At present, there were a total of seven moonlight pups—nearly invisible during the day—Two sapphire birds, half a dozen sun griffin eggs, several ruby shardflies, a water-snake, and fully grown dust lynx in the living space.

So, who was it? Dallion removed the cover of the basket and threw a loaf of bread inside.

Ruby, sir, the lock said unapologetically. She went through another of her artistic phases.

“Just great…”

When someone said that a creature had gone through an artistic phase, that usually meant that it had done a mess. When it came to shardflies, however, that meant a whole lot more. Being the equivalent of large butterflies with razor-sharp ruby wings, “Ruby” had a tendency of scraping off parts of the walls as she attempted to draw scribbles on them. So far Dallion had had to repair the inside of the building half a dozen times in the last month alone.

“Ruby, do I need to tell Gleam to have a talk with you again?”

The shardfly in question flapped away from the rest, landing “innocently in a corner of the room. She knew the drill, just as Dallion knew thanks to his music skills, that she didn’t regret what she had done one bit.

Sorry about that, Dallion said to the building.

I’ve gotten used to it, the guardian of the structure replied.

Dallion placed his hand on the wall and used his awakening powers. A second later, all the damage was gone and the walls were as good as new. Duringthat second, though, Dallion had entered the awakened realm of the building—a whole world of its own—and tracked down and killed all the creatures that represented the scars. It was a difficult task but it had taken him half a day in terms of the realm.

“Can you manage a week without scarring a wall?” Dallion looked at the guilty shardfly. “Just a week, okay? I promise I’ll find you a place where you can break loose soon enough.”

‘kay, Ruby replied, remaining perfectly still.

“Why do I even bother?” Dallion went back to the hedgerels and tossed in a few more loaves of bread. “Ground rules,” he began. “You stay inside the basket. I’ll find a place to put you in the wilderness where you won’t have to eat people’s crops and set you free there. Okay?”

The creatures were too busy devouring the bread to reply. Even so, Dallion knew that they had heard him.

“Just show a little patience, okay?” he went to the door. “And everyone else, try to make them feel welcome. And by that, I don’t mean slicing the basket,” he pointed at the group of shardflies. “Now, I need to go somewhere for a few hours, but I’ll be back this evening. Behave till then.”

The silence was encouraging, but this wasn’t the first time that creatures had tried to pull a fast one on Dallion. Unfortunately, he had business to take care of.

Keep them in, he said as he closed the door. A cloud click followed.

Have a good day, sir, the lock said as Dallion went back down the stairs.

Grabbing his backpack, he then went to the front of the building. The workshop door was locked, which meant that Eury was out somewhere. That wasn’t unusual. A relationship between hunters was almost like a long-term relationship. When they weren’t off doing jobs, they were within the realm of some item or other, improving it or themselves. It wasn’t rare that they’d spend weeks apart—sometimes within the course of a single day. That made the time they did spend together all the more cherished.

Any idea what March wants to see me for? Dallion asked as he unlocked the door in the standard fashion—with a key—then tossed his backpack inside.

I cannot say, dear boy, Nil replied.

That was a rather dubious answer from the echo, meaning either that it had no idea or that the original from whom he had been created didn’t wish to share that information. That was the problem with echoes, since they were the equivalent of virtual clones within the awakened realms, they remained close to the individual from whom they were created. As such, they knew exactly when to keep secrets.

Well, it’s time to find out. Dallion locked the door and returned the key to his belt pocket.

The Icepicker guild wasn’t particularly close to Eury’s workshop, though in terms of the city it couldn’t be said to be too far away either. Dallion had passed by it several times. However, entering it since quitting had always been weird.

Standing in front of the entrance of the four-story building, memories flashed through his mind. There was a time when he viewed the people inside the building as his family. They had treated him better than well, and yet he had betrayed them. It had been for a good cause—saving Nerosal from being swallowed in the wilderness—however, that was no excuse. Dallion felt that he had to take responsibility, and he did by leaving once all the issues were settled. To a degree, he had been avoiding them ever since.

Never thought I’d be welcome back here, he said to himself.

I still think leaving was a bit melodramatic, Nil said. But I agree that you needed a change of surroundings. The important thing is that it all worked out.

Yes, things worked out.

Dallion took a deep breath, then entered the building.