Damn blocker items. Dallion leaped out of his room onto the roof.

The constant background of voices was gone, making Dallion feel completely alone. Unlike Eury he never liked using blocker items. The experience had only gotten worse the more his empathy trait had increased. It was the same as being in a crowd, yet not seeing or hearing anyone around.

Moments after Dallion left, the windows swung back, closing behind him. He had already discussed the matter with the window guardian, convincing it to maintain the illusion he was still there. What was more, thanks to Gleam, a realistic version of him was still on the bed, supposedly sleeping. The hope was that by the time anyone found out that was just the food tray on which Gleam had cast an illusion, Dallion would be long out of the city.

Two shardflies fluttered close to Dallion as he leapt his way to the city walls. Any other day he’d be concerned that the overseer or the countess would feel him leaving Nerosal’s domain. As things stood, though, neither of them would stop him.

Since the second wall had been established, the original fortifications were left largely unguarded. Leaping over them was no issue for anyone with a body trait over thirty. Beyond them extended the friends that were currently used for all of the city’s needs. Orchards, crops, and livestock land was sectioned there, along with small clusters of houses belonging to those who tended them.

During the night and evening, the only awakened were a few patrols and the soldiers in the watchtowers placed in strategic spots in the area. Running through the fields as fast as he could, Dallion made his way towards the city’s outer gates. Twenty feet from it he stopped, brushing away the illusion dust that Gleam had used to make him invisible.

Several small bursts of instances followed as several of the guards became aware of his presence. Having to face instances amused Dallion, especially since he had to deal with so few.

“It’s just me,” he said. There was no point in raising his hands—any calming effect could quickly be ruined by the two shardflies flapping around him.

The soldiers held onto their weapons. One of them—a sergeant by the looks of it—slowly approached, weapon still in its scabbard.

“Gate will be closing in an hour,” he said. Uncertainty streamed from him.

It was clear to all that no one at the gate had the skill or the authority to stop him, even if the whole thing seemed off.

“That gives me an hour to leave.” Dallion took a step forward. “Doesn’t it?”

The threat was obvious. It wasn’t something Dallion enjoyed doing, but he was out of time. It was common for guards to complain about the arrogance of hunters. Now he was just giving the guard what they expected. The rookies looked at each other, while the veterans stepped back, knowing what the procedure was in similar situations.

“Open the gate,” the sergeant grumbled. He was smart enough not to understand what was going on. “Do you want it quiet?”

“No need. A few days’ start is enough. Just make sure you saw me leaving alone.”

“You are alone.”

Dallion just nodded, then made his way towards the gate. The moment that was opened he dashed out, running as fast as he could. The incident, while faster than trying to climb the outer wall, was noticeable. One thing he hadn’t counted on was all the guards' combat splitting upon seeing him. The countess had definitely sensed it, potentially along with most of the higher nobles.

Dallion ran south in the rough direction of his village. When Nerasol was far behind, he stopped to catch his breath. There didn’t seem to be anyone in the immediate vicinity. Finding that good enough, Dallion slid off his blocker ring.

Sloppy to say the least, Nil grumbled. If you wanted to sneak out, you should have done so all the way, not stop at the city gates to have a chat with the guards.

They would have sent a patrol after me, Dallion replied. Spreading out his senses he focused for any talk or guardian presence. Other than a few bushes there didn’t seem to be anything for miles.

You could have lost them, dear boy, the old echo said with a sigh.

Maybe. Dallion wasn’t too convinced. Even back when Eury was still in the city, he had heard that some of the city guards were equipped with magic weapons. That was when artifacts were abundant and it was quite easy to find something special both legally and illegally. If the countess was preparing for war, it was likely she had boosted her troops.

“We’ll take the long route,” Dallion said. “Gleam, Ruby stay close, but keep an eye for anyone.”

Why not you? Ruby asked. Compared to his usual silence, the shardfly had become quite talkative lately.

“I won’t be able to sense them. So far, two groups used blocking items or something similar. Everyone else would do the same.”

The shardfly increased its rate of flapping, then fluttered away. Readjusting his backpack, Dallion broke into a dash once more. For the next few hours he continued running through the wilderness. The landscape steadily changed. Barrenness gave way to grass, then trees, as he neared his way to one of the towns south of Nerosal.

According to what the overseer had told him, Dherma had grown to the point that it had established connections with most villages in the area. It was pretty much a given that from there he could find a road to Havoc. Normally, that would make Dallion seriously consider passing through there to see some friends and family members and catch up on everything going on. Considering the circumstances, that was the last thing he wanted to do.

It was said that the rules of the Moons ensured that low level awakened wouldn’t be harmed, especially as a means to get to anyone close to them. Dallion’s Earth side, however, strongly doubted that. And even if it were true, getting into a fight in Dherma could lead to a lot of collateral damage. On that note, it wasn’t a good idea to spend long in any settlement.

