xxxXXXxxx
"You really don't have to do this, you know?" Agnodice kindly and warmly says, but I just shrug lightly as I keep breaking the eggs open and separating the large yolk from the rest.
They are far bigger than the ones from my old world, or the ones I used to see in my village.
At least two or three times bigger, I'd roughly say. And also a lot better tasting, somehow.
"It's not really much, so don't worry." I drawl out as I set the bowl full of yolk aside so to quickly wash my hands. "I'm also doing this for myself, after all."
The tall elven woman regards me with a curious gaze, her hands swiftly and easily cutting through the slab of meat before her.
"It's food from home that I haven't had in years, so…" Carbonara, the greatest dish of pasta ever made within the Multiverse.
I need it so bad that it ain't even a joke. I'm like a druggie that needs his next fix.
So, since I wanted some, why not prepare enough for the whole Hera Familia to enjoy?
After all, that dish is my religion. I must spread it's might to every corner of this world.
"Still, thanks for helping!" I give her a grin as I dry my hands, then move on to swiftly grab a series of large pans to fill to fill with water and some to leave empty.
Some for cooking the pasta, and others to cook the meat and then hold the pasta.
She giggles lightly while moving the cuts of meat aside. "I know how hard it can be to prepare food for more than a hundred hungry ladies!" Now that she mentions it, we are the only two in the kitchen.
Is she the only cook here? "Do you always cook alone?" I voice out my question, barely catching the slight pause in her movements when I do.
A low hum escapes her lips. "My daughter used to help me, but… We grew apart." This time I am the one that pauses.
My hands involuntarily clench into fists for but a second. "I understand that all too well." She perks up faintly at my words. "I drifted away from my parents and siblings as well." Crash. Blood. Guilt.
Fuck off.
"Want to talk about it?" The older woman offers kindly, but I sniff and bury those negative emotions deep inside me yet again.
"Nah, but thanks for offering." Her smile couldn't get any more beautiful. "What about you?" I offer back, and Agnodice actively considers it with a cute hum.
And she finally speaks after a few seconds. "There was an accident in the Dungeon. My daughter… she got overconfident." Ah, I hope I never suffer from such a curse. "She ended up getting into danger, so I had to pull her out… And ended up losing both of my legs in the process."
I flip towards her the moment those last words left her lips, and having clearly expected that, she had already lifted her sundress with her fingers to show rough mechanical legs reaching up to her kneecaps, which were covered in clear medical gauze.
"She's blamed herself since then, and has since grown distant even when I never blamed her." Her sundress drops, but I spread my senses to take in the situation even better.
She's lost everything from right below her kneecaps, and they weren't cut off… but burned off.
Her thighs are covered in vicious burns filled with intense and hot magic, and I don't even need to examine them to know that she must be in a horrendous amount of pain.
"You couldn't asked for a Pill to alleviate the pain, you know?" I sigh out, reflexively reaching for my pouch, but I've left it in my room after I came back with my trip with Kirin.
Her smile becomes very warm and sweet at my words. "I can wait. Plus, I'm used to it by now." That doesn't make it any better.
Still, fixing that damage will require a Tier Two Pill at most, as for her legs… "I'll need some time for the Limb Regrowth Pill, though." That one requires more than a hundred ingredients to make.
The majority of the ingredients I require are things that people here have written off as useless, while for me nearly everything has a use for alchemy and Pills.
"Thank you, honey." I manage to hold back a fierce blush at how insanely sweet her voice sounded just now.
Damn Milfs and their irresistible charm.
"I should still have some Healing Pills in my pouch, so I'll go check real quick." I just can't stand the thought of her standing and moving around so much while having to deal with the pain in her legs.
I can't even imagine how much it hurts, and yet she's not even flinching or hissing!
Agnodice's face melts into a very warm and kind smile that is just lethal to my heart. "I can't convince you otherwise?"
I snort. "Nope!" She sighs deeply, her warm smile growing move fond. "Just bear with me, Miss."
Her nose scrunches up a bit at that. "No need for that. Agnodice is fine…" Then she pauses and blinks. "Or Eleria, that too is fine." I raise a confused brow at that.
Which she notices. "Eleria is my name, while Agnodice is my Alias, given to me by the Gods. Mainly Lady Hera." An Alias? Is it perhaps gained through something specific or is it given just because?
Agnodice… It doesn't really ring a bell, but it does sound Greek.
