Hisoka and Aki drove the distance back to the inn without trouble. They left the car in the parking place near the wall and went on foot to return to their lodgings. After a short walk they returned to the tavern.

"Would you mind checking on Misumi for me?" asked Hisoka.

"Alright," Aki said before she went upstairs to do as she was asked.

[Shit, now that I think about it, I haven't replenished Misumi's 5.56 in a while, I'm sure she must be running low by now.] Hisoka realized. Unfortunately he had spent all of his MP on the 6.5 for training that day. He made a mental note to get more ammo for Misumi the next morning.

Aki came back down the stairs, and Misumi followed. Hisoka's expression brightened seeing his companion in better shape. Seeing his smile she lightly blushed and looked away. They both arrived at the table Hisoka was occupying and sat down.

"How are you feeling Misumi?" asked Hisoka.

"I'm feeling better thank you. I am very sorry for the trouble I caused you last night."

Hisoka had a soft expression and said, "Misumi, you didn't cause me any problems. Remember what I said if you have anything bugging you or causing you pain, be sure to talk to me. Bearing such heavy emotions alone is hard."

Misumi nodded slightly at the sentiment, "Did you take Aki and teach her to shoot?"

"Yes I did, she caught on quickly," Hisoka replied.

"I'm sorry I couldn't come with you," Misumi said sadly.

"Don't worry about it, we all have rough days," was Hisoka's response.

A waitress made her way to their table and they ordered dinner together. As per usual, Hisoka insisted on picking up the bill.

"Do we have any plans for the time being?" asked Aki.

Hisoka thought about it for a moment, "Truthfully, I haven't thought too far into the future. I suppose the most simple option would be to raise guild rank. Misumi and I are at rank E, but I assume as you haven't taken any quests you are still at F-rank. If I remember correctly you should be able to take on quests of our rank with us by being in our party. What do you guys think about raising our rank to D?"

Misumi had no issues with this course of action, and Aki happily nodded at the thought of taking on quests higher than F-rank.

Their meals arrived and they ate in peaceful silence. When they finished their meals, they returned to their rooms. Aki went on first, while Hisoka counted up the exact payment from his coinage, and Misumi waited for him. After leaving the payment, Hisoka followed by Misumi went to their rooms. As Hisoka neared his room, Misumi took the initiative.

Misumi surprised Hisoka with a warm embrace. He fox-like ears perked up and she whispered to him, "Thank you."

Hisoka silently returned her embrace and softly stroked her hair, causing her tail to wave slightly.

"Any time," Hisoka replied looking into her eyes.

They stood locked in an embrace, gazing into each other's eyes, Hisoka's soft kind eyes and Misumi's darkly colored eyes like an abyss. Misumi appeared to be contemplating something, but broke the embrace and went off to her room, giving Hisoka one last warm smile. Hisoka felt his heart melt seeing such a warm expression on her face in contrast to her hollow eyes just a day previously.

[I won't just protect her physically, I vow to protect her smile as well.] Hisoka resolved himself seeing her disappear into her room. He went into his room and sat on the bed.

"Well, I've got two weapon summons today, and I'll be damned if I waste them."

He contemplated what he needed most while laying all of his personal weapons before himself. He gazed at the neatly oriented weapon assortment, His MK23 being like the gem of a crown to the bunch. There sat his old Scar-L, His VR-60, and his trusty .44. He could always stockpile sidearms, but he felt something new might be a nice addition. He contemplated for a moment, before making up his mind.

He saw the familiar light form into many shapes, before solidifying and hardening into two grey rifles and 6 magazines between them. These were the Barrett Rec7 chambered in 6.8 SPC, a harder hitting cartridge than the 5.56, while being lighter than a 7.62 and not bearing too extreme of a recoil jump even with the more powerful round. The weapons were still on the AR platform, so he planned to gift one to Misumi to replace her 5.56, and take the other for himself. He stored all of the new toys in his Bag of Holding and went over the ammo costs. Following the rules of the ammo summons, it was 10 MP for a 30 round mag, and 15 for a box of 50 cartridges.

