Dallion felt the hand that was about to shake his shoulder long before it touched him. Instinct made him split into the instances the moment he did. It didn’t make any difference—Eury’s arm split into instances as well, always finding its way onto his shoulder.

“Try to break the habit,” she said calmly. “There are creatures that react to it.”

Maybe you should have read more than the dragon section, Ariel said in his domain. At least create a copy here, so we have a go.

“I’ll keep it in mind,” Dallion said, ignoring the echo. “Anything happen while I slept?”

“Nothing,” the gorgon replied, with an intonation suggesting that was a bad thing. “Absolutely nothing. Ji took a look around while you were sleeping. No creatures, no tracks. There hasn’t been anything for weeks.”

That sounded bad.

Can something have purged the place? Dallion asked.

The Moons can do anything, Nil replied. The Academy and the powerful nobles come close. Sometimes there are natural causes, however.

Natural causes, Dallion thought. Given everything going on, he wasn’t sure which was worse.

Stretching a bit, he folded the fur he had used to cover himself with, then added it to his backpack. A slight chill passed through him, as he did—the weather this far west was colder than he was usually used to. Combined with the approaching winter, this was a reason for him to take a few precautions. Ever since he’d come to this world, he’d seen very few instances of sick or undernourished people. Wounds were by far more frequent. The few instances of actual sick were nearly all due to Star spawn or some other beast of the wilderness.

Quickly and efficiently, the hunters packed up. Not long after, Jiroh returned to the scene.

“Anything?” Eury asked.

“Dead herds,” the fury replied. “Whatever killed them must have been something nasty. Not even the predators touched the corpses. Plants seemed well enough.”

“What does that mean?” Dallion asked.

“Don’t worry, it’s nothing to do with us. Just be careful what you eat until we reach the port. Also, don’t mention we’re from the empire to be on the safe side.”

“Won’t they know?” Dallion asked.

“Hunter emblems,” Largo tapped his chain. “We might be from anywhere.”

The explanation was valid, though Dallion didn’t get why they were hiding it. Hunters were supposed to be above countries and nations. As far as the world was concerned, they were mercenaries fighting the monsters in the world. According to the code, which Eury had shared, hunters never took sides. If they did, they were no longer hunters and had to put on another emblem.

Reaching the city took several hours, but long before they got within sight, Dallion was able to feel the strong smell of the ocean. It had been ages since he’d been able to experience anything of the sort. Back on earth, he wasn’t exactly the beach-going type. Of course, that was back when water terrified him. Now that his fears were gone, he was looking forward to the experience.

A real ocean, he thought.

You’re exaggerating things, Vihrogon said. It’s no different from the sea in the sword realm.

That wasn’t a real ocean, Dallion countered.

What’s the difference?

The difference is that I know this one is real.

There was also the small issue of size. While the sea in the sword realm was quite large, it couldn’t compare to an ocean three times larger than the continent the empire was on. According to Nil, no one knew what was beyond the ocean, and even if there was anything at all. The Moons were silent on the matter, the Order refused to comment, and the Academy’s findings were highly contested, as usual. For all Dallion knew, the ocean could well cover the rest of the planet—assuming this was a planet.

Maybe you should’ve taken another look at the scrolls, now that you’re able to read them, Nil said.

“What’s our story for when we get there?” Dallion asked.

“We’re hunters, we don’t need a story.” Largo laughed. “Just act important and leave Ji to do the talking.”

“That actually works?”

“More often than you’d think.”

The port town was called Bevanna, and was relatively cut off from the rest of the world. At some point in the distant past, it had been a major trade center, though in the last few thousand years it had fallen on hard times. The crops within the town’s domain were poor, and even the people looked more like villagers than actual townies. By the smell of it, fish was the staple diet here and in large quantities. The stench and the state of the buildings also suggested that there weren’t many local awakened.

The few guards that were at the city entrance were highly surprised that anyone would want to go to the port willingly. Despite the few occasional revivals in the last few centuries, the town remained half empty and with no product that anyone would want. With current transport speeds, any food caught there, even if Bevanna offered a good selection of sweet and saltwater fish, would likely rot, making export unsuitable. Things must have been likely different in the age of nymphs. Some of the buildings still had architectural elements from the nymphs even now, suggesting that trade must have flowed both ways through this place. Back then, the town might even have been a city, though neglect and poor maintenance had made it lose a few levels.

Wow, this brings back memories, Onda said.

Used to live here? Dallion asked, intrigued.

Nah, the architecture. It’s a cool fusion.

“Freshest fish around!” A street urchin rushed to the crowd. The rags on his clothes suggested that he had little to do with fishing, but even less with anything that actually paid. Dallion could feel the hope emanating from the child’s being—hope that he’ll earn a little something to get some food. “You won’t find any better fish in the whole of Bevanna.”

