The whole party eagerly moved up the slope towards the shelter provided by Callum's castle. Roaring fires greeted the freezing party as soon as they entered the castle; scouts from both the castle and the incoming party had made contact with each other an hour earlier.
The castle occupants met everyone by ushering them to benches near the fires and everyone was served warm bread and stew. Callum witnessed many tears and shouts of joy as family and friends greeted each other.
Seeing that there weren't enough tables for everyone, he gathered several people together and led them down to the storage room where Primrose had been placing extra furniture as the Castle Core gathered enough Mana to create them.
He slipped away to his room, Primrose appeared as soon as he closed the door; she immediately raced over to Amarok.
"Boop!" Primrose squealed. She danced about through the room before landing on the bemused Amarok's head.
"Sir Callum, welcome back to your castle," her formal tone was spoiled by her earlier exuberance.
Callum carried the armload of wood he had to the fireplace; someone had left stacks of firewood in unobtrusive places on every floor of the castle. A flare of magic briefly brightened the room as he used
"Thank you Primrose. Were you able to get the Core Room upgraded with some traps?"
"Oh, yes I did and the upgrade is finished," she said while trying to feed Amarok scraps of food as big as she was.
"Can you display the status page for the castle? Also, did you observe or hear anything that I should be worried about? Talk about stabbing me in the back or poisoning me perhaps? Or anything similar to that."
She absently waved her hand and a status screen floated in mid air as she started to scratch Amarok's ear.
"Uhh, no talk about poisoning you in the back. I didn't stab anything you should be observed about. Oh, and my hearing is good, thanks, Sir Callum."
"Poisoned in the back?" Primrose, please focus, you're not making any sense," Callum sighed.
"Why would you poison someone in the back, Sir Callum? I think you're the one not making any sense!" Primrose huffed back when Amarok, tired of having his ears tugged, hid behind Callum.
Callum closed his eyes and drew in a deep breath before he repeated his earlier questions that the distracted fairy hadn't paid attention to. Primrose assured Callum that she hadn't noticed anything suspicious.
He would have been more willing to take her at her word if he hadn't just witnessed how easily distracted she was; still, her report reassured him. No one in the castle, other than him, knew about Primrose.
They wouldn't know to be secretive about any plans they were making. She was only one fairy and she did need her rest, but she had been given instructions to pay closest attention to Baroness Li Mei who would likely be the central figure in any conspiracy against him.
He glanced at the status page and wondered if he shouldn't have upgraded the Mana Siphon first; something he likely would've done if he hadn't urgently needed the space that some of the other upgrades provided.
They had been gone for the better part of three days and the Core only generated just over 1,400 mana in that time; nineteen Mana per hour. The 'Traps' upgrade had cost the castle 750 mana.
He glanced at some of the upgrade costs and then did some quick calculations. Most of the upgrades would take him several days, if not weeks, at the Castle Core's current gains; he really needed to do the 'Mana Siphon' upgrade next.
_____
'Castle Level: Level 3 | Mana: 668/2500 | Regeneration: 19/25
Garrison: (50/50)| Staff: (10/10)| Total Capacity (75/70)
Keep: (Level 3)| Upgrade Cost: 5500| Total Number Of Upgrades: (8)
- Durability: (Lvl 1)| Upgrade Cost: 10000
- Reinforced Main Door: (Lvl 2)| Upgrade Cost: 1200
- Battlements: (Lvl 1)| Upgrade Cost: 500
- Entrance Hall (Max)
- Mana Battery: (Lvl 1)| Upgrade Cost: 1500
- Mana Siphon: (Lvl 1)| Upgrade Cost: 3500
- Basement: (Lvl 1)| Upgrade Cost: 3500
Outer Wall: (NA)| Upgrade Cost: 5000
Core Room: (Level 1)| Upgrade Cost: 5000| Total Number Of Upgrades: (2)
- Map: (Lvl 1)| Upgrade Cost: 1500
- Traps:(Lvl 1)| Upgrade Cost: 2250'
_____
"Hey Primrose, how are we over capacity? Is there some penalty or drawback for being over capacity?"
