The rear training yard sat quietly behind the guild hall. Thick walls blocked most of the noise from inside, leaving only the soft rustle of wind moving through old practice dummies and the distant chop of someone splitting wood further back.
Lys stood there, one hand still rubbing his sore ribs where Rhuvia had squeezed him.
Vessa leaned against the closed door for a second. "Sorry about that," she said in her usual flat, dry tone. "Rhuvia doesn't know how to do anything halfway."
Lys winced as he pressed lightly on his side. "Yeah, you don't have to apologize for her. I figured that out pretty quickly."
Lys looked toward the person training alone for a moment, then shook his head. "Who is she, really? Beyond the guild master title."
"Rhuvia Aldis," Vessa answered like she was waiting for Lys to ask that of her. "Sent from the capital branch. She was an A-rank adventurer before she took this administrative role. She's very talented and a former party member of mine. We used to do adventuring missions together. You can say when it comes to work, she gets results very efficiently."
Then she gave a smile while saying something, "But don't get fooled by me praising her, because even if she is a good mage, at the same time, she's very difficult to manage. The higher-ups only send her when they want something done fast, even if it means dealing with her personality. Don't underestimate her."
Lys nodded slowly. The woman had gone from casually carving wood with magic to hugging him like a long-lost brother in seconds. So, he could feel that Vessa here wasn't trying to scare him about her.
He kicked at a small stone on the dirt ground, eyes following it as it rolled away. "She mentioned Lord Valtor. He vouched for me?"
Vessa paused. She looked at him sideways, measuring something in his face. Then she answered plainly. "Yeah, at the noble summit in the capital last week, Lord Valtor spoke up strongly in support of opening a guild branch here in Buena village. He was unusually vocal about it. Almost every noble there noticed. Valtor doesn't usually throw his influence behind small places like this. Especially not for a commoner from the outer settlement. His backing is the main reason the capital agreed to it so quickly."
Hearing this, Lys went quiet. He stared down at the dirt of the training yard, boots scuffing the ground. He had thought that man was just a little fond of him, as his daughter had taken a liking to him, but now this was different.
He pictured a small, quiet life here. Taking care of Elara and Mira, building something steady with the family, and completing the goddess's mission without drawing too much attention.
But now there was a full guild branch, new capital staff, a guild master who seemed too much to handle, and a powerful noble far too interested in him, pushing things for him without making it obvious.
"Huhhh… I just wanted a small life here," he said quietly, sighing, almost to himself.
Vessa heard that. She didn't answer right away. She just stood there beside him, arms loose at her side.
Then she suddenly laughed a little, surprising Lys. A smiling Vessa looked almost more beautiful than the fighting Vessa. But Lys didn't dare to look weirdly at her.
After a long moment, she spoke. "Too late for that, I think."
Lys let out a slow breath. He brought himself back and looked at her. "Then, about what Miss Rhuvia said inside? About the dungeon. What's really going on with that?"
Vessa pushed off the wall and walked a few steps deeper into the yard. She stopped next to one of the old training posts and ran her fingers over the worn wood before turning back to him. Her voice stayed calm and careful, like someone who had already accepted a difficult truth.
"When we were doing that early patrol in the Gaiya forest," she started, "I noticed signs. Dead vegetation growing in perfect circular patterns. Soil that stayed oddly dry in certain spots even after rain. Animal carcasses drained of moisture with no predator bite marks."
"I had seen similar things once before, near one of the two great dungeons. I didn't say anything to you back then because I wasn't sure. And I didn't want to scare you over nothing."
Lys listened closely, arms folded over his chest now. "Then what confirmed it? How can you be sure of that now?"
Vessa nodded. "Remember the undead creature; that confirmed it. Greater undead aren't normal forest creatures. They're deep-floor monsters. The only place they come from is the lowest levels of great dungeons. One appearing on the surface, this close to the village, meant only one thing."
Lys was searching for answers in her eyes, and she looked him straight in the eyes, too.
"A dungeon break."
The words hung in the quiet yard. Lys felt the weight of them settle in his stomach. He had walked through that forest multiple times. He had fought in it. And all that time, something massive had been sleeping under their feet.
An actual dungeon.