20: Resupply
As we entered the village, there was a buzz of activity. Troy was sitting at the front now next to Cee, waving to people as we travelled down the dirt path. I was told there was an inn here where we’d stay, space permitting. What surprised me the most, however, was Liane suddenly appearing in the wagon, nearly frightening me out of my skin.
“If we can get you into the kitchen, could you cook some more Skywolf tonight?” she asked, casually sitting across from me. How did I not see her enter or sit down? I know I was looking out the front, but surely I would have noticed.
“Sure, but how did you get in here so quietly?” I couldn’t help but ask.
She gave me a huge smile and tossed me a wink before climbing back out. Just as she was about to fully leave the wagon, I heard her say, “Trade secret,” then she leapt from the wagon.
Coming to the centre of the village, there was a fairly run-down looking building that I assumed was the inn. As the wagon came to a halt, there was a buzz of activity as Cee and Saddie’s driver tended to the horses while Troy returned to the wagon to do an inventory check.
I got out to stretch my legs and take in the village. This was, after all, the first time I had been to any other town or village outside of Dunhearth. The buildings were simple, most made of wood, with the inn and another building in the centre featuring some stonework and a thatched roof. Not really having anywhere else to go, I gravitated toward the adventurers, who were standing in a group by the building, their horses already tied up and happily eating from the trough.
“It all looks so simple here,” I said. “Will they even have much to trade?”
Milo had a thoughtful look on his face. “You’d be surprised. A lot of these villages survive through travelling caravans like ours. You’ll find that when we leave, there will probably be a wagon or two following us, just for the protection that comes with numbers.”
That made sense to me, especially after the incident we had on the road. I had never realised how dangerous it really was.
“They won’t have much in the way of armour, weapons, or luxury items, but this is a farming village, Trev. They’ll have a wealth of fresh produce,” Milo explained.
I still had so much to learn.
Before long, the owner—at least, I assumed he was the owner of the inn—came out front and quickly identified Troy as the leader, heading straight over to talk to him.
“Is this place going to be big enough for all of us?” I asked.
“Not really,” Jen answered. “Two of us will always be on watch anyway, but usually in places like this, we just share rooms and set up our bedrolls on the floor. Having a roof is better than nothing,” she explained.
“Why do we need a watch here? Does the village get attacked?” I asked, confused.
“It’s not monsters that are the concern,” Jen replied, “but sometimes there could be a thief down on his luck who might try to steal something. More often than not, though, our presence alone is enough to scare off any attempts, so it ends up being rather boring.”
Troy came over to our group, having finished his conversation with the owner.
“Right, there are only three rooms here,” he said to the adventurer group. “You four will share one. Trevor, you can share with Cee and me or with the adventurers—it really doesn’t matter. The third room will be for Saddie, her driver, and her charge. The innkeeper also mentioned he didn’t have enough food prepared for tonight, but I told him we had our own cook, per Liane’s request, and that you’d sort us out if you could borrow his kitchen.”
I just nodded. I still had stew left over since we hadn’t stopped for lunch today, but Liane had requested Skywolf again. Most of the good-sized steaks were gone, but if I had access to a proper oven, I had an idea for what I could make.
“Hey, Jen, who has the sharpest blade?” I asked, turning to look at my companions. “To cut through bone.”
Jen gave me a puzzled look. “Why… do you want to cut bones?” she asked curiously.
“I wanted to get the ribs from the Skywolf for tonight. I figured whoever had the sharpest blade would have the easiest time with it. My knife definitely won’t cut it,” I explained.
“Ah, okay. Yeah, I can do that for you,” Jen replied happily. “My hunter’s knife has a sharpness enchant on it.”
Before I knew it, I was getting a very brief tour of the kitchen from the owner, Carl, who was also the cook at the inn. He explained that aside from providing drinks to the locals, he rarely needed to make much food beyond the occasional meal for travellers.
Once I was left alone, I got to work. The oven and stove weren’t lit, so I immediately started the fire. I didn’t want to bother Milo with this, so I’d have to heat it up the slow way. Luckily, I still had plenty of time.
Jen joined me in the kitchen as I pulled out the Skywolf onto the central table I had cleared off. I explained where I wanted the cuts made, removing the whole rib cage first before cutting lengthwise down the spine, creating two very large pieces. After cutting those again in the middle lengthwise, Jen decided this was a good place to hang out and perched herself on an unused counter in the corner.
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“We never really used the ribs much,” she said. “Every time Milo tried, they just ended up tough and not nice at all.” She chuckled. “Although, that could be said about a lot of his cooking.”
I laughed at that. I’d heard plenty about his cooking, but apparently, despite all the jokes, he was still somehow better at it than the other three.
Taking the ribs, I applied salt, pepper, and a ground red spice called fire salts. It had a subtle sweetness but also a gentle burn. I rubbed the seasoning liberally over the meat and carefully removed the membrane, knowing it would make the ribs tough if I left it on.
After that, I placed the ribs in the oven, shifting the fire to the far side and keeping the heat low. They would need a couple of hours to cook, but when they were done, they’d be wonderfully tender. I regretted not having the ingredients for a proper sauce, but we’d manage for today. While that cooked, I also pulled out what was left of the stew and set it to heat.
With that handled, I joined the others in the inn. The few locals who had been there earlier seemed to have made themselves scarce; I supposed it had simply gotten too busy for them.
Taking a seat with the group, a mug of some kind of juice was placed in front of me. I decided to pull out the Dilwater berries I had purified and started snacking on them, offering some to everyone at the table. Milo accepted without hesitation, but Jen looked absolutely horrified.
"I've always wanted to try them!" Liane said, reaching over and grabbing a handful.
