274: Fish
Entering the inn, it was much smaller than the one in The Pinch. It felt cosier, with a large hearth in the middle of the room. The surrounding walls had booths on them and only a couple of tables in the middle.
There were two groups of people that I could see, and going by their clothing and the amount of dirt on them, they were farmers or labourers of some sort, while in the corner sat a man softly playing a stringed instrument.
“Howdy folks!” A portly, bald-headed man called from behind the bar.
“Take a seat anywhere you like, I’ll have some drinks out to you in a moment,” he said jovially.
Hari, taking the lead, said, “You wouldn’t mind if we moved a couple of tables in the middle there next to the hearth so Crisplet here could use the fire?”
It was like the man only just noticed the group properly, “Goddess, that’s a fire elemental, yeah, absolutely no problem.”
He appeared to be stunned, and something told me he hadn’t yet taken in Lily, who was softly trailing behind us.
With his blessing, however, Hari and Gilain started to move the tables, and when Gilain went to pull money out, Milo stopped him, “Please, we’ll pay this time.”
Gilain shook his head, “Absolutely not, paying for the inn is a fraction of what I owe for the food.”
He then moved faster than I had ever expected and had a gold coin in hand, flicking it towards the innkeeper, where it seemed to land perfectly on the counter.
Jen, who had been watching, raised an eyebrow, “You’ve done that trick a couple of times before.”
This caused Gilain to burst into laughter, “I have a couple of hundred years of practice.”
The innkeeper himself didn’t stand there stunned for long; the gold coin on the counter had already vanished, and I saw the man filling up several jugs from the barrels behind the bar.
“I’ve got nothing fancy, but you can drink whatever you like,” the man said happily, coming around with four jugs.
It was only then that he seemed to spot Lily, who was now laying by the hearth.
“Don’t worry about Lily, or Clacks; they’re with us too,” I said.
He seemed to snap out of the stupor as he shook his head, “The name’s Jomel; if you need anything at all, just ask.”
Hari, having sat down and already pouring himself a drink, said, “I was hoping you’d have some rooms available, actually, just for the one night.”
“And a bath, the road dust is suffocating me,” Liane added.
Jomel winced slightly, “We only have three rooms available; one of them has a fireplace, though, but we absolutely have a bath.”
Hari had a massive smile, “Three rooms works for us, and just letting you know there is one more in our party who is not here right now; I’m sure he’ll be back later this evening.”
Jen and Liane disappeared immediately, clearly not wanting a drink before cleaning up, and I didn’t blame them.
For myself, however, the moment I sat down the exhaustion from the night before hit me like a raging buvul. I was fairly sure I even fell asleep for a little bit holding a spider leg for Clacks until there was a soft peck at my finger as she freed it from my grasp to take back to the nest.
“Sorry, Clacks,” I muttered.
“Get some rest, Trev. Give a couple of spider legs to Crisplet, and I’m sure he’ll feed Clacks for you so you can get a few hours’ sleep before you need to get up,” Milo said.
Looking around the table, I noticed that Luis was there. I didn’t remember him showing up. The inn was also considerably busier, but the part that really showed I fell asleep for a while at the table was that Jen and Liane had just come out, having finished up in the baths.
“Yeah, good idea, thanks, Milo,” I said, collecting Clacks.
Crisplet and Lily were already behind me as Milo slid me a key to Room One, apparently the one with a fireplace.
Entering the room, it really was very nice as far as an inn was concerned, but I quickly set up Clacks on the side table, pulling out a whole spider and giving one of the legs to her.
“Crisplet, if Clacks gets hungry, could you break off a leg, and if there are any troubles, wake me up?” I asked.
Crisplet let off a large burst of sparks, followed by a strong feeling of protection and trust as the fireplace in the room lit up.
Clacks just let out a soft chirp, again watching the conversation even when food was in front of her.
Lily, on the other hand, had already stolen half the bed, though I noted at least today, she actually left me enough room to sleep. I don’t know if that was intentional or not, but it was greatly appreciated.
I didn’t even remember my head hitting the bed before I was awoken to a knock at the door.
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“Trev, time to get up!” Jen’s voice came from the other side.
I sat up in a panic, looking around to make sure Clacks was okay. I had slept the whole night and didn’t feed her once. I was then immediately confused when there was a small pile of about nine tiny fish sitting next to the nest.
How did Crisplet get fish? I only gave him the spider.
“Trev, are you awake?” Jen called out.
“Uh, yes, sorry, getting changed. I’ll be right down,” I called back.
I heard a huff from Lily, and I had just a moment to give her ears a quick scratch before she fell into the shadow.
Looking to the fire, I saw that Crisplet had once again been working on a statue, but clearly this one wasn’t ready and it wasn’t for this particular inn because it faded to dust.
Crisplet sent across happiness and pride, while Clacks let out a loud chirp next to the nest as I saw her dragging one of the fish inside.
I quickly stored everything and got ready before heading downstairs.
The innkeeper already had breakfast served for everyone as the table was loaded with a variety of different food. I noticed there were many different breads and pastries as well.
