Realm fully mended!

The GILION HOUSE is flawless.

A single blue rectangle marked the successful end of the mission. There were no achievements, rewards, even the party didn’t seem particularly celebratory. With little commotion, they discussed a few details of the job and then—once all the deformed elements were fully restored to their previous state—returned to the real world where the final steps of the cleaning took place.

Initially Dallion expected this to be a long and boring process, but to his surprise it was over in twenty minutes. The elites used their awakened skills to gather all dirt and muck, and Dallion’s job was to take it out, just as the lieutenant had said. Annoyingly enough, it was Dallion who proved to be the bottleneck, struggling to keep up with everyone else.

Once that final step was done, the lieutenant went through every room of the house one final time. The inspection lasted only a few minutes, but for all Dallion knew, the lieutenant could have spent months within the realm fixing some problem or another.

“Alright, we’re heading back,” the man said.

That’s it? Dallion asked Nil.

Don’t we get a “well done” or anything?

These are elites. It’s expected that their job is well done, dear boy. At this level, words are exchanged only when something goes wrong.

Dallion remained quiet. It was sort of anticlimactic. Barely had he said it when White gave him a pat on the shoulder. That was pretty much all that Dallion got, but it felt to be enough.

“So, we have a feast when we get back?” Dallion asked. His hunger had grown quite substantially after his last fight.

“You can, if you want to,” Alera replied. “I’ll be going to my own spot.”

“I’ll skip,” Spike said. “I usually sleep after morning missions. Keeps me fresh for the evenings.”

“Guild food isn’t to my taste,” the lieutenant said. “But as Alera said, there’s nothing stopping you.”

That, dear boy, is a mark of skill, Nil said. Referred to sometimes as being spoiled. Of course, that’s not entirely true. Taste changes a lot after a certain level.

You’re telling me, Dallion smirked involuntarily. Since he had upped his perception past fifteen, food that had previously tasted well had aftertastes that made him reconsider his diet. Thankfully, Aspan’s means had retained their appeal.

I thought guild food was good, Dallion thought.

It’s acceptable, but people start acquiring certain caprices once they start working on the big missions. The same will likely happen to you.

The shield was remarkably quiet during the entire walk to the guild. On a few occasions, Dallion tried to crack a few jokes, but to little effect. When he asked Harp what was going on, only to get a vague reply that the shield wasn’t feeling too well after the sanitation job.

Veil was at the guildhall when the group arrived. The blond had finished another mission and was receiving the usual degree of compliments. Unlike Dallion, he had quickly made the transition from pack rat to regular explorer. The combat skills he had displayed were exemplary, if Estezol was to be believed. If it weren’t for the fact that Veil remained a level ten, he would have been made a party leader. The fact that he was used to mending and improving layers also helped. Dallion still couldn’t figure out why Veil kept postponing his awakening test. In his place, he would have gone to the shrine a hundred times by now.

“Hey,” Veil waved as Dal approached. “Job done?”

“Yeah, something like that.” Dallion looked over his shoulder. Everyone but the lieutenant had gone off somewhere; as for the lieutenant himself, he was having a conversation with a scheduler in the lobby. “Where’s Estezol?”

“Got called up for something. Doesn’t matter, because I already got my money. You waiting for anything?”

“Nah. It’ll take a bit longer to get paid on this mission,” he lied. “Where’s Gloria?”

“At a theatre,” Veil put in a measured amount of disgust in the word. “I don’t see what’s so special about it. The fighting was okay, and the acrobatics were actually good, but all that singing and playing instruments… it was almost as bad as you during lunch hour.”

“Thanks a lot.” Leave it to Veil to make a compliment sound like an insult. The more Dallion thought about it, the more he suspected that Veil was doing it on purpose. “Any plans for today?”

“Other than work? Not much. You?”

“Eat.” Dallion grinned. “After that we’ll see.”

The feast was somewhat modest considering the guild’s standards—not that Dallion was given less food, but rather because there weren’t that many people joining in.

“A friend of yours asked me to join them on a future job,” Veil said as Dallion ate.

“Falkner?” Dallion asked between bites.

“Nah. His invites are reserved for my sister.” Dallion could see that Veil didn’t approve, but he didn’t say anything. Being outright hostile to a noble’s child was never a good idea. “Bel. She seemed okay.”

“She is. Handles herself well in battle. Did Falkner invite Gloria to the theatre?”

“She got invited by that sleazeball from the plaza. The work offer turned out to be the real deal. Well, an invite for an audition, at least. The Falkner kid had a few fancy tickets, so there was no saying no. I was invited as well… five rows behind them.” Veil snorted. “I still went, though. Wasn’t anything much.”

“You mentioned. So did you—”

“Hey, Dal,” a familiar voice said as someone joined the table. “Will you introduce me to your friend?”

Dallion choked. He still wasn’t used to people sneaking up on him, but that wasn’t the reason that he swallowed his bite. The person who had just joined them was none other than Eury.

“You’re a gorgon,” Vail said, brimming with astonishment.

“Good eyes.” A few clusters of snakes moved in Veil’s direction, most focusing on Dallion, however.

Clearing his throat with a full glass of water, Dallion quickly proceeded to introduce both parties. As bad as the situation was, it could always get worse if things weren’t presented in the correct light.

“This is Veil, he’s the childhood friend I’ve been telling you about. Currently the village chief.”

