Chapter 170: Can’t a guy just have a little bit of fun?
Everyone went to breakfast, leaving Sir Forsythe, Cass and Sir Sanders alone at the campsite. Cass didn’t mind. This was when Cass found out that Sam, bless his soul, had given Sir Forsythe a few of his romance books for him to pack away into his bag.
He’d also, as if he knew better, had given Sir Forsythe the giant demonology book for Cass to shove into his side bag.
Sir Forsythe had said nothing about the book, and Cass was grateful for it. Sir Sanders had given Cass a look, but when his gaze had met Cass’, he pretended to lock his lips and throw away the key. Cass’ eyes creased with his smile as he’d done that.
It was such an absurd thing to see from someone with dog ears that it had made Cass want to laugh.
However, Cass shoved the book into his bag and kept out one of the more tame romance novels. The one about a priest and a demon. He thought it was fair to read something like that right now. He was giggling to himself the whole time, hoping one of the priests would come by so that he could give them a heart attack.
That didn’t happen, tragically. Instead, everyone came back, fed, after Cass had had his morning meds and some water and snacks, all while reading his book.
Everyone seemed surprised by his relatively good mood, but it was only Lucian who seemed pleased to see him in good spirits. Lady Fiona still had a tightness to her jaw, but Cass could tell it wasn’t directed towards him. Even Vespertine seemed to be in a mood, while Lady Ava gave Cass a small wave.
Lucian made a beeline for him, still half naked, and glanced at the book that was in Cass’ hands. He couldn’t read the binding, but he did seem interested. He bent, getting close to Cass’ face as he tilted his head, trying to read the words on the pages available to him. Cass was glad that he had just finished a rather steamy sex scene.
He knew Lucian would tease him if he caught him in the middle of that.
"What are you reading, Cassian? A book? Is it interesting?" Lucian asked, and Cass watched as he mouthed along to the words he was reading, before his eyes shot wide. He glanced at Cass, before his expression turned confused. "This is..." He trailed off, and Cass wondered what he was going to say. "This is a story about a man and a woman." For some reason, he seemed surprised about that. Cass chuckled.
"Yes. There are lots of books about men and women. Why do you sound so surprised?" Cass asked and Lucian opened his mouth, then he closed it. He swallowed thickly, before he looked a little embarrassed.
"I just thought you would have read books about two men, not about women and men." He muttered. Cass was surprised by his words then, and was grateful that others were in their tents, getting changed. Cass huffed.
"I’m already reading a book that’s illegal, I have to pick my battles, Lucian." Cass said quietly, and watched as the other man stared at the words written on the page.
"Illegal? How? It’s just some letters on a page." Lucian muttered and Cass, as an avid reader, did his best not to get upset. He was on Cass’ side, not the other way around. He was just...not a reader. That part was obvious. He wasn’t being mean about how he referred to something that was so precious to Cass.
"Some people view letters as dangerous, Lucian. Plus, this book has a demon as a love interest, which would upset many people. Demons aren’t viewed positively, especially since they help make dungeons." Lucian seemed to understand that part, and he made a noise in his throat.
"Ah. I see. So you are doing something dangerous while sitting still. I’ll have to keep that in mind. Even when you aren’t moving, you are still in danger." Lucian’s eyes widened, as if he had just come to a realisation. "Wait! You sit in your office a lot. Are you doing a lot of dangerous work while sitting there?" He asked, as if coming to some kind of horrifying conclusion.
The panic on his face had Cass laughing.
"You just now realised that? I thought that was obvious, especially after you saw how those nobles were treating Lady Fiona." Lucian grumbled, but he kept glancing at how Cass was laughing.
"I thought you were safe in your office. I didn’t even consider different kinds of threats. Back in my day, attacks were obvious." Lucian grumbled. "That’s why it’s nice when I can do battles like this. I know who the enemy is, and I can just crush them. These nobles have gotten too damn sneaky." Cass laughed loudly at his words, and how seriously he said them. Lucian didn’t flinch, his face still scrunched up, upset.
"Did you forget I am also one of those sneaky nobles?" Cass teased, and Lucian grunted.
"No. I did not forget that. I just apparently forgot you are the sneakiest of them." It was a compliment to Cass, and he grinned. He closed his book, waving his hand at Lucian.
