?Ten minutes later.
"Huff… Huff… Here!" Dennis exclaimed as he reached the X-marked spot.
Lith and Ralph were already there, standing calmly while Dennis breathed heavily.
"Where's that dwarfie?" Lith asked.
Ralph gazed at a distance and squinting his eyes, saw a tiny dot nearing them.
The tiny dot turned bigger with each passing second and eventually after a minute, everyone could see Miwa running for her life from a horde of Minotaurs.
"RUNNNNNNN!" Miwa screamed and gestured to everybody to run for their lives. Her voice was audible even from afar.
Looking at her, Dennis asked, "Why's she running from a bunch of weak beasts?"
Ralph, still squinting his eyes, said, "Those aren't weak. Look clearly, they have fire burning at the end of their tails."
Dennis squinted his eyes too to see clearly and, "Oh shit. Those are the firetaurs! How the fuck did she rattle them!?"
Lith extended his wings out and flapping them, said, "No time to discuss. Fly up towards the cauldron, I'll go get her."
The two nodded and extending their wings out, sped their way up.
"WOAHHH… GET ME TOO— Ah… Phew…"
From surprised to shocked to despaired to relieved, Miwa went through a series of emotions as she saw Lith, Ralph, and Dennis.
Surprised by watching them be so calm, shocked to see them open their wings, and despaired after looking at them fly away.
The relief came from being rescued by Lith and Miwa relaxed a bit.
"I thought you guys were gonna dump me." Miwa said with a sigh.
"Not yet, there's still time for that." Lith said nonchalantly.
Miwa's eyebrow face twitched hearing that, but she didn't say anything in response, for she was in a really vulnerable position.
'I need to learn how to fly…' Miwa thought internally.
Flying was a serious survival skill and should be learned at the earliest, thought Miwa, completely oblivious that she would rarely ever use it.
Neither Lith nor Ralph or Dennis use their wings to fly. It's only in this situation where they had to travel short distances as well as look for herbs and beasts did they need it.
In any case, Miwa didn't have the need to fly anymore as she reached the top of the rock pillar along with Lith.
The ten beats were still hovering in the air and looking at the four with a curious gaze.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtLith placed Miwa down and looking at the beasts, said, "Don't mistake them as friendly. Their expression's going to change as time passes when they start to feel hungry. It's best to cook as much as possible and place it in their respective bowls."
Lith took out the hunted bison-like creatures along with the many spices and seeds he found.
"Dennis, make proper cuts and take out oils from the seeds. If you're unable to do that, separate the fats from the meat and give it to Miwa. And Miwa, make sure to follow the instructions in the recipes, learn, and understand how to apply them in real life. Me and Ralph are going back to gather ingredients and will be back with a fresh batch."
"Got it."
"Understood, Your Highness."
"Let's go, Ralph." Lith said and took Ralph away.
Without saying a word, Miwa and Dennis got to work while Lith and Ralph went about their ways to get more ingredients.
.
.
.
.
.
ROOOOAAAARRRRR!
"FUCK! HURRY! HURRY!" Dennis exclaimed and made Miwa stir the cauldron with a big spoon.
"Damn it! They really have changed their expression!" Miwa yelled, looking at the ten flying beasts around them.
The ten ferocious beasts were roaring at the two and flew around the rock pillar. They had stopped staying stationary.
Out of the ten, two had gone somewhere while the rest were threatening Miwa and Dennis.
Just five minutes remained and they could feel the tension build up.
Dennis could feel the scary aura from the beasts and had sweat trickle down his back while Miwa was in a slightly better condition.
For some reason, Miwa could not feel the dangerous aura and it was Dennis who had to remind her constantly about how dangerous things were going to be if they didn't hurry.
"MIWA HURRY!" Dennis yelled once again.
"I AM DOING IT ALRIGHT!? IT'S ALMOST DON!"
"Shit, I hope His Highness and Ralph come back on time." Dennis said and added
Miwa stirred the pot aggressively and after a few seconds, yelled, "DONE!"
Dennis left everything and extending his wings out, flapped his way towards the cauldron and held it with his bare hands.
