Entering in the kitchen with half a day to spend before we’d need to leave, I wasn’t really sure what I wanted to make. I knew I’d need to make breakfast, especially with both Lily and Liane staring at me.

  “Do we still have bacon?” Liane asked.

  “Not much,” I said, pulling out the third of a belly I had left.

  “I’ll have that!” Liane exclaimed, getting a look from Lily that made it very clear that was not going to happen.

  I couldn’t help but laugh. “I’ll split it. Can I make bacon out of other bellies besides boar?”

  Liane nodded. “I’ve had buvul bacon before. It’s not as common, but I’ve seen it done.”

  A thought struck me…

  “What about drake bacon?” I asked.

  My mind raced as I considered how we’d do it, but that drake had a massive belly on it, and the buffs for it would be +3 Strength, +3 Endurance, +2 Charisma. Then, in addition, there would be extra for second simmer.

  “I don’t see why not. You’d need a lot of salt to cure it though,” Liane said.

  Lily just looked to Crisplet, who gave me a burst of sparks, clearly agreeing with the drake bacon idea.

  “So for today then, besides the bacon, what else should I make?” I asked.

  “You need to use your cookbook more, but something you should make is sausages. There are so many kinds, and they are delicious. It’s a great way to use up offcuts of meat,” Liane suggested, now taking a seat on the counter.

  While she did that, I pulled out some wood, trying ironwood today since it had been a long while since I had used it.

  “I was thinking about making some candies where I actually finish the runes to provide barrier as well,” I said, handing the logs to Crisplet.

  “That would be awesome. I’m sure we could all do with some additional easy-to-eat buffs. I had a thought though, you can infuse things once they are cooked, yeah? Then add the stock reduction to it after that?” she asked.

  I just nodded before she continued.

  “Well, rather than having to stack up all the already poured and set candies, couldn’t you just infuse the hot mixture before you pour? And I remember the stock reduction orb only worked on it after that stage too, so you’d be able to do it to the whole candy liquid at once instead of single candies like you thought,” she said.

  This revelation hit me like a buvul—yet another thing I have not tested properly, like the wine!

  “That’s brilliant! First breakfast: pancakes with bacon and honey,” I decided.

  I got to work making the batter for the pancakes—simply grain flour, sugar, a little bit of salt, adding the milk and egg. I remembered reading in the book that if I wanted to make them extra fluffy, I could separate the eggs and whisk the whites until they were light and fluffy before folding them into the mixture.

  But not today.

  Once that was prepared, I sliced the bacon up. I would give Lily the larger portion since I knew she really wouldn’t be that interested in the pancakes.

  After placing the bacon in the pan, I cooked it properly, even telling Crisplet that I wanted to get it nice and crispy.

  Pulling out regular honey along with a small amount of berries, I started to cook off the pancakes once the bacon was done, using plenty of butter since the pantry for the kitchen seemed to be stocked with it.

  While they started, I gave Lily her pile of bacon, infusing it as I placed it down.

  Back at the pancakes, I stacked them up for Liane, giving her five, putting the crispy bacon slices on top with a couple of berries and drizzled honey.

  Finally, making a few pancakes for myself before sitting on the floor to enjoy them, I asked Liane,

  “What are your thoughts on the whole royal situation? Oh, and the other visitor?” I didn’t want to talk badly about Sylverith being here; I didn’t mind, but I’d be lying if I said having a dragon staying here, even if only in illusion form, was anything except terrifying.

  “The royals…” Liane began, pausing for a long while.

  “They seem panicked right now. They want you on their side, no—need you on their side—and the arrival of Sylverith has only made that more frantic. Kathrine showing up this morning made that clear.”

  “Will they cause problems?” I said, a little worried.

  “Problems? Ha! No, not a chance. They’ll be bending over backwards to try to make you happy. I wouldn’t be surprised if the king himself visits you again in the coming days, which—before you start thinking it is normal—it’s absolutely not normal,” she laughed.

  A moment later the kitchen door opened as Archie, followed by five others, walked into the room.

  “Oh, I’m sorry, sir. I didn’t realise you were in here. I was just providing a tour for the new staff,” Archie said, seemingly panicked after noticing us sitting around eating.

  “It’s fine, Archie. Who did we end up with?” I asked, looking past him, noticing that Nicolas was still among them, but one of the shortlist was missing.

  “One of the candidates who made it through the test decided to leave. He was worried about the dragon living here; however, everyone else is clear with the situation and has already undertaken an oath not to repeat what they learn here without express permission from the residents. Starting from the left, we have Nicolas, Petra, Silvie, Brabim, and Vanessa,” Archie introduced each one as they bowed.

  I was still sitting on the floor with a plate of pancakes in my lap, so I just awkwardly waved to them.

  “All I’ll ask is that you don’t enter the kitchen while I’m cooking,” I said.

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  Archie nodded. “I will be sure to train them all properly. For now, I will take them out and show them the kitchen later in the day. Come along, you lot.”

  A moment later they were all gone.

  “Is it normal for nobles to work as house servants?” I asked Liane, with that being the new burning question.

  She just laughed. “No. Not at all. Maybe in the royal household as a personal handmaid to the princess or something like that, but not a regular staff member.”

  “So… why?” I asked, confused.

  “You’ll find that half the people who showed up today were connected to a house in some way. Trevor, don’t take offence to this, but you’re clueless about a lot of things, and really silly sometimes, but you’re in the capital now. Every single noble in this entire city has already heard about your dinner with the king, has already heard about you getting a place to live, and not just to stay either, but to own the land itself. They have noticed the visit from the prince, the princess, the fact that your residence has Royal Guards.”

