They continued the appraisal.

The corrupted heart.

Dominic lifted it out of the bag with both arms. The thing felt heavier than it looked. It was the size of a large melon, maybe bigger, a lumpy mass of crystallized shadow that seemed to pull light into itself. A sickly warmth rolled off it, strong enough to feel from three feet away. He set it down on the velvet cloth Selin had spread across the table. The fabric underneath frosted over right away, even though heat still poured from the heart.

Selin leaned in close but did not touch it. She walked a slow circle around the table, eyes narrowed. She moved even slower than she had with the gold core.

"This is a crystallized mana organ from a dungeon boss," she said. "I’ve seen mana hearts before. Two of them in thirty years. Both from floor thirteen or higher. Both significantly smaller than this. Even if you include monster hunting outside dungeons." She paused and looked from the heart to the gold core, then to the three of them. "You didn’t just clear floor ten. Whatever you fought must have been terrifying."

"It was," Theresa said quietly.

Selin studied her for a long moment. Something shifted in her face. She straightened up and placed both hands on the edge of the table.

"The guild doesn’t have a market value for this," she said. "Not in Caldmore. You’d need a regional office. Perhaps the capital." She took a slow breath. "If you’re selling, I can’t appraise it. If you’re keeping it, I recommend a vault."

"We’re keeping it," Theresa said. Her voice came out hoarse but firm.

Selin nodded slowly. "That’s your right."

When the appraisal finished, Selin sat back in her chair. She glanced at the ledger, then at the gold core still pulsing softly on the table.

"For everything else, the SS+ monster cores, the armor plating, the wing shards, we can get clean sales. The guild takes a standard ten percent, but I’m waiving it for this haul. You’ve earned that much."

She pushed two heavy coin pouches across the table. Then she slid over a guild token stamped with a silver seal.

"Priority client status. Any guild branch in the country honors it. Direct line to the regional office if needed." 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

Theresa picked up the token, turned it over in her fingers, and tucked it into the spatial bag.

Frank leaned forward. "The gold core is a different matter. We can’t buy it outright. The branch doesn’t have the capital for what it’s worth, and frankly, neither does any regional office. This needs to go to the capital."

"The Royal Auction House," Selin said. She nodded like she had expected this. "They run monthly high-value listings. Artifacts, rare materials, cores above S rank. An SSS+ monster core from a floor that shouldn’t produce them would be a featured lot. Possibly the headliner."

"How does it work?" Dominic asked.

"You consign the core to the auction house through us," Frank said. "We handle transport to the capital. We handle the listing. The auction house authenticates it, catalogs it, and puts it in front of buyers who can afford what it’s actually worth. Nobility. Royal mages. Foreign representatives. Collectors with the appropriate gold reserves."

"The listing will show the Caldmore branch as the submitting guild," Selin added. She glanced at Frank. "That’s permanent. Every time someone looks up the sale record, they’ll see our name attached."

Frank’s face stayed mostly still, but his eyes sharpened. Dominic caught the quick calculation behind them.

"The auction house takes a standard consignment percentage," Frank said. "The guild takes a small processing cut for transport and authentication. You get the rest."

Dominic stared at the gold core. It sat there like a small boulder, pulsing faintly with inner light. "How much?"

Selin glanced at Frank. "I’d need to check the records from the last SSS-rank listing. But conservatively? Multiple thousands of gold. Possibly significantly more if the right buyers compete."

Dominic thought about what that kind of money could change for them. He nodded once.

"Do it," he said.

"The core stays in our vault until transport is arranged," Frank said. "Priority client status means full insurance. If anything happens to it in our custody, the guild covers the projected minimum value."

"And the listing?" Theresa asked.

"The auction house will need a description. Floor of origin. Monster type. Core grade. They won’t ask for the adventurer’s name unless you want it listed. Most consignors stay anonymous to the public."

"We’ll stay anonymous," Dominic said.

"Anonymous it is." Frank made a quick note. Then he looked up. "But I’ll tell you now, people are going to ask. A core like this doesn’t appear without a story behind it. The capital will want to know how a branch that’s never produced anything above A-rank suddenly submitted an SSS+ monster core from floor ten. The auction catalog goes out in a few weeks. After that, the listing is public. Anyone who cares will know Caldmore pulled something impossible out of that floor. They’ll start digging."

"Can you hold them off?" Dominic asked.

