Chapter 306 296: Pains

I couldn’t tell if I was lucky or unlucky; both Lily and Huling left the bed pretty quick that night, clearly uncomfortable even for them.

But despite how unnerving her attempt at a humanoid form was, her fox was incredibly soft and warm. How anyone could see her as a mindless killer was beyond me.

I made a mental note to skip the bed the next night and just go with the bedroll.

Getting out of bed, I was hit in the chest by a ball of feathers, as Clacks clearly decided it would be a good idea to dive into me.

She then started to climb her way to my shoulder.

“I’m heading to the temple; are you coming with me?” I asked.

I got a series of chirps.

Crisplet off to the side let off a burst of sparks, as Lily, as per usual, just sank into the floor, leaving Huling in a ball on her own.

“I’m not falling for it again,” I said.

She did not move, appearing to still be slowly breathing.

Okay, so I did fall for it again, as I carried her out with Clacks on my shoulder, Crisplet carrying the nest.

Reaching downstairs, I was actually surprised to not see Hari or Gilain still there; both were missing, while Milo was still in the corner with all his books.

At the table sat Jen and Liane.

“I’m going to head to the temple to check up on Lukas,” I announced.

Jen pointed at me. “You should leave her here.”

Looking down, I saw Huling looking up at me with a grin on her fox face.

Before her voice came to my mind, she said, “Thanks for the lift, Trevor!”

She then hopped out of my hands to the table where she took her humanoid form again.

I couldn’t help but laugh; I even knew she was faking it again.

Jen got up from her chair. “I’ll come with you. Liane, you can stay here with Huling; keep her out of mischief. I need to see him.”

This reminded me that Sylverith said she’d visit him, but hopefully she’d do that once she returns with her friend.

“I can come!” Huling said happily.

Jen immediately said, “No.”

“No fun,” Huling said with a pout.

“People are terrified of you; you can’t just show up at the temple,” Jen explained.

“Because you’re a killer!” Jamal said from behind the bar.

There was a look exchanged between Huling and Jamal, and he hurried off down to his cellar for something.

“Be nice to him; he’s still a friend of the group,” I said.

Huling sighed, “Fine, it’s not fair though. Everyone has killed. I’d say Lily has killed more humanoid creatures than I have. Sylverith definitely has, even recently.”

This point appeared to really bother her; I could feel it in her tone.

“Have you considered changing your illusion then? Right now, you’re not very human-looking,” I pointed out.

“More a mockery of a human, makes you more terrifying,” Jen added.

Huling looked at us both, confused.

“You are aware of it, right?” I asked.

She still didn’t respond, just shaking her head.

“Oh, well, I thought you were aware, you have a human silhouette, but your features are all wrong, so it makes you stand out,” I explained.

“Sylverith said I looked fine!” Huling responded.

“I’m sure to her, you do look fine; to us though, monstrous,” Jen said.

“Liane, help Huling while we’re gone!” I said happily.

Liane just let out a grunt before going back to her hot tea.

Walking to the temple seemed quieter this time around. Crisplet was still with us, carrying the nest for Clacks, who was still perched on my shoulder.

Jen walked alongside.

“Where is everyone else today?” I asked.

Jen let out a laugh, “Hari and Gilain were up most of the night until they annoyed Milo. Milo convinced them both they were slacking too much with no training, so drunk as they were, they both went to the guild to train.”

“Is that going to go well?” I asked.

“No!” She laughed again.

“Has Lewie been around? I’ve not seen much of him since we arrived,” I said.

“He’s been hanging around the other inns mingling with people, especially with all the villagers coming to the city to make an offering. It’s giving him a unique opportunity to speak with lots of different people,” Jen said.

The conversation grew quiet as we entered the tree. I was glad to see there wasn’t a giant line waiting to enter anymore, but there did appear to be a lot more priests outside than when we first arrived.

One of them quickly approached us when we got closer.

“Hello! Welcome to the temple of life. I’m afraid we don’t usually allow such creatures inside, but if you need emergency medical assistance...” The younger man began.

I decided to cut him off, so no one would get overly offended. I didn’t know if Lily was watching or sleeping.

“Sorry to interrupt, could you inform Head Priest Prinae, or Priest Lital that Trevor Ashmoon is here? That would make things a lot easier for all of us,” I said.

The man looked surprised for a moment but bowed slightly.

“I’ll inform my superiors at once, please wait here,” he said, quickly leaving to speak with someone.

