When everyone had finished eating their pie and were sitting around the hearth in the longhouse, Hari got our attention with a cough.

  “This is as good a time as any to discuss our plans. It remains mostly the same: our goal is to drop past Dunhearth before making our way to the capital.”

  Micca raised her hand, and it was waved off by Hari. “Just ask—no need to seek permission for it,” he said to her.

  “Oh, sorry. Well, I was just wondering if that’s the best idea with the royal guard on the roads? Wouldn’t they likely be in Dunhearth?” Micca asked.

  Hari nodded. “Yes, they likely are if they’re heading south down here, but the reality is we’re not going to be able to avoid them unless we fully go off-road for the entire trip, and it’s not possible to avoid them in the capital itself.”

  “And if they have ill intentions?” Micca asked.

  Hari paused for just a moment. “It’s possible, but we’re only speculating they’re here for Trev…”

  As he said that, both Jen and Liane snorted a little before covering their laughter.

  Hari continued after a glare at them. “We don’t know anything for certain, only theories. Either way, the group we came across didn’t appear with the numbers for a fight, so if they are looking for Trev, they’re likely looking to talk. Anyway, back on track: we will head along the northern path, avoiding the road to Portland on our return, following the path along the south end of the forest. It should take us a little over a week with the wagon.”

  There were no objections to the plan. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t worried about the royal guards, but ultimately what could I really do? Go into hiding with Lily showing up randomly?—I’d need to live as a hermit somewhere.

  I shook my head. This was a terrible option and one I would never pick.

  I went to sleep early that evening, my body still in pain from all the skills I had used, but I was very happy with what I had managed. I had clear goals for tomorrow, the chief among them being to finish cutting all the sugar-reeds.

  ***

  The next morning I woke up early, starting the day with a wave to Crisplet before I started stretching. There was a tightness in all my muscles, but I could move much better.

  Taking a deep breath, I activated Arcane Foraging, which had been my go-to skill activation.

  Notifications:

  You have reached Level 4 in Arcane Foraging!

  “Wow…” I muttered.

  I really didn’t expect to get the skill. Truth be told, I had not looked at my stats in a long time. Lily wasn’t around, and since hitting level twenty-five, my experience had barely shifted. I would likely need to request Lily’s help on that when she returned.

  Making my way outside, and waving to Milo, Jen, and Darren, who were currently on watch, before I made my way to the wagon, shivering in the cold morning air. I never got the chance to get warm clothes. I contemplated going back and getting Crisplet just to keep me warm, but resisted that.

  I was startled when Jen appeared behind me as I was pulling a large portion of dough out to portion into rolls.

  “What are you up to?” She asked, looking over my shoulder.

  The dough felt warm to the touch, coming from the warm bakery where it proofed, so I didn’t want to let go, but I was also mindful I couldn’t let it cool down too much.

  “Just getting breakfast ready—and enjoying how warm the dough feels,” I said with a chuckle.

  “Oh, shit, we’ve got you warm clothes. Sorry, I didn’t even remember—Liane is carrying it all. But here, take this for now.” She pulled out a long jacket that would have gone down to my knees. It was made of some kind of animal hide, and there was a thick, short fur lining to it.

  She looked sad as she practically forced me into the jacket. “I’m sorry, Trev. I just thought with your connection to Crisplet you may have been running hot and couldn’t feel the cold.”

  The warmth from the jacket was instant. Between that and forming the rolls from the warm dough in my hand, I stopped shivering almost immediately.

  “Thank you, that’s amazing,” I said, enjoying the warmth.

  “It’s alright. Liane brought you lots of stuff—just wait till you see it. She even got you a special coat that… actually, I’m not going to spoil the surprise. I’ll remind her this morning,” Jen said with a grin.

  I turned around to look at Jen. “I don’t suppose you know how to prepare the boar belly to turn out super crispy, like we had in Greenstone?”

  Jen nodded. “I know the basics, but it’s a lengthy process…”

  I pulled out my notebook—I needed to make sure I wrote it all down as she was explaining what needed to be done. First, I had to prepare the belly by removing the skin and leaving it in a large slab. Then I needed to cure the meat—using salt was best, but you could also add some seasonings during this stage. Jen suggested either the pyrrhosite or fire salts.

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  The concerning part was she said it would take seven days, or longer. Once it was done with the curing, I needed to rinse off the salt and then leave it in a cold environment until it developed a sticky skin. Jen said this could take two days, but airflow would be important. Lastly, was the smoking stage, which would take roughly six hours. Once that was done, you cooled it down one more time, then sliced and cooked it.

  “That’s so much effort,” I mumbled, thinking maybe I couldn’t do it after all.

  Jen just had a knowing smirk on her face.

  “Trev, we have plenty of time on the road till we reach Dunhearth, and if you do a couple of bellies—which I’m sure you have—that will give you a lot of bacon. Alsooo…” She let the word drag out before poking me in the shoulder. “Think of the buffs you could get from it. Even though it’s common, you could infuse extra buffs into the whole slab, and you also will get Second Simmer, plus the buff from the wood smoke. Your bacon will be absolutely amazing.”

  Looking at my inventory. I saw I had three whole boars. I could take the bellies from all of them after I butchered them and start the salting process while we were on the road.

  “You’ve convinced me,” I nodded with a smile to Jen.

