Chapter 228: The Meeting
Kai started walking toward Abyssal Watchers headquarters.
A merchant unloading crates of monster material spotted him next and lit up. "Kai! If you’re looking for supplies, first pick’s free!"
Another merchant immediately shouted over him, "Ignore him! I’ve got better prices!"
A third rolled his eyes at both of them. "You two are embarrassing yourselves."
Kai politely declined, and neither merchant looked disappointed. Just happy he’d acknowledged them at all.
A group of kids playing further down the street caught his eye too, one holding a wooden spear, another hunched over pretending to be some kind of monster. The smallest one proudly shouted, "I’m Kai!"
The others immediately protested. "You always get to be Kai!"
"My turn!"
"No! I beat the B-Rank this time!"
Kai paused for a moment, a small smile crossing his face, and kept walking without correcting any of them.
As he reached headquarters, several members straightened the moment they saw him, not out of fear, but something closer to respect that had been earned one dungeon at a time. One of them opened the door before he even reached it.
"Leader."
Kai nodded. "Morning."
"Morning," the member said back, simple and natural, the kind of exchange that only worked because it had been earned.
...
The meeting room was already filling by the time Kai stepped inside. Maps covered the table alongside stacks of reports and dungeon markers, but the mood in the room felt relaxed for once, nobody rushing anything.
Mayor Ko had arrived first, already three reports deep without looking up. "You’re late."
Kai glanced at the clock. "I’m three minutes early."
Mayor Ko flipped a page. "You could’ve been earlier."
Kai sighed. "...Good morning."
Sera walked in next, and without thinking about it, sat down beside him instead of across the table. Not deliberate. Just habit by now. Kai noticed. She didn’t.
The door flew open a moment later, and Lily burst in carrying a stack of papers so tall she could barely see over it, nearly walking straight into a chair before Kai caught the stack out of her arms.
"...How many reports are these?"
Lily groaned. "I stopped counting."
She dumped everything onto the table. "Paperwork is evil."
Everyone agreed.
Mara was already sorting through the pile before anyone asked her to, and within seconds the chaotic stack had organized itself into neat, labeled sections.
Lily stared at her. "...You’re terrifying."
Mara smiled, proud of it. "I know."
Elden walked in quietly and immediately apologized. "I’m sorry I’m late."
Everyone glanced at the clock. He was actually early.
Raze burst through the door right after him. "I’m here!"
Everyone looked at the clock again. Definitely late.
Elden immediately said, "...Sorry."
Kai pinched the bridge of his nose. "Why are you apologizing?"
Even Raze laughed at that one.
...
Kai looked around the table once everyone had settled. "Status report."
Mayor Ko set his reports down first. "The city has stabilized." He flipped a page. "The average cost of weapons has started falling."
Mara nodded. "More hunters are selling instead of hoarding."
"Healing potions are easier to find," Mayor Ko continued. "Basic armor’s no longer sold out every week. New weapon shops have opened. The market’s become competitive."
Lily smiled. "So people actually have choices now."
"Exactly." He flipped another page. "We’ve also seen more hunters choosing to stay in Mythal instead of relocating."
Kai raised an eyebrow.
Mayor Ko smiled. "People believe opportunity is here." Another page. "More guilds have started cooperating. Instead of competing over every dungeon, they’ve begun sharing information."
Kai nodded.
Mayor Ko finished with one line. "The city believes tomorrow will be better than today."
Silence settled for a moment, and everyone smiled. That single sentence said more than the whole rest of the report combined.
Kai turned toward Raze. "You?"
Raze grinned. "The Watchers are growing. We’re getting applications every day."
"Quality?"
Raze laughed. "Some are terrible."
Everyone laughed with him.
"But," he added, "they’re trying." His expression sobered a little. "The average hunters train harder now. The stronger ones don’t want to lose their place. The weaker ones finally believe catching up is possible." He scratched the back of his head. "...People actually listen when I teach now."
Silence, then laughter all around the table.
Raze pointed at everyone accusingly. "Hey! You all ignored me before too!"
Mara shot back immediately, "Because you yelled."
"I was motivating people!"
"You were shouting."
"It builds character."
"It builds headaches."
Mara opened her own report next. "Equipment circulation has doubled. Hunters are selling monster materials instead of hoarding them, craftsmen are buying them, new weapons hit the market every week now." She smiled. "No shortages."
Mayor Ko glanced over. "You’ve done excellent work."
Mara froze. "...Did the Mayor just compliment me?"
Mayor Ko looked genuinely confused. "...Yes?"
