Chapter 363: Guild Home [ 2 ]

Merchants waited near the receptionist desks to discuss supply contracts, while blacksmiths delivered repaired weapons and collected damaged equipment from returning adventurers.

Hunters entered through a side gate carrying hides, claws, horns, and beast cores for assessment. Couriers came and went with sealed documents. Trainers directed groups toward the practice grounds. Nothing looked perfect, but everything worked.

Sage said nothing for a long moment.

Brutus noticed his silence and glanced toward him. "You are checking for problems."

"I’m checking whether they needed me," Sage answered honestly.

"And?"

His eyes moved across the reception area, the quest counters, the storage records being carried toward the administrative wing, and the guards maintaining order near the entrance. "They did their jobs."

Gregor heard the quiet pride in his voice and smiled. "That sounds like a good thing."

"It is." Sage watched a young receptionist calmly explain Guild regulations to an impatient mercenary twice her size without showing the slightest fear. "It means the Guild can function even when I’m not standing in the middle of it."

Brutus looked toward the busy entrance. "That is what you built it to do."

Sage gave a small nod. He had known that in theory, but seeing it was different. An organization that collapsed the moment its leader disappeared was not strong. It was only dependent.

What stood before him now was alive in its own right, carried forward by receptionistsclerks, blacksmiths, merchants, trainers, hunters, guards, and adventurers who understood their roles well enough to continue without waiting for his return.

They stepped through the main entrance together.

The Guild Hall was louder than the streets outside. Adventurers crowded around the quest boards, receptionists answered questions from several directions at once, merchants negotiated delivery schedules, and staff members carried ledgers between departments.

At first, nobody noticed the returning expedition. They were simply another group entering through the doors.

Then one receptionist looked up.The papers in her hands slipped slightly.

"Guildmaster?"

The word was not shouted, but it spread through the hall faster than any announcement. Heads turned one after another. Conversations faltered.

A clerk near the quest counter froze with a seal still pressed against a document, while several adventurers stepped aside to get a better look at the group standing near the entrance.

Recognition moved through the chamber in waves, followed almost immediately by noise.

"They’re back!"

"The expedition returned!"

"Someone call the others!"

Staff members left their counters despite knowing they should not. Adventurers pushed closer. Several of the Guild members who had remained behind hurried across the hall with expressions caught between relief and anger.

One older receptionist reached Sage first and stopped directly in front of him, looking him over as though checking whether he was actually alive.

"You disappeared for days," she said, her voice tight with emotion. "No message, no messenger, no sign of where the expedition had gone. Do you have any idea what people were saying?"

Sage accepted the accusation without defending himself. "The situation became complicated."

"Complicated?" She stared at the torn edge of his coat and the bandage around his arm.

"By yesterday, half the Guild thought you were trapped somewhere in the mountains, and the other half thought the entire expedition had been killed."

Boren stepped forward before Sage could answer, lifting one hand with the solemn expression of a man about to deliver important testimony. "In fairness, both possibilities came very close to being correct. A giant golden golems, collapsing passages, terrifying beasts, and a serpent so large that I briefly reconsidered every decision that led me into adventuring."

The receptionist slowly turned toward him. "Boren."

He lowered his hand slightly. "Yes?"

"You are alive."

"I’m pleased you noticed."

She struck him across the shoulder with the rolled documents in her hand, and the people closest to them burst into laughter.

The tension broke. Mina was immediately surrounded by several receptionists who checked her face, arms, and clothing while asking whether she had been hurt.

She tried to reassure them that she was fine, only to casually mention swallowing river water and nearly create a fresh panic.

Brutus found himself pulled into a heavy embrace by two younger adventurers he had trained.

Vanthrice endured several awkward greetings before one of the guards grasped her forearm and told her quietly that they had begun preparing a search party.

Gregor and Lyana were approached by familiar Guild members who looked as though they wanted to scold them and welcome them back at the same time.

One man near Gregor shook his head in disbelief. "We thought you were dead. When nobody returned and the mountain routes showed no sign of the expedition, people started volunteering to go after you."

Gregor’s expression became more serious. "That would have been dangerous. You wouldn’t have known where to search."

"We knew that," the man admitted. "But waiting here felt worse."

Gregor rested a hand on his shoulder. "I understand."

The reunion quickly turned into a small celebration without anyone formally deciding to start one. Food appeared from the Guild Restaurant kitchen.

Someone opened a barrel of ale. Chairs were dragged closer, cups were passed around, and questions came faster than the returning adventurers could answer them.

Boren began telling a wildly exaggerated version of the Vault escape until Brutus corrected him, Mina corrected Brutus, and Gregor declared that none of them should be trusted until everyone had slept.

Laughter filled the hall, mixing with relieved voices and the sound of people welcoming back companions they had begun mourning.

Sage remained near the edge of the gathering for a while, quietly observing the people around him.

The Guild had continued working. The staff had kept the counters open. The quests had been managed, the merchants handled, the adventurers registered.

They had worried about him, but they had not allowed that worry to stop the Guild.He was proud of them.

Eventually, however, exhaustion began overcoming relief. Lyana could barely keep her eyes open.

Brutus leaned against a pillar whenever he thought nobody was looking. Mina continued smiling but had started resting against Sage’s side, while even Boren had stopped reaching for more food.

Sage stepped forward and raised one hand.

The hall gradually fell quiet.

"Everyone go home," he said, looking across the returning expedition. "Eat. Sleep. We meet tomorrow."