The group now stood at the entrance to Rock Valley, leaving the relative safety of the forest behind.
From this point forward, every step carried risk. The danger was not limited to the creatures living inside the valley, either. At least six other groups were traveling through the same route, each with their own wagons, supplies, and reasons for being there.
Human beings could be cruel by nature, and Rock Valley was one of the places where that cruelty showed itself most clearly.
"Hey, Eto," Yoshimura said, glancing over at her. "You've been writing and drawing this entire time. What are you even doing?"
Eto barely looked up from the notebook resting on her knees.
"Designing the foundation for a new weapon."
Yoshimura leaned closer, trying to make sense of the sketches.
"See, a Blacksmith Mark isn't really made for fighting," Eto explained. "I can fight with it, obviously, but that isn't its real purpose."
"Yeah, I know that," Yoshimura replied, still confused. "So what's the point?"
"To save resources."
That answer immediately made Eto understand why Yoshimura had spent so much of his life broke.
She tapped the page with her pencil.
"Every weapon I make costs material. If I can create something just as effective while using less metal, I can fight longer without wasting everything I have stored."
"So you're trying to make a weapon that performs just as well while using less material," Hikari said.
He was resting inside the wagon with his eyes closed, but he had been listening to the entire conversation.
"Exactly."
For a few moments, the wagon continued forward in silence.
Then the atmosphere changed.
Rock Valley was too quiet.
The wheels rolled over stone. The horses breathed. Leather straps creaked beneath the weight of the supplies.
Nothing else made a sound.
The silence pressed against them until even Hoan began glancing around uneasily.
Something was wrong.
Then a scream tore through the valley.
It was raw, terrified, and cut short almost as quickly as it began.
Everyone froze—everyone except Yoshimura.
Years spent around mercenaries had taught him what screams like that usually meant.
He grabbed a lantern and raised it toward the cliffs.
Above them, shapes moved through the darkness.
Winged creatures clung to the rock walls like enormous bats. They had no visible eyes, only stretched purple skin, patches of pale fur, and oversized ears that twitched at every sound. Their heads turned unnaturally as echoes bounced between the stone walls.
One of them crouched over a corpse.
Its mouth and claws were soaked in blood.
The man who had screamed was already dead.
"Holy shit—Hoan, faster! NOW!" Yoshimura shouted.
The serious expression he had worn moments earlier had not been calmness.
It had been shock.
Hikari immediately stood and drew Onoko.
"Eto, I need your help. Reinforce the wagon as much as you can."
"Got it."
Metal shifted beneath Eto's hand as she began preparing her Mark.
Hoan snapped his head around.
"What the hell, Hikari?! Are you crazy?"
"I can't protect everyone and control the wagon while we're being attacked."
"I know that!"
The first creature dropped from above.
Its claws tore through part of the wagon's cover as it lunged inside, but Hikari had already anticipated the attack. Onoko flashed once.
The creature's head separated from its body before it could reach anyone.
With Hikari holding the front line, Yoshimura forced himself to calm down.
He raised one hand.
Fragments of diamond formed around his fingers and fired toward the creatures above, striking several of them along the wings and chest.
That only made them angrier.
More descended.
Hikari did not hesitate.
One after another, the creatures fell beneath Onoko. Before long, severed heads and bodies had begun piling around the wagon.
"Hikari! Behind you!" Eto shouted.
Another beast had slipped into his blind spot.
Hikari twisted aside at the last instant and cut through it.
Hoan finally understood what Hikari was doing.
By fighting so aggressively, they were drawing the creatures toward their own wagon.
They were making themselves the main target.
It was protecting the travelers behind them—but it was also turning their wagon into the most dangerous place in the valley.
Around them, panic spread.
Some groups defended one another.
Others did the opposite.
On a nearby wagon, one adventurer shoved an ally toward the creatures to buy himself time.
Another group abandoned part of their supplies so their horses could run faster.
Survival stripped away whatever manners people had carried into the valley.
Meanwhile, the enormous number of creatures Hikari had killed attracted a different kind of attention.
Their corpses were valuable.
Several adventurers noticed the pile and decided that stealing from another group was easier than killing the creatures themselves.