Wait, if her 'name' is an Alias, then… "Is Kirin also an Alias?" Because I do know that's another mythological beast, a Chinese one to be specific.
Agnodice- Or Eleria, nods lightly with a tin smile. "The Thunderous Beast of Heaven- Or at least, that's what the legendary beast was called back then." Huh, cool nickname.
But now I'm curious. "Then, what's Kirin's real name?"
At that, Agnodice actually shrugs, making her assets bounce wildly. "Only Lady Hera knows." Aw come on!
"Oh well, I'll bribe it out of her one day!" I leave behind those words as I leave the kitchen, smiling softly as the faint giggles from Agnodice follow after me.
She's such a sweet and kind woman. A breath of fresh air, even.
From spending time in a toxic village with barely any sort of good interaction with others to being thirsted after by dozens of ladies… Is quite a big jump that I still need to get used to.
But well, I have sweet Meteria to talk to. Kirin can be fun too, especially her teasing, mostly because not reacting to it makes her do weird and funny faces.
And Agnodice is also nice to talk to. Her voice is very soothing.
But speaking of Meteria… I haven't really seen her much today, same with Alfia… Wonder where they are-
"Nyooooooommmmmm~-!" A blur runs down the hallway before me, making me stop and blink.
"Catch that little gremlin!"
"She stole my sweets!"
"And she drew a mustache on my face!"
"Oh hi Riley!"
"Alfia's chasing us!"
"Oh shit! Run!"
O...kay?
I guess Meteria's been a little menace now that she has all the energy in the world… And Alfia is trying to beat the angered mob away from her little sister.
I'm not taking the blame for unleashing that little adorable devil upon Orario.
Pretty sure I can hear Hera's satisfied and happy cackles at Meteria's antics echoing out through the whole mansion…
Shaking my head, I swiftly move down the hallway and towards the staircase leading up to where my room floor is.
And as I do so, my thoughts fall on what I talked about with Kirin. About the possibility of there being Cultivators here.
This place must be some sort of backwater place where only mortals reside… Yet the presence of the Divine kind of confuse me.
They are clearly terrifyingly powerful, yet they stifle and seal away their power, contain it deeply within themselves.
Like they are trying to live among these mortals, for some reason.
I'm so confused, yet also so glad that I do not have to live through the horrors of a Cultivation World.
I do not mind living here for the rest of my life and not going out there to find bigger cities and stronger Cultivators. I do not want that in my life.
I'll be going in the Dungeon soon, mostly because I am extremely curious about it, especially since it's the only source of Qi that I've felt so far.
Yet, I cannot ignore the risk of them still being around, just somehow being lowkey and bearing with being weak.
After all, Qi is insanely hard to gather without Pills and without improving one's Qi Palace at least two times.
But it also makes people live for a lot longer just by improving one's body.
More time means more Qi can be gathered, and the more Qi is gathered the more a Qi Palace can be improved if they even know or find out how.
And that's when, little by little, they'll gain power through the years to come.
Only reason I am not at a higher Qi Palace level is because I spent my early years just constantly improving my body over and over again, preparing it for the future.
Then when I reached Orario, I decided that it was about time I stopped holding it back and finally upgrade my Qi Palace.
Though I mostly decided that after killing that Minotaur and noticing how little damage Qi did to my body at that point.
Funnily enough, I have actually reached the limit to how strong I can make my body within this Realm, hence any big improvement will have to wait.
The one big problem that I unfortunately realized just now is that I have invoked Heavenly Lighting twice so far.
So if there are any Cultivators hidden in the city… They'll surely know there's another one now.
Living an easy and relaxing life is never easy, huh?
Creak-
Hn?
I pause just as I am about to reach the door to my room, then turn my gaze to the room next door, which had just slightly creaked open.
My eyes meets a lone lilac one for but a split second, and that moment alone is enough to make it fill with pure terror before the door slams shut.
What the fuck was that about?
I blink and spread my senses into the room, finding a lone woman residing there and… now sitting with her back against the door while hugging her knees.
Does she have anthropophobia? Or did I scare her myself?
I hesitate for a second, but then I approach the door with a low sigh. Because sometimes I am too kind for my own good too.
So, I knock lightly on the door. "Is everything okay?" I call out softly, knowing that she can hear me from her position right in front of the door.
The knock and my voice seemingly scare her even more, as I can feel and hear her scurry away from the door. "I mean no harm?" I try to reassure, but yet again, she just draws away.
