Veil’s assessment was rather harsh, but that didn’t make it false. Constant training and daily leveling ups—driven by Hannah—had given Dallion’s forces an initial boost, but not enough. In half a week, both the training stopped having an effect, and the trickle of new inhabitants was far from what the town needed to advance.

Fearing sneak attacks, Dallion would spend most of his days patrolling the area surrounding his territory. Even with the dozens of watcher groups Hannah had sent out, he could never be sure if a nymph or water golem hadn’t snuck through. On several occasions he had even attempted to increase the city’s level, but Veil had absolutely refused to take on the challenge under the pretext it was better to get the town running properly before increasing the area.

Dallion didn’t like the comment, but he had to admit that the blonde was right. Despite his desire to grow, and the promising start of the two settlements, he was not ready for domain conquering—neither politically nor militarily. All he could do was wait until the population acquired the critical mass necessary to take that step; and waiting was something he wasn’t good at.

“The first step is always the hardest,” Pan said.

The copyette had maintained his trader appearance. As far as everyone was concerned, he was a Fatun—the single wagon-traveling merchant who managed to enter Nerosal before the provincial war began. Thanks to a touch of music, everyone except those in the know believed him.

“I lost everything twice before setting off on my conquest ambitions.”

Dallion kept on hammering metal at the forge. The town had its own blacksmith, three even, but a request from a noble was more than a request, so no one refused when he asked to join in. Rather, they had discreetly left one at a time, leaving Dallion alone with his work.

“Just like an avalanche,” the copyette continued. “Once you have enough for a snowball, you’ll have the mass to slam into another snowball and make it part of you, which will allow you to slam into an even bigger one and so on until—”

“I get it.” Dallion whipped the sweat off his forehead. Crafting magic weapons and armor in the real world could be difficult, especially after the third dozen.

“Why are you here?” The copyette asked. “Equipment helps, but it doesn’t win wars. Trust me, I know. Besides, you’re not the only person who could do it.”

“Name one person who could forge weapons better than me.”

“I, for one,” Pan replied unapologetically. “If it hurts your ego, I could even take your form so that everyone could see what a flawless noble the town has.”

“Hmph.”

“You’re not useful here. Veil’s doing a good job as overseer, not to mention he has more practice than you. Hannah is holding the fort, Di’s taken charge of the fury tower, even Gleam is better at exploring the surroundings than you.”

Dallion remained silent.

“So, I’ll ask you again, what good are you here right now?”

“What if there’s another attack while I’m gone?”

“And what if there is?” The copyette crossed his arms. “It’ll take you ten minutes to get to your domain in the capital, then another moment of real time to appear here.”

“But—”

“Just go. Get the emperor to give you Adzorg. You’ve been promised that for how long now?”

“I can’t just force the emperor to do that.”

“Who’s talking about forcing? Ask politely, collect some rumors about the war. Heck, even visit the Academy if that ups your mood, but don’t spend your time forging equipment here when we both know you’re just wasting time.”

The last went too far. Dallion had matured enough not to take it to heart, but that didn’t mean he was pleased. Back on Earth, he had often heard the phrase “victim of his own success.” Right now, he felt just like that. He had chosen the perfect foundations for his settlement, which eliminated the need for him to oversee everything. Yet, deep inside, he still didn’t feel he could leave them completely on their own.

“Look,” Dallion began. He was about to add a lot more, when Veil emerged from the floor.

“We’re in trouble,” the overseer said. “Several watcher groups have just reported a large force coming this way.”

“What?” Dallion summoned his aura sword, then cast three protection spells and a flight spell with a single slash through the air. “From where?”

“The east. Hannah is on the way with details. I’m just here to give you the heads-up.”

An army from the east was precisely what Dallion had been dreading all this time. After the last encounter with the Azures, he knew that it was just a matter of time before things became serious. Now his fears had materialized.

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“Grym,” Dallion said beneath his breath.

The smithy door opened on its own, followed by Hannah rushing in in the form of a blur. All the people present were given one brief look, after which her attention focused on Dallion.

“I guess you know.”

“Bits,” Dallion replied. “How many are there?”

“More than this place could handle. The advance force alone is several dozen thousand. I expect a lot more will be coming after.”

“Alright.” Internally Dallion was screaming. He was so close to making his first major step as a domain ruler. A massive attack was going to crush him. The awakened he had gathered were no match for nymph forces. Even if Grym was invading with his human contingent, that too would be too much. “Fortify Stone Circle. I’ll ask the Order and the emperor for help.”

“Both of them?” Pan asked.

“What does it matter at this point? If we survive, they can hate me all they want.”

