Chapter 362: Guild Home [ 1 ]

Greyvale received them beneath the warm light of the late afternoon, its roads crowded with merchants, laborers, hunters, and adventurers moving through the city as though the day had only just begun.

The southern gate was busy with wagons waiting for inspection, porters unloading crates, and guards checking travel permits while trying to keep the road clear. Sage and the others attracted attention almost immediately.

Their clothes were dusty from three days on the road, several members still carried bandages from the Vault, and the exhaustion on their faces was impossible to hide, yet there was something about the way they walked together that made people stop and stare.

A few recognized Sage first. Others noticed Valeria, Gregor, Brutus, Vanthrice, Lyana, Mina, Boren, Caelis, and the twenty adventurers behind them, and before long murmurs began spreading from one side of the road to the other.

Some people looked relieved. Others appeared confused, as though they had already accepted that the expedition would never return.

Sage heard fragments of conversation as they passed, questions about where they had been, whether the rumors were true, and why nobody had heard from them for days, but he did not stop to answer.

They had crossed too much distance and survived too much danger to delay now. Home was only a little farther ahead.

The deeper they moved into Greyvale, the more familiar the city became, though the sound of ordinary life felt strangely different after the silence of the Vault and the wilderness of the Evergreen Mountain Range.

Street vendors argued over prices, blacksmiths hammered metal behind open workshops, children ran between market stalls until their parents pulled them back, and patrol guards pushed through the crowds while calling for people to keep the roads clear.

Mina looked from one side of the street to the other with growing excitement, as though every building confirmed that they had truly escaped.

Boren, who had complained almost without rest throughout the journey, suddenly walked with his back straighter and his chin raised, clearly unwilling to let anyone in the city see how exhausted he was. Gregor noticed and smiled but wisely said nothing.

The former Gryphon District had long since stopped resembling the quiet, underused section of the city it had once been.

People now called it the Adventurer District, and the name had become so common that many of Greyvale’s newer residents did not even know what the area had been called before.

The moment Sage’s group crossed beneath the district archway, they were met by the constant movement of a place built around the Guild.

Stores occupied nearly every available building along the main roads, selling leather armor, medicines, preserved food, maps, ropes, lanterns, monster-repellent powders, camping tools, and every other item adventurers might need before leaving the city.

Smithies operated with their wide doors open, smoke rising from their chimneys while apprentices carried unfinished blades between furnaces and workbenches.

Several hunters dragged a large tusked beast toward a butcher’s yard while arguing loudly about how the meat should be divided.

Merchants stood outside supply warehouses negotiating prices with quartermasters, and groups of adventurers moved constantly through the district, some heading out with polished weapons and packed supplies while others returned covered in mud, blood, and the satisfaction of a completed mission.

At the far end of the main road stood the massive entrance of the Adventurer Guild. The Guild Hall dominated the district around it, broad and well established, with its crest displayed above the entrance and a steady stream of people moving through the large doors.

Behind the Guild Hall rose the Mana Cultivation Tower, its height making it visible from almost anywhere in the district, while the Guild Smithy stood off to one side with smoke rising steadily from its chimneys. None of it was new to Sage.

The Guild had already been large and active before they left, but seeing it again after days of uncertainty carried a weight he had not expected. Nothing had slowed down in his absence.

The district had not become disorganized. The stores were still open, the smithies were still working, the quest parties were still forming, and the Guild continued to pull people into its orbit as naturally as a river drew water downhill.

Boren slowly looked around, his expression shifting from relief to admiration. "I know we were only gone for a few days, but somehow this place feels even busier than before. Either the Guild has grown again, or I spent so long trapped inside that Vault that I forgot what civilization looks like."

"You spent most of the journey talking about food and treasure," Brutus replied while watching two apprentices push a cart of spearheads toward the Guild Smithy. "You probably forgot everything else."

Boren turned toward him with a wounded expression. "That is an unfair description of my priorities. I also complained about my feet, my back, the weather, the forest, and the lack of proper beds. I am a man of many concerns."

Mina laughed from beside Sage. "Uncle Boren, I think everyone alreadyknows that. The whole mountain range probably knows that."

Several adventurers behind them chuckled, and Boren placed a hand over his chest as though deeply betrayed. "Little Mina, I survived ancient golems, collapsing tunnels, and a serpent large enough to swallow a house, yet somehow your words remain the most painful part of this expedition."

Sage shook his head, though he could not hide the smile on his face. The sound of their laughter mixed naturally with the noise of the district, and for the first time since leaving the Vault, he felt that the danger was truly behind them.

As they approached the Guild Hall, Sage slowed slightly and began watching the people around the entrance with greater attention.

Receptionists moved between the main counters with stacks of completed forms, answering questions while directing new arrivals toward registration desks.

The quest counters were crowded but orderly, with staff members posting fresh assignments, checking completed mission records, and settling disputes between parties over reward distribution.