219: Reveal

Once everyone had finished eating, I gave the pot to Archie to give to the other staff. He insisted, though, that he’d return the leftovers and that a single bowl would be more than enough.

Sitting in the living room, with the fireplace lit as Crisplet was practising something inside the flames, Milo broke the silence.

“Oh, the prince is going to be joining us on our trip up north,” he said.

Hari raised an eyebrow. But Jen sat upright. “Why?” she questioned.

“He’s on a job from the King up north, and he didn’t want to do his trip with guards. Said he’d prefer to go with us,” Milo explained.

Hari just nodded. “Sounds good. Nice kid, that one, and it’ll be nice to have a sparring partner. I’m close to evolving my own skills.”

My attention was piqued at that; something I had rarely asked was details on the party’s skills, and I really hoped I could see more. I knew Hari had his sprint, at least two defensive abilities, and a massive power strike, but the others, I knew very little.

“Maybe we’ll get to fight some monsters, too,” I said happily, getting a burst of sparks from Crisplet.

“I don’t know why you’re happy about monsters. You’ll not be fighting them,” Jen said.

“Sure, but Crisplet can, and he gets experience from it, too,” I countered.

Hari frowned. “I’m sure we’ll run into something, but we will not look for trouble.”

Liane let out a snort, earning a glare from Hari.

She just raised her hands in the air. “What? We’re travelling with Trev. What do you mean, we will not look for trouble? Since when has that stopped us?”

“It’s not been that bad, has it?” I asked, feeling worried.

Milo and Jen just laughed.

It was getting fairly late in the evening when there was a soft knock at the door to the living room, and I was surprised to see Archie again. Usually, they had the late evenings to themselves.

“Sir, I’ve shared the soup with everyone as you requested, and I have come to return the rest to you,” he bowed before pulling out the pot and placing it on the table.

“Everyone enjoyed it immensely,” Archie smiled.

“Thanks, Archie,” I said, reaching over and storing it.

I’d have liked to convince him to keep it, but I knew a lost cause when I saw one, and there was no way he’d take it. I noticed the pot was still half full as well, so I’m sure everyone was given a very conservative amount of soup.

“Goodnight, sir,” Archie bowed again, leaving the room.

I felt it was a good time to go to bed myself. I would finally get to see the statue Crisplet and Clifford had been working on.

I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t kind of nervous. Impulsively, I had put Clifford forward like that, not knowing if he’d ever made large statues, and working with Crisplet can’t have been easy.

The only saving grace was that Luis had alluded to it looking amazing but wouldn’t tell me the details.

Then a thought struck me, something I needed to do.

“Is there a temple to the goddess of fate here in the capital?” I asked.

“Yeah, there’s a temple to all the gods here. Did you want to visit before we leave?” Jen asked.

“Yes, please. I don’t know why I have put it off so long, but it doesn’t feel right not to leave an offering. Anyway, I’m heading to sleep myself. Goodnight!”

***

I had barely made it down the stairs the next morning before the voice of Sylverith came across the foyer.

“Morning, young Trevor.”

“Morning, Sylverith. Did you want to head off right away today?” I asked.

“That would be handy. I have to go on a quick trip tonight to be back for the dinner,” she smiled.

Nodding, I didn’t need to get Crisplet; he had already left for the day, as he had done for the last couple of weeks, but I was excited.

“Let’s go!” I said happily.

Heading downstairs, I wondered if anyone else was coming with us, but there was no one else around, which surprised me. I really expected to see at least Liane want to come and see the statue.

“Is it just us, then?” I asked.

“Yes, dear. Lily will meet us there,” Sylverith smiled before walking out the front door, leading the way.

Out front there was a carriage ready to go, but what surprised me was it wasn’t my usual one, nor was it a royal one like I would have expected. Instead, what stood there was a dark wood carriage with what appeared to be a green interior with thick green curtains.

“Whose carriage is this?” I asked as we approached.

“Mine, dear. I had it made for me, as I’ll be here for a little while,” she said, as her driver opened the door for us.

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Inside, it seemed incredibly luxurious, with cushioned seats, and there was even a green trim throughout.

As we rolled, I noted it was considerably smoother than my own carriage as well.

I was confused when we left the upper noble district, rather than heading to the palace where I was expecting to go.

“Sylverith, where are we going?” I said, looking out the window.

“As I mentioned, Lily and I have a gift for you, so we’re going to collect that now, then we’ll head to the palace afterwards.”

I watched as we rolled through the noble district, moving towards where the cafe was, but soon we pulled up outside a small but expensive-looking tailor shop.

“Clothes?” I said mostly to myself. I liked the jacket I had, and I didn’t want to replace it.

Entering the store, I was surprised to not see clothes around the place. Instead, it was just rolls of fabric, with two mannequins off in the corner. A giant mirror dominated the wall.