"Hunting." Adam repeated.

"Yep." Saria said. "Y'know, catching animals in the wild and eating them the classic way. Ever done it before?"

Her excitement was genuine, which took Adam aback further. "Didn't think War Maidens were into that. You really hunt down that disgusting Scourge crap on the battlefield?"

"Geez, Chosen, no! We can't eat the Scourge! That's major heresy, and besides, they're liquid black goo. You couldn't pay me to eat any of that!" Saria said, shivering. "Nah, it's only me. I joined the Hunting club in the Academy. New trainees need to pick a club once they turn thirteen. Betuila was full of the academic or social types, and my only choices were hunting or cycling."

"You're telling me a bunch of schoolgirls—"

"Trainees."

"Whatever. You all went to a park and shot up wildlife to eat?"

Saria nodded. "Never saw the competitive hunting leagues on the big holos? No? It's a niche sport, but it's fun! I'm serious, Chosen! Trust me, we should totally do it right now!"

The image of a homeless man grabbing a rat by its tail, then sinking his teeth into its raw flesh, popped into his head. Adam might've been a social worker's nightmare, but even he had standards. Saria seemed as if one step away from taking her idea and shoving it straight down his throat. And here he thought Lucy was the enthusiastic one.

Saria took his silence for apprehension. "Leave all the gutting and cleanup to me. Then, we can fry, roast or cook them. Hey, you have any allergies from game meat?"

Adam shook his head. "I've eaten wild animals before."

"What kind?"

"Squirrels and rats."

Saria made a face, her forehead scrunched up. "Those… wow, you didn't get sick, Chosen?"

Adam shrugged. "Iron stomach. Orphanage food was worse, and besides I needed the protein. Never gutted the rodents myself, but they sold them in hobo parks. There was the time I hid out in a meat locker, too."

"Okay, now I'm wondering where you grew up, because that sounds like a…" Saria covered her mouth with her hands.

"What?"

"N-never mind! Forget I said anything. C'mon, Chosen, let's go!"

"Say it." Adam pressed. "Words ain't nothing to me. I can take it."

Saria gulped. She shook her head again, her ponytail swishing back and forth with the whip of a dog's tail. "It's super rude and I don't want to."

"No shit?" He smirked at her, interested. So, there were things the heroic War Maidens weren't allowed to say? "C'mon, tell me. Tell me about these War Maiden swears."

He made a beckoning motion with his hand. Saria suddenly found the windows on the opposite building rather interesting. He was about to drop the subject, disappointed, when Miriam spoke up.

"The question Alcott is trying to squeeze out of her throat is whether or not you were born in a heretic stronghold."

"Oi!" Saria shouted, jumping up. "Operator! Keep those crappy thoughts to yourself! I'm not accusing the Chosen of anything!"

"The fact that you brought it up—oh, never mind." Miriam shrugged. "I don't see what the issue is. Adam has demonstrated neither a tendency for heresy nor symptoms of brainwashing, so it's unlikely he grew up in a stronghold. Even if he did, a person's origin doesn't define their whole life, Alcott. Besides, many past Chosens grew up alongside heresy, which you should've learned in school."

Saria laughed, nervous. "I…uh, might've not focused that much on those classes. Hey, in my defence, I didn't expect to actually meet a Chosen in my service!"

"Sheesh, that's it? That's milquetoast." Adam said. "Here I thought you were gonna insult my skin color or something."

"Not happening, Adam. Petty discrimination is beaten out of recruits in basic, assuming it's not gone before that. As for you—"

"I don't give a shit what color your skin is, Miriam."

"Good to know."

He ended up going with Saria's suggestion. The Mess Hall and the Warehouses contained a large variety of non-perishable foods—dried meats, field rations, fruits and vegetables vacuum-sealed capsules and bottles of condiments—but their stocks were not infinite. More War Maidens and others would inevitably join the base and would need to be fed. The forest was no fertile farmland, but it was worth a shot.

Humidity clung to the forest, rising from muddy grounds and forming beads of moisture on tree leaves. Adam and Saria pushed through branches and stepped over stumps, navigating with compass and their [Physio-Sixth Sense]. Most of the wraiths were gone. The brush that had once echoed with their moans now held the faint chirping of birds and rodents.

