The silence was practically suffocating as Rick sat on the small cushion that served as a chair. His hands grasped at the metal cup as he used the warm liquid within helped soothe his nerves somewhat. It was a tea of some sort, with a dash of liquor having been added to it.

“So Monica…”

“Is still out hunting.” He replied with a slight nod. “We will have to stay here for another day at least.”

Victor didn’t seem quite reassured by his words. “And do you know when she’ll be back?”

“I know she’s within running distance if danger pops up.” Rick deflected. “She must have detected something dangerous and opted to get rid of it.”

A bluff. He didn’t have a clue about what Monica was hunting, and she most certainly wasn’t nearby. He only had a very vague sense that she was focused and excited in equal measure. And that was about it. The bond didn’t really let him peek more into the situation, though he most certainly wished it at least gave him a sense of distance and not just the direction to take to reach the Sabertooth.

The merchant didn’t seem all that convinced, but nodded. “And… you are sure we should stay here?”

“For the time being.” Rick nodded. “Freya and Ginny already set up a perimeter, and Monica made sure to scare off the ferals.”

He did not want to stay put, and the sooner they reached any semblance of civilization the better. But he couldn’t trust things would go well, and moving towards the next village on the map meant moving away from Monica. But he wouldn’t be saying those thoughts out loud, instead keeping his poker face as he did his best to read Victor’s expression.

The man didn’t appear too concerned, mostly seeming thoughtful.

“I have supplies to spare, so my main concern would be security.” A slight nod. “But it’s not like it would be wise to pressure a feralborn maiden that’s yet to properly learn discipline.” He moved to sit down on his own cushion, Victor made a gesture and one of the twins quickly approached. “I’d like something stronger.”

“Yes, sir.” The maiden nodded, kneeling next to the man and reaching out towards the void. Her hand vanished into thin air, the rest of her arm following soon after. Slowly, she pulled it back, and it came back into existence with a glass bottle.

The contents were a dark glassy brown, it reminded Rick of whiskey, but he wasn’t really sure.

Victor caught the interested look. “You’ve never seen a Mimica using her powers before?” At his words, the maiden tensed and bowed her head slightly. “Nothing to be ashamed of, they’re hard to come by so it wouldn’t be too strange that you haven’t had a chance to meet one yet.” He patted her shoulder. “I was very fortunate to find them, it would’ve been impossible to open up a new shop without their service. Saved me up plenty in transportation and safety.”

“So they have the power to store things away?” Rick nodded politely, noting the girl’s nervousness. “Do the stored objects keep their properties, or is it more like putting them on a shelf?”

“Hm? Whatever do you mean?”

“If I put this cup of tea into a bottle, and ask her to store it, would it still be hot if she took it out tomorrow? Would food spoil?”

“Oh! Though I’ve never tested whether things remain hot or cold, their magic doesn’t prevent food to spoil.” The man shook his head. “Their power has been described akin to creating a separate room to put things into.”

Nodding absently, Rick drank some more of his loaded tea. “Is this normal?”

“What is?” Victor tensed as the question was thrown his way, the maiden at his side had quickly left as soon as she’d stopped being the focus of the conversation.

“For this world, for this kind of interaction.” The teacher replied, shaking his head. “If I’m expected to spend a month in the Earl’s place, just what exactly should I… do?”

“That… that is a very peculiar question.” Victor stroked his chin. “I had thought the silence was a normal one. Was it making you uncomfortable? No, of course it was. I’m such a bad host.” Shaking his head, the man crossed his arms. “And here I believed I came from a place where things moved fast, you must be faster still, then? If such is the case…”

Rick quickly shook his head, and that seemed to snap the man right back on track.

“Yes, yes, so to start with, you’re not expected to spend a great deal of time with the Earl himself. You will be his guest, but you are unlikely to be with him save once every so often. It is highly dependent on his schedule.” He tapped his chin. “As a guest, you’ll also be able to come and go as you please, though spending too much time out and about might be seen in a bad light. What would you normally do for amusement in your world?”

“Read books is the only thing that I feel would translate into this world… also, theater I guess? Never did do much of that, but television…”

With a nod, the merchant took a long swing from his glass. “Then perhaps that should be your focus. The Earl has an extensive library no doubt, and every noble enjoys boasting of whatever it is their family has come to collect over the generations.” A moment of pause. “It is also the normal expectation that the host amuse the guest and not the other way around. You might not be a noble, but the invitation has been made clear. You could very well expect to be asked to partake in some boar hunting or to watch a play or two.”

“Boar hunting?”

“There are variations, but many nobles that have some personal forest will generally partake in boar hunting from time to time.” The man replied. “They use non-elemental guns, trying to take down a boar, usually one raised in captivity to make it an easier game.”

Rick’s neck tensed, his mind whirling towards the forest and the armored baron as he took the shot towards Monica. The loud deafening bang and the solid thud as if a canon had gone off. “Nonelemental.” He repeated under his breath. “So normal lead and gunpowder?”

“Most likely, though then again, the Earl might have a Goblina in his service, so enchanted boomwood might be used as an alternative.” A slight shrug in his dismissive response.

“What’s…” Rick sighed, rubbing at the bridge of his nose. “I just know this is going to be another aberration of chemistry, but what in the world is ‘boomwood’?”

Loud laughter met his question. “It’s a Goblina specialty, they can make any plant-based material burst in flames, explosively so if they have the time and experience to enchant it into a stable state. It’s a substitute to gunpowder in many places, especially in the northern desert where the feral Orc tribes roam.”

That gave Rick pause, he blinked a moment and frowned, turning to look down at the cup that he was holding onto. “Have you ever heard of feral Tigresses?” He wondered with a slight hesitation. “Do they just… roam?”

“Everyone’s heard of the feral tigresses.” Victor chuckled. “They’re often spotted near the dead-lands to the west, their territories make incursions into the area a rather dangerous endeavor.”

“But not on this side of the kingdom.”

“Oh!” He nodded. “Indeed, White-Claw… Monica, was quite the legend precisely because she’d been the first Tigress ever spotted in this portion of the kingdom. You have thoughts about this?”

“Just curious.” Rick nodded slightly as he rubbed at his chin in thought. “Monica and I have disparities in how we see things sometimes. I was thinking that maybe meeting another Tigress, a fully tamed one, might be of help to understand her better.”

As he said this, he felt something, a twitch, a shift. Rick’s back abruptly straightened as he looked over his shoulder towards the tent’s cloth walls. It took him a moment to properly place the feeling and the fact that it was coming from Monica herself.

“Something the matter?”

Rick nodded. “I think Monica’s found what she was looking for.”