“Ugh...what happened..i feel sick..”
Yuri awoke by the rumbling feeling in her stomach, loud enough to echo.
“Good morning Yuri, I see you’ve slept well”
Hikaru greeted her with a small smile, whilst sitting on a chair near the bed where she layed.
“Morning..? When did i fall asleep..?”
Getting up from bed, she noticed that there was something in her embrace.
“mm..?”
Looking at it, she realised it was a stone bowl, which was remarkably clean, as if someone made sure there was absolutely nothing left inside it.
“I tried to take it away from you when i lay you to bed, but you seemed to have a rough time falling asleep without it”
Explaining this, Hikaru handed her a glass of water.
“Oh yeah...the stew..! Hikaru is there any left!?”
Jumping up from bed, Yuri launched herself at Hikaru, grabbing him by the collar of his white shirt.
“Unfortunately not, You and Helgi ate every last drop of it…” He looked at her seriously “There was enough stew to feed five more people..Are you sure you are feeling well?”
“Awh...no more stew..that stew was amazing..I never knew you could cook so well..and yeah..? I feel fine i think, a bit hungry?”
She patted her belly and looked at Hikaru expectantly with big eyes.
“...I will go make some breakfast then, I’m sure they won’t mind me borrowing the kitchen again”
Hikaru headed down to the kitchen with Yuri in tow.
Upon entering the kitchen, they were greeted with a fairly busy scene of cooks and waiters running around the kitchen.
The oddest part however, was that they were all avoiding walking over a single spot in the middle of the kitchen.
“They seem busy, are you able to wait a bit?”
He asked her.
“I guess..i really want some more stew though..”
Yuri pouted slightly.
“I’m afraid i can’t make anymore stew, the main ingredient for that stew is all gone. In fact, I didn’t say it at the time, but how did you manage to acquire such a rare ingredient..? The chance of coming across it in this part of the world, and as fresh as it was, is close to zero, even for the richest men.”
Looking at her, Hikaru expected some impressive explanation which made use of her thieving experience.
What he instead got was..
“Ehhh really? I was given it by some random merchant named Bob. He said i was cute, so i could have it for free? I didn’t think it was that amazing”
Her shrug made Hikaru scratch his head.
(What kind of luck would you need to get something like that..just like that.)
Yuri continues to surprise him in many various ways.
They sat down in the Inn cafeteria and had a drink while waiting for the morning rush to calm down.
“Hikaru, how come you always made us eat dried leather jerky when you could cook so well..”
A pair of eyes squinted dangerously at Hikaru.
“Well..we would always pack light when traveling, and cooking supplies would take a lot of space. In cities we just eat at the Inn so i never got the chance”
Hikaru explained himself reasonably.
“Yes okay but..why didn’t you tell me that you were so good at cooking! I might have been willing to bring cooking supplies with us if i knew!”
Complaining, Yuri folded her arms and looked away.
“I thought you did know..? Since i had cooked for you several times before”
“Huh..? You did..? When?”
She blinked at him.
“Who do you think cooked all the meals for you and Mako back at the church?”
Hikaru raised an eyebrow.
“Surely you didn’t think it was Mako?”
“Psh, obviously not, I’m not THAT naive, i bet the only thing you has cooked in her life was boiled eggs, Hard boiled only.”
Yuri dismissed his suggestion. Somewhere on the other side of the world, a certain Archbishop sneezed, while wondering if someone was saying good things about her.
“I thought you had some really skilled chef working there. I mean all the meals tasted really expensive.”
“We couldn’t afford any guards, what makes you think we could afford chefs..?”
He looked at her as if that was a given.
“That’s true..so you cooked all the meals..? and was her guard?”
“And did her laundry. And forced her to do her work. and talked to people on her behalf.” Hikaru sighed “ Sometimes i wonder if it was her being an Archbishop of kindness or me..”
“Pft..Hikaru in a dress.”
Yuri chuckled.
“They don’t wear dresses, they wear robes. It’s a gender neutral thing”
“Right right. Whatever you say, miss bishop.” Yuri snickered.
“Well, at least i don’t wear an actual dress.” Hikaru raised an eyebrow slightly at her.
“Hey, i don’t wear it because i want to, since it would look weird if i didn’t and- Hey hang on, since when did you start talking back to my jokes?”
Her eyes widened.
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“ I don’t want Helgi to have all the fun to himself.” He gave her a small smile.
