Arcane Chef - Slice of Life x Adventure LitRPG

I didn’t pay any mind to the carriage as there was no one I knew who would arrive in one outside the royal family, and Luis was here,

There also would be no chance a carriage could be pulled so fast that it would reach here in under an hour.

My assurance in that belief, however, was short as Lily stopped and stared off in the direction.

This was followed by Crisplet letting off some sparks, as Clacks came to the front of the nest chirping.

“That’s absolutely someone we know,” Milo laughed.

Crisplet let off another burst, followed by a wave of happiness and the unmistakable feeling of friend.

“Who do we know with a carriage though?” I asked.

The question was answered only a second later when the green carriage came into view, being pulled by four Drakhals who were moving at an incredible pace.

It was heading straight towards us.

“Sylverith,” Milo laughed.

I couldn’t comprehend how she took a carriage from the capital to here in only an hour.

It had not even stopped moving when the carriage door opened, and Huling appeared at my side as she was giving Lily a scratch under her chin.

“Huling?” I asked, stunned.

“Hello Trevor!” She said happily.

There was a loud chirp, followed by Huling showing a grin.

“Hello Clacks, you’ve already grown so much,” Huling commented, scratching the top of her head.

Looking down at Clacks, I didn’t really see it; maybe she seemed a little fluffier, but certainly didn’t look like she had grown a lot, but I didn’t have time to dwell on it.

“You’ve been causing trouble, Trevor,” Huling said with a smirk.

The carriage pulled up next to us, the door still wide open.

Sylverith stepped out, her form looking far more solid than the last time I saw her.

“Hello dear, I don’t mean to jump straight to the point, but what did you just do?”

There was a little growl next to me from Lily.

Sylverith laughed, “Don’t be so dramatic, I’m always happy to see you.”

I decided I’d just be straight up about it at this point, “When I entered the temple I smelled fresh bread, so we made an offering. Then some seeds spread out from the statue and grain grew inside the tree, before finally a burst of mana came.”

“Dear, that growth wasn’t just inside the tree,” Sylverith commented.

From behind the carriage, Liane and Jen appeared,

“We wondered who was showing up.” Jen said.

Liane appeared to be out of breath slightly, “You move fast, but to follow on from what you said, it seemed most people were asleep for it.”

“Speaking of which, perhaps we should head inside the inn, or we’ll wake people up,” Milo suggested.

I saw Liane elbow him, whispering, “You could just dampen the sound, you know.”

Milo looked to be pretending he didn’t hear it.

Sylverith, however, looked around the street, “You’re right, lead the way.”

Hari and Jen took the four Drakhals to the stables next to Jamal’s. I attempted to store the carriage, but unlike the wagons, where I could convince myself and the system they were food wagons, I could not store the carriage. So we had to leave it outside the stable.

Entering, I saw Jamal and Gilain sitting at the same central table we left them at, both with large tankards in hand.

Milo, speaking up, said, “Jamal, we have some more guests, let me introduce Sylverith, protector of the dark forest and dragon, and Huling.”

“Say what now?” He said, looking up.

Sylverith entered behind Milo, with Huling trailing shortly behind.

Jamal shot to his feet, “Wait, you weren’t kidding?”

A smile came onto Sylverith’s face, “A living earth, how unexpected.”

Jamal was too busy staring at Huling, however.

“She’s a killer!” He said.

I waved it off, stepping forward, “She’s my friend, there’s no killing here. Plus, by the sounds of it, there are a lot of cases attributed to her that have nothing to do with her.”

I hoped I was telling the truth, but I was mostly focusing on defending my friend here. Also, I knew at least while Sylverith was here, she wouldn’t do anything like that.

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Jamal shook his head, “No, I heard the tales before I left home. One of our great warriors tried to seek her out and came back broken!”

Huling laughed at that, which concerned me. Was Jamal being honest?

“I didn’t kill him; he came to me seeking riches, wanting to dig deeper, get rarer ore and gems. So I simply showed him what was down there in the abyss. I’m hardly to blame he couldn’t handle it; it’s what he wanted,” Huling explained.

“He was broken; that’s as good as dead,” Jamal said.

“I even brought him back to the mountain, and didn’t let him wander the forest,” Huling defended herself.

Even Crisplet jumped in and clearly said something Jamal could understand and I couldn’t.

“Alright, alright, I’ll trust you, but don’t cause any trouble,” Jamal said, glaring at her.

Gilain, who was still seated at the table, joined in, “Just to be clear, he tells you a dragon is visiting your inn, and your focus is on the trickster spirit?”

Jamal looked flustered, “Quite right, I don’t know what to say to a bloody dragon. I’m going to get some ale.”

He quickly disappeared behind the bar, completely ignoring Sylverith.

Sylverith didn’t seem to mind, however, just turning her attention to Gilain, who was still at the table.

“You’re someone I’ve not met before,” Sylverith said.

Lily came alongside her, looking up, where there appeared to be a conversation.

“Before Lily tells you that Gilain attacked her, it’s already been resolved, and Lily beat him up for it,” I said, knowing exactly what was being said.

“Young Trevor, if I didn’t know any better, I’d say you finally have your mana control to the point where you could understand her; that’s exactly what she told me,” Sylverith said with a smile.

