In the far back of the Guild's archive, between shelves heavy with dust and cobwebs, we sat hunched over stacks of parchment and cracked leather-bound records. The smell of old vellum clung to the air, mixing with the faint waxy scent of candles that threw flickering shadows across the walls. Beyond the stone door we could hear the distant murmur of adventurers, the buzz of dice, mugs, and laughter—life carrying on while we drowned in silence and paper.
"...Nothing. Again."
I let out a long sigh and closed the brittle volume in front of me. The table was already a fortress of discarded books, each one promising secrets and delivering only disappointment.
"Seriously? Not a single clue? There's gotta be something juicier than dusty tax ledgers," Lilis groaned, stretching her arms until her joints cracked. She leaned back on her chair, half-pouting, half-bored.
"Don't rush. If there's anything truly valuable, it won't be left on these open shelves. We'll need access to the sealed archive beneath the Guild," Caina answered coolly, though the edge in her tone betrayed her own impatience. She unfurled another scroll, eyes sharp, lips pressed tight. Beside her, Cecilia sat with hands folded neatly, lost in thought.
"Yet we already know enough, don't we~desuwa? This app isn't just some handy tool." Her words floated into the air like silk, delicate but impossible to ignore.
I nodded silently. Matching Adventure—marketed as a miracle of convenience, a way to diagnose talents, match compatible allies, form perfect parties. Officially endorsed by the Guild itself, trusted by nearly every adventurer.
"And yet," Lilis said, turning her Smart Ring around her finger so the candlelight winked off its surface, "it feels weird. Not like any magitech I've seen before."
Magitech. The marriage of sorcery and engineering, nurtured among nobles and merchants, the pride of cities that thrived on innovation. The Smart Ring was one of its shining products—slim, glowing faintly, almost alive with stored mana.
"It's supposed to just read faint magical pulses from the Ring and send them into the app. But could that really be enough to perfectly analyze our fighting styles, our aptitudes... even our personalities?" Lilis tilted her head, watching the little circle catch the light as she spun it.
"That's the question," Caina muttered without looking up. "The Guild's research division claims they made it. But do you not wonder... whether that's the whole truth?"
She turned another brittle page. And then, almost offhandedly, she added, "Originally, it wasn't even made for adventurers. It was a marriage app."
"...What?"
All of us snapped our eyes to her at once.
"Back when nobles and wealthy families wanted to strengthen ties through arranged marriages. The app quantified compatibility. Bloodline, temperament, aptitude—calculated into neat little scores, to find the most efficient match."
"You're telling me this thing was meant for matchmaking dates?" Lilis blinked at her, incredulous.
"Not dates. Alliances," Caina corrected. "But yes. It was never about battles. Only about pairing people."
"Then why repurpose it for adventurers?" I asked, frowning.
"Because someone in the Guild saw its potential. The app was brilliant at analyzing personality and compatibility. Extend that logic, and you could apply it to combat styles. Expand the algorithm, and suddenly you had a tool to form the 'perfect party.'"
"So that's how Matching Adventure was born..." I muttered, staring down at my own Ring.
But then—my finger froze on the page of an open record.
"Wait. Look here."
My fingertip traced the uneven ink of a line scrawled across a guild ledger.
"High-compatibility parties... disappearing."
The words made the air sink heavy around us.
"You think it's coincidence?" Caina asked, though her eyes narrowed as if she already knew the answer.
"Or the app itself is selecting parties. And then... discarding them," Lilis said, her playful tone gone, replaced by something harder.
"If that's true," Cecilia whispered, "then this is no mere support tool~desuwa."
I stared at the Smart Ring on my hand. A tiny piece of magitech. A glittering convenience. And yet it might be guiding, even controlling, the fates of adventurers everywhere.
"...What would Elsa have said about this?" The thought slipped from my mouth before I realized.
The name dropped like a stone. Silence followed, thick and aching.
Elsa. Our warrior. The one who held the front line, who never flinched when blades flashed or spells roared. But she was gone.
"...If she were here, she'd probably have ripped through these shelves by now," I said with a weak smile, trying to lighten the knot in my chest.
Lilis shrugged softly. "Yeah, maybe. But she's not. So we deal."
Cain's voice was lower, thoughtful. "And her absence... is who we are now."
The silence that fell then wasn't empty—it pressed down, heavy, almost suffocating.
And then Cecilia's hands moved, turning a scroll as her voice slid through the quiet. "Which only means we must press forward. We can't let this stop us~desuwa."
That was all it took to make us move again, parchment rustling, candles sputtering.
And in that moment, for the first time, the question burned real in all of us: was this app ever truly meant for adventurers? Or had we been stepping into someone else's experiment all along?
Notes:
• Lilis - Agile rogue/thief — Leon's close friend and playful teaser. Strikes fast with twin daggers and vanishes into stealth. Petite, light-blonde hair, mischievous green eyes. Reminder: Playful trickster hiding sharp instincts.
• Cecilia - Gentle yet firm healer (v1c11) — Leon's emotional support and moral anchor. Wields holy healing and purification magic. Graceful, golden hair, violet eyes. Reminder: Kind priestess with hidden resolve.
• Cain - Calm, brilliant mage — the group's strategist and analyst. Uses lightning magic with precise, logical focus. Slender, silver hair, calm blue eyes. Reminder: Stoic thinker and precision spellcaster.
• Elsa - Proud red-haired warrior — once a frontline fighter, deeply trusts (and loves) Leon. Masters raw strength and combat. Tall, long crimson hair, fierce golden eyes. Reminder: Fierce protector, sharper after her return.