Nerosal had, as it turned out, thirty city guard barracks. Each was the size of a small fort, taking as much space as half a city block. The fact that Dallion had only been able to see three since he had arrived, suggested that the city was even larger than he imagined. Strictly speaking, the nearest barracks was at the city gate Dallion had entered through upon arriving. After some consideration—and consulting the library echo—though, he decided to go for the second closest, which was about twenty minutes away.

Dallion checked the time through his library ring. There was still over an hour until he had to get to work, though that didn’t make him feel any better. Going to the city guard with his complaints could well result in him losing his harpsisword, but as Nil had pointed out, not going would be worse.

Barracks eleven was quite impressive up close, and also surprisingly quiet. The first thing that Dallion noticed was the state of the structure—perfectly flawless, while still maintaining its rough “serious business” exterior. This was clearly the work of an awakened, likely more than one.

No one stopped Dallion as he entered the main building. If anything, a few of the guard gave him a curious glance in passing.

According to Nil, Sergeant Selion Ank was the person responsible for awakened theft. Since Dallion had no idea who or where the person was, he proceeded to the main entry hall of the building. The inside of the building was every bit clean and well kept as the outside, with one exception—the room layout appeared to have been designed a few centuries ago and never touched since. Most shocking of all, the rough tone room was filled with wooden cubicles, each with a wooden stool and a bored city guard sitting on top.

“You, there!” a plump white-haired guard in a spotless uniform shouted.

Confused, Dallion pointed at himself.

“Yes, you. You’re an awakened, right?”

“Err, yes.” Dallion straightened up. “I’m registered at—”

“Come here.” The old guard waved, thoroughly disinterested in what Dallion was saying.

After a moment’s hesitation, Dallion did.

“New here?”

“Err, yes, yes I am. Been here only a—”

“Give me your hand.”

Surprised by the second interruption, Dallion extended his hand. The guard quickly grabbed hold of it.

Item Awakening

The room Dallion found himself in was small but comfortable, the way an old soldier would want it to be upon retirement. Unlike the barracks hall, the chairs were large, wide, and overflowing with cushions.

“We’ll continue here. Saves a lot of time,” the guard stretched. “So, what seems to be the trouble?”

“Err…” Dallion hesitated. “Don’t I need to prove who I am?”

“Emblem.” The guard pointed at Dallion’s chest. Only now did Dallion notice that his guild emblem was hanging from his neck, not to mention it was several times larger than before. “You’re from the Icepickers. A lot of guards are familiar with the bunch.”

Uh, oh. Dallion felt tense. Had the guild gotten in trouble with the local law? Seeing his expression, the guard shook his head with a sigh.

“Take it easy, kid. Your guild helps out now and then with stuff. Just tell me what you’re here for, okay?”

“I think I might have… bought stolen property.” Dallion swallowed. Saying it out loud was worse than it sounded in his head.

The guard arched a brow, then leaned forward. “Are you messing with me? This would be the first time someone comes to confess that.”

“Well, I didn’t know it was stolen at the time,” Dallion quickly explained. “I met an awakened nearby. He told me I shouldn’t keep the pouch in the open, all because of the pickpockets. He then took me to his shop, where we got to talking and I bought a weapon.”

Dallion paused, trying to gauge the guard’s reaction. The old man said nothing. Even with Dallion’s level of perception, it was impossible for him to determine anything based on the guard’s expression alone.

“I decided to go back there again today and buy another weapon and found that the store is owned by an entirely different man. A trader of some sort.”

“What did he sell you?”

“A harpsisword.”

“A harpster?” The guard whistled. “Not many of those around. What happened? Turns out you can’t carry it in the realms?”

“Err, no. I’ve no problem with using it in the realms. That’s the problem. I don’t think that he sold me something which was his, and that’s why—”

“Show the sword.”

That was fast, Dallion thought. “I don’t have it with me,” he continued. In retrospect, it might have been a good idea to do so. The main reason he hadn’t, was Nil’s insistence not to. “I didn’t think it was a good idea to come here armed.”

Dallion prepared himself mentally for a long tirage of shouting. Instead, the guard didn’t seem overly concerned.

“Just open your room and get it from there,” the old man said.

“Huh? Open my room?”

“You can do that, right?”

“Yes, but I was told it was a bad idea…” Back during the hunt of the chainling Kalis had been adamant never to open his awakened room to anyone else.

“Will you stop with your nonsense?” the guard snapped. “You’re on barracks ground. Our captain can enter your room whether you like it or not. Only difference is he’ll be pissed that you made him do it. So, take your pick. Open the room and show me the sword, or come with me to the captain.”

Neither of the choices were good. If this were a game, Dallion would just hit back and pretend the conversation never happened. Real life was different. There was no way he could undo things, and leaving just like that was definitely not an option.

With a sigh, he performed a personal awakening. A doorway appeared in the wall to the left.

I want the harpsisword, Dallion concentrated, reaching out forward. Moments later, the weapon emerged in his hand. Seeing it, the guard stood up from his very comfortable seat and moved closer.

“Didn’t think I’d see one of those,” he said, closely examining the edge of the blade. “There are probably five people in Nerosal that have one. How much did you pay for this?”

“I’m not exactly sure,” Dallion mumbled. Technically, it wasn’t a lie, but he was more afraid of what the guard would think if Dallion told him the weapon had cost about sixty silver coins. “About a hundred, possibly less.”

“A hundred gold coins?” The man gave Dallion a suspicious look.

“No! Silvers! A hundred silver coins.”

Upon hearing that, the guard laughed.

