The group went through the wilderness, stopping for one hour every six. There was a certain military feeling to it that made Dallion feel like a mercenary that had joined an elite squad. It was very different from Dame Vesuvia’s group he had joined years ago. Back then, the only person above level forty was the dame. Here—everyone was. Not only that, but it was obvious at first glance that everyone had trained in a similar fashion. What was more, Dallion had the distinct impression that most of them, if not all, knew each other from before. He already knew that all of them were imperial legionaries, but it was starting to look as if they had been from the same unit. In some cases, the age difference was substantial, though when it came to awakened that wasn’t a deciding factor.

A few days were enough for the ex-legionaries to start with military jokes, and more cursing than Dallion was used to coming from them. March remained distant as usual, giving a warning now and again, which made the jokes cease momentarily. Eury kept a short distance away from the rest. Naturally, Dallion had joined her.

“You okay?” he asked.

“Nice that you care.” Something in her voice suggested that he had messed up somewhere. “I don’t like imperials.”

Dallion paused. A few years ago, he’d directly focus on the subject of the group. Now he knew better.

“What’s wrong?” he whispered. “I should have refused the mission, shouldn’t I?”

“It’s not the mission,” the gorgon whispered back. “It’s everything else. You’ve been taking things for granted. The moment you earned your emblem, you started focusing on other things.”

Is that what this was about? Dallion wondered. It’s true he had become slightly more focused on other things, but that was for them in the long run. Or, at least, he had been telling himself that. Going south was to keep his promise to a Moon. As for the creatures he kept bringing to the workshop, it was better than killing them outright. Although, it was also true that he had spent a considerable amount of time feeding and training them—time he could have spent with Eury. The gorgon had never complained, but that wasn’t her nature. That was one thing that Dallion had picked up early on—gorgons only spoke up when things were really bad, or they were considerably annoyed.

“Sorry,” he whispered. “Once this is over, I’ll—”

Eury raised her hand, gesturing for him to stop.

“This isn’t the time to have this talk,” she whispered back. “That’s why I’ll make it easy for you. You’ve time until we get back to Nerosal to make a decision: me or your recklessness.”

“That’s not fair,” he began.

“Probably, but it’s not working.”

“So, I’ve become like Vend now?” he asked.

“Vend could spend a day without splitting. Every conversation we had in private was a series of a dozen conversations happening at the same time. If I wasn’t able to see all instances, maybe it would have been tolerable, but after a while it was clear I couldn’t go on.”

Dallion winced. He could agree with her on that aspect. As beneficial as it was for other things, building a relationship on combat splitting sounded like cheating in both senses of the word. Maybe that was why Vend remained single. Then again, Dallion knew next to nothing about the personal life of his mentor.

“Once this is over, let me know what you’ve decided,” the gorgon said. “Until then, we focus on the mission.” She stood up. “I’ll go scout the area.” She dashed into the distance, disappearing from view.

Well done, the armadil said in a disappointed tone of voice.

Not now, Vihrogon…

I’ve only been warning you about this for a decade. Neglect things and they tend to neglect you back.

She’s still important to me, Dallion countered.

Dal, you can’t fake importance. No matter what you say, no matter what you believe, even if you keep something backstage, it isn’t important. At the end of the day “importance” is nothing more than a tower made of tiles. You’re free to arrange the bricks however you wish, but there’s no way to claim that those on the bottom are, in fact, on the top.

The conversation ended there. Half an hour later, the group was back on the road.

No creatures attacked them for the next few days. Dallion was starting to think that Fire Sky and the rest had only joined to ensure the protection of the general’s funds. The pouch he was given didn’t contain coins, but rather small cubes made of crystal or some glass-like material. They had the shape of small dice with rounded edges, but Dallion suspected they were a bit more. He had asked Nil for details, only to be told that they were crystal magic. Apparently, one way to cheat one’s traits was to make items granting equivalent abilities. From what he understood, the cubes were onetime use of the spellcraft skill. In theory, if one had a large enough supply of them, they could mimic an actual mage. In practice, even Dallion could see they were quite useless. However, that didn’t stop nobles from wanting them to impress friends and rivals in flashy displays at parties. Depending on the quality, each of the cubes could fetch about a thousand gold coins—a considerable amount, even for noble standards.

Upon reaching the invisible boundary between counties, Fire Sky and her group parted ways with the rest. Goodbyes were said, jokes made, after which only March, Eury, and Dallion continued forward. Dallion hoped that would improve things between the gorgon and himself, and when their conversations were a lot more pleasant, even without his music skills, he could sense that little had changed.

It took five days to cross the second county, finally arriving in the lands proper of the Archduke. Normally, a province held about a dozen or more counties, but Wetie, being a border province of little import, held a bit less. The instant Dallion set foot into the new domain, he felt the air temperature fall by a few degrees—he knew from personal experience that the Archduke preferred a slight chill.

“There.” Eury pointed to the distance.

It took Dallion a few moments to notice it, but when he did, chills ran down his spine. Several miles away, among the sparse vegetation of the wilderness, there was a dark patch of misshaped plants. Rows of thorny weeds intertwined with one another, creating what looked suspiciously like rolls of barbed wire. There could be no doubt as to the nature of these abominations—the poison plague had entered Lanitol province and in force.

“Looks different,” Dallion noted. “I didn’t think the Archduke would let it get this far.”

