I couldn’t help but feel full of pride at the complints for Crisplet, but as Crisplet was trying to show off the dragon, I explained for him.
“This statue lost so of the details when we made it permanent, but this is a statue of Sylverith as she visited the cafe here,” I explained.
“The details are incredible, even if so were lost,” Clifford said, inspecting it closely.
Crisplet just let off a burst of sparks.
Clifford looked back towards the front doors. “How does the fire work? That tree out front has the entire property warm compared to the rest of the city.”
I just shrugged. “Sorry, I honestly don’t know. Crisplet chooses his own skills, so other than nas, I couldn’t tell you how they work.”
Milo made his way over, clearly having overheard the conversation. “I have spent so ti studying it, so I have a theory. It appears to absorb small amounts of ambient fire mana to keep it fuelled. I imagine if you put it in or near a fire, it would get brighter, and the warmth cos from the concentration of that mana.”
Crisplet let off a burst of sparks.
I laughed at that. “That pretty much confirms your theory. Did you have a chance to look at the tree closely?”
“No, sir. I didn’t. The guards were escorting ,” Clifford said.
I couldn’t help but grimace at being called sir, especially by soone so much older and more experienced than myself. It didn’t feel right.
“Please, just Trev or Trevor.”
Clifford scratched the back of his head. “Sorry, Trevor. Usually, nobles are very particular about using their titles.”
This caused a snort of laughter from Liane, with even Milo holding back a laugh.
“Did I miss sothing?” Clifford asked, looking confused between them.
Shaking my head with a soft laugh, I said, “A month ago, Clifford, I was an orphan, and I certainly don’t see myself as a regular noble.”
Clifford looked around. “Then how?”
“That is a long story, but sorry, I’ve been rude. Let introduce my friends: this is Liane, Milo, and Sylverith.” I pointed at them in kind.
Clifford bowed to them. “Yes, I rember Liane from the market, and wait, Sylverith?”
His eyes went wide as he looked back at the dragon statue.
This ti Sylverith’s turn to let out a soft laugh.
“D… Dragon?” Clifford went visibly pale.
“Yes, dear, but I shall leave you to it. He’s a good man, Crisplet.” With that, she walked away, as Clifford just stared at her with an open mouth.
I wasn’t entirely sure what the good man thing was about, but knowing that Sylverith often saw things in people that I couldn’t, it’s likely she was making sure his intentions were honest.
To change the subject, I asked, “Shall we go out and look at the tree, then?”
“Ye… yes, please,” Clifford nodded.
Once outside, I gave Crisplet and Clifford a bit of space as they walked around the tree, inspecting it, as Crisplet shot off sparks in directions to show him things and point his attention towards aspects.
What surprised the most was when Crisplet climbed the tree, with Clifford obviously unable to follow, but on the first rung of branches he started to form a new statue. I didn’t need to see it finished to know who Crisplet was doing a statue of.
It now also showed this really was a tree of Crisplet’s friends, and I had to assu those closest to the top were those he was closest to, but I couldn’t help but be filled with pride that Crisplet had found a friend.
I was even prouder when Clifford gave pointers and advice so Crisplet could create the statue better, using formation techniques to better block it out rather than building it up layer by layer like Crisplet was doing.
“How’s it feel, Milo?” Liane asked with a grin.
“Hmm?” Milo looked confused.
“You’re on the sa branch as his market friend,” she laughed.
Milo looked over, really taking in the tree again, before it must have clicked.
“Hey, wait! Why am I so low! And why is Jen so far up there!”
I couldn’t hold back the laugh, but I knew exactly why Jen was so high up. She was the one who held and carried Crisplet in the early days, especially in the orb form he had and the brazier. I was actually more surprised Liane was at the sa level, but I wouldn’t say that.
Liane was too busy laughing at Milo.
We sat out watching Crisplet build for the better part of an hour, and not once did Clifford stop giving advice, teaching him natural positioning, different facial expressions, even encouraging him to use different heat on the coal to achieve different shades of grey.
But eventually Crisplet was finished and joined Clifford on the ground, looking up, while I couldn’t help but notice a tear in Clifford’s eye.
As I approached, I got a burst of sparks, and looking up, I got to see the figure properly, and it wasn’t simply sitting on the branch like the others. It showed Clifford sitting on the branch, leaning forward with a chisel in hand, appearing to be working on the tree itself.
“That looks incredible, Crisplet,” I said.
Agreent from Liane and Milo both followed.
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I was surprised to see Crisplet form a knife in his hand, followed by a strong feeling of “cooking,” so I guessed he wanted to cook dinner for Clifford, which I was a little unsure about, but I suppose it would be okay.
“Uh, Clifford, do you want to join us for dinner tonight? Crisplet is inviting you,” I asked.
Clifford shook his head. “No, no, I shouldn’t. My wife…” He never got to finish his sentence before a piece of coal hit him.
“I feel like Crisplet insists, but you ntioned your wife? You’re welco to bring your family for dinner if you like?” I looked to Milo to confirm.
He just gave a nod.
“If you’re sure?” Clifford asked, getting a large burst of sparks from Crisplet.
“Yes, we’re sure. How did you get here today?” I asked.
“I walked from the noble section, where the guards guided to your residence after so convincing,” Clifford chuckled.
“I see. Wait here a mont, then.”
Quickly I made my way inside, and it didn’t take long to spot Archie as he moved between the rooms.
“Sorry, Archie. If it’s not too much bother, could we have the carriage take Clifford to pick up his family for dinner tonight?” I asked.
Archie bowed. “Absolutely, sir. I will organise that now.”
“Thanks, Archie!”
I ran back out the front, seeing the confused face of Clifford as he watched .
