Back when Dallion had set out into the world, it had taken him over a week to reach Nerosal. Now the trip back to his village lasted mere minutes. In their attempt to get him on their side, the Order had graciously granted Dallion a large slice of the world, including a substantial part of Wetie province. Among that had also been the territory of his native village.

It seemed that each time Dallion went back, both he and the settlement would change. Now was no exception. Once a collection of crumbling huts, it had now become a massive hub to the south. Hadn’t it been for the war, there was a good chance that satellite settlements could have cropped up all the way up to the fallen south.

You can take it if you want to, Giaccia said within his awakening realm. It’s yours now.

While that was true, Dallion preferred not to. It didn’t matter that Veil had become his subordinate, and it was only a matter of time before Gloria did the same. In his mind, Dherma remained the one place that was always better left alone.

It’s the only way you can guarantee it’ll be safe, the harpsisword guardian reminded.

Sadly, she was right. Although the Order had deserted the monasteries within his domain, towns and cities were a different matter. Dallion didn’t have the numbers or the political backing to follow Tamin’s example and chase the Order out from all his cities. Come to think of it, even the emperor hadn’t done that. Only the capital was declared off limits. The provincial capitals had seen no changes.

“Maybe later,” Dallion said, then cast a spell that teleported him directly to the main plaza.

“What the?!” A very shiny town guard reached for his weapon at Dallion’s sudden materialization.

It wasn’t any of the Luor guards Dallion remembered. The man’s skin seemed paler than was common for the area. No doubt he had come from the far north, doing what anyone lacking options did—go to the frontier.

“Everything’s alright,” Dallion said. His words were filled with enough calm to take down a griffin.

Everyone within earshot paused, looked about confused, as if they had forgotten what they were doing, then went back to their routine as if nothing had happened. As far as they were concerned, Dallion was just another tourist coming to see the wonder of the south.

Even the town guard turned to his partner, wondering what he was supposed to do. A sigh from the other—someone Dallion hadn’t seen before either—put an end to the scene. Giving Dallion a glance of apology, the veteran guard continued on, the other hurrying beside him.

That definitely has changed, Dallion thought.

“You’re a lot better than before,” a teenager’s voice said.

The change that Dallion saw over his shoulder was a lot greater than anything he’d witnessed so far. He had a suspicion that the voice might be coming from his kid brother, and he was right… to a certain degree. The child had transformed into a teenager, almost reaching Dallion in height. Given his athletic frame and developed muscles, one might as well call him a man. Comparable to those of a professional swimmer, they didn’t bulge out, but were just enough to let it be known that the boy wasn’t foreign to hard work.

“Lin?” Dallion asked, staring at his brother across the plaza.

The boy’s hair was long and straight, going down to the middle of his back. The clothes were well kept adventurer clothes, suggesting that he had spent more than some time in the wilderness.

“You’ve changed a lot,” Dallion said, making his way towards the boy.

“Sorry, big brother,” Linner said as his brother approached. “I can’t hear you from that distance.”

Dallion felt a sudden pain in his stomach. Concentrating, he focused on the boy in an attempt to see his awakened level. No rectangle appeared. Even after all this time, his brother had failed to awaken.

Damn it! Dallion thought.

He was fully aware that awakening was by no means guaranteed. Even nobles weren’t always able to guarantee their offspring would inherit their gifts. Given Dallion’s lineage, he had almost always assumed that sooner or later his brother would gain the gift, as he had. On the other hand, maybe it was better this way. More often than not, late bloomers ended up being otherworlders.

“Lin,” Dallion repeated, louder this time as he got within twenty feet of his brother. “Look at you. You’ve changed a lot. You’re—”

“Just like dad.” The other laughed, rushing forward to tackle his brother in a hug.

From Dallion’s perspective, the action was painfully slow, but he let it happen. For the first time in his life, he got to experience the pain of having non-awakened relatives. The difference between the two was so great that they could well be considered different species. And yet, despite all that, he could feel the raw emotion of joy coming from the boy.

“You’re not here to kidnap anyone, right?” Linner asked after letting Dallion go.

