Apocalypse Reset: My Crab Can Heal the World!

Barns and Clancy spend the day getting their new ship out to sea with the help of the newly resurrected villagers - lots of sweaty, despondent, and half-naked volunteers expedite the process greatly. As they go about their great work, the Kingdom of Dimartino continues to churn along.

Quinn, the town's mayor, walks through the stone streets of Dimartino's town, looking over the progress they've made. While some buildings are still in disrepair, the streets have been cleaned and from the outside the town is an idyllic, burgeoning center of life. The town stretches down to the first beach settlement Barns created, joined by a rural road of scattered homes.

Many houses and buildings display the new flag of Dimartino, a golden tapestry with a red crab on what looks like a dinner plate.

Quinn steps into what will soon become the town's police station. There, he finds not Underhill but a cute secretary sitting in an ovular reception area.

"Is Underhill around?" he asks the woman. "I've been hoping to pick his brain about transportation infrastructure."

The woman gives a delighted smile. "Oooh! Underhill is like, actually dealing with a 69 on Castleton Ave. Do you like, want me to leave a message?"

"A 69?" Quinn repeats, dumbfounded.

"Mmm! Yep. A 69 is our police code for like, 'homicide'."

Quinn huffs. He had no doubt Underhill himself assigned that number.

"How are things going here? Have you had many recruits?"

"Oooh yeah! We have like...twenty? They're drilling 420s in the back."

"Let me guess, 420 isn't what I think it is."

"Mmm! It's police code for suspects on the run. They're like, playing tag or something..."

"Well, thank you for your time, ma'am," Quinn says, looking at her chest to see if she was wearing a nametag. All she notices is his eyes darting toward her chest and she uncomfortably covers herself.

He waves goodbye and leaves the station. He'd leave the police to their 69 and 420 activities.

Elsewhere, at Dimartino Castle, Yunie was also dealing with her daily tasks with the Adventurer Guild. Daily Quests continued to pour in each day, though thankfully they did not require the Adventurers to kill monsters. There were many fetch quests on the docket, and Yunie was eager to put her small legion to work.

"I need 100 bananas!" Yunie shouted, holding up a document with the specifics of the quest. "Anyone for a banana run?"

"Me, me!" raises a hand. Yunie looks over and sees Haima, one of the elite Adventurers, volunteering.

Yunie gives her a thumbs-up and Haima skips away, eager to begin her collection.

Almost all wealth and resources generated by the kingdom comes through the Adventurer Guild. Yunie supposed they had 'Zelia' to thank for it, although she'd not been given an opportunity to speak with the mysterious Administrator one on one quite yet.

They had a decent stockpile of A Rank weapons that were on loan to Adventurers of high prestige - those like Haima, or the Blade Dancer Godrick. A few other promising Adventurers have also joined their ranks since the battle at Dimartino Castle - though many of them, Yunie hears, have gravitated toward Underhill's Royal police force.

Yunie lets her assistant take over distributing the remaining daily quests as she wanders to their store room. They keep all the equipment, but the deal with Underhill is that his agency collects 80% of the currency that the Adventurer Guild generates. The guild keeps 10% and the Adventurer who completes the quest receives the other 10%.

It seems unfair on paper, but the 80% captured by Underhill goes toward funding the police, rebuilding the town, and investing in new technology. It was essential for the prosperity of the kingdom.

Yunie wishes she had some cool equipment to share with Barns, but nothing as promising as the 'Crashing Wave' sword has come through, and Barns wasn't a fan of heavy armor.

She continues thinking about Barns. He's come such a long way since the day she met him. He was nervous, awkward, but still playful. He's grown much more confident - though he's still as irreverent as always.

"Hey, I'm going to take a quick break. You okay here?" Yunie asks her assistant.

"Yes ma'am!"

Yunie smiles and walks out the back entrance. Now that the Adventurer Guild had taken over the northern part of the Castle, she had plenty of places to walk around. She did miss being by the water, however.

As Yunie stands there, looking over the gardens, she finds herself lost in her thoughts and she zones out. She's snapped back to reality when a familiar voice startles her back to reality.

"All done 'Adventuring' for the day, sweetheart?"

Yunie turns her head slightly. The man needed no introduction.

"Underhill," she says quietly. "What brings you here?"

"Funeral arrangements. Who'd have thought that would be part of a police captain's job, eh?"

"Any leads?" Yunie asks. In truth, the developments had shaken her to her core. Knowing a murderer was walking around the new kingdom had a chilling effect on everyone.

"Can't say I do," Underhill says, sounding somewhat dismissive. He withdraws a butterfly knife from his pocket and starts flipping it around, playing with it in his hand. His whistles as he does, the knife whipping dangerously around. Small cuts on his fingers show that he still needs a lot of practice.

Yunie eyes Underhill's scarred hands. "So what's your deal, anyway?" she asks, not bothering to hide the hint of suspicion in her words.

"Oh? Does the Adventurer girl have a little crush now?" Underhill chuckles. He seems not to notice her hesitant disdain.

Underhill looks to the sky - deep, endless blue reflecting off his pale gray eyes. "Let's just say I'm not from around here, I used to be something of a traveling salesman."

"Snake oil?"

"All sorts of stuff!" Underhill snickers. "Basically, if someone needed somethin', I was the guy."

"What about after the apocalypse began?"

"Well, what with everyone dying, business really took a slump. But let me tell ya - I never became one of those monsters. I found my own way."

Yunie shifts her body toward him in disbelief. "Truly?" she asks.

Underhill nods. "It took a bit of scrippin' and scrapin' to get by, no big deal. After awhile the monsters all stayed in their camps, so I had a pretty full run of the wilderness. That is, until hero boy started bustin' it all up."

Yunie thinks pensively. "Sounds like you're not a fan."

"Oh - no, I love it here! Clancy's somethin' else, I love that crab. And this new Kingdom of Dimartino business, seems like the kind of place I can make all my dreams come true, if you know what I mean."

"Not really," Yunie says, suspicion still evident in her voice.

Underhill flicks the butterfly knife closed. "Well, can't be lettin' all my secrets out. A guy's gotta stay mysterious for the ladies. I'll see you around, Adventure Gal." 𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

"Do you even know my name?" Yunie asks of genuine curiosity.

"I know everyone's name," Underhill says, turning toward her to show her his ear-to-ear smirk. "Kinda what I do. Later!"