Several days had passed since Damien decided that sleep was apparently optional during training.

  My arms still hurt, and I'm not talking about the normal kind of hurt.

  I'm talking about the soul-level hurt that made you question your life decisions every time you tried to move.

  I sat at one of the tables inside the Underground Guild, staring down at my bowl of stew like I’m done with this.

  Across from me, Rok was eating like nothing had happened.

  Actually, that wasn't true.

  He was eating more than usual.

  Which I'd have to say, was impressive considering he already ate more than a small army.

  “You are slow today,” Rok said between bites.

  I glared at him.

  “Slow? My arms barely work.”

  “You complain much.”

  “Because im tired,” I said, putting my head on my hands.

  “You survived.”

  “That's not the point.”

  Rok shrugged and continued eating like usual.

  Looking around us, The guild was busy like usual.

  Hunters moved in and out like usual. Some looked like they’d had a rough time, others were arguing about quest rewards like their lives depended on it.

  A group of near the entrance laughed about something while one of them had his arm wrapped in bandages.

  Another man limped toward Nurse Mira's room.

  Very normal guild activities.

  Behind the counter, Sylvia worked as usual, organizing papers while occasionally yelling at someone who tried to sneak past without reporting their results.

  “Next time you disappear for three days without reporting, I'm docking your pay,” she snapped at one hunter.

  The man looked offended.

  “You can't do that.”

  “Try me.”

  He quickly decided not to argue further.

  I watched the scene quietly while lifting my spoon again.

  “Heh, amateur,” I muttered.

  Thinking about the last few days, training with Damien had been…. something else.

  Rok didn't seem bothered by it.

  But of course he didn't, he's an Oni.

  Pain probably to him is just a mild inconvenience.

  And add food towards the end, he'll do anything.

  “You look weak,” Rok added.

  I narrowed my eyes at him.

  “I will throw this bowl at you.”

  “You cannot lift the bowl.”

  “...just give me a day to recover.”

  Rok nodded once, satisfied with that conclusion.

  At the far side of the room, Damien stood near one of the stone pillars.

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  Damien wasn't eating, honestly, he rarely did.

  Instead, he just stood there and watched the guild like he usually does.

  That straight posture of his and calm eyes makes him look more like a statue than a prince.

  Most people give him space without even realizing it.

  It wasn't fear exactly, more like instinct.

  Even after Sylvia revealed who he was days ago, people still treated him mostly the same.

  Which honestly surprised me.

  I figured finding out the quiet swordsman in the corner was actually a prince would cause more chaos.

  But at the same time… the Underground Guild wasn't exactly normal society.

  Down here, titles didn’t mean much if you couldn’t back them up.

  Still…

  A prince in the same party with two random guys like us was strange.

  I poked my stew again.

  “...Do you think he enjoys it?” I asked.

  Rok didn't even look up.

  “Yes.”

  “...That was too fast.”

  “He smiles sometimes.”

  “I have never seen him smile.”

  “I saw it once.”

  My eyes drifted back toward Damien.

  He wasn't looking at us.

  At least… I didn't think he was.

  But somehow it still felt like he noticed everything happening in the room.

  Like nothing escaped his attention.

  I rubbed the back of my neck.

  Training had slowed down over the past couple days.

  Mostly because my body refused to cooperate.

  But Damien didn't seem impatient.

  If anything, he was just… waiting.

  For what, I had no idea.

  Rok finished his bowl and pushed it aside.

  “More food,” he declared.

  “You already had three.”

  “Yes.”

  “That's not normal.”

  Rok stood up.

  “Rok will get four.”

  I couldn't help but sigh.

  “...Of course you will.”

  As Rok walked off toward the counter, I leaned back slightly in my chair, and stared up at the ceiling.

  For the first time in a while, things felt quiet.

  No giant ants.

  No near-death fights.

  No Damien swinging a wooden sword at my face every five seconds.

  Just a normal day in the guild.

  Honestly?

  I'd take that.

  I closed my eyes.

  While the Guild was alive, noisy.

  Damien stood apart from it all.

  Leaning against one of the large pillars, he watched the room in silence.

  Most people in the guild had long since stopped noticing him standing there.

  Which was fine with him.

  His gaze eventually settled on a familiar table.

  Damien’s eyes lingered on Elias a little longer than necessary.

  Something about him had been sitting in the back of his mind.

  Something… strange.

  Eyes closed, his thoughts drifted back to the cave, the conversation from several days ago.

  “Maybe a queen? If these creatures are wearing us down, don’t you think it’s for a reason?”

  Even Damien didn’t understand then fully. Their behavior was unusual, too coordinated for normal creatures.

  And yet, Elias blurted those words casually, like a simple observation he’d already known all his life.

  And there was the lightning.

  If it wasn’t for Elias and his hammer, the cave would’ve been different.

  But it was how he executed it, hammer scraping the ground, sending crackles of lightning through that air and being gone before confirming what he’d seen.

  Maybe I’m just overthinking it.

  After all, Elias was still a beginner.

