231: Flight
As we sat around eating the tacos, I couldn’t help but wonder what Luis, no sorry, Lewie, wanted to tell us. I was about to ask when a familiar pressure arrived next to me, nudging me with her head.
“Hello, Lily,” I said, reaching out to scratch behind the ears.
I didn’t need to wait to figure out what she wanted and just separated some of the buvul, bread and cheese, infusing her plate as I moved it to her just so she’d have the mana.
It did let me see the buffs, although there was nothing special about the dish, so it just provided fire immunity and +3 Strength for the reheated buvul.
“So what’s the deal with you then?” I heard Liane asking Luis between bites.
Milo just frowned before I saw the door shut and felt the air mana circle around us.
Luis looked a little nervous, but seemed to steel himself. “I checked with my father before I said anything, but to put it bluntly, I’ll be visiting villages and towns to gauge morale and take note of any leadership who may be breaking rules.”
“So you’re hunting for corruption in the open?” Liane asked.
“Yes, and no…” Luis said, but Liane didn’t give him a chance.
“Corruption by design is done out of sight. What about the orphanages? How will you see them? And the moment they know you’re the prince or looking, they’ll put on a show,” Liane stated.
Luis was nodding. “Yes, this is why I’ll be talking to the locals in the inns, at the markets, to work out those unspoken things where I can. Also, from what I’ve heard, Trev brings it out of them naturally,” he chuckled.
Hari was nodding in agreement. “He’s not wrong about the last part, but you’ll certainly have your work cut out for you, especially with how fast you’ll be travelling with us.”
Luis nodded in agreement again. “Yes, I understand that. I’ll be parting ways with you as discussed in Elarith Vale. Heading north is very much just a quick glance to spot anything incredibly glaring.”
“Seems like a big job,” Jen commented.
“And what, you’re only searching north?” Liane said with far more snark than I would have expected.
“No, we are heading in all directions,” Luis didn’t raise his voice. He just remained calm.
“Liane, I understand your concerns, but at least they are trying to do something now,” Hari tried to reason.
“Who is? It’s just Luis.” Liane said back.
I shook my head, “No, Kathrine mentioned she was going away as well.” I added.
“Yes, Trevor is right. It’s more than just me, thankfully, and it’s only people we know we can trust, no more relying on bad information.” Luis added with confidence.
I could understand her frustration. It seemed like everyone in Dunhearth knew exactly what was going on, but no one said it openly, or did anything about it.
“Well, when we go past Hydrina, arrest the lot of them. The whole town is corrupt to the core,” Liane muttered.
I was confused and looked to Jen, who just whispered, “Hometown.”
There was a silence that seemed to fall over the group, especially with Liane, who didn’t look happy. She had even stopped eating her tacos. That didn’t last long, however, as Lily went to steal them.
“You mentioned that Trev may need to pull rank. What was that about?” Jen asked curiously.
“Well, yeah, look, it’s an absolute last resort. I know you all well now. I know the very last thing you want to deal with is politics, but if we discover something, rather than exposing what I am doing early and tipping off everyone across the kingdom, Trevor as a Lord of a high noble house would be the highest-ranking official behind myself,” Luis said.
“So?” Liane asked. I thought she was snapping at him, but her look to Milo instead gave me the impression she just didn’t understand why.
“You need a high-ranking official to pass judgement on those lower legally. What I did with the colonel is technically legal, but without my noble background, it would have likely ended poorly,” Hari said, nodding.
“Couldn’t Hari do it then?” I asked.
“He could, I guess, but he’d be on the same level as a town lord, so it becomes messy,” Luis said before he quickly added, “If you are unwilling to do it, I understand. I will do it myself, or send off a messenger.”
I sighed. “It’s fine.”
I felt Crisplet’s mana pushed towards me, and it was odd, but there was overwhelming reassurance and defence? Or defend? I guess he’s saying he’ll defend me.
“Thanks, Crisplet,” I whispered towards the fire, getting a spark.
Looking down to where my taco was, I couldn’t help but notice my plate was now empty. Looking at Lily, I saw a single eye open that quickly closed.
Milo let down the air barrier that was surrounding us, and almost immediately there was a knock on the door.
Luis quickly put his hood back up as Hari got up to answer.
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As Hari opened the door, he visibly paled. “It’s so strong in here.”
“Ah yes, as we mentioned, that is Lily. She is over there by the fire, and I’d advise it’s best you leave her alone,” Hari said firmly.
“Ye… Yes, sorry. We feared monsters when we felt it. I’ll leave you to your dinner.” Nero quickly backed away from the doorway, and I heard the door shut hard on the other side.
Hari, turning back to us, had a grin on his face. “This is going to be a fun trip.”
***
The next day was much the same. Lily was gone before I woke up in the morning, and I was reminded just how cold the morning air was as I stepped outside of the warmth that Crisplet’s fire had.
I saw Jen and Hari sitting on a bench, both wearing very warm-looking coats.
“Morning, Trev,” Jen waved.
Crisplet came out a moment later and started to melt small piles of snow that were nearby.
“Morning. We reach Farnox today, right?” I asked.
Hari nodded. “We do. It should be pretty easy, the same as when we arrived. All these roads are very smooth.”
