194: Cutlets
I didn’t end up finishing all the Galvonson pieces, even with Milo’s help when he came in and created me a much larger, solid stone pan. This held four at a time.
The problem I ran into, however, was that I couldn’t store them all as they were ready due to my low mana, so the ones I had cooked at the start were already rapidly cooling down and losing their crispy, crunchy coating.
So with eighteen ready to go, I stored all the raw crumbed ones and infused the stack of cooked ones, checking the buffs just to be sure, which gave me a small shock.
[Uncommon] Infused Galvonson Cutlet
- Greater Earth Magic Potency
- Fire Immunity
- Earthen Core
- +5 Strength
- +6 Endurance
- +6 Dexterity
- +6 Perception
- Minor Stamina Regeneration
- Minor Health Regeneration
Luis looked confused, looking between me and Liane, but nodded all the same.
“Yeah, of course. You should know, I’m more like my brother. I don’t have a head for politics, and as soon as I can get out and adventure or something, I’m going to,” Luis said with a shrug.
“Brother?” I asked. I didn’t remember meeting a brother at all.
“Ah, I wondered about that when the King said you were his youngest son,” Liane said, as if something was clicking.
“Yeah, I have a brother called Elijah. I think he’s in the dungeon at the moment, but he didn’t want anything to do with politics if he could avoid it and left it all to Kathrine,” Luis explained.
“Kind of sucks for her, doesn’t it?” I asked. I couldn’t imagine being stuck with all the political side of things. It sounded horrible, like a punishment.
“She really enjoyed it at first, but it’s so hard to have a conversation with people. Everyone is trying to get favour or have a bunch of schemes up their sleeves,” Luis groaned.
“You’re an odd one. Most people would love the power,” Liane commented.
“Does he?” Luis pointed at me.
I couldn’t understand what he meant by that. I didn’t have the power of a prince. He could probably have me killed or exiled if he wanted to. I couldn’t do that. I was equally surprised when Liane laughed.
“Luis, he doesn’t even realise he has power. I bet he’s thinking right now, I’m just an orphan, I have no power, or something equally ridiculous,” Liane said through chuckles.
“Hey! It’s not that bad. I know I have a noble house right now,” I tried to defend myself.
Even Luis laughed then. “You think you’re the same as the nobles? If a noble ever called my father Marcus, or my mother Amber, they’d probably lose their status for disrespecting the royals.”
“Oh…” was all I got out.
“No, no, please don’t mistake me. Don’t change. But you’re not just a noble, Trevor,” Luis said, pulling himself together.
I didn’t know what to say. I couldn’t contest anything he said, but I didn’t feel like I had more power than a noble. It didn’t matter anyway. What mattered was going to the dinner, asking about the forest, and then leaving the capital.
I shook my head. “Anyway, let’s not worry about all that. It’s time to eat.”
I took the largest slice, which was easily arm’s length in size, and placed it down for Lily to have first, adding just a pinch of fire salt on top. I stored all but six pieces since Micca, Hari, George, and Darren were not back yet and took them out to the dining room table.
Liane went to collect the others from the living room.
“That’s going to be far too large for just dinner,” Milo commented, his eyes going wide at seeing them.
“That’s probably for the best, then. You’ll like these and be able to save some,” I said.
Everyone ate in silence. I took one of the older ones to save the others, but it was still mostly crispy. It had gone a bit soggy on the bottom where the crumb was falling off the Galvonson, but it had a really nice warmth to it from the fire salt, while the bird itself, despite not being very hot by now, was super tender. It was richer and far more earthy than chicken, with an almost nutty flavour.
I watched as Luis clearly checked his buffs, his eyes going wide.
“Just how high can you get the buffs? Also, this even has an ability? How’s that possible?” Luis asked, looking at the others around him.
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“High enough to cause trouble,” Milo said sternly.
“It’s alright, Milo. He’s promised not to share it with others,” Liane said, waving him off.
Milo didn’t seem as convinced.
We were soon interrupted by Micca, who practically exploded through the door.
“I got my class evolution!” she cried out, running across the room, and before I knew it, I was wrapped up in a hug.
“Congrats,” I tried to say, but I was being smothered.
I caught my breath momentarily when she pulled away.
“The earnings, Trevor! We made so much money! Over three hundred gold! As soon as word got out about the jerky, there was a second line outside the shop of people just wanting to buy it!” she said, holding my shoulders.
“That’s amazing.” I couldn’t help but smile. Her happiness was infectious.
Also, Lily was using the distraction to steal the leftover Galvonson from Luis, until Milo noticed and quickly stored his and Jen’s before Lily got to it.
With Hari, Darren, George, and Micca here, though, I quickly pulled out the rest of the cooked ones I had, serving them all up a plate while giving Lily one more. She really seemed to like this one since she was now up to four in total.
“No more trouble after we left?” I asked.
Hari shook his head. “No, not that long after you left, a large number of guards came to the store and helped secure everything. I guess the arrest earlier had them spooked of further trouble.”
