“You know, you look pretty stupid,” a large man said, looking at Dallion in the lake.

There was no denying he had a point. After close to half an hour of hesitation, Dallion had finally entered the shallow part of the lake, and was attempting to keep afloat in a spot where ducks couldn’t swim without their feet touching the bottom. The amount of pressure on Dallion’s face would make anyone think that he had been swimming through an ocean with a pair of anvils on his back.

Losing his concentration, Dallion let himself sink to the bottom of the lake, then pushed himself up with his arms so as to see the person who had addressed him. The features seemed somewhat familiar, but Dallion couldn’t place him… that was, until he saw the Flameforge emblem hanging from the man’s neck.

“Mord?” he asked.

“Took you a while,” the other replied, his voice ringing with confidence.

The last time the two had met was in the Gremlin’s Timepiece during a Flameforge feast celebration. The two hadn’t gotten along well, leading to a “city duel” between the two. Officially the duel had ended in a stalemate—stopped by the Flameforge captain responsible for the event—but many were of the opinion that Dallion would have won.

“So, what are you doing here?” the Flameforge guild member asked, moving to the edge of the lake.

“Isn’t it obvious?” Dallion smiled. He couldn’t detect any malice in the other, although there was a deep sense of rivalry coming from his chest. “Learning to swim. Never knew before I was awakened, so I think it’s time I learned a bit.”

“What level’s your athletics?”

“Zero. I don’t have any.”

“Well, that could be a problem.” Mord squatted at the end of the lake and tipped his hand in the water.

“It might be, but I have to learn, anyway. It might not be that great, but still.”

“I heard you’re joining the tournament,” Mord said, splashing the water with his fingers.

“Yep.”

Dallion already knew where this was going. Apparently, the loss was still on Mord’s mind. Not that it was a bad thing, Dallion himself wanted to test his skills again against him. Considering that this was to be an official fight, they wouldn’t have to be bound by the city’s restrictive rules.

“I’ve been selected to represent my guild,” the man pulled his hand out. “So, you better not lose until you reach the official preliminary rounds. It’ll be a shame if you did.”

Dallion could almost see how eager he was to get into a fight.

“We can have a sparring session before that, if you want,” Dallion offered. “Anytime.”

“I’m no Spike,” Mord laughed. “Besides, where’s the fun in that? Preliminaries take place in the realms. Both of us can go all out there. You might even get to show me your new flying tricks.”

Even that has gone out? Dallion thought.

One thing about nobles, they talk a lot, Nil said. Especially about things that don’t concern them. I wouldn’t be surprised if there are already holding bets. That’s the worst part about the festival. I really despise it.

I thought you liked occasional gambling, Dallion asked, surprised.

Oh, I love it. What I despise is losing all my money as a result.

That was a weird statement, but at least Nil was honest that he had a problem. Rather, he was being honest that Adzorg had a problem. The thought made Dallion wonder how exactly did echoes gamble. Did they bet using favors and information? Or did they have the owners of their items lend them money with which to buy. Both options sounded equally bad, and something Dallion hoped he’d never get to find out.

“Did you come all the way here to tell me that?” Dallion asked, more out of curiosity than anything.

“Oh, and the captain still wants you to join,” the man shrugged. “I told her it’s no use, but she’s persistent. When she sets her mind on something, it's difficult to tell her otherwise.”

“You have your doubts?”

“Flameforge isn’t the place for you. This entire city isn’t. I could tell by a single look. In less than a year from now you’ll be off to Vesinion, Kalba, or even the Imperial capital. Wherever you go, it won’t be here.”

That was strange. From the basic geography lessons Dallion had had with Nil, he knew that both cities mentioned were on the other side of the empire. One was a popular coastal city, while the other was described as the jewel of the north.

“You’re the type who is in search of something. When you find it you move to search for the next.”

“Ouch. That hurt.” Dallion smiled.

“It wasn’t meant to,” Mord said in all seriousness. “It’s just what you are. I’ve seen someone like you before. They stayed in a city for a few years, then disappeared without a trace. Years later, I heard he had joined a merchant organization that made deliveries to the capital. What happened to him after that, I can only guess. You seem the same way.”

The words made Dallion think. This wasn’t the first time he had been described in such fashion. Hannah had said it was because of his nature as an awakened. Others had mentioned they expected him to leave the city in a few years and move to more important things. Even some of the fears he had faced during his latest awakenings claimed that he’d leave Nerosal first chance he got.

“No way. I have things here,” Dallion tried to turn it into a joke.

“Sure.” Mord’s glance became surprisingly hard. “That’s probably it. Anyway, take care of yourself. Don’t drown before our fight.”

“I’ll do my best.”

The Flameforge guild member stood up and turned around. He was a few steps away when Dallion shouted out to him.

“Mord. Does your guild have any sphere items for sale?”

“Artifacts?” Mord asked, surprised, looking over his shoulder. “Some. Mostly trinkets. Everyone’s buying them like crazy. Happens every festival, although this year it’s something else. The whole city is drowning with them.”

