Back to the Manor

After everyone's wounds, even mine, are tended. We eat the leftovers of our banquet. It somehow doesn't taste as well as it did back at the manor. I can't get my mind off the fact that I pretty much died today, nor that August is the one who saved my skin... By sacrificing his own, literally.

For now, he is stable, but I can't imagine the pain he has from this amount of third-degree burns. We don't have anywhere near enough potions to fix it. Henry Pierre and August leave first with the carriage to get to the nearest place that probably has a lot more potions, as well as advanced medical capabilities. The manor of the lord. The place we went to find out where this damned boar was hiding.

The rest of us get to figure out a way to bring this slightly oversized boar there. It's only about 15km from here to there, but that still leaves two problems.
1) More than half of this path is hills, which will be atrocious to traverse while carrying or dragging such a big boar with only four of us.
2) Even if we wait for Henry to return, our carriage is nowhere near large enough to fit the boar through the door.

Considering we have no way to get to the manor today, we'll have to sleep here tonight. As for the best course of action, Thomas has decided we should split into two groups of two. Andy and I get to gather wood after we retrieve all of Andy's knives, while Thomas and Leo start butchering the boar.

After about three more hours, we're done gathering firewood, and after starting a fire and making a simple torch, we go for a quick explore through the cave as the last remaining daylight shows us any holes to the outside. Past the big entrance, the cave narrows to one metre wide. As it does, the ceiling comes down to about 1m40 height.

To our surprise, after following the main path for about fifteen metres, the narrow cave with occasional branches too tight to even fit a human, completely changes. What we behold now is a massive clearing.

"Can you stay by the exit for a little bit? I want to explore this cavern real quick."

"Sure."

As Andy moves further into the cavern with the torch, the only thing reminding me where the passage and wall are is the fact that I have my right hand placed firmly on the wall. The idea of the torch going out crosses my mind. I shiver at the thought. Hurry up already, Andy!

"Jackpot, I thought I would find some here!
Wait just a minute longer, Francis, I'll be right there."

"What did you even find?"

"You'll see in a minute."

"..."

When he finally returns, I can see something vaguely round in his hand, but the torchlight is only enough to show me general contours. I don't recognise what it is.

Because none of the other branches are big enough to mistake for the way out, we easily make our way back to the exit. The last sunset above the mountain clearing is captivating. More importantly, I quickly look at Andy's hand. What he is holding appears to be a bright yellow mushroom. It's so bright in fact, I would swear it is glowing. As I turn to look at the last of the sunset again, the halfway skinned magic boar in the dim lighting of our campfire catches my eye. It used to be so intimidating, yet gives off a melancholic air now.

"I had a hunch, but there are magic mushrooms in the cave. We should bring those to the next town we visit for sure!
And there was a giant cavern, followed by a dead end. The cavern is not very well ventilated, but there should be more than enough air in there to sleep without worrying."

"Nice find, Andy! Do you mind if Thomas and I go sleep there first, as you and Francis take over the butchering? Use our daggers, they're already dirty anyway."

"Sure, rest well."

The skinning is very exhausting, the skin is super stiff, and the connective tissue is very laborious to cut through. We finally finish skinning the entire thing! It must have been at least five hours since we started. Andy takes a big stick and lights it in the campfire, which we also had to keep going between the skinning.

"I'll go wake up Thomas and Leo, wait here for a moment."

A few moments later, the three of them leave the cave.

"You fully finished the skinning? Awesome! Good night, you deserve the rest."

Thomas and Leo start separating the bones and meat, after which they will clean it all. Less work than the skinning, but still a lot of work nonetheless. When I finally wake up, the figure standing at the edge of the cavern with a torch is none other than Henry. It seems we slept long enough for him to get here. When there's no sun, and you worked way too late the night before, I suppose the body can get confused as to when it should wake up. As we leave the cave, I can see large roasted chunks of meat from the roasted magic boar.

I suppose today we'll have juicy magic boar for breakfast. Unusual, but nutritious for sure.
Henry and Pierre came back here after leaving August in the care of the Wolfe's medical personnel. After eating a massive chunk of boar meat, I'm not looking forward to the carriage ride. When Henry returns with Clover, I realise things are even worse.
"In order to carry as much of the boar as we can, I asked the lord if we could use one of his carts and some rope in exchange for three kilograms of fine evolved magic boar meat."
"He also apologised for not knowing about the hare and told us we can rest at his manor for a few nights. He wanted to talk to you as well, Thomas. Said it was something important, but not what it was."

"Being able to bring so many valuable materials is going to be great for our coin pouch. It would have been great if we could just do lower-risk jobs instead of having to fight to survive, though."

Thomas seems excited by the prospect of walking all the way there with a massive chunk of meat on his back. Me? I guess this is when I get to realise just how comfortable Clover actually made travelling. We manage to take it all with us. the hide, tusks and bones for making armour, clothes, weapons and jewellery, as well as all the meat. For food, obviously. Finally we’re also bringing these magic mushrooms, which are apparently used by highly skilled apothecaries to make potions, the weird fluid with crazy healing powers.

As we finally reach the plains near the river, my legs are completely exhausted. We have to keep going at this pace if we want to sleep in a guest bedroom instead of camping out rough, though, so I’ll just have to tough it out.
After an hour or two more punishment, we finally get back to the manor. There are servants already standing by to show us to our guest rooms. After I'm shown my room, I plop down on the soft futon. The guestroom even has tatami flooring, so luxurious! That’s all for today. Yesterday was draining enough for at least a week’s worth.