I didn't even get to leave the building before the ethereal green figure I had seen before appeared before us—alongside Lily.

"Ah, I see I have interrupted something?" Sylverith's voice echoed out. This time, it appeared to be heard by everyone at least.

That didn't stop everyone from freezing the moment it spoke, however, as all eyes turned to take in the ethereal humanoid in our midst.

"Uh—it's okay. Not interrupting. They tried to rob the food I was preparing for you," I said.

I regretted blurting that out the moment the words left my lips, as my whole being was flooded with a sensation of danger—bloodlust and anger.

"It's okay though! Lily helped deal with it. Only one of them is still alive at the moment." I raced the words out as fast as I could, in case the dragon decided everyone here was trying to steal her food.

The figure appeared to turn, taking in the man in the cage. He turned instantly pale, sweat beading on his brow.

There was a long pause.

Then a deep, loud chuckle echoed from outside the building—from the dragon itself.

But nothing was said.

The eyes of the remaining party member opened wide… and then he passed out.

"Wait!" I said, as everyone stared in shock. "We need him alive, right?" I turned to Hari, who was standing next to the cage, hoping for backup.

"Fear not. He lives. The conversation was too much for his mind to handle, is all. He'll recover," the ethereal figure said again, aloud for everyone to hear. Then she turned to me with a smile.

"Now, Lily mentioned you had the food prepared. I would very much like to test your abilities."

I just nodded.

I pulled out the tail—only to immediately remember the dragon was outside, not inside.

Quickly storing it again, I made my way to the door. Lily, Crisplet, and Liane followed me outside. I looked around at the outer walls, wondering where I could place it to make it easy to reach. In the end, Milo came out and created an entryway, allowing me to exit the structure entirely.

Once I was back outside on the plains, I saw the dragon in its entirety. And it took me a moment to take in just how stunning it looked.

While it had been in the forest, I hadn't gotten a good look—its body mostly hidden among the trees. But now?

It had vibrant green scales, and an almost whip-like tail. Its wings, unlike the Tempest's, were sleek—and the best description I could come up with for them was sharp. But what stood out even more now were its claws. They looked incredibly sharp and large—like polished metal.

All of this, in combination with the vibrant, emerald-like eyes that practically glowed, left me in awe.

A spark from Crisplet broke me out of my reverence.

"Oh! Sorry!" I nearly yelled, pulling the cooked tail out of my storage, where it appeared on the ground.

Lily came over and inspected it first, appearing to smell it, then taking a bite—only to receive a look from the dragon. No words were spoken, but Lily quickly vanished and reappeared behind me…

Wait—was she hiding behind me after stealing the dragon's food? Like I'd be able to do anything?!

Sylverith followed the same approach, lowering her head to sniff at it before taking a bite—where a third of the tail half vanished in an instant.

"Mmm. Yes. Delicious. I agree, Lily. Although now I'm especially not pleased you stole my food," the voice echoed out.

Lily vanished again, this time reappearing further back—now hiding behind the party, who were all standing at the stone entrance watching.

I couldn't help but laugh a little. They were also going to do nothing to a dragon!

"I, uh, only cooked half because we had a lot of trouble cutting it. Sorry about that," I said sheepishly, looking up at Sylverith, who had now finished eating the tail entirely.

"It is okay, young one. I will not meddle in the affairs of your species. But after talking to your prisoner, be warned—your connection to us will bring you more trouble. And we cannot protect you always. You need to grow strong. My daughter may not be there to protect you next time," Sylverith said, looking over the group before—after a couple short flaps of her wings—heading back toward the forest.

A moment later, I was bumped from behind. Looking around, I saw that Lily was nudging me again—though this time, at least, not pushing me anywhere.

"I don't have any more food, sorry!" I said. I'd really need to start stockpiling snacks—and not just for Liane now.

"Thank you for saving us tonight," I added softly.

Lily glanced at Crisplet, who responded with a burst of sparks, before she vanished into my shadow.

"Uh, Crisplet… can you talk to Lily?" I asked curiously.

I got a bright burst of sparks.

I was surprised by the response. I wonder how that worked?

A moment later, we were just standing there in the cold night air—everything calm, everyone looking at me.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

"Well, that's that," I said with a smile. "The warning is kind of ominous. I wonder what they spoke of," I added as I walked back to the group—Hari, Milo, Jen, Liane, and Micca.

It seemed Sarah had stayed inside with the prisoner—or maybe she just didn't want to face the dragon outside. After that leak of bloodlust earlier, I couldn't blame her.

All this stress and it was over. Finally. Well, kind of. We had new problems now, I supposed—with Simon, and now a group wanting to kill me because I'm working with Lily and Sylverith.

"All well?" Liane asked.

"Yeah, I think so. We're all done with the food now—no more deadlines there," I said, glancing behind me toward the forest.

"Excellent. Then tomorrow morning we'll head back to town with our prisoner and go straight to the guild. After that, we'll head in the direction of the capital—but let's keep it on the down-low where we're going," Hari said.

Micca just looked around, still rattled from earlier. "You're all leaving?"

"Yes, but you'll be coming with us. We're not leaving you in this town. I think we can get you set up in the capital—I know some people there," Jen added, patting her on the shoulder.

We all walked back into the structure, Milo sealing the walls behind us.

