Sworded Affair

As Emma brought out a second serving to refresh the effect of Home Is Where the Hearth Is, the limitations of the Trait quickly became apparent. It only took effect after finishing a home-cooked meal, and while she wasn\'t sure the exact definition of meal, it was clear by now that it had to be a sizable portion. A second box was doable, and maybe even a third, but Emma doubted she could manage more than that consecutively; this wasn\'t quite a video game where food vanished into pixels, her stomach could only handle so much at a time.

[EXP gain doubled for 1 hour.]

Thankfully, that wasn\'t an immediate problem, and Emma was able to continue her work without succumbing to the call of the porcelain throne. There were twenty glass jars remaining, which meant two batches of ten were the way to go.

[20x Hallowed Candle (Demonic) created.

100 (200) EXP gained!]

She managed to finish the second and final batch a few minutes before the hour, thus sparing her stomach a third course. It wasn\'t quite enough to get her another level up, not with each candle giving less EXP as her level increased, but she was still more than happy with the outcome. Cleanup was as easy as always; any detritus being swallowed up by Eden\'s Echo before reappearing in the bin. The more Emma got used to her storage item, the more she understood why Amal had called it a necessity for all practitioners; it truly did make everyday life so much easier.

With her supplies depleted, there were only a few things left to take care of before tomorrow\'s journey. There was still half a bowl of human blood left, which would be a waste to throw away; so Emma headed to the garden with it to feed the Potted Hydra. Saint was already there when she arrived, curled up into a ball as she chewed on the remains of a fat rat that she\'d caught god knows where.

The Potted Hydra had also eaten its share, as evidenced by a faint coating of red that slowly vanished before Emma\'s eyes, absorbed through some mechanism unknown to her. The plant shivered as she emptied the bowl onto it, but showed no other reaction nor any attempt to communicate.

"It\'s gonna take a while before it wakes up, I guess?"

[Anywhere between weeks or years, depending on how old it is. A hydra lives for a long time, their rate of growth reflects that.]

The author\'s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

"Lovely."

Now done with her chores for the day, Emma was left with an empty bowl in hand. Kneeling down, she attempted to place the bloody receptacle on Saint\'s head to make an impromptu bowler hat.

[-30 HP]

Saint swatted the bowl away as soon as it came within arm\'s reach, sending it flying off into the distance with a burst of enhanced strength, the aftershock breaking Emma\'s wrist for good measure.

"Well, it was worth a try," Emma laughed, storing the homunculus away and returning to her armour.

Saint hissed at her, deeply unamused, before tossing a rat skeleton at her head.

—

Dover had fared rather poorly for a town of its size. Whilst only officially home to a little over 30,000 residents, its location at the narrowest point of the English channel meant a constant influx of visitors, whether they be tourists crossing over via the Eurostar or sailors aboard one of the many boats at the Port of Dover, the busiest maritime port in the country. The actual population at any given time was far higher, with the end result being an influx of Demons more comparable to a city with a six figure population, and the near-total destruction of lives and infrastructure alike.

This is meant to be our home for the next month?

Elizabeth was far from impressed. While Oxford had fared little better, repairs had turned it into a town that, whilst not quite up to modern standards, was still very livable. Dover, by contrast, was still mostly a crater overlooking the sea.

"Only until the Solstice nears. Even the most opportunistic would not dare invade by that point, they have their own rites to observe on the longest day."

Elizabeth spun around, searching for the voice. It came from everywhere at once, stymying her efforts at echolocation. Gathering herself, Elizabeth stopped relying on her eyes and ears, and instead drew upon her magic. This was a bit more helpful, but only a bit, as Elizabeth\'s scrying told her she was simultaneously in an open clearing and inside a castle\'s antechamber.

"More puzzles, wonderful."

Reaching into her pocket for a small straw doll, she began the slow, careful process of separating illusions and truth.

—

"Why are there so many demons?" Astrid grunted, prying the body of a massive, bloodthirsty rabbit loose from her spear.

The corpse began to disintegrate as soon as it hit the ground, vanishing into wisps of mana shortly after to join the other two dozen of its pack.

[The population density in England is more than tenfold that of Sweden at a national level. The discrepancy is even bigger when looking at South England versus the north of Sweden. Lapland got off very lightly, all things considered.]

"I noticed."

Shaking her head, Astrid reached for the pendant at her neck, feeling it for a brief moment.

"Warmer again, we\'re on the right track."

The pendant itself was nothing special; what mattered was the slip of paper it held, specially attuned to the last known location of the letter she\'d sent to Emma. A secondary enchantment made it heat up the closer Astrid got; eventually, she\'d be close enough that the entire thing burst into flames. Eventually, but not today.

[It\'s almost sunset, you may want to find shelter before night falls.]

Astrid frowned, but didn\'t argue as she began to look for a place to sleep. It wasn\'t hard; there were far more empty houses in the suburbs than there were people, these days.