Ludger returned home that afternoon to set things in order before heading out again. He didn’t plan to stay long, just enough to gather supplies, leave instructions for Yvar, and make sure the tunnel maintenance schedule stayed on track while he was gone.

But the moment he stepped through the door, his plan fell apart.

“Ludgie!”

Two small shapes slammed into his legs, nearly tripping him. Elle and Arash clung to him like a pair of cicadas stuck to a tree, their faces full of determination.

“No leaving!” Elle declared, tightening her grip.

“Take us too!” Arash added, hanging off his coat like a banner.

Ludger sighed, unmoved. “I’m not going somewhere fun,” he said.

“Don’t care!” Elle said, her expression deadly serious for someone barely two years old.

“Yeah!” Arash echoed, glaring at him with all the ferocity a toddler could muster.

He tried to shake them off, gently, of course, but their grip was iron. “You two have the strength of barnacles,” he muttered under his breath.

From the kitchen doorway, Elaine watched the scene unfold with her arms crossed, an eyebrow raised. Her voice came out calm and soft, too soft. “Children.”

Both twins froze instantly.

“That’s enough.”

The room’s temperature seemed to drop a few degrees. Elle and Arash slowly peeled themselves off Ludger’s legs, looking up at their mother like prisoners caught mid-escape.

Ludger glanced at Elaine, deadpan. “Efficient as always.”

“Parenting,” she replied simply.

He crouched down, ruffling both twins’ hair. “Next time,” he said. “We’ll go somewhere that isn’t full of dust and rocks.”

Their eyes widened. “Where?” Elle asked, hope flickering.

“The beach,” Ludger said, a faint smile tugging at his lips. “You can bother the seagulls instead of me.”

That earned him twin gasps of wonder. “Beach!” they shouted in unison, jumping in place.

“Only if you behave,” Elaine warned, though there was a small smile behind her stern tone.

“We will!” they promised, nodding furiously.

Ludger stood, brushing off the wrinkles on his coat. “We’ll see,” he said, dry as ever. Then, looking toward Elaine, he added, “I’ll be gone a few days. Keep the twins from plotting my kidnapping again.”

Elaine smirked. “No promises.”

He exhaled softly and made for the door, the twins waving at him from behind their mother’s legs.

“Bye, Ludgie!”

“Bring beach!”

He gave them one last nod before stepping out into the street, already shifting back into that quiet, focused rhythm that meant work had begun again. But the faintest hint of a smile lingered at the corner of his mouth.

When Ludger arrived at the guild, the sound of wood clashing against wood echoed through the courtyard. The second group of recruits was already in the middle of their sparring drills, faster, louder, and a lot more determined than the first time he’d trained them.

They were all eleven now, still growing into their frames but already carrying themselves like soldiers in miniature. Sweat gleamed on their foreheads, and every movement carried that mixture of youthful energy and genuine discipline that made Ludger quietly proud.

Renn and Marie were in the center of the ring, wooden blades locked together. Renn feinted right, then darted left, too close. Marie’s counter came fast, and the next second a dull crack echoed as her sword smacked against his hand.

“Gah—!” Renn winced, stumbling back, his knuckles swelling red.

Marie stepped forward quickly, lowering her blade. “I told you to keep your guard up!”

“Yeah, yeah,” Renn grumbled, shaking his hand. Then, without hesitation, he pressed his palm over the bruise, his mana flaring faintly green. Healing Touch. The glow faded after a few seconds, and the bruise was gone.

Marie gawked. “You can’t use magic in a spar!”

Renn grinned, jumping back to ready stance. “You can if you don’t want to lose.”

She charged again, and the match continued, faster this time.

Off to the side, Bramm leaned on his spear, watching with Jorin and Tali. “He’s gonna eat dirt the moment his mana runs out,” Bramm muttered.

“He’ll deserve it,” Jorin replied.

Tali just chuckled, brushing her braid back. “Still… not bad for the first one who learned that healing trick.”

Their conversation stopped when they noticed Ludger stepping into the courtyard. The effect was instant, all five recruits froze mid-motion like someone had just summoned a general to inspection.

“Vice Guildmaster!” Tali called out first, waving.

Bramm straightened immediately, Jorin elbowing him to stop slouching. Even Renn and Marie halted their sparring, lowering their weapons.

Ludger gave them a brief look and raised a hand before they could run to him. “Don’t stop on my account.”

He moved toward the training area’s far wall, pressing his palm against the smooth stone. The ground shifted, rising and reshaping under his will until a new stone tablet stood before them, words  etchings already forming along its surface.

Assignment:

[Splash] – Water-Element Spell (Beginner).

Focus on control, not volume. Form the sphere. Compress it. Release it cleanly.

When he turned back, all five were staring blankly at him.

“That’s your next spell,” Ludger said evenly. “Work in pairs. I expect each of you to be able to cast it before I return.”

“Return?” Bramm asked. “You’re leaving?”

“Yes,” Ludger said. “A few days. Maybe longer.”

Jorin frowned. “But you promised to take us to the Frost Labyrinth next time!”

Tali nodded in agreement. “You said we were ready!”

Ludger’s brow twitched. “You’re ready for training, not for getting frozen alive by skeleton knights.”

The group groaned in unison. “That’s not fair!” Renn protested.

“You’ll live,” Ludger said flatly. “And if you want to go next time, finish this assignment without burning down the courtyard.”

Their collective groans deepened. Before they could argue further, a familiar voice cut in from behind. “Kids giving you trouble again?”

Yvar stepped into view, arms full of scrolls, his usual exasperated smile in place. “Don’t tell me you dropped another assignment on them before breakfast.”

“They need structure,” Ludger said simply.

“They need mercy,” Yvar replied dryly.

