265: Clara
Heading back to the inn, I was feeling exhausted, both mentally and physically. The entire day had been spent dealing with politics, and although it went smoothly, it highlighted a lot of problems for me, funds being the main one.
“Something is bothering you, Trev,” Liane said.
Nodding, I decided to tell her exactly what was bothering me.
“I realise that I’m spending ten years’ worth of gold on this orphanage, and there is no chance of this being done at scale, so how do we fix the orphanages?” I asked.
“That’s the question, how indeed, because you’re right. I mentioned they’d likely accept bumping it up to twenty gold if you asked, and I believe that, but that’s likely still several hundred orphanages who will need that amount,” Liane explained.
“Is there another solution then, I wonder?” I murmured.
Luis made me jump, appearing from nowhere as he spoke, “There was a solution my father was looking into since you raised it as an issue, which wasn’t to increase funding across every orphanage as most are very small, but rather to combine them down into larger, more well-funded orphanages.”
“The problem there is if they are corrupt, you’re destroying the lives of a lot more children,” Liane said.
“It would be easier to keep an eye on it though, and you could turn it into more of an academy like the capital has for education,” Milo added.
“That would mean mages and healers could be hired at least, right?” I asked.
Luis nodded. “I’ll think on it, but I agree with you, Trevor, something needs to change. I’ve never been in an orphanage before, and seeing it first-hand was eye-opening.”
Walking into the inn, it seemed to have doubled in people since we left, and there wasn’t an empty spot to be seen as the voice of Clara came across the room.
“Sorry, we’re ful… oh, it’s you lot, make room or you’ll get burnt!”
I couldn’t help but let out a chuckle. Her telling them to move was completely unnecessary with both Lily and Crisplet. Everyone was already trying to be anywhere but near us, and we made our way over to our normal table where a red-faced Hari and Gilain both had large mugs of ale in front of them.
There was a clear space around the table with no one getting too close, which was impressive for how tightly packed the rest of the inn had become. Most of the tables through the middle no longer had chairs and had become standing room only, while the booths along the walls were all extra full.
Crisplet didn’t wait, getting the statue from Jen that was immediately shrouded in ash and taken into the fireplace, with Lily flopping down next to it, though I noticed there was one eye still on me. I didn’t know if it was for protection or food, however. Maybe both.
Clara quickly came around, dropping bowls of stew in front of us, along with several jugs of various drinks on the table, and the moment she had moved away, Milo’s air barrier went up, causing all the noise in the inn to go quiet.
“How’d it go?” Hari asked.
Milo gave a brief rundown of everything that happened in the meeting, which prompted me to remember what I had learned earlier that day with Hari.
“Milo, we saw Altin at the adventurers’ guild; his last name is Tenebris, according to the guild officer we spoke with,” I said.
Milo’s eyes went wide, before he let out a laugh. “Average mage, he said.”
I was confused, but clearly this name meant something.
Milo continued, “It makes sense why he was familiar, though I don’t know him exactly. The Tenebris family is probably the most extensive mage family on record, with the majority of their lineage getting a mage class, and even among those, they get an exceptionally large amount of uncommon mages. Every single one excels in magic and has probably some of the best training and records in the kingdom.”
“He offered to teach at the orphanage,” I added.
Milo seemed surprised by this. “They don’t teach others outside their family generally.”
“I should also add, he said he’s doing it because he had a gut feeling that helping us would have an effect on his class, then as he was walking away, he mentioned that fate smiles on us,” I said.
Milo nodded. “Yes, it stands to reason that someone of that family’s calibre would have recognised the mana signatures of our group. The gut feeling, at this stage, Trev, the fate comment could be a passing phrase or Altin knowing more than we expect and believing fate’s involvement. Both are plausible, and we’ll likely never know.”
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“Did they accept him?” Jen asked.
I shrugged. “The guild officer was surprised, said she didn’t take him for the selfless type.”
Milo let out a snort at that. “Accurate for that family, but don’t be mistaken: if he really trains the kids, it wouldn’t surprise me if half of them get a magic class of some kind.”
Gilain surprised me by joining in. “If fate truly is playing a hand, then there will be no other mage to come forward besides the one she wants, selfish or not.”
Hari nodded, taking a bite of his stew.
“You’re right, I wonder if I can chat with him tomorrow before we leave though,” Milo muttered.
“Are we going early?” I asked.
Hari shook his head. “No, we’ll be leaving around midday. The merchants want to set up at the market in the morning; all the attention they are getting has been great for sales apparently.”
The night passed without much else occurring. The inn never got quieter, and after a couple of hours of sitting and watching, I felt Lily nudging me, the clear sign she was after food, which didn’t give me a lot of options in this place as I couldn’t cook much.
