184: Delivery
“Trevor!”
It was far too early in the morning to wake up, and I was exhausted.
“Trevor!” the voice called again, louder this time, as I pulled an enormous paw to cover my ears.
“Trevor, wake up. Lily, stop helping him sleep; it’s dinnertime.” The voice of Liane said, now getting much closer.
The paw vanished as Lily was gone in a second at the mention of dinner.
I was exhausted. My whole body had a dull ache, and all my joints felt stiff. Running out of mana was horrible. I had at least got a small amount back since I passed out.
“Come on, Trev, let’s go downstairs,” Liane said.
I felt a pair of hands helping me to stand.
It felt like just a moment had passed when I was sitting at the dining table with a bowl of stew and a bread roll in front of me, and a spoon placed in my hand.
“Eat. You need to get your energy back.” A forceful voice told me.
I did what I was told, spooning the stew into my mouth, and it was surprisingly delicious, and I felt the warmth spread through my body with every bite.
It only dawned on me now that someone else had to cook dinner tonight. I suspect Lily would not be happy with this, but looking around the table, everyone was there. It appeared, though, that Milo was unhappy about something, as he had a frown and kept glancing my way.
Leaning towards Liane, I whispered, “Did something happen with Milo? He looks upset.”
Liane just let out a chuckle. “Yes, he went to wake you up before I came up there, but Lily wouldn’t let him enter the room.”
“She just glared at me until I left,” Milo muttered, a frown evident on his face.
I couldn’t help but smile. “Sorry, they are extra protective while my mana is low. Who cooked?”
“Archie prepared dinner tonight.” Jen commented.
I immediately thought of Lily who vanished when dinner was mentioned, I was sure she’d be inside the kitchen right now, I hope everyone was okay.
The rest of dinner passed without much conversation, but before I left to go back to sleep, Micca grabbed my attention, pulling me and Milo back to the table.
“I will open the shop in a week, so I wanted to speak to you about the other goods besides the candy,” she said.
I had not even started the jerky yet, but I’m sure I could do that tomorrow. The bacon and sausages, though, would take a while yet, and I would need to make more candy as well.
“Have you figured out how you will sell them?” Milo asked.
Micca seemed stunned for a moment. “Uh, preference to adventurers, but first come, first served?”
Milo nodded. “And what will you do if a single noble house pays a hundred adventurers to get one each from you for their private supply?”
“Uh…”
Milo chuckled. “That will be something you need to be mindful of, although very difficult to control. But do bear in mind, noble folk are always trying to scheme an advantage, your restaurant will be no different. They may also offer to invest or donate; everything comes with strings.”
“I’ll start the jerky tomorrow, but it’ll take me a few days. It should dry pretty quickly, though,” I said.
“Perfect, so you’ll have the three hundred pieces?” Milo asked, referring to the contract that had been signed.
I just nodded. That should be fine; the room was large, I had plenty of meat, and if I stacked it all together, I would only need to infuse it once.
“Eventually I might have bacon and sausages, but for that we’d need to figure out the runes first. Maybe it’s possible to avoid the royal family trying to take it all by addressing their concerns before it goes on sale?” I offered.
Milo nodded.
“Would it really be so bad to give them a portion of the selection if they guarantee its use within a certain time frame?” Micca asked.
“The problem is, who is going to enforce the rules on them?” Milo countered.
“I will,” I simply said. “They want me in their good books, right, so I can’t see them immediately breaking a deal to stockpile it all.”
“That’s true,” Milo conceded.
“Did you already hire all the staff?” I asked Micca.
She practically bounced in the chair with excitement. “Yes! I got the most amazing pastry chef, and he’s bringing his own apprentice and wife, who assists, to work the kitchen. Then for the front, we had so many people come for the job we had a line outside.”
“They are all going to be noble family members, aren’t they?” I said, looking at Milo.
He just let out a soft chuckle. “Absolutely.”
If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.
“I’ll have all the jerky and the rest of the candies ready for you for launch,” I said happily to Micca.
“For now, I need sleep. I’m still exhausted, unless there is something else?” I said.
When Micca looked like she wanted to say something, but couldn’t, I sat back down.
“Just spit it out,” Milo said.
“Uh… well, I was hoping you could be there on opening day. I know Lily will probably follow and terrify people, but I really want you there all the same,” she blurted out to me.
“Oh, I was going to be there anyway. I’m sure Kathrine and Luis will come along as well. I’ll ask,” I said, standing up again.
Sleep time.
***
The next day I didn’t bother with breakfast or anything. I made my way straight to the butchery room on a mission. Crisplet left me at the doorway to go work on his statue, as Lily followed behind.
I waved to Milo, who was practising the rune at the dining room table with his notes out and several wooden boards. He barely noticed me as I walked past, and I’m sure if Lily wasn’t with me, he wouldn’t have noticed at all.
Entering the butchery room, I pulled out the meat I would use. First was going to be the baelvryn, second would be the grarok, especially since jerky needed leaner meat.
