Chapter 200 - 195: Back to Ravencross
Morning came quietly.
Too quietly.
John stood outside the ranger station with his arms crossed, watching the first sunlight reach the trees.
The Silverwood looked peaceful again.
Birds had returned.
Small animals moved through the undergrowth.
The unnatural tension they’d felt when they first entered the forest had lessened.
But John knew better than to think the problem was over.
The facility was still there.
The documents were still in their possession.
And somewhere beneath Ravencross was another facility belonging to the same organization.
He heard footsteps behind him.
"You’ve been standing there for twenty minutes."
John glanced back.
Lythriel stood at the doorway, holding two cups.
"Coffee?"
John accepted one.
"Thanks."
She leaned against the wall.
"Couldn’t sleep?"
"A little."
"Thinking about the underground facility?"
"Yeah."
Lythriel took a sip.
"I’ve been thinking too."
"About what?"
She looked toward the forest.
"The creatures."
John nodded.
"They should be safe now."
"Most of them."
"Most?"
"The injured ones."
John understood.
Some of the creatures they’d released were badly hurt.
They had survived captivity, but freedom didn’t automatically heal them.
"We’ll leave the medicine with the ranger station."
Lythriel smiled.
"That’s what I thought you’d say."
John looked at her.
"You know me pretty well."
"Unfortunately."
He laughed.
---
The others soon joined them.
Darius had barely slept.
He spent most of the night organizing the documents they’d recovered.
"Ready to leave?" John asked.
Darius looked at the papers.
"Yes."
"Anything important?"
"More than I expected."
That wasn’t encouraging.
They packed their equipment.
Before leaving, John took one last look at the ranger station.
It had been their first shelter in the Silverwood.
Now it felt like the beginning of something much bigger.
Aerion secured his pack.
"Let’s go."
They started south.
---
The journey back was uneventful.
No monsters attacked.
No mysterious strangers appeared.
The forest almost seemed ordinary.
John appreciated that.
Not every journey needed to become a battle.
They eventually reached the edge of the Silverwood.
The road toward Ravencross was busy again.
Merchants.
Travelers.
Adventurers.
Everything looked normal.
Lythriel looked back at the trees.
"It’s strange."
"What?"
"Knowing what’s underneath all that."
John nodded.
"Yeah."
The forest looked peaceful.
But underneath it had been cages, laboratories, and people experimenting on creatures.
John wondered how many other places in the world hid similar secrets.
He didn’t like the thought.
---
They reached Ravencross in the afternoon.
The city gates were crowded.
A guard checked their papers.
"Returning from the Silverwood?"
Darius nodded.
"Yes."
The guard looked at their equipment.
"Any trouble?"
John and the others exchanged glances.
"Some."
The guard laughed.
"That’s usually how it goes."
He waved them through.
John looked back at the city.
Everything seemed normal.
But now he knew there was something hidden beneath it.
---
They went directly to the Adventurer’s Guild.
The lobby was busy.
John recognized several adventurers from their first day.
Some were preparing for expeditions.
Others were drinking.
A few were arguing about quest rewards.
The ordinary atmosphere felt almost strange after what they’d experienced.
They approached the receptionist.
She recognized them.
"Welcome back."
"We need to speak with someone in charge."
Her expression changed slightly.
"About the expedition?"
"Yes."
She pointed toward the second floor.
"The regional supervisor is in his office."
Darius thanked her.
They climbed the stairs.
---
The supervisor was an older man named Garret.
He looked like someone who had spent most of his life dealing with adventurers.
He studied them from behind his desk.
"You were expected back tomorrow."
"We returned early."
"Why?"
Darius placed the documents on his desk.
"Because we found something."
Garret looked at the papers.
Then at Darius.
"What kind of something?"
Darius explained.
The abandoned facility.
The cages.
The experiments.
The escaped creatures.
The people they encountered.
And finally—
The second facility beneath Ravencross.
Garret’s expression slowly changed.
When Darius finished, the room was silent.
Garret picked up one of the documents.
"Where did you get this?"
"From the facility."
"You’re certain?"
"Yes."
Garret read it carefully.
Then he looked at John.
"You understand what you’re accusing these people of?"
John nodded.
"Yes."
"Do you understand what happens if this information is false?"
John’s expression remained calm.
"That’s why we’re giving you evidence."
Garret looked at the documents again.
"What about witnesses?"
Darius answered.
"We encountered several of their people."
"Names?"
"We don’t know."
"Descriptions?"
Darius gave them.
Garret wrote them down.
Then he asked something unexpected.
"Did you see anyone from the guild?"
