer.

“For fun? I didn’t know anyone besides Azura did that. People have strange ways of entertaining themselves.” Ryder remarks.

“Ryder, you like to blow stuff up for your entertainment” Will says, coming to my defense.

“Yeah but that’s a normal thing though. But books? That has to be a niche.” Ryder argues.

Well this confirms that Ryder is not one to come to for an intellectually stimulating conversation. Seems like I would get along with Azura more.

“Hey Ryder, you mind reporting on our success to the front desk? There’s no point in all of us being there.” Will requests.

“Sure thing no problem.” he responds walking away from us to head to the secretary.

“Now Quincy it is time for us to converse.” Will says happily.

“Ugh what about?” I question.

“I gotta tell you all the cool stuff I did. Then you can tell me what happened on your adventure.”

Will and I sit at a nearby table so that we can tell each other about our adventures. He tells me about how he became a thot slayer, a phantom thief, a mafia boss, and a demon slayer. He seemed to have fun bragging about his accomplishments so that’s good for him I suppose. After he told me about his escapades I told him about mine and how it was not the super easy adventure I expected. I skipped over the parts where I brutally killed someone. I have a feeling that Will would have chastised me about it. I still don’t even know how to feel. I feel nothing. No regret, guilt, or anything. The guy was a scumbag and tried to kill me. Maybe I’m forcing myself not to think too deeply about it. All I know is to keep it to myself. Will may be super sarcastic and a borderline sociopath at times but the man still has morals so I want to avoid a confrontation.

“Not as lewd as I expected with the whole body switching thing.” Will laments after I told him my story.

“Don’t worry, Will, if we got on an adventure together I’ll be sure to maximize the lewd for you.” I joke.

“Yeah, no. Nazuko makes things awkward enough”

Oh no because of our conversation I forgot all about Adam and Nerva. I still want to eavesdrop on their conversations before it’s too late. I just know it’ll be comedy gold

“Will, you want to get to know my party members?” I ask.

“Sure, why not? From what you told me they seem like quite the bunch”

“Ok follow me but don’t say anything. I just want us to watch. Trust me it’ll be worth it. But be prepared to break up a fight. Nerva is more than likely to start one.” I instruct.

To be honest I’m surprised Nerva hasn’t started one already while Will and I were talking. We inch our way over to where Nerva is and see that she’s still talking to Remi and Nazuko. Wait isn’t Nerva angry at Remi for not letting her join her adventure group? We look and see that Nerva and Nazuko are laughing while Remi looks like she’s about to murder the both of them.

“Then I said. . . .You’s a bitch!” Nerva says chortling hard after that.

Nazuko chuckles and responds,

“Ah it’s funny because it’s true.”

“I am this close to sicking my wolf on both of you.” Remi says angrily while almost making her right index finger and thumb connect.

I think Nazuko and Nerva have been bonding over their hatred of Remi. Poor girl.

“Hey, you wanna hear about the times I stole money out of Remi’s pocket?” Nazuko asks.

“Hell yeah, tell me!” Nerva answers.

“What do you mean times? You only stole from me once and that was when we met” Remi interjects.

“Yeah, that was the first time. The second time was just now” Nazuko says, pulling out a bag of coins.

Remi immediately feels her back pocket realizing that her bag of coins was indeed gone.

“WHAT!? HOW?! GIVE ME MY MONEY BACK!” she screams at Nazuko.

“HAH! Calm down, here you go--it was just a joke.” Nazuko replies, handing back the bag of coins.

Nerva and Nazuko start to laugh uncontrollably.

Remi is now fuming with anger and hits Nazuko so hard she is knocked out immediately.

“You want some too, Nerva?” Remi threatens.

“Alright, bitch, let’s fucking go! I’ll avenge my friend!” Nerva responds, getting ready to fight.

This is exactly why I went over to eavesdrop on Nerva first. Will and I get in between the both of them so that they won’t kill each other. After some convincing we got them to cool down. Well Remi became chill. Nerva went from burning hot--to I guess warm? What I’m saying is that Nerva still looks like she wants to fight. But luckily a fight hasn’t broken out so that’s a victory.

After ensuring they don’t kill each other Ryder comes back from seeing the secretary.

“Hey, Will, I did it. We have officially completed our first adventure, isn't that great? Sorry it took so long there was a long line. Woah, what happened here?” Ryder asks, pointing at the unconscious Nazuko.

“Remi happened. It’s happened before, don’t worry she’ll be fine” Will asserts.

Suddenly Nerva runs up to Ryder.

“Is that a fucking cannon on your back?” Nerva asks excitedly.

“It sure is! You like? This baby can blow up a whole city” Ryder brags.

“That’s so damn cool. Explosions are fucking awesome.”

“I know right! They’re the best! You are a woman of culture. You’re Nerva, right? You want a flashbang?” He asks, taking another one out of his pocket.

“Oh fuck yeah!” Nera answers, taking it with zeal.

Oh no I have a bad feeling about this.

“Hey, Adam!” Nerva calls out.

She unpins the flashbang, throwing it to where Adam is. He looks up for the flashbang to go off right in front of his face.

“AHHHHHHHHHHHH” he screams falling out of his chair onto the ground.

Azura and Lilith weren’t affected though. Before the flash bang went off Lilith put up her shield and Azura hid behind it as well. Adam was on the other side of the table so he wasn’t able to do so.

“Oh my gosh, are you ok?” Lilith asks, checking up on Adam.

Azura is eyeing Ryder with an angry look on her face.

“What. Did. I. Say!” Azura yells.

“Yeah I got no excuse for that one!” Ryder admits.

“Hey, can I have another one?” Nerva asks.

“I’m going to have to say no, or Azura will kill me” Ryder answers.

“Damn. . .” Nerva mutters.

“Don’t worry, Quincy, he’ll be fine. We did the same thing to the mayor like I told you before” Will says.

Well that was a sight. Even I felt bad for Adam for that one. Luckily Adam seems to be fine like Will said because he gets up back into his chair. Adam seems to regain his composure as he realizes Lilith and now Azura have their arms on his shoulders asking him if he’s alright. Seeing that he’s being touched by two females at the same time he passes out.

“Oh no! Azura, is he ok?” Lilith asks, turning to her.

“I mean he should be fine. Flashbangs don’t make you pass out. I have no idea what happened.” Azura says.

“Don’t worry he’ll be fine. He does that.” I assure them.

“Are you sure? What happened” Lilith questions.

“He can’t function around women.” I answer.

“So that explains his stuttering and sweating.” Azura remarks.

“Oh, I thought those were symptoms of an illness. I didn’t want to ask because I thought it’d be rude” Lilith comments.

I had to laugh at that. Now I wish I was able to hear their whole conversation. I wonder what they talked about. As I was laughing the front door suddenly slammed open making everyone in Dragon’s Descent go quiet. It’s Marianne standing in the doorway.

“Good you two are both here. You two gotta come with me.” She announces.

“What’s the matter?” Will inquires.

“Emperor Marcus wants to meet you two at once,”