After solving the problem in the seas, claiming a few pirate ships' worth of trouble, and learning just enough about the world to confirm it is even more complicated than expected, Ludger finally returns home. For once, he has a simple goal. Rest. No ancient secrets. No Imperial schemes. No pirates mistaking distance for safety. Just a quiet, well-deserved vacation in Lionfang, where the walls are standing, the baths are warm, and nobody with a functioning brain should be trying to cause problems.
Unfortunately, common sense remains rare. Soon after his return, several guilds begin contesting the Lionsguard's claim over the frost labyrinth. Their argument is simple: the Lionsguard is not producing enough froststeel, and such a valuable resource should not be left in the hands of one imcompetent guild.
Ludger finds the argument very interesting. Mostly because none of them were there when the labyrinth was secured, none of them bled for the frontier, and none of them seemed eager to complain until the profits became obvious.
Still, politics has rules. Guilds have traditions. And if these people want to settle ownership the old-fashioned way, Ludger is willing to be polite. So he challenges them. A formal fighting competition. Guild against guild. Winner keeps the labyrinth.
The other guilds accept, convinced that numbers, reputation, and experience will grind down the Lionsguard's young vice guildmaster and expose the frontier guild as unworthy of such a prize.
They are half right. Ludger does intend to expose someone. But when the competition begins, the challengers quickly discover that he has no intention of sending the Lionsguard to fight for what is already theirs. If the other guilds want the labyrinth, they can prove they deserve it by taking it from him first.
What was supposed to be a guild-versus-guild tournament becomes something far more humiliating. One boy against several guilds. And Ludger is not planning to leave them with excuses.
After dealing with Lucius's latest disaster and confirming once again that some people treat common sense like an optional hobby, Ludger finally returns home. For a while, things almost look peaceful.
Naturally, that is when he notices the problem. The Lionsguard is growing. Supplies need moving. People need training, protecting, correcting, and occasionally being reminded that joining a guild does not mean turning their brains off. All of that is important. Unfortunately, none of it is making Ludger stronger.
Administrative work has dulled his edge, and in a world where monsters, nobles, labyrinths, and ancient lunatics keep crawling out of forgotten holes, being rusty is just a slower way of dying.
So Ludger makes a decision. He heads farther north. Beyond familiar roads, beyond comfortable territory, and into lands where old warriors, hidden masters, and half-mad specialists are said to live in isolation. People who know techniques that never made it into manuals. People who can teach skills that cannot be bought, copied, or unlocked by sitting behind a desk.
There is only one small problem. Every single one of them is a pain in the ass.
But if he wants to keep standing at the front when the next disaster arrives, he cannot afford to stay comfortable. The north has masters. Ludger just has to survive learning from them.
Ludger decided to work on his guild after finding some unusual masters. Unfortunately, the ocean has other plans.
Strange craters have begun appearing along the coast. Some ships from the empire had vanished as well. No one knows what caused them. So Ludger, Viola, Luna, and the others board a ship and head back out to sea.
The investigation starts badly and gets worse. More craters are discovered beneath the waves, stretching across the ocean floor in a trail leading toward deeper waters. Whatever created them is still moving, and it is large enough to leave scars visible through hundreds of meters of water.
Then it finds them. A colossal sea creature attacks the ship, turning the expedition into a desperate battle against something that treats reinforced hulls, defensive barriers, and common sense with equal contempt. The crew fights to keep the vessel afloat while Ludger confronts the monster directly, but even their combined strength is not enough to control the chaos.
By the end of the battle, the ship is nearly destroyed. And Ludger and Luna are gone.
They awaken on the shore of an unknown island with no idea where their friends are, no reliable way home, and enemies watching from every direction. The forests are hostile. The ruins are occupied. The creatures roaming the island are far too organized to be ordinary monsters. Worse, something beneath the island seems to know they have arrived.
The ocean was supposed to be an investigation. Now it is a war for survival.
