Taking the portal back to the Noirark underground fortress, my first impression was how quiet it was.

“......”

“......”

Except for the heavy breathing of the members, still tense from the recent urgent situation, the surroundings were eerily silent.

Not a single rat was to be seen anywhere, let alone the royal army who were supposedly occupying the fortress plaza.

Honestly, it was a bit unexpected.

Before taking the portal, Sven Parav, who is basically a human fate tracker, was making a big fuss, so I half-worried something would explode the moment we arrived.

“Ah... ugh... ah......”

By the way, he’s still like this.

“Snap out of it, Sven Parav.”

I stepped closer and tried talking, but his body trembled like a leaf with no sign of stopping.

So, I was watching, wondering what to do.

“...Are you okay? Parav, try to pull yourself together. Okay?”

Lilis Marone, a military mage who joined our clan after the Ice Rock expedition, approached carefully and took his hand.

“Whatever it is, you’ll be fine. Don’t be scared. I’ll protect you.”

To me, that looked like a wasted effort.

No way he’d snap out of it just because of that—

“Ah, ah... Ma, Marone?”

Huh?

“Uh, uh... Ma, Ma, Marone? Please, let go of my ha-hand first...”

...Is that actually working?

What’s the difference between me and her?

“Oh! Sorry... Parav looked cold...”

“Oh, no! No need to apologize. I, I’m the one who should apologize...!”

Marone jumped back in surprise and a strange silence followed.

“......”

“......”

What on earth is going on with these two?

Are they like Rotmiller and Shavin Emur—some sort of romantic tension?

‘Hmm... judging by Marone, probably not...’

I’m not sure.

Relationships between men and women are complicated anyway, and honestly, it’s not important what their relationship is.

What matters is he finally came to his senses.

That’s the only thing.

“Parav, if you’re clear-headed, get up. Stop looking like a mess.”

“Huh? Ah, ah! Yes...!”

Grabbing his shoulder, I forced him up, and though shaky, he stood on his own.

Okay, looks like we can talk now.

“Is that gut feeling still the same?”

“Yes...”

Phew... so that means something ‘big’ is really going to happen soon...

“...Understood. If anything changes, tell me immediately. It’s going to be chaotic, so stay in the back and follow slowly while gathering yourself.”

“...Sorry.”

Ending the conversation with Parav, I called Amelia and Bersil out.

“Do you know why there’s no one around? When you left, the royal army was occupying this place.”

“They were. We even struggled to activate the magic circle stealthily to get out.”

“I don’t know why the royal army pulled out. No clues so far.”

Hmm, I see...

I had even prepared excuses for if the royal army was here when we returned.

Glad I don’t have to use them now.

Though it’s unsettling not knowing why the royal army withdrew.

“Yandel, so what’s the plan from now?”

Amelia asked, and I thought for a moment.

Again, there were two choices.

Either stay here silently, hiding in this empty underground fortress,

or go up to the city and find out what’s really going on.

Naturally, my decision was made.

“...We’ll return to the city first.”

Closing your eyes doesn’t change anything.

No matter how scared you are, you have to open them and look ahead.

At least then you’ll know one thing.

What you should [N O V E L I G H T] be afraid of.

Of course, going into a basement, closing your eyes, and covering your ears is an option, but that decision must be made knowing the full situation.

Not out of pure fear.

“How many districts are you going to?”

“For now, I’ll go to District 7 and decide flexibly based on the situation.”

So, we left the silent underground city and climbed up to the sewers marking the border between Noirark and Lafdonia.

This wasn’t a formation focused purely on speed...

But a cautious formation like when first entering the labyrinth or moving through extremely dangerous areas.

“......”

“......”

Though no one said it aloud, most members looked puzzled.

‘Why go this far?’

Honestly, it was a natural question.

To them, it was just stepping outside the city walls and back again.

I must have seemed strange, moving as if certain something dangerous had unfolded.

Well, thanks to the trust I’d built, they seemed to assume there was some unspeakable reason.

Kuuuuuuung-!

As Amelia led and searched for the path in front, the floor and ceiling shook like an earthquake.

It wasn’t a violent tremor, just slight vibrations, but enough to add tension to the already alert members’ expressions.

“The tremor came from quite far away.”

“...Is something really happening above the city?”

At first, there was doubt, but now their faces showed clear signs of sensing the situation was serious.

It didn’t take long before things got worse.

“...Blood?”

Bright red blood floated on the sewage in the sewer.

Following it further, as expected—

“...Corpses.”

Bodies lay scattered carelessly in the sewer.

Judging by the looks, they hadn’t been dead very long...

Identifying them wasn’t hard.

They must have rushed out with only expensive equipment due to lack of time; enough gear was left behind.

“These people... are the royal army.”

