I left the ballroom, and headed towards the kitchen. More precisely, towards the bushes where I left that guy fainted with my clothes. He was still there, and still fainted, which was great. I quickly changed my clothes, and undid the restrains on his body. I hoped that they would suspect he was simply not doing his job right. Either way, he didn't know how I looked, so it didn't matter much. My plan ended in success. Some would consider it a subtle, but cruel punishment at the same time. They were still alive, able to function more or less normally. But the lack of pleasure and the fact they couldn't get any descendants, would soon turn their dream relationship into a nightmare. 'As shame I will not be able to see their expressions, when they found out they can't do it tonight' I thought. The poison would take a few hours to work properly, and they could still be saved now. But no one knew about the poison, well except Nick. But Nick would not tell anyone, or do something about it. 'Senty paid for what she did. Now, the rest of the Horseplain Village is left, to pay their debt to me. Sooner or later, I will get my hands on them too' I thought. Sure, the so called young master also received some love from me, but I didn't care. It wasn't my problem he associated himself with that hag. I used to be innocent too, yet no one really gave a damn. Why should I? Using the shadows and hard to see places, I slowly made my way outside the mansion. When I was in the clear, I again visited one of the vendors to eat something, just before I left. I enjoyed my meal more, than any other day. 'I still have 43 Coppers left, not much though. Whatever, I can get some money in the future' I thought. After my meal, I headed straight to the village's gate. Although the guards still checked people arriving at the village, they didn't waste much time checking those leaving. I made it past them no problem, and quickly made my way to the forest. The reason I wanted to return quickly, was to make a few Ingots. Or rather, the Ingots I was supposed to make, as I wasn't supposed to leave anywhere. 'I could stop giving shit about all that pretence, but I will wait it out until Nick passes away' I thought. I probably had enough strength and skills to take care of Rand, but I didn't need to arouse suspicion. Especially since the Horseplain Village was tied with the Grasshill Village now. If I made too big of a commotion, that warrior could show up and try to deal with me. As long as Rand had nothing on me, there would be no problems. I quickly found the area where Shelly and I separated our paths, and called out. "Shelly! Are you here?". I heard nothing for a while, so I tried again "Shelly! Come out, it's me!". A while later, I finally heard some noises in the forest. Shelly appeared soon after, and rubbed its head onto me. "You missed me? It's fine, I'm back now. Let's go back, we still have a long way to go". Shelly nodded while I looked at the village one last time, and exclaimed "I wish you all the best!". We then left that area, and travelled deeper into the forest. We ran throughout the night. Although we encountered some wild animals, they were nowhere near the strength of that silver-grey wolf we encountered before. 'It's a shame we didn't have time to take that fur. With such armour, I could take hits much better' I thought. Although it was a waste, I wasn't very good at making clothes. I didn't have the necessary tools to make such an armour either. We rested in the morning, where both of us got some sleep. Then we were back on our way. There was no noteworthy things that happened during our return. We didn't encounter such a large pack of wolves anymore, and could safely make it back to the Horseplain Village. 'If my guess is right, Nick and others will return tomorrow or even later. I'm sure the honoured guests such as Rand, would stay one more day there' I thought. We arrived very early in the morning, and all the villagers were still asleep. I carried Shelly quietly to our house, where we could finally rest properly. I woke up early in the afternoon, and headed straight to the Workshop. I had to make as many ingots as possible. 'Although the villagers might be suspicious, that I didn't work for a few days already. I also wouldn't be surprised, if they didn't give a crap about it' I thought. With my strength, I was able to create five Ingots that day. This was not enough, in order to cover for my absence, I would need at least ten more. 'I can always sell them a lie, that I took two days off or something'. The weird thing was, my food never arrived. I inquired about that the next day, and they just shrugged it off as "We forgot". This was actually very good, because no one delivered food for those few days I was absent. I told them in a angry manner to deliver it from now on. I also ate something while I was inside the tavern. On that day, I managed to create seven ingots. I started much earlier, and worked until evening. Rand and others didn't arrive yet, which was a good sign. 'As long as I make a few more tomorrow, I should be in the clear' I thought. I still had to take care of Shelly. We would go to river, where Shelly hunted a few fishes, then returned to the village. I knew Shelly could take care of itself, but I didn't want it to take care of the villagers. If Rand learned about Shelly's real strength, he could notify that warrior. That wasn't a good idea either. The next day, I made my Ingots as usual, but Rand and others were nowhere to be found. 'Hmm, is Nick stalling them on purpose again, or did they like Grasshill Village so much, they decided to stay a few more days?' I asked myself. It played to my advanatge anyway, and I created another seven ingots that day. I could now take it easy. All together, I had 19 Purified Steel Ingots. This equaled to about six days of my work. I was missing for six days, and I could just tell them I took a break twice or three times. 'Alright, this covers it, Tomorrow, I will make three as usual' I thought, and went to bed staight away.