John’s eyes narrowed.
"No."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes."
Garret leaned back.
"Good."
John noticed the slight relief in his expression.
That was interesting.
Garret looked at the documents again.
"Leave these with me."
Darius hesitated.
"All of them?"
"Yes."
John looked at him.
"We’ll keep copies."
Garret nodded.
"That’s reasonable."
John handed over several papers.
But not all.
The documents concerning the other facilities remained with Darius.
Garret didn’t object.
---
When they left the office, Lythriel spoke quietly.
"He believed us."
John shook his head.
"Not completely."
Darius looked at him.
"What makes you say that?"
"He was surprised."
"By the facility?"
"No."
John lowered his voice.
"By the one beneath Ravencross."
Darius stopped.
"You think he already knew?"
"I don’t know."
"But?"
John looked back toward the supervisor’s office.
"He wasn’t surprised that there might be a facility under the city."
Darius’s expression became serious.
"You’re right."
Sylvara frowned.
"Then who can we trust?"
Nobody answered.
---
They returned to the inn.
The group sat around their usual table.
For several minutes, nobody spoke.
The city outside continued as normal.
Finally, Aerion broke the silence.
"So what’s the plan?"
John looked at Darius.
"What do you think?"
Darius sighed.
"We shouldn’t investigate the underground facility immediately."
Lythriel looked relieved.
"Good."
"Why?"
"Because we don’t know where the entrance is."
Darius pointed to the documents.
"And we don’t know how many people are inside."
John nodded.
"We also don’t know whether the organization knows we found the facility."
Sylvara frowned.
"They might."
"Exactly."
That meant rushing underground would be stupid.
John leaned back.
"We need information first."
"From where?"
"The city."
Lythriel looked confused.
"Meaning?"
"We find out what’s happening around Ravencross."
John started counting on his fingers.
"Unusual monster attacks."
"Missing people."
"Strange shipments."
"Merchants moving unusual materials."
"Anything connected to magical research."
Darius smiled.
"You’re thinking like an investigator."
"I’m an adventurer."
"There’s a difference."
"Apparently I’m both now."
Lythriel laughed.
---
That evening, John went out alone.
He didn’t go to the guild.
He didn’t search for the underground facility.
Instead, he visited the market.
He walked around casually.
Listened.
Watched.
Most people didn’t pay attention to him.
That was exactly what he wanted.
He stopped at a food stall.
"Anything interesting happen recently?"
The vendor laughed.
"Depends what you call interesting."
"Monster attacks."
"Not in the city."
"Outside?"
"Some caravans have had trouble."
"Where?"
The vendor pointed north.
"Mostly along the old road."
John nodded.
"Anything unusual?"
The vendor shrugged.
"Some merchants claim they’ve seen wagons traveling at night."
"Whose wagons?"
"No idea."
John thanked him.
Then he moved on.
At another stall, he heard something else.
A merchant was complaining about delays.
"Three shipments this month."
"All late."
John listened.
"Where are they going?"
The merchant answered another customer.
"South district."
John remembered that.
Later, he visited a tavern.
He didn’t drink.
He simply listened.
A group of laborers were discussing a warehouse district.
"Strange noises again."
"Probably rats."
"Rats don’t scream."
John quietly memorized the location.
By the time he returned to the inn, he had gathered several small pieces of information.
Nothing conclusive.
But together...
They formed a pattern.
---
Darius was waiting in the room.
"Anything?"
John placed a small list on the table.
"Maybe."
Darius read it.
"Night wagons."
"Missing shipments."
"Strange noises in the south warehouse district."
Darius looked up.
"All connected?"
"Possibly."
"You’re thinking the facility receives supplies through the warehouses."
"Maybe."
Lythriel sat down.
"So what do we do tomorrow?"
John looked toward the window.
"We watch."
"Watch?"
"Yeah."
He smiled.
"We don’t break into anything."
"We don’t fight anyone."
"We don’t reveal that we’re investigating."
"We just observe."
Darius nodded.
"That might actually work."
John leaned back.
For the first time since entering Ravencross, they had a direction.
Not a dungeon.
Not a monster hunt.
Not another expedition.
An investigation.
And unlike the Silverwood, this time the enemy wasn’t hiding in some forgotten corner of the wilderness.
They were operating inside a living city.
Which meant every mistake could have consequences.
John looked at the dark streets below.
Somewhere beneath them was the hidden facility.
And whoever was running it probably had no idea that the people who had destroyed one of their operations had just returned to the city.
John smiled faintly.
"Let’s see what you’re hiding."
---
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