On the way back into town, Damon caught a particularly large boar. It seemed there were still somewhat normal animals around in the forest… At least when you were not so close to any of the Mountains… It was definitely strange, but considering how odd all the mountains around here were… Perhaps it was not surprising that they influenced the wildlife…

It did bring into question though… What was it that made these mountains so strange to attract such oddities? Why did Vind choose to live in Mount Cyklon? Damon mentioned Mount Eld was on fire before his people came to the area, so he doubted he could ever get an answer to such a question.

With that in his mind, the walk back went by surprisingly fast.

Per usual, once in town, they got several glares from any passersby, but Kazius was numb to it by now. Perhaps the first day he had bothered to look at the Tribe people… Yet by now they all seemed to just merge in his mind as unimportant.

Alice too seemed like she could not care any less, acting like the people weren’t even there.

Damon, surprisingly enough, seemed to look less uneasy at the glares. Perhaps not being alone anymore made him feel a bit better about the hatred his own people held towards him.

Once inside the large home the trio would be greeted by Azanor and Eve who were sitting down, reading. Honestly, a part of Kazius was surprised Eve could read considering the state her mind was in.

“Took you long enough.” Azanor welcomed with a scoff, flipping through Zelphar’s journal, looking like he was close to done with it. His cane was resting on his side by his chair, he truly was never without it.

“Kazius! Alice! Damon! Yay! I was worried!” Eve chirped goofily with a giddy expression. She seemed to be in a giddy mood. She was holding a book, a black one with words that read ‘The Dark Arts and It’s More Chaotic Expressions’.

The book was likely from Caleb’s collection that he inherited from his father. It was surprising to imagine Zelphar having such books though… Then again, he had known Azanor so perhaps it wasn’t that surprising even with the influence of The Church. After all, the fact that Zelphar had ran off to Vargstam showed he had more than a few disagreements with how things were ran in The Three Kingdoms.

The book itself brought up other problems though.

‘I… I feel like I should be concerned about that… Why is Eve even looking at something like that?’

A part of Kazius felt like the title was pretty ominous. Even if it had something to do with Eve’s Magic affinity… It felt almost like handing a toddler a Fire Magic Scroll. Still, he decided to trust Azanor’s judgement on that…

It was also just surprising to learn that someone as innocent and giddy as Eve had an affinity for such Magic. It wasn’t like Kazius had any sort of apprehensions about Dark Magic himself… Especially with keeping in mind what he was and his own powers… That perhaps he might was a bit too eager and carefree with using. He was just concerned with Eve getting careless with such powers, but he supposed it would be fine. He had no moral high ground when it came to this, so he did not bother.

“Buahaha! Sorry about keeping them so long! They were so determined, and it was so fun that I had a hard time stopping them.” Damon laughed out with a wide grin.

“I suppose as long as things were alright…” Azanor trailed off, acting dismissive.

“Azanor was suggesting we go look for you. He looked worried, but I told him you guys were just having fun! I was right!” Eve admitted innocently.

It was then Azanor would go wide-eyed, his pale face even turning a little pink.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

“Eve.” Azanor shushed, clearly flustered to be exposed on caring about their wellbeing so much.

‘Is it a pride thing? He seems proud to be different from other Demons, but he still seems worried about being exposed on caring about others… Then again, trusting new friends was probably hard on him… Or at least I can guess from how he speaks about his past friendship with Ratier, Thimdur, and Zelphar… And getting stabbed in the back…’

Alice would smirk at him a little.

“Awwwwwwwwww.” Alice stated with quite the exaggerated and teasing tone.

“Good to know you care so much about us.” Kazius mused, a slight grin as well.

“Shut up…” Azanor grumbled, losing his composure a bit. A grumpy scowl was on his face. He was normally the one to mess with them, so he was not used to being teased.

At this Alice laughed a bit, the situation earning a laugh from Kazius as well.

“Fine, laugh it up. I care about you because you three are my friends now. Big deal. I hope you know if you thought I was insufferable before… Now you’ve both done it. I will get you back and taunt you right back. Being nice is way harder for me than messing with others. I hope you know that.” Azanor responded back as his frown turned into a teasing smirk.

Kazius would laugh even more, amused at the declaration.

Damon himself seemed very happy to be included, laughing a bit as well.

‘Definitely a pride thing.’

“Bring it on.” Alice mused back with a smug look.

“Well, you will have a hard time messing with us too much. You should have seen Damon during the hunt and on that mountain. I bet he can sniff out if you are trying to pull a prank.” Kazius would state. He wasn’t sure if Damon would be able to do such a thing, but he was purposefully wanting to make him feel part of the group. He was their friend now, but he knew that Damon would still feel hesitant to join any sort of conversation.

“Buahaha! Whether it is a spar or a challenge, I won’t back down!” Damon exclaimed happily with a wide grin, happy to be included.

“We will see about that. I am not even at my full strength, so you just wait. I’ll wipe the floor with all three of you once I can manage to recover.” Azanor warned. After all, as he stated before, due to being sealed away, he was not at full strength.

At this, Damon grinned.

“I look forward to it!” Damon beamed.

“Anyway, I should go make us all dinner.” Damon followed up.

“Wait, why are you doing that all on your own? We’re friends, I bet we can help!” Eve chirped.

Damon seemed surprised at the offer, smiling wider at this. His expression was almost softer.

“That would be great! We can get it done faster then.” Damon stated contently.

“Do you know how to cook?” Alice decided to ask Eve. After all, Alice herself probably had little clue how considering her life as a princess.

At the question, Eve seemed confused.

“I… I think I do?” Eve admitted, clearly unsure.

“You think?” Alice asked in confusion, wondering if she really remembered or not.

“Yes, I think so!” Eve repeated, sounding a bit more confident.

At Eve’s words, Azanor had a strange expression on his face. Kazius really wished he knew what he was thinking.

“In that case, can you two show me? I want to help too!” Alice admitted, seeming to want to learn.

“Buahaha! Sure!” Damon beamed before getting to work.

True to her claim, Eve actually seemed to be doing pretty well. It was almost like she was remembering a skill that she had long ago. Like someone skilled at cooking attempting it again for the first time in years. She likely did not remember specifics, but there was clearly a muscle memory there.

Kazius knew Azanor was aware of what sort of powers Eve had… Did trying to relearn them jog her memory about minor things? She still seemed as lost as ever though… And the more Azanor looked at Eve, the easier it was to notice the hint of disappointment on his face. Perhaps he hoped she would remember something specific…

“You should put so many… And then that many… And then about this.” Eve seemed to tell herself and Alice, not really giving clear directions.

Thankfully, Damon was there to explain certain things in more detail on how to go about certain things.

Alice seemed quite lost, but she at least looked like she was having fun. She seemed to do much better when it came to helping cut things though. She was particularly skilled at mincing and chopping with a knife. Realizing this, she focused mostly on helping with that.

Deciding to help too, Kazius would head over. He wasn’t particularly skilled, but he did use to cook for himself at times.

Sighing, Azanor would soon join in. Surprisingly enough, he actually seemed like the most skilled out of all of them. It was definitely shocking since Kazius always thought that Azanor was some sort of pampered high-ranking Demon or something… At least due to his clothes…

If Kazius had known he was that good, he would have likely asked him to make the meals during their travels… Then again, it didn’t look like Azanor enjoyed cooking unlike Damon… But if that was the case… Then why did he have a reason to get so good at it?

Regardless, with all of them working at it together, the preparation did not take long. It was a bit crowded with everyone cooking, but it ended up making things much easier.