Drake doesn't seem to have realized I was awake before him. Every minute or two, he shifts slightly, then tenses up before relaxing again. This started about twenty minutes ago, and I'm doing my best not to let him know I'm awake. I know he's trying to avoid waking me up, and it's amusing me.

Last night, after I finished washing the dishes, Drake confirmed that he's feeling ready to continue our journey. After being on rest for a week, I know he wants to get up and move around, and also that he probably wants to have sex.

We held off on doing it this past week in consideration of his state, and I was too exhausted last night. Even after the headache went away, it still felt like I'd tired myself out just from casting that spell three times.

While it was probably fine for him to get off, he didn't want to risk it just in case. As a result, we're both rather horny, and it's taking every effort for me not to let him know I'm awake. The boner pushing against my ass tells me what he probably wants to do right now, before we get ready to leave.

Eventually giving up on trying not to wake me, Drake moves his right arm, the one draped over me, bringing his hand up to play with my left nipple. At the same time that he does that, he kisses the nape of my neck.

Unfortunately, both of those make it impossible to remain stoic because I wasn't expecting his sudden movements, and I nearly jump in his arms. Drake begins giggling, his whole body shaking as he tries not to laugh out loud.

"How long ago did you realize?" I ask.

"I wasn't entirely sure," he nuzzles me. "But I figured I could check for sure."

"You do know my nipples aren't sensitive like yours, right?" I ask.

"They feel nice," he nips my earlobe. "Soft and gentle, a contrast to your firm muscles. What do you want to do?"

"Just start," I tell him, and his hand leaves my nipple as he pulls back a little bit.

Drake begins preparing himself, then we spend plenty of time getting intimate and just having fun with each other. After we finish, Drake and I snuggle against each other. There is little I like more first thing in the morning than sex with Drake, then feeling his warmth against my body, the feel of his muscles against me, his arms around me, his breath on my neck.

This is something that I wish could go on forever. Unfortunately, all things must come to an end and pulls away so that we can clean up and start dressing. I'm pulling on my belt when there's a knock at the door.

"I have food ready for you two," Macy informs us. "And some guests, so you should probably use the hood, Nate. Don't worry about cleaning the sheets, I'll have one of the men handle it."

"Alright!" I respond. "Thanks, Macy."

"You're welcome," she says. "Breakfast's in the kitchen."

Drake and I finish dressing, then I pull on my cloak and pull my hood up, making sure my face is concealed through the cowl. Ready for the day and our journey, Drake and I leave the room and make our way down to the kitchen, where we dig into the rather healthy breakfast Macy prepared for us. I suppose she's with her guests right now, since she's not in here.

After we eat and clean the dishes, Drake tracks her by scent so that we can wish her a good day, and we find her in a supply room standing beside a table covered in loose supplies with a pair of identical boys around eleven years old. I'm guessing they're the ones she wants to teach. They're wearing plain, brown pants and simple, off-white tunics, but the leather boots on their feet look quality, even if still simple.

Interesting mix of wearing boots but also simple, plain, and inexpensive clothes, but it's possible their parents saved up to afford pricier boots. Except that people normally wouldn't buy footwear for children, since they'll outgrow them, just costing more money. Even shoemakers don't typically make footwear for their own children.

The twins look at us, their green eyes calm, focused. They can probably see part of my face, but not much of it, not with the deep cowl. Their calm expressions and the focus in their eyes confirms to me that they're the twins Macy mentioned last night.

Both boys trigger some sort of sense in me, a sense of the wind and of magic, but also of the forest. A calm sort of energy flows through them, as gentle as the wind and stoic as the forest. For several moments, all I can do is marvel at this sense, especially as I'm sensing a powerful force of wind within Macy.

What am I sensing? Is this a new sense related to my magical bloodline? I did work on my sensing ability over the last week, and with the high amounts of magical power in the air, it's not unlikely for me to have unlock another aspect of my bloodline magic.

Pulling my thoughts away from this apparently-new ability of mine, I push the sense down and turn my attention to my cousin.

"We're preparing to set off," I make sure to use my deeper, gruffer voice as I speak. "Thank you for letting us stay here after we finished the examination, and for breakfast. It was exceptional today."

"Dang it!" Macy exclaims, and from the way what I can see of her changes, she's probably giving the twins the stink eye. They're beaming. "You two are not allowed to cook anymore!"

"They made the meal?" I ask.

"Yes," Macy answers. "They're the ones who are teaching me how to cook."

"We had her food a few months ago," the twin on the right tells me.

"And it was terrible," the twin on the left says.

"So we decided to take over cooking when we're here," the twin on the right says.

"And she asked us to teach her how," the twin on the left tells me.

"That explains why she can cook now," I say. "Breakfast was quite delicious, and good job teaching her, she's improved a lot."

"She just needed to put in the effort to learn," the twin on the right says.

"Anyone who puts in the effort to learn can go from bad to mediocre," the twin on the left says.

"Though those who refuse to put in the effort to learn will never do so," the twin on the right says.

"No matter how much they try to do so," the twin on the left says.

While that might seem to contradict itself, it actually makes sense. No matter how hard someone tries to cook better, if they don't put in the effort to learn how, they won't. It's not always just hearing the lesson, then attempting to apply it. Someone who struggles can put in more effort by figuring out the best way for them to remember things, then applying it. Sometimes, it can take a long time for them to manage, but that still requires putting in the effort and dedication to it.

The same can apply to magic. I can understand why Macy thinks the two of them will be good students. Their view on learning means they will likely devote themselves to it properly if they take an interest in casting spells.

