Chapter 52
Chapter 52
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 52
Chapter Title: A Fleeting Peace
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We roamed the forest securing wild animals for food, hunted plenty of them, and before heading back, twice came together fiercely in a spot slightly deeper into the woods than the entrance.
In the dead of night within the forest, still fully clothed and coupling in the same position as beasts solely to slake our lust, it felt like we'd truly become animals ourselves.
Savoring that odd thrill of taboo and excitement, we finished the deed and returned to camp with our game.
Elfin, who had been sharpening her knife in preparation for butchering the catch, tilted her head at the sight of me and Ravi.
"...What's up?"
"Y-Yeah?"
"Ravi, why are you sweating so much?"
"!!"
"And Alvis too, now that I look. Was it that tough?"
Caught red-handed, Ravi and I desperately feigned nonchalance as we explained the situation.
"W-Well... hunting wild animals in the dark forest at night was tougher than it sounded!"
"R-Right! Monsters just charge straight at you so they're easy to spot, but wild animals kept running away..."
"Hmm... really? Even with Ravi there, you had a hard time? That's kinda weird. Should've asked me instead, since I'm more used to the woods."
"Y-Yeah... next time we'll ask you, Elfin. Ha... haha..."
We barely managed to make excuses to Elfin and sighed in relief. Meanwhile, she gripped her dagger and deftly skinned the animals, gutting them with practiced hands.
Blood sprayed everywhere, but Elfin paid it no mind, methodically stripping hides and innards while separating the edible parts.
Once the lengthy butchering was done, she divided the meat into generous portions for each of us and handed the rest to Lenis.
"Lenis, can you freeze this?"
"Of course. What do you take this Elrute for?"
A simple magic circle appeared on Lenis's staff, and the meat set aside for storage froze solid.
Elfin wrapped them in leaves summoned from her boots' power, packed them into her backpack, and skewered the rest on spits.
"There, all set. I prepped it, so no issues with the meat. Everyone grill and eat as you like."
Saying that, Elfin pulled some spices from her pack, sprinkled them over her raw meat, added a dab of sauce from a container, and called to Lenis.
"Lenis, could you amp up the fire on my side?"
"How much?"
"Strong cooking flame, roughly?"
Whoosh!
A magic circle flared on Lenis's staff again, and the fire in front of Elfin blazed hotter than the others.
"Thanks. Having a mage around is the best for stuff like this."
"I feel like I've become some convenient household gadget..."
Lenis grumbled lightly before pulling out her own spices to prepare her meat.
Ravi and I took our skewers too, but...
'We never cooked outdoors like this before. How do you even do it?'
The issue was we'd survived on food bought in cities during our travels so far.
I knew every scrap of this world's vast knowledge, but surprisingly lacked basic life skills like cooking. Ravi, as a princess who never cooked for herself, was in the same boat.
We should've stocked up in Aldebaran, but with the city in ruins, this was the hiccup—or non-hiccup.
As Ravi and I stared at each other cluelessly, Elfin, grilling her own meat over the flames, glanced our way and snickered.
"What? You two can't cook?"
"Well, we've always bought food in the last city..."
"I-I've only had chef-cooked meals or academy cafeteria food, never done it myself..."
"Jeez, you two really show how pampered you are. Technically, I'm from pretty noble blood too, but I can cook. You gotta pay more attention to practical stuff like this."
She hit the nail on the head, so Ravi and I hung our heads.
"Hand 'em over. I'll do it. It's a simple traditional elf dish—we eat it a lot. Should suit your tastes."
Elfin took our meat, seasoned it like hers with spices and sauce, and set it over the fire.
A few minutes passed.
Lenis, watching Elfin cook, tilted her head curiously.
"By the way, Elfin? What dish needs such a hot fire? Is there an elf traditional that grills like that?"
"This? It's called 'Blessing of the Earth.' You can make it with any cut of meat, our elf spices, and sauce."
"Blessing of the Earth...? I've had it before, but wasn't it grilled on low for a softer texture, not this crispy?"