“Ah, of course. You haven’t heard. I’ll fill you in after dinner,” Milo said.
Hari looked confused, but shrugged.
“So, Micca, what classes did you get offered?” I asked curiously.
“Oh, several! I got a bunch because of all my tavern work, so Barkeep, Brewer, Tavern Owner, and Hostess, but they are all boring. The good ones, I got offered Shopkeeper, Contract Merchant, Ledger Keeper, Rare Goods Trader, and Luxury Merchant,” she said excitedly, reading them off.
I chuckled, embarrassed. “Other than the tavern ones, I really don’t know what the others are, or how they are different.”
Micca smiled and went on. “Shopkeeper is fairly basic. It will give me skills towards running and maintaining a shop, so general repair, money handling, and stock management, all fairly simple things. Contract Merchant is as it sounds, a class that sells their services to create contracts, while Ledger Keeper usually works as the treasurer for nobles and cities.”
“Those guys are incredibly boring,” Luis chimed in.
“Yeah, it did seem very dull,” Micca laughed.
“The Rare Goods Trader and Luxury Merchant are very similar, but where it differs is how you earn your experience. Rare Goods Trader gets it by, as the name suggests, selling rare goods, with little to no experience from common or uncommon. The bonus is the ability to evaluate rare items, while Luxury Merchant allows me to sell what the system deems as luxury goods, which is everything from the cakes I sell to the jerky you provide,” she explained.
“How does that work as skills, though? Like, you can’t just get more money from someone, can you?” I asked.
“No, well, yes in some situations, but not in these,” Milo said.
“For Luxury, you get skills that allow you to better judge a client, to better present your products, assess quality, and spot fakes. For Rare Goods, it focuses on being more discreet and finding the right buyer instead of mass market,” Micca explained.
“Do you know which one you’re going to pick?” I asked.
Micca just shook her head. “I need to really consider it. Obviously all the inn ones I’m not going with, and Shopkeeper doesn’t seem very useful, but I need to think about it.”
Luis left with Hari, George, and Darren to go train for a couple of hours, while I made my way to the library to continue my rune practice.
Milo pulled Hari aside to fill him in on the situation with Lily and Sylverith, before he also ended up in the library with myself and Sylverith. I didn’t get to see Hari’s reaction.
“Milo, after the dinner in two days, will we be leaving the city?” I asked.
Milo seemed to think for a while. “Not immediately, no. It’s the last of our events, but if we left the city straight away, we’d be heading out into some pretty deep snow, and it’s usually unpleasant.”
I had completely forgotten about the snow. Dunhearth was always under a hefty amount of snow come winter, and we used to have to dig the path clear so the orphanage could still get its supplies, but there wasn’t any sign of it in the capital. If anything, it was just pleasantly warm, especially now with Crisplet’s tree.
“I know what you’re probably thinking, but the capital rarely gets snow due to what most people believe is the King’s class and magic,” Milo said.
Sylverith chuckled.
“Or maybe not,” Milo quickly added.
“Although the royal family do have a strong fire affinity in their bloodline, it is not the source of warmth in the capital. The cause of that is a treasure they were given many, many centuries ago from the demons, too,” Sylverith explained.
Milo looked stunned for a moment before shaking his head with a chuckle. “Well, there you go. Now you know something that’s likely a royal secret, Trev. But no, we’ll likely be here for about a month before we can leave the city and avoid the worst of winter.”
“Do you know where we’ll go?” I asked curiously.
“No, I’m not sure. I know Hari has been checking the jobs at the guild. Something heading north would be nice,” Milo mused.
“Where Alira is from?” I perked up. Even Crisplet turned to face us from his statue.
Sylverith shook her head. “She’s off the mainland, on an archipelago of fiery islands. You’d be wise to avoid it at your current level.”
Crisplet deflated a little.
“Don’t worry, Crisplet. We’ll visit one day. I promise,” I whispered, getting a small burst of sparks.
“North of the capital lies Elarith Vale, which is a city as large as Boltron, then west of that is where Liane, Jen, and I came from,” Milo explained.
I was now fully interested. I had heard little about the backgrounds of all three of them, and other than Liane being in an orphanage and Milo coming from merchant parents, I knew nothing.
“Sylverith, how long will you be in the capital for?” I asked curiously, wondering if she’ll leave the same time as us.
She seemed to consider it for a moment. “I won’t be here long, perhaps a few winters, depending on what I find in the books.”
The answer didn’t really register with me until much too late, but winters meant years, right?
“We also contemplated going to visit the dungeon. The problem is we don’t know how it will react to Crisplet and Lily, Lily being the main concern since she’s not a companion,” Milo said, filling the silence as my mind processed what had been said.
“There is history of creatures entering the dungeons. However, the dungeon will do whatever it can to kill or drive the intruder off, so I imagine if she joined, it would become very dangerous for everyone else. Anyway, get back to your runes. You’re just procrastinating, dear,” Sylverith said with a smile.
I struggled to focus on the rune as I was practising; so much had happened today.