Some time having passed since he exhausted his MP, he noted that it had regenerated to 20. It seemed along with a capacity boost, the regeneration speed was slightly boosted as well. He used the MP to summon 2 more magazines for the Barretts, bringing him up to 8 magazines to split between them. Tomorrow he would summon four more magazines giving each of them 6 magazines, retiring the old 5.56 rifles to storage for the foreseeable future, and possibly summoning a few boxes of 6.8 for the future. He would likely have some use for the 5.56 rifles in the future, but for now he decided it'd be a waste to spend MP to replenish the rifles.

~~~

The cloaked man had followed the tracks all the way to the city gate. He paid the high toll to enter, noting to have his client reimburse him for the troubles. He left his horse at a stable and went about finding lodgings for the time being.

He happened upon a bustling tavern with an integrated inn, and after passing through the drunken crowds he made it to the reception desk. At the desk sat a young man reading a book. The young man spotted him and immediately put down the book and spoke to the customer.

"Hello, sir would you like to rent a room? it is 1 silver and 5 copper coins per night," spoke the receptionist.

"Hmm, 7 days please," politely replied the cloaked man. The man paid 10 silver and 5 copper and received a card that was explained to be a meal card. The cloaked man retired for the night to his room at the end of the hall on the 2nd floor.

~~~

Hisoka and his companions woke up bright and early and went for breakfast, where they enjoyed the usual meal of fresh eggs and bread. Halfway through his meal, Hisoka noticed a cloaked man walk into the tavern. The cloaked man took a long inquisitive look at Hisoka, before finding a table and ordering a meal. Hisoka attributed it to his odd combat gear, which earned him a few glances from other adventurers around town. Finishing their meal, they went towards the town's guild.

There was quite a ruckus going on. Many adventurers were gathered listening to the speech of a guild employee.

"As of now, there is an army of over 5000 undead beings within 10 kilometers of the town of Zulich, and past it Nettor. From there they will have free reign of Heartwell, before making it to this town of Feyreightor. Here, we live in a walled city that is defended by a legion of guards, both on the wall and within the city. Those aforementioned towns do not have such luxuries, with some of them lacking a guard force and entirely relying on adventurers.

These towns will fall underneath the onslaught of the undead. From reports we have received, this particular undead army is made up of zombies and skeletons. Zombies are easier to deal with; while they lack blood flow it has been found that destroying their vital organs is enough to kill them. The skeletons, while some still retain some of their flesh, have no internal organs. The only way to kill a skeleton is to destroy its head where a partial brain remains, or behead it entirely. We know not how any of these creatures are able to move or even remain in a state of being 'alive' we merely have the details of what they are. The adventurers guild in Feyreightor and surrounding prosperous walled cities will be sending out a combined force of 2500 adventurers, meaning all adventurers will go. This is a mandatory emergency quest.

However, you will still be rewarded. The bounty is 10 silver per undead killed-" the employee gestured tracks of bracelets, "These bracelets are being supplied by the guild for this quest, they will track how many of the entities you killed. They will be checked out individually by adventurer or if you choose to, by a party leader. In the latter case the bracelet will count up kills of the entire party. You must return these bracelets to receive your rewards, and if they aren't you will be demoted two guild ranks. If your rank is not high enough TO be demoted two ranks, you will be banned from the guild for a period of 5 months.

I highly recommend you all prepare. The number of the undead is quite high, and it seems that at least 75% of them are carrying weapons, with reports of 25% of weapon wielders having enchanted weapons from nearby dungeons and labyrinths. It is speculated that these undead are being led from these labyrinths as well as the normal dwellings by an undead being of higher intelligence. Be careful, we do not know what this being might be.

If you would all please register for this quest at the counters and receive your bracelet. Please be advised all other quests are being put on hold, meaning that their rewards are not available at this time," the speaker stepped down from the podium.

The crowd began talking amongst themselves anxiously. Hisoka merely lifted his eyebrow. Outside the guild varying tents were set up to act as additional temporary "counters." Adventurers began mulling about to get in line. Hisoka began walking to one of the booths at the far end that didn't have a line, and his companions followed him. He was greeted at the counter by a pleasant young lady.

"Hello, you're registering for the quest I presume?" although there weren't any other options at the moment she still smiled politely and asked.

"Yes please. I would like to register my party and take one bracelet for the party's collective use if that's alright."

"Certainly sir," the employee smiled and went about jotting down the names and card information of the 3 adventurers before her.

After briefly noting the necessary information, she grabbed a bracelet off the rack standing behind her.

"Here you go sir," she said cheerfully as she handed Hisoka the bracelet.

It was a purplish color, that seemed to have a small glass circle imbedded in it, presumably the display. When he put on the smartwatch looking bracelet, it instantly conformed to snuggly yet not uncomfortably fit his wrist. He tapped the display toyingly and it lit up showing 000. Hisoka nodded and thanked the employee before leaving the stall as a line was forming.

