As we made our way into the guild, I was surprised to see there were still people milling about.

"Is it normal for people to be in the guild hall late at night?" I asked curiously.

"Yeah, it is. Not all the creatures that teams need to hunt come out or can be found during the day, so there are always teams who prefer to act during the night and sleep during the day," Hari said.

"Does the guild operate all day then?" I looked around to see if anyone was still at the counters, but they were all empty.

"No, the main room is open at all hours, and there are always guards in here, but the counters, as you just saw, are not manned. Likewise, the shops upstairs close as well," he said as we made our way up the staircase towards the third floor.

Once we made it to the hall, Darren and George were handed a pass each, and they opted to share a room.

Micca had a room for herself and likewise took a temporary pass from Jen. Hari offered to take a meal down to Milo and let him know the bedroom arrangements, but before he left—

"Tomorrow, Trev, you're welcome to wander around the town. Please take Crisplet with you, though," Hari said, as Crisplet agreed with a burst of embers.

"We're not going to shadow you this time, so try not to cause trouble. And if I hear screaming somewhere, we'll come running," Hari chuckled.

"Also, don't think you're getting out of training." With that, Hari left us, heading back downstairs to go to Milo once he'd grabbed the food from me.

"Trev, take a bath before you go to sleep!" Liane said, holding her nose.

"It's not that bad, is it?" I asked, concerned.

"It's pretty bad now that we've washed and you haven't," Jen added with a laugh.

"We'll get our clothes all washed tomorrow, so either leave a pile in your room or give them to me before you head out for the day!" Jen said with a smile before wishing us all goodnight and heading to her room.

Micca likewise waved goodnight, and Liane had already vanished, which just left myself and Crisplet in the hallway. Heading into my room, I took out the metal brazier for Crisplet and also pulled out the three servings of fish and potatoes for Lily, placing it all on the desk.

"I'm going to have a bath. Crisplet, could you keep these warm for Lily?" I asked, getting the burst of sparks, and then, just in case she was watching or nearby,

"Lily, I don't know if you can hear me, but there's some new food here to try," I said into the empty room, but nothing happened.

Heading to the bath, I realised a flaw in my plan—I had no idea how to use it. There were runes on the side of a smooth, light-grey tub, and I tried to make out what they said. Surely, I'd have some idea—I'd practised this, right?

As I studied the runes on the side of the tub, there were three of them. The first seemed to encompass the entire tub; it appeared to have the symbol of water in the outer ring, so I assumed that one filled the tub. However, with the third—I couldn't work it out. It was almost like an absence, a void even. Was that to drain the tub?

Putting my finger on what I thought was the water rune, I was pleasantly surprised to see that the tub started filling with water. But placing my hand into it, I realised it was cold, so I used the second rune, and rapidly the water inside the tub started to warm, then became very hot. I quickly deactivated the rune.

I guess I should only run that until the water hits the desired temperature.

Even though the tub was only half full, it was far too hot to sit in, so I used the third rune, and instantly the water vanished. So I was correct—it was to empty the tub.

This time I successfully filled it up and took a bath, nearly passing out in the process, and was only startled awake when the familiar pressure came, announcing Lily's presence.

"I left the food out for you with Crisplet," I said, not seeing her yet.

I decided to get out of the tub and dry myself off, pulling out my cleanest set of clothes, which honestly weren't that clean, but they'd have to do. As I came around the screen, I saw Lily tentatively trying the food, not really taking a large bite.

Then, looking at me—

"I didn't make it, but I thought it was really nice, and if you like it, I can make you something similar," I explained. Lily turned back to the food, this time only eating the fish part of it and leaving the potatoes behind.

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"Just the fish then?" I asked curiously, looking to Crisplet to see if he could confirm or deny it, and after getting the burst of embers, I got my answer.

"Okay! I can make you that with just fish, but first I want to use that eel you got for us. I'm sure I can find the ingredients I'm after in the markets tomorrow," I mused.

Lily was lying on the floor by the window now, and Crisplet had returned to the brazier.

Was she going to stay in here tonight?

Shrugging to myself, I jumped on the bed, and it was just as comfortable as before.

"Goodnight, you two. Thanks for all the protection," I said as I dozed off again into a deep sleep.

***

I awoke the next morning to a scream that was quickly muffled. Opening my eyes, the first thing I noticed was Micca at the door. The room was flooded with light, so clearly it was well past dawn. Her eyes were wide, and when I looked around, I nearly burst out laughing as I saw what she was looking at.

Lily was clearly unhappy with the floor and had taken over the second bed—and, to make it even funnier, she had a blanket over her head.