  And beginners were unpredictable.

  Still…

  Damien made a quiet decision.

  Next training, he would push Elias a little harder.

  Just to see what would happen.

  It started because Rok was bored.

  Which, in my experience, is how most problems start.

  I didn’t even see who challenged who, one moment I was closing my eyes, minding my own business, and the next was Rok sitting across from a man.

  The man’s name was apparently Brek.

  From what I know, B-rank, arms muscular, and the kind of guy who looked like he’d been waiting for this moment.

  Rok looked at his arm.

  Then at Brek.

  “Rok win.” He announced.

  “We’ll see about that.” Brek said.

  For about four seconds it was genuinely competitive.

  Then Rok’s arm didn’t move.

  And Brek’s slowly, inevitably, began to.

  The table groaned, then creaked.

  Then the table lost.

  It hit the ground with a crash that silenced the entire guild for a few seconds before erupting into noise.

  Rok stood up, deeply satisfied.

  Brek stared at the ruins of the table.

  “…Rok hungry now,” he said, and began walking toward the counter.

  I watched him go.

  “…He’s going to get his fifth bowl… Isn't he?”

  Mr. Rocky blinked.

  “Yah,” I said. “Me too.”

  I found Sylvia behind the counter, buried in some paperwork, looking like she made peace with suffering.

  I leaned against the counter.

  “Hey.”

  She didn’t look up. “No.”

  “I haven’t said anything yet.”

  “You have your negotiating face on.” She turned a page. “No.”

  Sylvia put the papers down slowly and looked at me.

  “I’m listening,” she said. “Briefly.”

  “We’ve been training for days,” I said. “Hard training. Damien training. And I’m just saying,” I spread my hands, “hazard pay seems fair at this point,”

  Sylvia stared at me.

  “Your last mission was days ago.”

  “Training is basically a mission.”

  “It’s not.”

  “It’s dangerous.”

  “Are you dead?”

  “You forced me to—“

  “So you don’t come back injured.”

  I paused. “What if I framed it as a wellness bonus?”

  “No.”

  “Emotional damages?”

  “No.”

  “What if Rok asked?”

  Sylvia picked up the papers. “Rok would get the same answer.”

  “What if Mr. Rocky asked.”

  She looked at me for a moment, before sighing.

  “Fine… give me your hand.”

  “Aw yeah, I knew you were—“

  She squeezed the life out of it.

  “If I have to say no one more time,” she said in a whisper. “I’ll personally make you visit nurse Mira… understood?”

  I began nodding profusely. “Yes. Yes. Yes.”

  “Good, now leave.”

  I began walking away, holding my hand.

  I looked down at Mr. Rocky on my shoulder.

  “Be quiet,” I said, lower lip out.

  I was still holding my hand when the doors opened.

  Nobody paid attention at first.

  People came and went through those doors all day. That was just the guild.

  But this one was different.

  The person who walked in wasn’t walking right. One arm was wrong at his side. His gear was torn apart that didn’t look like a clean fight. His face seemed different, not in tiredness, but something else.

  The guild noise dimmed down as more and more people saw.

  He made it three steps before finally collapsing.

  Two adventurers nearby caught him before he hit the floor.

  “Mira—“ someone called out. “NURSE MIRA.”

  The room moved faster after that, but I stayed where I was.

  Mr. Rocky was very still on my shoulder.

  I watched them carry him toward Nurse Mira’s rooms, the guild making room around them quietly. No jokes or usual arguments. Just silence.

  The doors closed behind them.

  And slowly, the noise came back… except quieter than before.

  I didn’t know how long I stood there before I noticed Sylvia.

  She was behind the counter where she always was, but the paperwork was off to the side, she was reading something else, a whole separate report.

  Her expression didn’t change, but something else did that got my attention.

  Sylvia always moved, always writing and organizing, always doing something. So seeing her stillness meant something.

  It wasn’t long before the elders came and surrounded the table counter, talking about the news.

  Looked looked back at the doors where they’d taken the adventurer.

  His team wasn’t with him.

  I hadn’t noticed that until now, he’d come back alone.

  I rubbed the back of my neck slowly and looked around, the noise, the arguing, the food, Rok somewhere at the counter getting his sixth bowl, completely unbothered by what happened.

  Everything looked the same.

  But something had shifted.

  Looking at the counter, and seeing the serious discussion, I knew it as serious…

  …

  …As much as it was serious, I in no way was going to stand here and be called upon.

  I started to tiptoe away toward the door, Damien and Rok could stay here all day they want, but me? No way, my body can barely cooperate with me after those training sessions.

  Plus, aren't we ranked 437? so what makes you think—

  “YOUNG BOYS!” someone shouted. “CAN THE YOUNG BOYS PARTY COME FORWARD TOWARD THE COUNTER!”

  In that moment, my soul left my body as Damien walked toward me, dragging me by the collar.

  “Let’s go.”

  I groaned weakly, pointing at the exit.

  But at that moment, I knew it was pointless… my day off… gone.