I'd just finished off the Wolf King and then I got the experience notification.

[Killed Wolf King]

[+700 System Experience]

[Experience: 1415/800]

[You are now level 5!]

[New rune discovered: If]

[Rune Capacity + 2]

Wow that's a ton of experience! More rune capacity and an If Rune? Awesome! I can do so much more stuff now. According to my Earth Programming knowledge If Runes will allow me to do certain things based on the situation! Aw, this is gonna be awesome!

I was awash with excitement at the rewards I'd received from leveling up to level 5 but I knew I needed to start heading back before it became night as I had a feeling the really dangerous beasts would come out during the night. So Dob, Lob, and I walked out of the Yarthon Woods following the very simple straight path out.

We got to the town before the Guild closed, thankfully. Entering the Guild I found Melissa dealing with the last people of the day and I could see the staff cleaning up and getting ready for tomorrow. It didn't take that long to get to the front of the line and Melissa broke out into a huge smile when she saw me and the goblins going so far as to come out from behind the counter and hug us all.

I blushed fiercely but the goblins decided it was time for a group hug and pulled us all together. It felt great as I hadn't had much closeness with other people both in my life on Earth and in my new life here. After a few moments, we separated, to the goblins' dismay.

"Did you guys do it?"

The goblins didn't stay sad for long and started hopping up and down with glee, answering Melissa's question without using words.

Melissa smiled even wider.

"Ah! That's so great!"

My face became solemn.

"Um, actually we didn't manage to kill it."

The goblins stopped their jumping and looked at me quizzically.

Melissa's smile dimmed.

"Oh. Sorry then. It's still a great feat to have returned alive though."

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I grinned.

"Oh no I was mistaken we did actually kill it."

Melissa glared playfully at me and slapped me on the shoulder. It stung slightly but just caused me to grin wider to Melissa's dismay.

"You bastard", she said, mostly joking.

[Gained 60 Guild Credits]

[Credits: 75/100]

I winked at her in response.

Woo! I'm so close to ranking up now!

"Whatever this is a cause for celebration! Let's go to Stella's place and abuse her kindness for free beverages!", Melissa said with a shark-like grin.

Jeez, that's one happy yet calculating woman.

"Maybe let's not?"

"You owe me", Melissa said, dragging me out the door.

I guess that's kinda true but what did Stella do to deserve this...

Dob and Lob followed behind me and Melissa, high fiving each other and they seemed to smirk slightly at my predicament. The Big Keg Inn seemed pretty crowded tonight, I could hear the sounds of many incoherent people from outside. Melissa unhooked her arm from mine to avoid looking like some weird person that likes to drag people around and opened the door while looking at me expectantly.

I sighed but walked through the door anyway, uncertain of what was to come. Melissa and the goblins followed behind me and Dob closed the door as he was the last one to walk through it. To my utter dismay, Melissa grabbed a glass and a fork from a nearby table and climbed up onto it, ringing the glass to get everyone's attention.

All the talking mostly stopped and all the eyes turned to Melissa. I looked over to where Stella was and I could see in her eyes that she'd had a bit of a rough past with Melissa at her Inn. She started walking over but stopped once she saw me. She looked at me and then sneakily pointed at Melissa while tilting her head to the side. I shrugged but smiled in unwarranted reassurance.

Melissa, please don't cause too much of a mess. My friendship with Stella might now be on the line.

"Attention everyone. I just wanted to say that James and the two Bobs here have slain the Wolf King!"

There was silence for a moment. Then I could hear some people muttering.

"Wait why are there two Bobs?"

"Who's James?"

"The Wolf King is dead? Wow!"

Melissa could also hear this so she pointed at my minions and me.

"The taller one is James and the two shorter ones are the Bobs."

Dob and Lob seemed a bit offended by being called short, but they couldn't argue with facts, so they humphed softly. Then I could hear some people muttering again.

"Wait which one of the short ones is Bob and which one is Bob?"

"It's the same name you idiot."

"Wait James?"

I saw a familiar face pop out from the crowd. I groaned. It was Darius.

"Hey, Jaes! I can't beloeve you amd thosd Bpb things killed the Wolf King! Congrzts buddy."

Dammit. I didn't think Darius could get any worse but I was wrong. A drunk Darius far outmatched the sober Darius.

"Hey Darius thanks."

His message received Darius sat down and for once actually stopped talking.

Hmm so he talks less but the talking itself is worse when he's drunk. I'll have to reevaluate the cons and pros between sober and drunk Darius later.

I could see that Stella had started walking over again but this time faster.

"James, you killed the Wolf King?"

"Yes", I replied, slightly sheepishly.

"That's amazing! Hey everybody, drinks are free tonight in honor of James!"

Everyone let out a loud cheer and I could see them rush to the bar to get more drinks. I could see Melissa at the forefront of the crowd and I saw her looking back at me and winking however Stella didn't seem to notice likely due to still being shocked by my victory over the Wolf King.

I talked to Stella a bit more, had a drink, and then went off to bed. I left the door unlocked so Dob and Lob could get in since they had decided to keep partying. Then I drifted off to sleep to the noise of cheers and tankards being tapped together.