– Not too far apart.

Izuma skidded around the corner, He cursed under his breath, stumbling to a halt.

"Shit... was it left or right...?"

He stood in the center of the forked alley, absolutely dumbfounded.

Then, a small voice behind him.

"It's right."

He turned. A little girl—couldn't be older than ten—stood with a group of the evacuees he'd led with Rinji. Her face was smudged with soot, but her expression was calm.

He blinked. "Uh... Thanks."

She nodded solemnly, and he didn't wait another beat.

"Alright, let's go!"

he shouted, leading the small crowd around the right bend.

The road curved downwards, snaking around a broad stone wall until they reached a towering set of double wooden doors, thick and fortified with bronze slats.

He slammed both hands into them, and the weight of his full sprint carried his body through as the doors swung wide open.

He tripped slightly, boots scraping the polished floor as he staggered inside.

His breath caught.

"...What the hell...?"

The interior was nothing like what he'd expected. Wide, polished floors made of dark redwood. The walls curved in an elegant arc, and three stories of balconies rose around the room in a circular fashion like an upscale lodge or a converted cathedral.

In the center of the ceiling?

A chandelier.

Not just any chandelier.

A big, shining, crystal-spun monstrosity that gleamed like someone had dropped a thousand diamonds into a frozen storm cloud.

Izuma just stood there.

Mouth slightly agape.

"This is..."

It was beautiful.

Not just medieval beautiful. Not fantasy beautiful.

Modern.

Almost eerily modern.

It reminded him of something you'd find in an upscale hotel lobby in Tokyo. Like something he saw when he was dragged to that cousin's wedding when he was ten.

He walked slowly forward, eyes still locked on the chandelier. The light flickered softly, catching in the crystal strands, and for a moment, he swore he could hear the buzz of modern-day electricity.

"…Is this place human-made?"

He mumbled.

He looked around.

Everything was too smooth. Too structured. Too... symmetrical.

"Humans are rare here," he said under his breath.

"Even more so, what if there are more like me... Ones that came here after death... This doesn't add up. Why would—"

A gentle tap.

Izuma flinched and turned.

A knight stood behind him. But unlike Rinji's combat-weary aesthetic, this one was pristine. Tall, fitted in full armor that shimmered with polish, but his helmet was off, revealing a surprisingly youthful face, gray hair tied loosely back, and sharp cyan eyes that sparkled with a laid-back warmth.

He gave Izuma a friendly smile.

"Those are hard to find out here," he said, nodding to the chandelier.

"Only the council allows it to be placed in certain buildings. They call it a 'Vendler',"

Izuma's brain short-circuited.

"Vendler...?" he echoed, still staring upward. "Sounds almost like... 'chandelier.'"

But he didn't say it aloud.

He blinked and shook his head.

"I'm seriously losing it over a damn light fixture…"

The knight chuckled and stepped past him without another word.

Izuma finally looked around and noticed the others in the group spreading out. Some were resting, others helping each other to the couches and benches lining the walls.

He noticed a front desk.

Wooden, rounded edges, with a tall shelf of books and ledgers behind it. A woman stood behind the counter, head down scribbling into a thick logbook.

As he approached, he heard a voice to his right.

"Should I go apply for an adventurer's license?"

Another voice replied,

"She does the signups, pretty sure. That girl over there."

Izuma didn't even break stride.

He pieced it together immediately.

So this place, Just like the vielforge, doubles as a guild registry too. Not just a bunker or safe house.

When he reached the desk, the clerk—a tall woman in a slate-gray cloak—looked up at him with a curious smile.

"You here to sign up?"

she asked.

Izuma nodded. "Yeah. That okay?"

"It's free. But you have to accept a quest right away. No freeloaders."

She handed him two pieces of parchment.

One had a bunch of symbols and boxes, a place where he assumed his name went and a blank space at the bottom that screamed 'signature'.

He narrowed his eyes.

Can't read a damn thing… but the structure's universal.

He filled in what he could and scrawled his name where it felt right.

Doubt they'd be able to read it, He thought.

The other page had drawings. Rough sketches, symbols, some kind of numeric system. He quickly deduced it was a quest board—bounties, tasks, gathering missions.

He scanned through until one caught his eye: a rabbit-like creature with jagged teeth and exaggerated claws.

This one looks the least threatening

He pointed to the creature then asked, "What's this creatures name?"

She looked slightly dazzled by his question—he quickly realized it was probably because the answer was written somewhere on the paper, but he still couldn't read or make sense of this world's lettering.

"Gabbit", She said.

Then followed,

"You're not from around here are ya'?"

He shook his head calmly.

Then tapped it.

The woman nodded and handed him a dull brass compass.

"You've got four days to bring back proof you killed seven Killer Gabbit, but it's not like it matters, This tracker will both help you trace it and confirm the quests completion"

She continued.

"And don't worry, they're only Class D- threats. Just… don't underestimate them. They're territorial bastards."

Izuma pocketed the Tracker.

Killer rabbits, huh? He thought.

So "Gabbit" is just a local corruption of rabbit. Makes sense. This world's not as disconnected from mine as it acts like.

Even some food names were the same. Meat was the same and so was bread, It was like the language drifted just far enough to throw him off but not enough to hide the roots.

After his conversation with the clerk he started exploring the building a bit.

Each level of the safe house had its own function. The second floor was bunk rooms. The third was a training deck, or maybe a scouting tower—hard to tell. The first had everything: kitchen, baths, even a lounge.

Everything was spotless. Curated.

Modern.

He sat down on one of the couches, brain spinning.

*Sigh*

"I thought the plan would fail but it worked out quite nicely, I didn't even had to die again....not like I was planning too"

"Everything was in sight, the west walls, backup...even the tunnels weren't too far from the capital, I just had to position myself correctly..."

A small grin forming on his face.

So now I wonder ...

How many places like this exist?

Who made it?

What did the knight mean by 'only the council allows it'?

So much questions and no answer.....now think izuma who could possess the knowledge to answer all of my questi–

A thought erupted.

He looked at the clock like thing on the wall then made up his mind to meet up back with rinji.

He stood up, returning to the desk.

The woman looked up.

"I got one question before I head out,"

Izuma said.

"Who… exactly are 'the council'?"

She raised an eyebrow. "The council? You don't know that too, they're the–?"

Before she could say more—

The front doors slammed open.

Four guards marched in.

Not like the knight earlier—these ones were armed to the teeth. Towering, armored, each with a glowing insignia on their shoulder plates.

They scanned the room.

One of them stepped forward and barked:

"Who here is called Izuma?"

The room went dead silent.

Izuma's stomach dropped.

He didn't move.

Didn't speak.

Just… stared.

One single thought occurred in his blank state of mind.

"ME?"