The top floor of the Cairel Adventurer’s Guild wasn’t built for grandeur but for function. The walls were thick, reinforced with stone and darkwood beams, and lined with aged banners depicting past adventurers who had made their mark on history. The scent of parchment, leather, and old steel lingered in the air, a stark contrast to the formal halls of nobility. This was a place for warriors, not politicians.
Nick preferred it that way.
A long oak table dominated the center of the chamber, a map of the surrounding region laid across it, pinned with markers denoting various points of interest—pseudo-dungeons, forts, settlements.
This wasn’t a throne room.
This was a war room.
And seated at the far end, Duke Janztzen of Rovar looked entirely at home.
The duke’s presence was commanding, even seated. Tall, broad-shouldered, and ruggedly refined, he carried himself with the ease of a veteran accustomed to battle. His blonde hair was sleek, his beard well-groomed, and his enchanted formal wear looked functional enough to appear both on the battlefield and in court—practical, reinforced, yet unmistakably noble. His arms were crossed over his chest, his sleeves rolled up just enough to reveal calloused forearms.
Beside him stood a man that Nick had heard of but never met until now:
Resh Collings, the Guildmaster of the Cairel Adventurer’s Guild.
The guildmaster was equally broad-shouldered and imposing. His dark skin contrasted against the guild’s crest embroidered onto his coat. Bald, fierce-eyed, and sharp-witted, Resh gave off the impression of a man who had once commanded battlefields before settling into a different kind of warfare.
As Nick and Ray were led into the room, neither man spoke immediately.
The door closed behind them.
Nick let the silence linger just long enough to avoid looking nervous before giving a respectful nod.
Ray, predictably, didn’t offer any form of greeting at all.
The duke broke the silence first.
“Sit.”
Nick pulled out a chair, settling in across from them. Ray sat beside him, leaning back with a lazy sprawl, resting her cane across her lap. The motion did not go unnoticed—Resh’s gaze took note of the weapon, then her posture, but he said nothing.
The duke leaned forward, lacing his fingers together.
“I won’t waste time. My son is dead. I’d like to hear the details from you.”
Nick took a measured breath before responding, keeping his voice even.
“We were clearing the dungeon as planned. Everything was normal—until we encountered something that shouldn’t have been there.”
The duke’s expression remained neutral, but Resh’s brows lifted slightly.
“A new monster?”
Nick shrugged. “I don’t know if ‘monster’ is the right word.” He let the pause stretch for just a moment. “It was… something old and powerful.”
Duke Jantzen narrowed his eyes slightly. “Describe it.”
“It was like darkness given form. It moved like a shadow, but it wasn’t a ghost. It spoke with a will of its own. It didn’t fight like a beast, either—it fought with intelligence. Malice.”
The duke rubbed his chin. “And it killed my son.”
Nick neither affirmed nor denied the statement, keeping his gaze steady.
Resh’s fingers drummed against the table. “The Goblin Den has always been a relatively low-risk dungeon. F-rank adventurer parties clear it regularly. This is the first time we’ve heard of anything like that happening inside.”
Nick gave a humorless smile. “Well, ‘something like that’ happened this time.”
The room fell into contemplative silence.
Then the duke leaned back, his fingers tapping against the arm of his chair. “And yet, you’re here.”
Nick inclined his head slightly. “We survived. Jantzen didn’t.”
He guessed that this was the most important point to the duke:
How had they survived when his son hadn’t?
The duke studied Nick carefully. Assessing.
Nick knew this feeling well. He had seen it before—in the eyes of officers, purifiers, resistance leaders. The look of a man weighing whether he was sitting across from a tool, a threat, or something else entirely.
So he chose his next words deliberately.
“We fought it off. But it’s still out there. Somewhere.”
The weight of that statement settled over the table.
Then the duke exhaled, shifting his arms to rest against the table.
“Something that powerful in an F-rank dungeon… that’s unusual. What would you rank it as? B-rank? A? Or maybe something stronger?”
He tilted his head. “I couldn’t say for sure, since we’re only F-rank ourselves but since I survived…” A pause. “Well, we didn’t defeat it, and we’re lucky to still be alive. Whatever it was, that guy called Sebastian wouldn’t have lasted a minute against it.”
Resh made a thoughtful noise.
“Sebastian is capable among C-rank adventurers. A B-rank monster would outclass him, but to be in an entirely different league? I’m thinking A-rank at minimum…” he mused.
