The silence in the temporary command tent was a stark contrast to the guild hall's chaos. Maps of the Barony were spread across a rough-hewn table, marked with the same troubling reports Kaito had been quietly resolving. Kaelen, his Half-Divine physique unable to mask the weariness in his soul, stared at a new marker placed in the Murkwood. The report simply stated: "Regional mana instability... resolved. Cause: Unknown."
"It doesn't make sense," he murmured, his voice tight with frustration. "A blight that severe doesn't just... resolve itself."
Akari, sitting across from him, looked up from mending a tear in her robe. The grief for Hoshimura was a permanent shadow in her eyes, but it was now joined by a spark of her old, analytical self. "The report from the guild says a new adventurer handled it. A 'pacification specialist.'" She said the title with a hint of skepticism. "The same one who brought in the mutated wolf cores."
Kaelen's head snapped up. "The same one?" He hadn't paid much attention to the guild gossip, his focus on the larger strategic picture. But two major anomalies, both linked to one unknown individual? That was a pattern, and patterns in his line of work were either a blessing or a catastrophe.
Later that day, drawn by this nagging thread, Kaelen entered the Adventurer's Guild for the first time since his return. The change in atmosphere was palpable. The usual topics of conversation—monster tactics, loot, and tavern exploits—were peppered with one name, spoken in hushed, incredulous tones.
"...cleared the Murkwood blight in a single day..."
"...jumped straight to B-rank..."
"...they call him a pacification specialist..."
Kaelen's enhanced senses picked up the whispers easily. He made his way to the quest board, his eyes scanning until they found the man at the center of the storm. He saw a young man with unassuming clothes, a stark black staff on his back, and a guild badge bearing two fresh silver stars. He looked... ordinary. That was the most disconcerting part.
Akari, who had followed him in, stood at his side. Her gaze, however, wasn't on Kaito, but on the staff. Her A-rank magical senses, though not as refined as Seraphina's, recoiled from it. It wasn't just an object; it was an absence.
"That's it," she whispered to Kaelen, her voice tense. "The energy coming from that staff... it's not magic. It's the opposite of magic. It's a void."
Kaelen watched as Kaito accepted a new quest parchment—a B-rank investigation into missing travelers near the Cinder Peaks. The same mountains where he had fought his Titan. Another coincidence piling onto the heap.
"He's heading for the Peaks," Kaelen said, his voice low. "The same region that's been a hotbed of instability." He made a decision. "I need to know if he's a solution or the source of the problem. I'm going to observe his methods for myself."
Akari placed a hand on his arm. "Be careful, Kaelen. If he really did pacify the Murkwood... he's not just some lucky upstart. He's powerful. And we have no idea what he truly is."
As Kaito left the guild, unaware of the Half-Divine hero's scrutiny, Kaelen's gaze followed him. The search for the mysterious green slime that had saved Akari had hit a dead end. But now, a new, equally enigmatic figure had emerged, his path eerily parallel to the trail of chaos. Kaelen's mission was no longer just about protecting the Barony from monsters; it was about uncovering the truth behind the B-rank adventurer whose every action seemed to both cause and cure the land's sickness. The two threads of the mystery were beginning to twist together.