Night settled over the Seawave Guild, but no one slept.
The corridors buzzed with movement — scouts relaying reports, officers hurriedly reorganizing files, guards sharpening weapons even though most of them weren't trained for actual combat.
Fear rose like steam from boiling water.
And yet the guild didn't collapse.
They waited.
For me.
Risenne matched my pace, her armor catching the moonlight, her expression tight but focused. She wasn't trembling anymore. She wasn't uncertain. She had chosen her place:
my right hand.
But the way her eyes kept flicking toward me told another truth —
one she wasn't ready to say aloud yet.
The System flickered beside me.
"Soooooo… what's the plan? 'Cause Goldmare is big. Like really big. Like step-on-you-and-forget-your-name big."
We'll build something they can't ignore.
"Ah yes. Vague confidence. Classic Montig."
The Council Hall — Midnight
The officers gathered again, exhausted, tense, pale.
When I entered, they stood immediately.
Risenne stepped in behind me, posture straight, hand resting on her weapon. There was no hesitation now. No conflict.
Just purpose.
I placed Rael Goldmare's holographic projection device on the table.
It hummed faintly, casting a distorted reflection of the guild layout.
Whispers grew frantic.
"Goldmare scanned us?"
"Is that even legal?"
"What do we do—?"
Risenne raised her hand.
Silence. Obedience.
Her authority was becoming natural.
I spoke.
"They know our weaknesses."
The room stiffened.
"But they also made a mistake."
The officers blinked, uncertain.
Risenne looked at me, waiting.
"What mistake?" she asked.
I tapped the hologram.
"They assumed I care about maintaining the old guild structure."
Risenne's breath hitched. Some officers exchanged confused looks.
"What… what are you saying?"
"I'm saying the structure they scanned," I said calmly,
"won't exist by sunrise."
The room erupted.
system_notification!
"Oh. We are committing to this. Cool. Just checking."
Montig's Reforms — Immediate and Merciless
"Three divisions," I began, drawing lines across a blank sheet.
"Trade. Security. Finance."
An officer stammered, "W-we already organized that, sir."
"Yes," I said, "but the divisions were filled with the wrong people."
I pointed at six names.
"All removed."
Risenne didn't flinch.
The officers froze.
"M-Montig, those officers have been here for years!"
"And they were incompetent for all of them," I replied.
One of the removed men stood abruptly.
"Young man, you can't simply—"
Risenne stepped in front of him so fast he recoiled.
"Sit," she said.
He sat.
I continued:
"All of their positions will be reassigned by dawn. Anyone resisting will be dismissed."
The entire room shivered — not with fear of Goldmare, but with fear of me.
Good.
The System chimed in:
"This is either genius or mental illness."
Both.
"Fair enough."
New Leadership
Next, I placed three names on the table.
Names from outside the guild.
Names uncorrupted by its previous power.
A courier,
a minor merchant,
and a woman who had once run a successful border outpost before it fell.
The officers stared in disbelief.
"You're replacing trained leaders with… nobodies?!" an officer sputtered.
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because nobodies can become loyal," I said.
"And somebodies already chose their sides."
Risenne's lips curled slightly — she liked the idea.
Risenne's New Duty
I turned to her.
"Risenne. You'll personally evaluate all security forces starting tomorrow."
She blinked.
"Personally?"
"Yes."
Her expression softened, then sharpened.
"You trust me with that?"
I didn't hesitate.
"I trust you more than the entire guild combined."
Her breath caught audibly.
The officers glanced at her, seeing a level of bond they didn't understand.
She stepped slightly closer — not out of duty, but something else.
"…I won't fail you," she whispered.
The System added:
"Wow. She's one emotionally-charged promotion away from kissing you."
I ignored it.
The New Order
"By tomorrow," I said,
"the guild's internal structure will be unrecognizable."
"And Goldmare's information will be outdated."
The officers finally understood:
This wasn't reform.
It was rebirth.
A tyrant's rebirth.
Late Night — Balcony Overlooking the City
After the council dispersed, Risenne walked beside me across the balcony corridor overlooking the dark ocean.
She held her helmet against her hip, her hair slightly windswept.
"Montig," she said softly. "Tell me the truth."
I glanced at her.
She rarely asked questions this vulnerably.
"Are we really ready for Goldmare?"
"No."
She inhaled sharply.
"But we will be," I added.
The tension in her shoulders eased.
"…I thought you'd lie," she murmured.
"I don't lie," I said.
"To me?" she asked quietly.
"To anyone."
She looked at me for a long moment — deeper, softer, something else shimmering beneath the surface.
"I'm glad," she said. "If you lied, I'd know."
Her voice trembled on the last word.
The System snorted.
"Awwww. She's so in love it's embarrassing."
Risenne tilted her head.
"Montig… your face is doing that expression again."
"What expression?"
"The one where you're thinking too hard and pretending you aren't."
"…I see."
She smiled. Genuinely.
For the first time, her smile wasn't guarded or fleeting.
It was warm.
Soft.
Devastatingly beautiful.
And it belonged only to me.
Her Confession Echoes
After a long silence, she spoke again.
"My confession still stands."
I stopped.
She froze too, suddenly realizing what she'd admitted again.
"I-I only meant—"
"You don't need to explain."
She swallowed.
"Then… do you have an answer?"
I turned to look at the ocean.
Not to avoid her.
But because my answer needed clarity.
"You said you're afraid," I said.
"Afraid of losing me. Afraid of what I'll become."
"Yes," she whispered.
"I am too."
She stiffened.
"But I still want you beside me."
Her breath caught.
A sharp inhale.
Too sharp.
"And I still choose you," I said quietly.
She didn't cry — she wasn't the type.
But her voice broke.
"…Then I'll follow you anywhere."
Risenne stepped beside me again.
Not behind.
Not ahead.
Exactly beside.
The System Breaks the Moment
"SOOO—do I mark this as a 'relationship flag' or—?"
I mentally shut the panel.
Risenne tilted her head.
"You did the expression again."
"Don't worry about it."
She smiled.
The Tyrant's Dawn Begins
"Montig," she said suddenly.
"Yes?"
"You're changing."
"How so?"
"You're no longer reacting to the world," she whispered.
"You're shaping it."
Her words lingered in the cold night air.
The guild behind us.
Goldmare before us.
The ocean carrying every whisper of fear and resolve.
And beside me —
a warrior who loved me more fiercely than she understood.
I turned toward the guild.
"Then tomorrow," I said,
"we shape it more."
Risenne nodded.
"Together."
The Quiet Tyrant was no longer rising quietly.
He was preparing the world for war.