“It’s difficult to get rid of,” March noted. “No awakened would dare get close out of fear of being poisoned, and the non-awakened don’t have the strength to do anything much.”

“I thought you had to ingest it for anything to happen.”

“Would you risk destroying it?” March looked at him. “Splitting doesn’t help you with that.”

Dallion conceded the point. It was one thing talking theories from far away. Up close, he didn’t want to have anything to do with it.

What about spores? Dallion asked in his domain.

All I can say is keep an eye out, dear boy, Nil replied. Other than that, put your faith in the Seven. If it’s really created by the Star, they won’t allow it to invade you of its own volition.

Wouldn’t breathing it in be considered my own volition?

The echo didn’t answer. That was the thing about theology—the rules were blurred and only a member of the Order could interpret them adequately.

“We better keep our distance,” Dallion said. “Wouldn’t want to breathe in any of that.”

“Good point.” March nodded. “We’re picking up the pace. The faster we get to the capital, the better.”

That didn’t seem sound advice, but Dallion didn’t want to argue, especially since he didn’t have any alternative suggestions in mind, short of a closed air system. Thankfully, there didn’t seem to be any other plague patches on the way. Either they hadn’t reached the city, or the Archduke had found the means to remove them somehow.

With Fire Sky and the rest gone, the trio resumed the usual hour per day rest schedule, with sleeping taking place in the awakened realms. Conversations also increased, though not by much. March wasn’t talkative by nature, and Eury wasn’t overly inclined. That left Dallion to make the attempts to start a topic of discussion, and occasionally sing a song or two. His music skills and experience as an inn bard had come in handy, even if he had to whisper all his singing so as not to attract too much attention. Not that it mattered—March’s emblem made every wilderness creature aware of her presence.

“I’ll catch up in a few minutes,” Dallion said, as he moved away from the rest of the group. That was code for him having to relieve himself. While people in the wilderness—especially hunters—weren’t the squeamish type, no one made a point waiting for people while doing their biological function. Choosing an even spot a short distance away, Dallion took out a small shovel from his backpack and dug a small hole. He was just about to squat, when he suddenly sensed a strong emotion of curiosity nearby.

What’re doing? A familiar voice asked.

Dallion briskly turned around and looked up. It would have been much easier to split into instances, but that would also have attracted the attention of March and Eury.

An emerald shardfly fluttered a few dozen feet in the air above him. The only issue was that Dallion didn’t think it was a shardfly.

What do you know? Gleam said, a smirk in her voice. It’s your dragonlet apprentice.

“Dark?” Dallion whispered, looking around. “What are you doing here? If they see you—”

As if! the creature said with a lot more spunk that it had in the past. Dallion could clearly see Felygn’s influence there. You didn’t even come close! If I hadn’t said anything, you’d be as clueless as a doorknob!

“As a doorknob?” Dallion asked.

It’s something Felygn keeps saying. He told me you know what it means.

Of course he would, Dallion said to himself.

So, what are you doing?

“Nothing now, thanks to you.” Dallion replied. He could hold it in for a while longer.

From what he could see, the dragonlet’s illusion ability was just as strong in the real world as it had been in the dragon’s awakening realm. It also seemed that its anger had vanished. Given that it hadn’t even been that long since they’d parted ways, that was a good thing. It also showed how quickly dragon teenagers changed their mind.

“Why are you here?” Dallion asked.

Felygn said you’re supposed to train me, so train me.

“I said I’ll train you when I’m alone.” Not to mention I’m in the middle of something here. “What if someone sees you?”

They’ll just think I’m another shardfly. Besides, you promised!

The last was more a plea than anything else. Apparently, having a whole new world still wasn’t enough to keep the dragonlet’s boredom away. In a way, that was understandable. The creature was away from his family with no one to interact with other than the Green Moon, who—in Dallion’s experience—also tended to lose interest quickly. It was normal Dark would go to the one person who’s shown interest—his teacher.

Also, Felygn said that if you keep me hidden in your realm, no one will be able to spot me.

So, that was the plan? On the one hand, Dallion didn’t appreciate someone else inviting beings to his personal realm. On the other, having a dragonlet had its benefits. Not against the Star, sadly. As much as Dark showed potential, he was far from reaching the might of his father.

Come on! I promise not to damage your realm, the dragonlet said. Or harm anyone in it.

It almost sounded as if someone was feeding it lines. At this point, Dallion wasn’t sure how to respond. The way he saw it, there were two possibilities; either the Green Moon had grown tired of the creature and wanted to dump it in Dallion’s realm, or this was a subtle way of helping him.

Onda, July, will you be able to handle him? Dallion asked.

No problem! Onda said, a bit too eagerly for Dallion’s taste. Thankfully, July also seemed to be of the opinion that thing would be fine.

“Okay.” Dallion slid the Vermillion ring on and opened his palm. The emerald shardfly landed on it and melted into his hand. Moments later, Ruby landed there as well. Unfortunately, nothing happened. “Sorry, Ruby,” Dallion smiled. “It only works on magic creatures. Maybe when I level up more.”

A wave of disappointment emanated from the shardfly as it fluttered back to his shoulder.

Dallion side. This was a fine mess he’d gotten himself into. Hopefully, it wasn’t going to affect the mission in a negative way.

As I said, the armadil shield said. You can’t fake importance.