192: Change

As the carriage entered the path leading to the house, I couldn’t help but notice that things didn’t look normal.

“Should we be concerned that there are double the guards outside our property?” I asked.

Liane looked concerned but didn’t say anything right away, instead appearing to look through all the windows around the carriage, which only made me more concerned.

“I wouldn’t worry too much. You have me and Crisplet, plus Lily won’t let harm come to you. They probably just doubled the guard to prevent retaliation,” Liane said, still looking out the windows.

This wasn’t terribly reassuring, but she was right. I was with them, so hopefully everything would be fine. I was concerned that Lily had vanished, though I doubt she’d attack someone in the princess’s custody.

Coming past the tree of fire, I also noticed more Royal Guards at the base of the stairs leading to the front door.

As the carriage came to a stop, I went to open the door, but Liane pulled me back, pushing the door open as Crisplet went out first, ember crown in full motion as he grew in size, causing the guards to step back. This was followed by Liane.

“Can we help you?” she asked coldly.

There was a pause before one of the guards took a half-step forward.

“Apologies, miss. We are under orders from the King to protect this property and Lord Ashmoon in the event he is attacked, after the events today,” he said, bowing.

“I see. Thank you. Stay outside,” Liane said firmly.

Making our way into the entrance, we were met by Archie, who had the door open for us.

“Sir, welcome home. Did something occur?” Archie asked.

I shook my head. “Nothing directly to me, just someone causing a disturbance at the shop is all,” I said, forcing a smile.

“I see. Very well.” Archie bowed, and I was about to walk away.

“Archie, no one enters or leaves the house unless they live here. Understood?” Liane said firmly.

Archie looked up but seemed to realise the seriousness of the request.

“Yes, miss,” he said.

I was about to walk off when Liane took my arm and started directing me towards the dining room. I didn’t really question it until she started directing me towards the kitchen.

“Liane, is now really the time to cook?” I asked, confused.

“No, it’s not, but out of every room in this house, which one can survive Crisplet’s fire the best?” she asked.

“Uh, the kitchen or the butcher room?”

“Correct, which is why we’re heading to the butcher room. So we’ll have eyes on the doors from the back, an easy escape should we need it if anyone comes from the front, and a room that Crisplet can absolutely fill from top to bottom with fire, and the house won’t burn down,” Liane explained as we walked through the kitchen.

That made a lot of sense. I looked through my storage, finding what I was after, which was one of the original candies I made and handed out to the team. It was the unflavoured sugar one, but importantly it had fire immunity as part of the buffs, just in case.

“Good idea,” Liane grinned as we entered the butchery room and Liane shut the door behind us.

We ended up taking a seat on the stone vessels holding the bacon, and I was about to start reaching out to Crisplet with my mana when I realised that would be a terrible idea, and I absolutely shouldn’t run my mana dry if we might be in danger.

So I just tried to send the one message to him.

I pushed the feeling of “thanks” and “protection” towards him, putting my all into it.

Crisplet just burst into sparks, sending back joy and happiness, and I truly thought I had failed since I only got basic emotions back. But I got a feeling I couldn’t explain. It came across as two words, but not really: “Lily protects.”

I looked at Crisplet for a moment.

“You know where Lily has gone?” I asked.

I got a burst of sparks immediately. Liane’s attention was locked onto us now.

“And she’s protecting us?”

Another burst of sparks.

I was startled when Liane burst into laughter. “Well, there’s going to be at least one less noble house today, then.”

She then seemed to relax, lying back on top of the stone vessel.

“Also, Trev, you know you could have cut these bellies up into smaller pieces to cure faster, right?” she said.

I felt my face turn red immediately. I didn’t even for a moment consider it, so laser-focused on a rune that would move time forward. Something I noticed, though, surprised me.

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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 100 bonus experience for a buff used in combat

…

You have earned 25 experience for making an enjoyable meal

There was experience coming in… and a lot of it?

“People are already using my items in combat? Where? How?” I said, shocked.

Liane chuckled. “Yeah, that makes sense. It was likely some creatures that the Adventurer’s Guild had locked up for training.”

“They do that?” I said, turning to look at her.

“Of course. You’d be silly to go out into the wild with no training at all,” Liane laughed.

My mind raced with the possibilities of what creatures they have there to fight, and if maybe Crisplet would be allowed to fight any. I distracted myself by pulling out Morlin’s journal.