Hunting was extremely simple for Mirajane, who possessed magic. In less than half an hour, she returned, carrying an unknown beast, guided by the light of the campfire.
While processing the ingredients, Statiw used his Pict Magic to materialize a complete set of kitchen utensils from a painting he had prepared earlier. After Mirajane inspected each utensil, she looked at him with a surprised expression and said, "Not bad at all, it feels completely real."
"Of course. My magic currently lacks combat capabilities. In a critical situation, I can only materialize things like swords, armor, and the like. Since I can materialize swords and armor, other tools are naturally no problem." Statiw felt proud seeing her surprised expression, but he didn't show it. Instead, he calmly explained, "However, to get items that are exactly like those in reality, you need to set up extremely complex and logically consistent details. If these settings are wrong, the materialized object will be vastly different from what you intended."
"Is that so? I didn't realize Pict Magic would be so troublesome." His words greatly surprised Mirajane. With a look of astonishment, she lightly flicked the knife in her hand, feeling the exact same texture as a real kitchen knife, and couldn't help but exclaim, "But, in other aspects, it seems incredibly convenient."
With that, Mirajane hummed a little tune and began to process the ingredients.
Despite her fiery temper and impatience, all three siblings, including Elfman, were excellent cooks, especially Mirajane, whose culinary skills rivaled those of top hotel chefs. Not only was she a good cook, but she was also very capable with housework and always hummed a tune when doing chores or cooking, as if these were her passions.
At this moment, seeing her handle the ingredients alone, Statiw felt a bit guilty and wanted to help. Unfortunately, he had never done such things before, and his clumsiness not only failed to help but also caused a lot of trouble, making Mirajane angrily order him to stop moving.
To prevent him from causing more trouble, she said with an annoyed expression, "Instead of this, why don't you materialize a tent? We can each take half a night on watch, and the other person can rest in the tent."
"Materialize a tent? Are you kidding me?" Upon hearing her request, Statiw looked at her with an incredulous expression.
"What, is there a problem?" Mirajane stopped what she was doing and glared at him with a willful expression.
"Is there a problem? Of course there's a problem!" He didn't care about her expression at the moment and loudly said, "You know, to maintain materialized objects, my magic is constantly being consumed. It's fine for temporary use, but if I materialize a tent to sleep in, by tomorrow, my magic won't have recovered; instead, it will all be completely depleted."
"Keep your voice down, I can hear you." She paid no attention to his explanation, lowering her head and continuing to process the ingredients. "With me here, you don't need to fight. What do you need so much magic for? Why not use magic at night to make us more comfortable, and let your magic recover during the day?"
"Since you've already decided to stay in the forest overnight, why didn't you bring a tent?" Statiw asked, feeling a bit speechless.
Hearing his question, Mirajane looked up at the sky, placed a finger on her chin, and after thinking for a long time, answered word by word, "Usually, Elfman carries all those things when we're on missions. He isn't here this time, so I forgot. And why didn't you remind me?"
Alright, Statiw immediately understood her situation after hearing her answer. Then he felt a bit awkward, as he hadn't thought about it himself until she brought up the tent. So, he reluctantly agreed, "Okay, but my magic doesn't have a painting of a tent, so it'll take a while to materialize one."
With that, Statiw took out his drawing board and began to draw a tent under the light of the campfire.
Time passed minute by minute. Soon, Mirajane had finished processing all the ingredients and began cooking, humming a song. In just a short while, the aroma from the pot gradually grew richer. Statiw, who was drawing, smelled the rich aroma of meat, wild vegetables, and mushrooms mixed together. His mouth began to water, and his stomach started to rumble.
Mirajane, who was cooking, suddenly heard his stomach rumble and looked over in surprise. Seeing him constantly swallowing, she burst out laughing, pointing at him without any mercy.
Hearing her laughter and realizing his undignified state had been discovered, Statiw immediately retorted, looking flustered, "What's so funny? What's there to laugh about? Who isn't like this when they're hungry?"
Despite his strong protests, Mirajane just waved her hand and said with an uncontrollable smile, "Alright, alright, you don't need to explain anymore. The food is ready, hurry up and eat."
Seeing her expression, Statiw knew that no matter how much he explained, it would be useless. He could only angrily put the drawing board aside, take the wild vegetable, mushroom, and meat soup she handed him, and gently sip it. Immediately, an aroma several times richer than the fragrant smell stimulated his taste buds, making him completely disregard his image and chew and swallow the food in the bowl in large mouthfuls.
"How is it? Doesn't it taste good?" Mirajane felt exceptionally pleased watching him gobble down the food she had cooked.
"It's great, absolutely great. Honestly, this is the first time I've eaten something so delicious." Statiw finished the food in his bowl in a few bites, still not satisfied. He picked up the spoon, ladled another bowl, and continued to chew and swallow. As he ate bowl after bowl, her mood also became better and better.
After eating, Statiw picked up the drawing board and completed the tent drawing with a few final strokes. Immediately, in the next second, a small tent appeared next to the campfire.
"Hey, why is this tent so small?" At this moment, Mirajane, who was sitting by the campfire feeling a bit bored, saw that he had materialized the tent. She walked over, circled the tent, and then asked in great dissatisfaction.
Statiw immediately rolled his eyes and said, "Be content. The larger the materialized object, the more magic I consume to maintain it. You don't want my magic to be depleted before dawn, do you? Besides, as long as you don't roll around in your sleep, this tent is enough for one person to rest in; there's no issue with its size."