9 Destroyed city

When they left the dungeon, they left with some bags filled with magic stones and the scales of the salamanders. The guard guided them to the nearby warehouse, where someone appraised everything.

"... Everything will be 36.740 dollars,"

It was a new record… the scales were more valuable than Terry had predicted. After giving Rebecca her part, Terry would still have over 60k, so he could do a lot with it. He didn't know where he was going, but maybe he would need a vehicle…

"So… where are we going?" Rebecca asked.

"I guess the nearest dungeon where the monsters are just a bit stronger than the salamanders would be nice," Terry replied. "I don't know a single thing about how things are outside. What about you?"

"I heard that the guild masters keep contact with people outside somehow… I also heard some rumors about the Dynamic Team sending some of his members to Chicago a month ago since a new portal appeared there."

"So, they needed reinforcements. How many guilds are there?" Terry asked.

"No idea. We have too many problems here, and we don't have room to worry about anything else," Rebecca shrugged.

Chicago was thirty miles north of their current location. So, it wasn't a bad idea to head there. The top brass of the guild of the salamanders will be waiting for Terry tomorrow, but he will never show up… still, crossing thirty miles on foot would take two days, perhaps more. So, Terry seriously considered buying a car.

Terry didn't have many things to pack, so when he got home, everything was pretty much ready to be packed. Life sure was funny… ten days ago, the idea of leaving the city had never crossed Terry's mind. Still, now he was going to leave while targeting a portal to become his even before he created his own guild.

"That will certainly be one hell of an advertisement… but this is only the first step," Terry thought. "Once I get the dungeon and make the guild, I will work hard to discover why all those things have appeared, and I will extinguish them from the face of the Earth."

The next morning, Terry was looking for a vehicle in the only shop that still sells vehicles in the city when Rebecca showed up with two kids. One was a light brown-haired boy who was glaring at him even though he was no older than five years old, and a girl a couple of years older who was looking at him with great interest.

"These are Ruth and Chris," Rebecca said. "My younger siblings."

Ruth looked a bit like Rebecca, but Chris, not that much. Moreover, Terry got a bit annoyed since the boy was looking at him like he had stolen something from him.

"What is it, brat?" Terry asked. "I don't do well with those that look at me disrespectfully like you. It seems that your big sister didn't pull your ear enough times to deal with your attitude."

"I won't give big sis to you," Chris said.

"You surely value her when you talk as if she is a bag filled with candy," Terry frowned. "In any case, I wasn't expecting permission. If anything, it is easier for her to fall for me."

"Keep dreaming," Rebecca said. "Don't mind Chris too much, and he is at the age where he thinks too much about being the man of the house."

"I am the one who is going to marry big sis," Chris declared.

"Woah…" Terry said while he looked at Rebecca facepalming. "I won't visit you in jail, Rebecca. I don't think that we are that close of friends."

"Don't… please, just don't," Rebecca said. "He must have watched too much anime."

"I wonder what kind of show you let him watch…" Terry said.

"Mister, are you going to take Rebecca away?" Ruth asked.

"No, I don't think I will," Terry replied. "You must be the one who looks after this brat while Rebecca works, and you didn't do a good job spoiling him… anyway, time is of the essence. I suppose I will need a vehicle to transport things once the guild is ready, so I can't go cheap right now."

In the end, Terry bought a new small-sized truck for the job. While new cars weren't produced that fast anymore, new ones were barely being sold, so their prices didn't increase much.

Unfortunately, it was a model that still consumed gasoline, and the price of that skyrocketed… Terry didn't know how to drive, but it wasn't like one needed the permission of the government anymore. However, Rebecca had experience, so he gave her the keys.

"The guilds claim that they hunted down most of the monsters that crossed the portals, most aren't all of them, so I will stay in the back to fight in case some of them appear," Terry said.

Rebecca and her siblings entered the vehicle while Terry jumped on the back. It would be an excellent chance to test the magic wand, but it would be even better if they could arrive in Chicago as soon as possible. Fortunately, the northern exit of the town was connected in a straight line to their destination.

"A lot of work is ahead… aside from fighting, I will have to start looking for personnel to do all sorts of things for the guild that I am going to create…" Terry thought when Rebecca began to drive.

While Terry was thinking about that, he noticed that the road was in a pretty precarious condition, even though it wasn't used that often. Most of the cities had only been taken from the monsters after ten or fifteen years, so it wasn't surprising that they left a lot of damage behind…

Despite that, it didn't take long for the group to see that massive city in the distance, some buildings that had been damaged were still standing, but a couple of new ones had emerged thanks to magic. It seemed that some powerful guilds were there, so the task of clearing the dungeon was harder than expected…