As we travelled along the road, I could tell everyone was a little on edge, but Colin was happily chatting to Milo on the front bench of the wagon. Unfortunately, I couldn’t hear the conversation from the back.

  After about fifteen minutes of riding, Jen rode up and handed me a piece of parchment.

  Show nothing, leave dinner to us tonight.

  I just nodded, storing the parchment to destroy later, instead opting to pull out the history book and start reading that. What could be more uninteresting than someone just learning history?

  We rode until the sun was setting on the horizon, and the surroundings changed very little. It was just vast rolling hills; I couldn’t see any planted fields. These were all just grasses and shrubs, and the few times I attempted to use Arcane Foraging I saw nothing really—a dull glow of blue on the grasses.

  But if I filtered out common, there was nothing around us. I was a little disappointed by this. I also thought about attempting the nine-hour one, but I’d need to have mana candies or something lined up for that.

  As we passed over a stone bridge that crossed a slow-moving river, Hari decided to stop for the night.

  Milo got to work as he always did, today creating a stone hut of sorts, but it looked thicker than normal—closer to the one he built on the mountain when we were hunting the Galvonson nest.

  I made sure to follow the instructions I was given and did nothing with my abilities, instead choosing to join Darren and George with their combat drills.

  Both had come a long way in such a short time; they didn’t even look to be straining now as they swung their weapons over and over.

  Hari caught on quickly as I joined them, pulling out a wooden sword and throwing it to me. It was far heavier than I expected as Hari spoke, “Ah, excellent. Take this training sword, Trev, and follow my lead.”

  I took a position next to the others, sword in hand, and started swinging. From where I was training, I saw Colin had set up his own camp outside our building, currently building a fire and clearly looking around for firewood.

  “Hey, folks, I don’t suppose you have any firewood stashed away, do you?” Colin asked as he approached.

  Hari shook his head. “Afraid not. We don’t use much wood anymore since having the fire elemental in the party.”

  Colin’s face dropped a little. “Damn, I usually carry some with me, but I overstayed in the dungeon this trip. That’s alright. You don’t mind if I join in the training, do you?”

  Hari again shook his head. “By all means, the more the merrier.”

  As Colin took his place standing beside George and took out his sword, a very familiar pressure arrived. This caused both Darren and George to falter in their swing, but Colin looked around frantically before his eyes landed on me.

  Well—not me. Rather, Lily, who was sitting next to me, staring at him.

  Colin’s mouth was moving, but no words were coming out, as Hari continued on as if nothing was happening.

  “Keep swinging. You need to be able to fight under pressure. If you freeze up or panic, you’ll die!” Hari said, looking at Darren and George.

  They shook themselves out of it, clearly under some strain, and started swinging again.

  Lily looked up at me.

  “We’re just training, Lily. The new guy is someone we don’t really know. His name is Colin—an adventurer from the dungeon nearby.”

  Lily turned her attention back to Colin, who finally found his voice. “Ca… cat.”

  Hari smiled. “Well spotted, Colin. Now back to your exercises. You, of all people, should value being able to train under such pressure; it’s not every day you get the chance.”

  Colin seemed to snap out of his stupor, nodding to himself before returning to training.

  Lily didn’t leave, choosing to lie down between myself and Darren, who was clearly struggling with the close proximity but trying to grit through it all the same. My guess was she was putting herself intentionally between me and the stranger.

  It was while I was swinging my weapon that a thought came to me. I had prepared meals—exactly for this reason.

  “Excuse me, Hari, I’ll be right back. I just need to speak with Milo quickly!” I said.

  Hari gave me a look that said he didn’t approve of my interrupting training but didn’t say anything.

  As I went towards the hut, Lily got up to follow me.

  “It’s okay, Lily. I’ll be right back out.”

  I dashed into the house—apparently faster than I expected, because everyone looked up when I entered.

  “What’s wrong?” Milo asked.

  “Oh—sorry, nothing.” I shut the door behind me, whispering, “Is it safe to talk in here?”

  Jen let out a sigh. Liane chuckled.

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  “What did I do wrong?” I asked, confused.

  Milo responded, “Yes, it’s safe. But if it were not safe, asking what you did would make anyone listening know that you have something to hide.”

  “Oh.” That was all I said, feeling embarrassed.

  “Oh indeed. Now what’s up? Is everything okay out there?” Milo asked.

  “Yes, everything is fine. I came for two reasons. One was to see Crisplet—if he’d like to come outside—and the second thing is I have several prepared meals already,” I said.

  “What’s wrong with my cooking?” Milo said, pretending to be hurt.

  Both Liane and Jen gave him a look before Jen spoke. “Are they buffed?”

  I just nodded. I had buffed them all.

  “Then I think we’ll have to stick with Milo’s. We don’t want a repeat of the Kevin situation, especially with someone we don’t know,” Jen said.

  “Do you think he’s up to no good?” I asked.

  Milo shook his head. “No, I don’t believe so. I really believe he’s a solo dungeon runner and crafter. He even demonstrated some of his imbuing and showed me some of his loot. No—the main concern is he’s a crafter, and he is based out of the capital, so who knows who his connections are. We might be open about Lily, but there are certain things best left unsaid.”

  I nodded. It made sense. “I’d better get back to training before Lily gets bored and wanders off.”

  Looking down at Crisplet: “Did you want to stay here and help Milo cook? Or come outside with me?”

  Crisplet adopted a heroic pose with his flame arms flexing and all, before throwing a coal at Milo.

  I couldn’t help but laugh. “Okay, you save dinner from Milo. I’ll see you soon!”

