46. Before the Bath

46. Before the Bath

Her Cook profession finally saw some decent progress. There were enough ingredients in the Guild’s pantry to whip up some interesting dishes. The large rooms stockpiled with sacks of vegetables and an iron, cold storage rooms housing frozen meat was a surprise to see.

Much like how certain stones were able to produce fire, these storage rooms were lined with Ice Stones. These continually cooled the surrounding environment, but upon closer inspection with Appraise Object – she realized that it instead absorbed heat from the surroundings.

“... This isn’t a technology, is it? Is the Warped Stone something similar to these?” Frost asked no one in particular. Curious eyes would always befall her whenever she spoke like this. Frost played it off like she was just speaking out her thoughts to avoid suspicion of being... well, insane.

“It is a natural mineral. Hardly a technology. And please do not mistake the Warped Stone as any ordinary stone.”

“Back on Earth you’d have to use certain gases and thermodynamic shenanigans to get a refrigerator working. Here you can call something that does all that a ‘mineral’. Haaah. Nav, want me to describe the vegetables for you?”

“I’d like it if you could allow me to see what you see.”

Frost picked out various ingredients alongside Jury and the ex-broods as she mentally described everything she touched, while at the same time appraising them for some free levels.

Jury, being primarily a carnivore for most of her life, picked out racks of meat and hoisted them above her shoulders proudly. The broods each picked out whatever ingredient seemed to interest them, like the Bee-woman choosing sweet fruits, and the dog-girl also pouncing on the meat.

As for the feline ones – they were equally as disappointed that there weren’t any fish as they were afraid of a certain vegetable. Cucumbers. Frost never really understood why cats were afraid of them. And neither did these people. It was just another one of the mysteries in life.

That being said –

They hauled the goods back to an extravagant kitchen and began to cook. Hellen was rather skillful in the kitchen being a housewife, as was Calfasio to her surprise. The man used to cook for his daughter and wife, and just the mere mention of it fired him up.

In the meantime, the broods did all the prep work as Jury became their dedicated taste tester.

“It’s good!” Jury said after munching on a sweet boar-meat cube.Alll latest novels at novelhall.com~! It’s good!” She said again after slurping a spoonful of stew Frost whipped up.

“Tasty!” She exclaimed, taking a bite from a shredded beef sandwich.

“... N-Not bad. But I don’t want to waste anything you make so...” The only thing that Jury despised was the salad.

At least with these people.

Furio only sealed his eyes and exhaled a near flaming puff of air.

“Then that’s it then. Calfasio.” He surrendered, but Frost could tell how underwhelmed he was with her answer.

“Yes!?”

“Follow me. The women want to bathe. I understand you’re pathetically weak, but I don’t think you’re weak enough to be harmless to a naked woman.” He began walking away in the presumed direction of the baths.

“L-Listen to me! I have a wife dammit!” The man yelled.

The two eventually disappeared behind a pair of gold-tinted doors at the other side of the hall.

“Nnnnghhh~! Whaddaya say about takin’ a bath now?” The cat-eared brood spoke euphorically as they stretched their arms out, shattering the silence before it could persist.

“Oh~ Shall we head in then? I’ve checked them and the waters are still hot. The heated stones are quite useful.” Hellen hummed.

“A bath... finally. We can clean off all this dirt.” Alice sounded excited. The younger ones did enjoy playing in water. The young girl suddenly ran towards Jury and clutched onto her hand.

“Mmm? Hello?”

“Let’s go Jury! Let’s go see the hot water baths!”

It seemed like Jury made a friend. How fitting of it to be a child as well. Jury momentarily looked upon Frost as if asking for permission to be dragged away by the little creature. Frost only needed to smile before they scurried towards the golden doors.

Still a child at heart, huh.

For some reason, Frost did not see the grown back of a woman, but rather the back of the child-like Jury from the first time they met. It had been more than a month since the tribulations they faced in the Black Forest. And hardly over a week in reality thanks to how time was distorted in that place.

This would be the very first time they’d have the luxury to relax. To just... lay back and rinse off the burdens and filth. Frost subconsciously looked forward to it because of this. The other part of her was more interested in what laid underneath her clothes.

And she couldn’t believe she was more than 50 days late to this.