We entered the village, the place a buzz and bustle of activity. Troy sat at the front of the wagon next to Cee, waving to people as we traveled down the dirt path. I was told there was an inn here where we’d stay, space permitting. What surprised me the most, however, was Liane suddenly appearing beside me in the wagon.

  “If we can get you into the kitchen, could you cook some more skywolf tonight?” she asked, casually sitting across from me. How did I not see her enter or sit down? I know I was looking out the front, but surely I would have noticed.

  “Sure, but how did you get in here so quietly?” I couldn’t help but ask.

  She gave me a huge smile and tossed me a wink before climbing back out. “Trade secret,” she said, then leapt from the wagon.

  Coming to the center of the village, the wagon halted before a sprawling old wooden building that I assumed was the inn. Cee and Saddie’s driver tended to the horses while Troy returned to the wagon to do an inventory check.

  I got out to stretch my legs and take in the village. This was, after all, the first time I had been to any other town or village outside of Dunhearth. The buildings were simple, most made of wood, with the inn and another building in the center featuring some stonework and a thatched roof. Not really having anywhere else to go, I gravitated toward the adventurers, who were standing in a group by the inn, their horses already tied up and happily eating from the trough.

  “It all looks so simple here,” I said. “Will they even have much to trade?”

  Milo looking around at the simple huts, “Don’t be fooled by the lack of bustling markets, and crafts, you’d be surprised. A lot of these villages survive through traveling caravans like ours, and often have some interesting things to trade. You’ll find that when we leave, there will probably be a wagon or two following us, just for the protection that comes with numbers.”

  That made sense to me, especially after the incident we had on the road. I had never realized how dangerous traveling really was.

  “Will they have much to trade here?” I asked curiously.

  “Oh, absolutely. They won’t have much in the way of armor, weapons, or luxury items, but this is a farming village, Trev. They’ll have a wealth of fresh produce.”

  I still had so much to learn.

  Before long, the owner—at least, I assumed he was the owner of the inn—came out front and quickly identified Troy as the leader, heading straight over to talk to him.

  “Is this place going to be big enough for all of us?” I asked.

  “Not really,” Jen answered. “Two of us will always be on watch anyway, but usually in places like this, we just share rooms and set up our bedrolls on the floor. Having a roof over us is better than nothing.”

  “Why do we need a watch here? Does the village get attacked?” I asked, confused.

  “It’s not monsters that are the concern, but sometimes there could be a thief down on his luck who might try to steal something. More often than not, though, our presence alone is enough to scare off any attempts, so it ends up being rather boring.”

  Troy came over to our group, having finished his conversation with the owner.

  “Right, there are only three rooms here,” he said to the adventurer group. “You four will share one. Trevor, you can share with Cee and me or with the adventurers—it really doesn’t matter. The third room will be for Saddie, her driver, and her charge. The innkeeper also mentioned he didn’t have enough food prepared for tonight, but I told him we had our own cook, per Liane’s request, and that you’d sort us out if you could borrow his kitchen.”

  I nodded. I still had stew left over since we hadn’t stopped for lunch yet, but Liane had requested skywolf again. Most of the good-sized steaks were gone, but if I had access to a proper oven, I had an idea for what I could make.

  “Hey, Jen, who has the sharpest blade here?” I asked, turning to look at my companions. “To cut through bone.”

  Jen gave me a puzzled look. “Why… do you want to cut bones?”

  “I wanted to get the ribs from the skywolf for tonight. I figured whoever had the sharpest blade would have the easiest time with it. My knife definitely won’t cut it,” I explained.

  “Ah, okay. Yeah, I can do that for you,” Jen replied happily. “My hunter’s knife has a sharpness enchant on it.”

  Before I knew it, I was getting a very brief tour of the kitchen from the owner, Carl, who was also the cook at the inn. He explained that aside from providing drinks to the locals, he rarely needed to make much food beyond the occasional meal for travelers.

  Once I was left alone, I got to work. The oven and stove weren’t lit, so first I started the fire. I didn’t want to bother Milo with it, so I heated it up the slow way. Luckily, I had plenty of time.

  Jen joined me in the kitchen as I pulled out the skywolf onto the central table I had cleared off. I explained where I wanted the cuts made, removing the whole rib cage first before cutting lengthwise down the spine, creating two very large pieces. After cutting those again in the middle lengthwise, Jen decided this was a good place to hang out and perched herself on an unused counter in the corner.

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  “We never really used the ribs much,” she said. “Every time Milo tried, they just ended up tough and not nice at all.” She chuckled. “Milo’s… good at turning stone into things, and things into stone.”

  I laughed at that. I’d heard plenty about his cooking. His rock-hard jerky was legendary.

  Taking the ribs, I applied salt, pepper, and a ground red spice called fire salt. It had a subtle sweetness in its gentle burn. I rubbed the seasoning liberally over the meat and carefully removed the membrane, knowing it would make the ribs tough if I left it on.

  After that, I placed the ribs in the oven, shifting the fire to the far side and keeping the heat low. They would need a couple of hours to cook, but when they were done, they’d be wonderfully tender. I regretted not having the ingredients for a proper sauce, but we’d manage for today. While that cooked, I also pulled out what was left of the stew and set it to heat.

  With that handled, I joined the others in the inn. The few locals who had been there earlier seemed to have made themselves scarce; I supposed it had simply gotten too busy for them.

  Taking a seat with the group, a mug of some kind of juice was placed in front of me. I decided to pull out the dilwater berries I had purified and started snacking on them, offering some to everyone at the table. Milo accepted without hesitation, but Jen looked absolutely horrified.

