Ever since the first week he had been in this world, Dallion had imagined defeating the village chief and freeing Dherma from his tyranny. Of course back, then he couldn’t even remember the name of the village, or pretty much anything else of significance. If he hadn’t been from Earth, he might not have remembered anything at all. Now that the deed was done, he didn’t know how to feel. That was the problem with real life—it was never straightforward.

Dallion looked at the village chief beside him. Without the echoes and his awakening powers, the aura of authority had vanished, making him look like a weak old man.

“So, you really did it?” Veil approached. “Should have guessed if anyone would manage it would be you.”

“Guess so.” Dallion took a deep breath. While he appeared no different from he had a moment ago, the battle against the village chief had left him exhausted. The last thing he wanted to do now was fight. Given a choice, he wanted to go back home and spend the rest of the day sleeping. “Do we have to do it now?”

“Not feeling like it?” There was no smile on Veil’s face. “There’s no fun taking an easy win. However, you won in public. The entire village knows. If I don’t defeat you now, the Luor family name will be dragged through the mud.”

That was an absurd thing to say. As far as Dallion was concerned, the Luor name had become pretty bad already in the last few generations. Other than Gloria and Veil to an extent he couldn’t think of a good thing to say about any of them.

“I don’t suppose you’d accept a surrender?” Dallion asked. His only advantage was that Veil didn’t know about the dartbow. With that, he had a chance, although that would mean Veil would lose his powers.

Veil shook his head.

Damn you, Aspion! Even in defeat you make a mess of things!

Dallion didn’t want to lose against Veil, but he didn’t want to win either. If he wasn’t this damned tired, maybe he’d be able to think of a way to think of something.

“Give me a minute to rest a bit?” Dallion took a few steps and leaned to the nearby building.

He always could enter the awakening realm of an item he was carrying and sleep there, though that wasn’t going to solve much. Sleeping was only good to rest between awakening battles, not immediately after.

“You don’t have a minute.” Veil leaned on the wall as well. “This must be settled once and for all.”

“I was afraid you might say that. Can I, at least—”

Suddenly a building nearby changed form. Moments ago, it had been a decrepit building about to crumble under its own weight. In the blink of the eye, all the cracks and holes were miraculously fixed. Not only that, the entire structure had become much more solid than before. There was no doubt about it—the building had been improved.

A moment later the same thing happened again.

“As everyone can see, the task set up by the village chief has been completed,” Gloria said in a loud voice. “Two buildings that were in no shape to survive the winter are now ready to become the home of anyone who wants. All thanks to Dallion.”

What? Dallion blinked.

He hadn’t expected this in the least. Looking closely, he could see Gloria standing suspiciously close to the improved structure. The girl’s breathing had become irregular, although only a person with awakened senses would be able to tell.

You improved the building, didn’t you? Dallion thought. That was so typical of Gloria—always taking things in her own hands when it suited her. And, of course, she’d only done so after Dallion had done the heavy lifting… or so he liked to believe.

That wasn’t all. The building Dallion was leaning on had also gone through a major transformation. The boy was just about to ask how that had happened, when he saw Veil’s hand on the wall.

“Her idea,” Veil whispered, stepping away from the wall. “I helped.”

“Yeah…” Dallion laughed. “What if I had lost?”

“Oh, then we would have ridiculed you,” the blond replied without hesitation. “Mercilessly. That was my part of the plan. Just a little something to give you a bit of incentive.”

Incentive doesn’t work that way, Dallion wanted to say. “Thanks, Veil.” And thanks, Gloria.

“And this is just the beginning!” Gloria continued. “Today marks a new day for Dherma! For years grandpa thought he could protect us from the dangers of the world by keeping us inside and taking the entire burden on himself. As the chainling hunt showed us, there are always dangers lurking about and it should not be up to a single awakened to face them for us.”

That definitely wasn’t the way Dallion would have described the situation. When Veil had said that things had to be settled once and for all, this is what he meant. Quite sneaky.

“After hearing what he had been through with the Archduke’s envoy, my grandfather has agreed that everyone should be helping the village out,” Gloria continued. “And to start, my brother and I will help improve more buildings around here. And we won’t be the only ones to do so.”

Several members of the Luor family turned pale. Decades of comfort and easy life had made them avoid work like the plague. Even with their awakened powers, all they had done was improve a few simple items by a level at most. Getting accustomed to actual work was going to be painful.

Quite a good show, without a doubt. Dallion had to admire the performance. But it wasn’t over yet. The final touch remained. Mustering all his strength, he went to the village elder and helped him up. The old man gave him a confused look, still unsure what had happened. In his mind everything remained a dream, possibly with a little help from the armor echo.

“Thank you for your wisdom, old man!” Dallion said. “For it’s thanks to you that I now know what’s really important. And so does everyone else! Now it’s finally time to put Dherma back on the map!”