Dawn had long passed when Dallion woke up. The night had turned out much better than anything Dallion had experienced since coming to this world, even if it was unexpected. Even with all the weirdness going on, hooking up with a gorgon was way out there.

The first thing Dallion saw upon opening his eyes was a note of paper on Eury’s pillow, pressed down by a heavy metal key. Curious, Dallion stretched, then took the note.

Didn’t have the heart to wake you.

Lock up and keep the key. I’ll come visit once the job is over.

Smooches,

E

The briefness of the note combined with the perfect handwriting made Dallion smile. The gorgon was definitely a straight to the point girl, though in a charming way. Even so, he didn’t know exactly how to feel about getting a key to her shop. Was this an invitation for him to move in? Or did she just want him to lock up while she was gone? For the moment he decided to consider it the latter.

With another stretch and a long yawn, Dallion got up from the bed and looked around. Unlike his room at the inn, the workshop had a proper bathroom, making it possible for him to get something close to a shower. To make things better, Euryale had left two full buckets of water for him to pour in the ceramic “sprinkler.” There was no toilet, of course, no doubt that was in another part of the building. Still, Dallion decided to enjoy what he could.

The shower was invigorating, if slightly cold. After a thorough rinse, Dallion brushed off the water with the fresh towel left for him, then got dressed. Judging by the sun, eight o’clock was approaching, which meant there was breakfast at the inn waiting for him. Even so, Dallion spent a while to find where to fill the buckets with water again. It was only proper to have them ready for Eury upon her return. Tidying the place up a bit, he then locked up and went back to the inn.

What do I tell Hannah? He wondered. For a moment, he almost felt like sneaking back home after spending the whole night partying. There was no reason for him to act this way. Hannah wasn’t his mother. Plus, he was a full adult and had the right to do whatever he wished. And still, with every step he got closer to the inn, the more excuses he came up with.

A few steps before the door, Dallion stopped. With a sigh, he removed the limiter ring from his finger and stepped inside.

“About time,” Hannah greeted him in typical fashion. “Your food was about to get cold.”

“Yeah.” Dallion nodded, then silently went to eat. At this point he was starting to feel a slight urge to go to the toilet, but did his best to ignore it. All he needed to do was focus on silently finishing his food.

“I take it you spent the night well?” the innkeeper asked.

The question made Dallion feel uneasy. Could it be that she somehow knew what had happened? That was unlikely. Dallion didn’t remember mentioning he’d go to Eury. In truth, he himself hadn’t been certain he would until that evening. More likely, Hannah was just concerned that he had spent the night outside.

“Yeah, it was pretty fine,” he replied with a smile. “Did anything happen while I was gone?”

“A lot of things and none of them your business. I got a celebration request for tonight, so you better be in shape.”

“Oh, definitely.” Dallion felt relieved. She didn’t know, she just was worried about her business. Talking about close calls. “Anything special I’ll be doing?”

“Lots of mending, for one thing. I’ve told them that the improvement limit is three per night, but knowing the crowd they might want to go for a few extra. Will you be up for that?”

“Up to six is fine.” Now that Dallion had gone past his level cap, improvements were a positive thing again. He could earn some money once more, leveling up in the process.

“Okay. Will you be going to the guild today?”

“I think so,” Dallion replied on instinct.

“Good. I have something for you to give to captain Adzorg.” Hanna disappeared into the kitchen. Fifteen excruciatingly long seconds later, she reappeared with a small cube item wrapped in light blue cloth. “I want you to give this to him in person. Alright?”

“What if he isn’t there?” Dallion asked.

He’s there, Nil said. Oh, and just so you know, it’s usually considered polite to give a warning before locking your room. Not that we didn’t get the hint.

“If he’s not there you get someone to tell him to get there. He must receive the package this morning. Think you can manage that?”

“Sure. Give me just a minute.” Dallion stood up and finally went to relieve himself. Washing his hands, he then went back out. “What’s the package?” He took the item. It felt lighter than he expected.

“A gift from a common friend,” Hannah said, then deliberately paused. “Actually, he forgot something when he came to visit you. I only found it when I was cleaning recently. Well, Aspan found it.”

There was no way to tell whether she was telling the truth or not. Dallion could only nod and leave for the guild. This was the first time since his arrival in Nerosal that he had spent a full day outside of his room. For some reason, it felt strange, almost unnatural. He suspected that his gear would understand, although maybe it was a good idea to avoid the subject for a while.

I guess relations are complicated everywhere.

It was almost nine by the time he arrived at the Icepicker guild. Quite a lot of guild members had already arrived, queuing to get a job from the lobby managers. Dallion managed to catch a glance of Bel and Falkner, each waiting patiently in line. Once he had delivered the parcel, he was going to join them, and possibly get some mission pointers. With luck, maybe one of them would take him as their packrat for the day.

“Hey, junior,” a familiar voice said nearby. “Where do you think you’re going?”

Dallion turned to his right. As expected, Spike was there, leaning against the wall. A few fresh bruises decorated his face. The man had without a doubt spent a rough night fighting somewhere. Dallion could only hope that the mirror pool wasn’t involved in this.

“I must give something to captain Adzorg,” Dallion replied calmly. All the time he kept repeating to himself not to ask about Spike’s face, so that was exactly what he did. “Did you fight the mirror again?”

The skinny man looked at him with a silent, serious expression for several seconds, then laughed.