“Still jumping to conclusions,” Hannah said with a sharp note of disapproval. “It’s not nymphs coming this way. It’s gorgons.”

That was something that Dallion didn’t expect. Why would gorgons be making their way here? And coming from the east too?

“Tell Di to return here,” Dallion floated off the floor. “Tell everyone who can to return to Sandstorm in half an hour. The rest are to scatter in the wilderness.”

“Wait, you can’t face an army on your own,” Veil began.

In a fraction of a second, Dallion used his domain ruler powers to split the building’s ceiling into two, then fly out as fast as lightning. Despite the overseer’s concerns, that was precisely what he intended to do. After going through dozens of possibilities, only two made sense, and either way he had to confirm it himself. It was time for some portal flight.

Wasting so much energy before a major battle isn’t a wise idea, dear boy, Adzorg said. I can easily tell the emperor about—

“No!” Dallion snapped, casting spells as he made his way to the mountain. “He’s the last person who should learn.”

This is no time to be stubborn.

“It’s bigger than that. I can’t risk him seeing what I’m about to do.” Dallion put on his blocking ring, severing his connection with the mage. From here on, it was just him.

People and furies had already sprung into action. Dallion could see groups already flying in his direction while everyone near Sandstorm rushed to enter the town. Two fights in as many weeks… at this point, even the Mirror Pool were probably asking themselves whether it wouldn’t have been safer for them to remain hidden within their cities.

Dallion covered himself in speed and smoothness symbols, aiming to reduce the time it took for him to reach the enemy forces. In the grand scope of things, he had probably increased his overall speed by a tenth, but even that was better than nothing.

In the back of his mind, he could almost hear everyone’s criticism. They had their reasons and most probably were right, but they weren’t him.

It took Dallion minutes to fly through the hole he had created in the mountain in the previous battle. The village within was shaping quite nicely, but he didn’t bother looking at details, flying through like a bullet through a barrel. No one had told him how far the enemy was, but knowing Hannah, they had to be at least half a day away. At his current speed, that meant he’d reach them in up to an hour.

The terrain seemed to dash beneath him. The valley of the last battle sped by, as did the mountain on the other side. This time, Dallion didn’t use a spell to drill through it, but flew above. A vast mountain chain emerged, continuing to the horizon. That wasn’t enough for him. Constantly casting portal spells, Dallion maintained his current vector, flying higher and higher. The distance between him and the mountain tops increased by the second until he was as high above them as they were from the lowest point of the valley. Then, he saw it—proof of the thought he hadn’t dared think before today.

The ocean, he thought, looking at the thin line of blue that made the horizon.

A few minutes later, he was able to see hundreds of ships covering it like specs of ground pepper. There were several clusters of them, making their way to the shore as fast as their mages would allow them. All of them, without exception, had the same flag marking them as part of the Stone and Steel Alliance. The world he had been part of for close to a decade was, in fact, a globe, and not once did anything hint at that.

Damn you, Felygn! Dallion thought. I’d have hoped that at least you’d tell me!

All the nonsense about the “known world” that everyone kept talking about was false. There was no “unknown world!” The Order of the Seven Moons wasn’t exploring. They were preparing for the endgame, as they had been systematically doing for thousands of years. Right now, though, that wasn’t his main concern.

Heading back down, Dallion continued towards the hidden shores. If gorgons were making their way towards his settlements, then Eury had to be there as well. Unless…

“No!” Dallion said out loud. There was no way anything could happen to her. She was the Gorgon Empress that rode a dragon into battle.

The closer Dallion got to the approaching troops, the more his concern grew. Even straining his eyes, he could see no trace of Dark anywhere. The ships also seemed too much alike. They were large, there could be no doubt about that, but none of them could be described as a flagship.

A torrent of crossbow bolts flew up from the ground roughly in Dallion’s direction. With his trait levels, he could easily evade them even without using combat splitting. Normally, he’d ignore the attempt, viewing it as inconsequential. However, in this instance, he couldn’t afford to; there was only one race with enough perception to spot him at such speed, and he desperately needed answers from them.

Splitting into a hundred instances, Dallion flew straight at the incoming crossbow bolts. At this speed, flying between them felt like running down a corridor—a corridor with three soldiers at the end.

Seeing him approach, all the gorgons opened their eyes. Seeing them would be enough to instantly petrify any creature. Mages had no such problem.

“Drop,” Dallion said, casting a quick lightning shock spell.

Bolts of energy flew out of magic circles, zapping all soldiers numb. The bolts instantly stopped. Now, it was the gorgons’ turn to be paralyzed.

“Where is she?” he asked in an icy voice, stopping ten feet above them. “Where is Euryale?”