The cakes from the Bigstone bakery were quite good. Lusya had to admit, as she finished hers off, that they might be the best she had ever had. In this instance, at least, she agreed with Beldo’s assessment. Of course, that still only gave him a fifty percent success rate, so it was too early to say she could trust his opinions regarding food. Regardless, the baker was obviously a master of his craft, enough that his talents were probably wasted in this village. But it was his prerogative if he wished to do so. It made little difference to Lusya.

Courtesy of Beldo, they had even been able to purchase the cakes at a discount. He was well-known in this village as well. People waved and greeted him as he walked down the street, and the baker had marked down the price of the cakes as thanks for “his help last time.”

“What exactly did you do for the baker?” Lusya asked.

“Oh, he had ordered some ingredients from far away,” Beldo said. “The wagon delivering it got delayed by a snowstorm, so I carried the ingredients in for him. And the driver and his horses, of course. Not all at once. It actually went driver, horses, ingredients. Between the storm and the cold, the driver and the horses were in real danger of freezing to death or being buried alive.”

“I see.”

“This is sho gud!” Ariya mumbled for the dozenth time around a mouthful of the cake she seemed to be trying to swallow whole.

“If you eat slower, you will be able to savor the taste for longer,” Lusya said.

Ariya nodded in agreement and took her next bite with exaggerated slowness. She hummed in delight, her expression one of pure bliss, as her jaw worked like she was trying to demonstrate how to eat. Lusya had not meant that slow, but as long as Ariya was enjoying it, it was fine.

There was, however, one thing that had caught Lusya’s attention that might require addressing.

“Beldo,” she said. “It has come to my attention that we are not making progress any faster than I anticipated with my route.”

She had checked the map. They were getting closer to Talsia, and her final destination on Midbud Isle, at about the same rate she had planned on.

He popped his final bite into his mouth as she spoke, forcing her to wait for him to finish. He held up a finger for her to wait as he chewed and, finally, swallowed. “Yeah, I’d say it’s about the same.”

“Was not the purpose of you guiding us to show us the fastest route?” Lusya asked.

He shook his head. “I never said that. I said I would show you the best route.”

“That usually implies fastest.”

“But not always, obviously. I can show you a faster route if that’s a problem, though.”

She considered that for a moment. It was true they were not saving any time, but they were not losing any either. It was irritating that they would not be making progress faster after such had been implied, but she could not complain about matching her intended pace. Besides, she was curious what exactly Beldo believed the best route entailed in this case.

“This route is satisfactory for the time being,” she said.

“Glad to hear it,” he replied with a smile.

“I expect you to prove that this is the ‘best’ route.”

He nodded. “Of course. Leave it to me.”

They arrived at the inn shortly afterward. Ariya had finished her cake, and was now flapping her mouth, brow furrowed.

“Do you need to wash that down?” Lusya asked.

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“Yeah,” Ariya said.

“We will order you some milk.”

Ariya grinned. “Okay!”

“Speaking of drinks,” Beldo said. “Why am I always drinking alone? I haven’t seen you take a sip of alcohol.”

Lusya cocked her head and blinked. “I do not understand why you drink alcohol in the first place. It has little effect on us.”

Granted, she didn’t much understand why mortals enjoyed alcohol either. Loss of faculties, decreased judgment, reduced motor control. Intoxication seemed like nothing but demerits to her, and mortals’ affinity for it was perplexing. But at least the fact that they did enjoy it gave them a reason to pursue it. A demon had no such motivation.

“Some people just like the taste, you know,” he replied.

“I am aware,” Lusya said. “I do not understand that either.”

Her dislike of a taste was not a strong thing, but she did dislike the taste of alcohol. She would never choose to drink it for the taste.

Beldo chuckled. “Well, I guess that settles that. No big deal, I’m not so insecure I can’t be the only one drinking.”

“Why do they call it ‘drinking?’” Ariya asked. “That’s confusing. Drinking normal stuff is drinking too.”

“It is needlessly confusing,” Lusya said.

