Every city had its dark underbelly. Nerosal was no exception. The major difference from Earth was that here even the underworld was strictly organized. It wasn’t so much a matter of hierarchy, although that too existed as well, but rather of a formalized behavior. As Nil had explained, there were only two people that didn’t conform to any established rules: lowlifes and monsters of the wilderness; one category was a mild nuisance that was mostly ignored; the other a threat that had imperial and provincial armies constantly go on expeditions in the wilderness to keep it in check.

From everything Dallion had heard, the closest way he could describe the mirror pool was the mafia if they had to pay taxes. They were pretty much free to continue with their activities as long as they were discreet and did not harm the nobles, the city, or any of the large organizations.

Dallion didn’t share his meeting with anyone, spending most of his time in his room instead. Veil came by a few times, concerned about what was going on, only to be told a convenient pack of lies. At least in that regard, Dallion could rest assured that Gloria was going to back him up—she had her own secrets, after all.

After a few hours of stressing out, and attempting to improve his mood using music, Dallion decided to do some forging training to get his mind off things. The blacksmith tools were waiting for him when he got there. Other than the Anvil, the forging wall had a small kiln and a set of tongs, and a bellows waiting for him.

Summoning a clump of ore—at seventy percent purity—Dallion started to work.

The process was just as long and uncomfortable as in real life. Dallion could feel the heat wrap him like a wool blanket in summer. The only difference was that he didn’t sweat. A short distance away, Nox had stretched on the ground, enjoying the new source of warmth and waving his tail lazily.

“I’m glad you’re here for moral support,” Dallion grumbled. The crackling just yawned. “Yeah, sure. Why not? Why don’t you have a nap after all your hard work?”

A few hours in, Gen also arrived in the room. He had been reading books in the library, as he did most of the time, much to Nil’s approval. In his mind, Dallion had already pictured the day when Nil started comparing Dallion with his own echo. In a way, it was a valid point of criticism, but on the other hand, Gen had no life outside of the awakened realm.

“Need a hand?” Gen asked.

“I got it,” Dallion replied, summoning a mold, then carefully pouring the molten iron in it. Done, he looked around for a bucket of water. However, there wasn’t any.

“You can’t summon water,” Gen said. “It’s explained in one of the scrolls. If you summon a bucket, I can fetch you some from Harp’s section.”

Dallion felt somewhat silly being told basic things by his own echo. He felt even sillier for not thinking of this before.

“Sure,” Dallion said. “It needs a while to cool off, anyway. Lux, will you help out as well?”

The firebird was all too glad to comply, zooming Gen out of the room in a flash. Moments later, Dallion had to tell Lux to return Gen, so the echo could actually get a bucket to gather the water with. Half a minute later everything was in place: all Gen, Lux, and a full bucket of water were in the room. Carefully, Dallion emptied the mold on the floor with his tongs, then took the ingot and placed it in the bucket.

A cloud of vapor emerged with a poof. Moments later, the water was entirely gone, and a perfectly formed ingot remained in the bucket.

IRON SMELTING!

You have made your first iron ingot! Make another nine and you’ll be able to summon iron ingots without having to smelt them.

That was an interesting rectangle. Completing the requirement would definitely make things faster, although there was still no indication when Dallion would increase his level or get an iron hammer. Just for the sake of it, Dallion summoned the sky silver ingot. The wave of notifications hadn’t gotten any easier.

“Up for another?” Gen tried to encourage Dallion. “Nine isn’t that much. You’re already ten percent there.”

“Maybe later.” The mirror pool remained on Dallion’s mind. He looked at the ingot for a while longer, then left his realm.

A few minutes later, confronted by the seemingly impossible combination of boredom and anxiety, Dallion entered his training stiletto to do its daily leveling up. The battle with the guardian remained laughably easy to the point that Dallion didn’t even mother using his music skills, trying out acrobatics instead.

The new respective markers were a combination of orange footsteps and arrows indicating how to move and twist in three-dimensional space. Combining the skills with a dartbow turned out to be quite deadly, especially with Dallion’s high level of perception. Given What was in store for him that night, Dallion made a note to increase them to level ten during his evening shift. If there was anything dangerous, it was always a good idea to be able to run away as quickly as possible, combining the ability with guarding.

In the mid-afternoon, Dallion went to Hannah to ask that he not perform that night. The innkeeper didn’t appreciate the sudden change of plans, but after Gloria backed Dallion up with the excuse that she wanted to try a dancing performance, a compromise was reached. The trio would serve, mend and upgrade items together for the most part, but there would be three performances, each lasting about ten minutes. During those performances, Dallion was going to play—and sing—while Gloria was going to dance, putting her athletic skills to use. Veil started to complain that he was the only one who wouldn’t show off, but a warning glance from both his sister and Dallion made him quickly shut up.

As evening came, so did the crowds. If there was any decrease in customers, as Hannah insisted there was, Dallion couldn’t see it. The place was backed as usual, with more people waiting to be served outside.

Dinner started noisily with everyone calling to order or to have an item or two mended. After one hour, things started to calm down, then simmered down to a nearly total silence, as Gloria prepared for her first performance.

