239: Village
The rest of the afternoon was spent with Crisplet boasting about his victory, and he somehow managed to get a quill from Jen and was now carrying it around like a fiery weapon.
The road itself was now a muddy mess, but all along the sides there was life growing, and the lingering snowbanks had long since vanished.
Bringing Sable closer to Jen, I asked something that had been bothering me.
“Do those quill beast’s attack often? They looked terrifying.”
Jen shook her head. “No, not at all. They are usually very passive and timid, and unless you attack them or their young, they’ll almost never attack, so it was very odd to see.”
My mind raced. There was no way those farmers would have started a fight with them. Maybe they were on the road and they tried to make them move, or maybe something else? There was that feeling of being watched, and I wanted to tell Jen and Liane about it, but I felt that was something best said privately.
As we crested a hill, the village came into view. It was very reminiscent of Rockhampton. Even from here I could see a central well in a town square with a longhouse just nearby that likely housed the village chief, and across from it sat another equally large building which I had to guess might have been the inn.
Surrounding it, I saw several small farms, and what appeared to be a mine leading into the side of a hill.
“Mining village?” I asked.
Jen nodded. “Mining and farming, and there is a small bit of forestry just a bit further north, but they mostly use it in the village itself.”
“Not the dark forest, right?” I asked.
Liane chuckled. “The dark forest is another week’s ride west from here, but there are plenty of scattered forests that are much less dangerous scattered around.”
I let out an embarrassed laugh. I really probably should have known that, especially since I technically managed the forest now. Part of that should have been at least looking at a map and knowing what exactly that encompassed.
I’m sure Milo would have something. I’d ask him tonight.
While I had some time to kill, I went over my notifications. It had become a daily thing to clear them now, as the flow of experience was almost constant, and, truth be told, part of me was worried how the system would evolve from that. I didn’t want my class to turn into some form of street vendor or shop.
Notifications:
You have earned 25 experience for making an enjoyable meal
…
You have earned 100 bonus experience for a buff used in combat
…
You have earned 50 bonus experience for healing someone with your meal
…
You have reached Level 33 in Arcane Chef
You have +2 unspent stat points
I had gained two levels and now had sixteen unspent points. I really should spend some, and part of me was saying wait for Milo! But equally, there had been something that bothered me. I was using a skill that I was supposed to notice things with, and I had basically no perception.
So surely, if I got more, it would help my foraging ability, right?
Deciding to just do it, I put two points into endurance, bringing that up to thirty-six, then fourteen points into perception, bringing that up to twenty-two.
I even closed my eyes as I did it, just in case it would have some drastic effect on my vision and knock me out or something stupid.
This didn’t go unnoticed by Liane, however. “What did you do?”
“I just spent some of my unspent points. I’ve gained a few levels recently,” I explained, eyes still shut.
“How many points did you just spend? And in what?” Jen asked sternly.
I let out a nervous laugh. “I, uh, spent sixteen points, but I put fourteen in perception.”
I heard Liane repeat me in a whisper. “Sixteen points…”
“Trevor… what level are you right now?” Jen asked, sounding confused.
I felt Crisplet pushing across pride and happiness, however.
“Uh, I hit thirty-three at some stage today,” I replied happily.
“WHAT?” Liane yelled.
It was so loud I heard the merchant moving in the wagon, and I presume looking out.
“Sorry! It’s nothing,” Jen said, clearly to Paro, who always sat at the back.
There was a hiss. “You’re already thirty-three? What the hell, Trevor?” Jen said.
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“At the rate he’s earning experience, he’ll out-level us within a few months,” Liane laughed.
I tried opening one eye slowly, then fully.
Looking around, it didn’t hurt like I feared and wasn’t giving me a headache, but everything felt sharper, and I was already kicking myself for neglecting these stats.
“Feeling alright?” Jen asked.
I nodded. “Everything seems fine. Everything looks sharper.”
“That makes sense. You’ll also notice when it gets dark tonight you’ll see better then too, and if we were not surrounded by hills right now, you’d see farther as well,” she said happily.
“I’m guessing it’s not normal for someone to have so many stats, though?” I asked, hoping Hari wouldn’t tell me off later for being stupid.
Jen shrugged. “It is absolutely a lot of stats, but several classes out there don’t have predetermined stats. They just get everything as unspent. It wouldn’t be completely unusual for them to stock up on some stats.”
For the rest of the journey to the village, I was just looking around, enjoying being able to see the plants on the ground more clearly. Everything from flower buds to leaves, everything was far more crisp than the blur from before.
I barely noticed when Milo came down.
“We’ll be arriving soon. We may need to stay out-of-town if there is no room at the inn, but it won’t be a problem,” Milo said happily.
“Do I need to store the wagons again?” I asked.
“Not today. We’ll save that for the towns and cities where there would be a stabling fee,” Milo said.
“So I should charge a fee then!” I laughed.
A giant grin came over Milo’s face. “Micca would be proud!”
I had conflicting emotions about that comment. I said it as a joke, but thinking about making money like that is exactly what Micca and Milo have been trying to drive home to me. Understanding value, understanding worth, and saving fees for stabling as well as security would have value.
