162: Planning

As the carriage made its way up the road, it was silent. Although Crisplet was smaller, he was still not calmed down from earlier, and I couldn’t blame him. I was annoyed and upset, going over the event, wondering if I could have handled it better, but no. This house had confronted me in public, demanding I go with them, with threats. I would not be pushed around like that.

“Don’t worry about it too much, Trev,” Jen said, gently patting me on the arm.

“Yeah, don’t worry, because we’ll deal with it,” Liane muttered.

Crisplet let off a burst of sparks, clearly on Liane’s side.

“It’s fine. We’ll get back to the house, we’ll inform Hari and Milo, and we’ll send off messages to the palace. It will be curious to see how this plays out,” Jen said with a chuckle.

“Is it because he’s with the alchemist guild?” I asked.

“Trev, he’s not just with the guild. He’s the current head of the guild. Generally speaking, he has the king in a stranglehold,” Jen said before getting interrupted.

“So does Trev,” Liane said with a laugh.

“That he does. That’s why it’s going to be interesting to see this play out,” Jen said.

“Is the meeting this afternoon going to be as bad as that encounter? Tony warned me about his father, said he was likely up to something,” I asked as I peered out the window at the passing buildings.

Both Liane and Jen looked at me, a little shocked.

“He said that? Well, he shouldn’t be anywhere near as hostile, but it’s certainly best if you don’t lower your guard and make sure you don’t agree to anything,” Jen said.

Liane nodded. “He won’t.”

The carriage went quiet again as we moved through the streets. I was second-guessing myself. Should I have gone to speak with him?

Letting out a sigh, I shook my head. No, no, I shouldn’t have.

After switching carriages and entering the house, I found Archie first, finding him surprisingly outside in the garden where I had ripped out the plants to finish my quest.

Crisplet had parted ways with me at the door and went upstairs, taking his statue with him. I suspected Crisplet was talking to Lily, which had me slightly concerned, and I would need to rush upstairs next before she decided to take matters into her own hands.

I felt immediately embarrassed. “Sorry about that, I took those,” I said, scratching the back of my head.

Archie jumped, clearly not expecting me. “Nonsense, don’t be sorry, sir. These are your plants. We’ll get them replaced.”

“Archie, there should be someone coming to deliver a lot of salt later today. If you could just leave it somewhere safe for me until I can store it,” I said.

“Absolutely, sir, but you know we have salt in the pantry?” Archie said.

“This will be for seven large barrels of salt, although he’ll probably be taking the barrels with him, since I didn’t have any,” I said with a laugh, realising I was likely going to come back to just a pile of salt on the ground.

“That’s not a problem, sir. I can organise to get him barrels. Leave it with me,” Archie said, straightening himself up before bowing.

“Uh, do you need money, then?” I asked, confused.

“No need, sir. Your party member, Sir Lindberg, has already provided the house with ample funds,” he said, bowing again.

“Thanks, Archie! I’d better get upstairs before we have a major incident on our hands!” I said, as I waved and went back inside.

Entering the room, I expected to find Lily and Crisplet talking. However, what I found instead was vastly different. Lily was sitting in the middle of the room, watching as Crisplet moved from spot to spot with the statue, putting it down, inspecting it, then moving it to another spot.

I sat on the floor next to Lily and watched the event play out, with Crisplet trying nearly a dozen places before finally deciding the small table next to the bed was the best location.

He gave off a burst of sparks as he stood back, inspecting it.

“Looks great,” I commented.

Crisplet seemed to have just noticed I was there at all, shooting a piece of coal at me that harmlessly bounced off.

“Sorry, I just came to make sure Lily didn’t chase after the person who accosted us,” I said with a laugh.

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From the look I got from Lily, before she then stared at Crisplet, I realised he had not told her anything at all. The longer Lily and Crisplet spoke, the more I started feeling the aura shift, going from light and maybe even humorous to anger.

“It’s alright, Lily. This one we’ll sort out. We need to do it diplomatically, but if he causes me any harm, or wishes to, I won’t stop you,” I said reassuringly.

The look I got was difficult to understand. It felt as if she were studying me.

Eventually, the anger faded slightly. “We are having a meeting with another noble later today, one that I was warned about. I don’t expect harm or direct trouble, but it might be worth keeping an eye on the situation,” I said.

I couldn’t help but laugh as Crisplet came over and flexed.

“Yes, you’ll be coming with me as always,” I said, before a knock on the door got my attention.

“Trev? You in there?” Milo’s voice could be heard.

“Yeah, I’m here,” I called back, getting up, watching Lily fade as Crisplet quickly went back to the brazier.