The journey to the dungeon was moving slower than it did last time. Ajax soon learned that one of the things that buying a pass or a boost got you was a certain level of comfort. Despite being more than able to push through for two days without rest at a decent speed the trip there would take a full three days with them making stops for the night at the same places they did on their way back last time.

Having not much to do on the road beside playing with his mana Ajax also inspected the bags split between the two new members of the team. It took him a while to realize that he was suddenly very grateful for not having to be the sole porter for the team as with all the new things the team brought with them this time he would have to be constantly using his mana to carry it all.

Ajax didn’t know that the reason there was so much new stuff wasn’t because the team went on a shopping spree. It was because both of the porters had brought their own armor and weapons, not only that but they were also full plate fighters.

“So what did you do in the last few days?” the team’s scout asked him after he had gone through the whole team with the same question.

The interactions from the rest of the team was a lot different this time around than their last trip out to the dungeon. The answers varied wildly, from a simple ‘just relaxed’ to a ‘I remember going to a bar to drink that first night and waking up four days later, you’ll probably get a fuller picture of what happened listening to rumors on the street than I can recall’.

Bobby answer , “A gentleman never tells.” followed by an in depth description of his conquests had a variety of reactions but all the members seemed used to his attitude. One of the archer’s never-ending gushing about how cute his new nephews were had everyone glaring at the scout for subjecting them to all of it, Ajax had never been more glad photos weren’t a thing here yet.

“I relaxed for the first few days and helped out my sister-in-law with some mana. Then I did some light hunting before I got word about the delve.” he answered, seeing no need to keep it hidden.

“You can give others your mana?” Nelly asked in a serious tone, considering the implications this was one of the things he should have told his team about. It also drew the attention of everyone else.

“Nope.” he answered but decided to expand when he saw the gazes turned his way. “I told you my sister and her friend are traders. They happen to be looking for buyers for one or two mana crystals they acquired so they let me borrow one that deaspects the mana you feed it. Not like I can wear it out or anything.”

“Never heard of any traders that would allow a mage to take their merchandise on a firing range to practise, family or not.” Donny said, his tone making it clear it was a joke about merchants and not an implication.

“They probably wouldn’t either,”he snickered along with the rest. “Kate’s a healer in training with the Union.”

“Kate the feline beastkin?” Nelly asked.

“Yeah, do you know her?” Kate never mentioned knowing anyone from his team before.

“Not directly, my son is a few years ahead of her in the Union training and he had her as an understudy a few times.” Despite the thousands of people in the city there were few mages, of them those that were training to be healers were a small minority so they formed a small community.

Seeing as they would only be traveling for the next two days most of the team didn’t head off to sleep straight away. Ajax had been messing around with his mana all day so he was tired enough to go straight to sleep.

The next morning saw more than half the team with hangovers as they started back on the road. As the journey continued Ajax noticed that Devin had gotten more included in the group dynamic. He was one of the ones with the worst hangover that morning so clearly he had bonded with the other over drinks.

When the second night went much like the first Ajax could have sworn he saw the vein in Jones temple throbbing the next morning. Despite that he said nothing at all until they reached the dungeon village when he gave the lot of them a stern talking to about not drinking before heading to a dungeon, despite the usual team discipline Devin just seemed to have this social way about him and clearly wasn’t as informed about dungeons.

On the third morning however everyone had a serious expression as they headed off towards the clearing that housed the dungeon arch. It wasn’t long before they entered the same wide open space filled with other adventurers all waiting for their turn. A section Ajax hadn’t noticed last time was the merchants that had opened a stall on the far side.

“I can’t imagine those merchants making any decent profits. Who comes unprepared to a dungeon and gets their supplies from them?” he asked.

“The things they brought with them aren’t for selling” Nelly told him. “They are here to get the first chance to buy things from adventurers right as they exit the dungeons. All their merchandise is there in case they need to do a trade with a team instead of an outright buy.”

Now that he knew her husband was a trader it made a lot more sense as to why Nelly was so well informed on pretty much everything. A few days with his sister and Alana saw his head filled with lots of fun facts about whatever market they were exploring, being married to a merchant and having the memory of a mage would eventually turn someone into a walking encyclopedia.

Things developed much like last time with all sorts of teams coming to give Jones a small list of things they had exclusive contracts for. Being the recognised best delver team around with years spent here meant they had a lot of teams they got along with.

One thing that was different was that nobody made any jokes about them carrying the two new porters, Ajax suspected that this was because of the matching shields they now sported that showed what Ajax assumed to be their family sigil.

“Looks like it’s the third iteration.” the scout announced not more than a minute after they entered the first floor.

“Fuck sake.”

“Not again.”

“This is the third time in the last ten runs.”

Even Ajax groaned along with the rest of the team. Out of every iteration only the third one had a consistent patch of trees, in the same spot, that weren’t infused with mana. As such the baron had enough leeway to not only have an exclusive buyout on them, even if it was at market prices, but there was a standing order that all second floor teams were to harvest.

Everyone understood why this was done, they all even agreed it was a good thing as the wood was used to build long-lasting houses for the city and the surrounding villages. It wasn’t even all that time consuming. The problem was that it was a logistical nightmare, there were quite a few trees that were collectable and they would not only take up a lot of space but also add a lot of weight that had to be carried for the entire trip to the second floor.

“There are three bosses around the area with the trees so the two of you will have your pick of the bunch.” Jones informed the two porters.

The archers, hunters and scouts made quick work of everything that happened to be in their way, Ajax never even got to see a live animal the whole trip through the trees.

“There is a bear, a fox and a wolf boss.” the scout explained to the duo after they got on their armor as everyone else got to work chopping trees. “There is no point in choosing to fight the bear, it's the strongest of the three by far. The real choice comes down to what you’ll do better against: a faster but weaker foe take the fox, otherwise the wolf.

“We’ll fight the fox.”

“We’ll fight the wolf”

Both of them spoke at the same time eliciting a laugh from most of the team. After a quick staredown Devin seemed to go with Jaclyn’s choice of fighting the fox.

“I was also hoping” Jaclyn started while approaching Jones “could I also ask you to evaluate me against the wolf boss after?”

“This wasn’t part of the deal,” he stated.

“I know” she sheepishly answered “I’ll cover the extra co-.”

“It’s not about the cost” Jones cut her off. “I don’t mind doing it so long as your dad or anyone else doesn’t have a problem with it after the fact.”

“He won't,” she shook her head. “He only said that if I want to do some adventuring on the side it will all be without his name propping me up. That’s why it isn’t part of the main request, so it won;t influence it in any way.”

For the first time since he joined the Collectors Ajax saw Jones glances at one of the hunters, the woman gave him a shallow nod that led Ajax to think she had a truth detecting skill. He also thought back to a few times when they asked him questions last time and noticed that she was always out of his line of sight which made him thankful for some of the ‘technically truthful’ answers he gave.