bookcurios Chapter 117 Savilla
Chapter 117 Savilla
This dinner was very sumptuous. In addition to the piglet stewed with mushrooms that the cats had been longing for, there were also ashes yams from Southam. The steamed yams were peeled of the dark red outer skin, mixed with a little honey, and mashed into soft and glutinous gray-white yam paste. Then, they were rolled into egg-sized balls with clean hands, and two tablespoons of snowberry sauce were poured on them after they were placed on the plate. As for the dumplings that are famous in Falkreath, I was really unable to do anything because of the tight time.
After seeing my cooking skills, Aigis no longer doubted that I could cook dragon and tiger fights, and her eyes were full of awe. However, she soon began to jump up and down in the kitchen, wanting to help, but was eventually driven away, and she was not even given the job of serving dishes, because Bryce and Helgi agreed that this guy was just looking for an opportunity to steal food.
Lachlan and the others had never seen such a feast before. For a moment, everyone was brave and took the lead, like a fox entering a chicken coop, just like a tiger stalking a flock of sheep, killing until the soup splashed everywhere and the cups and plates were in a mess. Agis buried his cat face in the bowl, chewing with big mouthfuls and making satisfied snoring sounds, which attracted Lucia's disgusted look.
While we were eating, I told Helgi to pack his bags and prepare to go to Hafengarn. The girl nodded calmly, her face calm. She took her time to deal with her share of food, wiped the corners of her mouth with a handkerchief, exchanged a glance with Bryce and Lucia, and the three girls left the restaurant together.
Aigis licked all his utensils clean, looked around, grabbed Lucia's bowl, tilted his head back and poured the soup into his mouth. I felt my stomach churning, and I quickly took a sip of malt liquor, which barely suppressed it. Hayu stared at Lachlan and pursed his lips at Aigis, indicating that his cousin should take care of his sister. Unfortunately, Lachlan misunderstood and followed Aigis's example and picked up Bryce's bowl.
I felt that I could not bear the second round of attacks, so I tore off half a piece of bread and stuffed it in my mouth, and fled the restaurant in a hurry. Not long after, I saw Hayu carrying Aigis by the neck and the little cat girl was licking her lips with satisfaction. The cousins did not show any surprise or nervousness about my taking them on a long trip, but just laughed and replied "I know".
I felt that everyone was silently despising me. Whether it was Helgi, Hayou or Agis, why were they so calm about going deep into the Imperial Legion-controlled area and completing the mission assigned by the Demon God? It was as if I was taking them on a trip. I was the only one who was treading on thin ice, trembling with fear for something to go wrong. Am I too timid? Both of the tiger men left their homes at a young age to venture into the world. In their eyes, there might not be much difference between Hafingar and Falkreath. As for Helgi, this girl's temperament has changed drastically, and I can't quite figure her out.
I was the only one who was thinking about the whole plan. At present, the difficulty lies in the second half of the journey. After leaving Cangyuan Territory, we will face the swamps of Yar Border Territory, which may be more dangerous than facing the swords of the imperial soldiers. As for the mission of the demon god Meridia, we have the invincible tank Babas, so I think it won't be too difficult. I have no experience in how to cross the swamp terrain. All I can think of is to prepare some spare torches and fire starters. These things are not difficult to make in the dense pine forest of Falkreath Territory, but it is hard to say in the damp and cold Yar Border Territory.
As for weapons and equipment, since we plan to disguise ourselves as two siblings going out hunting, we shouldn't be too conspicuous. Lund bought me a set of very good leather armor, originally for hunting, and now it comes in handy. Spears are too eye-catching and easily remind people of the army of Falkreath, so we definitely can't bring them. And Bolla's sworn sword will undoubtedly point to my identity as the Blade Warriors. Thanks to the group of softies in Solitude, the Thalmor are rampant in Haafingar. If they run into us, there will be a conflict.
I gently stroked the scabbard. This sword has hardly been used since it came into my hands. If Bora knew about this, I really don't know what he would think. But now my power is weak, I really dare not act rashly. I hope that one day, its frost blade can drink the blood of the Thalmor again.
