Page 35 of Knowing Trust

I saw something out of the corner of my eye that distracted me and my barrier faltered and fish started pouring out of the hole that it now had. I sighed and let them all drop on the beach.

The look I gave Neldor and the party with him for distracting me was not a kind one.

He simply shrugged. “Take me as a training tool and now you know your barriers can falter if distracted.”

“I already knew that, dipshit,” I grumbled, letting out a sigh. “What’s up?”

“Nothing, I just brought you food,” he answered as he walked over with the bag and opened a portal. “Others can have fun collecting your catch.”

Lageos was on guard though and frowning which meant he was getting something off Neldor.

And I wasn’t an idiot. “How many fairies did I wake up? What’s the count already that you’re worried and trying to refuel me?”

“Thirty thousand are already counted and registered,” he told me, nodding when I couldn’t hide my shock.

My typical number was almost fifty thousand, but it had taken almost a day to get everyone counted and listed for the totals. We’d been more prepared this time and people were handling groups and every volunteer knew the procedure. To have thirty thousand already meant… Wow.

Okay, time to refuel.

Taeral found me while stuffing my face and confirmed that I basically stopped the birds’ hearts and nothing else. Nothing was done to the meat and they were in perfect condition.

“It does take away from the fun of hunting though, Your Highness,” he commented, sounding a bit like he was whining since he had a bow with him as well.

“Yes, well, it’s less mess as well,” I drawled, gesturing to the blood on his clothes. “And I won’t always be around to do this, so you’ll still get to hunt.” I felt better when Neldor snorted.

After I was done eating, I suggested having other items at the auction like blessed knives for their kitchens to never be without food and their families always have what they needed… But apparently, that was crass. I could never ever receive compensation for blessings like they were for sale.

What was the difference between that and people buying my paintings? I mean, I understood what they were saying and I agreed, but it seemed like we’d already gone over that line.

So again—what was the difference?

Apparently, there was one. Neldor and Taeral frowned as they tried to explain it, probably understanding that they were splitting hairs or it was a fine line of a difference, but basically it boiled down to optics.

Plus, the focus was supposed to be my art and the blessing of my magic was the bonus. Right, but we all knew no one cared about that so again, splitting hairs.

However, I could understand it was really the optics and protecting me, so I was fine with that. I was.

It just seemed a bit silly too.

I put in my earbuds and went back to killing animals. I thanked the gods for the bounty and helping my people. Neldor came in behind me and overgrew everything so the remaining animals had a ton of food to breed. It was a very, very strange team event we were running, and I was glad that he seemed amused about it as well.

It was laugh at the crazy or run from it, and we couldn’t run from it.

So yeah, we laughed when we could.

10

The auction made gobs of money… Like gobs of money. It was a bit ridiculous, but people were talking about how if it wasn’t profitable that we wouldn’t continue to do it or open a butcher, and they wanted it.

Really, really wanted it from the money they put up.

They also wanted live animals, but we were firm in that wasn’t going to happen. I didn’t remotely trust people enough for that, and I wasn’t nearly as stupid as people thought. Many who suggested it so they could have a family hunt on their estates were thinking about getting two of an animal and breeding them so they could have their own black market business.

“Do you want me to tell everyone here your thoughts?” I asked each time with a smirk.

No, no, they did not and quickly moved on.

“We know,” Stefanie promised me, a handful of Guardians always wearing telepathy runes at events.

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