Chapter 801: Lunchtime [II / Bonus - ]

Chapter 801: Lunchtime [II / Bonus Chapter]

"Oh sweet heavens!" one of the Shieldmaidens groaned after her very first spoonful of stew.

Her eyes rolled back, and her whole body melted against the mat as she cradled the steaming bowl in both hands.

The rich velvety broth coated her tongue, the tender meat practically dissolved without chewing, and the sweetness of the vegetables bloomed across her mouth in a wave of warm comfort.

"The bread..." Aki whimpered, clutching a warm buttery roll in both hands.

She took a tiny bite and let out a soft ecstatic squeak. "It’s so soft... It’s like biting into a cloud... Silas, this isn’t food! This is magic!"

Across the mat, Lupina wasn’t bothering with tiny bites.

The wolf-girl had both hands clamped around a huge glazed boar slab and was tearing into it with a ferocious happy snarl.

CHOMP!

"Mmmph! So good!" Lupina barked around a mouthful of meat, with dark plum glaze smeared across her chin and the tip of her nose. "Kaelia, you’re a genius! If you ever leave Blessed Land, I’m going to track your scent across the whole world and carry you back in my mouth...!"

"Please don’t do that," Kaelia said faintly. "I’m not going anywhere."

Beside her, Rowenna was eating with neat delicate precision, though the speed she was buttering slices of bread at was honestly terrifying.

Her eyes were locked on her bowl, her notebook forgotten on the grass, and she was heaping spoonful after spoonful of blackberry preserves onto her roll while humming happily under her breath.

Solenne sat gracefully near Silas’s right elbow with her nine tails tucked behind her like a plush silver throne.

She was taking slow careful sips of the broth, but the rosy flush on her cheeks and the happy flutter of her ears showed exactly how much she loved it.

Silas tore off a steaming chunk of bread, dunked it deep into his stew and popped it into his mouth.

A low thoroughly contented hum rumbled out of his chest.

"Kaelia, I swear your cooking gets better every single day," Silas said, looking over at the petite chef, who was sitting nearby sipping a little cup of herbal tea. "This glaze is perfect... The meat falls right off the bone, this stew warms you all the way down, and the bread’s got just the right amount of salt on it, Blessed Land would fall apart without you."

Kaelia’s face went crimson all over again.

She clutched her teacup tightly and ducked her head, her eyes sparkling with shy breathless pride.

"T-thank you, my Lord..." Kaelia murmured, a sweet radiant smile tugging at her lips. "I-I put extra ginseng in yours... so you’d have plenty of energy for this afternoon..."

Sitting right across the mat from Silas, Elowynn Embershade watched the whole thing without blinking.

She was holding a piece of glazed boar between her fingers, but she hadn’t taken a bite in almost a minute.

Her eyes were locked completely on Silas’s face.

She watched the relaxed easy way his eyes crinkled when he smiled at Kaelia, the deep laugh that rumbled out of him between bites and the warm happy contentment that softened his whole face while he ate.

’Look how happy he looks...’ Elowynn thought, her heart giving a slow heavy ache against her ribs. ’He can wipe out monsters like it’s nothing, and he can upgrade a whole territory with a thought... but look at what actually puts that soft warm light in his eyes. A warm bowl of stew and a girl who made it just for him... He looks so happy...’

A sharp pang of regret twisted in her chest, and her fingers tightened around her spoon.

’And I can’t even boil an egg...’ she thought, biting her lower lip. ’I can blow up a crawler with a snap of my fingers, and I can set my blades on fire... but I can’t put that look on his face. Not with anything I know how to make... If I want a real place next to him... I have to learn. I’m going to study every single word that chef says until I can make food that makes him look at me like that.’

Down along the western edge of the mat, the mood was a lot less sentimental.

Ther’Abella sat bolt upright on the straw with her back as stiff as a spear shaft.

Her silver hair was still dripping from the water mage’s "accident" and still had a few stubborn flecks of dried moss stuck in it.