"Alright, first let's buy some more provisions and see about getting some equipment set up for Aki," he said as they walked towards a store displaying dried meat and water provisions. They bought two weeks' worth of supplies and separated it between the two bags of holding, intending to give Aki her share when she received hers. Hisoka dropped the payment of 46 silver for the common commodities on the desk and headed out.

They next went to a weapon shop to buy some practical lethal knives. Hisoka examined the wears and compared it to his knife stolen off a corpse. He was dissatisfied with the designs overall. Too flashy for his taste or not sturdy enough. It seemed some blades depended on magic for their full use, and Hisoka didn't want to wast magic on a melee attack when he could summon ammunition for multiple ranged attacks.

"Excuse me sir do you take commissions for custom works by chance?" Hisoka asked the smith who owned the store.

The muscular man scratched his chin, "It's not often that I receive a request, but I'll do it for proper payment."

Hisoka grinned and began to sketch a U.S. Marine KA-BAR knife on parchment from his bag of holding. He knew not to expect any fancy rubber grips, but he could certainly do it like the old days with a leather wrapped grip. While some of the knives in this shop seemed to be mass-produced and lower quality, the long swords were of very good quality build. Hisoka also recognized a very good quality metal making up some of the swords, black steel. While primarily a gun nut, he had indulged in some fantasy books.

He handed the finished orthographic sketch to the blacksmith, surprising the man with the level of detail and precise dimensioning.

"Judging by your work here, I'm guessing you can create this. Hell, if you'll lower the price you can keep this blueprint and manufacture these for adventurers. It may not be as great as a longsword, but in the world of knives-" he gestured at the selection in the store, "It's unparalleled. I would like if possible, 3 of these in black steel."

Seeing the prospect of a new design to play around with, the blacksmith's eyes sparkled.

"If you let me keep this blueprint, I would certainly be able to make the 3 knives for 6 gold. Make that 7 and I'll wrap the handles in fine Osulsk leather," he said producing a strand of very tough black leather-like material.

Hisoka eagerly produced the 7 gold. After shaking hands with the blacksmith he left the shop. He proceeded to find a leatherworker's shop, where he commissioned a holster, and belt with mag pouches. Judging by the time he was told on the knives and the holster, with the fact he would need to commission sheaths for the blades as well, they would be stuck here for at least 5 days.

He proceeded to finish his shopping with buying Aki a bag of holding, and 4 healing potions, leaving each person with 3 healing potions, and 4 days of provisions for each of them to carry.

They returned to the inn, and the monotonous waiting. Each day Hisoka prepared more munitions and armament for the incoming battle. While waiting during those first two days he produced 4 6.8 mags, 2 slings, 300 rounds of 6.8, 2 slings, and another 20 rounds of 12 gauge. For weapons he created 4 more MK23s, each coming with 3 magazines of .45.

On the third day he set out to collect the finished products. 1 KA-BAR was masterfully created, just as Hisoka thought it would be. The other two would be produced within 4 days.

The knife was sharp enough to cut yourself with just a small touch, and with the material and good design, it should be durable as hell to go with it. He was very satisfied with his new blade.

He collected the holster and commissioned 3 sheaths for the knives. Luckily, the sheaths would be done within 3 days. After delivering the holster to a happy Aki, he set about finishing the wait while spending the days exploring the town and creating more weapons.

By the end of those four days, he had further created:

300x 600 SPC rounds

400x 6.5 rounds

300x 9mm rounds

140x 12 gauge rounds

4x 30 round 6.8 mags

3x 6.5 M110s (including 3x mags each)

3x P226 (including 3x mags each)

2x REC7 (including 3 mags each)

1x Sling

All in all, he now possessed a ludicrous amount of ammunition and quite a few extra firearms. He briefly considered selling the weapons to adventurers, but immediately realized how incredibly stupid that would be. In the end, he bought another bag of holding to keep all of his extra weapons while distributing the ammunition amongst the 3 of them depending on the weapons used. He decided to take an M110 with him to use at the range, while storing the rest in the 2nd bag of holding. He further stored that bag of holding in his original bag of holding.

[I could use that as a makeshift folder system huh?] he thought.

At the end of the 6th day, all of their supplies were gathered. Each of them donned their holsters and knife sheaths, bags of holding filled with ammo, and got in the Polaris to drive to the place of combat.

~~~