Chapter 45: Day Three of Training 1
After breakfast, everyone left the dining room again to return to their duties.
Isadora went back to her office with the plans for the Memory Crystal already in mind.
Elaria left almost immediately for the Artisans’ Guild, her eyes shining with anticipation.
Vespera vanished into a discreet teleportation circle, probably to prepare an entire room for experiments forbidden to any reasonable person.
Shiora, for her part, left the manor smiling like a merchant who had just discovered three new gold mines.
Elena and Lyriana left together for the Knights’ Quarters.
Adam followed Selene.
As the day before, they headed towards the Adventurers’ Guild.
But this time, as they approached the building, something seemed different.
There were too many people in front of the entrance.
Merchants.
Caravan workers.
A few richly dressed men.
And even several people whom Adam didn’t immediately recognize, but whose white and gold attire unpleasantly reminded him of the man from the Sacred Empire he’d seen at the Merchants’ Guild.
He slowed down slightly.
Selene did too.
Her expression changed.
The serene smile she’d worn just a few minutes earlier gradually faded.
Her ears perked up.
Her golden eyes narrowed.
Adam immediately sensed that something was wrong.
Inside the guild, the commotion was even louder.
Several people were shouting in front of the counter.
The receptionists were trying to respond calmly, but the crowd was clearly trying to drown them out.
"Our escort order has been mishandled!"
"Your adventurers are incapable of properly protecting a caravan!" "The Valorian Adventurers’ Guild is no longer trustworthy!"
"Since when do we entrust the safety of the roads to a beast?!"
This last sentence brought a sudden silence to Adam’s room.
Not throughout the entire guild.
Not yet.
But close enough for those who had just heard to feel the air change.
Adam slowly turned his head toward Selene.
Her face had frozen.
No visible anger.
No immediate outburst.
It was worse.
Her expression had become utterly cold.
The people who were shouting hadn’t noticed yet.
They continued.
"As long as this tiger-woman runs the guild, no sensible merchant should trust her!"
"A creature like her can’t possibly understand the honest interests of trade!"
"She’s not even here to answer!" "As usual, she’s letting her subordinates cover for her mistakes!"
Adam understood then.
They thought Selene was away.
According to the whispers around him, this happened sometimes.
The guild master regularly went off to inspect roads, join struggling teams, or handle certain problems herself outside of Valoria.
Sometimes for a day.
Sometimes for several.
These people probably thought they had found the perfect opportunity.
To create a scandal while she was gone.
To force the receptionists to explain themselves.
To attract attention.
To tarnish the guild’s reputation.
And, at worst, if Selene returned earlier than expected, they would apologize, claim it was a misunderstanding, and then try to leave without any consequences.
Adam felt her gaze harden.
"The Empire..."
Selene didn’t answer.
But the aura around her changed.
The air grew heavy.
Cold.
Beastly.
It wasn’t Vespera’s crushing mana.
Nor Isadora’s noble pressure.
Nor Lyriana’s silent, murderous intent.
It was something more primal.
The feeling that a predator had just entered the room.
And had heard her name spoken with contempt.
Little by little, the conversations died away.
The adventurers stopped moving.
The receptionists looked up.
The merchants, who had been shouting until then, finally felt the pressure.
One of them turned around.
His face went white.
Another followed his gaze.
Then a third.
In a few seconds, the whole group understood.
Selene was there.
And she had heard everything.
The tiger woman advanced slowly.
Each step echoed in the silence.
Adam followed a few steps behind her, carefully observing the scene.
No one dared to get in her way.
Selene stopped in front of the troublemakers.
Her golden eyes slid over each of them.
Then she spoke.
Her voice was low.
Very low.
But she crossed the entire room.
"Give me your proof."
No one answered.
Selene tilted her head slightly.
Her gaze grew colder.
"Now."
One of the men tried to regain his composure.
"Guild Master, this is a misunderstanding. We simply wanted to—"
Selene placed a finger on the counter.
CRACK.
The reinforced wood cracked slightly under the pressure.
The man fell silent immediately.
"Your proof," she repeated. "Or I can’t guarantee you’ll leave here in one piece today."
Adam remained silent.
He understood something then.
Shiora would have smiled.
She would have trapped her opponent’s words, forced him to apologize, and then elegantly destroyed his reputation.
Selene, however, was not Shiora.
Selene was a warrior.
And her diplomacy was much like a claw pressed against a throat.
The men began to panic.
One of them pulled out a scroll.
"We have an escort contract that’s been filled out incorrectly!"
A receptionist, trembling but professional, took it and read it quickly.
Then she looked up.
"This contract isn’t from our guild. The seal is fake."
Selene stared at the man.
"Fake."
He took a step back.
Another man intervened hastily:
"In that case, it might be a copying error! But my caravan was abandoned on the northern road!"
An adventurer near the counter frowned.
"The northern road? It’s been closed for three days because of a landslide."
"No escort missions were validated there."
Selene slowly turned her head toward the second man.
"A lie."
Her face went even paler.
A third man tried to speak faster.
"We heard that several merchants were attacked after hiring your teams!"
Adam then spoke.
"Heard from whom?"
The man froze.
All eyes turned to Adam.
Selene also glanced at him briefly, but didn’t interrupt.
Adam took a step forward.
"You’re accusing the guild in public. So you must have names, dates, routes, contracts, and witnesses."
The man opened his mouth.
No sound came out.
Adam narrowed his eyes.
"You have nothing."
The silence grew even heavier.
Selene finally smiled.
But it was anything but a gentle smile.
"Good."
She turned to the receptionist.
