Under the dark night sky, Erika swept back her silver hair, which shimmered as if it was emitting its own light, and gazed up at the stars.
As the sun set and the sky darkened, making way for the moon to claim its place, Erika waited atop a tall roof, braving the increasingly cold winds for someone—her superior, her friend, and someone absolutely indispensable for today’s mission… and also someone notorious for being as late as if they had a second breakfast to attend.
“Why is he so late…?” Erika muttered under her breath, closing her eyes and checking for the presence of anyone nearby.
Within a kilometer radius, she could sense her subordinates silently preparing for the mission, each one holding their position with precision. But there was no sign of him. Just to be sure, Erika double-checked for any unfamiliar signs of life but, unsurprisingly, found nothing.
Just as she reopened her eyes, a familiar voice broke the silence.
“Hmph. Did I make it on time?”
“… Seriously, you need to work on making more noise when you show up.”
“Oh, wow, Erika! So good to see you again!”
Erika let out a sigh inwardly as she started tying her hair, ignoring the cheerful tone of a man clad in casual assurance—her friend, her boss, and today’s key player: Ryu Young, the Guild Leader of the Black Shadow Guild.
As usual, he was fashionably late, but not late enough to compromise the entire operation. Still, it annoyed her. What could she do? He was her superior and the guild leader after all.
“Wow, it’s been ages, huh?” Ryu Young grinned, clearly eager to rehash old times.
“Let’s focus on the mission first. This is important.”
“Come on, it’s been months! You’re turning into such a stick in the mud. You’re the captain, I’m the guild leader.”
“Cover your face already.”
“Oof. So heartless, Erika. If you knew where I’ve been and what I just finished up, you wouldn’t believe it. Actually, you’d probably think it’s ridiculous.”
Erika casually ignored Ryu Young’s chatter, sending a subtle signal to her subordinates through a fine mana connection. The signal: Operation start.
“Are you aware you’re late?”
“Am I? Hmm, I thought I was pretty fast, all things considered.”
“Considering how much effort it took me to track you down…”
“Yeah, it sounds like it cost you a pretty penny too, huh?”
“…It’s expensive, but this mission’s worth it. You know what we’re doing, right?”
“Of course! So, we start with the explosion in the northwest—”
BOOM!
Before Ryu could finish his sentence, a massive explosion erupted precisely in the northwest direction.
Erika and Ryu stared at each other for a brief moment, their eyes locking in silent agreement. They nodded simultaneously. In an instant, Erika darted toward the explosion while Ryu leapt in the opposite direction.
The real operation had begun.
“Guess I didn’t need to worry after all…” Erika mused as she leapt through the air, remembering her worries about Ryu Young’s recent hiatus. As the commander of the Black Shadow Guild’s 1st Squad and known as the “Silver Tracker,” Erika had fretted endlessly when she heard he’d taken a break from work.
If she’d had the time, she might have sought him out personally, but with the end of a year-long pursuit in sight, she couldn’t afford to leave her post. Yet the reunion after nearly six months of absence proved her worries were unfounded. Ryu Young was as carefree and mischievous as ever, capable of turning a tense moment into light-hearted amusement effortlessly.
Just seeing his face eased the tension she had felt earlier, lightening her mood immediately. Despite his occasional scatterbrained antics, Ryu was always dependable in the heat of battle.
As she soared through the air, Ryu Young’s voice suddenly reappeared in her mind.
“Hey, don’t forget! I came here specially for you, seriously!”
“Eh? You, what!”
Whoosh! Ryu vanished again.
“Ugh, that guy…” Erika muttered under her breath, though a faint smile tugged at the corners of her lips.
—
Why did I name my organization “Black Shadow” (黑影), a name that sounds both exotic and distinct in Arcania? Well, the reasons were simple.
First and foremost: it sounded cool.
“Black Shadow Guild.” Sounds impressive, right? It gives off an aura of mystery and purpose. Back then, the name popped into my head without much thought, but the more I reflected on it, the more it resonated with the kind of organization I wanted to create.
“Black Shadow”—it conjured up ideas of secrecy, stealth, and mystery. Of course, when I first founded the guild, I wasn’t thinking about creating some covert cabal or shadowy syndicate. The early version of the Black Shadow Guild was just a regular mercenary group—taking jobs from the Adventurer’s Guild or private clients, solving problems, and earning coin. Nothing out of the ordinary.
But a turning point came with a seemingly insignificant request: stealing a jewel from a noble’s household. Through a combination of my unique teleportation abilities and complementary skills from the guild’s original members, we managed to execute the task with absolute precision. No trace left behind. At that moment, I realized my skills were perfectly suited for this kind of mission. Slowly but surely, our reputation shifted. Word spread that we excelled in handling delicate, secretive tasks.
There was no intentional pivot toward becoming an enigmatic, shadowy group—it just… happened. And hey, it wasn’t like we had any objections anyway.
“Erika’s still the same,” I thought fondly as I observed her during the operation. Erika, a founding member of the Black Shadow Guild and commander of the 1st Squad, hadn’t changed a bit since our early days. She still had that icy veneer that softened at the right moments, and her grumbling about my tardiness felt exactly like old times.
The only notable difference I could pinpoint was her… figure. She must’ve been exercising, because her curves looked even more polished and graceful than before.
BOOM! Explosions erupted from all directions, snapping me back into action. The reason I personally joined this mission despite declaring a break was because of its significance. Recently, thanks to Eddi, we’d uncovered a lead on a job that had resisted resolution by every adventurer guild. For over a year, Erika had been doggedly pursuing this mission, and now we were closing in.
All I had to do was locate this mysterious hourglass filled with someone’s “bone powder,” worth fifty million gold. If my assessment was accurate, this would be a cakewalk compared to combat or raids. Stealthily sneaking in, grabbing the prize, and vanishing—all in a day’s work for me.
“Here we go…” I muttered, surveying the chaos.
Our plan was simple: a classic diversion strategy. While Erika’s 1st Squad caused mayhem across the “village,” I would infiltrate and search the two suspicious buildings she couldn’t handle alone.
Crouched on a rooftop, I eavesdropped on panicked voices below.
“An attack! Everyone, prepare for combat!”
“Who could it be? Is the church onto us?!”
“We don’t know yet, but move quickly!”
Hmm. The mention of the church indicated we were on the right track. They weren’t exactly saints, these guys. My instincts told me this building wasn’t our target. If the fifty-million-gold hourglass had been here, they wouldn’t have abandoned it so easily.
“Next one, then,” I thought, teleporting back to the central rooftop of the “village.”
Only one building remained, though its exact location was still unclear.
“Over there!”
“Eliminate the intruders!”
“Whoohoo!”
As the once-quiet surroundings erupted into chaos, soldiers armed to the teeth pursued our guild members disguised in black. The “village” was now a flaming battleground, courtesy of the earlier explosion.
Suddenly, a piercing wave of mana surged from a corner not far away—about 350 meters from my position. This was no ordinary skirmish. Instinctively, I knew.
“Right there.”
The fifty-million-gold hourglass. My target.
My instincts never lied.