As Milo rode off back to the front, I looked behind to see Luis laughing quietly.
“You said that entirely as a joke, didn’t you?” he said.
I felt my cheeks go red as Jen caught on to what had happened. “Well, Trev, just say your jokes and they’ll think you’re a ruthless merchant, apparently.”
***
As we entered the town, I couldn’t help but notice how quiet the streets felt. Clearly, some people were in their houses. You could see the smoke trailing out of a chimney, but the streets were nearly empty, and if not for the inn and longhouse lit up, it would have felt lifeless.
As we stopped at the inn, I half expected to find most of the town inside, but again it was basically empty. Even the innkeeper behind the bar looked fatigued.
“Welcome, folks. Come in. Excuse the mess, it’s been a rough few days,” he said.
Hari waved it off, stepping forward. “Hoping you’d have a few rooms available.”
“We have four available,” the man said, clearly lacking any energy.
Milo, who had stepped forward now, said, “Is everything okay? You said you’ve had a rough few days.”
“Aye, lad, it has been rough. We’ve had two beast attacks, and four of our woodsmen are injured. There’s not many people in town, so it’s been all hands on deck,” the man said.
“Attacks on the town?” Milo asked.
He shook his head. “No, thankfully not. They were out logging, barely clinging to life, even now.”
Milo continued. “And I presume attacks like that are abnormal around here?”
The man nodded. “Very. Outside of the odd snake bite, I really don’t know that we’ve had a serious attack here before. Got a lot of folks concerned.”
There was a look of concern on Milo’s and Hari’s faces. Even I was putting together the unusual quill beast attack and the mention of the attacks here being abnormal, but I was caught off guard when Milo’s next question came.
“Have you heard much about the crops and plant life around here? How’s the season looking?” he asked.
For the first time, there was a bit of a smile on the man’s face as he responded. “Well, on that front, there’s good news. It’s all coming in strong right now and well ahead of where we’d expect it, especially after such a late snowstorm.”
Milo didn’t share the smile that was on the innkeeper’s face as I saw a solid frown appear, but he didn’t push it any further. Hari, clearly understanding Milo better than most, went back to the original topic.
“We’ll take two of the rooms,” Hari said happily, looking over his shoulder and getting a nod from Anthony, who I assumed would take the other two rooms.
“I’ll just note you down. Your names, sir?” the innkeeper asked.
“We’re the Polite Company, and there will be seven of us,” he said before introducing each of us, even having Crisplet as his own person, which got a big burst of sparks as Crisplet raised his quill needle in the air.
“Don’t worry about Crisplet though. We have a specially made brazier he spends the night in,” Hari added.
“Will you be needing a bath or meals?”
Hari looked back at me before he nodded. “Baths, please, and if by chance could we borrow your kitchen? We’ll prepare our own meals and clean up, if it’s alright?”
“Yeah, be my guest. My name is Bardo, by the way.” He shook Hari’s hand.
Once everything had been paid, everyone went upstairs. I expected Jen and Liane to leave straight away for the bath, but the moment we stepped away from the counter, the happy expression that Hari had on his face immediately faded into a frown as well, so clearly something was going on.
As we piled into a single room, I felt the air mana rush past, even more clearly than I had noticed before, signifying that there was to be no leaked conversation, and Luis was still with us.
“Well, I think it’s pretty clear then,” Milo said, sitting on the bed.
Hari nodded as Milo continued. “The mana released from that temple has had a much wider effect than I was expecting, and we should proceed with a lot more caution as we head north.”
“I was thinking the same. We’ll be heading inland to avoid any trouble the seas may cause us, but that will bring us close to the dark forest,” Hari said.
“Lily will be able to keep anything too dangerous away, right?” I offered.
“I suppose, but we can’t always rely on her. She’ll really only go all out if it’s protecting you or Crisplet, so it’s best we always be prepared,” Hari said.
“What about the injured people here in the village?” I asked.
I saw Jen’s face soften. “We don’t really have potions to spare, and even that salve I have a limited supply of, and the next proper town is over a week away, unless we turned back.”
“Which we won’t be doing,” Hari said firmly.
“We don’t need to use potions, though. You have me. I want to make them food that will help heal them,” I said with as much confidence as I could muster.
“Only I’ll probably need help to convince them that it will actually help,” I added, embarrassed.
Milo nodded. “That’s fine. I have absolutely no problem with you helping if you can. We will be leaving in the morning, so everything you need to do will need to get done tonight.”
I nodded. “I’ll have it done. Soon as I can get in that kitchen, I’ll start.”
Liane smiled. “While you do that, I’ll look after Sable for you.”
“Milo, find out what you can about the creatures that are attacking. And Jen, we’ll run a watch tonight. We need the bed space anyway,” Hari said firmly.
“Excellent. Let’s get started then, shall we?” Milo said, standing up.
I felt the air mana disperse in an almost pop. Again, this was a detail I had never experienced before.
I decided to start the food right away. I didn’t know what they were attacked by, but a soup with regeneration and poison resistance should help.
“Coming with me?” I asked Liane, who just grinned.
Time to cook.