Daily Life of a Guild Master

The lantern light flickered low in Vel's office, casting long shadows across the stacks of maps and papers cluttered across the central table.

Darius stood with his sleeves rolled up, ink-stains smudging the edges of his fingers as he gestured toward a map pinned open before them. Shin stood nearby, arms folded, watching every movement with sharp eyes, while Vel leaned casually against the windowsill, one foot propped behind him.

"They used coordinates," Darius began, his tone firm but quiet. "That much is clear now. The documents were structured to look like inventory logs or merchant ledgers. But within the rows of what seemed like random numbers and letters, I found a recurring format—two digits, a letter, another set of digits. Latitude and longitude, disguised."

He tapped two marked locations circled in red on the map. "Now here's where it gets clever. Most of the coordinates they used were intentionally misleading—some pointed to places in the middle of the ocean, some deep within other nations, and some were even within city districts. But these two—" he pointed again, "—they appeared more than ten times across different sets of documents. That repetition caught my eye."

Vel straightened slightly. "And the locations?"

Darius nodded. "One's on the north side of Marina City, close to the border of the Regal Nation. The area's mostly flatland and sparse woodland. Trade routes pass nearby, but it's far enough off the main road that there's no patrol coverage."

He then tapped the second location, this one closer to home. "The other is on the east side of the capital, near a secluded forest village. Again, no patrol presence, It's the perfect spot for someone trying to stay hidden."

Vel gave a quiet, approving chuckle. "Excellent work. I knew you'd be able to piece it together."

He straightened slightly, the corners of his mouth lifting. "As it happens, I also uncovered something during my visit with General Vhan."

Darius glanced up, surprised. "You went to see him? When did that happen?"

Vel offered a faint smile. "You were too busy to see me leave."

Shin, who had been quietly observing, finally stepped forward. "What did you find out, Vel-sama?"

Vel's tone shifted into something colder. "Vhan interrogated the bandit leader. It wasn't pretty… but he got him to talk. Apparently, they were instructed by the masked noble to drop off the captured victims near the swamplands, east of our city."

Darius's eyes flicked to the map, and he quickly added the swamp to the growing cluster of marks.

"That close…" Shin muttered, frowning. "And we never noticed?"

"They hid in plain sight," Vel said. "No structures, no guards, no lights. Just a simple drop point."

There was a pause. Tension buzzed in the room.

"We keep this quiet," Vel added, his voice now low and serious. "If there's a traitor watching us, they'll bolt and clean everything before we can move."

Shin nodded. "Understood. I'll have the informants check out all three locations discreetly. No mention of Guild involvement."

"Good." Vel turned to Darius. "If we confirm any of these as active sites… Do we go to Lord Halric?"

Darius hesitated, but Vel shook his head.

"No," Vel said. "Lord Halric gave me full authority to investigate this case however I see fit. Reporting now could delay everything. But I'll speak to the Clan Masters when the time comes. We'll prepare a strike force. When they least expect it, we'll strike."

The room fell silent once more, but this time with a quiet resolve.

Meanwhile 

The infirmary was still, save for the soft rustling of parchment and the rhythmic scratching of quill against paper.

Bella stood near the bedside of the afflicted patient—a woman, her skin pale and marred with faint veins of dark hue crawling beneath the surface. Her breathing was shallow, eyes barely open, lips parted only slightly.

"She's been like this for two days," Bella said, her voice steady but touched with fatigue. "I tried using a high-tier healing spell twice. The first time, her body jolted as if responding—but the effect faded in under an hour. The second time… nothing at all. It's like her body was resisting it."

Across the room, Shuri scribbled into her notebook. Her expression was focused, her brows furrowed in concern.

"I tried replicating the condition using the green liquid shin-sama gave to me," Shuri said, not looking up. "I used it on several rats to simulate the effects in a controlled environment.."

Bella turned to her. "And?"

"The rats entered paralysis shortly after exposure. Breathing slowed, and within a few hours their limbs stopped responding. However, their bodies produced a form of temporary immune response—one that gave them brief movement again." She paused. "But it didn't last. The paralysis returned stronger after each cycle."

Bella exhaled slowly. "So it mimics recovery before shutting everything down again."

Shuri nodded. "I even tried using High Heal—a potion meant to equal the effects of top-tier magic. But it only restored minor motor function for a short time. The decline was inevitable." She looked over at the woman lying still in bed. "That's why I asked to examine the actual patient directly."

Bella stepped back from the bedside. "You're not alone in that. I cast every major healing spell I know. They all gave the same result—temporary recovery followed by complete regression. At first, I thought it was some kind of alchemical effect… but now…"

Shuri's eyes narrowed slightly, her mind racing. "It's possible… the liquid that was injected wasn't just alchemical. It might've been cursed."

Bella's brow arched. "A curse?"

Shuri nodded firmly. "That would explain why healing magic isn't working. A well-woven curse can suppress recovery, reverse magical restoration, or even trigger worse symptoms in response to healing attempts. If that's the case…"

Bella leaned against the wall, her expression turning grim—then curious. "That would explain a lot. The patients weren't rejecting the healing. The curse was blocking it."

"To confirm the type of curse," Shuri continued, "we need to draw blood and run it through several tests." She glanced at Bella. "But we need help from the Church."

Bella crossed her arms. "Vel-sama knows someone there. I'm sure of it. He's had contact with the Church before. If anyone can get them involved quietly—it's him."

Without another word, the two of them gathered their notes and swiftly exited the room. Their hurried steps echoed down the hall and faded into silence.

For a moment, the room was still—dim, quiet, and heavy with the weight of mystery.

Then, a faint click echoed at the window.

The latch shifted open, and a shadow slipped inside.

A cloaked figure moved through the narrow opening, landing with ghostly silence on the floor. The hood concealed their face, only the faint gleam of eyes visible beneath the darkness. They stood still, scanning the room with slow, deliberate movements.

They approached the patient's bedside.