"My brother could use a lesson in that," I say. "Last I heard, he burns water in his attempts to cook."

Taylor really is a terrible cook, and no one lets him near a stove or oven because of that. He's self-admitted at being terrible with cooking, and says that he just doesn't get how to do it. The twins' words makes me wonder the way that would work for him to remember what to do and what not to do.

"At least I wasn't that bad," Macy says. "He's only allowed in my kitchen to eat when he visits. Which, incidentally, will probably be in the next week, now that I think about it. Are you two heading to the Water Shrine next?"

"Yes," I answer. "It's the next-closest one. We'll return to Sacred Gale, then head to Ivory Breeze, Golden Gale, and then to Port Zephyr. From there, we'll commission a boat to take us to the Sacred Isles, going on the Dungeon Path."

The Dungeon Path takes a bit longer to reach the Sacred Isles, where the Water Shrine is, but it takes us to three islands, each of which has a Dungeon on it. There are only three Dungeons on the way to Port Zephyr with the route we're going, and then just one more at Port Zephyr.

Well, technically, there is one more on the way, but it's a Tier III Dungeon, which Drake and I can't access since we don't have a Class at Tier III or higher. If I wasn't worried about keeping my identity a secret, we'd go through a slightly-longer route that added five more Dungeons to our trip.

But the risk of people seeing 'the next Oracle' and delaying our trip further is too great. As far as I can tell, we should be fine on Levels after doing the seven Dungeons on the way to the Sacred Isles, then doing the Dungeons there. There's a Tier II Dungeon on one of those isles, which means even more Class Points.

We should be fine, I think. I hate that I look so much like my brothers, the resemblance is obvious and that makes things complicated.

However, based on our run of the Wind Trial, the Water Trial shouldn't be too difficult even if we don't manage to bring a second Class up to Tier II. Drake's gains are simply that good. I'm really envious of his bonus just for being a dragon.

Though I am not envious of his navigational abilities. We'd probably take a few months to reach Port Zephyr if he led the way, even if he had a dozen maps to guide him.

"Good luck on the trip," Macy tells me. "I understand why you're going that route rather than a 'better' one. Before you go, I wanted to give you some stuff."

"Supplies?" I ask, my gaze going to a set of items sitting on the table she's standing beside.

"Yeah," she answers. "I know you've probably stocked up with how prepared you like to be, but you probably only had so much money saved up, and you'll only get so much as you journey unless you go for extra. Having another quest to do on top of your own adds unexpected expenses, so I thought I'd help a cousin out. All the stuff on this table is for you two."

I begin collecting the items. There's a small pouch with some vanri in it, probably to make up for some of the extra costs I incurred by buying extra supplies for Drake, and I quickly slip that into my Inventory before checking the other supplies. A couple of maps of places on the eastern continent are among them. While I've already got those maps in my head, it's still not a bad idea to have physical ones, just in case.

There are also some more salves and lotions, along with some fruit and bread. I put everything into my Inventory except for half of the medicinal items and half of the food, which Drake puts into his own Inventory.

"Thank you," I tell Macy. "Good luck with your future plans."

"Good luck with yours," she tells me. "The twins have something they want to give you, too."

"Oh?" I ask.

"We asked who you were when Macy visited us a week ago," the boy on the right says.

"Since we saw you two on your way here," the boy on the left says.

"But no one ever saw you return," the boy on the right says.

"And that's not normal for small groups like you," the boy on the left says.

The brothers reach under the table and pull two jars out, holding them out to us. While the jars are the same, the labels on them are different.

"Macy told us you're questing to save the world," the boy on the right says.

"So we went to the mudpots and gathered up an herb there," the boy on the left says.

"Then asked our mama to mix up these salves," the boy on the right says.

"Because anyone on a major quest should have good salves," the boy on the left says.

"Mudpots?" I ask. "You have those nearby?"

"Sort of," Macy tells me. "You have to travel nearly all day to reach them. The boys are probably the only people who go there. Their mother's an alchemist, and they like to collect the rare herbs they can, even if the journey gets them into trouble."

That explains the quality boots. If they fall into the mudpots, they'd burn their feet and legs without something to protect them.

"The journey itself is not that dangerous," the boy on the right says.

"As long as we have our trusty bows," the boy on the left says.

"Then the monsters leave us alone," the boy on the right says.

"And the ones that don't soon die," the boy on the left says.

"Well," I accept the jars. "Thank you, boys. These salves will no doubt prove useful at some point."

I examine the labels. One is a salve for burns, while the other will be useful for wounds with venom in them, such as a sting or bite. If the labels are true, they're both high-quality salves that would easily cost tens of thousands of vanri each.

"Consider it a gift from town," Macy says, probably realizing that my pause is from shock at how they're just giving these to me. "The twins did all the work collecting the ingredients that make it that expensive."

"Thank you, boys," I put the salves into my Inventory. "We will not waste them."

"Good luck on your journey," the boy on the right tells us.

"May the Crystals shine on you forever," the boy on the left blesses us.

"May the disaster you seek to prevent," the boy on the right says.

"Be resolved by your efforts with this quest," the boy on the left says.

"Thank you," I say, then turn to Macy. "Thank you, Macy. We shall return, after our journey is over, to see how your plans are going. I wish you luck with those as well."

"Thank you," she tells me. "Good luck, you two. Goodbye."

"Goodbye," I say.

"Goodbye," Drake says.

Our goodbyes given, Drake and I make our way out of the Wind Shrine. Time to head to Port Zephyr and make our way to the Sacred Isles.