Page 8 of I Ran Away to Evil 3
Mental Resistance, Sense Danger, Force, Stronghold, Appraise, Map, Quest, Troll Riddle, Pocket Dimension, Bridge Barrier, Bridge Repair, Bridge Sense, Dimension Rift, Sense Fate, Sooth, Dungeon Lore, World Bridge.
“Is it just the two of you?” I asked. An obvious question, since they were alone, but an easy conversation starter.
“Yep.” Henrietta nodded vigorously, her brown hair bouncing. “Keith dragged Rufus off to go help Chloe, so I’m free.”
Brownie laughed. “If byfreeyou mean you grabbed me and ran when Chloe was distracted giving Rufus the schedule, then sure.”
“It was a tactical retreat! I’m not eveninthe wedding party—Keith is,” Henrietta defended herself. “Besides, if I hadn’t grabbed you, Chloe would’ve kept you locked up in the ballroom practicing your song set until you fell over.”
“I’m sure it’s not that bad—”
“They’re giving away free pastries to everyone in the city on the day of the wedding because she went through over a hundred mini cupcake batches before she found the right cake taste mix.” Henrietta’s eyes glazed over at the memory. “The buttercream alone … Anyway.”
Note to self, I thought,prepare for a day of eating sweets.
“Well, I’m happy to perform for Chloe all day if it’ll help.” Brownie shrugged. “In the meantime, let’s enjoy the festivities!”
The town square night market surrounded a beautiful water fountain of four mermaids pouring out jugs of water. Merchants lucky enough to secure a spot had built pop-up stalls around the square, while the permanent shops lining the outside of the market were full of magical trinkets made popular by the grand duchess.
The Pixie Prim had their usual small shop in the town square, but today, they’d set up two pavilions outside full of potions, poisons, and magical ingredients.
I was captivated by a shelf of tiny baskets for spices, each with tiny crystals cut into the shape of a type of spice. They had glass potion bottles of every size, with beautiful swirls in the glass or engravings carved into a circle.
They also had hanging baskets, baskets with lids, baskets that held other baskets …
The only thing preventing me from going all out was the size of my pocket dimension. I was powerful enough to enlarge my space … but did I want to open an entirely new room in my troll house just to buy more baskets?
“Do you need more hens-teeth jelly?” Henrietta asked, peering at the bottle I’d been holding while contemplating my current living situation. “Because we have a crate at home. Keith uses the jelly for inking construct enchantments and he’s always running out, panicking, and then ordering so much you’d think he would have enough …until he runs out again.”
“No. I’m good.” I put the glass back on the shelf and turned away. I didn’t need another room in my house; I wasn’t planning on living there much longer. I also didn’t need more items taking up space in my Hero’s Spatial Ring treasure storage.
The beautiful spiral mithril ring on my right-hand ring finger was my secret shame.
Imighthave gone overboard when I got my hands on it—and Imighthave harvested, bought, and hoarded every single item I’d come across afterwards until the thousand space storage ring was almost full.
There wereso manyrandom, useless things in there, like Nova’s spirit grass or thistledown or Oakley melon leaves. Not to mention two hundred random spell scrolls, ninety-nine high-level health potions, thirty low-level antidotes, tenhigh-level antidotes, and an assortment of random specialized antidotes for poisons … and the poisons themselves. I even had a bottle of molten ash vane.
Maybe I had a bit of a hoarding problem, but I swear, I was just saving them for when Ireallyneeded them most!
“Then I think I’ll buy it.” Henrietta reached up to grab the bottle of hens-teeth jelly, hugging it to her chest. She had a loving smile on her face when she added, “It’ll be a nice surprise for when he runs out next time.”
The feeling it gave me to see her so happy was indescribable. It made the entire five years of fighting and exploring worth it.
Sure, there had been some bad times, but in a magical world of unicorns and pixies and there were just as many things to love. I knew people in my old world who would payanythingto be me.
A troll in Valaria.
Sure beat being a troll on the internet.
“Oh, look what I’ve found,” I said, gently pushing the queen of the Dark Enchanted Forest toward a shelf full of the one thing I loved most about being in this world.
CHAPTER 4
There’s Never a Wrong Time to Fall in Love
