184: Delivery

“Trevor!”

It was far too early in the morning to wake up, and I was exhausted.

“Trevor!” the voice called again, louder this time, as I pulled an enormous paw to cover my ears.

“Trevor, wake up. Lily, stop helping him sleep; it’s dinnertime.” The voice of Liane said, now getting much closer.

The paw vanished as Lily was gone in a second at the mention of dinner.

I was exhausted. My whole body had a dull ache, and all my joints felt stiff. Running out of mana was horrible. I had at least got a small amount back since I passed out.

“Come on, Trev, let’s go downstairs,” Liane said.

I felt a pair of hands helping me to stand.

It felt like just a moment had passed when I was sitting at the dining table with a bowl of stew and a bread roll in front of me, and a spoon placed in my hand.

“Eat. You need to get your energy back.” A forceful voice told me.

I did what I was told, spooning the stew into my mouth, and it was surprisingly delicious, and I felt the warmth spread through my body with every bite.

It only dawned on me now that someone else had to cook dinner tonight. I suspect Lily would not be happy with this, but looking around the table, everyone was there. It appeared, though, that Milo was unhappy about something, as he had a frown and kept glancing my way.

Leaning towards Liane, I whispered, “Did something happen with Milo? He looks upset.”

Liane just let out a chuckle. “Yes, he went to wake you up before I came up there, but Lily wouldn’t let him enter the room.”

“She just glared at me until I left,” Milo muttered, a frown evident on his face.

I couldn’t help but smile. “Sorry, they are extra protective while my mana is low. Who cooked?”

“Archie prepared dinner tonight.” Jen commented.

I immediately thought of Lily who vanished when dinner was mentioned, I was sure she’d be inside the kitchen right now, I hope everyone was okay.

The rest of dinner passed without much conversation, but before I left to go back to sleep, Micca grabbed my attention, pulling me and Milo back to the table.

“I will open the shop in a week, so I wanted to speak to you about the other goods besides the candy,” she said.

I had not even started the jerky yet, but I’m sure I could do that tomorrow. The bacon and sausages, though, would take a while yet, and I would need to make more candy as well.

“Have you figured out how you will sell them?” Milo asked.

Micca seemed stunned for a moment. “Uh, preference to adventurers, but first come, first served?”

Milo nodded. “And what will you do if a single noble house pays a hundred adventurers to get one each from you for their private supply?”

“Uh…”

Milo chuckled. “That will be something you need to be mindful of, although very difficult to control. But do bear in mind, noble folk are always trying to scheme an advantage, your restaurant will be no different. They may also offer to invest or donate; everything comes with strings.”

“I’ll start the jerky tomorrow, but it’ll take me a few days. It should dry pretty quickly, though,” I said.

“Perfect, so you’ll have the three hundred pieces?” Milo asked, referring to the contract that had been signed.

I just nodded. That should be fine; the room was large, I had plenty of meat, and if I stacked it all together, I would only need to infuse it once.

“Eventually I might have bacon and sausages, but for that we’d need to figure out the runes first. Maybe it’s possible to avoid the royal family trying to take it all by addressing their concerns before it goes on sale?” I offered.

Milo nodded.

“Would it really be so bad to give them a portion of the selection if they guarantee its use within a certain time frame?” Micca asked.

“The problem is, who is going to enforce the rules on them?” Milo countered.

“I will,” I simply said. “They want me in their good books, right, so I can’t see them immediately breaking a deal to stockpile it all.”

“That’s true,” Milo conceded.

“Did you already hire all the staff?” I asked Micca.

She practically bounced in the chair with excitement. “Yes! I got the most amazing pastry chef, and he’s bringing his own apprentice and wife, who assists, to work the kitchen. Then for the front, we had so many people come for the job we had a line outside.”

“They are all going to be noble family members, aren’t they?” I said, looking at Milo.

He just let out a soft chuckle. “Absolutely.”

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“I’ll have all the jerky and the rest of the candies ready for you for launch,” I said happily to Micca.

“For now, I need sleep. I’m still exhausted, unless there is something else?” I said.

When Micca looked like she wanted to say something, but couldn’t, I sat back down.

“Just spit it out,” Milo said.

“Uh… well, I was hoping you could be there on opening day. I know Lily will probably follow and terrify people, but I really want you there all the same,” she blurted out to me.

“Oh, I was going to be there anyway. I’m sure Kathrine and Luis will come along as well. I’ll ask,” I said, standing up again.

Sleep time.

***

The next day I didn’t bother with breakfast or anything. I made my way straight to the butchery room on a mission. Crisplet left me at the doorway to go work on his statue, as Lily followed behind.