Which gave me an idea. For the third creature I would use, I butchered two miremaw when I did my butcher quests, and they are incredibly lean, so I would use one today.
I was interrupted by a soft knock at the door.
“Sir, you have a guest,” Archie said.
“Oh, okay.” I quickly stored all three carcasses again, rushing over to get this over with. I wasn’t sure who was visiting me, but I followed Archie to the foyer where Sylverith was waiting with Max, carrying two wooden boxes, but who seemed to be enraptured by the dragon statue in front of him.
“Trevor, dear, your commissions are ready!” Sylverith announced happily.
Max snapped to attention, trying to bow and failing due to the boxes.
“Shall we go to your study?” she asked happily.
“Sure!”
I quickly led the way.
The first item that Max pulled from the box was the most intricate-looking knife I had ever seen. The blade was emerald green, and there looked to be patterns of dark green rippled through it, though with several runes etched into the blade itself, which I noticed were draconic ones. The handle looked to be ivory, or what I suspected to be made of dragon bone.
I reached out to pick it up, but hesitated. Could I really take this?
“It’s yours, try it,” Max said.
Picking it up, it was perfectly balanced and incredibly light.
“What’s it made out of?” I said, admiring it, but being very careful of the edge.
“The metal is a special alloy I created using the dragon scale provided, and the handle is carved dragon bone. The runes were added by Sylverith, but I am unfamiliar with them,” Max said.
“There are four runes. Two are very simple: one is a sharpness enchantment, and the second is self-repair, provided you have the material, which is why you have this,” Sylverith said, pulling out an ingot of the stunning emerald-green metal.
“Next, we have your chest piece,” Max said, pulling the second box forward.
Unthinkingly, I went to store the knife away, pausing as the prompt showed up.
Would you like to store [Legendary] Sylacies x1 for 5 mana? Yes/No
“Sylacies?” I muttered.
“Oh, it did give it a name. A bit on the nose, all things considered, I was wondering what the System would call it,” Sylverith said happily.
As Max was unpacking the box, I caught a glimpse of the unmistakable green shine, even feeling Lily show up.
“This has been a challenge to work on, but I am very happy with the end result. Again, all the runes have been completed by Sylverith, but here I present the chest piece.”
In his hands he held a scale mail chest piece made of the same emerald green metal alloy that the knife was, only every formed scale on this piece was made to look like individual dragon scales. Around the neck and arms was an intricately stitched leather capping. Along the neckline there was an embroidered dragon head, with Lily and Crisplet either side of it, stitched perfectly in the leather.
Taking it in my hand, I was shocked at how incredibly light it was. Even seeing the knife before, this was something else.
“Put it on; we may need to make some adjustments,” Sylverith said.
I hurriedly removed my jacket and placed the armour over my head. It felt a little loose, but as Sylverith reached forward and placed a finger on it, it felt like it tightened up, fitting perfectly all of a sudden.
“Oh, that’s a useful one!” Max said.
Sylverith just grinned.
“The runes on this one, besides self-repair, I will need to go over with you in our next lesson, but it is lightweight, and shouldn’t inhibit your movement, so be sure to keep this on during the day, even when at home. Get used to wearing it,” Sylverith instructed.
I just nodded as Lily circled around me, clearly inspecting the piece before stopping in front of me and looking at Sylverith.
“Oh, shush, you. If you want to be embroidered in the centre, give up some of your fur and have a tailor make something. This is using my scales, that’s why I get to be in the middle,” Sylverith said, looking at Lily.
I wasn’t paying a lot of attention to their comments, just looking down at the green armour.
“It looks amazing,” I muttered.
“Great! Now put your jacket on and stretch for me a little,” Max said.
I followed the instructions, putting my jacket over the top and closing up the front. This seemed to have Lily commenting again.
“How was I to know the jacket collar would cover you two but leave me in the middle? I didn’t have his jacket,” Sylverith said, far too innocently.
“Thank you so much! This is the best piece of armour I have ever seen!” I said excitedly.
Max packed up the two boxes he brought the items over in before they vanished, and turning towards me, he bowed.
“It has been a pleasure working on this, and if you require anything in the future, please come see me. Sylverith, it’s been an incredible honour both working with you and with your materials. I thank you kindly for the scales you have donated, and I will make sure they are used with the reverence and instruction you requested. I shall now take my leave,” Max said as he left.
I looked at Sylverith, noting the instruction part.
“You instructed it needs to display a dragon like this on any item made with it, didn’t you?” I said with a grin.
I couldn’t help but notice the blush appearing on her cheeks before turning to Lily in outrage.
“I am not being ostentatious or arrogant! You take that back,” she scolded her.
I couldn’t help but laugh. “Thank you so much for these. They are truly remarkable, and I will treasure them, but right now I need to get back to the jerky. Oh, Sylverith, would you like to attend Micca’s store opening with us?”
“The merchant girl? Absolutely, I would love to!” Sylverith said.
I made my way back to the butchery room, my fingers trailing across the armour, amazed at how solid it felt.
But now I needed to get slicing, and that knife came at the perfect time.