The Thieves Guild wasted no time. The morning after Varrin’s warning the exchange opened as usual. But the moment clerks checked the storage room they found half the crates empty. Not broken. Not forced open. Simply gone. The locks untouched. The floor clean. Not even footprints.

Ressa clenched her fists. They slipped in without leaving a trace. They are testing us.

Alan examined the empty space silently. This was not theft for profit. This was sabotage meant to manipulate prices. With half the stock gone prices would rise sharply creating panic among adventurers. Rumors would spread that Dustfall could not protect its goods. Confidence would collapse.

But Alan saw something else. The stolen cores were mostly B and C class. The Thieves Guild left the high grade stock untouched. Their goal was not simple damage. They wanted to distort the value of middle grade goods while hiding the move behind confusion.

Alan stepped into the exchange hall and rang a metal bell. Everyone gathered around. Today’s opening price will be delayed. There has been tampering in the storeroom.

Gasps filled the air. Merchants whispered. Adventurers shifted nervously. Alan lifted a hand. But we will not panic. The exchange will continue with adjusted supply values. And we will investigate the incident with full transparency.

Varrin’s planned fear failed to ignite. Instead people trusted Alan more. Yet trust alone could not fix the problem. Prices rose slightly due to lower supply but Alan kept them stable by releasing part of the reserve stock he kept hidden for emergencies. Ressa looked at him. You predicted this. Alan nodded. I predicted something. Not this exactly. But shadow markets always strike supply first.

During the next two days more incidents happened. Fake adventurers tried to sell counterfeit A class cores that cracked during the water test. A merchant caravan arriving from the east was robbed before reaching Dustfall. A group of real adventurers reported being attacked by masked figures demanding they hand over their fresh cores.

The pressure grew like a tightening rope around Dustfall.

Finally the Thieves Guild made their largest move. Late one night a group tried to burn the exchange building. Flames rose near the eastern wall. Villagers rushed to throw buckets of water while Ressa’s team fought off six cloaked attackers. In the chaos Alan noticed something. The fire was placed not near the wooden beams but near the price board. They wanted to destroy the information not the building. Destroying the board meant destroying the exchange’s authority.

The attackers fled into the forest. Dustfall saved the building. But the message was clear. The guild wanted the exchange gone.

Alan stood before the smoke stained wall. His heart felt heavy but his mind stayed sharp. If the guild wanted to destroy information at the board then information was their true enemy. The exchange survived because it showed the truth of prices. The guild thrived because they hid the truth. A war between shadow and transparency could not be won by strength alone. It could only be won by clarity.

Alan gathered the villagers adventurers and merchants at sunrise. Today we respond not with fear but with expansion. If they want to hide information we will reveal more. If they want to distort prices we will make them clearer. Our answer is not retreat. It is growth.

He announced three new policies.

First. A second price board would be placed outside in the village square so that even if one was destroyed the other remained. Second. Every adventurer team would receive a simple record sheet to track the number and type of beasts they hunted. This data would help Alan predict supply swings before they happened. Third. The exchange would create a verification team led by Ressa. Their job was to investigate suspicious sellers and protect adventurers on hunting routes.

People applauded. The atmosphere shifted. The village felt united not afraid.

But Alan’s biggest counterattack came next. He revealed a concept he had kept quiet for weeks. The Supply Flow Map. A large parchment showing hunting routes population cycles and expected mana yields based on recorded data. It looked like something a scholar from the capital would study for months. But Alan built it from the patterns in his notebook.

He hung the map beside the price board. This is how mana moves across the frontier. If we understand the flow we can anticipate shortages before they happen. This map protects the exchange.

The crowd stared in amazement. Even merchants from other towns were speechless. This was more than a chart. It was the blueprint of the mana economy. A tool so powerful that even the Thieves Guild did not possess anything like it.

Ressa whispered. You just declared war back at them. Hard. Alan nodded. If they work in shadows then we light up the shadows.

The Thieves Guild reacted within hours. More spies appeared near the exchange. Someone tried to steal the map but was caught. A caravan attempted to block travelers from reaching Dustfall but failed. Every move they made expected fear. But Dustfall refused to fear.

On the fourth night Varrin himself returned. He appeared in Alan’s office with no sound at all. Only a faint cold breeze. Ressa raised her sword but Varrin held up his hands. Peace. I am not here to harm. I am here to speak.

Alan sat across from him. You failed to destroy the exchange. Your sabotage no longer works.

Varrin smiled without warmth. True. You surprised me. You turned sabotage into fuel for growth. Clever. But boy you misunderstand something. We are not done. We are only beginning.

He leaned closer. The guild does not only operate in shadows. We also operate in hearts. You built an exchange. But you did not remove greed. If we cannot break your system from outside we will break it from within.

Alan felt a chill. Varrin straightened. Enjoy your small victory. The next strike will not come from us. It will come from someone you trust.

He left as silently as he arrived.

Alan sat still long after he vanished. The room felt heavy. Ressa placed a hand on his shoulder. Are you alright.

Alan’s voice was quiet. They changed their strategy. They will try to corrupt the system from inside. We must prepare for betrayal.

He closed his notebook. The war with shadows had entered a new stage. A deeper stage. One where numbers were not enough. One where trust itself was a weapon.

He whispered. Then we will defend trust.

And the fight continued.