"So, what are we hunting?" Adam said, as he sniffed the air. The animals surrounding them moved in states of discomfort or apathy. A crow flew off a tree branch towards the dimming sky-orb.

Saria's arm blurred, and the bird fell from the sky, a knife lodged in its small throat. Saria picked up the bird and snapped its neck. It stopped flailing.

"Anything we can get our hands on, Chosen!" Saria said with a smile. She put the crow in a sealed bag, not noticing Adam's look of disgust.

They traversed through the forest, Saria leading the hunt, with Adam following. Saria moved with an energetic, almost-casual gait, shoving aside tree branches and grinning widely whenever she found her next target. It confused Adam, at first. Weren't animal hunters meant to be stealthy? Why weren't they crawling through the bush, painting their cheeks with camoflague and whatnot?

He realised his folly when Saria found the deer. It was a female, with cute oversized ears and dark brown fur. It froze up the instant it caught sight of Saria, then turned tail and ran. Adam scrambled for his gun, only for Saria to hold up a hand. Saria then launched off the ground with [Physio-Dash]. She landed on the deer with a soft thump. The deer gave off a cry that ebbed into a dying gurgle as Saria grabbed its neck and broke it with a single twist. The animal slumped to the ground.

Adam stared at it, then looked back at Saria. She was wrapping the carcass in a bag the size of a cadaver, which she hauled over her shoulders.

"One down!" Saria said. The hind legs and the head draped over her shoulders like a horrible scarf. "Let's get this back to base, Chosen!"

"You're just gonna…oh screw it, never mind."

Saria made several trips to deposit the larger game into ice-cold cooler boxes, including a wild boar and an elk. She made him take down the boar with his mystics. He ended up pelting the creature with stones until it charged at him, to which he sidestepped with his [Physio-Dash] and used [Psycho-Crush] and his tomahawk to cave in the beast's head. A [Physio-Force]-enhanced blow finished the job.

Saria collected smaller bounties, including squirrels, rats and speckled purple eggs from a bird's nest. Adam discovered wild cloyfruit, pink berries shaped suspiciously like raspberries and a wild spinach, all of which he remembered encountering in Glenn's Rest's markets. He tried not to think about who first introduced him to the cloyfruits. Mushrooms lurked at the base of tree roots, and he tossed them away when he found them wriggling.

The two returned to the MOB an hour before lunchtime. Adam had learned several things during the trip. One: the forest outside contained more resources than he initially assumed. Two: Competitive hunting, as defined by Astraeans, fell under animal abuse. Three: Saria encouraged him to gut his share of the meat.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

He surveyed the corpse of the boar atop the stainless-steel kitchen table. The animal was positioned with legs up, exposing its white underbelly, stained with the blood from his tomahawk blow. It reeked, despite having been thrown into a fridge a while ago, a pungent combination of fresh meat and rotting gas. A hint of dirt was mixed in, originating from the fur.

A blank look was frozen on the boar's face. Glassy eyes stared, vacant, and the jaw held rigid. The last moment of a life cut short, like that lug of a man near the gas station, as a trigger finger pulled and a single laser shot flew outwards—

"Chosen?"

He snapped his head around and noticed Saria's concerned look. "You okay there?" she said.

"I…" Adam said. He shook his head, driving the bad thoughts away. It was an animal, he told himself. Not much different from the average roadkill. "Nothing. Just wondering how the hell I'm supposed to carve this up."

"Yeah, I'll show you. Good thing you didn't start before me. You might've cut through the ass wrong and spilled its poop out."

"…what?"

Saria brandished a knife. "Watch me."

The process was as bloody as he expected. She started with the anus, cut down through the boar's belly and opened the innards. The flesh slid open with a wet squelch, and the stench punched him straight up the nose. His hands flew to his face. Saria just sniffed for a bit and carried on. For a War Maiden who charged headfirst into a nest of mutant wasps, her cutting was precise, yet efficient. She also didn’t freak out about coating her hands in blood. The Scourge goo was worse, he supposed.

Out went the kidneys, livers and heart. The bones were dumped into a tray. The fur was skinned and stored for later. Saria drained the blood into transparent bottles and placed them inside the cooler boxes. The end result was a large tray full of slabs of boar meat. There was an earthy tinge amongst the meaty stink. Saria cleaned her knife and rubbed it down with disinfectant.

"So, how'd I do?"