“Kidnap?”

“Last time you snuck here, you grabbed Veil and rushed off. People are still talking about it.”

“Oh, right.”

No wonder they were still talking. From their point of view, it was a very recent occurrence. For Dallion years had passed.

“You’ll stay this time, right?”

“That’s the plan.” Dallion kept on smiling. He didn’t have the heart to tell him that at present, he was the ruler of the town and a quarter of the world. “Not long, though.”

“Well, at least it’s better than last time.”

“Yeah, better than last time.”

“What level are you now?” Curiosity flowed from Linner like a tidal wave.

“High enough. A bit higher than Veil and Gloria.”

“Oh, did you hear she’s a mother now? Everyone expected it, although I thought that you and her would end up getting together. You were so perfect. Remember back when you had just awakened? You used to sneak out on dates with her and everyone had to pretend they didn’t know. It was so funny.”

That wasn’t at all what Dallion remembered. True, his non-awakened self had had a huge crush on the girl, but that had changed after his awakening. The sneaking about was them going to the awakening shrine to secretly boost their levels.

“What about you?” Dallion asked. “Tried to awaken?”

“Can’t,” Linner replied without any regret. “Mom tried to help me take the first step. Even asked the town cleric, but nothing could be done. It’s just not meant to be.”

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“If you want, I can—”

“No.” The boy cut him off. “It’s not meant to be.”

Dallion used his aura vision on the boy once more. His magic threads were thin, as they would be in any non-awakened. Even so, there were a lot fewer of them than there should have been. It was as if the Moons had made it impossible for him to ever awaken.

When I become a Moon, I’ll change that, Dallion thought. The notion had come to him effortlessly, as if it were a natural outcome in the future.

“Mom’s at the monastery and Dad’s tending the fields, but they’ll be back for dinner.”

“Dad still tends the fields?” Dallion sounded surprised. Given the family status, there was no need for their father to do that.

“I know. He says it makes him happy, so everyone lets him do it.”

“And grandpa?”

“He’s… fine.” There was more than a hint of hesitation in Linner’s voice. “He’s become a bit grumpier, but I’m sure he’ll be glad to see you. Come on, let me show you what’s new before dinner!”

If Dallion wanted, he could learn every single detail about the town in less than a second. Yet, there was something charming about being led about like a tourist, so he let his brother go on with it. During the tour, he also got the chance to exchange a few words with many of the local area and item guardians. Apart from his old friends, a lot more had cropped up. Some of them were surprised an empath had emerged in the settlement. Others were delighted. Now and again, Dallion even stumbled upon a few banished race guardians, all too eager to learn how he had risen to such heights.

For the first time in a very long while, Dallion felt the innocent excitement he had felt during his first years as an awakened. Compared to the smallness of the world, the town seemed huge, providing surprises behind every corner. That was until it came time for family dinner.

Dallion’s mother was more than overjoyed to see him, her emotions streaming from her almost as much as her tears. While still frail-looking, she had managed to boost her level to the high fifties, possibly making her the most powerful person in Dherma. Her music skill had also reached its cap, but was a lot gentler than Dallion’s—very similar to Dallion’s grandmother, according to Giaccia.

Internally, Dallion’s father was no different from his wife, although he successfully hid it behind a smile and a nod. If Dallion weren’t able to see his emotions, one might think that he had welcomed him after a few months’ absence.

When it came to Kraisten, though, Linner hadn’t exaggerated. The old man didn’t seem one bit happy to see Dallion return. The way he glared at him made it clear that he suspected Dallion’s current level, and that only made things worse.

“I hear you moved to the imperial capital,” Dallion’s mother said. Apparently, the Order of the Seven Moons had been keeping her well informed. “Is it as beautiful as they say?”

A sudden burst of pain erupted from Kraisten.

“It was beautiful,” Dallion said cautiously. “I’m not there anymore. I moved east.”

“East where?” his father inquired.

“Beyond the forests.” Dallion decided it was better not to tell them that the world was a globe. “The emperor gave me some land.”

