The evening’s performance could have gone better. Dallion’s skills had reached the point that he could pretty much play anything he wanted—as well as sing a catchy local song or two—but his heart wasn’t in it. For the most part, he was just maintaining a background melody, waiting for the night to be over. Thankfully, the inn was so bustling with people that Hannah didn’t notice.

There were many mend and improvement requests, though none of them directed towards Dallion. Either way, it didn’t matter. The arrangement was that the trio would split their earnings, keeping only the personal tips. And while Dallion got a single silver coin tossed his way, the rest was more than enough to compensate. Given the amount he had recently received for improving an area, money was not on his mind. If anything, he had given part of it to Veil and Gloria to help out with the expansion of Dherma.

Night came and went. After the evening feast—which was quieter than normal—Dallion decided to go to Eury’s workshop. However, when he got there, the place was empty. The gorgon had probably set off to catch up with her own matters. Dallion toyed with the idea of leaving a note, but decided against it. Instead, he walked aimlessly through the city, sticking to the neighborhoods he knew, of course.

“Still like to play it reckless?” a voice said from above.

Recognizing the voice, Dallion went for his Nox dagger. His suspicions were correct. A dozen feet above, floating in the air, there was a figure. The face was unrecognizable, but the voice belonged to the person who had mugged him not too long ago.

“Must be feel good to be protected.” The figure floated to the ground, landing a few steps away from Dallion.

“What do you want?” Dallion grabbed the training dagger with his left hand. “I’m not as weak as before.”

He knew he was bluffing. There was no way he could take on a fury with two daggers alone, not in the real world in any event. Worst of all, his music skills didn’t seem to be working. There were no emotions coming from the thief, and it was questionable whether the intimidation he had put into his voice affected her at all.

“I’m just here to talk. The deal that the gorgon made is still in effect. Part of the payment has been made, so you’re safe. Besides, it’s not good business to stir things up so close to the festival.”

Just talk? That was a new one. Dallion didn’t trust her one bit. Anyone who used trinkets to hide their face and emotions was by definition up to no good.

“Talk about what?”

“You want to discuss it in the street? Fine by me. You never know when a guard might make an appearance, but hey, I’m not the one who’ll be answering questions.” She floated back up. “I’m the one who can escape. You can’t.”

Entertaining the notion of talking with a criminal was the worst idea one could have. Every fiber in Dallion’s mind—not to mention two echoes and a guardian—were against it. Regardless, he nodded. In order to progress, this was how the game was played. Dallion didn’t like the mirror pool, after his personal experience, he even despised them. However, he also knew that they were a factor in city life. As he continued to level up, they were likely to cross paths more and more. His choice was whether to make an active effort to avoid them or come to an understanding. Given how Eury and Jiroh had handled them, coming to an understanding sounded better.

“Where?” Dallion asked.

“By the lake sounds good.”

“No water.” Being reckless was one thing. Going close to a body of water with a shady figure of the underworld was outright suicidal.

“Some park, then. Might even be the Stone Gardens for all I care.”

“The Stone Gardens it is, then.” At least he could use the area to his advantage. “Do you take me there or—”

Before Dallion could finish, the figure had darted through the night sky, disappearing from view. Apparently, he was going to have to walk on his own, which he did.

This is a colossally bad idea, Nil protested. Seriously, what is the best thing that could happen?

They can find me anywhere. If they want to talk, running away from them won’t help.

You’ll either be beaten up, mugged again, or made a questionable offer to be extorted later.

No killing? Dallion asked.

Not so close to the festival. If you push your luck, though, all bets are off.

Dallion regretted not having his harpsisword with him. Still, he strongly doubted anything serious would happen to him… Rather, he knew that it already had. The fact that he had caught the mirror pool’s eye was dangerous, and not in the adventurous fantasy sort of way.

On the entire way to the Stone Garden, Dallion kept looking around. Despite his current perception level, the thief had still managed to sneak up on him entirely unnoticed until the moment she spoke.

There was a single person at the Stone Gardens when Dallion got there.

So far, so good, Dallion thought.

Not the best thing to say for a meeting of this sort, Nil commented. Either way, good luck.

His hand on the hilt of the Nox dagger, Dallion approached.

“Well?” Dallion asked. “What do—”

The thief tossed him a large copper bracelet.

“Put that on?” the fury said.

“What’s this?”

“Just something to keep guardians from listening in.”

Told you this would happen, Nil said.

“I don’t need it.” Dallion took out his blocker ring and put it on. “I have my own.”

“You do.” The thief nodded. “That’s a surprise. Didn’t think you’d have something of the sort with you. Where did you get it from?”

“Is that the topic of our conversation?” Dallion tossed the copper bracelet back at the thief.

“No. I’ve been asked to convey a proposal.”

A proposal he couldn’t refuse, possibly. As usual, the echo was right, even if Dallion wished he wasn’t.

“Why you?”