Beldo shrugged. “That’s language in a nutshell.”

“That is also true.”

If there was one thing knowing many languages had taught Lusya, it was that none of them made much sense. Just when you thought one did, it threw some odd idiom or pointless exception to the rules at you. But, while investigating the origin and usage of such things could be interesting, complaining about them would not change them. She had read essays and treatises urging people to speak or write in a particular way. If the writer was particularly influential, nobility or those in academic circles who spoke or wrote in the writer’s language might heed their advice. But there would always be holdouts, and the common people would never pay such appeals any mind, if they even knew they existed.

They entered the inn and rented two rooms, along with ordering some milk for Ariya. She eagerly downed it and let out a contented sigh. There was still some time before dinner, but they had sat down while Ariya drank, and, for lack of much that needed doing, none of them were in any hurry to move.

“I’ve been wondering for a while,” Beldo said. “But I hope you don’t mind me asking what your actual destination is.”

“I do not mind your asking,” Lusya said. “But we will not answer.”

Ariya nodded. “It’s a secret.”

He sighed. “Well, I guess that’s fair. Why is also probably a secret then, huh?”

“Indeed,” Lusya replied.

Beldo nodded in understanding and there was a pause. “You said you saw Azure recently, right?”

“Yes,” Lusya said. “As I said, she is doing well. She is the Seventh Paladin and in good health and spirits.”

“Oh, good for her,” Beldo said. “Twentieth to Seventh, and she probably took some time off when she had you, right?”

“That is correct.”

“Not bad at all,” Beldo said. “I knew she was talented. Although, considering she was a Paladin basically fresh out of the Academy, that might be a little like saying I knew the sky was blue.”

“It is not a particularly insightful observation,” Lusya replied.

“Was that something you arranged, or…?”

Lusya shook her head. “We had not been in contact for several years. I met her by chance on the road.”

Beldo cocked an eyebrow. “So, you were living with Romoro, then?”

“Since shortly after my seventh birthday, yes,” Lusya said. “Is that a problem?”

Beldo smiled and shook his head. “Not at all. It’s just not what I expected.”

“I see.”

Beldo hummed in thought. “You know, that reminds me, I’ve told you all about my past, but what about you two? I don’t need to know everything, but how about your journey so far? I’m sure it’s been an interesting one.”

“It has!” Ariya exclaimed. “Lots of really cool and scary stuff happened! You should tell him all about it, Lusya.”

Lusya most certainly would not tell him “all about it.” She didn’t know what Beldo would do if she did, but there was no reason to test him.

“I’m not trying to pry,” he said. “Whatever you’re comfortable telling me is fine. If that’s nothing, then so be it.”

“You gotta tell him a little bit,” Ariya said. “It’s only fair.”

Lusya supposed it would not hurt to give him some information. If anything, if Ariya let something slip out later, him having a basic understanding of the situation might be helpful. Even if what she said was suspicious, he might fill in the gaps with an innocuous assumption, as people tended to do.

“Very well,” Lusya said. “I suppose I can tell you some of what has happened.”

“Make sure you talk about the big demon,” Ariya said.

Lusya blinked twice, tilting her head. “I would have thought you would not want to relive that part.”

“It was scary,” Ariya said, smiling. “But it was super cool, too! And I feel like more cool stuff happened while my eyes were closed. So, I wanna hear that too.”

Lusya had not known Ariya was curious about that. Unfortunately, her curiosity would need to go unsatisfied, as much as Lusya could sympathize with that frustration. Lusya did not want to recount any battles Ariya had not witnessed in detail. If Lusya did speak on killing that demon, she would abbreviate the encounter to something along the lines of, “I defeated him,” and leave it at that.

“I will mention the encounter,” Lusya said. “But I will not go into detail.”

Ariya groaned in protest.

“Do not groan. I have made my decision.”

Ariya sighed. “Yes, Lusya.”

And so, Lusya began recounting an abridged, sanitized version of their journey so far to Beldo.