While Hikari remained occupied, they moved toward Hoan's wagon.
Yoshimura spotted them immediately.
He slammed his palm outward and created a diamond wall between the wagons, forcing the raiders to pull back.
He had been a mercenary before.
He knew exactly what people were willing to do when fear and money appeared at the same time.
Juan was beginning to struggle.
The old horse's breathing became heavier with every step.
Hoan placed a hand against him and focused his Beast Taming Mark, reinforcing his longtime companion just enough to keep him moving.
Then—
BOOM.
A heavy impact shook the top of a nearby wagon.
A large mercenary had landed there.
Before anyone could properly react, the man crossed three moving wagons in a series of enormous jumps and landed near Hikari.
"Hello, young Yukihana. Remember me?"
Hikari cut down another creature without even turning fully toward him.
"Oh. It's you."
The mercenary smiled.
"Can you leave?" Hikari continued. "I'm a little busy."
"Yeah, of course. Relax. My job today isn't to kill you."
That finally earned Hikari's attention.
"It's only to confirm your position."
And just as suddenly as he had appeared, the mercenary vanished.
No explanation.
No attack.
Nothing.
By the time the group could process what had happened, the end of Rock Valley was already in sight.
Juan pushed through the final stretch and carried the wagon beyond the cliffs.
Only then did Hoan finally slow him down.
He climbed off immediately and stayed beside the horse, helping him breathe and recover.
"Who the hell was that guy?" Hoan asked.
Hikari began gathering the remains of the creatures they had killed.
"Just a creepy mercenary I beat years ago. Every time I try to finish him, he disappears."
Eto looked over the corpses.
"We should get around fifty-two Silver Crowns for all of these."
"Yeah." Hikari glanced toward Yoshimura. "Go sell them."
Yoshimura sighed.
He still had a terrible reputation with merchants. Years of shady deals—and especially his old habit of selling unstable minerals—had made people remember his face for all the wrong reasons.
Still, he accepted.
While Yoshimura left with the corpses, Hoan stayed beside Juan.
"We're delaying the trip for a bit."
Nobody argued.
Juan was twenty-eight years old. He was far from an ordinary weak horse, but carrying a loaded wagon through Rock Valley while surrounded by a battle had pushed even him to exhaustion.
Hikari and Eto accepted the decision.
By the time they started walking toward Hathor's Strive Guild branch, Yoshimura was already returning.
He had a pouch full of Silver Crowns in his hands.
Eto stared at him.
"So you finally sold something without getting kicked out?"
She wore the kind of smile that made it obvious she was already preparing to make fun of him.
Yoshimura raised the pouch proudly.
"Seventy-three Silver Crowns."
Hikari and Eto both stopped.
"What?"
"These things weren't worth that much," Hikari said.
Yoshimura grinned.
"A magician never reveals his tricks, ladies."
They stared at him for a moment.
Then both decided that asking more questions was probably a mistake.
"Whatever," Eto said. "Come on. We need to find the Guild."
Yoshimura joined them.
A few streets later, however, the three realized something embarrassing.
None of them actually knew where Hathor's Strive Guild branch was.
"Hey, guys. Mind if I ask someone?" Yoshimura said.
"Sure."
"Go ahead."
Yoshimura scanned the street until he noticed someone who clearly looked like an adventurer.
The man was tall, with white hair and an elegant robe decorated in white and red. A rapier rested at his side, and everything about his posture looked disciplined.
Yoshimura approached him more politely than usual.
He never reached him.
A woman suddenly stepped between them.
"Who do you think you are to talk to my Noel, beggar?!"
Yoshimura jerked backward so quickly that he nearly lost his balance.
The woman wore a long black dress lined with deep red details. Her silver hair fell far down her back, contrasting sharply with her red eyes.
Before she could continue, the white-haired man gently placed a hand on her shoulder.
Her entire attitude changed.
She blushed, looked toward the ground, and fell silent.
By then, Hikari and Eto had caught up.
Seeing the confrontation, both instinctively reached for their weapons.
The man raised a hand peacefully.
"My apologies. She can be... a little overprotective."
