Heading outside, I couldn’t help but stop, looking back at the shop.

  “Wait… his name is Morlin. Same as the journal. It’s him, right?” I said out loud.

  I knew the answer already. It’s why I paused when he told me, but my mind just couldn’t comprehend what that meant. The old man behind the counter looked frail and ancient, hardly what I’d expect from a legendary adventurer, as he said.

  So, was the journal a lie? Or was it really his name?

  “You’ll probably find it one and the same,” Liane said, nodding.

  “Most adventurers don’t make it to retirement, admittedly. But the rare few that do, they tend to pick jobs that have the lowest possible chance of conflict, like farmer, bookshop owner, or running a tavern.” Liane paused for a moment.

  “Well, actually, that last one still has conflict. That’s when an adventurer just enjoys alcohol more than killing.” She said, causing Micca to chuckle.

  Looking at them, “So you really think he is a legendary adventurer, then?”

  I was still sceptical, but Liane just shrugged.

  “I think he’s doing it because he likes knowledge; that cookbook alone was incredibly valuable, and he probably could have got five gold for that alone,” Micca said thoughtfully.

  It was a lot to think about, and I really wanted to pull out the journal right now and start reading it, but we were walking back to the market, and it was finally time to go food shopping.

  The food shops that sold raw produce were in their own area off to the side, which is why when we first entered the market I really didn’t see many vendors. But the ones who were in that small section had a huge variety of stock.

  The first store I stopped at was selling fruit, and surprisingly they still had a large selection of berries, so I may have purchased everything they had: blueberry, red berry, strawberry, frost cherries, death buds—which, despite its name, were actually safe to eat and had an incredible sweet taste. They got their name from the skull-like pattern.

  I also purchased a bunch of apples.

  “Hey, Trev, before the next shop, just know you won’t need to do a huge stockpile. We’ll be heading to the capital next, and most of this stuff you will find cheaper there,” Liane said.

  I suppose I shouldn’t have purchased all the berries at the fruit shop. That may have been too much, but I was concerned about them going out of season. At least this way I would have supplies for a while.

  At the next few stores, I was far more conservative, only purchasing a small sack of sugar, some replacement rolled grain, and some flour.

  Lastly, I purchased a small barrel of red wine, a fairly large amount of butter, along with several bunches of garlic grass, and I even managed to find crown snails that Liane ate!

  “Remember to purge these before you cook them,” the store owner instructed, bagging up the snails.

  “Uh, sorry, what do you mean? I’ve never cooked them before,” I replied.

  “Ah, well, depending on how freshly picked they are changes how much you need to do. We feed these snails carrots before you buy them, so you don’t need to purge the digestive tracts, but you will need to soak them in cold, salty water before cooking. It will remove the slime before cooking,” he explained.

  I nodded; this was good information. “You mentioned you fed them carrots?”

  “Yes. If you catch these wild, you need to feed them carrots or grain for several days, or alternatively starve them for several days to fully purge their digestive tract. We prefer carrots because they give them a sweeter taste.” He handed over the two bags of snails.

  When I went to store them in the pantry, I discovered they wouldn’t go in.

  I kicked myself mentally. Of course it wouldn’t—all the snails were still alive right now.

  “Once you’ve soaked them in salt water, you’ll be able to store them in your ring, but it’s best to cook them straight after to keep them as fresh as possible,” the owner instructed.

  “Thanks for your help!” I said.

  I was excited to cook them. I knew everyone would be hesitant like I was, but I was sure with just a single taste they’d be hooked. Liane was very excited about it, which was slightly concerning.

  We quickly found our way back to the inn, and despite my stamina still being fine, I couldn’t help but feel exhausted. That said, I thought it best I deal with the snails sooner than later so I could at least store them.

  Entering the inn, I was surprised to see it had returned to the ridiculously busy state it was yesterday, but I couldn’t help but notice the three royal guards were sitting at a table in the corner due to the wide berth everyone was giving them.

  I felt it was best to head upstairs to the living room. It seems Liane felt the same, because I could feel her guiding me through the crowd to the back door, where we slipped through and went upstairs, leaving the chaos of the inn behind.

  A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

  “We’ll sort it out up here. I’m sure Milo can help. He’ll likely be downstairs drinking at the bar,” Liane said as we were climbing the stairs.

  “I’ll go get him! I spotted him among the others at the bar. Only Jen was missing, by the looks of it,” Micca said, turning around on the stairs and heading back down.

  When we made it to the top of the stairs, I was surprised to see Jen sitting in a chair by the fire, reading a book that looked to be… a romance novel?

  “What are those?” She said, looking at the two bags I was carrying, her book vanishing instantly.

  “Before you say no! I ate some today for lunch, and they are amazing!” I quickly got out.

  “I knew I should have gone with you and not Liane!” Jen groaned.

  Liane had a giant grin on her face as she fell into the chair next to Jen. Crisplet was now out of the brazier, and the fire went from very low smouldering coals to a proper fire.

  “They are crown snails; you’ve had them before,” Liane said.

  “Yes. I have. And I was chewing one snail for five minutes!” Jen retorted.

  “Look, I may have overcooked them a little, but you need to admit the flavour wasn’t bad,” Liane tried to defend herself.