I scrunch up my nose at that. "My name's Riley. I'm new around her, if you didn't know." Actually could she be afraid of men in general?
Jesus, did Hera bring me in here knowing this girl is afraid of… well, me?!
"I'm sorry if my presence makes you uncomfortable…" Yet again, no reaction. She's still hiding her face between her knees.
I should leave, but… Let me try one more thing. "Knock on the ground once for yes, twice for no." I feel her still as I say that loud enough for her to hear me. "Am I making you uncomfortable?"
A pause, then I smile as her arm moves and reaches down.
She knocks faintly on the ground, not loud enough for me to hear it, but I can sense it.
And she knocked twice.
So I am not making her uncomfortable, yet I saw all that terror in her eyes for that split second. "Are you scared?"
One knock.
"Is it because of me?"
Two knocks.
Then what the fuck is the problem?
"Is there anything I can do to help?" A pause, then two knocks, making me sigh softly.
"Then, are you hungry?" Another pause, then a single knock. "I'll bring some food up soon then."
And with that, I pull away and enter my room.
I have six Healing Pills left. Meteria takes one each day to feel good and be able to move, with Alfia still refusing to take them until I have a large supply of them for her sister.
So with the one I'll be giving Agnodice, I'll have five left… But I should get my Pill Furnace tomorrow afternoon luckily.
Hence, no worries there. I can't wait to start refining again, and with a far better Furnace than the one I currently hold.
I'm so giddy!
But now, let's go back downstairs and finish cooking for those thirsty women.
xxxXXXxxx
He was nice…- No, he is nice.
But he was probably like that because he still hasn't been told anything about her.
About how twisted, ugly and messed up she is.
Then he'll surely change too, like the others did. Luckily, this time she won't have to see the change to his expression, the disgust rising in his eyes when they land on her.
It's always like that, and it isn't her imagination. It's really there, Kirin just can't see it as well as she does.
Even he- Even Riley, will surely be disgusted by her.
No matter how kind she heard her Familia members say he is supposed to be as they walked down the hall in front of her room, he too will be disgusted.
But at least, that short conversation with him felt nice. It reminded her of the times she spent hours by Meteria's bedside, just telling her all sorts of stories.
And now, little Meteria was on her way to be healed and she could hear her play with everyone else… And she too wanted to play with her.
She wanted to go out there and chase her so bad. Sit her down and brush her hair, maybe even put some make-up on and try dresses and other clothes.
But now…
A faint knock from the door startles her. "Brynhildr, it's Riley!" That familiar warm voice speaks up, and Brynhildr's eyes widen in horror.
He knows her name! He asked around about her! He must've been told about-
"I bought the food, sorry for the wait!" Eh? Had it really been that long since he left- No, wait!
Isn't he supposed to be disgusted by her!? Why did he still bring her food!?
She had planned to simply sneak out late at night, like she usually does, to go grab some food from the kitchen before swiftly retreating in her room…
Yet, now here he was.
"I… may have bought too much…" She hears him muse softly to himself. "But oh well, eat it while it's warm!" And with that, she hears his footsteps slowly drift down the hallway.
Brynhildr only approaches the door after a whole quiet minute flew by.
Creaking it open, she carefully inspected both sides of the hallway, then look down at the large bowl that was sat down before her door.
A delicious scent fills her nostrils as she takes in a deep breath, making her stomach grumble loudly.
Her hands swiftly move to grab the handkerchief and silverware before lifting the hot bowl and dragging it into her room.
The lid came off with ease, letting the creamy looking noodle-like pasta release all the power of it's flavorful scent.
And Brynhildr couldn't help but have tears fill her eyes.
How long has it been since she had a warm meal?
How long has it been since she even had a meal with her fellow sisters?
The creamy pasta filled her mouth, filling her taste buds with a cheesy and beefy flavor like no other.
Mouthful after mouthful went down, and she barely even noticed the large smile on her lips as she savored her first warm meal in a long time.
Her usually cold and isolated room now finally felt warm.
But that nice warmth didn't last long… Because she finished that whole bowl of food in record time.
And glaring at it with a pout won't make more food magically appear.
So if she wanted more, because she did… She'd have to go downstairs and risk being seen.
But the food…
With a nervous gulp, Brynhildr musters her very minuscule amount of courage to… glare at the door and hope Riley comes back to ask if she wanted seconds. Which she does, obviously.