"Better just spearing and roasting with the fur sticking on, I guess." Adam said, awestruck.

"You're good."

"Yeah, I know." Saria said, winking. "Too bad I don't get the chance to show this off on duty. Most of our battlefields are contaminated or in urban centres. But hey, at least I got a six-star medal out of it."

"You? In the comp league?"

She smiled, patting her chest. "Yeah! First place, representing the Betuila Branch of the War Maiden Academy. Even got a nice little cash prize out of it. They gave half of it to the club, but it was cool anyway." She surveyed the meat and made a half-grin. "Think I've gone rusty. Could've prepped these in half the time in my prime back then. Anyway…"

She gave him the knife, then took the crow carcass out of the cooler box. "You want to try, Chosen?"

He took the knife apprehensively. He wasn't about to forget Saria carving up the boar anytime soon, but replicating her movements?

"C'mon, start with the butt. Remember?" Saria added.

"Alright, I get it!" He swallowed, took a deep breath and jammed the knife straight down. This was a survival skill. He was a soldier. A Marine. He could do this.

It turned out that yes, he could cut up an animal, just nowhere on the level of Saria. God, what the hell was this mess? Feathers everywhere. The neck sliced at the wrong angle. All the internal organs pierced, bird shit leaking into them. Saria told him the instructions, step by step, so why couldn't he finish the job?

"It's okay!" Saria said, patting him the shoulder, as he stared daggers into his handiwork.

"The meat is intact. That's good for a first-timer."

"It looks like what the orphanage dog used to puke up."

"Yeah, but it's edible! That's what matters. Let's clean it and get it prepped for the cooking."

Saria helped him cut the meat into strips and place them in the fridge. She worked on the deer next while he watched. She took a strip of raw flesh from the carcass and set it on fire.

The flames flickered red. She nodded approvingly and gouged out the rest of the deer meat. She performed the same for a squirrel. The flames flickered a deep green.

"Nope, no good." Saria said and tossed the associated meat into a basket. "Must've eaten some of those monsters."

New mystic technique observed: [Pyro-Toxin Detect]

"Chosen, do you know how to cook?"

"Sorta." Adam said. He helped out in the kitchen as punishment during basic. It hadn't been a terrible experience. Peeling potatoes and stirring pots had a calming quality that made an almost-relaxing break from the constant exercise. "If you want me to fry the meat, I can do that. Otherwise, I suck. See the gutting."

"It's not that bad."

"You're right. It's fucking awful."

"I can teach you. Roast is simple. We've got all the ingredients right here." She gestured to the appliances in the kitchen—a semi-transparent fridge, a sliding panel holding implements and fryers and stoves that lit up with the neon-blue of holo-panels.

"Think I'll pass. This ain't my thing. Think I'll stick to frying my game like a caveman."

"Oh." Saria said. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah. Thanks for teaching me how to hunt. Appreciate it, Saria."

"Sure, sure. Don't worry about it, Chosen. Yeah, you need to train to keep up with us."

Adam washed his hands and turned to walk away, only for Miriam to interject when he neared the doorway.

"Adam, I think you should stay."

"What? Why?" He said.

"Why not?"

"That's not an answer, Miriam."

"Oh, don't be a little sourpuss. It's a chance to learn a new skill. Given your unusual circumstances, it could prove more useful than you thought."

"Miriam, I'm not gonna waste time here. I've got stuff to do. Saria's the expert here. She said it was okay."

"Alcott isn't going to turn down an offer to help."

"I'm not gonna waste my lunch by ruining it with how bad I am."

"Adam." Miriam's tone cut through him with uncharacteristic seriousness. "I really think you should help her out. It won't take long."

Adam looked back at Saria. She was taking the boar meat out of the fridge and arranging it in a large pan. She wasn't smiling anymore. She looked disappointed, even. Seriously? Did his refusal actually hurt her? Surely, his approval as a Chosen couldn't be that important to her.

The moment he thought that, he remembered how Lucy acted, how proud of herself she looked whenever she agreed with something he said.

He sighed. "Fine." But only for the [War Maidens' Bond].

"Oi, Saria!" He called out. "Give me that meat, pronto!"

Her eyes lit up at that, and she beamed at him, the same way as Lucy had. "Sure, Chosen!"

