8: Pavilion

I caught Micca as she was finishing for the night, heading to the door. I asked if I could walk with her, and after a look of clear confusion, she skeptically agreed.

We hadn’t gone ten steps when she asked, “So, what is it? You’ve never asked to walk with me before.”

A little embarrassed, and not wanting to impose—especially since I didn’t know her usual after-work routine—I said, “Sorry, I just wanted to ask this outside the inn. I didn’t want to catch the fury of Larry right now.”

Micca stopped in her tracks. “Let’s go back!” she blurted, her voice full of excitement.

“What?” I asked, utterly confused.

“Anything to take the attention away from me!” she laughed, then continued walking. “Well, what did you need to ask that would risk Larry’s wrath? Is this about your new level-ups? Are you going to steal his business?”

I had to cut her off before she kept going. “No, nothing like that. I was wondering if I could use your kitchen from time to time,” I said, realizing how strange it sounded. “I’ll clean up and keep it tidy in return!”

Curious, Micca said, “Why my kitchen? Why not the one at the inn?”

“Uh, well… I wanted to make extra food for the Medical Pavilion since I get bonus experience for healing people. Geo said if I did it at the inn, Larry would probably think I was stealing his food.”

“Ah, that makes sense.” She gave me a mock-serious look. “I do like my alone time, though.” Then, catching my panicked look, she laughed. “Relax, I’m kidding. Of course, you can use it. Honestly, it’ll help me out—I never have time to clean the place working at the inn. Hell, you could even take one of the spare rooms. My mother left me the house, and I only use one.”

“Oh. Uh, I don’t know what to say.” I rubbed the back of my neck, feeling like I was overstepping.

“Well, Larry’s probably charging you a fortune for that broom cupboard you’re sleeping in. I’ll rent you a room if you keep the place clean.”

Before I could respond, we were standing outside her home.

“Oh, and you’ll need to stay here tonight unless you feel like sleeping outside. Larry locks up after I leave,” she laughed and led the way in, giving me a quick tour: four bedrooms, a kitchen, dining room, drawing room, living room, and a small, barren library—it didn’t have a single book.

“This bedroom was my mother’s, so leave it be. You know which one’s mine, so pick either of the others. You’ll want to clean it first, though—I haven’t been in there for nearly three years. I’ll grab you a blanket.”

With that, she left me staring blankly. I’d just wanted to borrow the kitchen—and now I somehow had another place to live. Was this Fate guiding me? It certainly wasn’t my luck stat. That was nearly my lowest.

Then again, from what I’d heard, Luck only really affected dungeon gear drops—basically “adventurer problems” for people who actually did those things. At least, that’s what Instructor Michael used to say.

That thought left me feeling a little hollow. I’d been so busy lately I hadn’t given it proper consideration. How was George doing? Was he even still friendly toward me? After what Lukas had pulled the other week, I honestly didn’t know how I’d react if I saw him. Should I confront him? And if I did, what would I even say?

“The room won’t get cleaner by staring at the door, you know,” Micca’s voice came from behind me.

I laughed nervously. “Sorry, just thinking.”

“You look like you’ve got something bothering you. What’s up? Is it about your skills? I thought you were onto something with all that,” she said.

“No, not the skills. It’s… the run-in with my friend at the inn the other week—or maybe… I just don’t know,” I admitted, shaking my head.

“You mean the boy? Look, take a breath. Start from the top,” she said, still holding the blanket with a patient expression.

“Well, at the Academy, we spent ten years there, and I only really had two close friends: Lukas—the boy from the inn—and George. George went to the military, so I don’t know where he is now.”

Micca winced, but I carried on. “I hadn’t seen Lukas since I left until that day at the inn. He pretended not to know me. It hurt, you know? I haven’t said it before, but I’ve been so busy I never gave myself time to stop and think about it.”

“Hmm, well, I’ve not had many friends myself,” she said. “But maybe he couldn’t say anything with that group? I served them, and honestly, they looked pretty grumpy. Maybe it was just a bad day? Paths drift apart, but it’s cold to just cut off a friend. Maybe there’s more to it? You’ll get to the bottom of it, I’m sure!” She stepped forward, opening the door to the room. “Let’s get this sorted enough for you to sleep tonight.”

It took around an hour to sweep out the dust and tidy up. Micca left for her room exhausted, and honestly, I was right there with her. I needed sleep.

I had to wake early tomorrow—without Geo’s friendly knock—to try and catch him at the markets. Luckily, they were close.

I didn’t fall asleep easily. My mind raced between my class, Lukas, and why Micca had winced when I mentioned George. Soldiering was an honorable, well-paying job, wasn’t it?

I got up at dawn feeling like I’d had no sleep. My stamina hadn’t even fully recovered—110/150. “It’s going to be a rough day,” I muttered, stepping into the cool morning air.

I waited on the path I knew Geo came from. He was later than usual, but sure enough, he appeared, frown turning into a smile when he saw me.

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“Who’s the girl?” he asked jokingly.

I almost choked. “No one! I slept over at Micca’s last night. I wanted to ask about the kitchen, and she said I would’ve been locked out.”

“Uh-huh, sure. Did she agree to you using the kitchen?”

“Yeah, and she said I could stay in one of the rooms if I cleaned up a little,” I replied, walking alongside him.

“That’s not a bad idea,” he mused. “It would make things easier. You could finish work, head home to cook, prep most things the night before, and just drop it off at the pavilion.” He stopped at a vegetable stand and shoved a bag of veg into my hands. “Here, store this.”

“Wait, what?” I asked, confused.

“You can’t expect an old man like me to lug all this around when you have a perfectly good skill that lets you carry it without weight, right? Consider it training. You get experience for it anyway, don’t you?”

I grumbled but did as instructed. “Yeah, but only one per stack,” I muttered.

Would you like to store:

• 10x [Common] Onion
• 10x [Common] Carrot
• 30x [Common] Tuber
• 4x [Common] Cassava
• 2x [Common] Garlic
• 12x [Common] Cabbage

For 30 mana? Yes/No

Selecting yes, the sack of vegetables emptied.

“What’s a cassava?”

“It’s how we get the root starch to thicken up the stews,” Geo said while inspecting some boar meat. “You know, Trev, if you’re going to be serious about this food donation, you should start buying stuff yourself instead of just staring at me.”

He was absolutely right. I was so distracted and still tired that I had completely forgotten my goal.

Deciding boar was a good enough starting point—and remembering the stew I made at the temple—I bought a boar leg and hock, which Geo helped me haggle down from seven coppers to five. I also picked up some basic vegetables for myself, along with salt and pepper, all of which went straight into my storage.

“I wonder if it has a limit on the number of items?” I asked Geo.

“It’s more likely based on volume than item count, but there’s no real way to tell if it’s full until it’s full. With bags of holding, an adventurer can visualize the space, but you said it just lists your inventory. Very odd,” he finished thoughtfully.

When I thought we were all wrapped up and heading back to the inn, Geo said he needed to make a quick stop at the blacksmith to pick something up.

Taking a slight detour to the edge of town, we arrived at an old shop and forge. Geo stepped inside while I waited. A short while later, he came back out holding a large, heavy-looking iron pot with a ladle, and handed it to me. I assumed he just wanted me to store it for the trip home.

“That’s yours,” he said with a grin. “A gift from your old friend Geo to start you on your journey in the world. Look, I even had the smith engrave it, right here.”