"Urgh... How much further down do these steps go?" Macy groaned loudly. Rolling his eyes from the back of the group, Ryan sighed.

  "Just a little bit longer. The underground havens need to be low enough to not be found during any sort of construction," he pointed out, "But you already know that, right?"

  "Yes, of course we do," barking out a reply, Macy snapped her head back.

  "Sorry, sorry, it just seems like you guys are a lot less involved in stuff than I thought. Didn't you all grow up in the family?"

  "Yes, but they're all from branch families," Kim started to explain from the front, "The branch families act largely as support to the main family. Each one is great at some parts, but sort of miss out on others. The Garlings, for example, are the archivists. They handle all sorts of information, data, all that stuff. They're also the ones that take care of different artefacts."

  Ryan nodded. He was familiar with that name. That branch family's elder was Orion Ragir Garling-Aglecard. It was the one that 'took care' of Liam, or rather, trapped him in some kind of medieval theme park. Considering that they're part of that branch family, Macy and James were surprisingly normal. He would have expected they would be more 'medieval' as well, though it was probably wrong to assume every member of the branch family would be like their elder. Though it was also surprising that they still seemed a little out of the loop. Maybe it was just a difference between 'knowing' and 'doing'. Even though they may have been told a lot of things, it could all seem a bit abstract until they properly encounter what it is they have learned about.

  "Then there are the Stiers, Jasmin's family. They're generally the ones that do a large amount of the background work. Bureaucrats, managers, things like that," Kim continued. Ryan glanced at Jasmin. She hadn't said even a single word since he's met her, just nodding at him. It seemed like she was on the quiet side, which fit the 'bureaucrat' vibe somehow, "And Mark's family, the Orats, are the craftsmen. They're the ones that make most of the special-equipment for the upper branch."

  "But don't think that means I can make stuff for you," Mark said, trying to lock eyes with Ryan, though it was a little hard to do with the spiralling stairway's wall in the middle.

  And from Ryan's point of view, he didn't even need Mark to do anything like that in the first place, "That's fine. Silvia started learning some stuff from a few craftsmen, she's the one that made most of my equipment until now. And she's only getting better. It looks like she's going to reach level 10 soon, so a new skill should pop up. She's been pretty excited for that."

  "Wait, what?" Mark turned around, almost tripping down the stairs, "Level 10- She awakened?"

  "Yeah, she's got a fairly rare artist class. Things she makes that she considers 'art' can have special effects to them. I can show you some of that in a second," Ryan said, as the group finally reached the bottom of the stairs. It opened up into a hallway, and Ryan quickly pushed his way through to the front so that he could open the stone door at the other end. It opened up to the fresh smell of flowers, and Ryan smiled lightly, stepping through while looking around, "There you are! Your buds finally blossomed, awesome!"

  The others followed behind him confused, unsure what was going on. They had gone down so much, but they were surrounded by thick bushes and trees, like they were in a forest. And who was Ryan talking to? He was just standing in front of some kind of shrub. Though... that shrub soon started to move. Everyone could see what appeared to be a young man made out of vines, leaves and branches, intertwined together. All over his body were small pink flowers that had, apparently, just blossomed today.

  Ryan turned toward the group, "This is one of the dryads living down here. They don't really talk so they don't have names, but they each usually stick to a unique appearance that they like the best, so you can tell them apart pretty well. Alright, come on," though the others were a bit surprised, Ryan quickly brought them further into the haven. They stepped out of the small woods, and then into the outskirts of the hidden village. People were walking around, doing their everyday tasks and following their routines.

  Most of them didn't have things they had to do, but following a routine made it easier for them, anyway.

  "This is a haven..?" Kim asked, looking around. The walls of the cave, the crystals at the top providing light. And of course, the ancient buildings that had been fixed up here and there over the years as this space had become used more and more. But, even so, all these buildings were older than most of New Riverside. It wasn't just like they stepped into a cave, they stepped into the past. Particularly Macy and James seemed taken aback.

