***********
Consciousness returned to Sigrid slowly—too slowly for his liking.
It came not with calm or clarity, but with a piercing shriek drilling directly into his ears.
"YOU IDIOT! YOU WERE RIGHT THERE AND YOU DIDN'T RECOGNIZE HER?!"
Sigrid flinched so violently he nearly rolled off the moss‑covered boulder he'd been resting against. His eyes snapped open to find Toni looming over him like an enraged bear, face flushed, arms waving wildly.
"T‑Toni—! Calm down—!"
"CALM DOWN YOUR FACE!" Toni hollered. "You mean to tell me you saw her—HER—up close and your brain didn't bother to alert you?! How is that even possible?!"
Sigrid groaned, lifting both hands to cover his abused ears. "I didn't know! She had a hood on! A very thick hood! And she wasn't exactly giving me time to inspect her!"
The other party members had gathered around, some rubbing their temples, others still recovering from the earlier battle. The hybrid's corpse lay several meters away, intact and perfectly preserved—almost like a trophy. Or a warning.
When Sigrid's eyes fell on it, he felt a sobering chill.
She defeated that thing alone… and left the body untouched. Just how precise must her strikes have been?
He looked back at his team, expecting them to still doubt him.
But instead—every pair of eyes watched him with a mix of disbelief and something close to pity.
Kelin, the party's swordsman, pointed at him dramatically.
"Did you just say black hooded cloak?"
"And crimson hair?" added Marn, eyes widening.
Sigrid rubbed the back of his neck. "Well… I mean—yes, but—"
The three of them slapped their palms over their faces at the same time.
Then—
"How can someone be such an idiot?" Marn muttered.
"Seriously, Sid," Kelin sighed, "your brain might be strong in combat, but wow, your observation skills are—"
"Hey!" Sigrid snapped. "I was busy not dying!"
But the others weren't listening anymore. They were still staring at one another in stunned understanding, as if the puzzle pieces had finally locked into place.
It was Toni who finally broke the silence.
He leaned in, voice dropping to a serious whisper.
"There is only one person in this entire empire," he said, "who has crimson‑blooded hair… and carries a Black Adventurer Card."
Sigrid froze.
"C‑come again…?" His voice cracked. "B‑Black… C‑card?"
Kelin's expression turned grave.
"You know the ranks, Sid. Even the kids in the Capital know the ranks."
Sigrid swallowed hard.
E‑rank.
D‑rank.
C‑rank.
B‑rank.
A‑rank.
S‑rank.
SS‑rank…
And finally—
SSS‑rank. Black.
A rank spoken of only in taverns and guild war stories. A rank so rare it had become almost mythological.
The rank only one adventurer on the entire Miris Continent possessed.
A quiet hush settled over the group.
Toni folded his arms. "Thought you'd figure it out sooner," he muttered. "Seriously. You're killing me."
Sigrid's face heated. He looked away, mind racing, heart pounding.
There's no way. I couldn't have been talking to—
Could he?
He remembered the telepathy.
The speed.
The strength.
The unshakable calm.
The crimson hair gleaming as her hood fell.
His breath caught in his throat.
The only adventurer who fit every single one of those traits…
The one who even the Royal Family refused to provoke…
The one whispered about as a walking calamity…
Her.
A shiver crawled down his spine.
He should have pieced it together sooner.
He should have recognized her.
He had even sensed the sheer scale of her mana—yet failed to see the obvious.
"Damn it," Sigrid muttered under his breath, dragging a hand down his face. "Why didn't I realize…?"
Because he had been too distracted.
Too shaken.
Too wrapped up in memories he had spent years burying.
Too vulnerable to see clearly.
The others continued bickering among themselves until Toni, frustratingly calm now, lifted a hand to silence them.
"Enough," he said, tone shifting back to leadership mode. "We're wasting time. Let's clean up, get what we can from the corpse, and report this to the guild."
Sigrid blinked. "Report? But… why does this feel serious all of a sudden?"
Toni didn't answer immediately.
He looked toward the hybrid's corpse—its flesh unscathed, scales unbroken, crystalline spikes gleaming under the forest's muted light. A faint scent of ozone still clung to the air.
A creature like this should never have been here. Not this close to populated territory. Not wandering this deep into the Rosak Forest.
Not unless something had driven it out.
Toni sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "A dragon hybrid appearing out of nowhere isn't a coincidence. Someone released it… or forced it out. Either way, this is way above our pay grade."
He stared at the creature one more time, his expression unusually somber.
"This needs to be reported immediately."
The others nodded.
They trusted Toni. He may have been loud, brash, and occasionally questionable in his methods, but when it came to judgment calls…
No one was sharper.
As the party got to work extracting materials, Sigrid knelt beside the corpse, still silently processing everything that had happened.
The woman's voice echoed inside him again, unbidden.
A sword that not only protects…
…but also eliminates.
He clenched his fist around the grass.
Why did she say that to me? Why me of all people?
His thoughts spun, tangled, heavy.
That was when he felt it—a subtle shift in the air.
Barely noticeable, but enough to prick at his senses.
A whisper of magic.
Sigrid's eyes hardened. He turned slowly.
Toni.
The man's hand hovered subtly near his chest—subtle movements, discreet gestures, controlled mana.
A message spell.
Someone was being informed of the incident.
Someone… above even the guild.
Sigrid's brows furrowed. Who is he reporting to?
Before he could question it, a voice murmured just behind his shoulder.
"What you see… leave it."
Sigrid's heart nearly leapt from his ribs. He turned sharply.
Yano was there—quiet, unreadable, eyes half‑lidded as usual. The party's archer was a man of few words, fewer expressions, and even fewer explanations.
"It's better," Yano continued softly, "not to pry into things you can't afford."
His tone carried no threat… but also no room for argument.
Sigrid's jaw clenched.
"What do you mean?"
Yano didn't blink. Didn't fidget. Didn't look away.
"All of us," he said calmly, "have secrets we'd rather keep buried. Toni has his. You have yours. And that woman…" His gaze shifted toward the forest's shadows where she'd vanished. "She has more secrets than the rest of us combined."
Sigrid stiffened. "So, you… think she really was—"
Yano hummed softly.
"You're lucky, Sid. She doesn't show herself to just anyone. And she doesn't save people for free."
Sigrid swallowed. "Then why—?"
Yano shrugged lightly, adjusting the quiver at his back.
"Who knows? Maybe she had her reasons. Maybe she saw something in you."
A pause.
"Or maybe your past caught up sooner than you thought."
Sigrid felt his breath falter.
But before he could question further, Yano stepped away, leaving him alone with his thoughts.
His confused, rattled, unsteady thoughts.
Her reasons…? My past…? What does he know?
The hybrid's corpse glimmered beside him.
And far off, almost beyond hearing, the forest groaned—whispers of something darker, something stirring just beyond the horizon of their understanding.
Yano's voice drifted back to him, low and distant.
"Who knows?
After all… she might carry secrets that are far too heavy for the rest of us."
And just like that, Sigrid realized—
The crimson‑haired woman had not only saved his life.
She had altered its course.
And the consequences…
had only just begun.
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