“Nah, don’t worry about it. Just a minor disagreement. You can’t even call it a fight. It finished pretty fast.”

Even if all that was true, Spike completely missed the point. For someone to be able to hurt him at all, they had to be stronger than a guild elite. Or maybe they were just that? Dallion had heard on several occasions that a lot of guilds didn’t like each other. The only thing that kept them from starting an all-out war against each other was the city guard.

“Seriously, it’s fine. You said you wanted to see the old geezer?”

“Yep.” Assuming Adzorg was the old geezer in question.

“He’s down below, playing dice as usual. Just make sure he isn’t having a winning streak before you interrupt. The man’s superstitious as a cat.”

Interesting comparison.

“Thanks. See you around, Spike,” Dallion waved, then rushed to the staircase.

It had been a while before he’d gone to the training rooms. To no one’s surprise they hadn’t changed at all since that day: rows of shelves with strange objects, and no one else but the same four people gambling. The difference was that this time all of them were Dallion’s superiors in the guild, so he couldn’t be as casual as he had been back then.

Adzord seemed in pretty good humor. From what Dallion could see, he was winning, which meant that he wasn’t to approach him. At this point a person would normally just quietly remain, observing the game until a good moment to interrupt. Spending so much time with Nil, however, had made Dallion accustomed to the captain to the point he didn’t feel threatened or intimidated by him in the least.

“Morning, sir,” he said loudly, almost making Adzorg spill his pile of earnings. “Sorry for the bother, but I have something for you from Hannah.”

A moment of anger flashed through the old man. Upon hearing the name, however, it quickly subsided, replaced by eagerness.

“Bring it here,” the captain said.

When Dallion did so, he took the parcel and carefully unfolded the cloth to reveal a small wooden box. Within the box, on a cushion of purple velvet, lay a single segment of white metal. Neither the design nor the material was something Dallion had seen before. The closest thing it reminded him of was a decorative letter opener, although it was definitely too small for that. The material, though, was obviously a special metal.

“Thank you.” Adzorg slapped the box shut. ”Thank Hannah for finding it for me.”

“No prob. What is it, though?”

The old man glared at him.

“Err… sir?” Dallion smiled. “I think I’ll be going to check for a job.”

No one said a word as Dallion left the training room, making the experience even more awkward than he would have liked. That was one of the problems with old people of authority, Dallion had noticed. Back on Earth, all the older teachers reacted this way when they wanted someone to leave.

You were quite lucky, Nil said. You might have broken a really long lucky streak. On top of that, you asked something that was deeply personal. And no need to thank me.

“Thank you?” Dallion whispered as he climbed back up to the first floor. “Why for?”

Do you think my original would have been as calm if he didn’t know you had an echo of his?

“Good point.” Saved by an echo. Who would have thought that—

“Mister Darude,” the captain’s voice came from behind. He wasn’t shouting, but thanks to Dallion’s improved perception, he could hear it clear as day. “Would you mind returning for a moment?”

Oh, the echo said. I guess I could be wrong.

“Traitor,” Dallion hissed beneath his breath. There was no way the echo hadn’t known this. Instead, Nil had deliberately lied to him just to create this effect. Awakened and their echoes could really be scary when they wished.

The atmosphere had changed a lot when Dallion returned to the training room. Everyone was serious, and all traces of gambling had been swiftly removed.

“Tell me, what is your opinion of the guild so far?” the captain asked.

“It’s okay.” Dallion did his best not to shrug. Experience had taught him the closer to neutral he could be, the better.

“Any highlights you could share? Or complaints you want me to address?”

“Err, no, nothing I could think of…” Dallion paused. This probably was one of those trick questions. Clearly he had to mention something, just nothing that could be interpreted in various ways. “The after job celebration feasts are great.”

Adzorg looked at him for a long while.

“I would hope so. They are a basic requirement for any guild. I trust you have informed yourself on the effects the awakened state has on the body?”

“Yes, sir, I have read quite a number of tomes on that.”

While this wasn’t exactly a lie, Dallion had no intention of clarifying that he’d read probably the first few pages in depth before flipping through the rest. The problems of good eating had never been something he concerned himself with, even back before he had improved his body.

“And you find the pay adequate?”

“More than adequate.” Should I have asked for more? Or maybe I was given too much? Either could turn out to be the answer the old man was looking for.

“Do you enjoy being a packrat?”

“It’s okay…”

“Dallion, I’m not here to listen to polite excuses. Guilds function on the deeds of their members, not the words. You can avoid the subject all you want, but that won’t be of any use. If things are bad sooner or later, you’ll either leave on your own, or we’ll kick you out. And all that because you didn’t voice your personal thoughts when you were given the chance.”

“Seriously, I like it here a lot… but yes, I want to move on from being a packrat.”

“There you go.” The captain smiled. “It wasn’t so difficult and as you’ve undoubtedly noticed, you are still alive.”

“I also don’t think I’m ready to move on from being a packrat. Not yet.”

“Oh? You’re still set on demonstrating you could pass the dagger trial alone?”

“I made the request, I might as well go through with it.”

“Just because you’re a late bloomer, don’t expect you’ll be able to achieve miracles right away. However, that’s between you and Vend. I just want to know, do you think you’ll need any help?”

Dallion looked straight into the man’s eyes.

“Yes, and I’ve already received it.”