  All I heard as I was running out the door was a “Hey!” before a gust of wind hit me from behind, making me stumble just a little.

  I joined the training again, while Lily slept next to me the entire time, finishing up when the sun dimmed on the horizon. To Colin’s credit, he did the full training routine with us.

  With Darren and George collapsed on the ground groaning, I saw Colin head over to Hari, who was collecting the training weapons.

  “So, uh… the cat is with you?” Colin asked in a whisper, gulping when one of Lily’s eyes opened.

  Hari just shook his head. “No—not with me. Not even really with the party. She likes our support member, Trevor.”

  Colin looked at me seriously for a moment before turning back to Hari, and in almost a hiss, said, “That’s got to be a city-killing-level beast?”

  Two eyes were open and watching him now.

  “Probably closer to a continent-destroyer, actually,” Hari said casually.

  Colin laughed—but seeing no humour on Hari’s face, he stopped abruptly. “Wait… you’re actually serious, aren’t you?”

  Hari nodded. “I am, yes. Also, she understands you perfectly and hears incredibly well, so do be sure not to insult her. If I’m not mistaken, she’s a very proud cat and would probably take insults poorly.”

  With that, Hari stored the weapons. “Come on, it’s surely time for dinner. Off the ground, you two.”

  With a groan, they climbed to their feet, making a wide berth around myself and Lily, who was now stretching—and I have to say, it looked terrifying. She was a large cat at the best of times, but when she really stretched out, she looked twice the size of normal.

  Colin was clearly still rattled as he stored his sword. “Ha… have a good night!” he waved, before making his way to his own camp.

  I had gained respect for him after hearing from Milo that he was a solo dungeoneer, and that he was a crafter. I also gained some respect after he joined in for the entire training, so I had to fight the urge to invite him for dinner and just waved back, walking to the hut with Lily following behind.

  She was clearly putting on a show, because she didn’t blink forward a single time. I’d only ever seen her do that at Grey Rock.

  And yet, the moment we entered the small hut, she vanished—appearing next to the fire.

  I was looking forward to dinner, and I saw Milo was making a stew of some kind, but when I peered into the pot, I grew a little concerned. I was by no means a professional chef like Martin or Geo, but this stew looked watery, and somehow the meat was pale.

  One look at Liane said it all. There was a smirk, and for the second time today I was torn. Part of me wanted to take over the meal and fix it—I was fairly sure I could: remove half the water, add some chopped tubers, likely add a bunch of seasoning. But I also didn’t want to hurt Milo’s feelings.

  My dilemma was cut short by Liane with a chuckle. “Just fix it, Trev, or it will be buvul soup for all of us.”

  Milo looked at Liane. “It’s not that bad!”

  I couldn’t help it. “It looks pretty bad,” I said.

  Milo threw his hands up. “Fine! Go ahead.” He moved back, and I heard him mumble, “I really don’t think it was too bad today… just a little tough.”

  I heard a chuckle from both Jen and Liane when Hari spoke up. “I don’t know why you’re both laughing—he was on meal duty because he was the best of the four of us.”

  I got to work fixing the meal. I tasted it first, and I was right—there were basically no vegetables added, and it was just chunks of buvul boiling in almost plain water.

  The first thing I did was pour off half the water, pulling out a chopping board and an onion, two tubers, some carrot and garlic grass.

  First, I got them peeled and chopped into fairly small chunks, adding them to the water. I then added regular salt and pepper, along with a small amount of garlic grass for flavour.

  The tubers would help thicken up the water as they broke down with the starch; the onion, carrot and garlic grass would all add flavour. And as the meat was already tough, we’d need to cook it right down until it started to fall apart.

  The only thing saving this stew was that Crisplet was helping it cook, so the meat had been simmering slowly. If it had been boiled quickly, I imagine the meal would be inedible.

  I sat down to wait for it to be ready when Hari spoke up. “I don’t think he’ll cause any trouble. He surprisingly gave it his all in training today. You can tell a lot about a man from how he trains.”

  Milo nodded. “I believed his story after speaking with him on the wagon today as well. I don’t think I have ever seen an imbuer go solo like he has before—especially one so focused on crafting. All his gear is self-made.”

  “That is impressive,” Hari nodded. “But we’ll reach Farnox tomorrow around lunch, and I’m sure he’ll be on his way.”

  Milo spoke up again, rubbing his chin. “I believe he’s going to the capital, but I don’t know whether he has a horse stabled in Farnox or not. I didn’t ask.”

  Hari waved him off. “It’s fine. We’ll be staying in Farnox for a day or two anyway.”

  “Would someone like that be able to help me with my own runes?” I asked curiously.

  Milo nodded. “Absolutely; however, we just know nothing about him right now, so I would avoid asking him too much, for now anyway.”

  After a couple of hours of the stew simmering, I felt I had fixed it enough to be edible. The meat wasn’t so tough, the sauce was thicker, and it certainly wasn’t good—but it would do.

  I served up a bowl for everyone, even Lily. However, she just smelled the bowl and then proceeded to sit back down and look at me, not touching it.

  With a sigh, I had a look at what I could pull out that I had precooked, and my eyes fell on two grumfel. They were common and nothing special buff-wise or ingredient-wise, but I pulled them out and added them to Lily’s bowl.

  “Hey, no fair! I want special roast meat!” Liane said from the side.

  “Shh. You can have special treatment when you’re as powerful as Lily. Until then, eat your stew,” Hari whispered.

  In solidarity, I also ate only the stew. It really wasn’t that bad; I certainly had worse at the orphanage.

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