Hari ended up coming over to help out with lifting the bellies. The salt was fine, as I could store that and just pull out the salt itself, covering each belly with plenty of salt.
“Should we cut them into smaller pieces? Would that help it cure faster?” I asked curiously.
Milo shrugged. “These are so thick, it’s probably best you leave it whole and just do it over ti. We can investigate if there are any other options for speeding it up, but honestly I know very little about it,” he said.
“I know in the large breweries they can age things faster than normal, so I feel like there is a possibility. I just don’t know what they use,” Hari said.
“Worst case scenario, you start this now, and when we return in a few months, it’ll be ready, and you start again,” Milo said.
“Wouldn’t work outside of these. What are the chances he’ll have drake and titan boar again? And even then, the drake is far larger and thicker than the boar, so they won’t finish at the sa ti,” Hari said.
Which raised another question I had not yet considered. “Can you over-cure the bacon?”
“Sort of. It’s still edible, but it will get very salty. People sotis preserve at like that by storing it in salt. It’s just not ideal. With a shop, you can eventually get a storage ring and it’ll do it better, even if it just slows ti,” Milo explained.
The three vessels were sealed shortly after, with Milo offering so fresh water for us to rinse off from handling the bellies.
“Do you think we could find a spot for the smoking room?” I asked hopefully.
“I’m going to train with the boys. If you need again, just call,” Hari said, waving as we made our way outside.
It didn’t take us long to find a location to place the smoker. There were flowers planted there, but after using Arcane Foraging, none of them were even uncommon, so Milo got started. He built a very basic-looking box smokehouse with a gable roof. At the top of the gables on each end were three vent holes.
The door was left open for us to attach sothing, and there were no windows.
Walking inside to inspect it with Milo, he had run six beams across the roof with stone hooks on each, and finally, in the middle, there was a small fire pit.
“It’s very basic, but this should do. You hang the at on the beams up here while running a cold smoke in the pit, so be sure to use green wood,” Milo said.
“Won’t Crisplet be able to help?” I asked curiously.
“You could certainly have Crisplet control it if you wanted to, but when you use a cold smoke like this one, you smoke it for a very long ti, usually several days. It allows your at to preserve for longer,” Milo explained.
That was useful to know. I didn’t want to rely on Crisplet for everything, and having jerky or sausages that didn’t have the fire immunity buff on them would actually be good. I would need to source so green wood, but that shouldn’t be too difficult.
“Alright, I’m going to leave you to it. What are your plans for today?” Milo asked happily.
“Sleep. I’m exhausted,” I chuckled.
“That’s probably for the best. I’m going to start your mana training tonight. Hopefully, Crisplet could help out. Where is Crisplet, by the way?” Milo asked, curiously looking around.
“I think he’s working on a statue in the kitchen he doesn’t want anyone to see yet,” I said, rembering the night before.
As soon as we arrived at the butchery room this morning, Crisplet stayed in the kitchen, and if he wanted to keep it secret, I wasn’t about to intrude.
“I’ll get soone to wake you up when the princess arrives if you’re not already awake,” Milo said.
Deciding to just poke my head in, Crisplet was indeed working on his statues. There were now three humanoid statues, and going by the body shapes of all of them, I had a strong suspicion I knew exactly what he was making, but I didn’t want to interrupt too early.
“Crisplet, I’m going upstairs to have a nap. You’re welco to stay here and keep working on the statues if you like,” I said.
I saw a burst of sparks from the haze, but it didn’t fade, so I took that as he would stay.
“If you need to make any permanent, just find Milo. He’s usually in the library,” I called out, again getting a burst of sparks.
I exited out of the butchery room into the yard so I wouldn’t walk past the statues and spoil it, I slowly made my way around to the back entrance where the sunroom was located when I spotted an old tree not too far in the distance, closer to the edge of the property just past a small rise. There was soft grass around its base, with sunlight coming through the leaves above.
It was a really nice day, so I decided to lay down on the ground by the tree. Despite it being winter, with the sun shining down there was a pleasant warmth that seed to exist in the city, and before I knew it, I was asleep.
***
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I was unexpectedly awakened by a hard knock to my side. Opening my eyes, startled, I was t with an angry pair of erald green eyes looking down at .
“Lily?” I asked.
I was hit again. This ti I noticed Lily was hitting with her paw. There were no claws, but even still the knock made slide on the ground a little.
“What’s wrong?” I asked, confused, looking around.
But it was just Lily standing over , looking at with a glare.
Lily then turned and started walking towards the house. She only made it a few steps before stopping, looking back at , and walked a few more steps. The ssage was clear. I was to follow.
Figuring sothing had happened, I scrambled to my feet and followed, my side a little sore from where Lily had tapped , but as we made it closer to the back door, I heard a booming voice.
“Trevor! There you are!” Hari yelled, storming out the door.
He had not even made it five steps towards before a giant ball of fire and ash, deep red, looking terrifyingly volatile, easily the size of Hari himself, rushed past, coming directly towards .
I didn’t even get ti to put the situation together before I was hit in the gut by a large ball of coal, adding to my already bruised side. Then ca a flood of emotions: anger, confusion, more anger, and relief.
