Chapter 401: 402. Unwanted Welcome

Little was said on the way back. With Jiroh being exhausted from the previous push to carry people, the group had to make their way back the old fashion way. No one complained particularly. It also gave Dallion time to think.

The meeting with the hunter definitely hadn’t gone the way he expected. Learning the information virtually for free was better than anyone could hope for, however, it had come with a lot of baggage. The more Dallion thought about it, the more difficult he found it to disprove the dwarf’s words. Everything seemed to match: during the fight at Nerosal’s arena, the Star indeed had managed to pull the entire city domain into the wilderness, and Dallion had been instrumental in finding the Vermillion rings that had been used to achieve that.

“Do you believe him?” Dallion asked Eury. “About the end of the world?”

“If I believed every prediction about the end of the world, I’d never have time to do anything else,” the gorgon replied. “You’ve no idea how much warning I’ve seen in ruins, and I don’t even know writing.”

That didn’t sound at all right, but Dallion knew what she meant. There was a major difference between writing and the awakened group of skills. Hopefully, at his next gate he was going to learn it.

“The important thing is that we got the location. Isn’t that right, Ji?”

“Close enough,” the fury replied in reserved fashion. “Can you make it to Croya on your own?”

“Sure.”

“I’ll see you in Halburn.” The fury vanished, leaving nothing but the smell of ozone behind.

“Is she alright?” Dallion asked.

Even before joining the hunter group, Dallion knew that Jiroh would do her own thing. However, lately it seemed she was becoming more and more detached from the rest of the group. In the last month alone, she had spent more time than not on her own, either working in the Gremlin’s timepiece inn in Nerosal, or on some solo job.

“She doesn’t want to get her hopes up,” Eury explained. “She’s been burned a bit too often. We’ve been along this track a few times. We’d find a promising lead just for it to turn out to be a dead end.”

“Were any of the leads this close?”

“This one isn’t particularly good either. All we know for certain is that there was a nymph city, or at least the remnants of one. Fevre said he’d seen a crashed cloud fortress, but he didn’t have anything to show for it. If I know Jiroh, she’s back at Halburn to find the merchant that gave us the info.”

Not to see her sister? Dallion wondered. In that regard, the fury was quite like him. Dallion didn’t go out of his way to see his brother, either. Not that he thought ill of Lin. The kid adored him, and the Dallion prior to awakening did as well. After arriving in this world, however, Dallion’s attitude had changed.

“This means a lot to her. In the end we all have our obsessions. Ji’s obsessed with finding her home, you’re obsessed with the Star—"

“I was obsessed,” Dallion corrected.

“And I just want to focus on what’s important in life.”

That was rather surprising. After such a buildup, Dallion had expected something huge and controversial.

“What’s important in life?”

“Maybe one day you’ll find out.” The gorgon smiled. “Let’s keep going. You won’t like staying on the mountain after dark.”

Eury turned out to be right. Despite all his current body level and all the clothes, he still felt cold. The entire night was spent walking, or rather running, down the mountain. It was only the next evening, when they were at the foot of the mountain, that the two stopped for a short rest. They made a small campfire, and since it was only the two of them, Dallion and Eury slept together to share some warmth; rather, so that Dallion could get some warmth. Gorgons, it seemed, were impervious to temperature fluctuations. The next day, the walk continued.

Soon enough, Dallion could sense the presence of creatures in his general surroundings. They had left the dead zone that was the Glass Mounts and were back in the common wilderness. Never had he imagined that he’d miss it, but compared to the lifeless domain of glass, he’d prefer the wilderness every day of the week.

As they approached Croya, a whole platoon of guards marched out of the gate. This would have been a cause for concern if Dallion wasn’t able to see their emotions thanks to his music skills.

“Largo must have succeeded in catching the critter,” he whispered.

“Either that or they're here to arrest us,” Eury replied.

The duke’s chamberlain emerged from the city. Despite his efforts, everyone was able to tell that he found coming above ground demeaning. A frown covered his face that even dark spectacles were unable to hide.

“The duke welcomes your return,” the noble said. “His Grace trusts that your trip was successful and wished to invite you to—"

“Apologies to his Grace, but we’re only here to pick up the rest of our party and be on our way,’ Euryale cut him short. “Unless the task that we were hired for wasn’t completed?”

The chamberlain froze. This had to be the first time anyone of lower status refused the duke’s invitation so openly. Dallion could feel confusion surge throughout him, as if his mind had short-circuited. That was the problem with the sheltered—it was difficult for them to imagine anything beyond their small bubble or rules. Looking at the painful display, Dallion almost pitied him.

“Told you she’d refuse,” Largo walked out of the city behind the unfortunate noble. The rest of the hunting party accompanied him. “Was a nice try, though.” He tapped Carls on the shoulder as he passed by.

The man was in such shock that he didn’t even notice, still staring straight forward as his mind tried to break the mental loop Euryale had put it in.