He introduced himself as Noel.
The woman beside him was Roselia.
Yoshimura accepted the apology and explained that they were only looking for the Strive Guild.
"I'm registered with another Guild," Noel said, "but I know where the branch is. Follow me."
The group began walking behind them.
After a short distance, Yoshimura lowered his voice.
"Hey, Hikari. Eto. You two noticed something strange too, right?"
"Yeah," Eto whispered. "Something about those two is wrong."
Hikari kept his eyes on Roselia.
"The woman isn't human."
Yoshimura glanced at him.
"How do you know?"
"She doesn't make any sound when she walks."
For several seconds, Roselia continued forward without reacting.
Then she suddenly turned her head.
Her eyes met Hikari's directly.
A slow, unsettling smile formed across her face.
The entire group went quiet.
They decided, without needing to discuss it, that reaching the Guild as quickly as possible was probably the best idea.
What unsettled Hikari most was not Roselia's smile.
It was the distance between them.
Noel and Roselia felt completely different from the adventurers he had met so far. Their movements, presence, and composure gave Hikari the uncomfortable impression that they existed in another league entirely.
Soon the narrow road opened into Hathor proper.
The contrast with Rock Valley was immediate.
Sunlight covered crowded streets filled with merchants, families, children, travelers, and adventurers. Voices overlapped from every direction. Shops displayed goods from several parts of Asuka, and wagons moved constantly between districts.
If Rock Valley were not the main route into the city, Hathor would have almost seemed peaceful.
"There," Noel said. "Strive Guild."
The group had finally reached it.
Eto and Yoshimura thanked the pair and immediately started toward the entrance.
Hikari did not.
He remained behind.
"My name is Hikari Yukihana," he said. "Gold Rank."
It was less a greeting than a proper introduction.
He wanted to know who these two people were.
The white-haired man turned toward him.
"Noel D'Arch. Gold Rank. I serve the Rosfield Family as a sworn vassal."
The woman gave Hikari one final look.
"Roselia Rosfield. Gold Rank as well."
Then the two walked away.
Hikari watched them leave.
Gold Rank.
The same rank as him.
Yet the difference he felt between them was enormous.
For the first time, the title bothered him.
If all three of them carried the same rank, then why did Noel and Roselia feel so far beyond him?
The question reignited something inside Hikari.
His powers were strong.
His body was not.
He possessed a powerful Light Mark, but his own body could not yet withstand or release its full potential. Every time he pushed too far, his body became the limitation.
That realization followed him into the Guild.
Eto and Yoshimura had already reached the reception desk by the time he entered.
The group had been instructed to report to the Hathor branch before continuing the expedition. The Guild had new information about the mission waiting for them, along with an advance payment separate from the final reward.
The Strive Guild's influence extended far beyond Hinosca.
Even its branches in other cities continued to operate around Hinosca's economy, which meant quest rewards and payments were usually higher than those offered by smaller local guilds.
That privilege came with a cost.
Joining the Strive Guild was said to be nearly a hundred times harder than joining an ordinary guild. Most applicants needed exceptional recommendations, proven accomplishments, or enough talent to be recognized as prodigies.
At the reception desk, the group received an advance of 222 Gold Crowns.
They divided it between the four of them, each taking fifty-five Gold Crowns and the remaining value in Silver Crowns.
Afterward, they returned to Hoan, who had stayed behind with Juan.
Hikari handed him his share.
"So, Juan doing better?"
"Yeah. He's recovering."
Hikari nodded and walked away almost immediately.
Hoan watched him go.
"Hey... what happened to Hikari?"
Eto looked in the same direction.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, he's usually boring, but now he's acting weird even for him."
Yoshimura shrugged.
Neither he nor Eto had an answer.
So they decided not to chase him.
For now, Hikari needed space.
His own thoughts had become increasingly difficult to organize.
The encounter with Noel and Roselia had left something burning inside him.
He wanted to become stronger.
Not simply stronger than yesterday.
Stronger than the people standing ahead of him.
The desire was slowly becoming an obsession—and without Hikari realizing it, that obsession was beginning to create distance between him and the people traveling beside him.