Chapter 8: A Hunting We Will Go
"Huh? You're back so soon?" said Henri. Startled as she saw Walder walking through the main hall of ship.
She was sitting in a lounge area on the main floor of the ship, having decided to make use of the expansive wall and have the ship re-purpose a portion of the wall for use as a monitor for her games.
Walder laughed.
"What? Unhappy to see your hubby's return?"
A blushing Henrika rolled her eyes.
"No... I just I figured you'd be down at the guild for longer. I've had friends who've joined the guild so they could use guild jobs to make up for the experiential requirements for their degrees. They all told me that getting registered at the guild takes an eternity and a half."
"Well, luckily I did most of the tedious on the way here." said Walder.
"Oh, okay...cool, I guess." said Henri.
She looked down and then looked up at the screen that had been painted on the wall. Watching as her game avatar was knocked into a precipice by some kind of charging monster.
"Want to join in?" asked Henri.
Walder shook his head.
"Nah, maybe later…." said Walder. He wanted to change out of the clothes he was wearing. In his old world joining an adventurer or hunter guild meant showing off your skills which was why he'd gone dressed in armor. Walder hadn't expected that the heroes guild would have no such requirements.
As he was about to head towards the hallway that would lead to his quarters he halted mid-step and turned around.
"Uh...I figured I might head into town, take in a few sights, and get a feel for our new stomping ground. I don't suppose you'd want to join me?"
Henri paused the game she was playing looking up at the ceiling with a thoughtful look on her face.
"....Sure."
Walder and Henri had a night out on the town. They used the internet to search up ten of Odilia's night time hotspots, and visited the two that could be gotten into without spending an exorbitant amount of cash, or having connections.
While they were in the middle of doing that, Henri spotted that a movie that she'd wanted to see was playing in theatres and they did that to. Afterwards they went to a restaurant that was rated decent and talked about nothing consequential.
Overall, it was a pleasant evening.
Walder was slightly disappointed when they got back to the ship and Henri decided to go sleep in her own quarters that night, but that was a trivial thing. His disappointment wasn't even about the sex. Walder realized that he probably was what some would term as a lonely sleeper.
If he could ever dare sit down with a shrink and talk about his issues, he might realize that he was actually somewhat afraid of sleeping alone. He was also afraid of the dark.
In his past life a majority of the bad things that happened to him happened during the night time while no one else was around, and there was nothing besides him but endless darkness.
It didn't help that his past self had spent a nightmarish eleven years living growing up inside a sensory deprivation tank. Repeatedly having his mind shattered by alien shapes and figures that they'd broadcast into his brain, as the cult that raised him tried to mold him into a proper vessel for their god.
Two days after his and his wife's little date, was the day that Walder set off for his first ever job as a guildsman. Technically speaking, since he'd been reborn as the silkpants fifth son of a major family, this was also his first job...period.
He got up, he showered, he dressed. Instead of the lightly armored long coat from yesterday, he wore a coat he'd been designing ever since they left Bellerose. This red and brown leather coat looked like an ordinary longcoat, albeit slightly thick and stiff, however in reality the coat could stop blades, crossbow bolts, and most light firearms, and had some extra features in case of emergencies.
The coat had more tech installed inside it than your average electronics store, and technically classified as an ultra-light stellar vessel.
Until Walder thought of a better design, or something bad enough happened and the coat ended up getting destroyed, this coat would be his primary work armor for the foreseeable future.
Besides the coat, Walder also made sure he had on a solid pair of armor plated and magnetic soled work boots, and two storage devices filled with the usual load out of adventurer necessities.
Once he had all he needed, he was ready to go. He didn't intend to take the Julianne with him this time. He didn't need to. His first job was at a planet by the name of Nabrok. Nabrok was a dungeon world.
A dangerous planet unsuitable for civilized life, but allowed to stay in its state of perilousness because there was A)usually a great deal of money to be made from that peril, and B) to try and resolve the issue once and for all would mean drawing the ire of some sleeping calamity.
