First, add venison, wild vegetables, two spoonfuls of flour, and seasonings like pepper into the iron pot, and a pot of fragrant venison stew was ready. Laine and the female sorcerer sat across from each other, enjoying the delicious stew. The Kingdom knight took out a large spoon and a small bowl, filled it up, and offered it to Teresa first: "Ladies first."
The female sorcerer accepted it without hesitation, tasted a spoonful, and nodded: "Your cooking skills are indeed excellent. Being able to travel with you at least means I don't have to endure those disgusting and inferior foods anymore."
Laine paused his actions, looking at Teresa's beautiful face under the moonlight, examining her silver eyes through her black-framed glasses with purple butterfly patterns, and suddenly laughed: "There aren't many Kingdom knights with my cooking skills, at least in Nord, there's only one like me, no more."
"...Would you like some bread?" Teresa took out an iron box, which contained several pieces of black bread. They looked like the kind the mercenaries outside would eat. However, Laine knew that the female sorcerer couldn't possibly eat ordinary black bread.
The most common, basic, and also the lowest-grade food on the Continent was black bread. But this wasn't the black bread Laine saw in stores on Earth. This black, strip-shaped stuff was made from parts of wheat, ground bran, germ, tunic, and a little endosperm, and even some wood shavings and dirt. If left out a bit longer after baking, these black loaves would become as hard as stone, biting into them would definitely break your teeth. The correct method was to put them in hot water to cook, then eat soaked. Of course, what's most disgusting is that some black bread has a high proportion of dirt and wood shavings mixed in, and many dirty things got in. Plus, since yeast was precious, most black bread was fermented with saber-toothed tiger excrement. Just a little of this dung from the beasts roaming the Northern Territory for many years was enough to make a large batch of black bread.
There was once such a story: a thief sneaked into a farmer's house and was knocked out by the panicked housewife with a black loaf, leaving blood all over the place.
Laine hadn't had much experience eating black bread either. At home, he mostly ate rye bread baked by the servants, which didn't include wood shavings, dirt, or excrement in the making process, and was made by mixing rye flour and wheat flour, with the servants adding a spoonful of sugar and a few spoonfuls of butter as well as some curd, making it quite palatable.
But compared to the kind of black bread Teresa had in her hand, it was nothing.
The black bread in Teresa's hand was made with Gala Black Bread, using the sweetest cane syrup imported from Brittania and premium wheat flour imported from the Lusen Great Plain near the capital Brunswick. The few pieces of black bread in Teresa's hand were worth more than fifty silver coins; this bread was soft and delicious, ready to eat without needing anything else.
"If it weren't for the battle this afternoon, I almost would've thought we're here for a picnic, my lady," Laine said helplessly, spearing the venison steak in his bowl with a fork, eating the meat, and spitting the bones aside.
"I'll leave it here; take some if you want." The female sorcerer felt a bit embarrassed now, "This is my first time going out alone, so I'm afraid I wouldn't get used to the food outside, so I brought a little for myself."
"Keep it for later. In the wild, eat fresh whenever you can, only consider eating dry food if there's nothing else." Laine waved off the offer, taking the roasted venison leg from the rack beside him: "Want some roast venison?"
"Sure," the female sorcerer didn't refuse, as she was confident in Laine's cooking skills.
As expected, the venison had none of the imagined gamey taste, the delicious and tender venison flavor spread across her tongue, the crispy exterior and tender interior left the female sorcerer satisfied, closing her eyes peacefully: "Not bad."
"As long as it's delicious," Laine nodded. After Teresa ate a bit more and indicated she was full, he quickly finished off the remaining food.
"Time is tight; I'm no different from an ordinary person now. Let's quickly gather everyone for a meeting," Teresa took the initiative to say, "We've already wasted too much time."
"Oh? I thought you hated being around stinky men with a bloody smell the most?" Laine said deliberately when he saw the generally clean female sorcerer taking the initiative to invite.
"Don't think I can't tell that there's a strange energy swirling around you, so there won't be any odor... As for others, just sit a little farther," Teresa lifted the tent's curtain, intending to change her clothes.
What she didn't say was the light blue energy surrounding Laine was very clear and pure, making her feel incredibly comfortable, so she also wanted to communicate with him more.
"The current weather doesn't allow it, otherwise, I would think of a way to get you some hot water for a bath. After all, you can't just jump into the ice river like me to bathe," Laine nodded, "I'll go gather everyone first."
"Okay," the tent flap was put down.
Laine first headed to where everyone had camped, gathering the members of the Mercenary Corps for a meeting. Captain Boris was gravely injured; he forcibly confronted the Beastman Leader a few times without sufficient strength, resulting in damaged meridians in both hands and several life-threatening wounds on his body.