“Archie is going to get the carriage for you. If you’d like to pick up the family and then head back, while you do that, Crisplet and I will start dinner,” I said happily.
Clifford looked unsure, as did Milo. I’m sure he was concerned about how many people knew, but Sylverith had already given the go-ahead, and that was good enough for .
Archie worked quickly, and the carriage was soon arriving.
“Are you sure? I don’t mind walking,” Clifford asked again.
I was just waving off the concern as Hari, Micca, George, Darren, and Luis all were coming to the front of the house past the carriage. Waving to them all, I turned around to reassure Clifford, but he was now pale and bowing deeply at the waist.
“Uh, are you okay, Clifford?” I asked curiously, looking at the group.
The look that I got was one I had received many tis before, as if I had said or done sothing crazy, but looking back at the group, I couldn’t see anything. Then it clicked.
“Oh, the prince?”
Clifford nodded but didn’t leave the bow.
“It’s fine. He’s just here to train with the others, but you’re okay to take the carriage. We’ll see you shortly for dinner,” I said with a smile.
It took a mont for Clifford to pull himself together, but as he was getting into the carriage, all I heard was Clifford muttering, “The prince? How?”
The mont the wheels moved, a piece of coal hit , as Crisplet wanted to cook, and just making sure:
“Luis, are you here for dinner tonight?” I called out, getting an enthusiastic nod.
“Alright, let’s get started, then, Crisplet.”
Entering the kitchen, I was surprised to see a large at grinder and sausage filler sitting on the counter. I really needed to give Archie a bonus!
“What are we going to cook, Crisplet?” I asked.
Crisplet quickly made the form of a large pot. Nodding, I pulled out the pot he was after. Next, Crisplet gave the shape of a chicken, which I didn’t have on , but after quickly checking the cool room, I noticed that Archie had already restocked what we had used.
If Crisplet was going to cook this, I would probably need to offer a non-spicy option, especially for Darren and George, who both couldn’t handle the heat.
By the ti I made it back out, Crisplet had already ford a knife.
“Do you know what you’re going to make?”
I got a single spark as a result.
“I have an idea, then. You can make a chicken corn soup, and I will cook off so of the crumbed Galvonson I have not cooked yet,” I offered, getting a burst of sparks.
Knowing I would probably need mana for this, I found myself a mana regeneration candy, then started to pull out the ingredients that Crisplet would need: onion, garlic grass, corn, a large tuber, and carrot.
“So, all the veg you will want to dice into small cubes. The chickens we’ll want to debone and place into water and boil off. When it’s nearly cooked, we’ll pull it out, dice it up as well, but we need to save the water,” I instructed as I went to add water to Crisplet’s pot.
Crisplet didn’t wait and diced everything as he cooked the chicken. While he did that, I still had over thirty pieces of crumbed Galvonson, so after taking a rough guess at how many people were going to be joining us for dinner, I went with fifteen, which included two for Lily and two spares.
Deciding to mix it up from the last ti I cooked it, though, I pulled out the smoked sea salt I purchased from Salito and added that to the cutlets to hopefully give them a smoky flavour.
We both got to work, and Crisplet worked with a fiery passion, dicing the veg the best I had seen yet, even removing the chicken from the water himself without my help.
I instructed Crisplet on the next steps, where he cooked off the veg in the bottom of an empty pot with a little oil until it was soft, adding in so flour and butter, cooking that until it took a light golden colour. We then started to slowly pour in the water that he had cooked the chicken in. I had to help with this part while Crisplet stirred.
We were left with a thick soup which needed to slowly simr until the tuber was tender, then Crisplet would add the chicken, seasoning, and finish it.
For the Galvonson, I just continued to cook them off. I also had enough ti to cook so muffins. I was shocked that Liane or Lily wasn’t in the kitchen the whole ti trying to steal food.
In the end, I infused the soup, as well as half the Galvonson. I didn’t want to infuse them all, as I didn’t know how much Clifford could take and didn’t want to risk it being too strong.
I had a taste of Crisplet’s soup; the chicken was tender and not overcooked; it was a little under seasoned, or so I thought, until the warmth ca through, and filled my whole body, it wasn’t a burning in the mouth like his other dish, it almost felt like a really warm hug, it also had an impressive list of buffs.
[Common] Spicy Chicken Soup
Fire ImmunityMinor Fire Magic PotencyFire Conjuration 2 Wisdom
I also suspected there would be plenty left over.
Jen poked her head into the kitchen with a smile. “Your guests have arrived.”
Crisplet let off a burst of sparks, clearly ready to serve, and with a smile, “We’ll serve dinner in a mont if you want to gather everyone.”
I got a nod from Jen.
Next, I took a leap and assud that Lily could see through the scarf; maybe she could hear as well? So, pulling it from my storage, I looked at the scarf in my hands.
“Lily? Can you hear ?”
I felt silly talking to the item of clothing, but a pair of eyes appeared in the cloth, confirming that Lily could see out of it.
“Would you like to co for dinner? We have Galvonson cutle—”
I didn’t even get to finish my sentence before the presence appeared behind .
“Take that as a yes,” I chuckled.
“Oh, Lily, we have so guests for dinner, friends of Crisplet, so just be careful with the strength of your aura, if you could,” I asked.
Lily tilted her head, looking at Crisplet, who must have been communicating, but soon enough there seed to be acceptance from Lily, and the noise in the room next to us implied everyone was getting seated.
Poking my head out just to make sure, Clifford was here with an elderly lady, both looking very nervous, but Jen was showing them to their seats. I even heard her comnt:
“Don’t worry about Luis. We’re all just here for dinner, and you’re Crisplet’s guests of honour.”
Turning back to Crisplet, I just expressed pride to him as he was scooping his soup into bowls.
“Ready, Crisplet?”
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