We didn’t have to wait long, only a few minutes before Lital jogged out of the entrance towards us.

“Apologies for the hold-up, Lord Ashmoon, I assume you’re here to see your friend?” Lital said.

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“Yes please, if he’s awake,” I said.

“I’m unsure of his status this morning, however I will happily take you to the medical wing and check for you, please follow me,” he said.

“Oh also Lital, I have a couple of food donations as well if you’d like to take them,” I said as we walked.

“Same as before?” he asked, with excitement in his voice.

“Not with Clear Body, but both with regeneration,” I said.

I thought he’d be disappointed by that news; I was mistaken, however, as he looked to almost get a pep in his step from it.

Walking through the main hall, I saw the centre statue was absolutely loaded with offerings, so much so that it had come to the first row of pews now, and was nowhere near the plinth.

“Lital, what happens with all of that? Won’t it go bad?” I asked.

He nodded. “It will, yes, though it takes a while here. We’ll have to move it before then, assuming the god of life doesn’t decide to take any of it.”

Internally, I didn’t think he would, but I didn’t really understand the gods at all or what they wanted, so maybe they’d surprise me.

“Lital, I’m curious, have people had a leaf fall from the tree to them before?” I asked.

Clacks let off a chirp from my shoulder.

“Other people, I mean,” I whispered.

Lital seemed to consider it. “It depends. We’ve had creatures hit the tree, historically speaking, which has dislodged leaves, or in the lead-up to winter, some will fall. I’m sure they have fallen on them.”

I shook my head. “Not what I mean, a vibrant green leaf, only one directly falling to someone.”

“I honestly don’t know, Lord Ashmoon. I can’t say I’ve heard of it, but it’s likely a question for the Head Priest, not myself. I’ve not had a lot of study on the history of the tree,” he explained.

“I see, that makes sense. Thank you anyway,” I said.

I wanted to wrap up the conversation because I could feel Clacks shifting on my shoulder, and something told me she would eventually get to her nest and bring out her leaf if we continued.

Whispering to her again, “When we’re in the room, stay on my shoulder, okay?”

There was a soft chirp.

Lital led us straight to Lukas’s room before going inside to check he was decent and able to take guests, coming out shortly after to invite us inside.

Jen came in this time, but appeared to be hanging in the back.

But entering the room, I saw Lukas, still lying in the bed, his eyes puffed up and red, but looking at me with confusion.

“Who’s Lord Ashmoon?” he asked.

I let out a sigh. “Me, a lot has happened since I saw you last.”

His attention was now seemingly taking in Clacks and Crisplet, despite Crisplet visiting last time as well.

“Why do you have a bird on your shoulder, and what is with the fire elemental? You said last time it had a name, right? Crispy?” Lukas blurted out.

“Crisplet,” I said, gesturing.

Crisplet just let off a small burst of sparks.

“And he understands you perfectly; he’s my friend and a member of my family, as is the bird on my shoulder. Her name is Clacks, and behind me is a party member, Jen,” I explained.

Clacks let out a small chirp, while Jen didn’t say anything.

“You’re a chef, not a monster tamer. Also, how are you a Lord? Did you lie to the priests?” He said bluntly.

I just laughed. “No, but I won’t go into all that today; that’s a conversation for when you’re better.”

Lukas threw his head back at that. “I can’t move, and I’m in constant pain. I don’t know what you mean by ‘get better’, Trevor.”

“In pain?” I questioned. I thought his physical wounds were healed.

Lukas sounded frustrated. “Yes, my leg, like it’s being stabbed and burnt, but there is no relief because it’s not even there! How does a leg hurt so much when there is no leg there! It makes no sense.”

Jen spoke up behind me. “Phantom pains are a common occurrence after losing a limb. The magical attachment, if successful, will help with that. Also, simple things like massaging the limb once it’s healed, or applying a hot or cold press will give temporary relief, but not long-lasting.”

I was thankful that Jen was here to explain it.

There was a silence between us that felt incredibly awkward. I didn’t know what to say to him, and clearly he didn’t know what to say to me.

Jen saved us both by asking, “So, the difficult topic, what happened?”

This proved to be another frustration point for Lukas, as he let out another sigh.

“We were not getting good jobs, constantly getting boring ones like checking on farmhouses, killing some pests. Han got annoyed with it and decided to make a name for ourselves. We’d take on something harder, a male Krekisk who had taken up residence in a forest, or a cave there.”