The duke listened to Resh’s comments while watching Nick closely.
Nick held his gaze.
After a long, weighted silence, the duke gave a slow nod. “Fair enough. You have a mind for survival.”
The pressure in the room shifted just slightly.
Then Resh leaned forward, veering the conversation.
“While we’re on the topic of things that shouldn’t exist…” He pushed a parchment across the table. “I received an interesting report about two weeks ago.”
Nick glanced down.
It was a formal incident report from a party of adventurers.
Edwin Weston’s party.
Resh’s voice was casual. “It says here that a man and his pet vampire killed them in a forest outside the city. The descriptions of said man and vampire are… interestingly familiar.”
Ray yawned and picked up her cane, studying it with a bored expression.
Nick reacted—deliberately. He exhaled sharply, tilting his head slightly in frustration as if he had just remembered an annoying inconvenience.
It wasn’t that hard, because it was how he actually felt. He completely forgot about those pests.
Then he sighed and leaned back.
“Yeah. That happened.”
That got the reaction he wanted.
Resh’s brows lifted slightly. The duke studied him with a neutral, yet intrigued expression.
Nick spread his hands. “The details vary from the report a bit, I’m sure. They jumped us in the woods. We defended ourselves. They lost.”
Ray finally spoke. “And I’m not his pet vampire.”
Resh’s lips curled slightly. “That’s not what the report says.”
Nick met his gaze, unimpressed. “You’ve read enough reports to know how adventurers twist stories.”
Another beat of silence.
Then, to Nick’s mild surprise, the duke chuckled.
Nick shifted his weight slightly, staying alert.
“Weston’s and his team are arrogant fools,” he said, smiling faintly. “You’re telling me you killed them all?”
Nick nodded. “Didn’t have a choice.”
Resh hummed, then finally leaned back.
“Well,” the guildmaster mused, “looks like you two have a talent for getting into trouble.”
Nick smiled slightly. “We have a talent for getting out of it, too.”
The duke chuckled again.
“Regardless,” he said. “This entity you encountered… I want details.”
Nick nodded. “I’ve told you most of what I know.” He paused, then shifted the topic. “Though, now that I think about it…” he tapped his fingers lightly against the table as if idly considering. “The way that thing appeared out of nowhere—it felt like the entire dungeon itself had turned against us. Almost as if it was an unavoidable death sentence.”
He let his words hang, watching their reactions.
The duke met his gaze calmly.
Nick tilted his head slightly. “I assume this isn’t the first time something like this has happened?”
Resh finally let out a low chuckle. “Sharp.”
The duke nodded, his expression firm. “You’re right.”
“How often?” Nick asked.
Resh folded his arms. “For the past six months, we’ve been receiving reports.”
“What kind of reports?”
The guildmaster’s lips pressed together. “Entire adventuring parties vanishing inside pseudo-dungeons. No survivors. No remains. No sightings.”
“And you haven’t been able to determine a cause?”
The duke shook his head. “Until now, no. We had no way of knowing what was happening inside. Every dungeon that experiences an incident resets as normal afterward, and the victims all tell the same story: they were killed by something that they couldn’t perceive. We had no information to go off of.”
Ray whistled. “That’s creepy.”
Nick nodded. “Has it ever happened in the same dungeon a second time?”
Resh shook his head. “Not a single repeat as of yet. Now that it happened in the Goblin Den, there are only a few more pseudo-dungeons left. We have no idea what the purpose of this entity is.”
Nick rested his elbows against the table, steepling his fingers.
“That’s valuable information.”
The duke smiled. “I figured you’d think so.”
Nick let a small smirk flicker across his lips. “Since I’m the first person to actually live through this, I assume you’re willing to offer something for my insight?”
Resh let out a low chuckle. “You don’t waste time, do you?”
Nick shrugged. “Time’s valuable.”
The duke nodded approvingly before reaching into a pouch at his side. He pulled out a small, finely crafted pouch and slid it across the table.
“Consider this a personal reward.”
Nick accepted it smoothly, almost losing control of his expression when he caught the glint of gold coins inside before he tucked it away.
Resh, meanwhile, tapped his fingers against the table. “I recall hearing that you put on an impressive display of fire magic in your fight against Sebastian…”
He rang a bell, summoning an assistant.