“It’s a welcome addition to the usually stale Hikaru, i say” She nodded happily. Glad that Hikaru was acting friendlier towards her.
“Just as long as you also do it to Helgi too.” She added.
“I will make sure i do, It’s only fair.”
“Where is he anyway..? He wasn’t in the room with us..?”
She asked with slight concern.
“He’s right here at the inn. I think the kitchen has calmed down slightly, let’s go make some breakfast”
Hikaru headed in with an eager Yuri.
Now that the kitchen had less people running in it. She could finally see what they had been avoiding in the middle.
It was a Helgi.
Laying on the floor, while cuddling a stone bowl, his sleep deep enough that the noises around him didn’t wake him.
“You didn’t move him from the kitchen along with me..?”
Yuri turned her head to Hikaru.
“He lost the cooking match, i figured this would be a suitable punishment for making fun of my cooking.” Hikaru looked at Helgi and nodded in satisfaction.
He would most likely be incredibly embarrassed when he realises what state he was sleeping in.
“Shouldn’t i have done that?”
“Nope, you did well Hikaru, i can’t wait to see the look on his face”
She giggled maliciously.
“Now, I’m starving, breakfast please~”
--
“That was delicious. I am so going to have you cook for every meal.”
Yuri breathed out in satisfaction while exiting the inn.
“If it makes you happy then i do not mind”
Hikaru agreed with a nod.
“That’s great and all. But you bastards...why didn’t any of you wake me!?”
Sulking behind them, Helgi complained loudly.
“You looked so comfortable there, so we didn’t want to disturb you, isn’t that right Hikaru?”
Laughing, Yuri glanced at Hikaru, who nodded with a serious expression that had only a hint of a smile.
“Indeed. We didn’t want to disturb your valuable sleep.”
“...Hah whatever. So what now, any clue on finding those relics? Now that I’m here to help, it should go several times faster. Since I’m sure Yuri has been calling all the shots so far, right?”
Helgi asked Hikaru, who nodded.
“And a lot of times it gets you in more trouble than you thought possible?”
He asked again. Hikaru nodded again after a small pause.
“Hikaru you traitor! I thought we were partners..”
She sulked while pouting.
“I can’t simply deny the truth..”
Hikaru looked at her awkwardly, unsure of how to respond.
“I mean sure we got into trouble, but it’s not like it was only me you know..”
She looked away.
“It was only her, wasn’t it?”
Helgi looked Hikaru.
Hikaru only nodded with pursed lips.
“...Okay i get into trouble i get it...but at least i always manage to get out of it..”
Yuri sulked even more, before having her head rubbed by Hikaru affectionately.
“Indeed you do, which is why you are the one calling the shots, so to speak.”
Hikaru smiled slightly at her.
“Yeah! That’s right! Suck it Helgi!”
Straightening herself out, Yuri jumped with joy.
“If you indulge her too much, she’ll grow lazy and unhealthy you know”
Helgi warned.
“I’m not a pet!”
She burst out.
“Alright alright, so where are we going now. I was asleep. And since no one bothered to wake me up, From my floor sleep, i don’t know the plan”
“Pft..you slept on the floor of a kitchen..that’ll never get old..”
Yuri giggled to herself.
“We are first going to get my gauntlet, which should be done by now. After that we are going to pack up and head to the next location which might have a relic”
“Your gauntlet? Oh yeah. I remember you wearing something with runes on it, that let you use spells. And where is this next location?”
Helgi asked.
“Uh..To be honest, i don’t know. Ask Hikaru, he’s the one leading me there”
“We are heading past those mountains.”
Hikaru pointed at the mountain range clearly visible in the distance.
“Where there should be a city which most likely houses a relic.”
“How do you know. What’s the source for your information?”
Asking with some skepticism, Helgi turned his head slightly.
“Sources? I have passed by there several times during my travels. And you will know why i suspect it houses a relic once we arrive there.”
Explaining vaguely, Hikaru answered the question with the minimal amount of detail, a habit of his.
“That’s not really satisfactory you know. We can’t just head somewhere, without being sure.”
Helgi argued.
“Now now, Hikaru has no reason to lie. Besides, with these relics, just having a suspicion is good enough, since no one has any solid information about their locations”
Yuri said while accepting the gauntlet from the blacksmith.
The gauntlet was a dark bronze, looking more black than bronze. Likely due to the combination of metals in its alloy.
“Alright alright, fair enough. Hey Yuri. That gauntlet, you draw the spells on it yourself right?”
