Lys stood in the guild's hallroom staring at the volunteers, his mind still trying to catch up with what was going on in front of him. Seeing how people around him suddenly got up and stood in front of him, his words came out slowly at first, as if he needed to hear them himself to believe them.
"Wait, wait, wait…" He held up one hand, eyes moving from Rhuvia to Vessa and then over to the people who had just stepped forward. "So let me understand the whole thing first. What you guys are saying is the plan is to go deep into Gaiya Forest, find the actual dungeon entrance, and somehow force it shut? All of that without even a clear route mapped out, while fighting through whatever worse stuff is waiting in there? I'm not missing something here, right?"
No one jumped in to argue with his summary. The silence that followed sat heavily around the table. A couple of the staff members shifted their weight but stayed quiet.
Rhuvia just watched him, arms still crossed, waiting for him to finish, knowing Lys still wasn't finished yet.
That lack of correction from her told Lys everything; he surely hadn't misunderstood a single part of it.
He let out a short, disbelieving laugh and gestured toward the door, in the direction of the forest outside the walls. "The hobgoblin that was roaming inside the forest was dangerous enough to nearly kill me last time I went in there. And even Sara and Maya barely held the line against the first wave. And now you're telling me a small team is just going to walk deeper into the thing that spat all of that out as its opening move? Surely I'm not the only one who sees that this clearly sounds like a suicide mission, right?"
Maya turned her head toward him. Their eyes met across the table. Lys didn't hold back. He had seen what she and Sara went through on that road, the blood, the exhaustion, and the size of the monster horde they fought. From his point of view, it was a miracle that Maya was still alive, let alone thinking about going on a suicide mission like this. So, he pointed his argument toward her.
"And you, Maya, why would you volunteer for something this close to suicide? You were out there with Sara. So, you know exactly how bad it already is, right? Do you have a death wish or something?"
Maya didn't look away. Her voice stayed steady, simple, without any big explanation. "Yes, I know it might be a suicide mission. But I'm still going. Why, you might ask? Because there is no other way, Lys. This is the only solution I heard that made sense to me."
Her words landed flat and honest. Lys opened his mouth to push back, but nothing came out right away. He knew himself, too, that he had nothing solid to counter it with. The truth in her answer sat there between them, leaving him quiet.
Vessa stepped in then, cutting through the tension before it could build further. "Yes, Maya is right. This is the only plan that offers a little possibility to save this village. But let me correct you guys about something. Some of you might think otherwise, but this is not a suicide mission if we plan it right. Calling it that doesn't help anyone here right now."
Selene jumped in right after, her voice sharp with frustration, having heard this drama all this time. She glanced at Lys, then back at the guild leaders. "And how can just planning it right make it not a suicide mission? If even a Tier 4 mage like Sara couldn't hold the line against first-floor creatures like Quillbears by herself, what makes this team's odds any better?"
Vessa's mouth curved into that small, confident smile again, hearing Selene's question. She didn't answer directly. Instead, she turned slightly and pointed one finger toward Rhuvia, standing at the head of the table. "Why you ask? Because we have a Tier 5 mage standing right beside us."
Just as the words landed, the room went dead quiet.
Rhuvia shifted her weight, looking almost uncomfortable for the first time since Lys had known her. She raised one hand in a small, awkward half-wave, the kind of gesture that didn't match the weight of what Vessa had just said. "Hello there," she said, voice dry and flat. "Rhuvia Aldis here, Tier 5 Wind elemental mage, at your service."
For a long second, nobody spoke. The disbelief hung thick in the air. One of the veteran adventurers blinked hard, like she was waiting for someone to laugh and say it was a joke. A Fiora hunter frowned deeply, staring at Rhuvia as if trying to see some hidden power suddenly appear around her. Selene's mouth opened slightly, then closed again.
Even Lys felt his brain stall. Tier 5 wasn't something people threw around. From everything he had heard so far before coming into this room, it sat in the same rare category as those stories about divine saints, things most adventurers only heard about in legends, never actually saw with their own eyes. And Vessa and Rhuvia claim that Rhuvia, the guild master sent by the capital, was a Tier-5 mage herself? Is this a trick of Vessa to ease the group or something like that? Lys didn't know. And that's why he was hesitating now, unless he happened to speak out of turn, ruining Vessa's plan or whatever it is.
While all the people around the table looked at her weirdly, Rhuvia herself knew how it sounded. The awkward little wave and her dry tone made it clear she wasn't enjoying the attention. So, she dropped her hand back to her side and shrugged one shoulder, like she wished the whole reveal could have stayed buried a little longer.