The recruits immediately swarmed him, complaining in a chorus of overlapping voices,“He’s leaving again!” “He’s making us learn another spell!” “We were supposed to go to the labyrinth!”

Yvar laughed lightly, patting Bramm on the shoulder. “All right, all right, calm down. I’ll make sure you get extra practice time after you do your homework.”

Ludger took that as his cue to leave. He gave Yvar a brief nod, his silent way of saying thanks for the rescue.

Yvar just shook his head with a grin. “Go on, Vice Guildmaster. I’ll handle the rebellion.”

As Ludger turned toward the gate, the last thing he heard was Renn shouting, “You owe us a trip, Ludger!”

He didn’t look back, but there was a faint smirk on his face as he muttered under his breath, “Noted.”

Before stepping fully out of the courtyard, Ludger stopped and turned toward Yvar, who was still herding the recruits back into some semblance of order.

“Yvar,” he called.

The scholar glanced up from his scrolls. “Yeah?”

“Pass a message to my father,” Ludger said, his tone as calm and clipped as ever. “Tell him I’m going to investigate the matter he mentioned yesterday.”

Yvar gave a simple nod, not asking for details, he’d learned better than to pry. “Got it. I’ll let him know.”

“Good.”

That was all. Ludger didn’t wait for a reply. He adjusted his scarf and started toward the guild’s lower levels, where the tunnel access chamber waited, quiet, sealed, and humming faintly with geomantic resonance.

As he descended into the cool dark, the laughter and chatter of the recruits faded behind him. He exhaled through his nose, rubbing the bridge of his brow.

“Half my life’s spent watching over kids,” he muttered under his breath. “Teaching them, correcting them, stopping them from breaking their bones…”

The tunnel lights flickered to life as his presence triggered the runes. His footsteps echoed faintly in the long, narrow passage.

“Too bothersome,” he added dryly. “I am not a babysitter…”

Still, there was a faint glint in his eyes, a mix of fatigue and something dangerously close to fondness, as the underground world opened before him. Troublesome or not, he had another job to do. And this time, it might be something worth getting his hands dirty for.

Since he moved alone this time, and his geomancy had sharpened past anything he’d once considered practical, Ludger only needed three days to reach the eastern border through his underground network. The tunnels were smooth and stable, as he used Stone Surfing to easily cross them.

He could’ve gone faster. If it weren’t for the headaches. After every few hours of travel, the dull pressure behind his temples would pulse again, his body’s way of reminding him that mana wasn’t infinite, not even for him. So, he stopped every so often, meditated, waited for the burning ache to fade, then pushed forward again.

Still, this much is fine, he thought as he finally reached the last checkpoint.

He pressed his hand to the wall, feeling the faint vibration of air beyond. The stone obeyed, parting quietly, and a sliver of sunlight cut through the dark. When he peeked outside, he caught sight of the mountain ridges in the distance and the sun hanging directly overhead.

“Noon,” he muttered.

He withdrew, sealing the exit behind him. There was no point in rushing through the daylight, not where imperial patrols still passed, and League scouts might be prowling the opposite valleys. So he waited.

He sat cross-legged near the tunnel mouth, meditating as the hours slipped by. The stone around him felt alive, his mana threading through it like veins of light under the earth. The subtle pulse of the world itself, calm and unbothered, kept him company until the day dimmed and shadows stretched long across the peaks.

By the time night arrived, the sky outside the exit was clear and cold, scattered with stars. Ludger finally stood, brushing dust off his gloves.

Beyond this point, the terrain would be trickier, foreign ground, shifting influence. He had to be careful about expanding the tunnels too far past the Empire’s reach.

Keep it under the zones I control first, he thought. Or where Torvares’ name still means something. Beyond that… I’ll need other methods.

He flexed his hands, feeling the familiar hum of mana stir under his skin. The stone around him shivered in response. Somewhat free territory was still free enough, for now.

When morning came, the mountains gave way to open roads and hazy air tinged with iron and smoke. Ludger emerged from a small grove outside Veyra, the first League city he had ever set foot in months ago.

He paused at the edge of the treeline, watching the early bustle beyond the gates. Golems hauled cargo across the main thoroughfare while vendors called out prices over the hiss of mana engines. The place hadn’t changed. 

Ludger exhaled. “Back to the furnace.”

He adjusted his scarf and walked through the gates without drawing attention, just another traveler with a heavy coat and an unreadable face. Once inside, though, the real question hit him.

Do I wait until night again before moving?

He stood near the transport plaza, eyes flicking across the posted route schedules. Waiting meant losing a full day. And he’d already lost enough of those lately.

“…Troublesome,” he muttered.

Instead, he stepped toward one of the shimmering metal-carved carriages idling by the station. The vehicle was powered by a small embedded mana core, runes faintly pulsing along its sides in steady rhythm. The driver, a broad, soot-streaked man with a monocle rune over one eye, looked him over curiously.

“Destination?”

“Coria,” Ludger said.

The man whistled low. “That’s a full-day ride, lad. Gonna cost you.”

Ludger reached into his pouch and handed over a gold coin without blinking. “Then don’t stop for lunch.”

The driver grinned, teeth flashing. “My kind of passenger. Hop in.”

Ludger stepped into the carriage, the door sealing with a muted click. Inside, the seats were padded with stitched leather, faint warmth radiating from the embedded runes in the walls. The constant, rhythmic hum of the core filled the air as the vehicle began to move.

Outside, Veyra slowly rolled away, the glow of its furnaces fading behind them as the horizon stretched open. Ludger leaned back, resting his head against the wall, the exhaustion of three straight days of tunneling finally catching up to him.

Good enough, he thought, letting his eyes close as the steady vibration lulled him toward sleep. By the time he woke again, night would be waiting, and with it, Coria.

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