  I knew it would eventually get noticed, but it had only been a day?

  “Trevor, every noble in the city will know your name by now, your background, your story. Every noble will want to be close to you, so they are sending their brightest prospects to work for you. Only the Fairmont house sent a warrior. I promise you every other person selected today is from a noble house, and all of them will be under instructions to get into your good graces, and they are all going to be deeply disappointed when you leave for months at a time.”

  I really didn’t know how to feel about this, having nobles working for me. It just didn’t feel right.

  “Do you think I should choose a last name?” I asked.

  “I don’t see why not, but just don’t choose something stupid like when Hari chose Polite Company,” she said with a groan.

  “You know, when you think about it, it is kind of funny. We’re called Polite Company, and everyone is terrified of us when Lily is there,” I said with a laugh.

  I got up and started pulling out everything that I’d need to make the candies. I was also going to try to put a little bit of the lemon tea grass into the mixture to give it a sour tang, and perhaps a stamina buff as well.

  From the kitchen pantry, I pulled out all the sugar that was inside. Between that and what I had left over, it would be enough for a fairly large batch, so I got to work.

  I wasn’t interrupted throughout the entire cooking process, adding lemon tea grass to the mixture along with a small amount of lemon juice itself, ensuring I added it once the sugar had been melted and boiled. I then attempted what Liane suggested, infusing the entire batch.

  “Now try a stock reduction!” Liane said, speaking up for the first time since I started.

  “Which one though?” I asked. I didn’t have anything ready to go, but I had plenty I could use.

  “I’m not sure. Do you have any more snakes or spiders? They have really useful stealth buffs,” Liane shrugged.

  But it was a great idea. I still had two bark vipers in my storage, so pulling them both out and spending the two hundred mana to reduce them, I attempted to use the sickly green-looking orb on the mixture and was pleasantly surprised it worked.

  I then started pouring the mixture into the mould. While I waited for the first lot to cool, I thought of the buffs, making sure I wasn’t about to hurt myself again.

  +4 Dexterity

  +1 Intelligence

  +1 Endurance

  +1 Charisma

  Moderate Speed

  Ambush Efficiency

  Stone Skin

  Minor Poison Resistance

  Fire Immunity

  “You’re really going to like these!” I said excitedly to Liane.

  Liane leapt off the counter and rushed towards me.

  “You got speed and ambush in the same candy. How many can you make?” she said, looking at the pot.

  “Uh… not exactly sure, but should be over a hundred,” I said, shrugging.

  “Trevor, these… are unbelievable,” she said.

  “I really wanted to practice putting the barrier rune on some of them.”

  Liane just looked at me for a long moment before shaking her head.

  “Wait here a moment. Keep making them,” she said, before she vanished.

  I looked at Lily, not sure what was happening, but carried on anyway. After knocking the candy out of the mould, I attempted to store one just to get the name.

  Would you like to store 1x [Uncommon] Lemon Venom Drop for 5 mana? Yes/No

  The name had me slightly concerned. I didn’t think there was any poison in there due to the viper, but just to be safe I went through and used Purify on all of them, noticing I had gained on the quests to upgrade the skill.

  Purify 50 ingredients of poison or toxins. - 2/50

  Consume 5 unique toxic ingredients. - 0/5

  Purify 5 unique ingredients of their magical toxins. - 1/5

  I regretted using the ability on the pot now. If I had used it on individual candies, I would have completed the quest.

  I was just pouring the next batch into the mould when Liane re-entered the room, followed closely by Milo and Sylverith.

  “Liane said you’re going to cause an uproar again, but wouldn’t elaborate. What have you done?” Milo said.

  I was just confused. “Uh, made some candies? They’re called Lemon Venom Drops.”

  Sylverith snorted. “Great name.”

  “They are not toxic, are they?” Milo hesitated.

  “Not anymore, no,” I said, before explaining all the buffs and that I wanted to put the barrier rune on some of them.

  “These are incredibly useful in candy form. What are the chances of you getting the barrier rune right?” Milo asked, inspecting one closely as Sylverith also took one.

  I shrugged. I doubt I’d get it right every time, especially with candies. They were much smaller than I expected.

  “Not sure. Half?” I said, hoping that would be roughly correct.

  Then Sylverith put the candy in her mouth and her elfin features twisted into a smile.

  “Wait—you can eat?” I blurted out.

  “Of course I can. I don’t really need to eat, but I wouldn’t act like a very good humanoid without eating now, would I?” She chuckled. “This is really delicious.”

  Seeing she was missing out, Liane took one and ate it, which drew Lily’s attention properly, leaving the fire and coming over to inspect what was going on.

  “You won’t like it, dear. It’s not meat,” Sylverith said with a chuckle.

  Lily seemed to take it as a personal challenge as two candies vanished.

  Feeling like I was missing out, I also placed one in my mouth, and I was surprised. It was sour, but there was the sweetness from the sugar competing with it, giving it a really delicate balance between lemon and sugar.

  As we were all eating our candies, the door opened and Hari and Jen walked in.

  “Ah, there you all are. We’ve just been to the guild for our reports. Did you want to head to the smith now, Trev?” Hari said.

  All traces of his sadness from yesterday seemingly vanished.

  “Sorry, not yet! I need to finish making these candies, but once I’m done, sure,” I said, knocking out the second batch and getting to work on pouring the third.

  Milo spoke up. “I believe we’re all going, so it should be fun.”

  Hari looked a little surprised by that. I also noticed Jen’s hand sneaking through and stealing one of the candies on the bench, catching her eye just as she placed it in her mouth.

  So on top of as much salt as I can find, I should buy as much sugar as I could find too.