Lily just let out a sigh and appeared next to the fireplace.

Gilain, however, didn’t move on straight away. “It was an innocent misunderstanding, that’s all. I thought we’d finally made an effort to overcome the disagreement.”

“She’s a cat, dear. You have another couple hundred years of her holding that grudge,” Sylverith said with a light laugh.

Gilain groaned, “It was an honest misunderstanding; I never intended to hurt Trevor.”

I saw Gilain try to pull out some jerky for Lily, and he was ignored.

“Trevor, dear, what is that you’re holding?” Sylverith asked.

“Oh, this is Clacks, Clacks Ashmoon apparently. I rescued her from the forest,” I said proudly, holding up the nest.

Clacks moved deeper inside the nest, letting out a scared chirp.

“It’s alright, Clacks, she’s our friend, and she looks after the forest you grew up in,” I explained.

Crisplet must have said something too because there was a burst of sparks.

Sylverith didn’t take offence, just coming close to the nest and holding out a finger.

“It’s alright, little one, you can call me Aunty Sylvy like Crisplet does. I’d never hurt someone in Trevor’s family. You just need to eat more of Trevor’s food; it’s probably my aura giving you some issues,” Sylverith said softly.

Sylverith took a seat at the table, while closely observing Gilain. I knew she couldn’t mind-read, but instead she read thoughts through mana due to people’s lack of control. She explained this several times, but I really wondered if Gilain had such control.

Huling took Clacks from the nest, and sat by the fireplace with Lily and Crisplet, while Clacks let off some chirps and occasionally flapped her wings.

I heard Huling say again, “You’re growing so fast, big sister Lily must be getting you lots of treats.”

Another loud chirp.

I shook it off; I still couldn’t see it. She’d always been that small, I was sure of it.

After a moment she turned to me, “Take a seat, Trevor, we need to discuss what is occurring.”

I took a seat and asked the first question on my mind, “How did you get here so fast?”

Sylverith smiled, “Happy accident that one. I was already on my way for another topic we need to discuss, though I’m not eager to speak on it with current company.”

I looked around and only Gilain and Clacks were new. Luis wasn’t even in the inn at the moment. “Gilain is under oath not to speak about anything if that’s your concern.”

She shook her head, “No, it’s not dear.”

She looked towards the bar and spoke a little louder, “It’s ill-advised to eavesdrop on a dragon, Living Earth.”

A moment later, Jamal popped up from behind the bar carrying a barrel, trying to act casual.

Sylverith’s voice came straight to my mind a moment later, “He’s not malicious if that’s your concern, but innkeepers love to gossip. I was here about your soul nourishment, but we’ll talk later about that.”

Milo took a seat at the table as he pulled out a couple of notebooks.

“Yes, it’s probably best you’re here. I assume you’re aware that the mana pulse spread likely as far as the one in the capital did? At least on land,” Sylverith said.

Milo didn’t look surprised at the revelation at all.

“As we travelled here, the fields around us all erupted in growth as grain grew and erupted in mana. I imagine that even happened everywhere, though if we’re lucky, not in the water,” Sylverith carried on.

Milo nodded, “Yes, I have a running hypothesis that I’m fairly sure is correct at this point. Though I don’t know what is happening on the god side of things, it feels to me that Trevor is awakening them, or reviving them—that I’m not clear on.”

Sylverith clearly agreeing so far.

Gilain seemed to be listening intently now as well.

“The slight error in this theory, however, is the storm temple. Trev was attacked there and never made it to the temple, but you mentioned that Nemorax lost his status as the chosen. That would imply the gods are alive and awake, and reacted to missing out,” Milo said, pointing to notes he had written.

Sylverith looked to be deep in thought, “This is very good. So, it would stand to reason if Trevor visits another temple, he would be able to make an offering and repeat the burst. I’ll say we can rule out reviving the gods; they are not dead. That much I can say with certainty. I think the most likely response is empowering them—though how Trev is doing that on that scale I have not got the slightest idea.”

“So we should stop making offerings at the temples?” I asked, concerned.

Sylverith gave me a soft smile, “This is the question. If I were to be selfish, I would carry you to every temple I can reach and have you make an offering, flooding this world with mana once more, though humans and the weaker races would suffer greatly.”

I looked to Milo, “I thought the mana didn’t hurt people directly?”

Sylverith nodded, “It wouldn’t, no. This isn’t the mana hurting them, it would be the creatures that were born because of it.”

She pointed to Clacks, “Your bird there is a prime example of this. I don’t know how old she is, but I can already tell you she has more mana and potency than a full-grown adult Bluetail, and she’s not even lost her down feathers yet.”

She didn’t say anything, but I immediately got a look from Jen.

“What do we do then?” I asked.

“I would wait until you visit another temple, at least for a short period of time. There are a couple of creatures like Banawa in this world. If you get their attention, I won’t always be able to turn them away. We got lucky in the capital, and I have no way to sense if he’s coming now, not yet, at least,” Sylverith said.

A moment later, a familiar voice came from the doorway.

“This surge didn’t get his attention like the last one; he still slumbers in the depths, though it’s good to see everyone here.”It said.

“Morlin?” I said, surprised.

“Elder Morran?” Gilain said at the exact same time.