Chapter 40 Forced to Leave

Chapter 40 Forced to Leave
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK

“Arthur! We have a situation out here,” Jax yelled as he repeatedly beat on the guild leader’s door. “There are beasts outside of the dungeon!”

Knocking again, louder this time, the man opened the door. Sleep thick in his eyes, wearing his pajamas, Arthur stood there. “What did you say?” he asked.

Mira cut in without hesitation. “Sir, dungeon beasts are outside… or were outside moments ago. Jax and I took them out already.”

“Where… were the monsters?” he said, letting out a yawn with it.

“They were outside the town walls, in a spot I regularly use as a practice area,” Jax explained, pushing through the pain in his chest. “They were mutated just like the hobgoblin.”

The team continued to explain what had happened while Arthur got dressed in more official clothing. “Well, show me then,” he said, pointing them toward the door.

After a short walk, they were at the spot they had been attacked.

“Where are the bodies, Jax?” Mira asked, puzzled by what she couldn’t see. “What the fuck? Explain this one, Jax. They should be right here.” She tried to convince the leader of what had happened.

Unimpressed, he let out a scoff and told them the guild would look into it. He then left quicker than he had come.

Looking the area over again, unable to find any evidence of a scuffle, they decided to leave it for the night and come back in the morning.

When they awoke, it was to the sound of their door being knocked on.

“Guild assignment,” the person knocking said. “Urgent matter, please open the door.”

Flying out of bed, the couple answered with haste, hopeful that Arthur had figured something out. When they opened the door, they were met with one of the smaller, more meager-looking men from the guild.

“Direct order from the top brass,” he said as he handed them the quest sheet. “I was told to deliver that to you and make sure you accept. Nothing else.”

“The quest says it’s from an entirely different guild,” Mira said as she read the sheet. “Where is Cindercrest Village?”

Looking at her with the same confusion, he said, “I’m not sure… I’ve never heard of it before. This note says you need to leave as soon as possible.”

Turning her attention away from the sheet and toward the deliverer, Mira asked, “Why… are we being sent away? Have we done something wrong?”

“Like I said, I’m just here to deliver the message and escort you out of town. Nothing more,” the man answered, unable to look her in the eyes. “Arthur… well, not Arthur. The guild tasked me with this duty.”

The door closed behind him with a soft click that felt louder than it should have.

Jax didn’t move right away. His eyes stayed on the wood for a second longer, jaw tightening as the man’s footsteps faded down the hall. Mira still held the quest sheet in her hand, but she wasn’t reading it anymore. Her grip had gone rigid.

“That wasn’t normal,” she said quietly, eyes flicking up to Jax. “None of that was normal.”

“No,” Jax agreed, pushing off the door and stepping back into the room. “It definitely wasn’t.”

She looked back down at the paper, scanning it again like it might change if she read it hard enough. “Different guild. Unknown village. Immediate departure.” Her brow furrowed. “And an escort out of town? Since when does the guild escort people out?”

“They don’t,” Jax said. “This is the first I’ve heard of anything like it happening.”

Silence settled between them for a moment, thick and uncomfortable.

Mira exhaled slowly, folding the paper once before setting it on the table. “So what are we thinking? Coincidence?” she asked, but the word didn’t carry any belief behind it.

Jax shook his head. “No bodies. No marks. No sign anything happened.” His gaze drifted toward the window, toward the direction of the practice field. “But we both know it did.”

“And Arthur didn’t even try to hide it,” Mira added, her voice tightening. “He didn’t question us. Didn’t send anyone to check. He just… dismissed it.”

“He wanted it buried,” Jax said.

That hung there.

Mira leaned back slightly against the table, arms crossing as she thought. “And now we’re being sent away the next morning.”

“Not sent,” Jax corrected, his tone flattening. “Removed.”

Her eyes snapped to his. “You think this is because of what we saw?”

“I think it’s because we’re the only ones who saw it.”

Mira looked away first, pacing once across the small room before stopping again. “So what, they’re just going to pretend nothing happened? Monsters outside the dungeon and we’re just… shipped off somewhere else?”

Jax’s mind kept replaying it. The rods. The way the creature moved. The way the mark had responded—not violently, not like before. It had settled.

That was worse.

“They were the same,” he said finally. “As the hobgoblin.”

Mira nodded. “I know.”

“No,” Jax continued, shaking his head slightly. “Not just the rods. The feeling. The way it… looked at us.”

She went still.

“I felt it too,” she admitted after a second. “Like it wasn’t just reacting. Like it was choosing.”

Jax’s fingers curled slightly at his side. “And now the bodies are gone.”

Mira pushed off the table, grabbing her boots and sitting down to pull them on. “Alright,” she said, more grounded now. “We’ve got two options.”

Jax glanced at her. “Yeah?”

“We refuse the assignment,” she said, tightening the straps. “Stay here. Push. Figure out what’s actually going on.”

“And get shut down,” Jax said immediately. “Or worse.”

“Or,” she continued like he hadn’t spoken, “we take the assignment.”

Jax’s brow furrowed. “And walk away from this?”

Mira stood, meeting his gaze evenly. “Or we play along.”

That made him pause.

“They want us gone,” she said. “Fine. We go. But we don’t pretend this didn’t happen. We don’t forget it.” She tapped the quest sheet lightly. “And we figure out why this one specifically.”

Jax looked at the paper again.

Cindercrest Village.

He’d never heard of it either.

“Unknown location. External guild request. Immediate departure.” He exhaled slowly. “Yeah… that’s not random.”

“It’s connected,” Mira said. “Or it’s a distraction. Or both.” She stopped just before adding anything else.

That earned a faint huff from him, not quite a laugh. “That sounds about right.”

She stepped closer, lowering her voice slightly. “Jax… if something’s wrong inside the dungeon, and now it’s bleeding outside…”

He nodded before she finished. “I know,” Jax said quietly.

The words settled between them, heavier than they should have been.

Mira held his gaze a second longer, then gave a small nod and stepped back. “Then we don’t waste time.”

They moved without another word. Gear came together fast—familiar motions, practiced, efficient. Straps tightened. Weapons checked. Nothing rushed, but nothing delayed either.

Jax folded the quest sheet once more before sliding it into his pack. It didn’t feel like a job. It felt like a direction.

Mira paused at the door, her hand resting against the wood. “We come back,” she said, not quite a question.

Jax met her eyes. “Yeah. We do.”

She nodded once and pulled the door open.

The hall outside was already waiting for them.

So was whatever came next.