Once we were inside, I saw that everyone in Sarah's group was at least sitting up. A few of them had jerky out—I suppose I didn't make it clear I'd purified all the stew, or maybe they just didn't trust it. I couldn't blame them.

I was the first to try eating it again—being immune, and hopefully able to catch a notification if it was still dangerous for some reason.

"The stew should be fine now. I purified the poison," I said, taking a bite and double-checking the notifications to make sure there were no more poison attempts.

What I did notice were all the other notifications still sitting there. And, oddly enough, it seemed like Lily or Sylverith were killing something somewhere—because I was getting combat notifications as well.

I had two 500 experience gains for the two drake steaks I prepared—but the one that really shocked me was 2,500 experience for creating a legendary food item.

I'd also completed my Infused Flavour quest, which meant it was time to go through the evolution options. I was both excited and nervous about this one—I really didn't want to lose the ability to infuse items and maintain the buffs.

All in all, I was just shy of hitting level 21.

I pulled up the evolution quest:

Notification:

You have earned 100 bonus experience for a buff used in combat

…

Evolution Quest: Achieve 20 unique buffs. - Complete!

Five evolution options are available for Infused Flavour.

Evolution Options Available:

Skill: Infused Flavour → Apex Hunger

Meals with offensive-aligned buffs now have a chance of bonus effects.

Buff duration is extended while in active combat.

Increased potency of all combat-aligned effects.

Skill: Infused Flavour → Restorative Bloom

Passive minor regeneration over time on all infused meals.

Passive minor mana regeneration on all infused meals.

Resistance buffs are more potent.

Defensive aligned buffs gain increased duration in combat.

Skill: Infused Flavour → Infusion of the Flamebound

All fire-aligned meals can now provide bonus effects.

Unlocks additional fire-based buffs from items.

Passive minor fire magic potency on all infused meals.

Skill: Infused Flavour → Infusion of Earth

Amplify earth-based potency buffs

Passive ground-based spell forms have a longer duration and greater strength.

Passive solid footing allows the user to walk across unstable earth.

Skill: Infused Flavour → Resonate Balance

Increased duration based on level for all infused foods.

Increase in base stats from ingredients.

Provides synergistic layering.

After reading the last one, I just looked at it, confused. What was synergistic layering?

There were some really interesting options there, and I could see what the system was offering. I couldn't help but notice all the earth-based buffs—particularly Crisplet's fire-related ones—had clearly influenced the results here.

"Hey Milo, my Infused Flavour has an evolution. I wonder if you could assist me?" I asked, looking over.

"Absolutely—but we're going to wait until tomorrow. We shouldn't discuss that in current company," Milo practically whispered back.

I felt like hitting myself. I'd been so distracted by the fact that I got the options, I'd completely forgotten we were surrounded by strangers—some of whom had just tried to kill me. Although, to be fair, one of them was still passed out.

I just nodded. Looking further, I saw that Crisplet had completed all three of his quests, but it didn't tell me what options he had—or even how many—so that choice was going to be entirely up to him. I was kind of hoping the events tonight wouldn't influence that decision, if he'd wanted to go with something else.

I'd also need to talk to Crisplet tomorrow.

The rest of the night was uneventful. After a few hours, the prisoner—whose name I now learnt was Stefan—woke up, but he remained in his stone-and-wind cell. I was surprised to learn that Milo had an ability that literally made a cage of air he could use to trap someone, and the stone was mostly for show here.

Watch was sorted for the night, and there would be someone constantly on the prisoner, as well as three people outside.

***

The next morning, we didn't wait for breakfast—choosing to head off straight away towards town. I still had a roll and some jerky, regardless. Liane, Jen, and Micca managed to get three of the fruit pastries out of me.

Transporting Stefan was a bit of a hassle. It was made clear to him that if he made any sudden movements, tried to run, or cast a spell of any kind, he'd be killed on the spot without a second thought.

But he still seemed shaken from the night before, and just nodded. I couldn't help but wonder what the dragon had said to him.

The trip back to town was slow, with the three extra horses and ensuring Stefan was kept in front with no trouble. Sarah and her party stayed with us for the whole journey. As we approached the guards, we got some odd looks, but no attempt was made to stop us.

Hari did alter the positions of the group though; I was now in the centre surrounded by the party members with Micca.

It didn't take us long to make it through the town, though we had a lot of eyes on us. We ended up leaving the horses at the guild stables—Sarah said she would deal with them—so Hari took Stefan and ushered him into the guild, quickly finding an empty counter and requesting an urgent meeting with Nathan.

After briefly checking some details, we were escorted to Nathan's office, where he was already waiting inside, looking up from his desk with a slightly confused expression.

I noticed that Milo had once again surrounded Stefan with a wind cage before Hari began explaining everything that had happened: the betrayal, the deaths of three adventurers, the dragon being fed, and lastly that we would be leaving town—heading south to complete a dungeon after dropping Micca off back in her hometown.

Nathan's frown deepened with each part of the story. He even offered Hari a job for our group to take on in the south, but it was politely declined without explanation.

I watched as Nathan pulled out one of the crystal tablets I'd seen the clerks use, and a couple of minutes later several enforcers arrived at the office. Stefan was escorted away to face justice under the guild. His personal staff and storage device were returned to Nathan—but I noticed the other three weren't returned.

Did we get to keep those now?

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