170: Protection
It didn’t take long for the honey-roasted carrots to be finished. I didn’t bother infusing them, as the only buff that was coming from them was fire immunity.
After two hours had passed, I took the blood owls from their pot. The next thing to do was to tie the legs together with wet string or vines, then hang the bird over the fire to roast, while you turned it occasionally.
They smelt divine while they cooked. You could tell there was a spice to them, while the other marinade caramelised on the skin, giving it a deep golden brown colour all over. I made sure to get plenty of help from Crisplet for these since I only had the three and didn’t want to burn them.
Once everything was ready, I used Infuse on the Blood Owls, happy with the end result. The buffs were decent, but nothing over the top.
[Uncommon] Blood Owl Roast with Lowland Spices
- Fire Immunity
- +3 Perception
- +2 Endurance
- Minor Regeneration
I would need to ask Milo later. For now, I had a very pushy cat who was inching closer towards me, her eyes on the three roast birds.
I took out the knife and portioned them up, cutting each bird into quarters, but leaving half for Lily, passing it over to her. Liane just looked at me, hurt.
“If you have it now, you won’t get any when we have dinner. I only have ten portions,” I reasoned.
“Fine,” she pouted, arms folded.
I didn’t have to wait long before Jen poked her head through the door, seeing the four of us in the kitchen.
“Just letting you know Kathrine is here as well,” she said.
“Thanks, I was ready for it. I should let everyone know dinner is ready then,” I said.
Jen just shook her head. “I’ve got it. We’ll get everything set up. You just relax.”
Liane took it upon herself to set the table. Lily had already gone to sleep by the fire—well, asleep until I pulled out two of the fried spider legs for her.
The noise from the dining room grew much louder as I heard Darren and George joking with Luis as they entered. I went out to meet everyone and noticed that the three of them had blood on their shirts and were covered in dirt and sweat.
They had not even made it five steps into the dining room before Jen stopped them.
“Nope, not going to happen. You three go and tidy up. You’re covered in dirt and smell terrible,” she said, pointing for them to leave.
I noticed Hari had just opened the door to the dining room, looking much the same as the other three without the blood, and didn’t even get a step inside before he too vanished and went to clean up.
It wasn’t until after they had left that a new voice joined in with a soft laugh.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone scold my brother like that besides our mother,” Kathrine said.
I think only now did Jen realise who she had just addressed, because she looked mortified.
“No, no, don’t worry. It was great. He’s a guest; he should act like one, and our father is going to have a good laugh about this later when I let him know,” Kathrine chuckled.
It took another fifteen minutes before everyone had come back to the dining room. I brought out all the food, first bringing out all the fried spider legs. There were no traditions or rules here. Liane had helped herself immediately. Kathrine and Luis seemed unsure what to do.
“Please, just help yourself,” I said, now bringing out the blood owl quarters.
I’ll leave the desserts for now. I would serve those fresh. That way, the cream was cold and fluffy.
Soon everyone had at least a single spider leg and a quarter of the blood owl. They were fairly large, so no one tried to go for two pieces, which was helpful.
“Trev, what meat is this?” Milo asked, taking a bite of the spider.
“Phase spider,” I said.
I noticed immediately Kathrine spat out a small piece.
“I thought they were toxic?” She said, looking around. No one else had stopped eating. Even Jen kept going.
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“That’s not a problem. The legs are not toxic, and besides, it gives you major poison resistance,” I said with a grin.
Kathrine’s eyes went hazy for a moment before she let out a gasp.
“I knew it! So it is your cooking! On everything? How many buffs can you stack?” she said as a torrent of questions came out in a hushed whisper.
I couldn’t help but chuckle a little, but the comments didn’t stop there.
“Fire immunity again. Does everything have fire immunity? That’s not ideal when I mostly deal with fire magic. Well, I suppose I could shift it, attempt to incorporate hot material into the flame so it’s not simply fire…” She trailed off.
The table was lively. At the far end, Luis sat with Darren, George, and Hari, and they were joking about something that happened during training. I was thrilled to see them all get along. It gave me high hopes for when we left.
Everyone had finished the spider legs before starting on the blood owl and carrots. The owl was perfect; the skin was light and crispy, while the meat inside was super juicy. The marinade had flavoured the meat itself, giving it a warmth in the back of your throat, while the salts gave it an incredible umami taste, and it paired so well with the sweet roasted carrots. In the end, every plate was empty besides the bones from the blood owl.
“So, are you sure we can’t work out a deal for exclusivity on these items?” Kathrine asked.
“I just cook. I don’t deal with the business side of things, but I think our goal is to make sure people use it,” I said, scratching the back of my head.