“Take a seat!” Jomel called when he spotted me.
“Thanks to whoever put the fish in my room,” I said as I sat down.
There were looks of confusion from the others. “Trev, no one went in your room that we know of; you have the only key for that one.”
Turning to Crisplet, who had just entered the hearth and relit all the coals, I had to ask,
“Crisplet, how did you get the fish for Clacks?”
There was only a brief pause as some flame came up and the shape of Lily appeared.
“Lily got it for you?” I confirmed.
Crisplet let out a burst of sparks and expressed happiness and protection again.
“If that cat has taken a liking to your bird, I suspect you’re going to have a real monster on your hands in a couple of years,” Gilain laughed.
After waving goodbye to Jomel, and I noticed Gilain passing him another gold coin, we were back on our horses and making our way to meet up with the Merchants who had spent the night at the manor.
When we did meet up, I couldn’t help but overhear Anthony speaking with Hari.
“The manor was amazing; they gave us some incredible food and it might have been the best night’s sleep.”
I agreed with the last statement; I had an amazing sleep last night, but I stopped listening as Clacks gave me a chirp before throwing out a small fish bone.
“I heard your big sister Lily got you food last night,” I said with a laugh.
Clacks just let out a chirp before puffing up and heading back inside the nest.
As we rode out of town heading towards the giant tree in the distance, I couldn’t help but wonder about Granel. I really didn’t get to see any of the town, and I was rather surprised the Lord didn’t try to meet with me.
I couldn’t avoid this place in the future; we would need to come back and have a meeting about the dark forest, but it was close enough to Elarith Vale, I’m sure we could do it on our journey back.
“I remember The Pinch was a central hub location for trading. How can there be so much traffic going to the port if the pinch is a crossroad location?” I asked.
Milo had a smile come over his face. “Good question, all the traffic that’s heading to the port are only delivering to the cities along the east coast, while all traffic heading south or east to Boltron will go through The Pinch.”
“Then why was the road from there to Granel so quiet until we made it to this paved road?” I countered.
“From what I’ve learned, increased attacks on the road have people taking the slightly longer route around the eastern forest, cutting south through the plains,” Milo said.
I frowned. “That would be bad for business in The Pinch then?”
“Yes and no, any group that’s well defended will still pass through, and they are usually the ones with the most money. I’d say it’s probably why the weaver was employed to make the town more appealing,” Milo said.
As the road went north, we seemed to stick close to a large river that appeared to get wider and wider. I found it hard to believe that not even a day ago it was a small stream. Now, however, it was way too deep to cross, and I even started to see small fishing boats on it.
On either side of the river, what used to be forest largely turned into farmland, while seeing small farmhouses and barns became fairly common.
“So many people live out here,” I said, surprised.
“Yeah, this area produces most of the grain for the entire kingdom, and certainly a large portion of its food, and they say it’s all thanks to the Life Tree,” Liane said.
Remembering how Boltron had a higher likelihood of attracting attention due to the mana, I had to ask, “Would the tree being rich in mana attract monsters though?”
“That’s not easy to answer, and it’s going to be very interesting as we approach. They claim that monsters don’t like the tree, though I haven’t seen any evidence of it, and Lily has not expressed any desire to avoid it to you, right?” Milo asked.
This made me uneasy. She hadn’t, but I was carrying Clacks, had Lily and Crisplet. I didn’t want them to feel uncomfortable.
“No...” I said, unsure.
Looking into the nest that held Clacks, I felt silly but I asked, “You feel alright in there?”
I got a soft chirp, followed by what looked like a wiggle before she puffed up more and went back to sleep.
Looking to Crisplet, he let off some sparks and expressed happiness.
“Truthfully, Trev, I think it’s nonsense. There is just such a large distance of fields and open area between any of the dangerous locations and the Tree of Life.” He said.
He then pointed out to the field, “See, it’s still filled with Grumfel. They might not be threatening, but they are still considered a monster.”
I made a mental note to keep an eye on all three of them, and make sure Lily told me if there was any discomfort. She’d probably be able to grit through it, but Clacks was just a baby.
It was just after lunchtime when we pulled over. I had been noticing the collection of wagons behind us, but none of them chose to pass us, and this time Hari didn’t seem to care enough to stop us early.
Though amusingly, when we did stop for lunch, I noted at least five of the wagons trailing behind us likewise stopped for lunch.
Milo, noticing it as well, let out a laugh, “They are in no rush unlike others, so they will just enjoy the added safety of numbers, well until Lily shows up I’m sure.”
As Milo built us a shelter to have lunch in next to the river, I couldn’t help but stare at the tree. It was so large now that I could see the top of it was covered by clouds, and despite us still being over a day away, it looked so close.
“I’m looking forward to getting there tomorrow,” Liane said, coming alongside.
“Why?” I asked, surprised that Liane of all people was excited for the city.
“Elarith Vale has some of the best food in the kingdom outside of the capital, and I can’t wait to go to some of the restaurants again,” she said.
While Luis appeared next to me, making me jump, “I’m curious to see what you make out of the food there.”