The way she says it lands like an invisible punch to the chest. My immediate reflex is to search for Lola’s EKG on the party group, almost on instinct, as if my brain still expects to find some absurd confirmation that this is real. But there’s nothing there, only her rhythmic heart beats...

...And my own imagination stitching together echoes that sound far too similar inside my head.

The girl pulls her hood back and sits down beside me without waiting for permission. The bluish light of the lantern reflects off her shaved head in a way that’s almost polished.

"What do you mean, ’it’s been a while,’ Zhang Xi? We saw each other yesterday."

"Ah..." She tilts her head slightly. "It was a joke."

She has no idea how perfectly that line struck exactly where I’m most vulnerable.

The voice is different. So is the posture. Even the way she breathes between words has nothing to do with it. And still, something in the cadence of it dismantles my defenses for a single second.

I turn my eyes toward the window before she notices.

"You found me faster than I expected."

"I was waiting in front of the academy." She rests her hands on her lap. "I kept wondering whether I should look for you or not. Then I saw you leaving, Dryden."

Makes sense she knows my name. Messages through the System reveal a user’s basic data; name, age, approximate location. It’s exactly why important people still prefer physical letters or manual summons with their "golden lettering." It leaves fewer traces behind.

Now, away from the tension of the Oathring, I can finally see Zhang Xi for real.

She seems... quiet by nature. Not the uncomfortable silence of someone repressed, but the kind of calm that exists before water is disturbed. Her movements are economical, soft, almost meditative, and even the way she observes the room feels calculated not to interfere with it. It’s hard to imagine someone like her surviving well in Thirstfall. This world grinds peaceful people into dust. Maybe that’s why she looks so out of place, like a monk torn from a temple and dropped into a trench full of blood and monsters.

Anyway... I need to know more about her.

My father used to say you only truly know someone once you understand what they try to hide. Flaws. Fears. Needs.

So I decide to test something, based on past experience.

I draw a shard from my inventory and tap it twice against the table.

Tac. Tac.

"The reason I called you here is to offer you a deal."

Her eyes go straight to the shard. Not to me.

Interesting.

"Do you like money that much?" I ask, spinning the piece between my fingers.

Her gaze follows the movement almost involuntarily.

"Everyone does." She answers with surprising honesty. "But I have a reason."

I raise the shard to the height of my face, forcing her to look at me instead of the money. Our eyes meet, and she’s the one who looks away first.

I put the shard back.

"And what would that reason be?" I ask calmly. "Depending on what it is... maybe I can help in a better way."

She hesitates. Once. Then again.

Despite the serene posture, I can see small cracks slipping past her control. A discreet twitch at the corner of her mouth. The faint tremor in her eye. Her fingers pressing into the fabric of her own clothes. Thirstfall disturbs that inner peace of hers; she looks like someone trying to meditate in the middle of a fire.

Then my eyes drop to the sleeve of her robe. Two parallel green borders above a dark crest. At the center, two silver claws.

I point discreetly.

"You’re a spokesperson for the Silver Fangs."

Her body locks. Only for an instant, but it locks. She immediately covers the symbol with her other hand and turns her eyes back to me, much more alert this time.

Very few people can identify that mark. In my past life, I only learned it because I killed one of them. Not in a fight, but out of mercy. An abyssal had split him in half, and there was no healing a wound like that. I just gave him peace. He was in agony, and he asked me to deliver his Echo Fragment to his family. In exchange, he poured out the guild’s secrets before I sent him off.

Zhang Xi stays silent. Her face remains controlled, but now I can clearly see the turbulence behind the serenity.

She’s probably weighing how dangerous I am, and I’ve just become exactly that.

"It’s all right," I say, leaning back a little. "Then let me balance things out." She lifts her chin slightly. "I’ll tell you a secret of mine."

Her posture changes at once. Zhang Xi crosses her legs, turns her body more toward me, and straightens her spine until it’s as rigid as a wall.

Now I have her complete attention.

"I’m going to build a guild."

No external reaction, but her eyes lock onto me with more intensity.

"And I have a method to generate a lot of capital." I continue. "A truly enormous amount. The problem is I need someone with the right skills to make it possible."

She stays motionless, so I drop the real weight of the information.

"I’m talking about thousands of Plates." A short pause. "Maybe even Core Scales."

This time she reacts. Her eyes widen just past their normal limit before she pulls the control back.

Finally.

"And I want to offer you five percent of all of it. By registered contract in the Ocean’s Law."

The silence that falls afterward is a long one. I simply sit and watch while she thinks. The occasional creak of the inn’s wood. Distant footsteps in the corridor. The muffled sound of the main street crossing the window; the room is soundproof going out, not coming in.

Zhang Xi brings a hand to her chin and closes her eyes. When she opens them again, there’s far less hesitation there.

"First..." she says slowly, "you need to understand why I need money so badly." She breathes in deeply before continuing. "If you still agree after that..." Her eyes find mine again. "Then I accept your proposal."

I lean slightly forward.

"Tell me."

And for the first time since she walked into that room, I genuinely want to hear the answer.