This name meant nothing to me, but I couldn’t help but notice that Jen winced slightly next to me.

“I told them I should be up the front; I’m an uncommon swordsman, but they insisted I take the rear. Then we got ambushed by the thing. I would have seen it, but no, we lost Maver immediately. In a second,” Lukas continued.

Jen interrupted him. “What level are you, if I could ask?”

Lukas appeared torn between his retelling and answering. “Uh, oh, uh, Sixteen,” he answered proudly.

Jen seemed to shatter the bravado. “You have no business fighting even a juvenile Krekisk then. Our group would struggle with an adult. Your group with a greenhorn had absolutely no business taking that job; it was foolish.”

She almost sounded angry, and Lukas seemed taken aback by it.

“It’s not so dangerous; we could have taken it. I would have seen it coming! I have parry,” he said, getting defensive.

“No, you would have died instantly. Listen to me, Lukas, there is a difference between pride, skill, and stupidity, and right now I need you to understand, what your group leader did there was stupid,” She said.

I’d never really heard Jen sound so serious before, but she continued.

“And if I didn’t already know that the party was broken and people died, I would personally be reporting the group to the guild for recklessly endangering members.” She finished.

Lukas lay there almost stunned.

Being that I had no idea what the creature was, I had to ask, “Krekisk?”

“Vicious ambush predator, sleek black scales, incredibly sharp claws the size of my forearm, with bright yellow eyes. Usually, they are deep in the dark forest and rarely come out.” She explained.

I felt guilt because my mind immediately went to two things: sleek and ambush would probably give some great buffs, and I wondered what it would taste like before I got control of it.

Lukas appeared as though he didn’t want to say anything else.

“It’s not your fault, but they have allowed this belief that you are exceptional. You’re not; your training was a lie. You could be exceptional, I see the fire in your eyes, your passion, but you need real training.” Jen said.

Lukas appeared like he wanted to argue.

“It’s true, the whole system is designed to put us out into the world with the absolute bare minimum of skills and useless training.” I added.

“But it’s uncommon,” Lukas started to protest.

“That means absolutely nothing without proper training. How many training drills did you do every day? How many times have you swung your sword since joining the group?” Jen asked.

Again, he tried to argue back, “Hundreds, probably thousands even.”

Jen laughed, “Exactly, our warrior would swing his sword that much in a single training session that he does daily. Your group likely expected you to die, did they force you to train?”

Lukas again went quiet.

“There’s a time to be arrogant, and there’s a time to be humble. Right now, it’s time to listen to your superiors, and I don’t mean Trevor, I mean me. I am level forty-five. I still train daily.” She explained.

Nothing was said in response; he seemed to close off.

Jen let out a sigh, “You’re still a young adult; you have so much life ahead of you. Learn from this, get better, use that passion, use that competitive nature to get yourself back on your feet and do it right next time.”

I could see tears welling in his eyes, but he was still looking defiant to Jen.

“I think we should leave you to it. I’ll visit again tomorrow, perhaps I’ll tell you some of my own crazy story and you can meet Lily, if she’s allowed in the medical wing.” I said.

He appeared relieved that I was getting him out of the argument with Jen, and perhaps I should have done it.

“Get some rest, Lukas; we’ll talk soon,” I said.

Clacks let out a chirp, and Crisplet didn’t do anything, clearly understanding Jen’s frustration and siding with her on this.

Jen didn’t directly follow me out. “You go, Trev; I just want to have a quick private word with your young friend here.”

I nodded, trusting she wouldn’t do anything crazy, and left the room, meeting Lital, who was still standing outside.

“While I remember, Lital, let me pull out the soups. No rush on these pots; they are not special ones,” I said, pulling out the first one.

He appeared surprised but said, “Hold on just a moment, let me get some Acolytes. I don’t have a storage.”

“No problem, these soups are still hot, so make sure they are careful with them,” I said happily.

Lital had just returned with two others as Jen came out of the room.

Handing off the two soups, I explained the buffs and pointed out one had been strained while the other still had all the chunks.

Jen placed a hand on my shoulder. “Ready to head to the market? There’s a lot there I want you to see.”

Crisplet immediately let off a burst of sparks. Clacks just let out a chirp as Crisplet, who must have told her what a market is, because a moment later she let out several loud chirps.

Lital patiently waited for us.

“Thank you again for the food; it’s a tremendous help. If you’d like, I can escort you out and introduce you to the priests so hopefully some will recognise you when you arrive again,” he said happily.