Thanks to Talis's sudden intrusion, Yuki refused to come from underneath her blanket, causing me to sigh in frustration, though I would be lying if I didn't say I was a little bit surprised; I've never seen Yuki behave this way when it involves food.
'Haa, I'm blaming this on Talis and not the fact that I had just kissed her.' Thought Alexander with a sigh as he backed away and glanced at Talis, who was sitting on the table, hungrily looking at the tray of food.
"No, Talis; this food is for Yuki. I'll cook you some food after I'm finished feeding her, so retract your talons." Stated Alexander with a slight frown as he lightly slapped Talis's foot away, causing her to pout before nodding.
"Hmph, fine. But you better hurry up, Alex; I'm hungry since I didn't eat last night." Replied Talis with a huff as she spread her wings and slowly took to the air while eyeing Alexander, who blankly stared at her in annoyance.
"Good, after what you did, you deserve to have gone to sleep hungry; now go to the kitchen, you annoying bird. Grab the food you want me to cook, but don't make a mess; otherwise, I won't cook breakfast for you either." Declared Alexander lightly as he dismissively waved his hand at Talis, who nodded before flying into the kitchen while thinking about what to eat.
With Talis heading to leave the living room, I tried to remove the blanket covering Yuki, but she was firmly holding it; I could've forcefully removed it, given she was sick and weak, but three blankets were covering her, so I would have to do it two more times.
"Haa, fine, Yuki. If you wish to be like this, I'll just have to throw away the rest of the food." Said Alexander with a sigh as he stood up and grabbed the tray before walking, only for a quiet woman's voice to resound.
"W-Wait, Alex." Said Yuki softly as she lowered the blankets just below her eyes while staring at Alexander, who froze before turning around and approaching her.
"Well, it seems like someone is hungry again." Remarked Alexander lightly as he set the tray back down and kneeled while looking at Yuki, who avoided eye contact.
"You're going to need to lower your blanket if you wish to eat; I can't phase the food through the blanket." Added Alexander lightly as he scooped a spoonful of eggs, hovering it above his other hand to catch anything he might drop.
I could clearly see Yuki was still embarrassed from nearly getting caught kissing, but I suppose her hunger surpassed it since a few seconds later, she hesitantly lowered the blanket, allowing me to see her pretty little lips and crimson cheeks, which made me blush a little.
'Yuki really is beautiful.' Thought Alexander softly as he stared in awe at Yuki's face, only to slightly shake his head and feed her.
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Feeding Yuki the last sausage, I faintly smiled and wiped my hands with a towel before using it to clean the grease and oil off her lips since, as you know, she's quite the mess maker when it comes to eating.
"Alex! Are you coming!" Yeled Talis from the kitchen in a slightly annoyed tone, causing Alexander's eye to twitch as he sighed while nodding.
"Yes, and stop with the yelling; what did I say yesterday?" Replied Alexander softly as he gazed toward the kitchen, though he got no response, causing him to ignore Talis and look back down at Yuki.
"T-Thanks for the f-food, Alex; i-it was delicious." Said Yuki softly with a small smile and a faint blush as she looked at Alexander, who gave her a thumbs-up.
"Heh, you're welcome, Yuki." Said Alexander lightly with a smile as he tossed the dirty towel onto the empty tray.
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When I glanced back at Yuki, she stared into my eyes for a few seconds before quickly looking away as her blush deepened, causing me to faintly chuckle since it seemed like she hadn't gotten over from that kiss. Smirking to myself, I leaned closer to Yuki and held two of her exposed arms down, causing her to look at me, yet I ignored her stare and gently kissed her on the lips once more; it wasn't an aggressive kiss, merely a soft, gentle, yet passionate one as I transferred some of my emotions to her, which served to greatly calm her down while she also reciprocated by wrapping her two other arms around my torso.
Once I finally removed my lips from her, I saw Yuki staring at me with hazy eyes full of love. Yet I couldn't help but frown since hidden behind that love was fear and a great deal of it.