“Just look at her,” Veil whispered to Dallion, who was also tuning his mandolin. “Finally, she got to show off the skills she's been practicing for decades. If this is actually good, she’ll become impossible to live with.”

“Maybe that’s a good thing,” Dallion replied absentmindedly.

“You really need to get a grip on yourself.” Veil shook his dead.

Maybe, Dallion thought, but I’m not the only one.

He had noticed a familiar face join the crowd, or rather, it was more appropriate to say that the face was semi-familiar. At some point Falkner had managed to join in the event, securing a discreet outside table for himself. Given the wealth he commanded, that came as no surprise. Unlike before, though, Falkner was dressed in all the pomp that came with his title. Just with one glance, Dallion was able to see threads of three magical metals composing his clothes, not to mention a few rings that were made entirely of diamonds.

Dallion knew full well that if Falkner wanted, he could give a tip that would be ten times the inn’s monthly earnings. Part of him wished for that to happen. For the most part, though, Dallion was concerned about the whole thing. This had all the signs of a crush going too far, but with Falkner being of noble lineage, telling him outright was not recommended.

Fancy him coming here, Nil said. I would have thought that his father would have been against it.

His father isn’t here now, Nil, Dallion replied.

You really don’t know anything about his father, do you, dear boy? Oh well, ignorance is bliss, as they say. Let me note that nothing happens to any of the family without the lord learning about it. The fact that Falkner is here—dressed in such fashion, no less—means that he has somehow earned his father’s approval.

“Oh, him,” Veil grumbled. It didn’t take an awakened to see that he liked Falkner less with each day. “I knew he’d show up. I was hoping he wouldn’t make a scene.”

“he’s not making a scene.” At least not yet. “Anyway, let’s break a leg.”

“Only yours, I hope.” Veil gave Dallion a weird look, then walked away, returning to his normal duties.

Dallion sighed, then checked the tone of his strings. The sounds were flawless, as far as he could tell. Even so, Dallion pulled the strings a few more times, before giving Gloria the nod. Then, he started playing.

Bitter sweet sounds filled the air, mixing joy and sadness. Just for good measure, Dallion had also added a few notes of lightness to exaggerate Gloria’s flowing effect. All customers held their breath, along with quite a number of onlookers from the street. Then Gloria began her dance.

The first few actions were calm and measured. It was like watching a person walk at a slightly faster pace, and yet the rhythm of the motions was so precise and in tune with the music that one could not help but become mesmerized by it.

For over a minute, Gloria walked between the tables of customers, going in and out of the inn, then all of a sudden, without any warning, she leapt in through the air. With ease, she ran along a wall, then jumped off, performing a triple axel and landing down without as much as a sound. It was like watching a butterfly flying in water—utterly inconceivable until one saw it for the first time.

People gasped in amazement, forgetting their orders for a moment as they followed Gloria’s movements.

That’s why Hannah had limited the performance to short bursts: the longer this lasted, the fewer people were inclined to order food or drink.

Passable, Nil said, always the critic. The potential is definitely there, but not the level. Now, is she reached mid-twenties, I would venture she’d be invited to the imperial court itself.

If someone were to reach a mid-twenty level, they had pretty much made it in life. In his mind, Dallion tried to picture the movements. It was like writing a complex physics formula—every body part had to turn at the correct angle at the right moment for things to function in such fashion.

In theory, Dallion had the same level of acrobatics as Gloria, not to mention that his stats and levels were far greater. However, he couldn’t even dream to match what she was doing.

People held their break for almost the full ten minutes before the spectacle continued. Then, when Gloria was back on the ground and still, and Dallion’s music had ended. Then the applause started, and they were very much different from what Dallion had expected. There were no shouts or clapping. Instead, a buzz of whispered compliments and thanks filled the air, followed after a while by the sound of coins being placed on tables.

Good job, Dallion smiled. He could feel the authorial coming from Gloria… as well as the infatuation streaming from Falkner. To Dallion’s surprise, the boy left a pouch of coins on the table and just left without getting to walk with Gloria. Maybe, there was something about Falkner’s father knowing what was going on all the time.

What do you think that is about? Dallion asked.

Whatever it is, it’s a family matter, Nil replied. A noble’s family matter. Be mindful, but as I said, focus on the problem at hand.

Don’t I always?

As evening continued into night, Hannah agreed to increase the number of performances from three to four, to the great joy of all patrons and onlookers. Each time Gloria did her magic, she experimented more and more, until she was at the limit of her strength. Then the shift ended. Seeing her condition, Hannah rushed the girl into the kitchen, where she had enough foot to restore some strength, then off to her room to sleep. Taking advantage, Dallion asked to do the same and was allowed with a grunt.

Sorry for having to pick up the slack, Veil, Dallion thought as he went up the stairs.

Upon entering his room, Dallion locked the door, left the lute in its place, and took his gear. Making sure everything checked out, he went to the window and opened it.

“Nice performance,” the fury said almost instantly from the darkness. “A bit flimsy near the end, but she’ll learn.”

“I do this and she’s off the hook,” Dallion said.

“That’s an option.” A gust of wind pushed Dallion slightly back. “Let’s get to work.”