An empty wooden bowl sat on her lap with her arms were crossed firmly over her chest, and her icy blue eyes were glaring straight ahead into the empty air with bitter proud defiance.

GRRRRRRRRRRROWL!

Her stomach let out a noise like a bear waking up from a long winter as every head on the mat turned.

"I’m not hungry," Ther’Abella said.

GRRRRROOOOWL!

"I said I’m not hungry."

"Come on, Commander Ther’Abella!" one of the young archers teased, nudging her elbow with a grin. "Take a bowl! You’ve been glaring at the bread for ten minutes... Your stomach’s louder than a wild boar!"

"I’m a warrior of the Viridian Guard," Ther’Abella declared, tilting her chin up at a steep angle. "I don’t stuff myself at feasts while we’re still on patrol. A real soldier stays sharp by eating lightly... Clean water’s all I need."

"Then why’s your bowl already in your lap?" another archer asked innocently.

Ther’Abella looked down at the empty bowl in her lap and she looked back up.

"I-it’s for water," she said.

"Oh, stop lying, pointy-ears!" Lupina barked with a loud laugh, waving a pork rib at her. "Your tongue was hanging out of your mouth the second that soup can went hiss! You looked like a stray dog behind a butcher’s shop...!"

"I did not!" Ther’Abella hissed, her cheeks burning pink under her constellation marks. "How dare you talk to me like that, you mangy—"

"Ther’Abella," Aki sighed from across the mat, rubbing her temples. "Please, just eat something... You got hit in the back by a flying crawler, you got thrown twenty yards, you bounced off a boulder, a monster hit you in the face with a club, and then you got splashed, You need food..."

Every single girl on the mats lost it.

Ther’Abella’s face went from pink to red to purple as the whole circle dissolved into giggles at her expense.

"I’m not hurt!" Ther’Abella snapped, her voice cracking with flustered frustration. "My body’s perfectly fine! I don’t need—"

Before she could finish her proud elven protest, a shadow fell across her shoulder.

Silas had slid smoothly across the mat and sat down right beside her.

In his left hand, he held a wide wooden bowl brimming with steaming golden marrow stew and soft chunks of root vegetables.

In his right hand, he held a spoon already loaded with a juicy piece of glazed boar soaking in rich herb broth.

He blew gently on the steaming spoonful to cool it down, then held it right in front of Ther’Abella’s nose.

The smell of roasted marrow, sweet plum glaze and garlic drifted straight up into her nostrils.

Ther’Abella’s breath caught. Her eyes went wide, and her mouth filled up with water all on its own.

Silas chuckled, his dark blue eyes sparkling with wicked affectionate amusement as he tilted his head at her.

"Open up, pointy-ears," Silas murmured, his voice dropping into a low teasing drawl. "You’ve had a rough day... You got kicked into the mud, you got thrown out of the fight, and then you took a four-foot log right across that pretty little nose of yours. You need this."

Ther’Abella’s face went a violent shade of scarlet that rivaled the hottest coals in any forge.

"I-I won’t!" Ther’Abella stammered, leaning her head back away from the spoon, though her eyes stayed glued to the glistening piece of meat. "Don’t you dare treat me like a child, usurper! I won’t be spoon-fed by some barbarian! Put that away this instant!"

"Now, now, don’t be stubborn," Silas laughed, moving the spoon closer until the broth almost touched her lower lip. "We all know you can’t cook to save your life... If I leave you alone, you’ll go chew on some bitter roots and tell yourself it builds character. Come on... Say ah..."

"Aaah," said Lupina helpfully from across the mat, opening her own mouth wide.

"Aaah," said three of the archers.

"Aaah," said Aki, before she realized what she was doing and turned bright red.

"I’m a warrior of the—mmph?!"

The moment her lips parted to give another lecture on elven dignity, Silas slid the spoon smoothly right past her teeth.

SHLP!

The warm velvety broth and the tender glazed boar flooded Ther’Abella’s mouth in a rush of rich savory perfection.