“Got what you needed?” Largo asked as he got close to Dallion and the gorgon.

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“More than expected,” she replied. “You?”

“More than expected,” he smiled. “You could say this trip wasn’t a total loss.”

“You three keep everything you’ve earned.” Eury turned around and walked away.

“You sure?” The large man raised a brow. “It’s quite a bit of money. Between that and the head—"

“Keep it. We got our payment.”

“You!” the chamberlain shouted. It had taken him half a minute, but in the end he had managed to break through his initial shock and now was a bundle of anger. “Do you know who you’ve insulted?!”

“Just you,” the gorgon said without turning around. “The duke knew we’d refuse the moment he saw us. All he wanted was to get rid of the critter. And have a laugh at your expense by sending you to ask what he knew I’d refuse.”

“You low-ranking scum!” There was a combat split.

The chamberlain split into eight instances, each throwing a dagger straight at the gorgon’s back. The moment they sensed the shift, everyone in the hunting party split as well, scattering in all directions as they took defensive postures. Only Eury remained where she was, not even bothering to slow down. Unlike the rest, her splitting was so discreet that it was barely noticeable. If one concentrated very hard, they’d only see multiple instances of her left arm moving about to slap the instances of the dagger safely off to the ground, as if she were swatting an annoying fly.

“I wouldn’t try that again,” the gorgon said. This time, several of the other hunters had their weapons, including the person with the crossbows. “But hey, you do you.”

Carls clenched his fists. He had just been insulted in public for everyone to see. At the same time, even he could see the difference in skill. There was nothing remotely refined or noble in the gorgon, yet the way she handled herself suggested that her level was in the fifties, if not more.

“I’ll remember this,” the man hiss through gritted teeth.

“I doubt it. I bet you’ll get in trouble with the next hunters you see and then the outcome might be very different.”

Turning around in a false display of power, the noble walked back into the city. The guards, who had a much better idea of how things were in the world, waited for a few more moments and did the same.

“You could have let it slide,” Largo grumbled.

“I doubt we’d get any more jobs here even if we’d gone to the duke’s banquet,” the gorgon said.

“Yeah, maybe.” The large man cracked his neck. “I guess we know why they don’t get hunters here too often.”

The next half day, the group walked cautiously. There was always the possibility that the duke, or his chamberlain, sent a small detachment of troops after them in a futile show of force. Thankfully, that turned out not to be the case.

Evening came and went, but the hunters didn’t stop walking. Since they didn’t have horses this time, all eating was done on foot and all sleeping—in the awakened realms. The only pauses were made for Eury to check their location based on the night stars and local landmarks. Being the groups only awakened with high art skills, she was also the group’s navigator.

After an uneventful week, the party was back at the town of Merr. Normally reaching a town was a time of joy—adequate food, soft bed, and even a bath. However, there were thoughts on everyone’s mind.

“So, Jiroh will be waiting in Halburn?” Rei asked.

“That’s what she said, but don’t count on it,” Eury replied. “If the merchant isn’t there, she might have gone chasing after her.”

“Yeah…” Largo sighed. “Sounds about like her. Will we be taking both locations when we get there?”

“I doubt there will be much left in the nymph city. Dwarf hunters don’t tend to leave as much as they claim they have. Either way, we’ll see when we get there.”

“Always the ray of sunshine.”

“It’s what’s kept me alive.” There was a sudden chill in Eury’s voice. “Our priority for the moment is to get to Nerosal, and that’s it. Everything else can wait.”

The conversation quickly ended. Dallion secretly hoped that Eury would ask him to follow her away from the camp and have him do another solo fight. Sadly, that didn’t happen. She clearly wasn’t in the mood, but even if she was, there didn’t seem to be any creatures in the wilderness. Dallion had asked his guardians several times, but neither them nor even Gleam had sensed anything remotely dangerous. The cleric army of the Order had clearly been diligent enough to kill off anything remotely troublesome. There always was the option for something to pop up near Halburn, but the likelihood was small.

You can always level up, Nil suggested.

The offer was tempting. After all, leveling never went to waste. However, Dallion preferred to wait a bit longer. There were only six levels until his next barrier. With enough skill and a bit of luck, he could easily complete them all next time he was in the city, then try to pass the gate. Thinking about it, that was pretty much a must. Next time the party went out, they were going to an abandoned cloud fortress, and there was no telling what creatures had made it their home.

In a bit, Dallion replied.

Worrying is never a good policy, the echo sighed. You know it only strengthens flaws.

It’s high time I faced myself, anyway. Dallion let out a joke. Maybe I’ll face something new this time.

The Moon that let you learn music must have had a cruel sense of humor, Nil sighed. Or maybe you were created to punish me for everything I‘ve done wrong in life. You’re old enough to do what you think is best, but please be sure that you’re doing it because you want to and not because you think it’ll be better for someone else. Sometimes avoiding everything out of fear that you might bring to a major calamity is the most certain way to do just that. Keep that in mind.

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