“Bring me a selection of fire magic manuals.”
Nick raised a brow.
Resh grinned. “Consider this an investment. You survived something most people haven’t. That means you’ll either get stronger and be useful to us—or you’ll get yourself killed a few times and get stronger anyway. Either way, it’s worth it.”
Nick chuckled. “I appreciate your confidence.”
A few moments later, the assistant returned, carrying a stack of leather-bound tomes with gilded edges. She arranged them on the table in front of Nick.
“Go ahead and pick the one you like,” Resh offered.
Nick carefully examined each book, taking note of their names:
=Skill Book: Flickerflame=
=Skill Book: Ashen Veil=
=Skill Book: Explosion=
=Skill Book: Flashburn=
=Skill Book: Enhanced Fire Magic=
After reading their descriptions, he set aside Ashen Veil, Flashburn, and Explosion. As compelling as Explosion was with its historical significance in the anime community, he already had a powerful attack spell, so he would have to save it for later.
That left two remaining options:
=Skill Book: Flickerflame=
->Description: Allows fire-based projectiles to teleport a short distance before hitting their target.
=Skill Book: Enhanced Fire Magic=
->Description: Improves the power and quality of all fire magic by 20%.
He really wanted both of them. He tapped his fingers against the table, eyeing both books with a distinct sense of hesitation.
On one hand, Enhanced Fire Magic was a straightforward power boost—a flat 20% increase to all of his fire-based abilities. It was a direct upgrade—no gimmicks, no tricky mechanics, just raw, reliable strength. That kind of improvement was always a great option.
But on the other hand, Flickerflame provided insanely good utility. The ability to teleport fire projectiles would make his attacks virtually impossible to predict.
He exhaled through his nose, conflicted.
“…Can I take both?” he finally asked, only half-joking.
Resh snorted. “I like your ambition, kid, but let’s not get greedy.” He reached out, tapping Enhanced Fire Magic with one thick finger. “This one? You can buy it at the Acolyte’s Guild. It’s pricey, but didn’t you just get a decent payday?”
“Wait, seriously?”
The guildmaster smirked. “It’s a rare book, but it’s available—you won’t have trouble finding a copy if you know where to look.” He then tapped Flickerflame with a bit more weight. “This one, though?” He shook his head. “Rare as hell. I don’t think I’ve seen another copy in over a decade. If you pass it up now, there’s a good chance you won’t get another shot at it.”
Nick frowned, glancing between the books again.
Power boost now, or an irreplaceable utility skill?
No contest.
With a decisive motion, he grabbed Flickerflame. “I’ll take this one.”
Resh grinned. “Smart choice.”
Nick opened the book and felt a rush of new understanding settle into his mind. A subtle warmth danced at the edge of his fingertips, an almost instinctual grasp of how the spatial flicker effect worked.
=Flickerflame=
-Semi-Active Skill-
->Mana: Variable
->Rank: Rare
->Description: Allows fire-based projectiles to teleport a short distance before hitting their target.
A flame unseen is a flame unchallenged.
Ray whistled. “Look at you, moving up in the world.”
He smirked. “Not fast enough.”
Resh watched them with quiet amusement. “That’s a good attitude.”
Then he shifted slightly, his expression turning just a shade more serious. “While we’re on the topic of moving up… I think it’s time we adjusted your ranking.”
Nick tilted his head. “Oh? We just reached F-rank yesterday.”
The guildmaster waved his comment away. “You beat a C-rank adventurer during the exam and then survived a threat that’s at least A-rank. That’s not F-rank material.”
The duke nodded in agreement. “He’s right. If you’re strong enough to take down someone like Sebastian, then you’ve outgrown the bottom ranks.”
Ray grinned. “Does that mean we’re skipping straight to B-rank?”
Resh chuckled. “Let’s not get carried away.”
He slid a parchment across the table. “Welcome to C-rank. Show this to a receptionist downstairs and they’ll update your license for you.”
Nick accepted it smoothly, his expression calm—but inside, he was already thinking ahead.
‘C-rank…’
It was a decent step, but not enough. The higher he climbed, the more freedom he would have—and the more he could dictate the rules of the game.
Just how long would it take before he reached the top of the rankings in this city?
He had a feeling that it wouldn’t take too long if he put his mind to it.
The faster he climbed, the more influence he could secure.
And influence?
For this persona, it would be everything.
Project Knightfall 