After the battle, everyone heads back to the guild to celebrate their hard-won victory. By the time Ryo finally strolls in, he has no idea why the place is buzzing like a festival. The adventurers are laughing, drinking, and piling up empty plates like trophies, while the poor Guild Master is buried elbow-deep in paperwork. He’s got reports to write about the tidal bore, payments to process for all the adventurers who helped, and the looming headache of royal researchers who are bound to show up demanding data. Some people get ale, some people get administrative trauma.
At the party, Abel fills Ryo in on what went down during the tidal bore while he was off in the library. Lynn, who has been itching to ask him this in person, corners Ryo and demands to know whether he really can conjure thick ice walls at a distance. Ryo nods, casually saying, “Yep, about 40 meters out.” Of course, he admits it took ages to master. Even so, Lynn is floored—she’s never heard of magic working so far away. She asks if it’s an original spell, and what incantation he uses. Ryo shrugs and says he just makes them up on the spot. (Imagine her face when she realizes he’s basically free-styling magic like it’s slam poetry.)
Before she can press him further, Nils points out most of the food is gone. If Ryo doesn’t hurry, he’ll be left with cold scraps and regrets. As he runs off to secure his plate, Abel casually drops the bombshell: Ryo doesn’t even need incantations—he just chants because he thinks it sounds cool. Lynn is left staring, wondering if the universe is playing a prank on her.
The next morning, Nils, Amon, and Eto drag themselves to the guild, only to find the job board emptier than their wallets. Ryo wanders by and asks why they’re not out working. Turns out, the dungeon is shut down for inspections after the tidal bore, and resource-gathering jobs are basically dead since so much loot was dropped yesterday.
When asked what he’s up to, Ryo explains he’s hunting for magic copper ore to practice alchemy. Eto recalls it costs a fortune—50 gold for a single piece. Ryo, who’s rich enough not to blink at that, instead offers the trio a deal: four gold coins each just to search, plus 25 gold for every piece they bring back. The boys nearly faint—this is more than they’ve ever made in their lives. Eto, still half-skeptical, asks if Ryo is serious. Ryo grins and explains that even if they succeed, he’ll still spend less than buying in town. They’re sold, and the three rush out to start mining like their lives depend on it.
Meanwhile, Ryo hears shouting outside. Curious, he heads downstairs, where he finds Dan squaring off with a group of knights. The knights are trying to drag off a girl against her will, and Dan, in full heroic mode, shoves one of them aside to free her. Noble, yes—but the math is bad: one guy versus four armed knights. Just as their leader raises his sword to “teach him a lesson,” fate intervenes. The knight takes a single step forward… and immediately trips flat on his face.
Everyone is baffled when the knight faceplants—because there’s absolutely nothing near his feet. The knight, however, refuses to admit he tripped over thin air and instead accuses Dan of foul play. But when he tries to stand up, he promptly trips again. (Gravity: 2, Knight: 0.)
Enter Phelps Heimline, looking every bit like the “dad who just walked in on his kids breaking something expensive.” He’s appalled at the knights’ behavior. At first, the knights puff up their chests, trying to intimidate him since knights technically outrank adventurers in the city. Big mistake. Turns out Phelps isn’t just an adventurer—he’s also a noble. And not just any noble: his dad, Alexis Heimline, was the former Captain of the Royal Knights. The second they hear his name, the knights realize they’ve basically threatened someone who could end their careers with a raised eyebrow.
Phelps tears into them for disgracing knighthood and warns them to get lost before he changes his mind. Once they scurry off, he glances at Ryo, because he caught what really happened earlier. He’d already heard from Abel that Ryo’s magic was crazy impressive, but seeing knights “mysteriously” trip from a distance? That’s next level. Still, he keeps the secret to avoid dragging Ryo into royal drama, though he’s grateful for the quiet assist.
Later that night, Ryo is grabbing a bite at the tavern when Abel wanders in alone. Seeing him without his party, Ryo immediately jumps to the obvious conclusion: “Ah, so you’re sneaking off to the Red Light District.” Cue Abel’s panic and frantic shushing before half the tavern hears him. Using his “genius deductive reasoning”, Ryo decides Abel must have a crush. He briefly suspects Lynn, but Abel blurts out she already likes Warren. That leaves Ria, which only makes Abel flail harder—pretty much confirming it. (Ryo 1, Abel 0.)
