"Becky, I cannot possibly fit any more food into my storage rings," Bridgette compined. "I really appreciate it, you've outdone yourself, but I promise we'll be fine for meals."

  Alice, Bridgette, and Colin stood in the cookhouse, Becky having spent the previous three days cooking as many different meals as she possibly could for the trio to pack in their storage rings. One pleasant discovery they had made over the previous year was that food pced into a storage ring remained in stasis, keeping the exact same temperature and freshness when retrieved. It made for a wonderful way to take high-quality meals when out on patrol, at the expense of storage space.

  "Are you sure?" Becky gnced back and forth between the three. "How about you, Colin? Any more desserts I can sneak into your storage space?"

  "Becky, I already have three chocote cakes you baked me. I promise I'm good," Colin protested. "I've got so many treats I might even share them with these two," he gestured toward Alice and Bridgette. "If they're nice to me."

  Travis walked up from behind the three, ughing. "Becky really does go overboard when keeping us fed, but it's so great to have her meals when you're out in the middle of nowhere. The team really appreciates everything you do, Becks. Life on patrol would be a lot rougher without home cooked meals."

  Travis West stood behind them, arms casually crossed on his muscur chest wrapped in a dark leather shirt. He wore leather pants, with two rge daggers tucked into a belt around his waist and a quiver of arrows on his shoulder. Travis was the town's only rogue so far, having unlocked his css in the aftermath of the troll attack the previous year. His skill at sneaking through terrain and ambushing monsters had been a huge help in clearing the surrounding area, and he had gained a lot of maturity in that time as well. He now led a small adventuring group, and they had been enjoying the fruits of their success, having leveled up twice and gained a good amount of loot in the process.

  Bridgette turned around and gave Travis a friendly slug on the arm. Travis had been just another boy at their high school back in the day, a mild-mannered kid with a shock of bck hair and quiet eyes. He'd been part of the football team, which is how he found his way into Daniel's orbit originally, but unlocking his css as a rogue had sparked something new in the young man, which he embraced wholeheartedly. Travis was a fantastic help around the town and the first to volunteer for any dangerous missions. He had led a small group up to Denison two months prior, fighting his way through nearly forty goblins over the course of an hour to rescue a small group of people held captive. He and his squad had barely survived, with Travis taking the worst of the injuries. Travis likely would have died, only surviving due to the fact that one of women they rescued from the goblins had spontaneously unlocked her css as a healer and was able to save his life as he y bleeding from a final attack from the goblin chieftain.

  That woman, Tonya, had gone on to join Travis's adventuring squad and now the two were inseparable. More than once, Bridgette had thought to warn them about the dangers of adventuring with a lover, but fuck it - she wasn't one to talk. There was no way that Bridgette was going anywhere without Alice, and knew Alice felt the same. Besides, it made nights in camp a lot more fun to have someone snugly to keep you warm. Tonya had also become friends with Alice, bonding over their shared healing abilities, although Tonya's own healing abilities - and her css in general - were significantly less lewd than Alice's own.

  "Travis, just the man I wanted to see." Bridgette smiled broadly, looking at the rogue.

  Travis grinned back, "What's up, Bridgette? Need someone to tell you which way the monsters are, after all of your zing about? I can even offer you a few combat pointers, if you've forgotten how to use that tree-cutter you call a weapon."

  "Ha, ha. Your wit kills me. Although, you're not entirely wrong, to be honest. We had pnned to head west, thinking it was probably a good direction to go in order to find new threats. Thoughts?" Travis thought for a minute, considering the question seriously.

  "Yea, I'd tend to agree. If you're gonna be gone for two months, I'd say probably say two weeks in each direction for travel, and a solid month of roving around for whatever bullshit you decide to get up to in the meantime. You could make it most of the way to the Rocky Mountains if you go west and keep up a good pace, so yea, I would recommend west. North you could probably make it up to the border with Canada, but I just don't know much about that area. East is cities and that's just not worth the hassle. South? You could do south if you wanted, but honestly west sounds more fun. Plus, it's my name! West is always the answer." He grinned, amused by his own joke.

  Meanwhile, Alice stood next to Becky, having just handed over her map of the town and using her system interface to delegate temporary control of the area. "You're going to do fine, Becky. Everyone knows you and loves you, Travis and Jacob will be around in case there's any problems that need violence, and you already take care of everyone as it is. I can't think of anyone else I'd trust more to run the pce."

  Becky sighed, holding onto the map and gncing at it. "I know ... and I appreciate that. I just don't enjoy the responsibility. It's so much easier to take care of people when you know someone else has to make the tough decisions."

  "I know, but that's why you'll do so great. The decisions you make will be the best ones you possibly can." Alice stepped forward, hugging the other girl tightly. "We'll be back in two months, okay? You're going to do great."

  Becky hugged Alice back, sniffling. "You just make sure you bring that reckless girl of yours back home safe, too. All three of you, home safe. We need you all, so much. But go on and get out of here, I need to get back to baking before my buns burn." Kyle winked over Becky's shoulder as she turned quickly, wiping at her eyes. He stepped over to Alice, hugging her awkwardly with his remaining arm.

  "Thank you, Alice. I'll make sure she's okay. She's always hated to say goodbye, and we know it's so dangerous for you guys out there. Good luck and come home safe." Alice hugged him back and nodded, "Thanks Kyle. See you guys in two months."

  Colin and Bridgette said their goodbyes as well, the trio finally departing from the cookhouse. Travis walked with them to the edge of the vilge square, where he stopped.

  "Good luck, guys. Kick some ass. I can't wait to hear what crazy shit you guys up to, I want all the stories."

  The three grinned at him, Colin ughing. "What a fucking life we live, huh? Thanks buddy, and make sure nobody goes into my house. It's locked up, but there's a lot of experiments that might explode if tampered with, so better safe than sorry." Travis bnched, gncing toward Colin's house.

  Alice gred at the boy, surprise on her face, "You keep explosives in my vilge?"

  "Rex, Alice. I can do far more damage with my spells than with the chemicals in my b. It's no big deal." The two turned, walking out of town, bickering about the wisdom of storing explosive chemicals in a residential neighborhood and what, if any, safety precautions Colin took to prevent his house from blowing up.

  Bridgette shook her head, gncing at the two as they walked down the road, then back to Travis. "Thanks T. See you in a while!" She turned and trotted down the road after Alice and Colin.