What I decided to go with was pulling out a slab of Drakon and cutting off two thick slices, which Crisplet was happy to help me cook for her.
What I didn’t expect was Gilain to have almost a frown on his face as he watched, gesturing to Milo, who seemed to understand as the air bubble surrounded us once again.
“I understand I am under oath, but I must ask, as I’m not so inept with mana that I cannot sense that half the items he pulls out of his storage and everything he feeds to Lily are remarkably dense and rich in mana. That meat he’s cooking is like a mana beacon it’s so rich. What is it exactly?” Gilain asked.
I didn’t know how to respond; the slab of Dracon was already stored, and there would be no way he’d get the slices I was cooking for Lily before she slapped him around, but that also wouldn’t be ideal in the inn.
“You already have likely worked out that Trevor has a rare cooking class; it’s just mana imbued by class skills.” Milo tried to wave it away.
Gilain shook his head. “Sure, regular magic chef skills with dragon meat.”
Hari laughed. “You think we have dragon meat? This is just from a lower draconic on Mount Divinus, nothing special I’m afraid. Lily eats mana, so Trev specialises in infusing the meals with mana; we can’t tell you more than that.”
Gilain didn’t look sold on it, but clearly didn’t push it further, which I was thankful for.
Looking back, I also noticed that Lily had already taken both pieces of Dracon from the fire and was currently eating them, staring at Gilain.
“Relax, Lily, I wasn’t going to steal your food,” he said, leaning back into his chair, sipping his drink.
I was surprised as this was the first time I think he had actually used her name properly and not just said cat.
We were all surprised as Crisplet interrupted us with a giant burst of sparks, ending all conversation instantly as he came out of the fireplace holding the statue still covered in ash.
“Is it ready?” I asked.
I got a burst of sparks and a large push of happiness.
“Milo, would you mind dropping the bubble? Crisplet’s statue for Clara is ready,” I said, excited to see the final item myself, but more importantly, Clara’s reaction.
Milo had a grin as the sound flooded back in from the surrounding crowd, and somehow it was even louder than before now with a bard in the corner playing an upbeat song.
I was surprised how fast Clara came to the table despite how busy it was as soon as Hari’s hand went into the air.
“Another round for yas?” she asked.
Hari just pointed towards me.
“Uh, Crisplet has a gift for you, as thanks for taking care of us while we were here,” I said, gesturing behind me.
The whole room had gone quiet as I realised all eyes were squarely on me and Crisplet.
As he came forward, the ash sphere started to fade away, revealing a knee-height statue of Clara made out of what I could only assume was compressed ash, or maybe a white and grey charcoal. Her hair had fire running through the cracks as her eyes burned with flame.
She was holding three mugs that looked to be full, one slightly overflowing with the flame actually flowing almost like golden liquid out of the cup high in the air, and behind the statue I noticed there was a fireplace just like the one Crisplet was in, with Crisplet inside it. To the side, sitting against the edge, was a small version of myself, with Lily lying in front of it asleep.
Clara stared at it, her mouth open, seemingly stunned and not knowing what to say as her eyes seemed to grow wider, if that was even possible.
“THAT’S ME!” she yelled.
This caused laughter in the room as she knelt on the floor to get closer to the statue.
“Can I touch it? Will it burn me? How’s it on fire?” she said in rapid fire.
“Yes, it should be safe to touch; it shouldn’t burn you, his previous ones haven’t, and Crisplet sculpts using ash, charcoal and fire. If it starts to go dull, just place it next to the fireplace and it will absorb the fire mana,” I explained as she was turning it, inspecting everything closely.
“This is amazing!” she practically squealed, picking it up finally, and holding it in the air.
“If you were not a fire elemental, I’d give you a hug, and free drinks for life. This is incredible!” she said, rotating it.
“You’re welcome to stay here for free whenever you like,” she added.
The crowd by this stage had closed in, trying to get a closer look at exactly what had been made, before getting a good view as she held it in the air to inspect.
Clara then turned to the crowd. “If any of you touch it, I’ll cut ya hand off.”
I laughed, but I noticed a few patrons stepped back out of her way as she moved back towards the bar. Maybe she wasn’t actually joking?
Crisplet behind me, however, was just expressing happiness and pride.
“That was an amazing statue, Crisplet. I wish we had a way to show these to Clifford; he’d be very proud,” I said, swelling with pride myself.
I saw Crisplet turn to Lily, before it clicked what they could be talking about.
I blurted out, “No! Don’t bring him here; leave him in the capital. We’ll show him later.”
Lily’s eyes closed as she seemingly went back to sleep.