Hunters were always on the move. Unlike guild awakened, they couldn’t afford a celebration after every successful event. Time moved differently for them—all missions occurred in real time, travel included, and whenever possible sleeping as well. Only mending took place in the awakened realms, and it too had to be done as efficiently as possible, since food was limited on the road. That was the reason that “hunter inns” were places for rest, resupply, and business. After all, the faster they got their next job, the better for everyone.

The moment the deal with the merchant was done, the party gathered their things and set off. There were no long goodbyes, no discussions which location to tackle—all that could be done on the road—Jiroh simply left a stack of coins on the bar counter, and told her sister she’d be seeing her later.

Since he was the one with a new backpack, Dallion was tasked with carrying the newly purchased scrolls. That turned out to be a mixed blessing. Finding itself in the proximity of a pair of ancient unknown items, the bowl happily chatted away about the past and chances that had occurred in the last few ages. The issue was that Dallion could also hear the chatter.

Maybe increasing your empathy stat so fast wasn’t such a good idea, Gen asked. Being Dallion’s first echo, and the one that knew him best, he tended to discuss leveling strategies from time to time. I think you should focus a bit on reaction next. You’re getting sluggish.

I’ll look into it, Dallion replied, still unwilling to go through his next leveling up. Eury had advised him not to level up while on the road. Dherma village would have been a perfect place to do so if Dallion’s mind wasn’t focused on other things.

You know you’re having issues, right? The echo continued. You’ve been reluctant to use the realms lately. The more you do this, the more difficult your next trial will get.

I know the theory and will do something about it. Just not now.

The party made their way to the west gate of Halburn. Much smaller than the other gates, it was used by travelers to quickly enter without delaying the caravan wagons. In the last few decades, though, the gate had become better known as the Hunter’s Gate. Not that hunters specifically used it to enter; quite the opposite—that was the gate through which they had been granted permission to leave at any point in the day or night.

Seeing Jiroh and Eury, the guards didn’t even bother to ask to see their hunter’s emblems, but opened the side gate and waved them through. Once outside the city, the discussions began.

“Which job do we take?” Largo asked. If hunters were given specific roles, he would have been the tank. “Scrolls or Glass Mounts? Or the place the scrolls were found?”

“We go on for what we set out for,” Eury said. “We check the scrolls at light to see if there’s anything along the way. If anything’s close, it’s Jiroh’s call.”

“Sure.”

Dallion could feel annoyance, sadness, and understanding fight for control within the man. While all the hunters in the party were close, they remained work for hire. Doing favors for one another was common, but not at the expense of profit, and even Dallion knew that in the last few years the party was doing Jiroh a lot of favors, and although some of them had paid off, others not so much.

“Are there any creatures in the Glass Mounts?” Dallion asked, aiming to change the topic.

“There always are creatures,” Largo said, although like everyone else, he wasn’t fully aware.

The truth was that the Glass Mounts, while fairly well known, wasn’t a place that hunters went to. According to the rumors it was a mountain chain composed predominantly of crystals earning it the name. It remained unclear how it had come to be. Theories ranged from the ancient city predating the seven races to a powerful spell gone bad. Neither nobles nor the Order of the Seven Moons were able to provide many details, making it one of the unexplained curiosities in that part of the world. What was known was that the mountains were located in the territory of the Apllicio kingdom—a small country of minor significance that neighbored the Tamin empire. The kingdom was known, among other things, for its friendliness towards traders, mercenaries, and the Order of the Seven Moons. The weird mix of values had made its rulers relatively wealthy and secure so as not to worry about imminent attacks. Recent events in Nerosal, however, probably had them worried. It was no secret that certain nobles, including the Archduke of Wetie province, had been eying the territory, even going so far as attempting political alliances through marriage.

By dawn, the hunting party stopped for a bite and some rest. Everyone had enough travel rations they had bought from Halburn, so there was no need to resort to hunting animals. During that time, Dallion took out the scroll case from his backpack and opened it.

The scrolls resembled the pages of a book more than actual scrolls. It was as if someone had torn them out, then rolled them up, and slid a leather band so as to keep them in place. The funny thing was that according to the scrolls themselves, they hadn’t been anything different.

As the merchant had claimed, the contents definitely showed maps of some sort. However, given incomprehensible scribbles that passed for writing and the unfamiliar legend, Dallion wasn’t able to make anything out.

“They’re maps of some sort,” he said. “I don’t recognize what they’re made of. Silver and something.”

Euryale—who had chosen not to eat for some reason—went up to him and slid a finger along the edge of the metal scroll.

“Silver, iron, and a small amount of sky silver,” she said. “It’s been treated quite well.”

“Let me take a look.” Largo joined them. As the only one of the party with writing skills, he served as the group’s scholar and interpreter. “Dwarven,” he said. “Very old dwarven.”

“Dwarven?” Dallion asked, surprised. Any appraiser should have been able to read that.

