At first glance, the weapons seemed quite normal, even if skillfully made. What few knew was that each contained a whole world in which millions of dryads had been sent, long before the race had been banished out of existence. It was said that there were a handful of world items in the empire. Two of them were in this very room. It was one of these items that had made Dallion quit the guild a year back. He had been recruited by March to become part of her expedition to explore and restore the world sword. As a result, he had gone solo, all with the goal to gain the skill gem that the realm hid, and through it gain the zoology skills that allowed him to discern the behavior of creatures, and even talk to them when combined with his writing skills.

“We’ve reached the hilt of the first sword,” March said. “All cracklings and other nasties have been defeated, though not the last two guardians.”

“I bet.” Dallion hadn’t come close to defeating any of them on his own. “So you’re going to start a new expedition in this one?” he pointed at one of the swords. Unlike its neighbor, its entire blade was covered in rust and cracks.

“Eventually, yes. That’s not the reason I requested you.”

So, it sounded that she was the driving force behind that. That was to be expected. The guild master was more a behind the scenes type of guy.

“Captain Adzorg is thrilled, I’m sure.”

Within Dallion’s realm, Nil coughed diplomatically. Captain Adzorg was the original who had created him and given him to Dallion, along with an entire library in the realm of a ring.

“The guild master agreed with me on this, so I don’t care what he thinks,” March’s tone became icy. She and the old man had never gotten along well. “I need you to find something for me in the wilderness.”

“The wilderness?” Dallion blinked. That was unexpected. Ever since he’d known her, March had rarely left the city, if at all. For her to make such a request, there had to be something serious at play. “And you want me? I doubt I can offer any skills that you don’t have. Don’t you usually use Vend for that?”

“Your former mentor is unparalleled when it comes to combat splitting, but he’s not adequate for this request. Besides, he’ll never be allowed a hundred miles from where we’ll be headed. And I’m not entirely welcome there either.”

Dallion remained silent. There were consistent rumors that March had messed up big time, resulting in her being kicked out of the imperial guard and outcast to Nerosal. That was the role of the city, after all: a place where all awakened that messed up could live and, potentially, get a new start.

“My name was erased,” she said calmly. “Also, I’m forbidden from using my awakened powers to their full extent in the real world without the archduke’s permission.”

You never told me that, Nil, Dallion grumbled.

It was not for me to say, the echo replied. Besides, I thought you’d have figured it out at some point. All the awakened who have names based on months, flowers, or objects have had their names removed.

I’m not talking about the name.

“You don’t need to decide right away,” March continued. “There’s a lot that needs to be prepared, on many fronts. Not to mention that the festival this year will be rather unusual. The countess doesn’t want a repeat of last year’s chaos.”

I bet. “I take it there won’t be any imperial visitors this time?”

The woman glared at him for three full seconds, then shook her head.

“The imperial family had respectfully declined the invitation, as they have consistently done for years. Archduke Lanitol did the same, though for different reasons. Bottom line, you have until the end of the festival to decide.”

That was almost three months.

“I was thinking of giving the festival a pass this year,” Dallion said.

“Wise choice. That’s why the expedition won’t start immediately after. I’ll remain here for a few more weeks. If you’re not in Nerosal, I’ll assume that you’ve either decided to decline the offer, or the Moons have done it for you.”

That was a good way of putting it. Being the deities of the world, the Moons had the power to do pretty much anything, even if they followed a long set of complicated rules. In this case, though, what March was saying was that there would be no hard feelings should Dallion choose to have nothing to do with the expedition.

“Do I get any details or only once I accept the request?” Dallion moved closer to the swords on the far wall.

“Some believe there’s another world sword out there. Supposedly, it was found in the ruins beneath Nerosal and smuggled out centuries ago. There’ve been hundreds of rumors of such nature throughout the decades, but in this case, our patron believes there’s enough to it for us to go on a search. Once we reach the capital, we’ll be told what to do.”

Red flags popped up in Dallion’s mind. There was no way something this important would be entrusted to mercenaries. The only reason that the Icepicker guild was involved had to be that the Archduke couldn’t trust anyone else in his immediate vicinity. That opened all sorts of cans of worms.

“One more thing,” March added. “There are signs that the sword might be involved in the poisoned crops.”

Just when Dallion thought he had pieced everything together, this caught him completely by surprise.

“How?” he asked before he could stop himself. “The poisonings didn’t start in the empire. They began all the way west.”

“That might be so, but there haven’t been any in more cases since then. Most of the new cases are in the middle of the continent, and according to some of the information from our patron, the sword has also been on the move for a very long time.”