“Sorry, sorry,” Dallion quickly apologized to everyone in the room. “It’s Lux’s first time in the real world. He’s not used to it.”

The explanation seemed good enough for most of the people—according to Dallion’s music skills—although there was one big exception. He could sense a mixture of anger and praise from the gorgon. If he were to make a guess, it was likely that she was simultaneously mad for not being in the loop… again, while also pleased with the sneakiness of his plan. Several of her snakes turned in the direction of the box she had brought.

There was one other person who didn’t seem at all surprised by what had happened. If anything, he continued sipping his drink, as if the event had never taken place. It took less than a second for everyone in the room to notice. Soon all eyes turned towards Adzorg.

“When you’ve led the life, I have there’s little that can surprise you,” the old captain said as he poured something stronger than tea into his cup. “Quite worthy of the celebration, dear boy.”

“And that is why familiars are a bad idea,” Hannah said. With Adzorg nearby, she was far more agreeable than Dallion had ever seen her. “Always causing problems.”

“I suppose it could be slightly embarrassing, revealing all echoes like that, although I must say I’m glad you’re putting the one I gave you to good use, Dallion.”

“A firebird in a kaleidervisto,” Vend noted. “Maybe we should make use of the idea for the guild?”

“Provided you can find any,” Eury countered. “There won’t be any more hunts until the end of the festival. And it’s not like familiars are all that often. Most awakened can’t catch any.”

“Most awakened aren’t elites,” Vend sighed audibly.

“In any event,” Dallion quickly said, before tempers started to rage. He could feel the general buildup, and to be honest, it was a lot tamer than he initially expected it to be. “It’s safe to say that sort of thing will never happen again, so we might as well finish the food?” And pretend this never happened, he added mentally.

As usual, using a bit of music skills helped a lot. While the mood was slightly down, everyone went back to their previous conversations. Some were interested in Lux—who maintained the light within the bowl just bright enough for it to be seen—others were talking about the festival. Jiroh was rather quiet, though. Similar to Eury, she had no echoes within her or any of her items, though just for a moment, Dallion had caught a glimpse of something with one of his instances. It wasn’t a copyette, and it definitely wasn’t a chainling, but it was something visible to his new sight.

“You okay?” Gloria asked Falkner.

If there was anyone who had taken the event poorly, it was him. Having a few echoes become visible was normal, even expected. Having several dozen, including his father and other members of his family, was awkward. No doubt he thought he had blown his chance with Gloria, the fact that she was being nice to him only made things worse.

“I’m fine,” he mumbled, putting up a brave front. “You?”

“Nope. I’m envious. I’ve no idea how that stone head managed to get a firebird.” She gave Dallion a glance.

One day she’ll become outright scary, the armadil shield told Dallion. You can tell she’s a noble. Even without music she can get what she wants.

“She’s always been able to,” Dallion whispered low enough for only the shield to hear. “But she’s no noble. Just the granddaughter of a village chief.”

One doesn’t just become a noble. Nobles are made, and she was made into one ever since she’s been born. She might not have the awakening level for it, but someone made sure to teach her most of the important tricks. She’s a noble, trust me. And that hair only makes that much more obvious.

After another ten minutes, the guests started to leave. Bel was first—she had been called for her tournament fight and wanted to get some practice before heading there. The elites from the guild were next. Most of them didn’t know Dallion that well, and after they had finished with some free food, went back to whatever they were doing.

Much to Dallion’s regret, Eury left soon after with the excuse that she had armor that needed fixing. Of course, she did tell Dallion in an awakening realm—through a tap on the shoulder—that she would be waiting for him later that night at the workshop, and also that she was still a bit annoyed that he hadn’t told her of his plan.

Once the gorgon was gone, all remaining guests decided to leave in a group. Gloria mentioned that she needed to check on a guild mission, which instantly got Falkner to accompany her. Veil, on the other hand, while not overly concerned, wasn’t in the mood to let them go off on their own, so went along together with Janna and Kallan.

The only person who was reluctant to leave was Estezol. It was only after a stern glance from Agzorg, that the small man went along with a sigh. That left only Jiroh and Hannah remaining.

“You actually managed to organize something that wasn’t terrible,” Hannah said. “I’m still taking extra for your little stunt. What you make today you get half!”

“Half?” Dallion asked. Thanks to his music skill, he could sense she was testing him, although he didn’t know the reason why.

“You think it’s too much?”

“Well, yeah? I got exposed just as much as everyone else.”

The innkeeper kept on staring at him for several seconds, then looked away.

“Fine. You get as much as usual, but you’ll clean all this! And I mean the dishes too!”

“With Jiroh, right?” Dallion turned to the fury for support.