She stayed quietly pleased for the rest of the meeting.
Elden went next, barely able to keep the excitement out of his voice. "The Academy is full."
Everyone looked up, surprised.
"We’ve had more applications than ever. Students train before classes even start. They’re asking better questions. Studying dungeon recordings on their own time. They’ve even formed their own practice parties without anyone telling them to."
Kai smiled. "What changed?"
Elden laughed. "They all want to become the next Kai."
Every head at the table turned toward him.
Kai looked away immediately. "...That’s embarrassing."
"I’m framing that," Lily said instantly.
Sera went last, opening her notebook. "Dungeon clear rate’s up. Casualties keep dropping. Support Classes are finally getting proper recognition. No major incidents." She closed it, then added quietly, "...Hunter morale is the highest I’ve ever seen."
Everyone nodded, satisfied.
Sera glanced sideways at Kai a moment longer than the others. Something about him was different. He was listening, present, engaged in the conversation.
But his eyes kept drifting somewhere else entirely.
She didn’t ask. Not yet.
...
Lily suddenly smiled. "I think we’re ready."
Everyone turned toward her.
She tapped the table. "We’ve spent months making ourselves stronger." She looked around the room. "I think it’s time we make everyone stronger."
Silence.
Kai leaned forward. "Go on."
"We reduce the price of beginner equipment," she said. "Not by forcing blacksmiths to eat the loss. By supplying them. We’ve got extra monster materials sitting unused. More materials means lower crafting costs means lower prices. Everyone benefits."
Mayor Ko nodded immediately. "That would let more new hunters afford proper gear."
Lily pointed at Kai. "Do you know how much equipment we’re not using?"
Kai thought about it. "...A lot."
"A ridiculous amount." She counted it off on her fingers. "Weapons. Armor. Accessories. Monster cores. Materials. All of it sitting in storage while someone else could actually be using it."
She laid another paper on the table. "We’ve cleared enough dungeons now. Let’s write everything down. Boss attack patterns, safe routes, common mistakes, recommended team sizes, required supplies, retreat conditions, hidden rewards. Everything. Free. For every hunter in the city."
Elden spoke up immediately. "The Academy can teach straight from them."
Mayor Ko nodded. "Guilds can distribute copies citywide."
Raze grinned. "...That’ll save lives."
"And party matching," Lily continued. "Too many hunters die because they insist on going in alone or unbalanced. We start pairing people properly. Support Classes with frontliners. Scouts with defenders. Healers with damage dealers."
She set down one last sheet. "And a mentor program. The strongest hunters each take on one rookie team. Not forever. Just long enough to teach them how professionals actually think."
The room went quiet for a second.
Mayor Ko smiled slowly. "...You’ve just proposed rebuilding the entire hunter ecosystem."
Lily shrugged. "Seems easier than doing everything ourselves forever."
Everyone laughed.
...
Nobody hesitated after that.
Raze spoke first. "I’ll train them."
Mara raised a hand. "I’ll handle equipment distribution."
Elden nodded. "I’ll connect the Academy."
Mayor Ko said, "I’ll coordinate with every guild."
Sera said quietly, "I’ll organize the field teams and mentor assignments."
One after another, everyone took ownership of a piece of it without waiting to be told. Kai didn’t need to assign anything at all.
He looked around the table, thinking back to how differently this same room used to feel. Months ago, every single problem had ended with everyone turning to look at him for the answer.
Now solutions were appearing before he’d even finished asking the question.
Without anyone quite noticing when it happened, the Abyssal Watchers had stopped being Kai’s team.
They’d become Mythal’s foundation.
Kai smiled. "...Good. Let’s do it."
...
The room filled with noise after that, people talking over each other, schedules, guide formats, recruitment ideas, laughter scattered through all of it. For the first time in a long while, everyone at the table looked genuinely relaxed.
Then Kai said quietly, "...I met the Candidate."
Everything stopped.
The laughter died instantly. Papers stopped shuffling. Nobody spoke.
Mayor Ko slowly lowered the report in his hand. Sera’s expression hardened beside him. Lily’s smile disappeared entirely. Raze straightened in his chair. Mara’s grip tightened on the edge of the table. Elden turned his full attention toward Kai without a word.
The room felt colder than it had a second ago.
Finally Mayor Ko asked, "...What happened?"
Kai looked around the table at every face turned toward him. These weren’t just teammates anymore. They were the people who’d be carrying Mythal alongside him, whether they fully understood that yet or not.
He took a slow breath.
"I learned what Disaster really is."