'Fear? What is Yuki afraid of?' Thought Alexander with furrowed brows and a frown as he looked at Yuki's eyes, which slowly regained their typical look, followed by her full blush returning.
I didn't know why Yuki seemed afraid of this development; she and I clearly had rather deep feelings for each other, yet she was afraid to act on them for some reason. Although I wanted to know why, I decided I'd ask her later once she was fully healed; all the negative stuff could wait until she was in perfect health.
Removing myself from Yuki's arms, I stood up and grabbed the empty tray, only to turn back around before leaning down and poking her nose along with lightly pecking her lips.
"Rest well, my lovely Oni." Said Alexander with a faint smile as he stood upright and winked at Yuki, whose blush somehow deepened even further, only for her face to be hidden behind the blanket.
Chuckling at Yuki's embarrassment, I headed into the kitchen and placed the tray in the sink before glancing at Talis, who was sitting at the table with the most expensive ingredients before her, causing me to sigh as I had a small suspicion she was doing this on purpose to get back at me for not making her dinner.
'Hmph, this little bird, I should make the breakfast mediocre.' Mused Alexander lightly, only to shake his head and sigh as he grabbed the several ingredients while glaring at Talis before getting to work.
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"Bon Appétit; you're cleaning up any mess you make." Said Alexander, placing a plate before Talis while eyeing her, prompting her to nearly droll as she eagerly nodded and chirped.
Luckily for Talis, I had the pride of a chef, so just like I do with every dish, I cooked it to the best of my ability, though it was tempting to mess up the dish on purpose. Tossing the used pan into the sink to clean later, I went to check up on Yuki, only to faintly hear her snoring underneath the blanket, causing me to remove the blanket covering her face.
"Talis, I'm going to leave for a little bit; look after Yuki while I'm gone." Said Alexander softly as he glanced at Talis, who reluctantly nodded before exiting the house, forgetting his shoes and underwear like always.
Although my main focus has been on caring for Yuki, I have also been deeply thinking about the legendary dungeon we had fallen into since I'm pretty confident it was more than ready to experience a rampage, given the fact there was infighting, along with that skeleton having not been absorbed into the dungeon. The skeleton also gave us an idea of how long that dungeon has been rampage-ready since it would only need quite a long time for the corpse to decompose itself.
"I know the human body doesn't take too long to decompose, a few months to a year at most; however, that's without considering mana. In that case, I wouldn't be surprised if it would take decades, possibly centuries, depending on how powerful the person was and how much mana they had." Muttered Alexander with a deep frown as he walked along the street, arriving at the Adventurer Guild several minutes later.
Stepping into the guild, I was met with the familiar rowdy bunch, but instead, there were far more people present, and most seemed to be annoyed. Making my way through the groups of people, I was going to go ask Cath what was going on, but surprisingly, even she was being questioned by multiple adventurers, so that was a no-go. Looking around through the dense crowd, I spotted Oldman Jenkins in the corner, prompting me to head toward him since, among adventurers I know, he was probably the most knowledgeable; he would have to be if you've been in the business for roughly a century.
"Tch, look at all these fools; their loud voices are ruining my drinking time!" Remarked Jenkins in annoyance as he glared at the numerous adventurers before downing a cup of alcohol.
"I don't think I've ever seen you not drink, Jenkins." Said Alexander lightly as he sat down beside Jenkins, who glanced at him before faintly smiling.
"Heh, that's the point; my drinking time is all the time!" Yelled Jenkins with a grin as he poured himself more alcohol, only to down the entire cup in a single gulp.
"You Dwarfs are something else, Jenkins, drinking some of the strongest alcohol the guild has like it's water." Said Alexander, shaking his head as he looked at Jenkins, who chuckled.
"Hehe, that's real rich coming from you, boy! You're the only person I've met who can out-drink a Dwarf!" Remarked Jenkins as he slammed the cup down while gazing at Alexander, who wryly smiled.