The Rock Eater Boar, trapped in the illusion of its own nightmares, lay on the ground, defenceless. Well, not exactly defenceless. It still had its amour of rocks, covering its entire body. Except for the small kink, which Yuri had pried off with her sword. Using that must have been taxing though. It was condensed from her Aspects, after all. So, Alnea refused to let her deal the final blow to boar.
Rushing towards the boar, while communicating with her telepathically—shouting in the canyon, surrounded by unknown dangers from all sides, would have been beyond idiotic— he asked her stop, before proceeding to deal the final blow to boar with his sword. But then, they were left with a dilemma once again. What to do with the boar’s body.
“Are you two not forgetting something?” Yuri said, patting her storage bag. “You two may have left your storage bags back at the cave, but I have always kept my storage bag by my side.”
“…You want to store the beast in your storage bag?”
“Don’t be silly,” Yuri said, with an innocent smile on her face dispelling all the tension that the two had just a while ago. “We are going to cook it right here.”
“…In the middle of nowhere?”
“I guess you can call this place as such?”
“Surrounded by unknown dangers from all sides, which can come striking at us at any moment?”
“That sounds interesting… I should be allowed to play a little when the time comes, right?”
“…Just keep quiet for a while, Cecilia. Don’t you see how dangerous this is going to be?”
“Oh, come on. Stop being such a wuss,” Cecilia said, and walked over to the boar, poking its rocky armour with her fingers. “Or you can carry this little rock giant on your back.”
“…We can butcher it right here.”
“…It is not just a normal boar. It is a Rock Eater Boar, an Oren Beast. Even if you peel off all of its armour, it is still going to weigh around a thousand kilograms or so. Can you carry that weight on your back?”
“…We can discard parts of it.”
“But that would be such a waste,” Cecilia said, licking her lips. “I have always heard that a Rock Eater Boar’s meat is supposed to tender, and juicy, but I have never had the chance to try it myself.”
“…Wasting some food is better than wasting our time,” Alnea said, glancing towards the depth of the darkness around him. “We never know what might attack us next.”
“…Will you two stop for a moment, and let me finish?” Yuri said, looking at them with a little annoyance. Not one filled with disdain, or irritation. But the cute, annoyed face she made when she felt ignored, or left out.
“I have fought Oren Beast in the intermediate phase of their Adolescent Stage, and know the dangers of the Night Canyon better than either of you. And I also know the pattern of how the Oren Beasts divide their territory. This boar was the peak of the initial phase of its Adolescent Stage. Even the Oren Beasts in the intermediate phase of their Adolescent Stage would not necessarily pick a fight with it.
“After all, most of them would not even have means to hurt the boar. For them, challenging the boar would be just a waste of time. And the weaker Oren Beasts, still in the initial phase of their Adolescent Stage would just be courting their death. Even if they know that the boar is dead, they will not necessarily barge into its territory, let alone now, when they don’t even know of its death.
“In any case, I can tell you for certain that no Oren Beast is going to come near us for another couple of hours at the very least. That should give us enough time to cook the boar, and eat it clean to its bones. And we can also use the time to let our Spirit Power recover to some extent. Now, do you still have any problem with cooking the boar right now?”
“…No,” Alnea mumbled, scratching the back of his head in embarrassment. “I am sorry for acting so obnoxiously.”
“…You were just being a little cautious. And there is no harm in being extra cautious in a Forbidden Area.”
“…Can we just get to cooking the boar already?”
Ignoring Cecilia’s grumbles, Alnea shifted on his feet uncomfortably, not daring to look Yuri in her eyes. Especially after he recalled what he had said to her the day before, and even in the morning, when he had met her outside their cave. Fulfilling an Oath had never felt so frustrating, as it was feeling at the moment. He wanted to share her burdens, but he could not watch her be in danger.
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And yet, it was exactly his overprotective behaviour which was bothering her. Not to mention the things she had said in the morning. The memories that her words had refreshed. It would be best if he could protect her forever, but that was not how things worked. At the very least, he was not as naïve as he used to be. He knew that some things were just beyond his control. And so, he had to learn to let go, or else, how would she protect herself when the situation demanded?
“…I am sorry,” Alnea mumbled, just to Yuri. “I went a little overboard earlier… I should not have questioned you so… And I should have trusted you.”
“At least you know where you were at fault,” Yuri said, with a bit of her dissatisfaction still evident in her voice. But her dissatisfaction let Alnea finally relax.