"Not you too!" Jen said in faux outrage.
"You really should try them. They're surprisingly delicious," Milo managed through a mouthful of berries.
Jen let out the largest sigh I had ever heard before taking a single berry and popping it into her mouth. The moment was too perfect to pass up.
"Oh, wait—those are the ones I didn’t purify," I said with as much seriousness as I could muster, doing my absolute best not to smile.
I wasn’t prepared for what happened next. Jen spat the berry out so fast it hit me square in the side of the face.
"WHAT?!" she shouted, outraged.
I couldn't hold it in any longer. I burst into laughter. "I'm kidding! I'm so sorry—I couldn't resist."
I earned a slap to the back of the head for that one, while Milo—after a brief look of worry—just went back to eating. Liane, on the other hand, found it every bit as funny as I did.
After a couple of hours, I took the ribs out of the oven, cut them into individual portions, and loaded a giant plate with them. I cast Infused Flavour over the dish before carrying it out to the table in the centre of the inn. I set the ribs down alongside a stack of plates, then brought out the stew and some bowls, arranging everything for a communal, help-yourself meal.
At first, people were a bit hesitant, but the moment they tasted the ribs, they disappeared in the blink of an eye.
That night, I ended up sleeping on the floor in the same room as the adventurers. Troy and Cee had gone to bed much earlier, and I didn’t want to wake them up.
The next day, I woke up early again. At least I’d had a good night’s sleep with only one nightmare. Making my way to the main room of the inn, I realised the owner was already up and moving around.
“Morning!” Carl called out. “I just grabbed some bread from the baker down the road. Breakfast won’t be ready for a little while yet,” he added, which was a relief—I wouldn’t be on breakfast duty today.
“That’s okay, thanks,” I replied. “I’m just going to stretch my legs a bit and wake up.” I headed for the front door, figuring I’d take a quick stroll around the village before it fully woke up.
Stepping outside, I quickly realised life in the village started early. I definitely wasn’t the first awake. The streets were already lively. Walking through town, I noticed people beginning their day—many heading out the gates with small carts. A small market was setting up along the main road. There weren’t many stalls yet, but I guessed that’s where Troy and Saddie would be later today.
Walking past the smithy, I noticed it was one of the few places still silent. I decided to head back to the inn so I wouldn’t miss breakfast. I made it just in time to see the owner serving up what looked like ground meat patties with eggs and the bread he’d mentioned earlier. Overall, it was a great breakfast—I definitely needed to find out the recipe for those patties.
Afterwards, I joined Troy as he took the wagon down the main road to where the market stalls were being set up. He didn’t have to go far; a spot had clearly been left for us near the centre square. I wasn’t helping today, and the adventurer team was technically on guard duty, but they mostly just lazed around the wagon.
I decided to take some time for myself and started gathering supplies. I found a couple of meat vendors, several fruit and vegetable sellers, and someone offering grains and flour, along with sugar and honey! I stocked up on a lot—buying a sack of flour, grain, rice, starch powder, a small bag of sugar, and a mini barrel of honey. All of it went into my Pantry without any problems.
From the fruit and vegetable sellers, I picked up plenty of fresh fruit—lots of berries, citrus fruits, and apples—along with a handful of varieties I’d never seen before: colourful melons and a giant green pod covered in spikes that the vendor assured me tasted like custard. I also grabbed a huge supply of tubers, carrots, onions, celery, garlic grass, peppers, corn—basically anything I could get my hands on. I felt a little guilty about taking so much, but the vendors assured me it wouldn’t affect the village’s food supply. They had plenty of excess, and besides, all of this was destined for Boltron anyway.
Finally, I stopped by the meat vendors. The options were simpler here: chickens, boars, and a small selection of aged Buvul. I decided to stock up on eight chickens, which the vendor dispatched for me on the spot, along with two whole boars—apparently slaughtered that very morning for today’s sale. I also grabbed some smoked boar belly, a couple of jugs of milk and a bunch of eggs to round things out.
I even managed to convince the town’s baker to sell me some of their stale bread, despite their protests that they had fresher stock available.
All told, I had spent more than I ever had before—a grand total of 1 silver and 80 copper coins down.
Heading back to the wagon, I noticed Troy and Saddie each had crowds gathered around their wagons. A woman caught my attention—she looked distressed as she spoke with Troy. As I got closer, I overheard that she was trying to buy a healing salve or potion within her budget. Unfortunately, Troy didn’t have any, and the adventurers didn’t have anything to spare that fit her price range.
She hung her head and walked away from the wagons. I decided to step in and approached her.
“What did you need the healing for?” I asked.
There was a brief glimmer of hope in her eyes, but it quickly faded when she saw me.
“I’m not a healer,” I explained, “but my food can restore Hit Points. I regularly donate to the Medical Pavilion in Dunhearth, where they use it to help heal people.” I hoped that might show her I could be of some assistance.
"I'm sorry, I don’t know if food will help," the woman said, looking utterly defeated. "It’s my daughter—she’s been sickly for weeks, and for the last couple of days, she hasn’t been able to get out of bed."
"I’ll make something for her," I said. "Come by the inn in an hour. It’s surely worth a shot, and if it works, I’ll prepare more before we leave tonight."
Unbeknownst to me, Milo had wandered over to the conversation.
“He has a rare class, and I can attest that his food does heal quite well. If he’s offering, I’d say it’s worth a try,” Milo added.
Milo’s endorsement seemed to lend some credibility to my claim. The woman nodded.
"The inn in an hour, got it. I’ll see you there," she said, hurrying off.
I thanked Milo for his help and headed back to the inn, ready to start making some chicken and corn soup.