113: Lessons

Heading outside, I was mindful that I would need to make the reed juice by myself. Both the regular juice and the alcoholic one had a cooking aspect to it, and getting help from Liane would ruin that.

Truthfully, I just wanted to discuss the buffs with her and the royal guard situation without the others. It wasn’t that I didn’t trust them, but it always felt easier talking to her, and I knew I would get an honest answer.

I let Crisplet know where I was going before leaving the longhouse and making my way to the wagon where the barrels still were.

I was still in a lot of pain, and my muscles were not working as well as they should, but I climbed into the back and reached the barrels.

“You know you probably shouldn’t do this in your current condition, right?” Liane said as I climbed into the wagon, seeing she was already sitting inside.

I grunted as I pulled out a bunch of sugar-reeds, pain running through my body. “Yeah, I know; I just wanted to do something. I feel like I’ve been trapped.”

Pulling out my sharpest knife, and with a struggle, started to cut the reeds into smaller segments, then in half, throwing them into the barrel once they had been cut.

“I wanted to ask you, what do you think is going to happen with the royal guards?”

Liane chuckled, leaning back on the bench, stretching out as I continued to cut the reeds.

“I think they’ll try to recruit you, and I don’t mean like the lord of your town in a shady manner. I would guess they want to recruit you properly,” Liane said.

I was surprised at that, and clearly my face showed it.

So Liane continued, “I would say they have little to no idea about your class or your cooking, and they likely assume you have a monster tamer or some kind of class associated with that. Most rumours surrounding you are saying you have a unique fire elemental and a shadow cat companion — everything else is left at the wayside.”

I frowned. “And if I tell them no? Will they force the matter?”

“That’s difficult to say. This is just my opinion based on seeing them, but they didn’t bring enough numbers to force you to do anything. So what I’m guessing is they’ll make you an offer on the spot, or, more likely, you’ll be requested for an audience at the capital with someone important,” Liane said, pulling out a pastry from her own storage that I don’t even remember her having.

“What should I do? I don’t want to stay in the capital or work for a noble. I enjoy adventuring, exploring — this is fun,” I said, looking up, no longer cutting.

“Truthfully, Trev, if they think you’re that powerful, you’ll likely still have your freedoms, and they just want assurances you’re on their side. But if they’re truly scared about your connections and the strength of Lily, or your interactions with dragons…” She paused at that, shaking her head with a laugh.

“Who am I kidding, if they are scared or not they won’t do anything to risk their kingdom, if you ask me, do what makes you happy, and don’t worry about the rest of them,” she said, her mouth now full of the pastry.

“About the eel buffs…” I began, but Liane just raised a hand.

“What’s done is done. You should discuss it with Milo and just be cautious in the future. Hari and Jen won’t make your life harder than it needs to be. This is a lesson you’ve learnt — just remember you can’t always get lucky, and one day it very well may burn out your mana channels, leaving you a cripple for life, or worse, your friends,” she said sternly.

We spent a long time in silence, my mind racing, jumping from the guards to how I could be safe with the buffs in the future.

I cut the rest of the reeds in this bundle. I still had several more, but it was getting late, and that pie wasn’t safe around the others even if I had distracted Liane out here.

Looking at the barrel, I realised the reeds I’d cut up barely filled one-third of it, so I reached out, storing it away, wincing as the pain hit, before smiling at Liane.

“Let’s get back to that pie before Jen or Micca discover it,” I said with a grin.

Her eyes went wide, and she vanished in an instant, likely checking on it herself.

With a sigh, I made my way out of the wagon, looking around as I landed on the dirt before making my way inside.

Sure enough, Liane was sitting near the pie, and I couldn’t help but laugh as I saw Crisplet shooting embers at both Liane and Micca, defending it.

Making my way over slowly, shooing them away. “No pie until after dinner.”

I needed to make some rice to go with the chilli, so I pulled out a pot and filled it with rice, adding water to knuckle height as I was taught by Geo, getting a lid from Crisplet and putting it next to the chilli pot.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

I saw Milo making his way over once I sat down, before he took a seat beside me.

“So, what did you find out about those buffs?” Milo jumped straight into it.

I went through and mentioned every buff from the eel as Milo pulled out the notebook.

“Superior is the tier above Major. It’s very rare in elixirs — there’s rumoured to be a tier above that which is the highest, but I’ve not seen any record of it. Mana gain is an interesting one; I think I’ve read about it before, and if memory serves me right, it directly affects the rate at which you gain mana back, both passively and through potions.”

I was trying to follow what he was telling me, but he had barely started, and he’d already lost me.

“I see you’re confused. To put it simply, it would double — maybe triple — your base mana gain,” he said.

I let out a chuckle. “Great, so it would have made everything else more potent.”