Nala was waiting for him at the entrance of the subway station, a concerned look on her face. A few of the guards from before had rushed in, but Sero avoided detection using Shadow Sneak. It helped that night had fallen, making him virtually impossible to see.

“Are you crazy?!” Nala hissed at him as he solidified. “What could have possibly made you think, ‘Hey, blowing up this place is a good idea’?”

Sero shrugged and gave a lopsided grin. “I’ve seen bullies like those. They won’t stop unless you give them a reason to.”

"What if they come back and find you?" Nala whispered, looking worried.

"Then let them," Sero wrinkled his nose in disgust. "I got no problem throwing hands if need be."

"You didn't... kill any of them did you?"

"Nah," Sero shook his head. "But I will if they come after me again."

Nala stared at him long and hard, trying to determine if he was serious. She shook her head and sighed.

"Let's just claim the reward and sell the toxic core."

She walked off in the direction of the mercenary union, Sero trailing behind.

"So, what are you planning to do with your half of the gold?" He asked as they crossed the street.

"Save it, I guess." Nala shrugged. "I'm not very materialistic, so I rarely buy anything for myself."

"Huh," Sero mused. "I'm gonna buy myself some new clothes."

"What about your debt to Amaya?" Aphiel spoke up.

"Hey, she said I could pay her back any time. Why shouldn't I indulge myself first?" Sero grinned to himself.

"That's nice." Nala replied quietly.

"What are you planning to do after this?" Sero continued, trying to make small talk.

"Why are you interested?"

"I'm just wondering what you do," Sero gave her a curious look. "I assume you just sleep during the day and do stuff at night. Like a vampire or something."

Nala smiled softly for the second time.

"Usually I just do small tasks here and there during the day. Then I hunt stray monsters at night. You?"

"Oh, I'm still trying to figure out a schedule. I'm still new to all this since the apocalypse happened. Well, since I revived a few days ago."

"Huh?" Nala stopped in her tracks and turned to look at him.

"I died on the first day of the apocalypse and my goddess- sorry, Sponsor, revived me." Sero casually explained.

The Shadowreaper continued to stare at him blankly.

"It's a long story."

"I've got time." Nala shrugged.

For the rest of the way back, Sero recalled everything he had been through the last few days to Nala from when he died and was resurrected by Aphiel to his struggles during the A-rank trial.

"...And that pretty much explains why I have very limited knowledge of the world today." Sero finished as they began to see the outline of the mercenary union building.

"Huh," Nala said, her expression unreadable. "That's quite the story. I never really understood what it's like to die and come back to life. I guess it's like being born all over again, huh?"

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"Uh, not really?" Sero scratched the back of his head. "For me, it was just a blink and bam, I'm back here. Memories still intact and everything."

"Oh." Nala seemed disappointed, but Sero couldn't tell for sure.

The two reached the mercenary union and walked inside, heading to the left of the front desk to the commission's office.

"So, you were saying about your tasks?" Sero prompted as they entered the office and waited in line.

"It's nothing, really. Sometimes I'll do menial tasks like volunteering for charity work or helping out at the orphanage."

"Oh. That's... not what I expected."

"What did you expect?" Nala asked with a small smile.

"I don't know," Sero shrugged. "A mercenary of your class and rank feels like they should be doing more dangerous work, like spying or infiltration or something."

Nala let out a soft laugh.

"Spying and infiltration? There's not really a need for that. Yeah, maybe some guilds and parts of the world government might be shady, but it's not like there's a global threat that needs to be monitored."

The pair finally reached the front of the line.

"Yes, how may I help you today?" The middle-aged receptionist asked, her tone polite.

"I'm here to report the subway monster task," Sero began. "We also harvested a toxic core to sell."

"Ah, yes, the A-rank hunting task," the receptionist replied, taking the item and logging their completion. "And for your reward, here's the hard gold after fee deduction, per your request." She handed Sero two hefty pouches of gold coins. "Your item will be placed on the market and we will contact you after it's been sold. Would you like hard gold or have it wired to your account?"

"Uh," Sero hesitated. "Hard gold, please." He made a mental note to open a new bank account for digital deposits.

"Of course," the receptionist smiled politely. "And for the shadow creature task, we will also give you a bonus based on the quality of the core you harvested." She examined the core and nodded. "This is a high-grade toxic core, so you'll receive an extra thousand gold." She handed Nala four pouches of gold. "Thank you both for your hard work."

"No, thank you." Sero began to salivate at the sight of the unexpected bonus gold as Nala grunted under the weight.

As they left, Nala handed Sero a pouch.

"Do you not have a bank account?" She grumbled.

"Well, I had one before the apocalypse but the old ones got liquidated in favor of gold banks, so I need to open up a new one. Plus, I got revived like, a few days ago. I haven't had time to-"

"...Reports say that the mercenaries injured in the subway incident were known to be Vultures. An ongoing investigation is underway to find out what really happened at the scene..." Sero suddenly overheard the news on the tv screen above them and quickly turned to walk away.

"What- hey, wait up!" Nala hurried after him with a frown. "What's the rush?"

"Did you not hear the tv? They're doing an investigation at the subway." Sero hissed as he sped towards the exit.

"Huh? So what? Even if you get caught, there's a law that protects victims of Vultures."

"Oh." Sero slowed his pace and looked back at Nala. "I didn't know that–"

He grunted as a figure bumped into him, causing his bags of gold to fall to the ground. Sero gasped and knelt down, frantically trying to recover his precious payment.

"Man, watch where you're going!" Sero snapped as he stood to confront the person he collided with.

"Oh, Sero?"

For a moment, Sero stood there as he realized he had bumped into Amaya.

"Who's this?" Nala asked as she caught up to the pair.

"Uh," Sero composed himself. "Nala, this is Amaya, my Ascendant Liaison. Amaya, this is Nala, a mercenary I met."

Amaya nodded and smiled warmly at Nala.

"To clarify, I'm an Ascendant Liaison at the Ascendant Association. Sero just kind of forced me to pay special attention to him."

"Oh, I know what you mean," Nala replied with a smile. "He recently coerced me into partnering up for a job."

Sero coughed uncomfortably. "Anyway, Amaya, we were just about to head out. What brings you here?"

"Oh, I'm just here to check up on my other Ascendants who registered with the mercenary union. What about you guys?"

"Well, we just finished a hunting task." Nala answered.

"Yeah… I was going to open up a bank account and deposit this gold." Sero began to sweat nervously. He desperately hoped that Amaya wouldn't remind him about his debt.

"Are you going to pay me back with some of that?"

Sero cursed under his breath then feigned a smile.

"Y-yeah, that's the plan. Now, if you'll excuse us–"

"Oh, why don't I join you guys? The banks are closed anyway, so we could stop by a restaurant or something." Amaya smiled as she sided with Sero and Nala.

Sero glanced at Nala, who seemed to be considering it. After a moment, she shrugged and fell into step beside Amaya. "Sure, why not?"

"Since you got your reward, you can use some of your gold to pay for dinner," Amaya glanced at Sero with a mischievous smile. "I'll take some of that off your tab."

Sero cursed in his mind but resigned himself to go along with the two.