The whole city was drowning, and yet none could be found, especially the type that Dallion needed.

“Have any kaleidervistos?”

“That junk?” Mord gave Dallion a strange look. “Three months ago, I couldn’t give away the stuff. Now…” he shook his head. “I’ll try, but it’s a long shot. What do you need it for, anyway?”

“I thought it might be good for a present.”

“You’re strange.”

“Possibly. Let me know if you find one.”

Mord walked away, waving a hand. Dallion’s music skills made it apparent that the man was going to try to do this favor, but at the same time, the likelihood of him succeeding was quite small. There was only one option left, something Dallion didn’t want to resort to.

You can always ask the general, Gen suggested. You know he has one.

He could have sold it. But even if he didn’t, there’s something else I need to ask about the pool.

Before that, though, he was going to try and practice swimming a bit more. By lunch time, Dallion had managed the impossible: his swimming efforts had all but exhausted him. Considering his body was at level fourteen, that was a considerable feat. Thankfully, he had managed to grasp the basics of floating. Next, he was going to try actually swimming a bit.

With Jiroh back, lunchtime had become far more organized for the customers. With Dallion responsible for entertainment—something he’d gotten used to, not to mention familiar with a vast number of songs and tunes—Veil was left going about mending and improving. Normally, Gloria would have been there as well, but she had asked to skip a shift. No explanations were given, although Dallion knew that she was going to her theatre training. Also, he could sympathize with how conflicted she was. Having a hunter fury at the same inn was almost like a dream come true. Even Veil was having difficulties pretending he wasn’t impressed. As the armadil shield liked to say, “furies got all the attention.”

Work dragged on forever. After each song, Dallion glanced at Hannah in the hopes she’d let him stop. The innkeeper had no such intention, letting him know he would play until the last customer had left and be happy about it. Thus, Dallion did just that. He had already improved his mandolin a few times, managing to increase his acrobatic skills to level twenty-nine. That meant that fairly soon he’d reach the cap limit with all four of his skills and could safely focus a hundred percent on forging, where to his shame he hadn’t budged from one even if he could summon ingots of all normal metals.

“Okay, you can stop,” Hannah said, when there were only two customers left. “It isn’t the same without Gloria.”

“That’s what I tried telling you,” Dallion put his mandolin away. The look he received from Hanna was unmistakable—if anyone had learned the rare skill to curse with looks, the innkeeper definitely had.

Dallion stood up, then made his way to leave, when Hannah shouted behind him.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

Curious and with some unease, Dallion turned around.

“You’re supposed to eat,” Hannah reminded. “Music is still awakened stuff, so you better not faint on me.”

“Sure, I will.” Dallion smiled in relief. “I just wanted to buy a handkerchief. Be right back.”

“What do you need that for?” the innkeeper asked, but Dallion was already outside. In truth, he had no need for a handkerchief. He already had several in his room. However, that was the only way he knew how to get in contact with the mirror pool.

Outside the inn, Dallion rushed to the stall in question, a handful of silvers in his hand.

“Afternoon, Dal,” the woman at the stall greeted him, as if it was just another day. “Finally decided to buy something?”

“You know me too well.” Dallion placed all the coins in the stall. There were seven of them. “What do you recommend for this much?”

The stall seller looked at the coins, then at him.

“If you want a meeting, you can just say so,” she whispered in a fashion that only a double digit awakened would hear.

“I want a meeting,” Dallion replied in similar fashion. So much about all the spy movies he had watched back on Earth. At least there they valued subtle messages. Here things were boringly pragmatic. “Tonight.”

“That’s rushing things.” The woman took the coins, then offered a green handkerchief to Dallion. Supposedly, it was one of the hot items. Dallion only found it to be extremely tacky. “I’ll let them know.”

“Cool. I’ll be in the inn all day.”

“There’s no need for that,” the woman smiled. “The pool knows where you are every time of the day.”

If it weren’t for the music skills, Dallion would have been slightly scared. As it stood, the woman was exaggerating. Even so, he suspected it wasn’t by much.

“I’d also like to buy something,” Dallion continued. “What are the prices?”

The look he got made it clear that he needed to be a bit clearer than that.

“Sphere items. Doesn’t matter if they’re cleared or not. Low-level trinkets.”

The woman tilted her head, waiting for further details.

“Not a weapon. I’ll say more in person.”

“The range is quite large. Might be ten gold, might be a thousand.”

“Any discount for the favor I did?”

The woman laughed.

“I’ll leave you to discuss that at the meeting. Anything else?”

“Yes, but that’s for later.” Dallion paused for a few moments. “How did you get involved in this?” he asked, adding a few notes of ease in his voice. The music synced with the stall seller almost perfectly. “As you said, it’ll be up to be to discuss it at the meeting.”

“A piece of advice,” the woman said. “Avoid using music. It’s not a good look when people feel they aren’t trusted.”