Once Ryo is done teasing, Abel explains the real problem: one of the dungeon investigators in town is his old friend, escorted by the same rotten knights from earlier. Tonight those knights are in the Pleasure District, and Abel wants to stop them before someone gets hurt. On their way, Ryo notices two unfamiliar “adventurers” lurking around, dressed head-to-toe in black. The moment they’re spotted, the shady pair ducks out. Suspicious.
Sure enough, when Ryo and Abel deliberately take a dark alley, they get ambushed. Too bad for the ambushers: Ryo just drops ice on their heads and knocks them all out in seconds. (Probably the easiest fight of his career.) They don’t know what the men were up to, but they’ll be handed over to the guards for questioning.
Meanwhile, elsewhere in the district, those disgraced knights decide to get revenge on Phelps. They sneak up on him, but suddenly can’t move a muscle. Turns out the whole thing was a trap—Phelps knew they were dirty and had Shenna hit them with paralytic needles. With the knights frozen like statues, Phelps calls on her fire magic and reduces them to ashes. (No ashes, no evidence, no problem.)
The next morning, as predicted, the research team from the royal capital arrives… and immediately makes themselves unpopular by commandeering the town’s entire food supply “for the investigation.” To make matters worse, Clive insists that Hugh McGrath reopen the dungeon and assign adventurers as escorts, despite not knowing whether it’s safe. Hugh protests, but Clive reminds him that he has “full authority.” Luckily, the adviser Arthur steps in, apologizes for Clive’s behavior, and promises to replace the stolen supplies. That earns Hugh’s gratitude—though Clive remains stubborn about reopening the dungeon. Eventually, Hugh concedes and agrees to let them in.
Hugh McGrath makes it very clear: if anything goes wrong in the dungeon, neither he nor the city of Lou will take the blame—it’s all on Clive. Suddenly, Clive’s smug confidence takes a hit, because now he realizes he’ll be the one roasted if things go sideways. Still, after all the arguing he’s done, there’s no backing out without looking like a fool. So he reluctantly accepts the deal, but there’s still one issue: finding adventurers to escort the research team.
A little later, Ryo is on his way to grab some much-needed lunch when a girl rushes up, asking if he can take her to the Adventurers’ Guild. Slightly grumpy about the delay (hungry mage is a dangerous mage), he helps her anyway. The girl introduces herself as Natalie Schwarzoff, carrying a letter requesting the aid of Abel’s party to defend the dungeon investigators. Ryo is surprised—the dungeon was supposed to stay sealed. But Abel quickly guesses someone twisted Hugh’s arm to reopen it.
The closure made sense: decades ago, right after a tidal bore, an elite A-rank party went down to investigate—and never came back. Their leader was basically S-rank Superman with a sword, and even he vanished. Since then, guild policy has been simple: tidal bore = lock the dungeon doors.
While Ryo is intrigued, his stomach wins the battle, so he excuses himself to go eat. After he leaves, Lynn asks Natalie if she’s really from the famous Schwarzoff family, renowned for legendary water magic. Natalie confirms it, so Lynn asks if she’s ever heard of magic that could summon an ice wall at a distance. Natalie hesitates, saying it sounds impossible. That’s when Abel chimes in: “Well… believe it or not, Ryo can casually toss up an ice wall 40 meters away.” He then warns everyone, half-seriously, that if they ever consider picking a fight with Ryo, they should just… not. Even if they all ganged up together, they’d still lose. To drive the point home, he tells Natalie that if she ever needs help, and his party isn’t around, she should go straight to Ryo. (Best emergency contact ever.)
Three days later, Ryo’s friends return from their mission with two magic copper ores. Ryo pays them 90 gold coins—enough for them to live comfortably for a while, which makes him their favorite person ever.
Meanwhile, in the dungeon, the investigation team has reached the seventh floor. Oddly, not a single monster has appeared. Puzzled but undeterred, they push deeper until they discover a mysterious black square embedded in the wall. None of them recognize it, but Clive is ecstatic—this is prime research gold. He orders everyone to set up equipment and start analysis, with Natalie and the surface team ready to process data.
Unfortunately, the excitement doesn’t last. The moment they stick the monodensity gauge into the strange black gate, the entire team is instantly teleported away—vanishing without a trace. The surface team, including Natalie, loses contact completely.