“Because of what happened. One of the aristocrats thought it would be a good learning experience to have me personally get involved in this. That whole mess in Grey Harbor wasn’t appreciated. We had to close the tavern down and that cost money.”

They don’t play around, do they? Dallion asked, before he remembered that Nil couldn’t hear him.

“We know that you’re exploring items on the side, so you want help with something.”

Dallion gritted his teeth. There was only one place from where they could have gotten their information—the general. That spoiled jerk had probably bragged to someone, and now Dallion had gotten a shifty reputation in the city’s underworld.

“You know the guild rates, why not just ask there?”

“You know… I really hate when people do this. You’re protected, which means I can’t kill or rob you, but nothing is stopping me from beating the shit out of you. So drop the passive aggressive attitude.”

It sounded like Dallion had just gotten his official warning.

“What’s the proposal?” he asked, a feeling of dread appearing in the pit of his stomach.

“We have a single level sphere item straight from the wilderness. We want you to go in and see what’s up. What you do there doesn’t matter. Improve it, mend it, trash it. The thing we want to know is what it does.”

That was interesting. So far Dallion had never heard of single level sphere items. The entire concept sounded like an oxymoron. And still, he couldn’t kick the feeling that the job had nothing to do with the request he’d just heard. The mirror pool had awakened of their own, which could easily have done the task. The conspiratorial part of Dallion’s brain saw that as another of the Star’s plots. Since he had failed to stop him from being put on March’s team, maybe now he was trying to get him kicked out of the guild? It was too much of a coincidence that he got the offer so soon after learning about his training mission.

“Why me?”

“I’ve no idea. For all I care you can die and rot, but the powers that be made the decision, so here we are.”

“What’s the catch?”

“No catch. It’s an offer.”

Dallion frowned at her.

“It has to be someone outside the pool who’s good at exploring and willing to work on the side. It’s not a big list. Think it over.”

“How long do I have?”

“Up to the week of the festival. After that it’ll be considered a no.”

That was it? No threats, no hints of blackmail? Dallion hadn’t even gotten the “are you in or out” experience. This seemed like any business transaction, almost innocent in nature. What scared him was that he knew it wasn’t. From the little he knew about the mirror pool, he knew they weren’t to be trifled with.

“What do I get if I do it?”

“A favor,” the thief replied. “Let me know if you’re interested.”

The blink of an eye later, the fury was gone. Dallion was alone in the Stone Garden, looking blankly at the empty spot the thief had been.

“How do I contact you?” he asked. Only the wind replied.

Now he knew what it felt like being in a horror movie. When someone said they were always watching, they usually were using hyperbole. In the world of awakened, people were in fact doing just that—the nobles, the mirror pool, all of them were watching everything that was going on in Nerosal as if it were a chessboard. Dallion felt like a pawn, although he had no idea which side he belonged to. Reluctantly, he removed the ring.

How did it go? Nil asked almost immediately.

I’m not too sure.

If you want my advice on the matter, whatever the pool has offered, don’t trust them. It’s always more trouble than it’s worth.

That much was a given.

Nil, what do you know about sphere items? I mean, really.

Well, they are considered to be remnants of the past. It’s speculated that they are from the early days of the empire, or even older. What exactly is your question? You already know the basics, and everything else is the topic of decades of study.

Can they be used as a weapon?

Strangely enough, the number of spheric weapons is rather insignificant. For the most part, the artifacts don’t do anything remotely useful. World items are different, but those are so rare that it isn’t worth comparing them. You could say that the sphere items are junk of the ancients.

The guardians of the awakening dagger said it was a prison. They wanted me to fulfil its destiny so they could be free.

Dear boy, a lot is said about artifacts and the world’s history. There are things that are hidden, things that are kept hidden, and things we don’t even know to have happened. Should you be worried that you might come across something nasty while exploring? Definitely. Should you be terrified about it? Not in the least. The four races have been finding and exploring sphere items for centuries, quite possibly longer. Even the dryad shield will confirm that. Did the fury ask you to find an artifact for her?

No.

I see, the echo wasn’t convinced. My advice stands. The less dealings you have with them, the better. Things will be tough enough with you joining March’s exploration party. I think the whole thing is a complete waste of time, but there’s a lot of money tied into this. Besides, the guild master has an opinion of his own. In short, keep your nose clean, don’t get in trouble, and focus on the things you want to focus on.

The advice was good, but Dallion found it exceedingly difficult to follow.

Next morning, Dallion skipped breakfast and went out.

Eury wasn’t in the shop the entire morning. It was close to noon that Dallion found her there, although considering the number of guards that were in the shop, he chose to not pop in. There would be time for that later during the day.

Suspicions had already started to creep in. Had Eury been to the mirror pool to keep the promise she’d made to keep him safe? Quite probably. Was that connected with the request he’d received? That also seemed rather likely, although Dallion felt there were other things in play.

One more day, he thought. Until then, it was best if he kept a low profile and focused on his training for the sanitation job. Everything else had to wait, including introducing Eury to the Luors.