  "Seriously? What, is Runar also into history or something?" Macy groaned loudly, almost shuddering as she looked around.

  "Not as far as I know. I'm more into history than he is, at least," walking forward further into the village, Ryan waved at everyone and greeted them as he usually did, "But, well... This is what havens are like, I guess. Apparently not all of them are here in caves or anything, but the overall conditions probably aren't much better in other havens than here. Ah..."

  Realizing something, Ryan took a step to the side. Confused, the others looked at him as he was just standing there. He was counting down in his head. Soon, a slight buzzing could be heard, and a bright blur shot through the air, "Hey there, Penny. I told you not to come flying at me like that," Ryan smiled, as the pixie hugged the side of his face. He held his hand backward. Something was moving inside of his backpack, and Jester's head soon popped out, holding one of the wrapped pieces of candy that Ryan carried with him for Penny. He gave it to Ryan, before his body fell apart into mana again.

  After quickly unwrapping the candy, Ryan gave it to Penny, who excitedly took it, "That was Penny, a pixie that was recently rescued. She's a little clingy, but, well... she's a kid, so I can't really hold it against her. And she's not the only one, either," Ryan smiled, as Penny sat down on the top of his head while enjoying her piece of candy. She tried to cover herself a bit with his hair, since the others were staring at her a bit too intensely.

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  "... Even I've never met a pixie before," Kim pointed out quietly, while Ryan laughed.

  "Well, she was actually the first 'hidden' person I met. Well, as far as I'm aware, at least," he explained, "She was saved from an auction where she was almost sold off to some weirdo creep."

  "... Should you say that with her right there?" Mark whispered, and Ryan shrugged.

  "I mean, yeah, they're mute and deaf, so she can't hear what I say anyway."

  "Then why did you say you told her not to fly at you like that?"

  Macy let out a long sigh, "Pixies have the innate ability to sense all magic, and that's how they communicate. That pixie probably learned how to understand other people through the mana they passively give off, though that probably only works with Awakened whose mana has been strengthened through the system..." she explained, crossing her arms, "Ryan probably pulls in his mana to not touch her when he says something he doesn't want her to hear."

  "That's... just right, actually, yeah. I mean, it's kind of hard to pull away the mana that's already outside of my body like that, but at the same time, it's good practice."

  They continued on through the village. Ryan spoke to some of the people down here, asking if they needed anything, and helped out a bit here and there. Of course, he didn't let those five just stand around; they also helped out whenever Ryan told them to. He just brushed off any question about who the five of them were. Though, that only worked out for a little while.

  As Ryan made his way over toward the forge elemental to feed her for the day, he was stopped. Kim placed a hand onto Ryan's shoulder, "Hey, uh... Who... or, what is that?"

  From down the trodden dirt path, a person in a hazmat suit came rushing toward the group.

  "Wait, is there something toxic down here?" Mark asked nervously, but Ryan just sighed.

  "No, that's Rose. She works for the family. She's a zoologist, taking care of the different animals we have down here," he quickly explained, "Her being here is why we have so many animals here. Just wait for a second, I'll talk to her and explain some things."

  Stopping Rose, Ryan pulled her away out of earshot of the group. Of course, for what Ryan was planning on doing, Runar couldn't know about this. Or at least, he had to make sure that he wouldn't suspect anything even if one of the other people living down here told him that there were visitors, "Rose! How are you? I saw that the new fencing for the cockatrice enclosure finally came, it's looking pretty-"

  "Who are those guys?" Rose asked, looking past Ryan with clear anxiety in her voice, and he quickly let out a sigh. He just had to calm her down and convince her to keep this a secret, and things would be fine.

  "Don't worry, they're part of the family. Kim's even part of the main family. I don't know if they've met, but Kim is Runar's cousin," Ryan explained, pointing at the hybrid that was looking in their direction, "The other four are part of branch families. They're in the know, they've just never been in a haven before, so I figured I would give them a small tour."

  "I, uh... did you talk to your uncle about this?"

  "Nope, and I would prefer if he didn't find out."

