The lunch crowd was gathering, but neither Dallion nor Aspan were doing anything about it. While customers were cheering to the served by Jiroh and the Luors, the rest of the inn’s staff were isolated in Hannah’s rather spartan room.

Dallion sat silently in a small wooden chair, while Hannah was pinning the loose sleeve and trouser of Aspan. The copyette had to be transported to her room in a rather large jug to avoid questions, after which he had reverted to his humanoid form… minus the arm and leg.

“You doing okay?” the innkeeper asked the copyette.

“Give it a day,” Aspan replied. “I’ll miss dinner, but it’ll be fine afterwards.”

The woman nodded, patting the copyette on the shoulder, then moving to the window.

“I feared you might succeed,” the innkeeper said, looking out of the window. “Most of the things you do seem impossible, laughable even, but I always knew you might succeed. You have that quality about you. Call it luck, call it a gift, but you have it, and it’s not only because you’re from another world.”

That came as a slight surprise. A few days ago, Dallion would have been astonished. Now, after seeing that Hannah had been sheltering a copyette for years, he only felt mild surprise.

“In a way, I expected this to happen. Ever since you stepped in the inn, I knew you’d be trouble, just like all the other worlders that did before you. So.” Hannah turned around, looking at Dallion. “The question is what do we do now?”

“What are the options?” Dallion felt his throat dry. He already knew how difficult it would be to face the copyette in battle, but also had seen that Hannah had some skills of her own. Fighting either of them would result in Dallion losing.

“Just two,” the woman replied. “I keep you locked up for a few days until Aspan gets well enough to flee the city, after which you go to the Overseer and I suffer the consequences. Alternatively, you don’t tell her and things return to normal with you knowing the truth… if you wish, that is. Aspan can have you forget everything relating to him, if that would burden you.”

Chills ran down Dallion’s spine. The fact that someone could remove memories made him feel uneasy. Knowing that there were people with the power to remove names or information was bad enough, seeing that they could remove his memories, brought a more personalized fear to the mix.

“You’re not going to kill me?”

“Kill a favored by the Moons?” Hannah snorted. “I’d rather take my chances with the Overseer. At least then I might only spend a few hundred years in a prison item.”

“Why?” Dallion asked. As much as he tried, none of his music skills managed to catch any emotions from the innkeeper. It was different from the void that he felt when dealing with chainlings, almost as if Hannah had a blocking item on. “Why protect him? The copyette’s trying to take over the world.”

“Is he?”

The question made Dallion pause.

“One of your huge flaws is that you jump to conclusions far too easily. That’s something leveling won't help. You have great insight at times, but are also so naïve. It doesn’t take music or magic to manipulate you, just a gentle shove in a particular direction and you do the rest of the work on your own.”

Aspan smirked at the phrase.

“You were right to suspect that something in the inn is attracting people from other worlds. However, it wasn’t Aspan. He was just a victim to its effect. I am the real reason.”

“You’re from Earth?” Dallion blinked.

“No.” The innkeeper allowed herself a slight smile. “I’m from here, although I know more about the worlds than most. I’ve met quite a few people from your Earth, but I’m just a “local” as you would put it. I’m certain that you’re already wondering about my past, trying to organize your thoughts in some logical fashion, and coming to all the wrong conclusions. As for Aspan, you’re part right. He did manage to escape his prison, and there are a lot of powerful entities looking for him, the Star included, but it’s not because he wants to take over the world.”

“I’m just a cook,” the copyette sighed. “That’s what I was before I awakened here. One moment I was splicing algae, the next I found myself in an awakening temple in the slimes’ capital. Back then, they were one of the three powers to be reckoned with.”

The story sounded awkwardly similar. Excluding the fact that Dallion had woken up in a small village in the middle of nowhere, the circumstances could even be called virtually identical. Strictly speaking, Dallion also came from minor nobility—his great grandfather had been village chief.

“Like you, I never asked to be here, but since I was, I progressed forward,” Aspan continued. “Everything came so easy. In a few months I achieved what it had taken others years. I had no limitations to the point that I could level any stat I chose. I was even blessed with magic. Back then, it wasn’t nearly as rare as it is today, but still only one in ten were born with it. For someone to obtain it later in life… I was treated as a genius.”

Just like Dallion’s grandfather… He had awakened with a rare skill that had propelled him into a command position in the army before his fall.

“You really were a general?” Dallion couldn’t help himself from asking.

“Field marshal.” The copyette smiled. “I had achieved pretty much everything there was.”

“Because of the Star?”

Regret and bitterness filled Aspan, all too apparent thanks to Dallion’s music skills. The copyette didn’t reply, but he didn’t have to. The Star had offered him a deal back then—just as it had made one to Dallion—and he had accepted.

“Why does he want you dead?”

“I have no idea. I’ve kept away from him ever since I escaped.”

“I kept him,” Hannah corrected. “He was the first person to come to the inn after I had fixed it up. I’ve kept him here ever since.”

“So that’s why you never leave the kitchen.”