The royal army is dead.

Even though the sewers are sparsely populated, this is clearly Lafdonia’s territory.

“Is it possible they were just robbed by some vagabonds?”

No way.

The possibility that a vagabond would dare attack the royal army inside the sewers is almost zero.

Therefore...

“Emily, keep leading. We need to get upstairs quickly.”

Passing by the royal army corpses, we increased our pace.

We saw several more royal army bodies until reaching the exit leading outside.

However, after that last tremor like an earthquake, the sewers never shook again...

Hmm, what the hell is going on here?

“...It’s surprisingly quiet.”

Arriving at the sewer exit, we cautiously observed outside without going out.

The view was limited but the distance visible straight ahead was very quiet.

Of course, it wasn’t safe to relax.

No matter how outskirts the sewer entrance was, having no one on the street at midday was unusual.

“...What do we do?”

“We’ll wait here for now. If so many people move, it will be noticed immediately. Emily, can you take a few people out to quietly check the situation and return?”

“No need for more than a few. It’s easier if I go alone.”

“No matter what, it might be dangerous—”

“It’s safer alone. If it’s dangerous even if you’re discovered, having more people won’t make a difference.”

Hmm... no matter what she says, I worry.

But since she’s the expert, that probably is safer.

“Alright. Please be careful. We don’t expect much information, so don’t overdo it.”

“...I’ll be back.”

With that, Amelia prepared briefly and opened the sewer door, stepping out into the street.

She moved so swiftly and stealthily that I lost sight of her back the moment she stepped outside.

It didn’t sit well that she didn’t respond properly to being told not to overdo it, but for now, I decided to trust and wait while getting on with other tasks.

Time should be used efficiently, after all.

“I sent a mana transmission to the message stone coordinates at the clan house, but there was no response.”

“That’s expected. After checking, it seems a wave blocking mana transmission is spread throughout the city. I can’t contact the remote video recording device in my lab either.”

“No wonder! I felt mana was dispersing halfway...”

“Ah! I heard the military also has such magical devices. I thought they were only for wartime use... but it really seems something is happening in the city.”

“What on earth happened during those two months we were outside?”

While Amelia was out, we organized all the information we could find on our own.

And then some time passed.

Creeeak.

Amelia opened the sewer grate and returned.

Though she looked tired, there were no signs of injury or battle damage on her clothes.

Still, just in case.

“Injured anywhere?”

“...No, don’t worry.”

Amelia smiled slightly at my question, then shared the information she gathered outside.

“The soldiers are spread along the walls, constantly using detection magic and abilities, so I couldn’t get close. But one thing is certain: the incident started in Befron, which the Noirark forces had occupied.”

“Befron...?”

“You’ll see when we go outside later, but the barrier covering Befron was gone.”

“So, a war really broke out.”

“Most likely. I found this in our clan house mailbox.”

Amelia handed me the mail we had found in the clan house.

The seal showed it was from the royal family, and Amelia had already opened it—the wax was broken...

“This is...”

Checking the letter, it had a long introduction as official documents from the royal family usually do.

But to sum it up briefly...

“It’s a mobilization order.”

“Yeah, it looks like not just us, but all clans in the city have been summoned.”

“There’s a law in the city code that explorers and fighters can be forcibly incorporated into the military during wartime.”

That makes sense.

No country would fight a war relying only on regular soldiers.

While thinking that, Kaislan, a military veteran, sighed heavily beside me.

“This situation must be serious. About a year ago, when the Noirark people invaded, the mobilization order wasn’t even issued...”

“Why not?”

“If the mobilization order is issued, the royal authority ultimately weakens. The royal family’s power must be absolute, so issuing the order could be interpreted as a sign that help is needed.”

Oh, really?

“Simply put, if the royal family could handle it alone, they would never issue a mobilization order.”

“...I think that’s a safe interpretation of the current situation.”

Kaislan’s words gave me a lot to think about.

So I silently just rubbed my chin.

“By the way, this is getting complicated... Miss Rains? Was there any official letter addressed to the clan leader, not the clan itself, among the mail?”

“There wasn’t... but why is it complicated?”

“Well, our leader is a titled noble, right? When a mobilization order is issued, all titled nobles transfer their affiliation to the ‘Military Command.’”

“Military Command...?”

“Hmm, it’s a complicated concept, so I don’t know how to explain it well...”

Kaislan frowned, then tried to organize his thoughts and gave the simplest explanation he could.

“As soon as we return to the city, our leader will be assigned to the Military Command and wait at Ecliptic.”

“Then what about the Anabada clan?”

“We’ll carry out the tasks assigned by higher-ups. Most likely on the most dangerous frontline. And that will be without the leader, just us.”

In other words, we have to elect a vice leader to fill the vacancy first.

To return to the city.