Together, he spent the next hour and a half washing, cutting and cooking the boar. Half of the muscle meat was shoved inside a dehydrating machine to make salted jerky. The rest were fried and roasted, then seasoned with salt and spices from the Mess Hall's stores. Saria took part of the offal and created this weird stuffed carb tube dish that resembled a gigantic worm. Adam chewed a piece and felt sorry Miriam wasn't there.

His dish was a steak. It smelled strong, tasted like a campfire, and left reddish-brown stains all over his fork. It needed less salt, and the spices Saria brought out made it taste like limes.

"It's edible." Adam said.

Saria tried it next. "It's good! Wow, Chosen, you might have some talent for this."

"You think so?" She nodded, enthusiastic, and he sampled the meat again. Boar was tougher than the standard pork, but the fat had tenderized the flesh, preventing it from brutalizing his teeth. Maybe he could improve it. "Don't think you'd enjoy checking up on my screwups."

"Everyone burns something the first time they cook. It's natural. I know, let's give this to Lucy!" Saria said, picking up the meat and putting it in a container. "She'll love it."

"This better not end up as some kind of religious artifact…"

"Huh? What do you mean? It's a nice meal that you made. What else do we need?"

He sighed as he followed Saria out of the kitchen. This activity had taken up the whole of the morning, which he could've spent training.

And yet, it had been satisfying to see that lump of raw meat be transformed into a nice-smelling mound of protein.

"Guess it wasn't too bad…" he muttered to himself. Maybe he could do it again, once things calmed down.

"Huh? Chosen, you say something?" Saria said.

"No. Nothing. Move it."

"Wait, wait, wait, I definitely heard something. What was it?"

"Christ, I said it was nothing! Let's give this to Lucy and piss off! The hell's with that smile of your face?"

[War Maidens' Bond: Saria Alcott] has increased from Level 0 to Level 1! Activate again to witness the additional effect(s).

----------------------------------------

A mop wiped across the kitchen floor, wiping away the last of the blood. A portable machine spun it around, sucking its filth out and leaving clean strands behind. Saria placed it away with her detergent, alcohol cleanser, and disinfectant spray.

The tabletops shone. The scent of blood and flesh was now suppressed inside cooler boxes. She could eat her meals off the floor, with how clean they were. The hygiene inspectors would've been proud.

Her footsteps thudded across the empty hall. She placed the remnants of the Chosen's meal in front of holo-candles atop the widest table at the end. A dozen hexagonal plates were lined up in front of them, alongside her offal-feast, capsule fruits and cans of ADO-brand beer.

"He did it, everyone." Saria said. "Cooked his first game with his own hands. Even said he might come by again. He's a weird guy, almost thought he was gonna give up, but he didn't. You always said the food here was fit for a Chosen, sir, but it was the other way around! Isn't that funny?"

She giggled, pushing the plate with the offal-feast forward. "I mean, he thought my stuff was good. I wasn't on kitchen duty for, what, half a year? Cooking on the ships wasn't the same. I swear, sir, you would've rocked his core. Who says the military can't serve a decent meal?"

She laughed, and the silence set in. She stared at the hexagonal plates, her lip trembling.

"And now, it's just me." Saria mumbled. "I'll have to pick up the slack. Keep the place clean and shiny. Find Maddy, bring her back, let her meet the Chosen and then…"

She sniffled, wiping her cheek. "I'll cook a big feast with the recipes from the data-banks, the ones I was gonna learn from you guys."

Saria picked up her knife and fork and ate slowly, as the holo-candles swayed and cast orange light across the names on the hexagonal plates. The echoes of ghosts rang through her. Of punishment leading into sudden employment. Of acceptance blossoming into friendship. She heard the memory of joyous laughter, as a group of older War Maidens welcomed food from one of their kin in a kitchen worker's garb.

War Maidens were heroes of Astraea. The Goddess' blessing bolstered them with strength beyond the common man. They were not permitted to shed tears with ease, especially not in front of civilians.

Saria put her plate down. She took the beer and popped it open, savoring the familiar hiss. She raised it at a large, landscape photo atop the opposite wall.

"May you all be reborn into good lives beneath Her Wings, and may we one day meet again as fellows."

Trails of salt mixed in with bitter sweetness, and was sipped by an ordinary human, very much like the young girl grinning ear to ear in the photograph.