“That’s not the issue. The scroll’s protected.”

“In what way?” Dallion looked at the symbols etched on the thin sheet of metal.

“Labyrinth cipher. Someone needs to enter the labyrinth and mend it in such a way so that the writing makes sense.” The man took a bit of his ration. “Dwarves used them a lot back in the day.”

Why would nymphs use dwarven script? Gleam asked from within Dallion’s realm.

They wouldn’t, Dallion replied. They had the dwarves cypher what the information they wanted. At least, that’s what I would have done.

“Does that mean this is a big catch?” Dallion asked.

“It might be.” The other hunter nodded.

“How do you decipher it?”

“If you find a way, let me know.” Largo laughed and moved away.

“There are creatures in the realm,” Euryale said. “The dwarves use their abilities to turn most of the labyrinth into creatures. As they move about, the original message is transformed into gibberish. The only way to make it legible again is to rearrange the creatures, which is pretty much impossible. Mages might have a few tricks, but they are out of most people’s price range. The only other way is through the reader key—an item containing the echoes of all the people who are allowed to read it. When the key comes in contact, the echo gives the order for the creatures to rearrange, which they do. Then, once the echo is gone, the scroll returns to being gibberish.”

The process sounded fascinating. It also ensured that only certain people would be able to see anything cyphered in such a way. That also explained why the merchant had failed to read the scrolls in question. The moment the nymph race was banished, all their echoes were destroyed, rendering all key items useless.

“Quite a sophisticated method,” Dallion said. “Is it still used?”

“People prefer using echoes directly nowadays. Not that it matters.” Eury rolled up one of the scrolls. “The Academy is always interested in buying them, so we won’t be at a loss.”

“We won’t be at a profit either,” Largo grumbled.

“What if we try to read it?” Dallion said. Everyone looked at him, as if he had made a poor joke. “It won’t take any time at all. I can go inside and see if the guardian won’t help. My harpsisword has a nymph guardian, so they could come into an arrangement.”

That was only half true. Dallion planned to ask the guardian directly, and that was only if he wasn’t able to convince the “creatures” to decipher the scroll on their own. Thanks to the empathy stat and zoology skill, he was able to do that easily. However, it all came down to whether the party would let him try.

“Let me have a go,” Dallion said.

“Go ahead.” Largo waved his hand. “It’s not like we’ll see any action anytime soon.”

“Jiroh?” Euryala asked.

The fury looked at Dallion, then shook her head.

“I’ll be fine,” Dallion insisted. “I won’t challenge the guardian and I’ll be out if I see there’s no point.”

“He has to start going solo at some point,” Eury said. “Who knows, maybe he’ll learn something.”

Dallion could feel Jiroh’s hesitation. Her fear wasn’t directed towards him. She knew that he would be fine. She was terrified that if he succeeded, that might make the party might convince the rest to change their destination.

“Go ahead,” she said at last.

The same instant, Dallion entered the scroll he was holding.

SPHERE ITEM AWAKENING

Dallion found himself surrounded by silver walls on all sides. At first glance it was similar to most of the awakened items Dallion had visited, with one major exception: there was no roof above his head, but an endless blue sky.

“Lux,” Dallion said, realizing the obvious. Dallion hadn’t appeared in a room that would take him to the labyrinth. This was the labyrinth.

The firebird promptly appeared, covering Dallion with blue flames. Moments later, blue wings formed, lifting Dallion up.

You are in an enormous silver labyrinth domain.

The SCROLL’s destiny has already been fulfilled.

So much for increasing a skill, Dallion thought. Whoever had made the scroll had made sure that the cypher couldn’t be broken by leveling up the item. Most people would leave it at that, however, Dallion felt quite intrigued by the prospect. Sphere items that were leveled up weren’t supposed to have guardians. As far as he knew, Dallion was the only one who possessed such items, by linking them to his familiars. Clearly, he wasn’t the first to have come up with the idea.

“Lux, Gleam,” he said. “Better get ready. We might have company soon.”

Technically, you are the company, dear boy, Nil said. But your reasoning is otherwise correct. However, it also puts you in a tricky situation. If the guardian defeats you, you’ll be ejected from the realm. On the other hand, if you defeat it—the item itself will crumble, leaving you with nothing.

That’s perfect. Dallion smiled. I’ve always preferred to settle things with a draw.

Let’s hope the local guardian agrees with you.

Just then, a giant glittering eel emerged from a distant part of the labyrinth and rose up to the sky. Even from this distance, Dallion could tell that it was covered with sapphire scales that glittered in the sunlight. Clearly, Dallion wasn’t the only one able to fight, and most likely, he wasn’t meant to be.

Well, do your best, dear boy, Nil said. I’m sure you’ll come up with a good explanation to excuse your blatant cheating. Just remember—you can’t defeat the guardian. Even illegible, the scroll costs quite a lot of money.

Thanks for reminding me, Dallion frowned.

This wasn’t a good way to start off.