  "... Are you okay? Are they threatening you?"

  Ryan let out an involuntary scoff, "No, technically it was more like the other way around. They... well, they've caused some trouble at uni. I'm not sure if you know, but the Awakened supervisor is a vampire, and the family's contact at the university to make sure that the hidden folk can properly attend. These five sort of used their position to get some benefits at the school. I heard about it and got a bit pissed, so... I'm trying to get them to turn away from that kind of stuff."

  Up until this point, he wasn't even lying. Rather, he was only going to leave out a few details from the story after this anyway.

  Rose looked at them, clearly upset at what she just heard, "And why would you help guys like that?"

  "I'm also not the best guy, you know? If I had grown up in the family, I might have turned out a lot more like them than the person I am now," Ryan explained, "I just want to get them on the right path. Plus... I'm pretty sure you're also aware that it's going to be pretty hard for me to find people in the family that will work with me."

  Though she wanted to protest, Rose stopped herself. With who Ryan's father was, the majority of the family was basically set up against him. The only reason he was able to act as freely as he wanted was because of Runar, "Okay, sure... but why do you want to kee p it a secret from Runar? Just explain it to him, I'm sure he'll understand!"

  "He's got plenty on his plate right now, anyway. And I'm not telling you to lie, just... downplay things a bit if he hears and asks about it. Kim's an Awakened, but he's an expertise Awakened."

  "Hm... I don't know..."

  Ryan grinned lightly. Convincing Rose probably wouldn't be too hard, since she was already on the fence, "He's an alchemist, you know? Haven't you been complaining about how long it takes to get the more complicated medicines down here?"

  "He's an... are you sure? Really? Do you think he would help make some medicine?"

  "Oh, I'm sure he will, I just need to whittle him down a little longer and he should be ready to help out soon enough," Ryan said, smiling broadly. Though she was still hesitant, Rose clearly couldn't let up a chance like that.

  "I... maybe could just act like this isn't a big deal... Though, if they're family, it's not like it really is a big deal in the first place..."

  "Exactly! So there's no need to make Runar worry at a time like this, right?"

  "Right," Rose nodded, continuing to glance over at Kim, "Uhm... tell me when you think he could help me, okay?"

  "Of course! Now, just don't worry, and keep doing your work. I've got the forge elemental, as always," Ryan basically pushed Rose away, so that she wouldn't talk to the others. He didn't want them to accidentally say something that could sway Rose into telling Runar already.

  With a relieved sigh, Ryan stepped back over to the group, "Alright, let's keep going."

  "Wait, what was that about? Are we... not supposed to be down here?" Kim asked, confused, "Did you not tell your uncle about this?"

  "Dude... I brought you here to convince you to join me in changing the way the family works. Fuck no, I didn't tell the current patriarch. Just calm down, don't do anything stupid, and follow me," Ryan told them, but the only thing that he heard in response was a scoff from Macy.

  "How is this supposed to convince us? You're just giving us a tour like we're tourists."

  "So what, it's not working? You're not seeing how horribly these guys are treated despite the 'we're trying to protect them' stuff?"

  Silence. None of them were able to say anything in response to that, so Ryan continued, "You guys have the freedom to mess up and be shitty. You have the power and the privilege to abuse in the first place. These guys? If they mess up, they're... done. And it fucking sucks. I get that we need to protect them, because the shadows will try to fuck with their lives as much as they can, but... that doesn't mean we should lock them up in a cave."

  Kim slowly spoke up, "So, what are you thinking? What's your big, important plan?"

  "Well... one of the biggest things our family does right now is protect these guys. And the whole point of the White Shadow Society is to try and eradicate them. But both of them are doing everything in their power to keep their very existence a secret," Ryan said, basically spelling his plan out to everyone. They clearly understood, but they were all stopping themselves from speaking up, as if just acknowledging the plan would make them accomplices in it. All of them, except Jasmin, the one who had been silent this entire time.

  "You're going to burn down the walls around hidden folk. Hell yeah, I'm in."

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