“A minor inconvenience.” Aspan nodded. “It’s not like I’m missing much. I get to learn everything going on in the city from the people who drop off the food.”

Not to mention all the conversations in the inn, Dallion thought. For some reason, people tended to be very talkative in front of bar keepers and cooks. In a world without TV or internet, inns and taverns were the main places to exchange information.

“Did you kill the members of the mirror pool?” Dallion shifted the subject. If there was one question that would determine his choice, this was it.

“I had nothing to do with the pool or Vermillion,” the copyette replied. “I haven’t left the inn since I got here. Hannah made sure of that.”

“But Vermilion said—"

“I escaped seven years ago. That was it. I definitely haven’t had any contact with the Star in the last few millennia.”

Dallion could sense the truth resonate in Aspan, but that only confused him further. So far, he had been convinced that the Star was somehow linked to the copyette. Arthurows had said as much when he had given him the slime bolts. Even beyond that, there was no denying that someone was killing off people who knew about the copyette. At present, Dallion could well be the final survivor of the small group—him and the hidden person. If it wasn’t the copyette killing them off, who was? Also, what was the connection with the mage who had warned Dallion at Belaal’s Drum? So many questions remained.

“There’s a lot I can say about the Star that could help you,” the copyette said. “But I’m not allowed. I am still bound by the Moons’ laws. As long as I remain in the inn, I remain hidden from them, but if I do something to attract too much attention, I’ll be revealed. Talking about things that have been tabooed is one of those things.”

More than likely that was also the reason Aspan couldn’t kill Dallion during the fight. Of course, Dallion would have preferred knowing that the copyette simply didn’t want to harm him.

I’ve spoken with deities, but am still in the dark, Dallion thought. Maybe things would change when he had completed the Green Moon’s request, though at this point he doubted it. At most he’d be allowed to see a bit more than before, and even those in the know weren’t able to help him.

On that note, Harp had also been keeping a considerable number of secrets. So far, Dallion hadn’t thought about it, because the harpsisword guardian had always helped and supported him, getting him out of several sticky situations, but she too had seen events beyond anything described in the history books.

“So, that’s my choice,” Dallion said. “What about all echoes and guardians? I’m not the only one who’s seen what happened.”

“All that are linked to you won’t go against your will,” the copyette explained. “I can take care of the rest. Remove their memories, I mean.”

“Remove their memories…” For once, Dallion was pleased he hadn’t taken the armadil shield with him. At least this was something that the dryad would be spared. “Providing I agree to that, what about the rest who are searching for you? The Star wants you dead.”

“I’ve been hiding from him for a while. That won’t be a concern. And it’s not like he’ll go anywhere near the inn.”

“And the rest? Someone is killing off the people who know of the Vermilion ring. Plus, there’s a mage hunting for you as well. It doesn’t look like either of them will stop.”

“They won’t,” Hannah said. “But they aren’t reckless in nature, either. They’ll keep watching you as you hunt the copyette. If you agree to this, you’ll have to continue with your futile search same as before.”

Only now it was obvious how futile the process would be. Still, it was going to let Dallion spend more time with Eury, even if it meant he had to lie to her.

“You never wanted to take over the world?” Dallion leaned forward.

“Not in a very long time,” Aspan laughed. “It’s one of those things. If you fail once you lose the taste. Also, I know better than to trust the Star. I can tell you one thing, though. He has planned something for the city. I don’t know what, but he’s been far too interested in such an insignificant city.”

You were interested in it as well, Dallion thought. However, this was one topic on which he knew more than anyone else. The reason why the Star was interested in the city was because of the world sword that the guild had. For whatever reason, the Star wanted it, and he was planning to plunge everything into chaos in order to get it.

“How long do I have to decide?” Dallion asked.

Hannah looked at the copyette, then back at Dallion. She wasn’t pleased by his answer.

“Till tomorrow. By then Aspan will be well enough to leave, should it come to that.”

“Why are you so sure you can trust me?”

“A favored of the Moons can’t break a promise,” Aspan said. “If you do, you’re no longer favored. I was a favored once. Then I wasn’t. The one thing I can say about it was that it wasn’t a fun change.”

Dallion stood up. He could easily delay everything till later. There were many reasons to tell the Overseer. After all, the copyette was imprisoned for a reason. It was very possible that he had caused the entire species to be locked away in the awakened realms. However, if Dallion was to go through with this, Hannah would also get punished, say what one might about her, she was the person who had shown him the most kindness ever since he had gotten in this world.

“I’ll keep your secret,” Dallion said. “But I’ll want something in return.” He looked straight into Aspan’s eyes. “You’ll help me to figure out what the Star has planned and stop him, if possible. I know there’s a lot you can’t talk about until I learn it myself, but anything else, you’ll help. And that goes for you too.” Dallion turned to Hannah. “That sound good?”

The innkeeper laughed.

“Dal, if we don’t figure out what the Star has planned, it will hardly matter. Whenever that creature decides to play in the world, empires fall. If he has something specifically planned for Nerosal, then everyone is in danger.”