Chapter XLIV: A God? A Fallen Angel? An Elf? (9)

Previously

If Ivanka was a lesser woman, she would have shivered from the poisonous tone from the innocent-looking boy. She thought, after the weeks he would have forgotten and forgiven since that was the impression he gave but it appeared that he was doing nothing but repress his anger. Now that he had heard from her how it wasn’t impossible to perhaps kill his enemy, he had taken on a new mask of revenge. 

Ivanka was at a crossroad. On one hand, she wanted to tell him to give up on his path of vengeance since she was almost 90% sure he would never be able to so much as leave a dent on her accursed sister. On the other hand, she wanted to see the outcome, a curiosity—-a bad habit of hers she thought she had gotten rid of. 

Her sister did destroy a portion of her forest and Ivanka had never gotten over how the Demon God left her alone and sealed in the moon millennia ago, not to mention how she basically just dumped and left Willow to her.  She just wanted a little retribution, that's all. 

“Very well then. We’ll start first thing in the morning,” Ivanka said and turned around, heading towards her house. She didn’t see the look on the boy’s face but she knew how excited he was from the joyful skip in his steps.

The Maiden slaying the Demon God. How interesting. 

Willow’s POV

Surprisingly, Ivanka didn’t know how to cook. I hadn’t been sure if she knew how to cook since they never specified it in the game but after a taste of the horrible, atrocious stew she had made for lunch, I decided that I should be designated cook, at least until our times are over.

Which led to my very proud make-shift barbeque grill I had cooking over a fireplace in front of the house. The moon hung high for the early evening and the stars were beginning to blot the sky but the both of us were currently focusing on the extremely aromatic bbq I had going on right now from the mellow meat of the Deera Ivanka had killed—spitroasted and doused in multiple herbs along with a glazing of my special sauce.

I checked Ivanka’s face and while it might still be stone-cold, I was beginning to see traces of drool slipping by her lips. “You don’t have to salivate. It’ll be done in a couple minutes.”

“Salivate?” Ivanka asked, noticing the running drool and in a split second, wiped it off. “Who’s salivating?”

I let out a giggle. She could be cute like that sometimes. The game really didn’t do justice in fleshing out her character. I focused back on the sweet-smelling meat. “This wouldn’t have been possible if I didn’t find out about your little trove of herbs.”

“I wasn’t hiding anything,” Ivanka said, stoically.

“Yeah, but no one puts a whole mountain of herbs and spices in a little compartment hidden away in a subspace,” I said. “I guess I can understand if you just wanted it to be frozen in time for it’s freshness but something tells me you don’t really care much about the palate.”

Ivanka snorted at that. “My food wasn’t lacking in flavor.”

“You could have given a pig that abomination which calls itself a meat stew and the pig would have ascended to heaven faster than you can say the word ‘pig’,” I rolled my eyes. Wasn’t lacking in flavor, my ass. “Please don’t make food again. I’ll take care of that.”

“Do what you wish,” Ivanka said, sounding like a six year old girl throwing a tantrum. She turned her head back when the fire licked the edges of the roast, sparking our noses with the smell of honey-glazed meat. “Is the food ready yet?”

“No,” I said, seeing her disappointment. “Be patient, you big troll.”

She turned her head and scoffed. “When I make the food, it only takes no less than 10 breaths of time to finish.”

“Well, that’s because you just burn everything to a crisp with that fire of yours,” I retorted. “I don’t think I’ve seen a meal coming out of your hands any color other than black.”

Ivanka tried to come up with a rebuttal but I wasn’t in the mood for an argument. Luckily the bbq saved me since it was finally finished, morphing from the previous color of red to a delicate golden brown which smelled absolutely amazing. “It’s done!”

“Perfect!” Ivanka said as she grabbed an iron rod worth of honey-glazed meat but stopped herself just short of biting into it. Placing her hand in her Storage, she took out a bottle of wine and some glasses, one of which she gave to me. 

“I don’t think I can. ,” I stopped myself. Technically, I was already over the age of consent in this world and that means that I was allowed to drink. Well not like most people cared about the age of consent in a world where shit can be turned into gold.

“Please,” I held onto the glass cup and watched in fascination as the wine poured into my cup turned from red to scarlet gold.

“A little vino an old friend of mine brewed for me,” She looked at the vineyard symbol/insignia on the wine bottle and smiled in reminiscence. “It’ll go perfect with this meal.” She bit off a chunk of meat from her spit roast rod and finished it with a mouthful of wine.

A satisfied sigh came out of her lips as she closed her eyes. “Perfect.” Was it just me or did she just say that with an extremely erotic accent? It sounded like a mix between Italian and Greek at the same time. 

But that wasn’t important right now. What’s important is the extremely delicious-looking satay in my hands. Taking a quick sniff, my nostrils tingled from the spicy, tickling herbs I had infused into the meat. 

A bite later and it worked just as intended. The meat had been cooked medium-rare which allowed the perfect blend of natural oiliness and herb-glazed juices to spill out into your mouth, before the honey came out of its core, mixing everything together into a heavenly taste that far surpassed the honey fried chicken or korean bbq I ate back in my previous world. The Deera’s otherworldly meat and richness in mana must be the cause for the satisfying sensation that stays in your mouth after swallowing it. 

A swig of Ivanka’s wine and my taste buds nearly exploded. Just as she’d said, the wine was perfect for the roasted meat since it enhanced the smokiness of the honey-glazed roast, leaving a popping aftertaste in your mouth before washing your palate with it’s somewhat sweet and bitter aftertaste. Oh how absolutely divine. 

By the time I was on my third rod and Ivanka on her tenth, the stars had aligned perfectly in the curtain of darkness above and since there was no light pollution in this world, one could even see the ocean of colors stretching across the night sky. The silence of the night, coupled with the sizzling of the meat and roaring of the flames only added to the feeling of serenity I felt at the moment. 

It was times like these that made me glad that I was reborn into the world. Times like these that made me forget all about the future, inevitable challenges I would have to overcome. 

A gasp of satisfaction from biting onto the juicy meat and a godly glass of wine in one hand, I felt like tonight would be a night that I wouldn’t ever forget. 

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