"Oh, originally it's low heat for ten minutes, yeah. But that's a waste of time, right? If ten on low works, five on high saves time—"
Lenis's expression at that moment was one I'd never forget.
"You idiot elf! What are you doing?! Take it off now!"
Lenis shoved Elfin aside and yanked all three skewers out.
But they were all charred black lumps, utterly inedible no matter how you looked at them.
Lenis smacked Elfin's back repeatedly, scolding her.
"I'll die! Don't freestyle recipes like that or it becomes food waste! What made you confident enough to cook for Alvis and Ravi too!? Now it's three servings of trash!"
Lenis sighed deeply, snatched the spices and sauce from Elfin, and took over the cooking.
"Sigh... I've never cooked Blessing of the Earth myself but I've eaten it and know someone who does, so I can follow roughly. I'll handle it—you stay out, Elfin, and just recite the recipe."
"Tch... Everyone thinks 'ten low = five high' to save time. Not just me, but you treat me like a total klutz..."
With Elfin's grumbling as background noise, the crackling campfire made it easy to forget we were rushing to stop unrest on the Carrot Duchy border.
It was only departure day, with plenty of time before arrival, so Ravi and I had snuck off for our tryst. But as we neared the border, such leisure would vanish.
I thought that while watching the campfire smoke rise into the star-filled night sky.
And surprisingly, Lenis's cooking was delicious.
Having left her fortune-telling shop in Libertà to escape idle days, Linian—the Blue Dragon Liniaras—arrived at the home of one of her kin.
Deep in an unnamed mountain, at the heart of a vast cavern.
Underground rivers cascaded like waterfalls from either side of the open chamber, plummeting into an abyss so deep it seemed bottomless.
A hole in the ceiling let eternal moonlight bathe the center.
Though a cave's depths should be barren, a small tree grew in the chamber's midst, surrounded by a grassy patch and flowers.
Linian floated gently through the air, avoiding the mossy, slick floor, and approached. There, a woman with hair half gold, half silver leaned against the tree, basking in the moonlight.
Her beauty seemed otherworldly, but a grievous scar marred her abdomen, bleeding profusely...
"?!"
Sensing something wrong, Linian sped up and reached her in an instant.
"Lunarin! Lunarin! What happened?! Who did this!? Are you alive?!"
The dying woman was Lunarin, one of the three remaining dragons: the Daughter of the Two Moons.
Visiting kin after eons, Linian faced this nightmare and frantically tried to heal her.
But the abdominal wound was festered beyond saving—even Linian's powers couldn't mend it.
Sensing she couldn't save her, Linian twisted her face in demonic rage, grinding her teeth.
"Which... which fucking bastards dare..."
"Cough... cough... Li... Linian...?"
Lunarin, barely more than a corpse, cracked open her eyes and looked at her.
Linian met her gaze urgently.
"Lunarin! Who did this to you?! You wouldn't go down easy! Who?!"
"Cough... Underground... Vermin... cough!"
Lunarin vomited blood—black, dead blood.
Her life was flickering out; her body had died long ago, clinging by a thread.
How long had she endured this?
Linian hadn't mingled with kin in millennia, so she couldn't guess.
Trembling in fury, lips bleeding from her bite, Linian called to her.
"Lunarin. I'll avenge you against those who did this."
Tears streaming, she swore blazing revenge.
Lunarin weakly grasped her hand.
"Linian... Underground... Vermin... Solaris... in danger... must... stop..."
She tried to say more, but her long-dead body couldn't finish even that.
Mouthing silently like a fish, she slumped, eyes closing.
Sobbing over her kin's death, Linian dug into the moonlit earth at the chamber's center and buried her.
If she could revert to dragon form, she'd roar in grief and rage, shattering the area.
But bereft of draconic power, Linian left as powerlessly as she'd witnessed it.
Blood dripped from her clenched fists.
"Underground Vermin scum... daring to reduce my last two kin to that...? I'll kill you all, devour your hearts—whether that light-bearing human hunts you or not."
Forcing a teleport, she headed to her final kin: the Son of the Only Sun.