Her eyes snapped wide and her whole body went rigid then all of her proud defiance shattered like cheap glass, and her spine practically melted as the flavors burst across her tongue.

The depth of the marrow, the sweetness of the plum and the gentle warmth of the spices hit her all at once, and a tiny helpless completely undignified whimper slipped out of her throat.

"Mmmmm..."

Her jaw started moving on its own, chewing slowly with dazed reverence.

Silas grinned and rested his elbow on his knee as he watched her swallow.

"See? Not so bad, is it? Even a Viridian Guard can admit Blessed Land food beats chewing on tree bark."

Ther’Abella swallowed.

The warm broth slid down and soothed the ache in her bruised ribs on its way.

She opened her mouth, fully intending to call him a shameless scoundrel, an insolent brute and every other name she could think of but when she looked into his smiling dark blue eyes and felt the comforting warmth spreading through her chest, the words just died on her tongue.

Her face burned, her constellation marks pulsed faintly, and she jerked her head away to stare down at her boots in humiliated defeated silence.

"It’s... acceptable," Ther’Abella muttered in a tiny muffled voice. "Just... adequate..."

Silas loaded up another spoonful and held it out.

Ther’Abella stared at it and her pride screamed at her however her stomach screamed louder so she opened her mouth.

The whole mat erupted into delighted shrieks and cheering, thoroughly enjoying the sight of their fierce unbending Ther’Abella getting completely tamed by a spoonful of stew.

"I hate all of you," Ther’Abella said with her mouth full.

"You’ve got stew on your chin," Silas said, and wiped it off with his thumb.

Ther’Abella made a sound like a kettle about to explode, turned the color of a boiled crab and opened her mouth for the third spoonful anyway.

The feast went on for another half hour, feeling very happy.

Bowls were emptied and refilled, laughter bounced off the flattened stone, and the tension of the morning’s fight melted away completely under Kaelia’s cooking.

By the time the last drops of stew were wiped out of the brass flasks with crusts of bread, every girl there had her strength back and then some.

"Alright, ladies," Silas called, getting to his feet and stretching his shoulders until they popped. "Break’s over... Let’s pack up and get moving."

Everyone snapped back into order with impressive speed.

The archers and Shieldmaidens folded the heavy straw mats, rolled them up tight and tied them off with leather cords.

Silas swept his hand across the clearing and pulled the empty flasks, the crates and the folded mats back into his Inventory.

Weapons were checked, shield straps were tightened, and bowstrings were tested with crisp singing plucks.

Aki stood at the head of the formation, her breastplate gleaming and her azure eyes burning with fresh determination as she looked toward the eastern ridge.

Ther’Abella fell in on her left with her starlight daggers re-formed at her hips, very carefully not looking anywhere near Silas, though the tips of her ears were still pink.

On the right, Elowynn rested her hands on the hilts of her cutlasses, her tall body coiled with eager energy, while Lupina, Morrighan, Aurelia and Rowenna fell into place around Solenne and Kaelia.

Silas drew his runed longsword and rested the flat of the blade on his shoulder with a sharp eager smirk.

"Let’s move," Silas said.

With steady confident strides, the whole group marched off the flattened crater, leaving the first nest behind as they set off into the deep jungle toward the second.

The jungle canopy thickened into a dark smothering vault of turquoise and black leaves as the group pushed deeper toward the eastern ridge.

The trail out here was barely a deer path, choked with slick moss and jagged roots that stuck up out of the ground like broken bones.

Even with the rough ground, the pace stayed steady.

With Kaelia’s marrow stew and buttered bread in their bellies, Aki’s girls moved with a crisp confident rhythm that felt completely different from their nervous careful steps that morning.

Their grips on their spears and bows were rock solid, and their eyes had the sharp hungry look of hunters who’d tasted a win.

From the tangled brush along the left side of the trail came the wet rustle of something stalking them.

RUSTLE! RUSTLE!