  “I’ve always wanted to try them!” Liane said, reaching over and grabbing a handful.

  “Not you too!” Jen said in faux outrage.

  “You really should try them. They’re surprisingly delicious,” Milo managed through a juicy mouthful.

  Jen let out the largest sigh I had ever heard before taking a single berry and popping it into her mouth. The moment was too perfect to pass up.

  “Oh, wait—those are the ones I didn’t purify!” I said with as much seriousness as I could muster, doing my absolute best not to smile.

  Jen spat the berry out so fast, it hit me square in the side of the face.

  “WHAT?!” she shouted, outraged.

  I burst into laughter. “I’m kidding! I’m so sorry—I couldn’t resist.”

  I earned a slap to the back of the head for that one, while Milo—after a brief look of worry—just went back to eating. Liane, on the other hand, found it every bit as funny as I did.

  Hours passed, and I took the ribs out of the oven, cut them into individual portions, and loaded a giant plate with them. I cast Infuse Flavor over the dish before carrying it out to the table in the center of the inn. I set the ribs down alongside a stack of plates, then brought out the stew and some bowls, arranging everything for a communal, help-yourself meal.

  At first, people were a bit hesitant, but the moment they tasted the ribs, the meat disappeared in the blink of an eye.

  That night, I ended up sleeping on the floor in the same room as the adventurers. Troy and Cee had gone to bed much earlier, and I didn’t want to wake them up.

  The next day, I woke up early again. At least I’d had a good night’s sleep with only one nightmare. Making my way to the main room of the inn, I realized the owner was already up and moving around.

  “Morning!” Carl called out. “I just grabbed some bread from the baker down the road. Breakfast won’t be ready for a little while yet,” he added, which was a relief—I wouldn’t be on breakfast duty today.

  “That’s okay, thanks,” I replied. “I’m just going to stretch my legs a bit.” I headed for the front door, figuring I’d take a quick stroll around the village before it fully woke up.

  Stepping outside, I quickly realized life in the village started early. I definitely wasn’t the first awake. The streets were already lively—folks were heading out the gates with small carts. A small market was setting up along the main road. There weren’t many stalls yet, but I guessed that’s where Troy and Saddie would be later today.

  Walking past the smithy, I noticed it was one of the few places still silent. I decided to head back to the inn so I wouldn’t miss breakfast. I made it just in time to see the owner serving up what looked like ground meat patties with eggs and bread. Overall, it was a great breakfast—I definitely needed to find out the recipe for those patties.

  Afterwards, I joined Troy as he took the wagon down the main road to where the market stalls were being set up. He didn’t have to go far; a spot had been left for us near the center square. I wasn’t helping today, and the adventurer team was technically on guard duty, but they mostly just lazed around the wagon.

  I decided to take some time for myself and started gathering supplies. I found a couple of meat vendors, several fruit and vegetable sellers, and someone offering grains and flour, along with sugar and honey! I stocked up on a lot—buying a sack of flour, grain, rice, starch powder, a small bag of sugar, and a mini barrel of honey. All of it went into my pantry without any problems.

  From the fruit and vegetable sellers, I picked up plenty of fresh fruit—lots of berries, citrus fruits, and apples—along with a handful of varieties I’d never seen before: colorful melons and a giant green pod covered in spikes that the vendor assured me tasted like custard. I also grabbed a huge supply of tubers, carrots, onions, celery, garlic grass, peppers, corn—basically anything I could get my hands on. I felt a little guilty about taking so much, but the vendors assured me it wouldn’t affect the village’s food supply. They had plenty of excess, and besides, all of this was destined for Boltron anyway.

  Finally, I stopped by the meat vendors. The options were simpler here: chickens, boars, and a small selection of aged buvul. I decided to stock up on eight chickens, which the vendor dispatched for me on the spot, along with two whole boars—apparently slaughtered that very morning for today’s sale. I also grabbed some smoked boar belly, a couple of jugs of milk, and a bunch of eggs to round things out.

  I even managed to convince the town’s baker to sell me some of their stale bread, despite their protests that they had fresher stock available.

  All told, I had spent more than I ever had before—a grand total of 1 silver and 80 copper coins down.

  Heading back to the wagon, I noticed Troy and Saddie each had crowds gathered around their wagons. A woman caught my attention—she looked distressed as she spoke with Troy. As I got closer, I overheard that she was trying to buy a healing salve or potion within her budget. Unfortunately, Troy didn’t have any, and the adventurers didn’t have anything to spare that fit her price range.

  She hung her head and walked away from the wagons. I decided to step in and approached her.

  “What did you need the healing for?” I asked.

  Hope glimmered in her eyes, but it faded when she saw who spoke—me, just a kid.

  “I’m not a healer,” I explained, “but my food can restore Hit Points. I regularly donate to the Medical Pavilion in Dunhearth, where they use it to help heal people.” I hoped that might show her I could be of some assistance.

  “I’m sorry, I don’t know if food will help,” the woman said, looking defeated. “It’s my daughter—she’s been sickly for weeks, and for the last couple of days, she hasn’t been able to get out of bed.”

  “I’ll make something for her,” I said. “Come by the inn in an hour. It’s surely worth a shot, and if it works, I’ll prepare more before we leave tonight.”

  Milo had wandered over to the conversation, and pitched in, “He has a rare class, and I can attest that his food does heal quite well. If he’s offering, I’d say it’s worth a try.”

  Milo’s endorsement seemed to lend some credibility to my claim. The woman nodded.

  “The inn in an hour, got it. I’ll see you there,” she said, hurrying off.

  I thanked Milo for his help and headed back to the inn, ready to start making some chicken and corn soup