“That’s wonderful.” Dallion’s mother held her mouth with both hands, tearing up with pride yet again. “You got to see the emperor himself?”

“Yes.” Dallion instinctively replied. Feeling the anger from his grandfather double, he instantly knew it was a mistake. “Just for a bit.”

“I’m so proud. Now, all you need is to find yourself a good wife. Did you hear that Gloria got married?”

“Yes,” Dallion offered a smile.

“It would—”

“What else did the emperor give you?” Kraisten suddenly interrupted.

Silence filled the room. Dallion’s parents glanced at the village elder, then looked back into their plates. Many would have considered it normal if it wasn’t for the threads of music that had come out from the old man’s mouth and entangled them.

You have music skills as well? Dallion wondered. How come he hadn’t seen that before?

“Well?” His grandfather pressed on.

The normal thing was to laugh it off, but Dallion felt unable to. It wasn’t that the old man had been keeping secrets and lying to him all this time. Rather, it was seeing him use his skills on his own children as if they were nothing that struck a nerve.

“He gave me your old title.” Dallion’s eyes met Kraisten’s. “Along with the entire east.”

“Do you even know my old title?” The old man raised his voice even more. “I warned you to be careful, and you still messed up.”

“At least I learned about my grandmother from him.” It took an extraordinary amount of self-control for Dallion not to respond with his own music skills. “Unlike you, who’s been lying about everything.”

“Don’t pretend you don’t know the rules!” Kraisten slammed on the table with his fist.

Dallion’s mother and father remained perfectly still, like statues, unable to react. Strangely enough, the old man’s music had no effect on Linner. The boy sat there, clenching his fists beneath the table, almost praying that everything would blow through. His emotions were so loud that it was obvious that he wanted to break up the argument, but knew that trying to do so would only make things worse.

“Why don’t you tell me now, then?” Dallion found himself incapable of stopping. “I know about it, so you should be able to give me the details.”

“If you had any mind, you’d know not to have anything to do with that jackal!” Kraisten shouted straight at him.

“Just because you were backstabbed by the Order doesn’t mean—”

“Is that what he told you?” The rage was so intense that Dallion felt it slam him with the intensity of a hurricane. “You think you can reason with him? You can’t! Just because there’s a war going on doesn’t put you in the same boat!”

“I’m stronger than the emperor.” Dallion used all of his self-control to keep himself from shouting. “

“You’re only stronger than his illusion!”

KRAISTEN SEENE is breaking a Moon vow!

A yellow rectangle emerged.

“He constantly sits safely tucked away and has everyone else do his dirty work! Ever wondered why there are so few otherworlders left in this world? Because he made me kill them!”

KRAISTEN SEENE is breaking a Moon vow!

“The Order of the Twelve Suns was exclusively for us! There used to be thousands until Jeremy had me kill them!”

Jeremy? Dallion wondered. Who the heck is Jeremy?

“And that wasn’t the reason we were banished! It was because I saw through his fakeness!”

KRAISTEN SEENE is breaking a Moon vow!

Faster than Dallion would have believed possible, his grandfather reached over the table and grabbed his sleeve. This wasn’t the reaction of a single-digit awakened. Only someone with traits over a hundred should have been capable of such a feat.

“The imperial capital never had an emperor! If you really want to see what’s he’s like, find him and—”

KRAISTEN SEENE has broken a Moon vow!

KRAISTEN SEENE is removed.

Pale yellow glow surrounded the old man. All other colors quickly faded away until nothing more than a blob of yellow light remained. A split second later, that too vanished.

“It would mean a lot if we got to see some grandchildren soon,” Dallion’s mother said.

Dallion looked around the table. Everyone was behaving as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened. Even his brother was nothing like what he had been during the argument, hiding a chuckle as he glanced between Dallion and their mother. Stranger still, there was no indication at the dinner table that there ever had been a fifth person there.

Did anyone see that? Dallion asked within his realm.

Would have been simpler if you’d just said you were married, one of his echoes replied, effectively answering Dallion’s question.

He was the only witness to what had happened.