The cauldron was then taken towards the bowls and the stew the two made was poured into them one by one.
It took roughly a minute to pour hot stew in the ten bowls and once done, Dennis came back to his spot.
The eight beasts stopped roaring and went to have the stew as Dennis went back.
Dennis let out a relieved sigh and said, "Phew, so stressful—"
ROAAAARRRRR!
ROAAAARRRRR!
ROAAAARRRRR!
ROAAAARRRRR!
Dennis and Miwa's body shivered with the loud roars from the many beasts.
"Fuck! Did you skip something in the food Miwa?" Dennis asked with knitted brows.
"Huh? No? Everything was there?" Miwa said hurriedly.
"The fuck? Then what—Oh shit! Salt! Salt! We fucking don't have salt!!!!" Dennis understood and exclaimed.
"We are doomed…" Miwa's expression turned to that of great panic and dejection.
The beasts continued to roar and the two's instincts were screaming at them to run away and survive the danger, but they both knew very well that it wasn't an option.
In the moment of grave danger, Dennis's stupid brain overclocked itself and no time, he yelled out:
"BLOOD! WE CAN USE BLOOD FOR SALTINESS!"
Saying so, Dennis immediately took off towards the one of the two bowls which hadn't been tasted yet by the beasts.
He added some blood from the animals they had killed into it and mixed well.
The look of the stew turned a darkish brown color and it wasn't appealing whatsoever.
Still, Dennis took a spoon and tried the stew, checking whether or not everything was alright.
Just from the first taste, Dennis let out a relieved sigh. "That was the correct move…"
Wasting not a single second further, Dennis went towards each bowl and added blood into the mix.
The beasts were still roaring, however, as the time had not been up yet, they didn't attack Dennis.
After mixing blood in each bowl, the beast calmed down and didn't roar further.
"It's done…" Miwa let out a tired sigh and sat down on the ground. She had never been in such a stressful situation in her life and was genuinely thankful that the pressure was relieved.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏm"Don't slack! We need to prepare the next batch! This time it's all about the texture and less about taste!" Dennis yelled out.
"Fuck." Miwa cursed under her breath.
Honestly, why the fuck were they even doing this thing!? Why? Just why!?
They could indulge in combat or go burn some villages or something. Why opt for such training which had so few rewards?
Miwa really failed to understand!
Despite thinking so, she moved her feet and got back to work.
They had all collectively decided to follow the recipe it's for now and the second recipe was making a rough risotto.
The texture was the most important thing in it as it was not the usual smooth risotto.
This risotto was supposed to be creamy yet rough in nature when chewed.
How one could achieve such consistency was beyond Miwa's understanding, however, all she had to do was mix and follow the guidance, so she was fine with it.
Dennis immediately started prepping the ingredients used for risotto and thought to himself, 'Where are His Highness and Ralph?'
…..
KAKAKAKAKAKAKAKA!
"Lil shit…" Lith cursed under his breath as he glided through the forest.
A dark beast with big horns on his face was chasing after him, letting out shrill cries as if it hadn't eaten in ages.
It was getting difficult to hunt because all the beasts were running away due to this idiot's voice. Add to that, Lith couldn't stop and harvest anything either.
"Why is this beast not going up to eat? Miwa and Dennis should've prepared the food by now…"
Despite having magic and solid power, it was not feasible to fight this beast because then, Lith would put his friends at risk.
He may defeat this beast here, but doing so, he wouldn't be able to gather ingredients and the many beasts at the top would harm Miwa and Dennis.
It was a risk with nothing to benefit from.
Lith continued to fly away and thought, 'What can I even do— Ahh, how stupid am I even to not think of this…'
Shaking his head, Lith cursed himself for being an idiot and changed his trajectory, flying straight up towards the rock pillar Miwa and Dennis were at.
Lith used Space spells while flying and closed the distance in just a few seconds.
Reaching the top, Lith saw Miwa and Dennis doing their best to cook.
The two noticed Lith due to the shrill cries of the beast.
The first thing that went through their head was to flee after feeling the dangerous sensation from the beast, but then…
"LITH, THE BOWL!"
"YOUR HIGHNESS, THE BOWL!"