"Go get dressed so we can finally go deal with this dungeon. The longer you remain here, the longer everyone else is going to wait." He grumbled, but did as Cass asked. He didn’t even flinch as Vespertine complained about him opening the tent flaps while he was changing.
Everyone else was finished rather quickly, and with the help of their aides, everyone had everything out of the tents and were about to begin discussion on how to pack everything up when Cass stood up from his spot on his log.
"I have a suggestion, if everyone will allow me to speak." Cass was doing his best to contain his smile. He was feeling proud, smug. He knew he could do this, and it seemed that everyone else knew he was up to something, but not where he was going with his plans.
"Of course, Cassian. What are you thinking?" Lady Fiona said, gesturing for him to join the circle they had naturally fallen into. Cass grinned.
"I can use my magic to pack everything up, and unpack it. We can even put everything into my side bag." Cass said with a smile. "Since Vespertine and I are considered the pack mules for this dungeon, I made sure to take along my side bag. I still have quite a bit of room inside of it, and it would make setting up camp much easier." Cass told them quickly. He would admit, he was excited to give it a try. He hadn’t done something like this before, not really. He had used his powers to grab his clothes from certain parts of his closet, helping Sam create the looks he wanted to wear for the day, but he hadn’t folded anything up yet.
He just knew he could do it. It was a knowing inside of him. Call it overconfidence, or determination, he just knew.
Lord Ridgewood was the only person who looked outwardly skeptical, while Vespertine seemed thoughtful.
"This might sound rude, but if we do go forward with this plan, could you do it with your tent first? It’s not because the temple owns the tents, more that you are probably more familiar with your own tent. If you are able to do this, I would be very intrigued to find out how you came up with the idea and would love to know more." Vespertine said, glancing at Cass. It was almost a jealous look, but Cass just smiled. He glanced around the group, trying to see what the others were thinking.
"I agree with Eddie. I think I would like a test of this before we commit to it. Sorry, Cassian." Lady Fiona said, giving him an apologetic look. Cass shrugged. He understood. It was something they hadn’t done before. He wasn’t going to get upset about them wanting a demonstration.
Lady Ava glanced around at the others.
"I’m fine with Cass doing this, especially if it helps out everyone. It usually takes us a while to set up camp once we’re in the dungeons so I can only see this as a good thing." Lady Ava said, adding her two cents in. Cass was sure that this vote of confidence came from their talk earlier, but he wasn’t upset that she had voted for him.
Cass turned to look at Lucian, and he turned his gaze towards Cass. He shrugged.
"Why do I need to voice my opinion? You know I am going to go along with whatever you want, as long as it doesn’t hurt you. I can see no way this would harm you, so of course you should do it." Lucian said and Lady Fiona sighed.
"I know I shouldn’t have expected a different answer after your recent behaviour." She muttered and Cass and Lucian glanced at her. She sighed, turning towards Lord Ridgewood. "Gideon? Your thoughts?" Lord Ridgewood sighed, crossing his arms.
"Why does my opinion matter? You’ve all made the decision that he should at least try." He said bitterly and Cass almost laughed in his face. Really? He was going to behave like this? After he kicked up a huge stink about Cass sharing a tent with Lady Fiona? Wow.
Cass snorted, and turned. Without waiting another second longer, he waved his hand towards the tent that he had brought and everyone watched in silence as it crumpled, folding itself up until it was nice and small. Much smaller than what Sir Sanders and Sir Forsythe were able to do.
Silence filled the air before Vespertine clapped.
"Impressive. Everyone fine with Cassian continuing?" He asked and when no one complained, including Lord Ridgewood, Cass continued with his plan and shoved them into his side bag.
Vespertine gave Cass a small high five when Lord Ridgewood wasn’t looking and Cass found that pretty rewarding. Now, it was only the main event that they had to worry about. The actual dungeon.
Everyone else seemed to be steeling themselves for what they were about to face inside, but Cass had nothing to steel himself with. He’d never been in a dungeon before, and he’d never had to face undead before. He was pretty sure any undead that Lord Blackburn had seen had been one or two at a time, and they were blurry encounters, even for him.
Cass was just going to have to go in blind. He’d be fine, right?