"List each accusation for me. One by one."
The receptionist nodded quickly.
For the next few minutes, everything was checked.
Contracts.
Dates.
Names.
Routes.
Seals.
Orders.
Escort reports.
Witness statements.
Each time, the truth came out.
Fake contract.
Wrong route.
False witness.
Non-existent report.
Fabricated complaint.
Crudely forged seal.
And the more lies were exposed, the more the troublemakers lost their nerve.
Some tried to apologize.
Others blamed their subordinates.
Another claimed to have been deceived.
A final one murmured that he had simply repeated what he’d been told.
Selene listened to the end.
Then she closed her eyes.
"So, you came to my guild."
Her aura thickened.
"You insulted my adventurers."
A crackling sound resonated beneath her fingers.
"You tried to tarnish our reputation."
Her eyes snapped open.
"And you called me a beast."
No one dared breathe.
Selene took a step forward.
"You’re right about one thing."
Her voice turned icy.
"I am not Shiora."
Adam felt almost the entire room shudder.
"She would have destroyed you with contracts."
Selene slowly raised her hand.
Her claws gleamed in the light.
"I’m much less patient."
What followed was swift.
Too swift for most of the spectators.
Selene didn’t draw her weapon.
She didn’t need to.
With a few movements, she disarmed those carrying concealed daggers, threw them to the ground, shattered their postures, cut off any attempt at escape, and forced them to their knees in the center of the hall.
She didn’t kill anyone.
She didn’t shed blood needlessly.
But each blow was precise enough to demonstrate the difference between an empty threat and a true fighter.
In less than a minute, the provocateurs were all on the ground.
Some were trembling.
Others were groaning.
They all understood that they had just made a huge mistake.
Selene looked down at them.
"From this day forward, your names, your companies, and your seals are blacklisted by the Valorian Adventurers’ Guild."
A man jerked his head up.
"You can’t—"
Selene placed her foot near his face.
The ground cracked slightly.
He fell silent.
"I can."
Her voice didn’t tremble.
"You will no longer have access to guild escorts. No more official protection. No more validated contracts. No more mediation with the adventurers."
She leaned slightly forward.
"And if I discover that the Holy Empire sent you, I will pass your names on to Isadora of Valoria."
This time, fear turned to panic.
Adam noticed the change.
They were afraid of Selene.
But the name Isadora made them realize that this could be more than just physical punishment.
Selene straightened up.
"Throw them out."
Several adventurers stepped forward immediately.
The troublemakers were dragged toward the exit under the icy stares of the entire guild.
One of them tried to protest again.
An adventurer squeezed his shoulder hard enough to cut off his voice.
A few seconds later, they were ushered out into the street.
The door closed.
Silence lingered for a moment.
Then Selene inhaled slowly.
Her aura diminished.
The air became breathable again.
The adventurers gradually resumed their movements, but no one spoke immediately.
Adam watched Selene.
She had regained her outward composure.
But her ears were still slightly pricked.
And her eyes held an unusual coldness.
He approached gently.
"Are you alright?"
Selene turned her head toward him.
For a second, her expression remained impassive.
Then she exhaled.
"Yes."
Adam didn’t answer right away.
He knew it wasn’t entirely true.
"They targeted the guild just like they targeted Shiora’s."
Selene nodded slowly.
"Yes."
She looked at the door through which the men had been thrown.
"They’re trying to weaken the pillars of Valoria. The banks. The merchants. The adventurers. The roads. The security."
Adam frowned.
"And if they attack each guild one by one, they can create the impression that the whole system is unstable."
"Exactly."
The receptionist approached, still pale.
"Mistress... should we send a report to the Duchess?"
Selene replied immediately:
"Yes. A full copy. Forged contracts, names, descriptions, witnesses, everything. Send a copy to Shiora too. She’ll know how to spot suspicious business seals."
Then she turned to Adam.
"And you?" "
Adam blinked.
"Me?"
"You asked the right question at the right time."
"The proof?"
"Yes."
She smiled slightly.
"You were thinking like Shiora. That was helpful."
Adam remained silent.
"I don’t know if that’s a compliment or a warning."
"Both."
He sighed.
"Obviously."
Selene then placed a hand on his shoulder.
"Training continues."
Adam stared at her.
"After this?"
"Especially after this."
She gestured toward the door leading to the training rooms.
"What you just saw is also a form of combat. The Empire doesn’t just use swords. It uses rumors, forged contracts, fabricated complaints, and cowards who think they can hide behind words."
His gaze hardened.
"You have to learn to survive both."
Adam remained silent.
Then he nodded.
"I understand."
Selene smiled.
"Good. So today, in the gravity chamber, you’re going to learn how to stay upright while everything around you is trying to knock you down."
Adam looked at her.
Then, despite the tension of the previous scene, a weary smile appeared on her lips.
"You know that sentence is far too symbolic?"
"I know."
She headed toward the corridor.
"Come on."
Adam followed her.
Behind them, the Adventurers’ Guild was slowly coming back to life.
But something had changed.
The murmurs were no longer just those of curiosity.
They were now about the Empire.
Fake evidence.
Disguised attacks.
And Selene Arkwell, who had just reminded everyone that the Adventurers’ Guild was not a place where one could come and lie without consequence.
Adam descended the stairs behind the tiger-woman.
His gaze hardened slightly.
The Holy Empire had just made a mistake.
It had thought it could attack Valoria through its institutions.
But he hadn’t understood one thing.
Every pillar he tried to shake was guarded by a woman capable of fighting back.
And Adam, whether he liked it or not, was beginning to become one of them.