It was then that it all clicked for . “Sorry, Crisplet. I should have let you or soone know I was sleeping outside. The tree just looked incredibly comfortable.”
Hari had just caught up, and clearly his yell had caught the attention of everyone, as I saw Micca looking out the door, while Jen and Milo were likewise marching over.
“Trevor, in the future, please let soone know where you are if you’re wandering. We were all looking for you and feared the worst had happened, when Crisplet is panicking. The princess was about to send guards out to look for you in the city,” Hari said sternly.
“I’m sorry. I really didn’t think about it. I was tired, and it looked like a good spot,” I said, hanging my head.
“Go easy on the lad. He likely didn’t know you couldn’t see the base of that tree from the back door either,” Milo said as he finally caught up.
Milo got a piece of coal thrown at him too.
“I’m not saying he shouldn’t have told you Crisplet. I’m just saying he was tired and likely didn’t put a lot of thought into it, and it’s a mistake he won’t make again, right?” Milo said, giving a hard look.
“Right. I am really sorry. I was just leaving the butchery room, and I saw the tree and it looked incredibly comfortable with the sun coming through,” I said.
I had ssed up, especially with telling Crisplet I was going upstairs and then not going.
“Anyway, the princess is here, so Trevor, clean yourself up. I’ll let her know you’ll be in the study shortly,” Jen said, giving a half smile as she turned to go back to the house.
Hari followed, not saying anything else.
“You had Crisplet very worried and trying to find you, when Lily showed up, it didn’t take her long to pin you down, which is good, although the pressure she was emitting tells she wasn’t very happy about it either,” Milo laughed.
I just nodded, feeling the ache in my side.
Looking back, I expected to see Lily still there, I could still feel her presence. but she was missing again. There was just Liane sitting on the grass where I had been lying down, leaning up against the tree with a smirk on her face.
“Sorry, it was my fault.” I said, looking at Crisplet.
The volatile red faded a little as Crisplet shrank back down to normal size.
“Lily, I know you’re still watching. I can feel it. Sorry as well,” I said out loud.
There was no reaction to that one, but I brushed myself down as best I could. I had so dirt stains on my pants now from where I slid across the ground a little, but at least the jacket was clean.
“Go change upstairs before coming to the study. This is an official eting, not a friendly house visit,” Milo said, looking at my pants.
Doing as I was told, I rushed towards the house. Crisplet did not leave my side at all, being far closer than normal.
Liane had vanished again as well.
I quickly changed, wearing my formal suit and entering the study, where the seat behind the desk was taken by Kathrine, with Hari and an empty chair off to the side, a seat in front of the chair empty, and Archie standing by the doorway.
Entering, I saw the slightest smile appear on Kathrine’s face before her passive appearance returned.
“It’s quite the search party you have if you go missing,” she said.
“Sorry about that. I didn’t let anyone know where I was having a nap,” I said, taking a seat as I scratched the back of my head. Again, Crisplet was close by my side, unusually close.
“That’s alright. I’m here on official business in relation to the letter that was sent to us regarding House Valrith. Unfortunately, we won’t be able to remove the invitation for House Valrith to the dinner, as this will be an official event…” she started.
And I was just about to protest, to tell her I had no intention of going then, when her hand went up, pausing .
“But Corin will not be attending. Another representative of their house will attend, under strict instructions from the king to not intimidate or interact with you in any way, including outside of the formal event itself,” she said.
“Won’t they just get soone out of the house to do it then? Or another house?” I asked.
“Possibly, but as I’m sure your companions will inform you, when dealing with politics it’s better to know who your enemies are than have them conspire against you, hidden,” she said.
And it took longer than it should have for it to click that this might expose people who were working for House Valrith.
After a pause, seemingly just enough ti for to figure it all out, Kathrine continued.
“We will increase security around your property just to be safe, and the king hopes and wishes that you will decide to still attend the dinner,” she said, now smiling.
“On an unofficial note, I’m not entirely sure the extra security is required, because it seems as soon as Lily showed up and spoke to Crisplet, she went directly to you, so it’s good to see you have such a deep connection with your companions and friends, I’m also really intrigued about your shop, how do you get the buffs in the food like that?” she said.
She stood up and again reverted to an almost stiff, stony expression. “Unfortunately, I have many other matters to attend to today, I actually wanted to discuss your products with you, but if you don’t mind I would like to return later to have a more informal conversation, since I won’t be able to stay.”
“Uh, sure?” I said, looking over my shoulder at Milo and Hari.
“Oh, you’re actually willing to discuss it? I was fully expecting to get shut down again.” She said with a smile.
“I’ll definitely be back when my duties are done. Have a great day, Trevor Ashmoon.” She said, nodding as she walked out of the office, stopping at the doorway briefly, “Oh, Prince Luis wants to visit as well and train, if that would be agreeable.” She said,
Hari just nodded, “That’s perfectly fine, more training is always good.”
Then she was gone, leaving the four of us behind.
Looking behind at Hari and Milo, all I could say was, “That’s good news, right?”
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