“I will try to control my urges, and believe in you.”
“…Are you regretting your Oath now?”
“Never.”
“Things will only get worse from now on.”
“…What more crazy things are you planning?”
“I am not talking about myself. I am talking about the burden you wished to bear for me. Dealing with Orthodoxies, training your subordinates, leading armies, and most important of all, trusting the people you love to face all kinds of dangers on their own. Can you do that?”
“…Even if I cannot do it at the moment, I will learn.”
“You truly are a fool…”
“…If you two are done talking with your eyes, then can we get to cooking already? I am starting to get a little hungry.”
“…Who is talking with their eyes?” Alnea mumbled, as he went around, gathering the Umber grass, but the flush on his face betrayed him.
“What are you doing?” Yuri said, looking at him in amusement. “Do you want to eat grass?”
“…How are we going to cook, if we don’t gather the grass?”
Instead of answering him, Yuri patted the white pouch tied to her waist, and took out a disproportionately large Glyph Device from the small mouth of her storage bag, leaving him stunned, and speechless. Although its design was a little different, with its iconic ring being formed by six round balls connected together by some thin rod going through their centre, just the control rod, along with the Fire Glyph engraved on the ring was enough for anyone to recognise the Glyph Device. A Cooking Station. Just a portable one.
Such an ingenious idea… No, even though it was a portable cooking station, it was still a cooking station. No matter how small it was, it was still at four to five times as large as the narrow passage at the mouth of Yuri’s storage bag. How could it possibly pass through… No, the most important thing was the Cooking Station itself. A portable Cooking Station for Faein’s sake!
“When did you get the cooking station?”
“…Probably four or five years ago? I don’t remember exactly. In any case, we have a cooking station, so let’s get to cooking.”
“No, wait a moment. Let me get this straight. This entire time, while we have been gathering dry grass, using the most primitive way to creating fire to cook, and then eating either overcooked, or undercooked meals for the past one and a half month, you have been using the cooking station to cook your food?”
“…Food cooked on grass has its own taste—
“That tastes like the Thrall Domains!” Alnea said with exasperation. “This is not fair!”
“…Preparation is the key to success. You should have brought your own cooking station if you wished to eat properly cooked food.”
“…Stingy,” Alnea mumbled, before turning towards Cecilia. “Why are you not saying anything to her?”
“…I mean, it is her cooking station,” Cecilia said a bit hesitantly. “Besides, it doesn’t matter as long as we can eat together, right?”
“Why are you siding with her?” Alnea said, looking at Cecilia with weird expressions. “Don’t tell me that you also have a cooking station?”
“Alright, stop grumbling like that. I have brought it out now, right? Now, come on, and let us get cooking.”
Alnea grumbled a little more, but silently acquiesced in the end. However, just as he was about to move towards the boar, he recalled something, and looked towards Yuri once again.
“…Do you have something to clean the meat?”
“…About that—
“Just give it to me. I will prepare the boar, and you can do the cooking.”
“No, let me do it,” Cecilia said, patting the rock like armour of the boar. “I did not help in killing the boar… Let me prepare its meat, or else, I will not be able to feel at ease.”
“…Alright,” Alnea said, just as Yuri took out a cleaving knife, and a small basin from her storage bag, before giving it to Cecilia.
“Remember to not use too much Spirit Power, or we will have to rest a little longer.”
“…I know,” Cecilia said, nodding in acknowledgement, as she took the tools from Yuri’s hand, before turning towards the Rock Eater Boar, and chopping away at its rock like armour one stroke at a time. Somehow, her actions made it feel like she was venting her frustration on the boar, but it was probably because of not being able to take down the beast herself. Or so Alnea thought, and let her be.
After all, he was not exactly free either. And neither was Yuri. His white haired friend took out a large pot, and filled it with water that she took out from a leather pouch she had filled earlier. Washing the meat with water condensed from Glyphs was fine, but it was best if they could avoid using water conjured from Water Glyphs to drink, or consume in any form. Suffering from Oren poisoning would be a quick way of ending their training early.
Shaking his head to subdue his thoughts, Alnea began focussing on his task, skinning the beasts that they had taken down earlier, before chopping them down into smaller pieces. He did not need a cleaver though. His Golden Yearning was sharper than any cleaver could ever be. And though his dagger was shorter than Cecilia’s cleaver, it took him less than half the time that she took to finish her work. Next, all that was left cooking itself, which, owing to the small size of the pot, and the cooking station, took nearly an hour to complete.