“Nope.” Jiroh smiled. “This is all you. I’ll go enjoy a few hours off.” She patted him on the back. “Oh, and don’t forget your gifts. We went through a lot of trouble to get all that for you, so don’t lose it.”

“I promise.”

The first thing he did was to take two gifts, along with his gear, to his room. The second—to start the long and annoying process of moving all the dishes to the kitchen. By the looks of it, he was also going to have to give the floor a wash, not to mention the tables. Even the bowl with the kaleidervisto was a mess.

You can stop now, Lux, Dallion thought, as he removed the artefact from the rest of the bowl.

Given how flimsy the object was—clay and mirrors, held together by force of will and the firebird’s healing ability—the normal thing was to discreetly throw it away. After all the effort, however, he didn’t want to. At worst the item was a paperweight with sentimental value, at best—he could use it as a stand for the kaleidervisto. Either way it was worth keeping.

Keeping trophies of your successes isn’t a bad strategy, Nil said. However, it’ll be a bit more difficult to pull that off at the arena. They are unlikely to let you use an artifact at the arena.

Why not?

Because there’s no telling how it would affect someone. And if you could use one type, then everyone should be able to use anything.

That made sense. It meant that Dallion would have to come up with a new plan. For the moment, though, there were dishes to be cleaned.

Without Jiroh or Hannah’s help, it took Dallion five trips to get everything into the kitchen. With lunch approaching, Aspan had already started preparations for the crowd. Dallion could smell the aroma of the ingredients, not to mention all the spices the cook had at his disposal. Despite having just eaten, saliva formed in Dallion’s mouth.

You’re too good for your own good, Dallion thought.

Moving close to some of the ingredients, Dallion put the kaleidervisto on the table and started washing the bowl. Every now and then, he couldn’t help but glance at the cook, hoping that Aspan would give him a new sample. At such levels of distraction, it was no wonder that during one of Dallion’s turns he knocked the kaleidervisto off the table.

“Crap!” Dallion said as the artefact hit the floor. Dallion’s heart sunk as he expected the item to shatter to a hundred pieces. It was pure luck that the vase-like object bounced off the floor, then rolled away with as little as a scar. One thing that could be said about the people who had created the thing—they made things much more durable than in modern times. The kaleidervisto continued rolling, making an annoying sound, until it reached the cook.

Aspan didn’t flinch. With the professionalism of an annoyed chef, he bent down, picked up the item, and slammed it onto the table. It was all aimed to be a polite but stern reminder that the kitchen was his domain and while there and it was a bad idea to annoy him. There was just one problem—the cook’s hand had become transparent.

“Aspan?” Dallion let it slip. After the firebird flash, he had been convinced that no one in the inn was the copyette. Now he had not only found that he was mistaken, but the copyette was not Hannah or Jorih, as he initially suspected, but the cook.

Get out of here, now! Nil said.

Dallion didn’t pause to argue, instantly turning around and dashing to the door. Barely had he made a single step, when something wrapped around his neck.

ITEM AWAKENING

A green rectangle appeared. Followed by reality changing.

The PAN is level 17

You are in a large metal hall.

Defeat the guardian to change the PAN’s destiny!

A metal plain extended for as far as the eye could see. Dallion felt as if he was on an endless field of asphalt. However, thanks to his skills, he could see that everything around was metal.

There was one other being present in the realm—the copyette. No longer bound by the constraints of the real world, the form of the cook transformed. A military uniform of some sort emerged, as the figure got taller, losing all features of the cook. Soon, a six-foot-nine officer was standing a few steps away. He had taken a human appearance, combining young and old features. One thing was of special note—the copyette had chosen the hair to be platinum blond, just like that of the Luors.

“I never thought it might be you,” Dallion said. “All this time I suspected it might be Hannah. She was helping way too much, and everyone seemed to be drawn to her for some unclear reason.”

“You can stop with the music attempts,” the copyette said calmly. His voice was a lot hoarser than Dallion expected. “It won’t work on me.”

“You can counter it,” Dallion continued. “But that will also keep you from attacking.”

The other didn’t reply.

“How long have you been pretending to be a cook?”

“Seven years,” the copyette replied. “And I have no intention of quitting.”

The main thing is not to panic, Nil said. Not hearing him start with a “told you so” suggested that Dallion was in serious trouble. It’s nearly impossible to kill someone in a realm. All you need to do is escape the realm and use the slime arrows.

That was probably the best option Dallion had. Since the Star had given him the bolts, Dallion had done the only thing he could—load the dartbow with them. The only tricky thing that remained was to get the weapon itself. In the real world, it remained in his holster boots. Given his stats, it was going to take a few seconds at most for Dallion to draw, but somehow he felt that wouldn’t be enough.

“You can’t kill me in here,” Dallion said, attempting not to appear scared.

“I don’t need to. I only need to make sure you can’t tell anyone.”