Ch. 35 The Journey Continues

Every time I see the number of monthly tickets and blades increase, I feel pleasantly surprised~ Thank you all for your support.

I’m exhausted from being out all day, but I should be able to get another update out in the middle of the night.

—— The conflicts and interludes of that night ended with Kalé’s safe return.

Mia finally had a good night’s sleep.

No messy rats invaded her dreams, and she didn’t wake up suddenly because of the cold night wind blowing grass stalks onto her face.

She slept straight until dawn, when the daylight from the Erdtree filtered through the holes in the roof and shone onto the girl’s face.

She sat up, yawned, stretched her limbs, and saw that her companions were all there.

Kalé was sitting by the campfire, holding an iron skewer, roasting something.

But the first thing that caught Mia’s attention wasn’t what was on the skewer, but…

“Your sleeves?” Mia blinked, looking at Kalé’s arms, confused.

“You mean this?” Kalé raised a hand, his gaze also focusing there.

“Just patches.” “I know they are patches…” The problem was the color of those patches.

They were gaudy and colorful, exactly like the color scheme of a Northeastern floral padded jacket!

To Mia, Kalé’s current outfit looked just like Santa Claus wearing floral sleeves!

“What’s wrong?” Kalé asked, puzzled.

He seemed very satisfied with his new sleeves.

“…” Mia paused, then forced a smile.

“It’s fine, quite nice!” “Mm.” Kalé nodded vigorously and continued to roast the item in his hand.

Only then did Mia shift her gaze over.

“Did you catch a rabbit?” “No.” Kalé answered without hesitation.

“Then what is this?” As soon as the words left Mia’s mouth.

She thought of an unpleasant possibility.

She swallowed hard and turned her head.

In the corner of the dilapidated hut, there was a pile of animal remains.

Most conspicuous among them was, naturally, a rat head with eyes shimmering with an eerie light.

“Uh-huh.” Kalé, having had the truth guessed, shrugged.

“Can you eat that kind of thing?!” She stared at the roasted rat skewered on the stick, now a cooked color, her expression enough to be described as horrified.

“Why wouldn’t it be edible?” Kalé said nonchalantly, “Out here in the wilderness, there are no trash heaps or sewers for these rats to crawl into.

They’re just gregarious animals with a large population.” “…” Mia pursed her lips.

“It’s about done.

Do you want some?” Kalé handed over the skewer.

“It’s on the house.

Without you, I would have suffered quite a bit last night.” Mia frowned, staring intently at the roasted rat sprinkled with spices.

The girl twitched her nose.

All that entered her nostrils was a very ordinary, yet tempting, meaty aroma.

It didn’t seem like there was any problem.

The rat’s internal organs and head had been removed.

If one looked only at the body, it was impossible to imagine it was a rat.

Seeing Mia still hesitating, Kalé tore off a hind leg.

“Here.” Mia hesitated but took it.

She went through another internal struggle.

Finally, she mustered her courage and took a bite.

As she put it in her mouth, she frowned and chewed, chewed, chewed.

“A bit sour, a bit tough.” Kalé nodded, quite satisfied with his culinary skills, and moved the large rat off the fire.

“After all, this kind of animal doesn’t have much fat.” As for the sour taste, it was actually just the consequence of this low-quality meat and the simple preparation method.

” Wilden!

” she called the Soldier.

Kalé didn’t let himself seem stingy, generously tearing off the other leg and handing it to Wilden.

Mia tilted her head, peering around Kalé’s large hat that blocked her view to look at Wilden’s face.

Sure enough, the traces of Hollow on his face were fading by the day.

Kalé didn’t seem to notice this.

Or rather, he had never cared much about anyone related to the Erdtree.

Gnawing on the meat, Mia suddenly thought of a question: ” I remember I burned all the rats.

” ” Ah.

” Hearing this, Kalé couldn’t help but show a pained expression; that was all meat, it could have been used as rations.

To think it was all burned clean by Mia in one go.

Then he explained: ” Some of the injured died on the way while fleeing, and I picked them up.

” Kalé indicated that those rats were piled up outside, enough for the three of them to eat for several days.

Rat meat could just be made into jerky; sprinkle some salt to cure it and then air-dry it.

Anyway, once the bones were removed, it was just chunks of meat; no one would know what kind of meat it was.

Long-lasting jerky could not only serve as final rations but also act as merchandise.

Kalé proposed leaving later, spending some time to do preliminary processing on the jerky.

When the merchant proposed this idea, Mia fell silent again.

” The jerky you sold us before…

” she stared at Kalé suspiciously.

” That was rabbit, it was rabbit!

” Kalé hurriedly waved his hands: ” I always use whatever I have.

” The girl was half-doubting.

If it was really rabbit jerky as he said, and rabbit jerky was that unpalatable, what would rat meat be like?

She had already made up her mind: even if she starved to death in the future, she would never buy Kalé’s jerky again.

The three of them finished the roasted meat, and Mia chewed on some dried Rowa fruit as a source of vitamins.

For the entire morning afterward, Kalé was busy with his rat jerky, removing the bones and washing away the blood.

Yes, indeed, there was actually a usable well in this ruined village.

Mia filled the Cracked Pot with that clear, cold well water.

The five or six rats kept Kalé busy until the afternoon.

Once he hung the meat on the donkey, the three of them were finally ready to set off.

” We should be able to enter the forest today.

” Before leaving, Wilden stated the route plan for the day.

He was the one among them who knew this road the best.

Mia remembered that forest—of course, she remembered it from the game.

” Then how long will it take us to get out of the forest?

” The Soldier thought for a moment, considering Mia and Kalé’s pace: ” Two days, I suppose.

As long as we follow the road.

” The party set off again.

Kalé rubbed plenty of salt onto the meat he wanted to air-dry; this could cover the bloody smell of raw meat so it wouldn’t attract dangerous predators from a great distance.

Afterward, it was still an uneventful journey that just made one want to yawn.

Mia rode Amia…

(Feeling strangely rhythmic?) and had nothing to do.

Right, the girl had a sudden inspiration.

Since she had the time, she might as well practice the Fire Prayer.

She reached out her hand, and a flicker of orange-red flame rose from her palm.

Kalé turned his head curiously.

” What are you doing?

” He thought there was some danger nearby.

” Ah, it’s nothing.

” Mia smiled, telling him not to be nervous: ” Just practicing.

” ” Oh.

” Kalé nodded: ” Just don’t scare Amia.

” ” I know what I’m doing.

” The girl responded, the flames in her hand constantly changing shape.

Mia stared at the flames in her hand with great interest.

Some said that fire was scorching and irritable, and that those who liked fire were the same.

Probably because of adjectives like ” rage.

” Furthermore, while fire harmed itself, it also destroyed others.

However, Mia probably wasn’t qualified to comment on this.

Because she could feel the slight heat the flame brought her, but she felt absolutely no burning pain.

But she also realized the danger brought by this unique resistance.

She wouldn’t let herself become someone who despised fire and abused it wantonly because of this.

The flame in her hand was always firmly restrained.

Mia’s palm faced upward, and the flame turned into a ball, then into a ring.

Mia was like a child playing with clay, having discovered a toy she had never seen before, curiously fiddling with the flame in her palm.

In this process, she constantly honed her skills and will, making her control more precise and consuming less energy.

It might not seem tempting right now but who knows what the future holds?

“And If you’re enjoying it, drop a Power Stone for me!”