"You have to thank Rena and Ryssa for this. When our Dryad friend brings Manohar the Second here for playdates and your sister her friends from Zelex, Ryssa uses our park to teach the reverted ogres how to use their powers.
"She knows you are a cheapskate and the ogre kids love playing under the sun. With the excuse of developing finer control over their abilities, Ryssa has them tending to the plants. They have test subjects and we have a well-kept garden. Everybody wins."
"Indeed." Lith nodded. "Remind to thank Rena. I really appreciate her looking out for my wallet."
"You bought that?" Kamila laughed. "They don't do it for you, silly, but for themselves. Having gardeners would an the presence of strangers walking around the park and making our guests uncomfortable.
"By the way, is there any news from Strider?"
"Yes, there is." Lith replied. "Erslan's information was accurate. Strider had no trouble finding the village of the blabbermouth with nadion's grimoire. His na is Vidun Phorr, a rogue Awakened."
"And?" Kamila asked.
"And that's it." Lith shrugged. "He never attended an academy, never showed enough talent to draw the attention of a Council Elder, and he never joined the Mage Association. Aside from being a self-Awakened, this Vidun is a nobody."
"Strider has already gone to Vidun's last known position and is looking for sothing he used recently so that I can sample his energy signature with the Eyes of nadion.
"I told Strider to take his ti and perform a thorough investigation. There's no rush since he can store whatever he finds inside a dinsional amulet and I'm not going to move until I fully recover."
"Are the burns on your life force still hurting?" Kamila clenched his hand, scared that Valtak's experints on the blue flas might have long-term consequences.
"No, I was talking about what you did to yesterday." He managed to blush on cue, using a hushed voice and a mockingly maiden-ish deanor.
"Idiot!" She playfully slapped his shoulder while blushing, in her case for real. "You scared to death and made feel like a pervert!"
"Feel like? Tell another." He snorted.
"Fine. I'll burn all the dresses in the kinky closet, then." She retorted in kind.
"Don't you dare!" Lith said with such a serious tone that it made her burst out laughing. "Jokes aside, I'm mostly fine but so of the cracks in my life force are still cauterized by Valtak's Immortal Flas.
"On the one hand, they spare from Death Vision and allow to use my full strength without any risk. In fact, I've gone to Grandma to have her dismantle my best artifacts and then Solus and I reforged everything."
"I feel like there's a 'but' incoming." She hugged his arm tight as they walked.
"But at the sa ti, I can't use abilities like Call of the Void or the black chains. Or rather, I can but it feels awkward and their effects are weaker than normal. I could power my way through, but it would be like ripping stitches open or scratching away a scab."
"You want them to heal naturally." Kamila nodded. "Excellent, thinking. I agree. How long do you think you need for a full recovery?"
"Not much longer." Lith shrugged. "A week tops. Why?"
"Because for once, I'm the one with a plan!" She said with a dazzling smile.
***
Lith going back to Xaanx had brought back pleasant mories to the Verhen family. Not about the city itself but Mount Sartak, where two years ago Lith had brought the kids for their boot camp/camping trip.
"I thought you said you wouldn't take us on a magical trip until we are older." Falco said and his siblings nodded.
"And he's not." Kamila said while opening the door of the Hot Pot for the kids. "This is going to be a simple camping trip. No magic except that for practical reasons. Are we clear?"
"Crystal." Lith, Aran, Leria, and the triplets sighed in unison.
Only Solus was as enthusiastic as Kamila and looked at everything with marvel.
"I can't believe we are back. Gods if I missed this place." During their first visit, Solus had yet to regain her human body and her existence was still a secret.
She had spent the whole ti hiding in her ring and still regretted having no opportunity to spend so ti with the children.
"I'm going to have my own bed and this ti I'm going to have fun too!"
The stable boy was still the sa and this ti he was utterly terrified.
Abominus and Onyx had both evolved into Emperor Beasts, increasing their size and appetite. They had almost given the young man a heart attack before they understood the issue and shapeshifted into their old forms.
"I take my at dium rare." Abominus said and the stable boy fainted on the spot.
"Nicely played! Now who is going to serve us lunch?" Onyx said, giving a panic attack to the custors who had co to leave their horses.
"Good morning. We'll take your three best rooms, please." Kamila said. "We are staying for a week."
Since it was just a camping trip, Senton, Rena, Elina, and Raaz had co along to take care of their respective children. Each couple needed their own space and luckily, the Hot Pot's rooms were designed to accommodate large traveling groups.
Yet the establishnt didn't accept reservations. It was a first co first served basis to avoid quarrels between custors and keep things fair.
"Of course!" Gilad, the owner of the Hot Pot said. "Will we have the pleasure of having you for lunch or just dinner, like the last ti?"
Unless, of course, soone who looked like the Supre Magus, talked like the Supre Magus, and wore a Supre Magus robe walked through the door.
Not only Lith's presence would do wonders for the Hot Pot's reputation, but it also gave Gilad the long-awaited chance to silence those who called him a shaless liar and a braggart.
Back during his first stay, Lith was still an Archmage and he had quelled a drunken fight between rcenary groups. To apologize for the disturbance, he had left a wooden plaque reading: "My beer is mightier than the sword".
During the fight, he had turned the spilled beer into ice swords with water magic and used them to fight. The plaque was a testant to the quality of the establishnt's ale and gave its owner a story to tell.
Yet after Lith had been declared a traitor, Gilad had to hide the plaque and pretend it never existed. Once Lith had been pardoned and bestowed the title of Supre Magus, no one knew what to believe.
Most people found the idea of Lith staying at a country road tavern preposterous and believed the owner of the Hot Pot was just trying to ride the Magus' coattails like many unscrupulous rchants did.
So claid to be Lith's official supplier of tals, ingredients, and so even introduced themselves as Zekell Proudhamr.
"Breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The whole package." Kamila said. "This is a family vacation."
"Marvelous!" Gilad cleaned his hand with a rag and offered it to Lith who promptly shook it.
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