"For a while. Not forever." Frank leaned back in his chair. "I’ll manage the information on our end. But the more people who know you three were behind this, the harder that gets. The guild attendants. The vault staff. Anyone who saw you walk in here today looking like you fought a war and won." He paused. "Keep your heads down. Let the core be the story, not you."

Dominic nodded slowly.

Frank held his gaze for a long moment. "Get some rest. We’ll talk soon. And next time—" He leaned forward. "Next time, you come to me first. You ask for the records. And then, if you still want to go, you go. But you don’t walk into a death floor blind. That’s not a request."

Dominic met his eyes. "Understood."

Frank gave one sharp nod and let the rest go unsaid.

They left the appraisal room. The sold items stayed behind for processing. The SS+ cores, the dark armor plating, and the wing shards would turn into clean coin. The gold core went straight to the vault under guard. The corrupted heart went back into the spatial bag. The heavy coin pouches disappeared into Dominic’s spatial ring. The priority token stayed tucked away safely.

The door clicked shut behind them. The wards hummed back to life with a soft snik.

Caldmore afternoon moved at its usual slow pace. Lanterns started to glow along the main road as the sun dipped lower. Vendors shouted last calls while packing their stalls. Students walked past in noisy groups, laughing about trials, gossip, and weekend plans.

The three of them stepped out into the cooling air.

Florence walked with her halberd strapped across her back. The weapon caught the last bits of sunset on its sharp edge. The potions had done their job. No open wounds showed on her skin. She moved without a limp, but her steps stayed careful and slow. Every now and then her arm twitched like her muscles still remembered the fight.

Her tunic hung torn at the ribs and forearms. A faint burn mark still showed along her jaw. She kept her shoulders relaxed, but Dominic could tell the deep tiredness sat heavy in her bones.

Theresa walked on his other side. The gold trim on Astrielle’s Promise had a faint glow again. Color had returned to her face, but her hands still shook a little when she adjusted her hood. She moved like someone whose tank had run completely dry. Her eyes, though, stayed sharp. She kept glancing at the spatial bag and the grimoire in her hands.

Dominic stayed between them. The potions had fixed his ribs. The stabbing pain was gone, but a heavy exhaustion pressed down on him. Wobbly sat on his shoulder, noticeably rounder than earlier. It let out happy little burbles every few steps, then dozed off. When it slept the sound changed to soft, wet squelching.

They did not talk much at first. The quiet felt comfortable after everything.

Near the apartment gate, Florence slowed down. Dominic stopped beside her. Theresa, a step ahead, turned back with a small smile.

Florence looked straight at him. "Good work out there today."

"You set it up."

She thought about that for a second. "Yes. But you saw it, you survived it." She paused. "And you made the kill."

"Theresa’s amplification got me there. Your opening created the gap. The bond gave me the target. I just..."

"Dominic." She cut him off. "Take the win."

He closed his mouth and gave a tired half-smile. "Finally called me Dominic."

Florence grinned. It was the first real one since before the angel. "Savor it. You won’t hear it again."

She walked through the gate. Her halberd caught the light one last time before the building shadow swallowed it.

Theresa stayed beside him. She looked at him the same steady way she had in the dungeon when she first opened her eyes.

"Your ribs?" she asked.

"Healed. Just tired."

"Good." She pulled her hood up against the evening chill. The gold trim framed her face softly. She stepped closer. "You scared me back there." Her voice dropped almost to a whisper. "Please try to avoid dying. I know it’s not really under your control... but we need you." She hesitated, then added softly, "I need you. Now more than you are aware."

She moved even closer. A faint sweet smell still clung to her cloak under all the dirt and sweat. "The bond... it opened today in a way I didn’t expect. You felt it too, didn’t you?"

"Yeah," he said, keeping his voice low. "We were almost in perfect sync. For a second, I could feel your emotions... I could feel you."

Her breath caught. A tired but real smile curved her lips. She reached up and brushed a stray lock of hair from his forehead. Her fingers stayed against his temple a moment longer.

"I could feel you," she murmured. "It was like... coming home."

She let the words hang between them. Then she added, almost shyly, "Maybe next time we’ll hold it longer."

She followed Florence inside.

Dominic stood alone for a few seconds. The last warm sunlight touched his face. The bond hummed quietly in his chest, deeper and steadier than it had been that morning. The spatial bag hung heavy at his side. Coins rested in his ring. Wobbly made soft sleeping noises on his shoulder. A new C-rank notification still sat in the back of his mind.

He smiled, small and tired, then walked through the gate after them.