“Exquisite,” the general said as he examined the bolt. “Didn’t think I’ll see one of these. How did you get it?”

“Does it matter?” Dallion smirked. He wanted to add a bit of arrogance to his voice to let the general know he wasn’t a pushover, though not too much to make him hostile.

“Only if it helps me get more,” the man replied without blinking an eye. “It was said that these were used during the copyette wars ages ago. Large quantities were kept after the race was banished into the realms. There were times in which people used them to hunt monsters in the wild, or even common animals. Now there are probably a dozen left in the entire empire.”

The general placed the arrow on his desk. As usual, his two fury bodyguards were a few steps away. It was just like in Dallion’s trial—the furies could well be treated as an extension of the man.

“I assume you’ve come to ask for a deal?”

“The bolts for the shield,” Dallion said.

“Three for the price of one. Quite the offer. However, I believe we already have an arrangement concerning the shield.”

“Yes, but we’ve made changes before.” Dallion narrowed his eyes, smile widening. “You made changes. There’s no reason why we can’t work something out.”

“No, no reason at all.” The general smiled back. Dallion might have passed his trial, but the man clearly had years of haggling experience, if not more. “The shield means so much to you that you’d offer all your slime bolts just for it?”

“Who says that’s all of them? I have more.”

There was a moment of silence. For the first time, it seemed like the general had lost his sense of overconfidence. It only lasted for a split second, but Dallion managed to catch it thanks to his music skills. It also helped that Dallion was telling the truth—he had left one of his bolts back at the inn in part for such an eventuality.

“I’d heard that you’ve been going about the city hunting for a copyette,” the general changed the topic. “At first, I thought you were aiming to attract attention, but now I see you’re quite serious. Personally, I’m curious what you had to do to get such exquisite items, however I know better than to ask.”

“But?”

“Money isn’t an issue. And at the moment, neither is exploring. As you correctly pointed out, with the number of artifacts pouring into the city, every awakened and their dog are into the item exploration business. Once the festival is over, and the number of artifacts returns to its previous level, interest will drop significantly. That means that in a matter of weeks there will be awakened begging to explore artifacts at reduced prices, no questions asked. However, there’s the matter of the other part of our deal.”

Here it was—the heart of the matter. Dallion was almost surprised that the general had come to it so fast; he expected a lot more dancing round the bush. That was supposed to be a good thing, but with Dallion’s experience he couldn’t help but feel somewhat suspicious.

“One artifact of my choice,” the general went on.

“And what exactly is your choice?”

“I haven’t made up my mind.”

“All the better, because you can pretty much exchange a bolt for anything. From what I know, there are even people who’d give a house in this neighborhood for one. At least.”

The face of one of the furies twitched. Clearly, the general wasn’t used to having people haggle with him in this fashion, not commoners, at least. Dallion could sense the indignation coming from the bodyguards, though not from the general himself. The man remained calm as always, even slightly amused. One thing was clear, though—he wanted to own the bolts. For once, the Star had done Dallion a favor by giving them to him.

“Quite likely. If I refuse the deal, we can very well become neighbors. Is that what you’re threatening me with?” he laughed. “There is no denying that the armadil is rare, though not that rare. I suppose I can easily get another if I exchange a bolt for it.”

Of course you could, you jerk! Dallion thought, though didn’t say it out loud. It was unfortunate that the real-life version of the man was just as bad as the echo that Dallion’s subconscious had created for his awakening trial.

“Three bolts…” the general mused, sliding a finger along the one he had on his desk. “In exchange for the shield.”

“That’s one more than our deal,” Dallion reminded. “The condition is that we do it now. Accept or refuse I’ll be leaving in a few minutes. Either way, I’ll leave something behind.”

“Oh?”

“If this is not enough to claim the shield, nothing will be. So, I’ll just return it to you and void our arrangement.”

“That’s not the way it works.” There was a sharp edge to the general’s words. “According to our arrangement, you keep the shield and I get what I’m owed.”

“That’s one option. Or I can ask the city overseer to make a judgement call. After my recent encounter with her, I learned that she has the authority to settle certain ownership disputes, especially when it comes to awakened matters.”

Strictly speaking the overseer was more involved in making sure that the myriad of room, house, and larger area domains didn’t come into conflict with one another and didn’t cause chaos in the larger city domain. However, that could easily also be interpreted for items as well. After all, they still had their realms and were part of the city.

A glint of pure hatred appeared in the general’s eye as he stared at Dallion. It was obvious he didn’t like anyone getting the upper hand, even if the deal was highly beneficial to him. With people such as this it wasn’t a matter of what they gained, it was also the power they had. Being forced even into a good deal was an admission that part of that power was lost. Furthermore, if this deal was concluded, Dallion would be off the hook for good.