Usually such worlds would be "ground" down by large scale missions from the hero league and various other groups. There would be mass transit ships, basically stellar buses, that could be ridden on for cheap, or even for free.
When everything of worth had been gleaned from the planet it would usually just be downgraded from a dungeon world to a prison world. A dumping site for the galaxy's unsavory types and political persona non grata.
This would be the case until the hero league decided to call in one of their A-listers to have them either finally clear out the world for good, or have them seal away the world and the sleeping calamity living somewhere on or beneath the world's surface.
The point being for dungeon worlds like Nabrok, it wasn't hard to find a ride , if one needed to get there.
Walder was just about to leave the ship when he realized that Henri was loitering in the main lobby waiting for him. For once she was dressed in more than her usual shorts and a sweatshirt.
Instead she wore a dark, black and navy, ensemble. An outfit that was a cross between a school uniform, military uniform, and the body hugging, armored suits, that heroes league agents were known for wearing. At her hips she wore the rectangular storage devices he wore.
"Uh….What's up?" said Walder.
Henri startled, she was constantly being startled. Walder was pretty sure it had something to do with that super human IQ of hers. When his wife got lost in her thoughts, she really, "really" got lost.
"Uh….Hi. I, er...I figured you might want to party up for your first mission, and since each guild license basically allows you to start up your own free company, I figured I might as well be the first member to join...at least just for today."
"..." Walder didn't know what to say to that. Yet again He found himself parsing through his wife's words to get to her actual meaning.
His best guess was that she wasn't entirely certain about whether or not he was up for the task of being a heroes guild hunter, and she wanted to come along to make sure that he didn't go off and die.
Besides being slightly offended as a man who'd personally slain entire solar systems full of cosmic horrors, he was also quite touched by her concern.
By this point in time, him dying wouldn't really affect her, since they were already so far away from their homes that their parents likely wouldn't know for quite some time.
Long enough to make it not matter in the grand scheme of their clans' objectives. Long enough that her becoming a widow likely wouldn't affect her newly gained freedom. Which meant that her wanting to make sure he didn't go out and croak, had to be at least 60% based on sentiment and genuine good will.
"Well..uh...You don't really have to, but if you want to…" said Walder.
She nodded. A determined look in her eye.
"I want to…."
"Alright then...in which case we might as well take the ship." said Walder. Changing his plans because leaving the Julianne behind had originally been intended as a way of being considerate.
For the time being the young couple lived on the ship, and taking their home into battle with him had seemed somehow rude. After all, what if Henri had other plans for the evening...
If Henri was going to be going with him, then his concerns were no longer an issue and Walder was free to make use of the convenience that came with having one's own vehicle.
The distance between Olamide and Nabrok was only a few hours, and being able to make the flight in the Julianne would make for a much more comfortable commute.
Jules flew the ship, and the two human occupants killed time by talking and watching some tv shows on a streaming service.
They left Olamide in the morning, and reached Nabrok by three in the afternoon. The brown-green planet looked like massive dung ball from space. Covered in swirling blue mist.
"Ah...I guess we're here." said Walder.
"Nn….Right. Let's go then." said Henri.
Reaching the surface of the dungeon world was slightly different compared to landing on the surface of a regular. Large vessels weren't allowed to land. To keep dangerous lifeforms from sneaking aboard the larger ships, hiding and bringing disaster when that ship landed elsewhere, any vessel larger than a small shuttle would be expected to stay aloft.
The Julianne would fly in low orbit, following the holding pattern of all the other ships that cluttered Nabrok's sky. Henri and Walder made their way down to the planet's surface in one of his prototype light craft, a rocket-dinghy that had been the only he'd had sitting in the ship's launch bay.
After a slightly rocket flight, Walder's feet finally touched Nabrok's soil. The rocket-dinghy flew back towards the Julianne while Walder and Henri took in their surroundings.
"Wow…." said Walder.
"This place looks like a literal garbage heap…."
"I know, right? Well, we might as well get started."
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