“You’ve got the Crippled’s luck. Something like this is five hundred at least.”

Crap! I’m in deep shit now! Dallion winced.

“Thing is, the sword isn’t stolen.” The guard took a step back. “No idea who got it or how, but it has accepted you as its owner.”

“That’s it?” Dallion said instinctively and instantly regretted it. “I mean, isn’t there a way to check?”

“Kid, if you take an item that’s not yours it’ll be screaming to the sky. It takes decades for stolen things to settle down, especially things made out of such metal. Either the guy stole it twenty years ago, or just found it, you’ve bought it fair. You can close your room, now.”

The item was actually his after all? Dallion felt the weight of a mountain fall off his chest. However, the relief he felt also came with questions. Why had Taem sold to him in the first place?

“Did you make any promises when you bought it?”

“No,” Dallion tried to recollect the moment. “I don’t think so.”

“In that case, count your blessings and get out of here.”

A few seconds later the doorway to Dallion’s awakening room disappeared along with the harpsisword. Moments later he was back in barracks hall, holding the guard’s hand.

“Thank you for your time.” The guard shook Dallion’s hand with an annoyed voice, then pulled it away. “Anything else?”

“Err… no, I don’t think so.”

“Then move along. There are others waiting.”

The statement was an obvious lie, but Dallion didn’t want to overstay his welcome. With a polite and very confused nod, he left the cubicle, moving back to the general area of the hall.

This was it? Undoubtedly not what he expected, and somewhat anticlimactic. It was as if he had been preparing for a hurricane for days, only to be greeted by a gentle breeze. Deep down, he could still feel uncertainty, a faint concern that the real storm was yet to come. Even so, Dallion had no intention of looking a gift horse in the mouth. Taem had sold him the harpsisword, for whatever reason, and that made it officially his. Now all he had to do was learn how—

“Dallion?” a familiar female voice asked a short distance away.

Turning in the appropriate direction, Dallion saw none other than Euryale. The gorgon was standing in a nearby cubicle, filling out a scroll under the watchful eye of a city guard. The gorgon’s snakes, however, kept looking at the entire room.

“Just give me a moment. I’ll be right with you,” she said casually all the time writing.

Now that was a useful skill—the ability to see everything around, no matter what one did. Gorgons probably were terrifying opponents in combat, provided they took things seriously.

Stepping towards the wall so as not to block the path of the few people who came in here, Dallion waited for Eury to finish what she was doing. Dressed in a rather provocative toga, the gorgon filled out the scroll—the local equivalent of an official form, if Dallion was to guess—then returned the quill in its ink jar.

“Are we done here?” she asked the guard in front of her with the most charming smile that could make anyone’s blood run cold. The guard was no exception. Catching her drift, the man shivered, then nodded. “Good. See you next month.” She stood up, twisted around and joined Dallion.

Not being one to want a conversation in the barracks, Dallion hurriedly headed towards the exit. Eury followed. Half a minute later, they were outside the barracks building. Waiting until they had gone another fifty steps, to be on the safe side, Dallion opened his mouth to ask the obvious question.

“Why are you here?” Euryale turned out to be faster.

“I thought my harpsisword might be stolen, so I came here to check. You?”

“Oh, the usual nonsense.” She waved a hand dismissively. “Every time I get a new statue the guard comes down to check whether I haven’t petrified someone. As if I could do that unnoticed. Half the city will hear the screams if that happened.”

The fact that her defense was focused on the lack of witnesses made Dallion have mixed feelings about the matter. On the one hand, he could be relieved that he’d know if Eury had turned anyone to stone. Knowing that she could, though, made him want to double the distance between them.

“Your boots are ready, by the way. You can come pick them up if you want.”

“Sure.” Don’t argue with her, Dallion thought. “I’d like that.”

“Liar,” Eury let out a single chuckle. “You get points for being cute, though.”

“Thanks.” I guess.

The next minute passed in silence as they walked to Eury’s workshop. Given that Dallion had finished everything city guard related in less than a minute, he had time to spare before his job. Also, even before their unexpected meeting he was thinking of passing by Eury's workshop, anyway. Not so much because of the shoes—he still hadn’t gathered enough money to pay her back. Rather, there were some awakened matters he wished to discuss with her.

“Eury, what’s your level?” Dallion asked.

“It’s wiser to ask a man how many level’s he’s lost than a woman what her current level is,” the gorgon replied. Thankfully, she smiled as she spoke.

“It’s double digits, right?”

“That much I can confirm.”

“How do you reach a double digit? I’ve been reading up on things about the Moons and the skills, but I still have no idea how to break my barriers. Other than the first time, I’ve mostly replied on awakening shrines or similar. There has to be some other way.”

“There is, but only once you reach level ten and go through your awakening trial.”

“Another trial?”

“Trial, test, moment of realization. Call it what you will. It’s something only you can achieve. Until you pass it, you won’t be able to go beyond level ten. That’s why they call it the second great step. After that you’re more than a full awakened.”

“I’m a doubly full awakened?” Dallion smirked.

“More or less. A fully awakened is a nice term, but it’s false. It only means you have the ability to create echoes and enter areas on your own. The real difference is after level ten. Succeed at your trial there, and you’ll be able to improve your skills and stats beyond the level ten cap. Thinking of going for it?”

Dallion nodded. “I want to learn how to distinguish between marker layers and for that I need to be a double digit.”

“Power to you.” Eury patted him on the shoulder. “Keep in mind it’ll be a tough trip. It’s unlikely you’ll make it from the first try.”

“I know.” And sadly, I must make it from the first try. “That’s why I want to ask you to train me…”