Recognition did not come as praise that morning.
It came as numbers.
Sitting before the guild council, I realized this as soon as the scrolls were opened on the table. There were no smiles. There was no applause. Only serious looks and a heavy silence, as if everyone there had reached the same conclusion at the same time.
The guild master cleared his throat before speaking.
"We need to align information."
I nodded silently.
He slid one of the scrolls forward, pointing with his finger.
"The confirmation arrived last night. We cross-checked reports from three different regions. There is no doubt."
Elara leaned forward. "No doubt about what?"
The man took a deep breath before answering.
"About how many Demon Generals you defeated."
Liriel frowned. "That was never a secret."
"Not exactly," he replied. "But now it's official."
He raised three fingers.
"Three confirmed Generals."
The weight of those words fell over the room.
There was no celebration. No surprise. Just a strange feeling, as if something that had always been implicit had finally been spoken aloud.
"Three…," Elara murmured. "When you put it like that, it sounds unreal."
"It is unreal," another council member replied. "For most of the world."
Vespera crossed her arms. "And for the demons?"
The guild master held her gaze. "For them, this is a warning."
Silence spread through the room again.
"Until now," he continued, "no group, no alliance, had eliminated more than one General in such a short time. Your achievement is already being compared to legendary campaigns of the past."
"We don't want comparisons," I said. "We want to understand the impact."
He nodded. "Then I'll be direct. Your name is being mentioned in military councils. In clergy meetings. In border reports."
Liriel swallowed dryly. "That doesn't sound good."
"It's neither good nor bad," the man replied. "It's inevitable."
We left the guild in silence. The sun was high, but it didn't warm like before. We walked through the streets without hurry, each one lost in their own thoughts.
"Three Generals," Elara repeated, as if testing the words. "When did that happen?"
"It didn't happen all at once," I replied. "It happened little by little. We survived, moved forward, and the world followed."
Vespera looked around. "The problem is that the world is now adding it up."
Back at the mansion, the atmosphere felt strange. Not heavy, but alert. As if everyone was waiting for something invisible to happen.
I sat on the balcony, watching the garden that was beginning to take shape. Liriel approached and sat beside me.
"You're different," she said.
"How?"
"Quieter."
I thought for a moment. "I think I'm tired of being surprised by what we've done."
She smiled faintly. "You prefer not to look back?"
"I prefer to look, but without turning everything into a monument."
She rested her head on my shoulder. "The world doesn't work like that."
Later, during dinner, Elara broke the silence.
"If we defeated three Generals… how many are left?"
No one answered immediately.
"We don't know," Vespera said at last. "But we know it's not few."
"And now they know who we are," Elara added.
"They already knew," I replied. "They just pretended not to notice."
After dinner, each of us went to a different part of the mansion. Night fell slowly, bringing a cold wind that passed through the corridors.
I lay down, but couldn't sleep right away.
Three Generals.
Each of them had a face. A voice. A presence that still echoed in my memory. They were not just defeated enemies. They were milestones.
Each victory had pushed us forward, without asking if we were ready for what came next.
I closed my eyes and saw imaginary maps being redrawn. Borders shifting. Gazes turning in the same direction.
We were no longer just strong adventurers.
We were a factor.
And factors, sooner or later, force responses.
As sleep finally reached me, one certainty settled with uncomfortable clarity.
Defeating three Generals did not bring us closer to the end of the war.
It only placed us, definitively, at the center of it.