  She practically squeaked in delight. “Amazing! I love crispy boar belly. When I was in the capital last, they had a food stall that served crispy slices in a fresh roll with a thick gravy—it was so good!”

  I had finished preparing ten rolls for breakfast, storing them away. There was still a spike of pain every time I used an ability, but it was far more dulled than on previous days.

  I didn’t have time to butcher the boar this morning, but I would make sure I started preparing it tonight when we stopped. So I took out an already smoked one that I had been using, cut thin slices from it, and headed back inside.

  With the sun now properly risen over the horizon, the others followed me inside, where I got to work pulling out a dozen eggs, the sliced boar belly, and the uncooked rolls—giving them to Crisplet first, who got to work immediately by surrounding them in a dome of ash, essentially creating an enclosed oven for them.

  I fried the eggs and the bacon and served them up to everyone. I didn’t bother buffing anything, as I didn’t use any herbs on the rolls. Everything was very basic, but a hot breakfast on a frosty morning was perfect.

  ***

  I was sitting in the back of the wagon—Crisplet currently on the roof, much to Hari’s disagreement—when Liane appeared next to me.

  “Hiya,” she said, causing me to jump a little.

  “Do you really have to do that every time?” I asked.

  She just chuckled and nodded. “I have something for you! I went shopping and got some warm clothes and completely forgot to give them to you.”

  Still wearing Jen’s jacket at this stage, I watched in wonder as Liane started pulling so many different items out: shirts made out of thicker, warmer fabric; pants likewise made of thicker fabric; a new travel cloak with a fur-lined hood on it; and then she pulled out a jacket.

  It looked stunning. It was white fur, but it looked pristine—there wasn’t a single blemish on it.

  “This,” she began, holding it up, “is special, and just for you. Here, try it on.”

  I took off Jen’s jacket, gently placing it on the bench next to me, before putting on the one Liane was holding.

  It fit perfectly, as if it were made for me. It was much lighter than the one Jen had given me, but it was equally warm. I started to move around, stretching my arms, and the jacket didn’t bunch or tighten anywhere. It was perfect.

  “This is perfect,” I said.

  Liane had a very smug smile on her face. “You’ve not even seen the best part yet!” She pulled out a vial of red liquid, uncorking it. “This is just a very low-level healing salve—it’s mostly for sanitation—but it will be perfect for demonstration.” Then she threw it at me.

  I panicked for a moment as the liquid hit the pristine white jacket, then it just seemed to slide right off, soaking into my pants where I was sitting.

  Liane grimaced seeing that, but a smile quickly replaced it. “Well, I didn’t mean to throw it on your pants, but the jacket won’t absorb any liquid and will remain pristine and clean for as long as the magic lasts—sooo, a lifetime or so?”

  I was stunned, just looking down at the perfectly clean jacket.

  “It’ll be super useful while you do butchery during the winter months,” Liane continued, “that way you won’t have blood soaking into your clothes and freezing.”

  I had no words. I was in awe. “This is amazing—it’s absolutely perfect!” I blurted out.

  Liane looked out the back of the wagon. “I’d better get back out there, and you can change those pants—sorry again.”

  I waved her off with a laugh. “You can throw whatever you like at me with gifts like this.”

  A moment later, she vanished.

  ***

  I spent the rest of the day planning how I would do the bacon, with a couple of hours spent cutting more sugar-reed, when a sharp whistle pierced the afternoon. I thought maybe it would be royal guards again, but Hari’s voice yelled out, “Wolves! George, Darren—these will be for you. We’ll back you up if you need it.”

  I peered out of the wagon, catching sight of three very thin-looking wolves approaching cautiously. I was surprised they even attempted this, since it was still daylight; we were out of the treeline, and they were outnumbered. But going by how thin they were, I guessed they were desperate.

  I was surprised again when I saw Crisplet join Darren and George. Having seen Crisplet fight, I wasn’t sure it was going to be much of a fight at all—especially since he was growing in size.

  Hari didn’t stop him, instead just dismounting and clearly ready to intervene if he needed to, but I doubted that would be the case. Jen already had an arrow ready to go, and I knew Milo could use wind blades, and these three would be dead in a second.

  I watched as the wolves broke first, going for George—who looked the skinniest of the lot. They were also clearly trying to avoid Crisplet, but he was having none of it and, in a move that I think caught us all by surprise, appeared to punch one of the wolves with a solid fiery fist, sending the wolf sprawling to the ground with a yelp.

  I saw George using his shield to deflect the lunge of his own wolf, while Darren caught the side of the remaining wolf with his axe as its attention was on George.

  The fight didn’t last long before George deflected his wolf off the shield and pierced its side with his sword. Darren’s wolf never recovered from the single axe blow to the side. And all attention turned to Crisplet, who was punching around a clearly already dead wolf.

  Shaking my head. I really needed to have a discussion with Crisplet about overdoing it in combat. I still needed to talk to him about being overly cruel with the burning of the soldier.

  “Good job,” Hari’s voice called out. “They were starving, so were weaker than a normal pack. In the future, when you fight them, expect them to be more strategic—but they will almost always isolate who they think is the weakest to pick them off.”

  George and Darren returned, along with Crisplet behind, clearly pleased with the efforts because he was shooting off several bursts of embers.

  Which reminded me: did he get experience?