Soul Merger

Fortunately Clara had packed a spare raincoat. So she was properly attired when Trevor's group got down to the area. Apparently they'd had to deal with a zombie dragon, which Brian was thrilled about, but Alissa was quite glad to have missed. Still everyone was alive.

Rosalina of course had recovered from her fatigue and was preening. "A glorious victory for us all. And hopefully the end of this little saga." She looked over at the area Magniel was inspecting. "It is over, right?"

The angel nodded. "That soul recycling spell left a fair amount of residue, but it's similar to what happens at a really violent death. I'd be quite surprised if anything could pull itself together from this."

Nostramus finished writing in his notebook. "And with a bit of work I can scrub off the spell runes here so no one can recreate it. I'd say the chances of your city suddenly exploding in apocalyptic fire are back to zero."

"Nice!" Clara gave a wry grin. "Any chance we can get that in something more tangible? Replacing my crossbow's gonna be expensive." That kind of custom job was going to be pretty costly Alissa admitted. They'd have to all chip in given she lost it helping everyone.

"I'm afraid not," the demon said. "The spell was very thorough. Proving you killed the bounty will be hard."

Alissa gave the tall woman a pat on the shoulder. "It's fine. We've got a better bounty anyway."

"Hm?" The others all looked at her. Akari was the one to ask, "I wouldn't think any of the demons or constructs we killed were worth a lot."

"In parts, no?" Alissa pulled out the head of the succubus that had been tormenting them for so long. "The succubus that destroyed two guilds and ruined countless nobles? I think when I last checked she's worth over four hundred thousand in associated bounties. Though obviously we'll all get a cut."

She smiled as various jaws dropped. She'd have preferred to eliminate it before it could rack up so much misery, but she'd accept revenge.

Rosalina on the other hand seemed to take it fully in stride. "Well I see we have something worth celebrating! And I think I know a good place to cut loose. How about we get out of here and back to proper civilization?"

Nostramus dusted off his hands. "I'm afraid Magniel will have to take a rain check. In addition to the obvious reasons, I have a lot of research to do around dead magic zones. Though perhaps I'll find a way to send my notes. You've shown a remarkable affinity for proper magic."

Fili brightened at the praise. "Thanks! If you want we can try to get you a teaching position. The Tower has some leeway, though we're not exactly the favorites."

"Unlikely," Magniel sniffed. "Given he's got the 'spend a century investigating' look. Perhaps we'll come back to meet your descendants. Adopted or otherwise."

Alissa blinked. "Otherwise?"

"She's clever enough to figure it out," Nostramus said before walking off, Magniel close behind.

Alissa looked down to see Fili looking up at her in similar confusion. He couldn't possibly-

"Now now!" Their thoughts were thrown off by Rosalina throwing an arm around their shoulders. "Thinking and flirting are banned until we get back upside! So let's find that elevator up from the training labyrinth and get to partying."

"Sure," Alissa said with a shake of her head. "Let's get out of here."

Rosalina found them a restaurant that could stuff fourteen people into a private room on short notice. And so Alissa had enjoyed a selection of pasta dishes, a very nice wine and was now leaning helping 'support' Fili. The groups had mostly split up into halves of the table, though Brian seemed to be chatting a lot with Trevor's group. Maybe they'd work more together in the future. For now though it was time to relax.

"It's like when we first met," her girlfriend said.

"Hopefully, this time you won't pass out," Alissa said with a grin.

Fili blushed, then smiled. "I bet I'll still wake up in your bed tomorrow though."

Alissa giggled and gave her a kiss.

"So!" Rosalina said from her spot at the center of the table. "We know what, and who, you two are doing after this. How about the rest of us?"

Akari's ears twitched mischievously. "If I remember correctly this priestess was going to help a certain Saint set up a proper religious organization. Something that would help with charity work and getting orphans proper jobs. Perhaps we could call it 'Our Lady of the Slums.' That was how you named churches around here right?"

Rosalina glared at her friend. "Just for that I'm gonna let Ibaraki decide where we go drinking." Everyone else had a good laugh at that.

After things calmed a bit Clara took over. "Was thinking actually of looking into going back into merchant work, now that I've got a proper seed fund to start. Maybe mixed business handling procuring monster rarities." She looked over at Kotori. "Might have work for a courier if you're interested."

The harpy blinked. "That's... a person who does deliveries? I suppose that might be interesting. I'll consider it."

"And as amazing as being a live in girlfriend might be," Alissa said, "one of us is gonna need a job. I'm thinking of going back to smaller runs though. Less challenging fifth layer nonsense and more hunting and gathering around the second and third."

Fili gave her arm a squeeze. "We can work together. Also help farm info for the monsterpedia." The mage turned back to the others. "And we can still team up for important stuff!"

"Of course. But for now, to a job well done and great friends." Rosalina raised her glass, and Alissa joined the others in the toast.

As the various conversations split off again Alissa settled in against Fili. "You know, for the longest time I thought I'd be stuck as a solo delver after getting this merge." And now she was part of a team. Even if they were going to become an on again off again thing.

"You never know where life will lead you." Fili replied. "I was sure I was going to be a researcher when I was a kid. Then I became slimy and figured I'd never get a girlfriend."

"Hm, well that turned out to be fake. Maybe you can turn the researcher thing around too," Alissa said.

Fili snorted. "I'm never gonna get a teaching position and tenure." After a moment she added, "But I might see if I can get something out of the Tower to study demon magic. It's apparently only going to improve. And if I get some breakthroughs I can name some spells. That'd still get me in the textbooks."

"Hm...."

Maybe it was the wine but Alissa couldn't help but add. "Well if you want to try out that spell Nostramus suggested, I'm fine with childbirth."

Alissa giggled as Fili devolved into a stammering mess. She'd been telling the truth, but her girlfriend's reactions were still hilarious.