When Shika told me she'd take care of the food, I thought she'd make something more like an Iceborns' liking. However, I was completely dumbfounded when I saw a hotpot (Nabe*) prepared on the dining table—glistening with sparkles and looking unimaginably rich. The thin-sliced meat floating in the hot broth served with mushrooms made it excitedly delicious. I could feel the aroma tingling my nose and my tongue was desperately eager—holding me back from drooling.
Besides, the extra meat that I gave her, was grilled magnificently—atop soya sauce nonetheless. It appeared unimaginably tender as well.
This was enough to beat any fine cuisine I'd tasted until now. I wondered how she managed to end up making all this stuff—was she programmed like this?
"I don't know what exactly happened to me. But when I started cooking, everything I did seemed an instinct. As if I knew tons of recipes and knew what exactly to make with the given ingredients. Top of that, there were additional cooking materials on the… umm the place you called kitchen or so, and it was surprising how I knew how to use them properly."
She said, seeming a bit surprised at her skills. By the way, when I was giving Zariel a tour of this house, she turned back to her usual appearance.
"Well, that explains why there's soya sauce." I mumbled, taking a small portion to eat, "Perhaps the built-in functions of this house had influenced you to prepare everything like a Japanese."
"Is that so? Wait, does that mean the food isn't to your liking? I'm sorry! I thought…"
"No, no! That's not what I meant. It's totally to my liking. I was just surprised to see all of the familiar stuff. That's all."
"Hump! Who cares what influenced Shika to make all of these." Then Zariel interjected, leaving me no time to apologize to Shika. "The food looks amiably delicious! That matters alone, nothing else. Now if you excuse me…"
She just started eating in the bowl that was given to her. Funny, it was bigger than her size, yet, surprising how she was able to eat all of that in one go. And I was like, 'Come on dude! How did the food manage to fit in?'
It was inappropriate to ask, though. I minded my own business and started to dig in as well, murmuring 'Let's enjoy!' —which was my habit, by the way. Seeing me enjoy the food, Shika felt somewhat happy as she started to eat as well.
I knew it was a game, yet the taste of the delicacy was too real to be practically fake. Even my taste buds reacted like I was eating real, delicious food. The realism of this world was honestly beyond anything I could understand.
*****
It was improper for me to start discussing a topic which wasn't meant to talk about over dinner. But it was something that I needed to do anyway. It was regarding the retrieval of the fragment of Frost Daiken from the Nora Clan.
Yeah, while I indulged in buying a house and enjoying meals similar to my previous world, I didn't forget my actual goals in twelfth heaven. We were here to defeat the Nora clan and retrieve the fragment of the Frost Daiken.
"If we fight as a team, then we may have to face the top warriors of the Nora Clan all at once." Shika started explaining while eating like an elegant and well-mannered woman—unlike a certain Seraphyll who lacked somewhat proper adequate, but, I guess, that wasn't what I needed to think over right now, so I listened to what Shika continued.
"But if we want to prevent that from happening, we may face the leader one-on-one. I'm confident, he's stronger than my father."
"In both situations, we have a dead end, I see… what about sneaking in like a thief?"
'I know, I know. It's a bit cowardly. But hey, none of us were strong enough to defeat the leader one-on-one, nor we can afford to handle them in an all-out battle. We have to do something else.' I thought. But then Zariel said something that changed the situation.
"Can't do that either. The Nora clan guarding the Shrine is located on the east end of the central city—just on the polar side of the King's Palace. It includes the shrine within the barrier, preventing the citizens and people like Zanthrix from doing something inappropriate."
Was it me or did she seem serious whenever she called me Zanthrix instead of Zan?
In any case, what she said was unavoidably true. The Shrine was within the safe zone, and players like me couldn't do anything unless…
'A sub-quest?'
The thought was natural. If there was something that we needed to take care of within the safe zone, there had to be a sub-quest or even a main-quest provided by the NPC.
'Well, if that's the case, it changes the way we need to act accordingly.' I thought, raising an eyebrow. 'Seriously though, how the heck did she know all the details!!'
I took a deep breath, getting my usual calm demeanor back as the two of them stared at me.
"Okay then. As we don't know about' the right way to raid the Shrine properly, we have to follow a universal strategy—the one that will help us even if the situation changes."
They nodded and I continued explaining the details.
*****
"Ah…!! So warm and relaxing." I exclaimed with satisfaction as I sank my body into the open-air bathe. It was far more real than the IRL. "I wonder how the developers even manage to come up with the ideas! They sure know how to stimulate our senses."
I felt the water soothing my body, giving me pleasure I wasn't used to and I continued talking to myself.
"Come to think of Shika is an Iceborn. Did she have trouble in this warm water while bathing with Zariel when I deliberately left behind to clean off the dishes? She was radiating though—when I saw her after their bathe. This must've been quite effective even on an Iceborn such as herself. Zariel on the other hand… Nah! She looked as she always did."
It made me remember what Zariel told me before dinner—yeah, the peeking and stuff. Not like I had any ulterior intentions though. It was just a thought—perhaps instinctual.
'How does an elegant and beautiful woman look like while bathing?'
However, my thoughts soon bent towards what seemingly was a priority to me. The Dynastic Singularity Quest. 'Is it a successive main quest or a hidden quest made of sub-quests collectively?'
That aside, I remembered her saying that she'd already achieved one of the 'Major Chronicle Events', leading her to acquire the title 'Conqueror'—the title which was being obtained by only six players currently among the 120M+ DAU (daily active users).
"That's crazy!" I murmured in astonishment, "She's something else, isn't she? Like I said, she's practically the 'Goddess of ADC'. Besides, her I.A. was out of everyone's comprehension too. It was 99.8 or 99.7, I guess. If the Dynastic Singularity Quest happens to be part of the 'Major Chronicle Event', I may—though uncertain—get recognized as one of the conquerors too..."