“And for what it’s worth, I think most items we actually sell won’t have fire immunity on it.”
Kathrine turned to Micca and Milo, attempting to convince them to sell all their stock to her, and they could guarantee the guards would utilise it. I don’t know if anything was decided on or not. I left to finish preparations on the dessert.
Pulling out ten glasses and a small bowl for Lily, and placed a spoonful of the cherry mixture in the base, before loading up each one with the sweet, soft cream. Then on top I drizzled more cherries and plenty of the sauce on each.
Tasting the combination myself, I was impressed. The sweetness in the cream really complemented the tangy sourness in the cherries, and it wasn’t as heavy as I had expected. Lily’s bowl was empty the moment I placed it down, so I refilled it with the last of the cream and cherry mixture before heading back to the dining room to hand out everyone’s dessert.
“This is so good! You have to teach our chefs!” Kathrine said through bites.
“It’s almost as good as the lemon tart; Dad would love this!” I heard Luis say from the end.
Liane was just upset because I said I gave the last of it to Lily.
“Which reminds me, how did you two show up at exactly the same time today?” I asked curiously.
She just let out a nervous chuckle, holding her finger to her lips, and not answering the question. Was Lily teaching her something? I imagine that would be really good for Liane if it could transfer over.
The rest of the evening wrapped up without much occurring.
“We’re going to head off. Thank you very much for the dinner this evening, and it’s been enlightening to see your buffs in action. Am I to believe that you are not trying to hide this anymore?” she asked curiously.
Nodding, “Not really a reason to. You had already worked it out,” I responded with a laugh.
“Sure, but I wasn’t going to call you on it yet,” she grinned.
Luis was off to the side, speaking with George and Darren before coming over.
“Trevor, would it be possible for me to return and train some more on another day?” he asked.
I was rather surprised that he was asking. He was the prince, after all. “Sure, that’s not a problem. You’re welcome whenever,” I shrugged.
As everyone went their separate ways, Micca grabbed Milo to go over the final details of setting up the shop. I heard that tomorrow she was already conducting interviews at the shop itself for people to work on the ground floor, including chefs and a couple wait staff.
In addition, she had some construction members that Archie recommended coming in to fit it out from the alchemist shop and install a proper kitchen and dining area. I was really excited to see how it turned out.
I decided to have an early night myself, especially since I’d need to drain my mana before I sleep. I went to the kitchen to collect Crisplet before heading upstairs, again seeing a giant dome of ash obscuring whatever Crisplet was working on. However, there was a solid glow coming from the inside, so although I couldn’t see details, I could absolutely see it was a tree of some kind.
“Crisplet, I’m heading to sleep,” I called.
The dome and statue faded to dust instantly as he rushed over.
Once I was upstairs, I pulled out the first of the black potions, but I didn’t even get to remove the cork from it before Lily had her paw on my arm, stopping me from drinking it.
“It’s okay, Lily. I need to drain my mana to help repair my mana channels,” I explained.
“The doctors and Milo said I need to do this,” I added.
She looked at Crisplet, then back to me, clearly not convinced by it.
“I’ll be out of mana initially, but it’ll regenerate overnight,” I tried to reassure them.
I got the overwhelming feeling of worry and concern from Crisplet.
“You’ll both be here, right? You’ll protect me if anything happens. Plus, you have the new skill now!” I said to Crisplet.
Crisplet let off a burst of sparks, and Lily took her paw off my arm. I took that as her giving me permission, but her concern worried me a little. Was this an elaborate ploy to drain me of mana and make me vulnerable? I doubted it. Surely everyone knew at this point that I would be protected.
I took the cork out and the liquid had no smell, so steeling myself, I took a mouthful. I didn’t need to drink it all, just enough to drain my mana.
The moment it hit my tongue, it felt incredibly strange—an ice-cold sensation, followed by a tingle, then it spread through my body. It felt uncomfortable as I lay down on the bed. I watched as my mana rapidly dropped.
I could feel it through my body; my arms and legs felt weaker, my vision dimmed, despite the glow from Crisplet.
The moment it hit zero, the tingle stopped, but the cold sensation and fatigue remained.
That wasn’t the only uncomfortable thing, however. It seems Lily took the protect me to heart, because she decided it would be a good idea to lie over the top of me as I felt the cool pressure across my legs, seeing Lily curl around me, covering my vision of Crisplet, who had his new skill activated and looked incredible with his jagged ember crown.
The lack of mana and exhaustion from cooking outweighed the discomfort as I quickly fell asleep. My last thought, however, was: I really hope that nobody accidentally entered my room tonight.