…
Damn it…
Her door creaks open, her head pops out, and her nervous eyes peek all over the place – even the ceiling – in search for anyone waiting for her to leave her nest.
With a single step, she reaches the end of the hallway, the insane speed she was known and feared for carrying her all the way to the stairs in a split second.
Her other fellow Executives shouldn't be walking around, and they are the only ones even capable of seeing her move around with her immense speed.
So… With yet another step, the world blurs around her.
And the very next second, she was by the open massive doors that led to the main hall, which is either were important Familia meetings happen, or where everyone gathers to eat.
Her hears fill with the cheers, laughter and even the very lewd moans of her fellow sisters, all clearly enjoying and losing themselves to the food she had devoured within seconds.
Now, how will she go about requesting mo-
"Here for seconds?" An unfamiliar face with a very familiar voice appears before her, an amused smile on those pretty features.
Brynhildr blinks once, then twice… Then finally reacts. "Eeep…" By shrinking in on herself with a whimper.
Riley blinks down at her, his very warm eyes widening with slight concern and a tiny bit of amusement. "Come on now, I just peeked out of the door…"
Brynhildr whimpers again, shrinking even deeper into her fluffy black turtleneck sweater.
So the teen before her just sighs and puts his hands on his hips.
"Everything alright there, Riley?" Another familiar voice draws close, and Brynhildr is nearly on the verge of tears when Kirin comes into view.
Her Vice Captain and best friend looks down at her, her eyes widening profusely before a massive smile spreads across her face. "Bryn! How nice to see you!" Another whimper escapes the former Executive's lips.
Kirin snorts, then looks down at the bowl in her friend's hands, which Riley swiftly takes back. "I'll go fill it back up, give me a second." Brynhildr nods profusely as the teen disappears beyond the doors leading into the main hall.
"Who bought you the food?" Kirin asks lightly, her eyes seemingly never leaving Riley's form.
And being just the two of them, Brynhildr relaxes minutely. "It was him." Her best friend's eyes widen at that. "He asked if I was hungry before, then bought me that bowl of delicious food…"
Brynhildr had to admit… She never saw Kirin's eyes grow that warm and fond.
Even when she used to interact with 'That' man.
Shaking her head, Kirin gently crouches down to be more eye-level with Brynhildr, then offers her friend a warm and kind smile. "Want to join everyone else?" She asks softly and hopefully.
But Brynhildr closes her eyes and shakes her head without a second of thought.
So her best friend could only sigh softly through her nostrils and straightens herself as Riley came back into view with another bowl filled to the brim, much to Brynhildr's clear delight.
"Here you go." He smiles softly at the nervous woman, who takes the bowl with a shaky but thankful smile.
And just as she was about to swiftly depart, Riley lifts a hand to stop her. "I bought something else too, for you to enjoy while you eat." Kirin holds back a visible snort as Riley reaches past the open door and out of Brynhildr's line of sight.
Then drags over a grinning Meteria, her hands holding an equally filled bowl of food and her eyes all but sparkling with delight when they land on Brynhildr.
"Hildr!" The adorable lass cheers, then visibly holds herself back from giving her friend a big hug due to the both of them having their hands occupied. "I shall be your eating partner! Let's go to your room!"
This time, Kirin does openly snort when Brynhildr throws the amused and mischievously grinning Riley a big teary pout.
"Let's go! We'll talk plenty of shit on that big son of a bitch that hurt you!" Meteria huffs, then pauses when everyone regards her with wide gaping mouths and horrified eyes.
If Alfia was close enough to hear the words that came out of her sister's mouth, she'd have likely had a heart attack.
Hera instead would have cheered till she lost her voice.
"What?" The busty girl raises a brow, as if challenging them to say something. "Even I have a limit to how nice I can be." Meteria sniffs, then huffs and start walking down the hallway without waiting for the others to recover.
Brynhildr gulps and gives Riley a deep bow, then swiftly follows after the huffing and puffing Meteria, small grumbles and curses towards a certain man flowing out of her lips.
Kirin raises her hand to lightly scratch at her chin for a few quiet seconds.
Until Riley speaks up. "You know that no one will believe us, right?"
The Vice Captain nods slowly. "They might even torch us for uttering such heresy like Meteria swearing."
"She had no right looking so adorable while swearing…" Riley muses finally with a shake of his head.
"I know, right?! How does she even do that!?"