Approaching the walls of the town, I'm surprised to see several heavily armored men coming towards us. Baby takes a step towards me, muttering as he does, "Null, please let me talk, and don't attack these guys. They're just making sure you're not a threat."

[Aren't I a threat?]

He grins slightly. "Well, yes, but we'd rather you weren't a threat to them unless you can help it."

Fair enough. Besides, while humans don't taste half bad, the problems raised would far exceed the taste.

[Joule, you might want to go back in the void. We don't want to reveal too much about ourselves if they're cautious about an ant.]

[Fair point. Besides, I need to figure out some alternative methods of acquiring void energy if we're not going to be hunting as much.]

I hadn't thought of that, but I don't have time to think about it now.

The guards get closer, wielding their spears with obvious practice.

[Out of curiosity, how dangerous are these guys?]

Dylan answers the question, as the expert on Xylphys. "They're all superior A-rank. You wouldn't believe how many wars have been waged over the Xylphys hot dog recipe."

I slowly look at him. That entire sentence sounds like something Noah would say. [Wars? Really?]

Alice nods sagely. "You can't judge the hot dogs until you've tasted one."

Finally, the guards arrive, somehow looking relaxed and tense at the same time. Each one is massive, bigger than Baby, and coated in heavy plate armor. They seem to be totally unafraid of anything we can do to them while maintaining a serious appearance simultaneously. I want to learn how to do that.

"Hey, there. Do you mind explaining what's going on? Start with the ant."

I step forward, blatantly ignoring Baby's advice. [My name is Null.]

They started in surprise, but their spears don't come down from their resting place on their shoulders. They must be very confident.

Dylan picks up for me. "This is the creature that Noah raised in the Hiding Forest."

Before he can continue, their weapons fly from their shoulders faster than I can see them, the wind whistling through the air from the speed. In less time than it takes me to take a single step, all eight of them are surrounding me, weapons aimed directly at me.

I shrink down slightly, realizing that I stand no chance here. I might as well be fighting the Kadaialon.

Dylan jumps in front of me, waving his arms wildly. "Wait! He's not going to attack anyone, I promise!"

Meek is not a phrase I have ever used to describe myself, but it fits now. [I have no intention of hurting anyone or anything while I'm here.]

The spears don't budge. "Be that as it may, anything related to him should be destroyed immediately."

Baby starts to disagree, but Dylan beats him to it. "You're going to directly attack a personal project of Noah Cosmic? Wouldn't that fall under deliberate provocation on the Apocalypse Accords?"

Their grips tighten, and their leader speaks. "Our sacrifice would be worth it, provided the weapon produced by Noah was destroyed in the process."

Dylan was quick to respond. "You're the official guards of Xylphys. How do you know he wouldn't take it out on the whole city, or even on all of humanity?"

He hesitates, and Baby adds, "Do we really want to end up like the demons?"

That seems to push him off the fence he was on, and with a gesture, the spears raise.

[That's a relief.]

The leader walks towards me and leans down, getting very close to me. "Listen. If you cause trouble, any trouble at all, I will personally hunt you down. Do you understand?"

I shrink back further. The aura coming off of him is terrifying, and I have no doubt that he would carry out the threat without hesitation. [Yes.]

"Good. Now then, let's get you to the guildhall before anyone asks questions. I want you out of my city as soon as possible." Indicating Baby and Alice, he says, "You're from Barabar, right? You can go back now. We'll handle it from here."

Baby raises his hands, protesting. "Now just wait a second! We made a deal with Null. If we get him to Lymphadra then he'll pay us a small fortune."

The leader turns his attention back to me. "And where did you get this fortune?"

[From Kerem. The dragon?]

That name they definitely recognize, and their spears start lifting again. I hastily speak again. [He's living in the Hiding Forest. The only reason he didn't kill me was because Noah's backing me, and he gave me some gold to try and make up for it.]

Their leader tightens his grip, his face hidden behind the metal helmet. "I don't suppose he gave you any artifacts, did he?"

[Just a necklace and the gold.]

All three of my allies turn to look at me very slowly. Alice is the first to say something. "And you accepted it?"

The captain places a palm on his helmet and waves the spears down. "This is unnecessary. Anything stupid enough to take an artifact from a dragon can't possibly be a threat."

I pull the necklace out of my subspace and drop it on the ground. [Is this an artifact?]

Dylan picks it up gingerly, inspecting it carefully. "Huh. This isn't actually very cursed, from what I can tell, though it probably would have alerted Kerem if you did something he didn't want you doing."

I'm a little surprised. [Kerem cursed the necklace? Why?]

Baby looks at me like I'm insane. "I don't know, maybe because he's a dragon with a hoard? They don't really let go of their valuables without a fight."

[Fighting him would have been stupid. I would have died instantly.]

"Yes, you would have." The captain gestures to the guards and they reluctantly begin heading back to the gates. He takes off his helmet and reveals himself to be a her, a huge female human with long stringy blond hair and exceptionally blue eyes. "All right. Let's get to the bottom of this, and maybe at the end I'll convinced more thoroughly not to kill you. Start from the beginning."