"Uh, no, Sir Callum, there's no penalty. You can cram so many people in here that they'll all have to stand shoulder to shoulder. But, only castle personnel get a small buff of 0.3% times the level of the Castle Core. This buff is applied to many different things.
"Huh, okay. So I didn't really need to rush upgrading the capacity. Hmmm, okay but to what things does this buff get applied to?
She pursed her lips in concentration before she held up a tiny hand and started counting them on her fingers as she started listing everything one by one.
"Anyone officially quartered in the castle, who does not exceed the capacity of the Castle, gets that bonus to: XP gain; Health, Stamina, and Mana regeneration; skill growth; damage bonus on attacks; damage reduction when attacked; and skill effectiveness.
Callum's eyes widened as she continued to list everything off. The bonus was small now, only 0.9%, but he couldn't wait to get to a level 5 or level 10 Castle Core. And the bonus would be even more impactful when applied to hundreds or even thousands of his people.
Now, he was even more eager to start upgrading the Castle Core! But, that was in the future. He instead focused on some of his more immediate concerns.
"Can I use Beast Cores to add more Mana to the Castle Core or was that a one time thing when the Castle Core and I were bonding?"
"You can always use bonding to give the Mana more Core, Sir, Callum," Primrose said as she tried to sneak past Callum and pet Amarok. The Dire Wolf had great perception though and would constantly circle around Callum as she followed him around.
"Primrose, you can play with Amarok later. I just have a couple of more questions for you first, is that okay?" Callum patiently said when he noticed how distracted she was.
"I'm sorry, Sir Callum, I'm paying attention. Well, I'm trying to pay attention," her voice quavered as she responded.
"It's just that this is my first time away from all of the other fairies, and you told me not to let anyone else know I was here. And then you left me for three days!" She started to sniffle and tiny tears started glistening in her eyes.
"Now, you're back and I just want to talk to someone or play with Amarok. But, you just want to ask me questions about castle stuff and Amarok is avoiding me!" She was bawling by the time she was done speaking.
Callum could only stare in dismay as she poured her heart out; he cupped his hands and caught the slumping fairy as she started to dip towards the floor. His heart was breaking by the time she finished her lamentations.
He didn't know what to say or do, he didn't have a daughter, younger sister, or little niece. He felt remorse for taking the sobbing fairy for granted. He didn't know that she hadn't been alone before, but he also hadn't bothered to ask about her past.
He grabbed the edge of his tunic and tried to dab away some of the tears that were steadily falling from Primrose.
"Primrose, I am so very sorry. I promise that I'll be more compassionate in the future," he struggled for the right words, "I need you, but I didn't realize how much you needed me to be your friend."
Amarok seemed to understand what was going on, because he whined, padded over, and stuck his nose into Callum's palm. A couple of big licks from his tongue ensured that both Callum's hand and the crying fairy were drenched in something besides her tears.
Callum had planned to head back downstairs since he had a lot of things he wanted to get done, but he decided to call it a night and spent the next half an hour trying to cheer up little Primrose.
He danced around the fact that Amarok hadn't enjoyed the way she had been tugging on his ears while he demonstrated how to pet Amarok. Through their mental connection, Callum sensed that the Dire Wolf sent an apology for his avoidance of her after she tugged on his ears.
'It's not just your fault buddy, I am to blame as much if not more. We both have to do better,' he replied to Amarok through their connection.
The tiny fairy had finally fallen asleep. He tucked her in and laid there for sometime afterwards; thinking of the past couple of days. As he drifted off to sleep, he resolved to try and treat Primrose better moving forward instead of just as a source of information.
He never wanted to be the cause of any more tears from the cute little fairy. She was too adorable to ever cry like that again.