  Jen just scoffed. “Overcooked a little, she says. We couldn’t chew it at all and had to cut it into little pieces to swallow it!”

  Liane just waved her off. “It’s okay. Trev and Crisplet are cooking this time, and you know it will be perfectly cooked with them!”

  “Wyatt has put Micca to work downstairs,” Milo said with a chuckle as he reached the top of the stairs.

  Looking around at everyone, his eyes landed on the bags of snails.

  “Ah, those. Don’t let Liane cook them, okay,” he said, causing Jen to laugh.

  I couldn’t help joining in. “I won’t. I just need a stone tub and water so I can soak them, if you could help,” I asked.

  Milo nodded, quickly sorting out the tub and half filling it with water.

  It crossed my mind to use the pyrrhosite I had, but in the end I went with just regular salt. There were too many people around, including the royal guards just downstairs.

  Once they were soaking in the salty water, I pulled out the journal I had received, curious to know what sort of monsters this Morlin had encountered and what sort of adventurer he was.

  “What did you get?” Milo asked, noticing the new book.

  “Oh, a few books actually,” I said, pulling them all out.

  As Milo inspected the different books, his face became a frown as he did so.

  “Strange. Very strange. This book shouldn’t exist,” he said, pointing to the cookbook.

  “Morlin said it was a copy of the one that is currently in use at the royal kitchens,” I said, feeling confused.

  Milo nodded. “That’s correct, it is, but there shouldn’t be any copies of it. This is considered a treasure of the royal house; they wouldn’t allow just anyone to take it.”

  “Ah, so it’s a fake then?” I said.

  I felt a little upset, but if the recipes were correct, it didn’t really matter where they came from or what the source was.

  Milo had picked up the book and was currently flipping through the pages, his frown growing deeper as he looked.

  “I mean, I hope it’s a fake, yes, because it feels like the original. There are differences in pages, a change in handwriting. If I were just handed this and told it was real, I’d believe it. Be careful with this book in the capital until we can confirm it is indeed just a copy,” Milo said, handing it back, now more intrigued than ever as he looked at the other books.

  “These history books are excellent choices. The demon war book is a bit of a propaganda piece where they blame the demons for everything; however, it still has a very honest and unedited recounting of the start of the war,” Milo said, now looking to the bestiary, before landing on the journal in my hand.

  “May I have a look?” he asked, and I handed him the journal.

  Again, his face frowned. “This also could easily be passed off as the original. Incredible. And this bookshop is here in town?” Milo said, turning the pages.

  “So you know who the adventurer is?” I asked curiously.

  Milo nodded. “Absolutely. Every mage and spellsword knows who this is. They lived over a century ago and was, at the time, one of the most powerful adventurers we had—an absolute master with magic and the sword.”

  “You said… lived, over a century ago, so he’s passed away then?” I asked.

  Lily showed up, nudging me with her head, before approaching the tub of soaking snails. Immediately she scrunched her nose up at them, then instantly appeared in front of the fireplace where she lay down.

  Milo was a bit stunned at the interaction before regaining himself.

  “It’s believed so, yes. Although there is no definitive proof of his passing away, it’s just assumed so because he vanished, and people just don’t live that long,” Milo explained.

  Milo paused before looking at me closely. “You said Morlin gave you these books.”

  I just nodded.

  Milo shook his head. “It can’t be... If he were still alive and in a bookshop, he’d be swarmed by mages and swordsmen looking for mentorship, likely someone just named after him.”

  Milo handed back the journal. “There should be some incredible information and tales in that book if it’s real. Treasure it.”

  As I held it in my hands, looking at it, I was conflicted. Was the old man at the bookshop just pulling a prank on me?

  “I’m going to try to find the shop myself. If it has books of this quality, copy or not, I’m intrigued,” Milo said, before heading to the stairs.

  “Oh, before I go, Trev, we’ll be leaving town tomorrow, so make sure you get whatever you need for a week on the road.” Milo waved as he went back downstairs.

  Storing all the books away and turning my attention back to the snails, I pulled one out of the tub and attempted to store it, being slightly surprised when it worked.

  “I’ll save cooking them for when we’re on the road,” I said.

  Jen nodded. “Probably for the best.”

  The rest of the night was a very quiet affair. In the end, the only bookshop that Milo found was run by a rude old lady, and nothing like Liane and I had described. Liane even went to show him the way, but she couldn’t remember how to find it and kept ending up at the markets.

  All of this was very odd.

  I gave Lily one of the pre-cooked meals I had in my storage. She seemed thrilled since it was a piece of drake, while Wyatt cooked us all a local dish that was very common in the dungeon. It was made using large chunks of marinated buvul that were heavily spiced and cooked in a pot with onions, then on top was placed rice, covered in stock, and finally sealed in the pot while it all cooked together.

  The flavour of the spiced buvul soaked right into the rice, which was fluffy. I had two bowls just to myself and really enjoyed my time at Wyatt’s Inn, and I was looking forward to returning.

  We had no trouble from the royal guard, although they were inside the inn the entire night.

  I was also happy to see I had a bed to myself as Wyatt had moved in a second bed to my room, so I didn’t need to squeeze onto the bed Lily was sleeping on.

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