“Half village chief,” Veil corrected.

“Veil, this is Eury. A gorgon… and a thread forger. I go to her when I need wearable gear.”

If someone had introduced Dallion in such a manner, he would have felt insulted to say the least. For some reason, Eury not only didn’t feel upset, but she was rather amused.

“You can say that.” She put her arm round Dallion. “Just to let you know, my work doesn’t come cheap. And I don’t make discounts for blonds.”

“If I’d need a discount, it won’t be for being blond.” Veil smiled. When he did, Dallion could already see he was in deep trouble.

Despite appearances, and the gorgon’s casual flirting, Veil had come to suspect the very thing which Dallion hoped he wouldn’t—that Eury was his lover. The suspicion remained uncertain, but it was practically ringing like a church bell amongst the rest of Veil’s emotions.

You’re in trouble now, Gen said.

I believe I did try to warn you, Nil added what a told-you-so tone of voice. All this could easily have been avoided if only you had listened to my advice. Now that it’s come to pass, though, I’m eagerly waiting to see what you’d do.

“I didn’t come here,” Dallion said, trying to steer the topic of conversation away.

“I still have some relations with the guild. When I heard that you’d survived an elite mission, it was normal for me to come to congratulate you. Show moral support and the like,” she clarified to Veil, who only nodded. “What are you two doing? Not starting another job, I hope?”

“Can’t. I’ve reached my daily limit. I'm just sitting here, waiting for dal to finish eating so we can go somewhere.”

“Any place in mind?”

“No, not really. Do you have anything in mind?”

“As a matter of fact, why not come to my workshop? I have some new things, and I’m always happy to help a friend of Dallion’s spend a bit of money. Maybe you’ll see something you’ll like?”

“I’m sure I will.”

There’s one thing I can say about him, the armadil shield said all of a sudden. He’s much better at this than you. Good thing she already likes you, or you might have lost her.

Dallion growled.

Just some friendly advice. I’ll shut up now.

“What do you think, Dal?” Eury pulled him closer to her. “Think he’s ready to enter my lair?”

“No, but that’s never stopped him before,” Dallion replied with a bit of regained confidence. “Can you give me a minute to finish eating?”

“Take your time.” Eury stood up. “I have some work here, anyway. Shouldn’t be gone long.”

“I’ll be here.”

“We’ll be here,” Veil corrected. “I’m not missing this for the world.”

The gorgon laughed, then ruffled Dallion’s hair and entered the guildhall. For nearly a minute, no one said a word. Then Veil crossed his arms, looking at Dallion with a wide smirk.

“You and a gorgon,” Veil said, more to himself than anyone else. “I’m impressed. And all this time I thought you were giving my sister puppy eyes.”

Puppy eyes? Dallion thought. He didn’t remember doing anything of the sort. In fact, as far as he remembered things, Gloria had been the one giving him signs even since the acknowledgement. The irony was that back then Dallion was so calm and confident in himself that he wouldn’t have been bothered hooking up with the woman. Now, when he was pretty much a couple with Euryale, he felt like he owed Gloria an explanation.

“How long has this been going on?” Veil pressed on.

“A while. The important thing is that you don’t tell your sister.”

Veil arched a brow.

“You know how she is. Besides, you’ve seen how people react to her in the city. Saying that she’s just a friend might be taken the wrong way and I really don’t need other complications right now.”

“Dal, you’re making absolutely no sense. Still, if you want me to keep it a secret, I’ll keep it a secret.”

“Thanks.” Dallion returned to his food.

“Still, I won’t run to save you if you mess up. Understood?”

Dallion nodded. The crisis had been averted, or at least postponed, for a few more days. For several minutes, he continued to eat in silence. Every bite seemed to stick to his throat as he tried to swallow it.

“Hannah doesn’t like her much,” Dallion decided to give a few more important details. “Eury used to work at the inn at some point, before something happened.”

“What?” Veil leaned forward.

“No idea. All I know is that since then, Hannah and Eury aren’t on the best of terms. Another reason not to talk about her at the inn.”

“Got you.”

“Also, she’s a hunter.”

Veil’s eyes widened.

“She was out doing a job in the wilderness, when you two showed up. Don’t know any details, so don’t ask.”

“That wasn’t what I was going to ask.”

“Well, don’t ask anything,” Dallion quickly cut him short. He had been around Veil long enough to know where the conversation would have gone. “All you need to know is that she’s a very high level and could snap both of us like twigs if we get her upset. Got that?”

That was probably the worst warning Dallion had given in his life. Back on Earth, he’d feel ashamed of saying this. Right now, though, he wasn’t particularly picky.

Almost on cue, the gorgon returned, carrying a rather large leather backpack. Veil had openly asked what was inside, and to Dallion’s surprise, the gorgon had shown them. Within the rough backpack were several ingots of exotic materials. Some Dallion recognized immediately as being sky silver. The rest, though, remained a complete mystery. His forging skills told him that the material was in perfect condition, whatever it was, and while they weren’t sky silver, they were likely just as expensive.

“Just something I have to build in a few weeks.” The gorgon closed the backpack. “Veil, tell me, have you seen an awakened forger in action?”

“You’ll be the first. We don’t have many awakened or blacksmiths back home.”

“In that case you’ll be in for a treat—you’ll see me teaching Dallion to become a proper forger.”