Within moments a crowd of other children swarmed the group. Seeing that the first hadn’t been harmed, they let go of their fears, trying desperately to earn a little something. The sad part was that even if Dallion were to give them a silver each, they wouldn’t be able to do anything with it. The city itself seemed beyond poor.

“They’re starving,” Dallion whispered, so only the other hunters could hear.

“And what fish do you offer?” Jiroh asked with a smile, turning to a few of the children.

Her action made several of them quickly step back as fear filled their hearts once more. Strangely enough, it wasn’t the fact that Jiroh was a thunder fury that frightened them, but her armor.

Someone in armor must have passed through here, Dallion thought. And not too long ago.

Most likely battle clerics, Nil suggested. The Order has always poked its nose everywhere. Maybe they are preparing for a voyage beyond the sea? Weirder things have happened.

That was one option. It made sense that clerics would pass through, then move on.

“She said she wants to buy some fish,” Dallion said, adding a bit of calm in his words. The music skill had an almost instant effect. Not only did the children relax, but they were overjoyed by the response, grabbing and pulling the hunters along the road, until they reached a fisherman's market not too far from the piers.

The number of sellers was quite a lot, given the size of the town. At a quick glance Dallion was able to spot dozens of species he had never seen, let alone tasted. About a quarter of the sellers were those selling fish, while the remaining three-quarters were those preparing it.

“Hey,” Jiroh approached a large woman who appeared to have the most cooked fish of anyone around. “How much for the lot?”

The woman looked at Jiroh, then at the salivating children around her. She knew exactly what was going on, but still wanted to make a profit. Judging by the emotions coming from her, she wasn’t in much of a better situation either.

“Two gold,” she said. “In silver.”

“Twenty silver it is.” The fury took a pouch from her belt and counted the appropriate amount. “Will this do?”

The seller looked at the coins, then at Jiroh again. For the faintest of moments, a flash of gratitude passed through her expression before reverting to its normal frumpy state.

“Yeah.” She grabbed the coins. “Move along. I know what to do,” she added, starting to hand out food to the children.

It was an almost painful sight. Dalion, however, focused his attention on one of the fresh fish merchants a few stalls away.

“How much for one of everything?” he asked.

“It ain’t cooked,” a short man replied. “If you want to feed them, bother one of the other—"

“I know,” Dallion interrupted. “How much?”

This caught the seller by surprise. His eyes widened, as he stood speechless and motionless for several seconds, while his brain figured out what to do.

“Seven silvers?” he asked tentatively.

Dallion nodded, then took out the amount and placed it on the stand.

“And a basket to keep them in.”

“Suure!”

In all probability the man hadn’t seen so much money in a long time. That raised the question: why was he selling seafood and to whom?

“You come here to buy a house?” the man asked as he started gathering one of each fish he sold and putting it into a reed basket.

“No, just passing,” Dallion replied. “We’re hunters.”

“Ah, hunters.” The seller nodded. “We had a hunter a while back. Dwarf, but still a good fella. Killed a monster further up the river. Everybody was happy. Those were the days…”

“What happened after? Was there a war here?”

“Might as well have been. A few merchants came by, asking if we had any metal to sell. We’re a seaport. We don’t have metal, or anything else of the like. Having a war would have been good for us. Instead, we got this…” he moved closer to Dallion, covering the side of his mouth with a hand. “There was a plague. All the fish up-river suddenly died. And it wasn’t only the fish. The fields got poisonous too. The nobles were the first to go. They weren’t anything special, but they always took care of the city. They liked to eat food fresh from the fields. After that, no one dared eat a grain.”

That explained why everyone was so undernourished. They were all relying on fish and fish alone. With no nobles to repair things, masons, artisans and fishermen were the only people who had anything useful to offer. Everyone else was doomed to a painful existence of begging.

“When did this happen?”

“A few months ago. Everyone who could left this place to try their luck elsewhere. I’d have left as well if I were younger.”

“What about the Order? Don’t they have a temple or shrine here?”

“The clerics died along with the nobles. Shrine is still here, mostly empty now. it’s bad luck to go there. The Moons have forsaken us,” he whispered, then got back to filling the basket. “If it weren’t for the traveling merchants, we’d have been long dead.”

“Traveling merchants?” Dallion asked as he took the basket the man handed him. It was rather heavy, by a non-awakened's standards, and filled to the brim with fish and crawfish.

“Came about ten days ago. Bought three houses by the shore. Paid in gold and traveler emblems.”

That was very peculiar. There had been a traveling merchant in the east not too long ago, around the time that the dragon shadow appeared and started to cause problems.

“It wasn’t the first time, either. She came here a month ago as well for the same thing. Not sure I should tell you this, but there’s talk that a merchant organization will establish a presence here. If that happens, all our problems will be over.”

“Yeah.” Dallion nodded. “They probably will. Can you tell me what she looked like?”

“Sure. She…” there was a sudden pause, as if the seller was struck by lightning. “I can’t remember…”