"As you know, ever since monsters began rampaging across the world, monster hunter academies have become the last surviving shelters for humanity. We survived thanks to the Light. Now, thanks to the players, we are finally able to learn what is happening in other academies and keep in contact with them."
"Of course. I am aware of that," Cassandra replied.
She sat with the elders at the Forest Table, where every important decision in the Forest Hidden Monster Hunter Academy eventually found its way.
The table stretched through the council chamber in a long curve of living wood, wide enough to make distance feel deliberate, yet close enough to force every elder to hear one another breathe. Unlike polished noble furniture, its surface carried the texture of something alive. Ridges rested beneath the polish, veins of darker grain crossed its length, and thin amber lines marked places where old sap had hardened beneath the surface like memories the tree had refused to let go.