"I'm sorry, Trev, I didn't think you'd still be in here. I just came to pick up laundry," Micca said in a hushed tone, her eyes never leaving Lily.

"Don't worry about her; she won't do anything," I said as Crisplet came out of the brazier and appeared to shoot an ember into Lily.

"No, Crisplet, you don't need to wake her up," Micca said, clearly worried, but it was too late. As the ember hit Lily, I nearly lost it laughing as she appeared to look around with the blanket still over her head before vanishing and reappearing in the corner where the screen provided a shadow.

"Morning, Lily, sleep well?" I said, still laughing to myself.

Micca looked absolutely horrified, but it was Crisplet who I was laughing at now, because, clearly proud of himself, he was doing circles around Lily, shooting off sparks, with the occasional ember being fired at her.

"Oh, sorry, Micca—laundry, yes. Are you heading there now? I'll come with you," I said, before looking over my shoulder at Lily and Crisplet.

"We're going shopping today. Crisplet, you're with me. I'm going to hopefully find some amazing ingredients to go with that eel, and then a place to cook it! So Lily, if you're around later, I'll have some tasty snacks you can try!" I said excitedly, looking forward to the day.

"Well, it's nearly midday, so you'd better get a move on," Micca said with a chuckle.

"It's what?!" I couldn't believe how long I'd slept. These beds truly were cursed—or enchanted; I'm not sure which yet!

Micca laughed before heading out of the room. "Come on then, Jen is waiting for the clothes."

Crisplet quickly got into the carrier brazier, and Lily vanished into the shadows again. As I followed Micca out of the room and down the hall, I was curious where we would be washing the laundry, as I didn't think the guild had those services, and as we entered the main hall and out the front, I got my answer.

"Where's the place to do laundry?" I asked curiously.

"There's a bathhouse just down the road near the inn we went to last night. They offer laundry services too—Jen should be waiting there for us," Micca said.

I just took in the surrounding city; it reminded me a lot of Dunhearth in terms of size.

"What's your plan for the day?" Micca asked.

"I don't know yet. I was going to go shopping—there are some ingredients I want—but honestly, I was looking forward to just getting out by myself for once. It's been so long since I was able to just explore on my own," I said as we walked.

"Now I feel bad for dragging you to the laundry!" Micca said, looking at me.

"It's fine. I'll drop off my things with Jen, then head off. I've been looking forward to this, and I have plans for a really nice dinner if I can find a kitchen somewhere," I said, looking around as if a kitchen would jump out at me.

It didn't take us long to reach the destination, and Jen was standing out front with Liane, who looked bored.

"Ah, there they are!" Jen said when she spotted us. I waved as we approached.

"Sleep in, did you?" Jen asked with a smirk as we arrived.

"You won't believe what I saw when I entered his room!" Micca began.

"If he was still in the bath when you arrived, I don't want to know," Jen added quickly, but after a brief description of how she found Lily in the bed next to mine under the blanket, both Jen and Liane were giggling.

"Now I wish I'd gone!" Liane said. "The only reason I didn't is that I was sure he would've fallen asleep in the bathtub and been undressed when I arrived."

"Speaking of which, you owe me a silver," Jen said, holding out a hand to Liane, who begrudgingly placed the coin in her palm.

While this all happened, I pulled out my dirty clothes, and Jen quickly took them all into her storage space.

"We'll get all this cleaned. Go have fun!" she said, shooing me away, and I didn't need to be told twice. After waving goodbye to the three of them, I took off in a random direction.

I didn't know where I was going, but it didn't really matter. Unlike Boltron, the city layout here was fairly simple—it was essentially a giant circle. One quarter had the temple and the richer folk, as well as the lord's manor; I would be avoiding that place for now.

The market was central, so if I made my way towards the middle, I'd reach it, and I knew the guild was on the right-hand side after entering the main gate. With all that in mind, I could find my way back, so I made my way towards the market, doing the occasional detour past a couple of small park areas the town had set up.

I used Arcane Foraging at both of them, and what surprised me wasn't what shone at the park—which was very little—but what I saw inside buildings. I could essentially see everyone's food storage locations in their houses.

As I filtered out the common stuff, what I was left with were several buildings in my viewing range that had a bunch of brightly glowing products, so I decided to make a slight detour past the closest one to find out what sort of place it was.

The first two I went by looked like regular homes, but the third was clearly an alchemist's workshop. Unfortunately, there was no shopfront for it, but it looked like this one in particular had a wealth of materials.

Finally, I made it into the centre of town, where the market was incredibly busy. At this time of day, I was hit with the smell of amazing food everywhere, followed by the grumbling of my stomach.

I supposed I hadn't had breakfast today.

It wouldn't hurt to get some snacks first, right?

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