"Thank you," Jake said, because he wasn’t sure what else to say to that.

"Don’t thank me yet," Angana said.

"Liking you and supporting you politically are different things. Clan Phoenix will remain neutral until we see how the contest develops. But I’ll be watching, and I’ll be honest in my reports about what I see."

She turned to face him directly. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

"Which means if you do something stupid or cruel or shortsighted, I’ll report that too. Fair warning."

Jake stared at her, wondering who had asked her for support.

Angana extended her hand, and Jake took it. Her grip was firm and brief, the handshake of someone who had better things to do than perform elaborate social rituals but wanted to acknowledge the connection anyway.

"Good luck," she said.

"You’re going to need it."

Then she was walking back toward the courtyard entrance with that same controlled, precise stride, and Jake watched her go until she disappeared through the doors.

Raani appeared at his side a moment later.

"She’s very direct," Raani said.

"She is," Jake agreed.

"Did she tell you anything useful?"

Jake thought about the assessment, the warning, and the acknowledgment that Clan Phoenix was watching and would remain neutral until they saw something that changed that calculation. "She told me that being liked and being supported aren’t the same thing," he said.

"Which is probably the most useful political lesson I’ve gotten since arriving."

Raani looked at him with that same expression of admiration she’d been wearing since the bath, the expression that suggested Angana’s observation about her being half in love with him was more accurate than Jake was entirely comfortable acknowledging.

"Come on," he said.

"I need to talk to you about something."

They walked back toward the villa together as the evening settled into full darkness around them.

*

Angana’s departure left the courtyard feeling quieter than it had been, the lantern light settling back to its normal warmth without the sharp presence of Clan Phoenix’s envoy cutting through the space.

Jake stood on the terrace for a moment longer, looking out at the city lights spreading below like stars pressed against the mountainside, before turning to Raani with a question that had been forming since Asurani’s visit the previous night.

"I need to know about dungeons," he said.

"A-rank specifically. Where they are, how to access them, and what the guild protocols are for entering them."

Raani’s expression shifted immediately from the soft admiration she’d been wearing to something sharper and more concerned.

"Young master, dungeons are—"

"Necessary," Jake interrupted.

"Before that, I need to tell you that I am also what you call an agent. I belong to Asurani Covenent. She was the one who helped me before I was awakened."

Raani was startled as she didn’t expect him to be a reincarnator. It was unprecedented. Agents had kids but never one from the other world. She took the information with subtle anxiousness.

She looked at him with profound expression.

"So, tell me about the dungeons."

"I can only get stronger through real experience, not just training in controlled environments. I need combat that pushes me, that forces me to use the bloodline abilities under pressure, and sitting in the villa learning theory isn’t going to accomplish that."

Raani looked at him for a long moment, clearly running through arguments in her mind and discarding them one by one as she recognized the determination in his face.

"A-rank dungeons are dangerous," she said finally.

"Even for experienced Class I fighters. You’ve been awakened for less than a week."

"Which is why I need the experience now rather than later," Jake said.

"Before the Trial of Domain begins, before Karut or the other candidates start making moves against me, I need to close the power gap. The only way to do that quickly is through real combat against real threats."

The logic was sound even if Raani clearly didn’t like it, and after another moment of silent assessment she nodded once with the particular resignation of someone who knew when an argument was already lost.

"The guild office," she said.

"We’ll need to register you properly first and get you an official adventurer’s identification, then we can look at available dungeon missions."

They left Raaya Villa as the evening deepened into full night, Raani leading the way through streets that were quieter than they’d been during the day but still busy enough with late traffic and people moving between taverns and night markets.

The guild office sat in Roakan’s merchant district, a large stone building that glowed with warm light from its many windows and bore the familiar crossed-sword emblem that marked guild facilities across the three realms.

Inside, the main hall was active despite the hour: adventurers checking mission boards and turning in completed contracts, clerks processing paperwork behind long counters, and the organized chaos of an institution that never fully closed because dangerous work didn’t respect normal business hours.

Raani moved through the crowd with the confidence of someone who knew exactly where she was going, leading Jake to a registration desk near the hall’s rear, where a tired-looking clerk was sorting through a stack of completed mission reports.

"New registration," Raani said, and the clerk looked up with the automatic politeness of someone in customer service before his eyes registered who was standing in front of him and his expression transformed into something between shock and confusion.

"Dragon Maiden Raani," he said, his voice going slightly higher than it had been.

"I—we weren’t expecting—that is, how can I assist you this evening?"

"Standard adventurer registration," Raani said, gesturing to Jake.

"Class II, full credentials, priority processing."

The clerk’s eyes moved to Jake and widened further as he took in the resemblance to certain portraits that hung in Roakan’s historical archives, the dark hair and sharp features that marked him as belonging to a particular bloodline, and the way Raani was standing slightly behind him in a position that suggested protection rather than escort.

"Name for the registration?" the clerk asked, his hands already moving to pull the appropriate forms from beneath the counter even as his attention stayed fixed on Jake’s face.

"Jake Raikarndel," she said clearly.