Chapter 40: 40: Settling into the Month

Having spent some time with Alix and Nao, even eating dinner with them, Kaitlyn bade them farewell, waving to their window from outside the inn. 

With that though, Kaitlyn meandered her way home, staring off into the now dark night sky, settling back into the routine of her life. 

And so... the last month everyone had before they had to set off to the monster wave blew by. 

Throughout this month, everyone settled back into the cycle of their life, taking care of responsibilities while prepping for the upcoming expedition that would dominate the next month or so of their life. 

Kaitlyn, as per the usual, lived life... free. Visiting her new favorite cafe on an almost daily basis, watching the cafe grow from a small establishment to one of the most famous cafes in the capital city of the Kingdom. 

Through the month, Kaitlyn also spent a vast amount of time accompanying the Ass Clap Associates, helping them on their quests and guiding their training. With Rachel in particular, Kaitlyn continued giving one on one training to her, with the two going out to dinner afterward every single time. 

The Ass Clap Associates as a party blazed through their quests building up a solid reputation in the Adventurer’s Guild, with their reputation being centered around extermination quests. With this, every time the party pushed open the doors to the guild, voices would begin to whisper. 

“It’s them again...”

“Don’t you hear? They’re the ones who take all the extermination quests...”

“Do you think they’ll clap my ass if I ask?”

“Look, look, Kaitlyn’s with them again!”

Through the extinction of almost all the monsters around the capital, the various members of the party all became bona-fide S-Ranked adventurers, proving that they deserved their earlier bestowed ranks. 

One quest, during the extermination of a group of mutated wolves, Josephine muttered to Oliver while Rachel was asking Kaitlyn a question, “They’re still not dating, right? Rachel would tell you before me...”

“No...” Oliver murmured back with a light sigh, “Even though they’ve gone on a few... ‘dinner as friends’. At least, I haven’t heard anything, maybe ask Damien?”

Staring at Damien for a second who was trying to hit a bug with a throwing knife, Josephine retorted, “No. If Rachel tells Damien before either of us I’ll just jump off a building...”

“I guess...”

Beyond the otherworlders who were working their asses off trying to improve themselves, Jayce and Sasha, having no expeditions to be a part of, returned to their daily lives in the palace: meeting nobles, having audiences, passing laws, and just leading the nation in general. 

Jayce however, still a bit worried that his physical condition wasn't good enough after the previous dungeon expedition, began working out more, going from a few times a week to every day of the week. 

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“Fuck... the... Paperwork.” Jayce panted while on the ground, his muscles covered in sweat as he pushed himself up for one more pushup, “Gotta... be able to... use my blessing.”

Nearby, Sasha, eating a few cookies while drinking tea, watched on as Jayce worked out, pondering whether or not she needed to increase her own workouts or not. 

‘I should be fine...?’

‘My body doesn’t lose muscle very easily so it’s not hard to maintain...’

‘Jayce is unlucky though, his muscles degenerate very quickly. If only he could’ve had just a little bit of Dexter’s luck, it’s unreasonable that his muscles practically increase from him doing nothing at all.’

Dexter though, with all his muscles, wasn’t using any of them through the entire month. Spending almost the entire month behind a desk, Dexter filled out copious amounts of paperwork in an effort to sort out all the logistical details about the newly discovered dungeon before he had to set off for Chelsea’s. 

In the middle of the month, a day where the winter chill permeated everything, Dexter, sorting through a report done by one of the investigation teams, one that studied the viability of repurposing the dungeon for a mining outpost, let out a long sigh. Turning towards one of the windows in his office, he looked down to one of the training fields, an expression of deep longing surfacing on his face like a whale coming up for air. 

“I wish I could just... Do a workout! Not do this... work... Why did I decide to become the Guild Master...”

The people under Dexter, namely, Nao and Alix, having finished the expedition left the town not long after they received their treasure. 

Nao, being the head of a sword school, rushed back like the wind, returning to attend to the duties that he had neglected for the past couple of weeks. Back at the school though, Nao was almost drowning in work with his paperwork, his group of students that studied under him, his own sword skills, along with preparations for the much longer expedition coming up in Chelsea’s territory. 

Contrasting Nao though was Alix, living a free life similar to Kaitlyn, Alix wandered the Kingdom, spending most of their time hunting down the largest most dangerous beasts that the guild discovered. Hunting these beasts, Alix partnered with a number of other S-Ranked adventurers, adventurers that would also be making the journey to Chelsea’s territory later in the month. 

Yet, as the days passed by, peace abounded as the hidden undercurrents continued to surge. 

The Varis Empire, having collapsed after their secret ploy to spark another war was uncovered, had all of its territory divided up, with all their citizens joyful that prosperity could return to their lives. 

Back at Chelsea’s territory, the Duchess of the northern tundra, the territory was busy beyond belief as they prepared for the largest monster wave expedition of the past decade, building and preparing lodging, gathering supplies, and sending invitations.  

With the snow falling, the sky blotted out by dark clouds that let little light hit the earth below, the ducal estate had a little bit of winter luck beside them as almost every single invite was responded to with an affirmative response. 

But in the shadows, more and more troubling forces began to gather, hoping to make use of the monster wave for their own purposes.