Helgi asked.
“Yes? why?”
“Would you be able to do the same for me, since I’ve run out of spells as of our battle”
“Well..I doubt i can write it on small papers like you had. Since i have to scratch the surface, but i could probably do it with thin metal plates..like playing cards..?”
She imagined it would work, if the metal was sufficiently dense.
Helgi ended up buying a few card pack sized plates. Two card packs worth of cards. Which were relatively thin, thanks to the great skill of the blacksmith.
“Then could you draw some spells on these for me?”
“Sure, I’ll do it when i fix up my gauntlet. Now let’s go get some supplies. No more beef jerky for me. We are going to have real supplies and real meals from now on!”
Yuri let the shopping for supplies be handled by Hikaru, who was the one who would be using those supplies to cook anyway.
Meanwhile she and Helgi sat in their inn room, discussing Helgi’s spells while she filled her Gauntlet with runes.
“So what kind of spells do you want on your metal cards?”
She asked while finishing drawing the runes on her gauntlet.
“Well.. what kind can you make, the guy i got my old ones from could only elemental style spells, so I’ve been limited to that”
Helgi answered.
“Well, limited you are no more, because i have spells that would perfectly fit those of our particular..career.”
Smirking, she took a metal plate card from Helgi and drew a few runes on it.
Activating the runes, she threw the metal card at the wall, where it stabbed itself akin to a throwing star.
The very next instant, the wall disappeared. Disintegrated completely.
“Now you’re talking..what else do you have have.”’
He wore a crooked smile.
They spent the rest of their time discussing what spells to put on the metal cards, and their various uses.
“I’m back.”
Hikaru came into the room, holding up several sacks of foods and ingredients completely foreign to Yuri and Helgi.
“You’re finally here, great, let’s go~”
“Hang on Yuri, what about transport, we should probably buy some horses to carry all this stuff?”
Helgi suggested.
“Not to worry, for Yuri has a brilliant solution, which has been vigorously tested before and proven to be most effective!”
Announcing dramatically, Yuri waved her hands in front of her for added effect.
“No horses needed!”
“Yuri don’t tell me you mean..”
Hikaru realised what she was talking about, as slight worry filled his face.
“What is it..don’t tell me it’s some weird creature to replace horses, and that it eats you if you handle it wrong?”
Helgi’s eyes widened.
“...Worse.”
Hikaru sighed to himself.
“Come along now, no time to waste! Helgi, the great Yuri shall show you my original means of transportation~!”
Yuri pulled everyone out.
--
“YURI WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING THIS THING DOESN’T EVEN HAVE SAFETY BEEEEEELTS!?!”
Helgi yelled at the top of his lungs, while moving forward faster than an arrow.
They were sitting on a very normal looking horse drawn wagon.
Except this one didn’t have any horses.
It was zooming forward thanks to the propulsion coming from the runes on its back, constantly shooting out air and water with so much force that the wagon barely touched the ground.
Their goods and supplies were strapped to the wagon, so there was no risk of them losing that.
They themselves however, had to rely on the strength of their fingers in order to not fly off this crazy rocket-like transport method.
Yuri was leaned forward at the front of the wagon, laughing wildly. While Hikaru sat at the back, looking partly tired, and partly worried about Yuri and Helgi falling off.
Helgi was in the middle of them, holding onto whatever he could for dear life, almost hugging Hikaru in fear.
Yuri stood up on this dangerously unstable carriage moving faster than any car legally could.
Behind her, the curious face of the giant creature on which the city of Asur was founded, looked upon them from the distance, curious at this peculiar fast creature traveling through the desert.
In front of her, were the mountains that reached the clouds, not changing in size despite their tremendous speed.
Her eyes were glued on on them.
“We aren’t stopping until we reach there! Hikaru be prepared to cook on the wagon!”
She announced determinedly.
“That shouldn’t be too difficult. Although i doubt eating on the carriage would work very well, at least for Helgi..”
He gestured at their blonde companion.
Helgi lay on the floor of the wagon, his face green and his cheeks full.
“Damnit Helgi, not inside the wagon, out the side!”
She said at the Helgi who was too terrified to leave his comfort zone where he was certain he couldn’t fall off.
Too terrified in fact that even when he was about to puke, he chose to instead swallow back his stomach's contents and hold it, out of fear.
“Damnit Helgi..i forgot you were never good with cars..”
Yuri sighed.