“Are we travelling past Dunhearth after that?” I asked curiously.
Hari shook his head. “No, we turn north from Farnox, so you won’t get to see your friends there until we come back.”
I sat there watching the sun come over the horizon as it lit up the field, showing it full of small holes, which I had to assume were Grumfels. Once the sun had risen, however, I quickly went and started breakfast.
It was a simple thing, just taking out one of my regular boar bacons I had prepared and getting plenty of slices. With it, I took a bread roll for everyone, and finally I cooked off some eggs, making them into bacon and egg rolls.
I cooked off several spare pieces of bacon just in case Lily showed up at some stage, and before I knew it, we were back on the road.
Unlike when we travelled with Troy and Saddie, this group seemed to all be early risers, though I had to laugh as Nero was thanking Milo profusely for making the house to stay in.
I overheard him saying, “If I could request that as an extra from the guild, I’d get it every time! And pay extra for it.”
Milo just laughed. “I prefer keeping it as a bonus. Fewer demands that way.”
It was warming up that day, and it wasn’t far into the journey that we saw a couple of things happen. The first was a suspiciously dragon-shaped shadow that flew very high in the distance, and as I was watching, I saw the unmistakable fireball of Alira launch into the air.
“Guess Alira just left the house.” I pointed it out to Jen and Liane.
“She’s really putting on a show, but maybe that crowd will calm down now they know she has left,” Jen let out a laugh.
I had to guess they were going to deal with that sea creature today, since Sylvy had her actual true form flying in the distance.
The show even caused a stir among the merchants, as they stopped to watch.
Paro, leaning out the back of his wagon, “Hard to believe the phoenix came to visit the royal family after all these years.”
I heard Jen hold back a snort of laughter, while Liane sarcastically added, “I’m sure the phoenix really enjoyed the company of the king.”
Before I knew it, the familiar sight of Farnox was coming into view. I have fond memories of this town. It’s where I got to try the snails, and the first time I met that strange man Morlin. Importantly, I was looking forward to experiencing a market with no one knowing who I was, and now that I had money, and this being an adventure town closest to the dungeon, I was looking forward to not just shopping for food, but finally seeing what magical items they had!
I also couldn’t help but wonder how Colin was doing. After we parted ways entering the capital, I had not seen him again.
The last thing I wanted to see with my own eyes was the knock-on effect of the alchemist guild’s collapse in the cities and towns outside of the capital.
As we got closer to the city, the roads were abuzz with activity. The thawing snow meant more and more adventurers came out of the dungeon where they had spent the winter in warmth, or heading to the dungeon after months of not being able to reach it easily.
There seemed to be excitement, though I overheard something that slightly concerned me.
“Be careful in there. The dungeon started acting strangely four days ago.”
It was a passing comment that a group of returning adventurers gave a fresh group heading out, but the timing of it acting strange was when the mana pulse went out.
Once we had some distance, I shuffled closer to Jen. “You heard them, right?” I asked.
She nodded. “Do you thi—” I started.
I never got to finish my sentence before she interrupted. “I do. Best not to speak of it. Those two devout worshippers were taken by the gods after all.”
We were not even stopped at the gates leading into the city, just waved through immediately. Hari must have convinced them on the journey to only stay at the Pour House, because the whole caravan moved straight there.
As we pulled up out front, I could spot a problem pretty quickly. I had no idea where they were going to store the wagons here. There was clearly not enough room in the small stable that would barely hold all our horses.
Milo broke up the discussion. “You don’t have your valuables in the wagons right now, do you? You’ve not asked us to guard them overnight.”
Anthony spoke for once. “No, we keep supplies in there mostly, and our camping equipment, clothes, that sort of thing.”
“Do you keep food in there?” Milo asked.
All three nodded. “Yes, the barrels are there. We have wine and some salted meats.”
“Perfect, it just might work. Trev, could you try to store these food storage wagons?” Milo said with a grin.
I could see exactly where he was going with this, and I was more than happy to try.
Anthony looked confused, and as if he wanted to say something, as I approached the first wagon. Knowing it was just a wagon to carry food, repeating it in my mind, placing my hand on it, the prompt appeared and caused me to laugh.
Would you like to store 1x [Common] Food Storage Wagon for 5 mana? Yes/No
Was the system so easy to manipulate? I chose yes, and the wagon vanished, causing Nero and Anthony to shout in surprise.
“Where did it go?!” Nero asked.
“It’s alright. Trevor is able to store most, if not all, food-related items in his skill storage, so it’s perfectly fine, and we can pull it out whenever you need it. Well, provided he has mana,” Milo explained.
“So he could just go up and steal any wagon then?” Nero asked, still looking stunned.
Part of me wondered if I could now. All I’d need to do is have some food on there and convince myself of it being a food storage wagon, right? I was going to answer when Milo kept going.
“Don’t be ridiculous. If there were any valuable goods on that wagon, he’d not be able to store them at all. That’s why I asked what you had on it,” Milo said with a laugh, clearly making it up as he went along.
While he explained that, I was just storing the second wagon when the booming voice of Wyatt came from behind us.
“Well, I’ll be damned. You’ve returned already! Did you bring my skull?!”