Trafalgar was inside his shop in Velkaris that afternoon.

Arden was not there today, and the place was quieter than usual. There were no customers, no noise from the front room, no familiar arguments over prices or materials. Only Marella in the kitchen, preparing something for him to eat, and Garrika sitting across from him at the table.

Trafalgar studied her for a moment before asking, "How are you feeling?"

Garrika’s tail had not stopped moving since he entered the shop. He could see it swaying behind her chair, restless and pleased in a way she clearly made no effort to hide.

She smiled wide enough to show a hint of fang.

"Very well," she said. "Thanks for sending what you sent to treat my wounds and help me recover faster. It helped a lot." Her ears twitched once. "What about you? How have you been?"

"Busy, I suppose," Trafalgar replied. "The usual."

Garrika’s smile shifted. "That sounds exactly like something you would say."

Before he could answer, Marella came out of the kitchen with the food.

She placed everything in front of Trafalgar with the authority of someone who had already decided he needed to eat properly. There was bread, a bowl of soup, and a second plate with something more solid beside it.

"Eat," Marella said.

Trafalgar accepted the spoon. "Thank you."

Marella nodded, already turning back toward the kitchen.

Trafalgar glanced around the empty shop. "It’s very quiet today. Did something happen?"

"They went out for errands," Marella answered over her shoulder. "Buying supplies, checking a few things. Don’t worry. Everything is fine."

"Alright, good to hear everything is fine."

Marella disappeared back into the kitchen, leaving the two of them alone again.

Trafalgar took a spoonful of soup. It was warm, simple, and much better than he had expected from something made so quickly. He had barely swallowed when Garrika leaned forward with that familiar glint in her expression.

"You know about the force the Council of Sages is creating, right?"

Trafalgar brought the spoon back toward the bowl.

"Yes. It would be strange if I didn’t know." He glanced at her. "Why? There’s nothing official yet."

Garrika’s smile turned more mischievous.

"Do you want to know more about it?"

Trafalgar paused.

"What do you mean?"

"Exactly that." She rested her chin on one hand, tail moving a little faster behind her. "I have information. Special information, actually, because I’m joining them."

Trafalgar stopped eating.

The spoon lowered slowly.

"What?"

Garrika looked very satisfied with his reaction.

"That’s right. I’m joining the Concordant Wardens of the Council." She tapped a finger lightly against the table. "That’s the official name for the general defensive branch they are establishing. Most people will probably just call them Wardens once it becomes public."

Trafalgar said nothing.

Garrika continued, clearly enjoying that she knew something he did not.

"But I won’t be joining the normal ranks. I’ll be somewhere else. The First Concord. It will be the elite squad for difficult missions, the main striking force when ordinary deployment isn’t enough."

Trafalgar remained quiet for another breath.

"I didn’t know about that."

"Of course you didn’t." Garrika winked at him. "Nothing is public yet. I doubt even most people from the Eight Great Families know the full structure. You’re probably the first thanks to me."

"Thanks, I suppose."

"You’re welcome."

He took another spoonful, though his attention was no longer on the food.

"Is there anything else I should know?" 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

Garrika’s ears angled forward.

"I’ll tell you because it’s you. Our captain, or leader, depending on how formal people want to sound, is called Eldric au Veyr."

Trafalgar went quiet.

That name was not one he expected to hear here.

Eldric au Veyr.

He knew that name.

One of the ten legendary characters. The oldest among them by far, and one of the strangest to play. In the game, he had never been the flashy type. No dramatic sword or absurd bloodline transformation. His strength had been different.

A man who could turn disaster into information.

The Calamity Cartographer.

Trafalgar remembered the class description only in fragments, but the concept had stayed with him. Eldric could read catastrophe as if the world itself were drawing a map for him. Broken mana, collapsed formations, spreading fires, monster routes, weak points in a battlefield, evacuation paths, the next place where a disaster would worsen if left untouched.

