159: Warning

The next morning I woke up early, due to a very particular reason.

I was being smothered!

There was a giant paw covering my face. I probably should have been worried about the claws that seemed larger than my face, but I hastily pushed the paw off.

“Lily, don’t smother me!” I said, nudging her.

There was no reaction. She just stretched further, taking up more room on the bed.

This morning we’d be going to the marketplace, which meant I’d finally be able to get all the supplies I needed! And hopefully, some new stuff. I knew I didn’t really need any meat, but I was excited to try something new.

As I went toward the door, Crisplet burst from the hearth to follow along. I’d only made it halfway down the stairs when Tony got my attention.

“Excuse me, Lord Ashmo…” he started to say.

“Please, just Trevor, or Sir if you must,” I said.

“Sorry, sir. Could I have a moment of your time?” he asked, seemingly very nervous.

“Everything okay?” I asked.

“Well, it’s difficult. I heard you’re seeing my father later today, and, um… I just wanted to warn you, actually. To be careful,” Tony said, clearly struggling to say it.

I was shocked to hear this, especially from someone I barely knew. “Careful? Will he try to harm me?” I asked.

“No… not harm you. He’ll try to take advantage of you. He always has a plan, or a scheme, and I want you to be aware of it,” Tony said, still looking very nervous.

“Thanks for letting me know, but why? He’s family.” I looked at Tony, trying to study what he’d get out of this.

“Well, truthfully, I just don’t want to see him get hurt or killed. And I don’t think he really realises how well connected you are with beings that are outside of his control. He’s a stubborn old man,” Tony said, hanging his head.

“Ah, I see. Well, thank you for your honesty, but don’t worry, I won’t be seeing him alone. While I’ve got you, how’s everything going? It must be odd working here now,” I said with a smile.

“It’s certainly out of my comfort zone. I never thought I’d spend my days cleaning and escorting messengers in and out all day, but it’s fun. Those statues are incredible too, except the one out front that’s moving occasionally has some staff worried. They’ve already begun to say it’s haunted,” he said with a laugh.

“What statue is moving?” I asked, confused. They were both made of solid stone, and they were incredibly heavy.

“The Lily one. It changed the direction it was facing, and it felt like every time we saw the statue again it had moved. However, no one saw it actually moving,” Tony said.

I awkwardly laughed. That was absolutely Lily moving her statue to ensure it faced the moon. I wasn’t sure if I should ask her to stop, or just let it happen.

I waved to Tony as I continued on my way to the kitchen. I wanted to prepare a quick breakfast before the day, but as I entered the living room that led to the dining room, Jen caught my attention.

“Don’t make anything. We’re going to go to the markets as soon as Micca and Liane are up, and we’ll get something there!” she called.

“They have breakfast food?” I asked.

“Of course. You’re in the capital now, you can find anything! My personal favourite is these cake-like things, a bit like bread but they’re fried, then covered in sugar and spices with a honey coating,” Jen said. I could have sworn there was some drool there.

“That sounds like a dessert, not breakfast,” I laughed.

“Sounds like breakfast to me!” Micca’s voice came from behind. “But I probably won’t be joining you this morning. I want to go to the shop and start organising the floor layout. I was up all night making plans, but I need to see it in person,” she said.

I nodded. I was disappointed that Micca wouldn’t join us, but it made sense.

“Make sure he haggles and don’t let him get scammed,” she said sternly to Jen.

“You got it,” Jen said with a laugh.

It didn’t take long before Liane joined us, though I was not convinced she was actually awake, and we made our way to the foyer where we were met by Archie.

“Sir, I have prepared a carriage for you,” he said, bowing slightly.

I looked at Jen and Liane. “Can’t we walk there?”

They both shook their heads. “We can probably stop halfway so we don’t show up at the markets in the carriage, but it’s best that we leave in one,” Jen said.

We stopped once we’d passed the inner walls, and the carriage dropped us off. It would still be a fairly long walk from here to the marketplace, but I really didn’t want to arrive in a carriage—certainly not the one we were travelling in, as it was clearly for royalty or high nobles.

The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

The driver agreed to wait for us by the gate, so we made our way into the city.

This was my first time really experiencing it, and it was both overwhelming and incredible. The streets were clean as people moved along, starting their day. The middle of the road seemed to be exclusively for passing wagons, riders, and carriages. This area was clearly mainly residential, but the buildings themselves were tall and well-maintained.

“This area is for lower nobles and usually merchants. Perhaps a few wealthy adventurers,” Jen explained as we walked down the street.

What I noticed here, compared to a lot of the other places we had visited, was that there was no water on the roads, and very little stray dirt either, with all the roads here seemingly made out of smooth stone.

We even had several guards pass by riding on the backs of Drakhal. They didn’t appear to be in a rush at all.