That day, they managed to recruit three individuals in total, Victoria included. With Vincent and Liana, that brought their number to five.
Vincent stopped the recruitment there.
Five was enough for now. Enough to move, enough to act, but nowhere near enough to be feared.
They could lean on Liana's position to pull in more names, but that influence only reached so far. Mostly tier 3s. A few shaky tier 4s at best.
Vincent needed tier 6s.
Not one.
A few.
Recognition in the kingdom was not earned with noise but with strength. Without heavy hitters in their ranks, they would remain nothing more than a reckless new party with ambition too large for its boots.
Inside one of the inn rooms, Victoria jolted upright.
"Huuuu."
The breath tore from her chest as if she had been drowning moments ago. Her heart slammed violently against her ribs, fingers clutching the sheets as panic flooded her vision.
The dim lanternlight flickered across the wooden walls, shadows swaying like silent watchers.
"Everything's fine. You're safe."
Liana stood beside the bed, dressed in thin lingerie that clung to her sweat dampened skin. Beads of moisture trailed down her collarbone and along the curve of her neck.
Her hair was slightly disheveled.
Victoria blinked.
At first she was startled by how ragged the woman before her looked. There was a faint tremble in Liana's legs, her breathing still uneven.
But a woman knew.
Beneath the fatigue, beneath the sheen of sweat and the flushed skin, there was satisfaction. A softness in her eyes that did not come from battle.
Victoria swallowed.
'What was happening when I was asleep?'
The bathroom door opened.
Vincent stepped out slowly, a cloth wrapped loosely around his waist. Steam followed him, curling around his broad shoulders before fading into the cool air of the room.
His expression was calm, almost amused.
"Hmm, she finally woke up huh?"
He raised a brow at Victoria's figure coiled tightly beneath the sheets.
"Yes. But she still seems weak."
Liana's voice was strained, though she tried to mask it. Her gaze drifted toward the girl's frail body.
Victoria looked pale.
A dark rash crept across her skin like spreading ink beneath porcelain. Veins faintly visible beneath the corruption that had once nearly swallowed her whole.
"It's normal for her to feel weak. That type of corruption isn't something a body at her level shrugs off easily."
Vincent walked toward the side of the room.
The cloth fell.
Victoria caught a glimpse before she recoiled in shock, face burning as she squeezed her eyes shut.
Vincent was shameless.
" She won't suddenly get better though. Just get her prepared. We're heading out in thirty minutes."
His voice carried no embarrassment, no hesitation. He pulled on black trousers, then a padded long sleeve top, movements unhurried and controlled.
The dark plain corruption had infected her deeply.
Recovery was not guaranteed.
If her will held firm, she would grow stronger from surviving it.
If not, the corruption would devour what remained of her life.
Vincent left the room.
Outside, a small carriage waited near the inn's entrance.
Two figures stood beside it.
One was a middle aged man with tired, sunken eyes and rough hands that spoke of years spent handling blades and reins alike.
The other was much younger, lean and sharp eyed, a throwing disk strapped neatly to his back. His stance was relaxed, but his gaze moved constantly, measuring everything.
These were the other recruits of the Heavenly Demon Slayer Corps.
Wilder.
Zeke.
"Are the supplies complete?"
Vincent approached, voice steady.
Wilder nodded slowly, his sleepy eyes lifting just enough to meet Vincent's.
"Good."
Vincent's gaze shifted briefly toward the horizon.
One month.
At most.
The banquet would be held then.
Within that short window, they needed to carve their name into the kingdom's awareness. Enough prestige to secure an invitation.
Without that, they would remain outsiders.
"Let's set off."
He smiled faintly as Liana and Victoria approached the carriage.
Victoria walked slowly, still unsteady, Liana supporting her arm.
The carriage wheels began to turn.
.
.
.
.
Deep within the forests that stretched across the kingdom of Valor, the small carriage creaked along narrow dirt paths.
The trees loomed tall and ancient.
Their branches intertwined overhead, swallowing much of the daylight and casting the forest floor into a green tinted gloom.
Long ago, a catastrophic event had torn through this world.
Not a war.
Not a plague.
Something worse.
The very essence of reality had been shaken, fractured at its roots.
From those fractures came phenomena.
Strange laws.
Unnatural creatures.
And dungeon gates.
They were rifts between dimensions, unstable wounds where two realities bled into one another. The space within them warped, corrupted, shaped by whatever energy dominated the other side.
To close such a rift, one needed to eliminate the largest concentration of energy inside it.
Usually a monster.
Sometimes something far worse.
As the carriage rolled forward, a sudden pulsating wave spread through the forest.
The air tightened.
Leaves trembled.
"Boss…"
Zeke's voice came low, uneasy.
The wave passed through them like cold water seeping into bone.
"It's fine. Don't be scared."
Vincent smiled.
A strange smile.
He remembered the guild attendant's face that morning. The way the man's composure cracked when Vincent requested the medallion for this gate.
As a new party, they were expected to clear something modest.
Blue.
Maybe yellow if they were feeling bold.
For a team with a tier 6, a strong blue or weak yellow was reasonable. Difficult enough to earn points, safe enough to survive.
After a few successful clears, their ranking would surge.
They would climb the leaderboard of Valor in a respectable way.
But Vincent had no interest in respectable.
He had asked for something else.
A bloody red gate.
Not blue.
Not yellow.
Not emerald.
Red.
The space around them suddenly distorted.
The trees bent unnaturally, as though viewed through rippling water.
The air thickened.
[ Warning: You have entered a red gate ]
The forest darkened in an instant.
[ Warning: A being from a higher realm has set his sights upon you ]
Silence fell.
Even the wind seemed to hold its breath.