The entire knight Dallion kept running, only pausing to take a drink from his flask. All rest was done in his personal realm, and eating was done on the way.

By morning he had passed a quarter of the distance to his goal. At that point he changed direction again, heading east. All the time he kept a keen eye on his surroundings, frequently asking plants and even animals if they felt anything out of the ordinary. Most of the wilderness creatures ignored him, and those who didn’t asked more questions than provided answers.

Never certain whether someone was following him or not, Dallion pressed himself even more. Thanks to his current traits, his body was used to the torture, although stress was steadily building in. On the second day dull aches started to appear, reminding him that even an awakened’s body had limits. Any normal person would have paused for a bit, as Nil suggested, but Dallion just used Lux to dull the pain instead. It was only once the village was within sight that he switched to walking.

Gleam, make me look like a traveler, Dallion said. Then make you and Ruby look like birds.

You really know how to make us feel special, Gleam grumbled.

Do you prefer ferrets?

Or, I can use my standard real-world form. the shardfly transformed into a whip blade, which then slid into its scabbard. You don’t have to overcomplicate everything.

Dallion shook his head. She was right. As for Ruby, this wouldn’t be the first time he had been smuggled somewhere in Dallion’s backpack.

A few seconds later, a traveling merchant made his way to the village of Geheron. In many aspects, the place was what Dherma had been back when Aspion Luor was still village chief. The overall population must have shrunk quite a bit in the last few generations, for there were twice as many buildings as families. Most of the structures were in a poor state, hastily fixed using non-awakened means. If there were any awakened left in the village, they didn’t appear to be doing much.

“Hey!” a large man shouted as Dallion approached the village gate. “What’s your business?”

“Traveling merchant,” Dallion smiled, revealing the traveler’s emblem his aunt had given him years ago.

“Get lost. People don’t have money for your junk.”

So much for the subtle approach, Dallion thought.

“I’ve heard that there are opportunities to be had here,” he said using his music skills to fill the words with enticement. “All the merchants choose to go to Dherma, but I know that visiting the nearby villages directly would be to our benefit.”

In other places, the conversation would be accompanied by a subtle bride. Unfortunately, the smallest coin Dallion had was a silver, which was much more than anyone here would make in a year.

“Are you awakened?” he moved closer to the guard.

The man was quite muscular, if not tall. Upon hearing this, he puffed his chest, trying to appear impressive and utterly failing at it.

“You think so, but no,” he laughed. “You don’t want to see the awakened ones here, though. You’re far better off dealing with ordinary people.”

“I was certain that you’d be an awakened guarding the entrance and all. What happened? Did the poison plague kill them off?”

“Nah,” the man waved a hand. “All of them left for Dherma. Even since that place leveled up to become a town nothing good’s come from it. Everyone rushes there hoping for gold. I see them come back a few months later, all in tears.”

The bouquet of lies and envy emanating from the man suggested that to be his personal experience. Most probably he had gone there hoping to awaken, only to find that he wasn’t among the chosen. Given that he was in his late thirties chances of him ever awakening were slim to none, although everything was possible. Dallion himself had awakened on his fifth try, and at quite a late age. Then again, his consciousness had come from another world.

“All of them left?” Dallion asked.

“Yeah,” the man lied. “It’s just us commoners now.”

“What about your village chief? Certainly he—”

“The old man has one foot in the grave. He can’t fix his bed right and constantly calls for people like me to go and fix it.”

“Hmm. Maybe I have some time that would help with that problem,” Dallion flashed a sly smile. “Name’s Dal.”

“Ekino,” the guard replied. “I wouldn’t go there if I was you. The chief doesn’t like visitors when he’s sleeping… which is always. And even if you have something he likes, he won’t pay for it. He’s stingy that way.”

“Leave that to me,” Dallion tapped the man on the shoulder. “I’m a merchant, after all.”

People rushed to see the mysterious stranger entering the village. It was rare that people came to visit, far less merchants. A few—those with clean clothes made of cotton—even brought a few copper coins hoping to afford something in his wares. Relying on his speed, Dallion picked up a few pebbles from the ground faster that they could notice and improved them by a few levels. This caused Nil to grumble about basic principles that had to be followed. Since these were to be used as cheap trinkets, though, he didn’t argue too much.

“Here you go,” Dallion offered everyone a piece of smooth polished marble. “Can you tell me where the chief’s house is?”

All hands pointed further down the “road” to one of the two-story buildings. It didn’t seem in any better condition than anything else. Apparently, Ekino hadn’t exaggerated.

“Thanks. I’ll bring you some more gifts after—”

“Dal?” a loud voice boomed a short distance away.

It was so surprising that it made Dallion split into half a dozen instances to look around.

“Wow, it really is you.” The bearlike figure of a man said, from the entrance of a smaller building. His beard was gone, but the face and orange hair were exactly the same Dallion remembered.

“Hey, Havoc.” Dallion said, letting all but one of his instances fade away. “Been a while.”