Another gorgon? Dallion wondered as they were escorted to the general’s private quarters. The fury had returned with the exact same facial expression she had left with and cordially invited Arthurows and Dallion to follow.

The inside corridor was even more luxurious than the lobby. However, even that paled in comparison to the General’s quarters. The room was so vast that it could easily be close to a thousand square meters. Intricate carpets and furniture gave way to a massive sand garden that occupied the far half of the room. The only catch was that the sand was composed of grains of gold, and the stone boulders were of a metal Dallion had never seen before. But all that wasn’t the most impressive part. The walls of the room were entirely covered with weapons, each more impressive than the next. In addition, there were several display cases that held even more.

“Back already, Art?” a young voice asked.

A rather athletic man in his early twenties with raven black hair sat in a large couch-chair, reading a scroll which Dallion could assume to be the daily newspaper. Judging by the silver scroll rods, it was probably the financial edition. Dressed in a shirt made entirely of gold thread, the man rolled up the scroll and put it aside.

Two guards stood on either side. Each had a marble mask hiding their entire face, but Dallion could tell by their ears that they were furies.

“Apologies, General, but I thought I might use the opportunity to present you March’s favorite,” Arthurows said with a deep bow.

That’s the general? Dallion thought. He was nothing like Dallion had imagined. Not only wasn’t he a gorgon, but he was definitely too young to be a general, or to have been in any battle, for that matter.

“So that’s him?” The general sounded amused. “I would have thought he’d be a bit more impressive.”

Unsure of proper etiquette, Dallion quickly bowed as well.

“Oh, no need for that. I use the title more as a joke. It drives the geezers in the club insane.” The general smirked. “Most of them long for the days of my grandfather when men were real men, women were real women, and all would spend months fighting the enemies of the heir every day.” He waved his hand as he spoke. “But enough about that. I hear that you’ve quite the late bloomer. Completed your first exploration trial from the get go, carrying an entire group.”

“I failed, sir,” Dallion said beneath his breath.

“Nonsense. You passed the trial requirements. Just because they imposed a stupid rule doesn’t make you a failure.”

Thanks, I guess? Dallion thought. There was something in the general’s voice that was quite enchanting. Just hearing him talk put Dallion’s mind at ease… to a degree.

“He also passed his first exploration job,” Arthurows added. “A three-level sphere item. Went through the whole thing too.”

“Did he?” The general whistled. “That’s good to know. So, what brings you here? I doubt you’ve come just to make my acquaintance.”

“I—”

“He needs a shield,” Arthurows interrupted. “I found him going through the second-hand circuit, so I thought of you.”

“Did you now?” The general laughed with the tone and manner of a noble in an animated movie. “Trick question. Of course, I do.” He spread his arms. “My grandfather started collecting high grade specimens at the end of the war. Some of them you can’t even find nowadays. I picked up from where he left off after the death of my father. Poor papa never found the thrill which is why he gave them all to me, even before he passed away. A shame, really. He could have bought quite a few more, but let them slip through his fingers. I had to spend quite a lot of effort to track them down.”

Dallion could only nod.

“Art here has helped me find some rather unique ones. This piece, for example.” The general pointed at something on the opposite wall. Without a word one of his guards flashed out of sight, then reappeared again holding a cane-sword of black metal.

Quite fast, Dallion thought. He was barely able to get a glimpse of the fury’s movement. Their reflexes had to be way more than ten.

“It’s only a five-level weapon, but with a twist. None of my servants have managed to get past the second level.”

“What does it do?” Dallion asked before he could stop himself. He was definitely going to have to learn some etiquette, and fast. Thankfully, the general seemed to obsess with the item of his collection to notice.

“No one knows. That’s the whole point about sphere items. You never know what they might do. That’s their allure. Some people choose to deliberately keep their destiny unfulfilled. That way, they don’t risk the price of the item falling in value. Me, I just want to know. If it turns out to be a dud, there’s always the next one,” he laughed.

“Maybe we could look around your shield section, General?” Arthurows suggested. “After all, there’s none other like it in the city.”

“That’s absolutely correct.” The young snob tossed the cane to his fury. “Some people are still upset about it. Then again, the world of weapon collecting is quite cutthroat.” The left corner of his mouth curved up in a smile. “Please, this way.”

The general led them to the other side of the room, to the small carpeted lane just beyond the gold sand garden. Over three dozen shields of various sizes and nature were displayed on the wall. Most of them were made of sky silver, some of a reddish metal that Dallion hadn’t seen before. There were round shields, square shields, tower shields, even what could only be described as a butterfly shield. Dallion had no doubt that it was linked to some skills, just as he was certain he’d never be able to use it adequately.

So many shields, so little knowledge. The logical thing to do was ask Nil for advice. Before that, though, Dallion decided to try one thing more.

Music, he thought. There were no patches of blue hue, but even so, Dallion could feel the emotions in the room, as if they were ringing. Arthurows streamed unease, the two furies were full of caution and boredom, and the general was a fountain of mirth. Some people definitely enjoyed talking about their hobbies too much. Interestingly enough, faint emotions also resonated from the weapons in the room as well. Dallion could almost get the gist of them, but not quite; it was like trying to look through a foggy window.