I finally chose the steel sword that Rod gave me and the iron dagger that Rigel gave me, plus a longbow. After resting for two days at the Blood Throne, we, two people, two cats, and one dog, set off for the town of Helgen.
When your parents are still alive, you should not travel far, and if you do travel, you must have a plan. I have to go say hello to Donna.
Donna's residence has a new dark elf girl named Savilla. When I entered the room, she was tidying up the room and cleaning. It is very difficult to judge the age of a long-lived race like elves. Even if the average lifespan of dark elves is much shorter than that of high elves, it is definitely far more than a hundred years. As for how old they are in childhood and adolescence, I have no idea. I can only judge from human experience that Savilla is probably at a similar stage of development as Lucia. She was bought by Stein from a human trafficker two weeks ago, and now she serves Donna as a maid.
After the reconstruction, Helgen Town has seen several waves of population expansion. The first group of residents were the brothers who followed Rigel from the Pinewood Watchtower. After they settled down, they contacted their families to move in. The second group was the Reachman refugees taken in by my father. They no longer had any hope of returning to Reachman, and were content as long as they had a place to live in the troubled times. After we defeated the Imperial Legion, the news of the reconstruction of Falkreath County spread across the sky with the letters from the captives, and Helgen Town also welcomed more visitors. Among them, some were refugees who could not make a living in their hometown, and some were traveling merchants who were seeking wealth, and some of them made a living by trafficking in human beings.
I am extremely disgusted with people who get involved in such things, and I have always advocated that buyers should be punished as severely as traffickers. However, the cruel reality of this alien world is that buying and selling people is not considered a crime. Nobles and wealthy businessmen are keen to buy slaves from traffickers, and the younger the better. Slaves who have been trained since childhood generally have higher loyalty and are often entrusted with important tasks by their masters in the future.
Without knowing it, I became the kind of person I hated the most, but I had no reason to blame Stein who was in charge of this matter. This bastard was actually quite pleased with his behavior. According to him, if a girl like Savilla's age was not bought by a decent noble like me, she would most likely end up in the red-light district. If she was targeted by a pervert who liked skinny horses, the long growth period of the elf would become a nightmare that she would not be able to wake up from. Considering my current status, my mother should indeed have a personal maid, so Stein decided to pay the money to save Savilla from the water.
I could hardly suppress my anger and disgust at such a perverse theory. How clever was Stein? He keenly sensed my displeasure, bowed and left, and after a while knocked on the door again, taking Savilla, who was cleaning the room, out. The hotel room was not soundproof, and I could vaguely hear Stein scolding Savilla for interrupting my chat with Donna, and the girl's sobbing apology.
This bastard took out all the anger he suffered from me on Savera!
The bitterness of living under someone else's roof... I finally experienced this from this little girl today.
In my previous life, Lao Zheng was a pretty good boss, with nothing to complain about except that he paid me too little. In this life, Rigel provided me with food and lodging, and gave me a child. I was taken care of by others, but I turned around and bullied the weak. Regardless of whether Stein's behavior was instigated by me, at least the blame for his incompetence in managing his subordinates should be placed on my head.
The guilt surged up in my heart, making it hard for me to breathe.
"Savila is a good kid. Don't despise her because she's an elf. Let her stay with me."
Donna patted my hands and interceded for Savilla. I nodded, exhaled heavily, and opened the door.
"Stein, get some paper and pen."
I led Savera and Stein, who had brought paper and pen, into the house, and sat down at the small table and began to write a letter.
"Stein, thank you for your hard work during this period. You have done a great job with Savilla. Mother and I are very satisfied. Since Mother is being taken care of here, you can return to the Bloody Throne Fortress. Listen to Lydia's arrangements after you return. The task I assign to her is very important. You must help her complete it. Also, go find Lund and give him this letter. Ask him to reimburse the money for buying Savilla and give you an extra month's salary."
A flash of joy flashed across Stein's eyes. He respectfully took the short letter I wrote to Lydia and Lund and bowed.
"It is my honor to be able to do my bit for you, sir."
I patted his shoulder. This boy is not even 20 years old, but he has a lot of ideas.
"Of course I know you're not a greedy person, but it's impossible for everyone in the world to value righteousness over money like you do. I have to let them see what kind of rewards people who work hard will get. So you still have to accept this little money, just as an example to others."