Outwardly, Trafalgar only asked, "What is this Eldric like?"

Garrika blinked, perhaps expecting more surprise from him.

"He’s nice," she said after a moment. "Serious. Wise. The first time I met him, I won’t lie, he scared me a little. But he’s a good person. He cares about people." Her smile faded into something more thoughtful. "Not in a soft way. More like... he sees what will happen if no one moves, and he refuses to let it happen."

Trafalgar understood that description more than she knew.

"I see."

He ate another spoonful, slower this time.

"By the way," he said, "what made you want to join... what was it called again?"

Garrika gave him a flat stare. "The Concordant Wardens of the Council. Specifically, the First Concord."

"Right. That."

She narrowed her eyes slightly. "You remembered. You’re just being annoying."

"Maybe."

Garrika’s mouth twitched, but the humor did not stay long.

Trafalgar noticed.

"I thought you would stay here," he said. "Helping Marella and Arden."

Garrika lowered her hand from her chin.

For once, her tail slowed.

"For you, Trafalgar."

The answer came without decoration.

Trafalgar lifted his attention to her fully.

"What do you mean?"

Garrika did not look away.

"I like you." Her voice was steady, far steadier than the first time she had said something like this. "I think I told you more than a year ago already."

Trafalgar stayed quiet and listened.

"I don’t want your answer now," Garrika said. "If you give it to me now, I’ll get angry." Her lips curved faintly. "Though I’d probably calm down quickly and act normal again, because that’s how I am."

That almost made him smile, but he held it back.

Garrika’s fingers pressed lightly against the table.

"This is something I decided by myself. I’m not good enough to stand beside you yet. Not the way I want to." Her voice lowered. "After the war, when I followed you, I understood it properly. I thought I was strong. I am strong. But beside you, beside the things you face, it wasn’t enough."

Trafalgar’s expression did not change much, but the words reached him.

Garrika kept going.

"Aubrelle gives you something. Mayla gives you something. I want to give you something too." She breathed out, almost annoyed at herself for saying it so honestly. "Maybe it’s selfish to ask like this, but give me time. I don’t know how long it will take. I just know I don’t want to stand there as someone you need to protect all the time."

The kitchen was quiet.

Even Marella, who had almost certainly heard enough from inside, did not interrupt.

Trafalgar looked at Garrika.

He already knew about her feelings. Only an idiot would not have noticed by now. She had never been good at hiding affection, not with him. But hearing it like this, without jokes to soften it, without her usual pushy energy wrapping around the words, made the moment heavier.

He appreciated Garrika.

That was the truth.

They had gone through enough together for that. She had helped Mayla. She had bled in the war. She had stood near him when staying away would have been easier.

And if this was her decision, he would respect it.

"If that is what you want," Trafalgar said at last, "fine. I won’t say anything, for now."

Garrika’s face lit up.

Before he could react, she rose from her chair and threw herself at him, wrapping her arms around him in a tight hug.

Trafalgar looked down at the bowl in front of him.

"I’m still eating."

Garrika pulled back, but she did not look embarrassed at all. If anything, she seemed proud of herself.

"Then eat faster."

"That’s not how this works."

"For you, maybe."

Trafalgar let out a breath through his nose and picked up the spoon again.

"Just be careful," he said, his voice quieter now. "I don’t want anything happening to you. I didn’t like seeing you hurt in the war."

Garrika’s smile softened.

There it was. Not an answer, not the one she wanted one day, but enough to confirm something important.

He cared and was taking her decision seriously.

"You don’t have to worry, Trafalgar," Garrika said, her ears standing high and her tail moving again with renewed energy. "You’ll see."

Trafalgar looked at her for a moment, then returned to his food.

"I suppose I will."

From the kitchen, Marella’s voice reached them, dry and warm at once.

"If you two are done making dramatic declarations in my shop, the food is getting cold."

Garrika laughed.

Trafalgar lowered his head slightly over the bowl, almost amused despite himself.