That’s new. Dallion stepped closer to the section with the shields. The emotions intensified—boredom, curiosity, acceptance, pride… Could it be that Dallion was sensing the emotions of the items themselves?

Nice shirt, a voice whispered.

Dallion froze, then glanced at Arthurows and the General. Both were waiting expectantly for him to choose a shield. Clearly none of them had said a word. But if not them, who?

So, you can hear me? The voice said again. That’s cool. Music skills?

Dallion didn’t know how to react. He couldn’t just answer outright. Even in the awakened world that would seem strange. Instead, he leaned closer to the shields, examining them one by one.

Haven’t reached the higher levels? That’s fine. I’m just so glad to have found someone that could hear. Talking with these relics gets really boring.

Dallion bit his tongue.

“Everything okay?” Arthurows asked concern bubbling from him.

“Yeah. Just admiring the craftsmanship,” Dallion lied.

Good call. They’ll never let you pick me if you show too much interest right away, the voice said. I’m two rows up and to the left.

Two rows up and to the left… The shield there was triangular in shape, composed of a series of overlapping sky silver segments. As far as Dallion could tell, there was nothing particularly special about it, apart from it being able to freely talk to him for some reason.

Intrigued, Dallion reached out and gently took it off the wall. The shield felt unusually light, as if it were made of aluminum. On the pack it had a pair of leather straps by which to be held in battle.

“The armadill?” the General asked in astonishment. “A creative choice, no doubt. More for show than anything else. Not something I’d use in battle, but it has its fans. If memory serves, it was used quite a lot during the century wars a few hundred years back. Since then, it’s fallen out of favor.”

Dallion put the shield on. It almost felt like having a really large buckler. Other than the unusual composition, there didn’t seem to be anything special about it.

“What does it do?” Dallion asked, moving it about as he followed one of the guard sequences he’d memorized.

“Other than protection, nothing I could think of. There used to be a lot of them at one point, until the Archduke bought most of them out. If only I had known. My grandfather had an entire armory of those from the war. At one point I couldn’t give away the things. Then one day a merchant guild bought them all up. Next thing I knew there weren’t any anywhere. The one I kept in my room was the only one left.”

Normally, Dallion would have considered this to be a sales pitch, but the emotions coming from the general told him that wasn’t the case.

“It must be quite valuable, I take it,” Dallion said as he took it off.

“Dear boy, nothing is too valuable. If that’s what you want to buy—”

“Rent,” Arthurows corrected.

“If that’s what you want to rent, who am I to stop you. However, since you’ll be risking a piece of my collection. There’s a small favor I’d like in return.”

Here it comes, Dallion thought. He had been right, after all. Now was the time for unreasonable demands masked in a thin veil of logic.

“As I said, none of my servants or the mercenaries I hired managed to clear the second level of the sphere cane. Maybe you’d be willing to have a go?” A greedy glint appeared in the General’s eyes. “Fulfil its destiny and the shield is yours to keep.”

Dallion’s heart skipped a beat. This was more than a good deal, it was a great deal, and still it was completely unachievable. There was no way Dallion could clear a five-level item on his own. Furthermore, this wasn’t a simple dagger, but an actual weapon. Even the first level guardian would likely be a lot tougher than he had imagined.

“I don’t think I’ll be able to…” Dallion said. Despite the temptation to charge head on, he knew what was beyond him. “For now, at least. Any chance I can rent the shield until I reach the level to clear the cane?” He offered a warm smile.

The general paused, then put a finger on his lips, musing over the idea. Thanks to his music skills, Dallion could tell that Balall was intrigued by the idea, although there was still a loud vibration of hesitation coming from him.

“Tell you what, I’ll let you convince me.” He snapped with his fingers. One of the furies disappeared again. Moments later she returned, carrying a golden harpsisword. The model was very different from Dallion’s—shorter with twice as many strings. “Art tells me you fought with a harpsisword during your selection trial. Use it to convince me in the awakened realm and I’ll let you rent the shield for three golds per month.”

Drat! Art, you and our big mouth! There was no way Dallion could change emotions, even if his hand wasn’t messed up from the job, he didn’t know how to—

Area Awakening

Reality changed. A desert of gold stretched in all directions.

You are in the land of ROOM.

Defeat the guardian to change the land’s destiny.

This was unexpected. Dallion looked around. The general was there, as were his furies. However, there was no sign of Arthurows.

“Sorry for the mess,” the general said casually. “I’ve been meaning to upgrade this place, but could never find the time.”

“You’re an awakened?”

“You seem surprised.”

“Art said that you weren’t.”

“Hmm. Well, that’s probably because I’m not,” the general laughed. “They are, though. Now, back to business.”

The fury carried the sword to Dallion.

“Make me give you the shield.” An ominous smile appeared on the general’s face. “You have two tries.”