“Playing the overseer card already, I see.” The general quickly regained his composure. “I suppose it was inevitable. You’ve changed quite a lot since you passed your third gate. When Art brought you here, you were a lost idiot begging to be taken advantage of. Now, you’ve become a player. Just a friendly word of advice—don’t overestimate your value just because you’re on the field. Players have a lot of resources they don’t bother to tap in for pawns, unless those pawns become overly irritating.”

There was a knock at the door. Moments later it opened and a fury servant entered with a tray of beverages. All of them were in small glasses, suggesting that they were expensive.

Before the servant could take a step forward, the general raised his hand.

“We won’t be needing that,” he said in a firm voice.

Without question, the fury bowed, then quickly left, closing the door behind her.

“Three bolts for the armadil shield,” the general said yet again. “I’m inclined to agree to that, provided you do one other small favor. Not to worry, it’s nothing dangerous or time consuming. Since you’re a seer now, I want you to tell me which items of my collection are special.” The man leaned back. “Everything.”

“Even the sand?” Dallion asked.

Ever since he had arrived he had seen that there was something off about the golden sandpit. Not the entire pit, but there was clearly something that wasn’t quite right. It was difficult to tell whether some of the grains had hidden treasures in their realms, or maybe the gold itself was taken from a different world. The latter made Dallion quite curious. If there was a way to get items from Earth, did it mean that there was a mobile phone out there somewhere?

“The sand?” The general looked in its direction. “There’s something special there?”

“Looks that way. Parts of the gold specks have the look. Most don’t.”

“That’s a pity,” the general let out a sigh. “If only I’d known you a few years ago. I had been assured that the items I used to grind down were of no value. Apparently, at least in the case of one of them, that was not the case. Oh well. You win some, you lose some. Anything else?”

Slowly, Dallion went to the center of the room. There were dozens, possibly hundreds, of items on display here. The number seemed to grow with each visit. For the most part, the items were normal—that was to say, they were only extremely rare, high-level relics made of magical materials. Among them, though, there were a few that could be considered even more special.

“The crossbow,” Dallion pointed up at the item. “That sword. Those two. Those two shields…” he turned to the other side of the room. “The gauntlet of that suit of armor, that mask… and your desk.”

“You’re sure it isn’t the bolt?” the general asked.

“Definitely the desk.” Just to be sure, Dallion gave the room another quick glance, as well as all the people inside. The furies definitely seemed to be of this world. “That’s it as far as I can tell.”

“Interesting.” The general snapped his fingers.

One of his bodyguards quickly flew across the room to gather the items Dallion had described. That too was a clear demonstration of force. At least he was spared the sight of the guardian collecting all the grains of sand that had a special shimmer. Most likely the only reason the general hadn’t ordered it was because without Dallion there was no way of making the distinction.

“The remaining two bolts, if you please?” the general reached forward.

Could it be this simple? Dallion looked at the opened hand. He had expected some sudden twist or trick. While true that the general was a pragmatist, he seemed to have given up way too fast. Or did Dallion really have all the cards this time?

Slowly, he took the dartbow from his holster boot and removed all the bolts there. Once done, he handed them to the general.

“Excellent.” The bolts were placed on the desk. “The armadil is yours. I vow in the name of the Moons our transaction to be complete. You don’t owe me a thing, and neither do I.”

Dallion nodded.

“Of course, that doesn’t mean we have to end our business relations,” the general quickly added. “As you’ve seen there are quite a lot of special items. You might want to assist in revealing their secrets?”

“There’s nothing you’ll gain,” Dallion said. While the deal sounded appealing, he had learned never to accept good deals from the general. “If there’s a treasure, the person who finds it gets to keep it. And it can’t be transferred to anyone else.”

“I am quite aware.” The general went to the far side of the room and took a rather large dagger from its display section. Larger than a knife, but shorter than a short sword, the item was made entirely of sky silver, decorated with an assortment of gems. “People chase success all their lives. Often, they dream of a day that they’d succeed in anything. However, the burden of those who are good at success is boredom. I have no reason to collect all these things. I’ll never use any of them in battle. Most can only be used to the fullest by awakened. The reason I do it is because it keeps the boredom at bay. You say that I’ll gain nothing from the items in question. That isn’t true. I have an artifact that lets me enter awakened realms, provided someone takes me there. Naturally, I’ll be little more than an echo there, but I get to see and experience everything. So, here’s the deal. You take me in each of these items, keep me alive to the treasure, and then get to keep it. In turn, I get to see the adventure.”

“That’s it?”

“Of course, there’s no telling what’s guarding the hidden realm. As I said, the artifact ensures that I don’t get hurt. You, on the other hand, will have to suffer any permanent effects that are dealt to you. Like your current bleeding wound.”

Dallion gritted his teeth.

“You don’t have to tell me now. Think it over. Just don’t take too long. You’re not the only seer in the city, especially during the festival.”