Stein was sent to pack his bags, and he left with a swift step, probably because he was tired of serving old women in the town. I left Savilla in the house to continue her previous cleaning, and she was told that she would not disturb us mother and son. The dark elf girl bowed awkwardly and stiffly, and began to work carefully, fearing that she would make a noise and anger me again.
I didn't tell Donna the real destination of my trip. I just said that I was going to another territory to do something and would probably be away for a long time. Then I talked to her about the progress of building a house in Falkreath and Eric and Angie's marriage. Donna naturally didn't care about the size of the house, and she also told me not to offend the Nanya steward for these trivial matters. Compared with Eric's marriage, she was more concerned about whether I had a favorite girl. She asked about Lydia for a long time in a roundabout way. After hearing that Lydia was injured, she blamed me for not telling her earlier, and sent Savilla to find Stein and asked him to bring some snacks as a condolence.
Although I made it clear that Lydia and I were only superiors and subordinates and had no romantic relationship, I don't know how much Donna listened to me. Ordinary people in Skyrim usually get married at around 20 years old. It's not uncommon for them to get married at 15 or 16 years old. Girls from poor families even get married at 13 years old. So it's no wonder Donna is anxious, but I really don't feel like starting a relationship. Of course, it's impossible for me and Rigel to have a relationship, but when she's pregnant, I'm going to talk about love with another woman. Is that something a human can do?
I had to shirk my identity and say that I was a baron now, so I naturally had to marry a noble lady from a prominent family. However, there was no one of the right age in Falkreath, so I could only see if there were any families in other territories willing to form an alliance. Donna sighed, then smiled again. She shouldn't have urged me, she just wanted to have a grandson sooner.
Having a grandson is easy, but he has to take someone else's surname...
I could actually guess Donna's worries. After all, I was born a peasant. Even if I could marry into a noble family, the noble lady might not look down on us. She would roll her eyes and say some dirty words. How could such a marriage be happy? Normal people get married for a harmonious and long-lasting relationship. The feelings between two people are much more important than their respective status. The old man had lived for most of his life, so he could see at a glance that Lai Mei was loyal and respectful to me, so he tried to bring us together openly and secretly.
I used the excuse of discussing business with Baron Horrick to escape from the marriage scene, slipped into the inner city fortress of Helgen, and went straight to Rigel's room. I knocked on the door, and a cold wind rushed in from behind me. The little saber-toothed tiger sat on the bed helplessly, holding her belly. The poor pregnant woman was now confined to take care of the fetus. There were always two maids in the room. She didn't even need to get up to drink water or go to the toilet. It was like a tear behind bars. This made the former bandit leader, who was used to making trouble, extremely irritated. Of course, the two personal maids were the unlucky ones.
"Are you hanging it so high for the giant to see? Oh, right, on the left, a little higher. OK, OK... No, it should be hung over here, where the light is better..."
At this time, the two were being directed to hang a painting on the wall. Rigel complained that it was too high, and then that it was not placed properly. After finally hanging it, before the maid's feet on the stool touched the ground, the lady of the lord decided to hang the painting on another wall.
"Hey? How come Lord Locke can take time out of his busy schedule to see me today?"
"What's so busy about it? I just followed Eric to kill Schooner, and now that I'm done, I hurried over here."
Ever since I entered this door, I have been feeling a chill down my spine. Coupled with Rieger's sarcastic tone, I could only put on a smile and tell her the story of what happened outside the window in an attempt to cheer her up.
"Oh! Eric, is that your good brother who kidnapped Angie?"
I feel like I've hit the horse in the leg.
"You guys go out first, I have something to say to Lord Locke."
Rigel rolled his eyes strangely and waved at the maids.
"Yes, ma'am."
The two maids actually looked at me with gratitude, knelt down to salute, and then ran away.
"This... your current body... is this okay?"
"You think beautiful!"
The moment the door was closed, Rigel, who was sitting in front of me, suddenly showed an amusing smile. At the same time, a cold dagger was pressed against my back, extinguishing the heat surging in my lower abdomen.
I heard a teasing voice behind me.
"So, should I call you Sir Knight or Sir Baron now?"