"Well that was a rather enjoyable walk." I quip as we both make it to the top of the mountain, the both of us panting while covered in sweat but enjoying every moment of it.
"Just shut up and make dinner loser." Merleona retorts as I roll my eyes at her, "sure thing your majesty, but can you set up the tent while I cook?" I ask, sarcasm clear in my voice as I reach into my magic bag and toss her the equipment.
"I never really needed a tent, I prefer to sleep under the stars." She tells me as I smirk at her, "well there's no need to worry, the tent is quite easy to build. In the meantime…I think I'll make ramen with a hot spring egg to go with it." I declare as I pull out my ingredients, with the eggs being in a basket, the eggs cold to the touch from the ice magic used to keep them fresh.
(Hot spring eggs are eggs commonly cooked using the water of a hot spring, and has a custard like feel to them, they taste real good and I recommend having with ramen-thelostswordsman)
"Okay first let's put the eggs into the hot spring water." I mutter to myself as I gently place them inside the water to cook, while using a bit of earth magic to manipulate the ground to make a nook to put the eggs in before grabbing a big pot and using water magic fill the pot with water while using fire magic to make the water boil before adding magic boar bones to make a pork bone broth.
And while making the noodles I purposely set myself in front of Merleona who was struggling to get the frame together, "godammit this has to be some kind of torture method!!" She roars, her body erupting into flames in an attempt to set the bloody thing on fire.
"You're doing it wrong." I tell her as I pull out the eggs and placing them in an empty bowl before walking over to her, " you need to hammer the biggest pole into the ground, just a few inches, that's the support pillar." I explain to her before demonstrating to her, "then you hammer the two slightly smaller poles into the ground the same way, after that you place the canvas over the poles and hammer the stakes into the ground to prevent the canvas from flying away, then finally place a tarp inside the tent and stake them down with the smaller stakes, then you're done." I tell her as I step away and look at the handiwork.
It was a bigger sized military canvas tent, needing a center pole to keep the center from collapsing in on itself, but it's practical despite costing me a pretty yul.
(Image here)
"And that's how you set up a tent, now then… can you pound the noodle dough for me while I finish making the broth?" I ask Merleona, pointing to a cutting board with a big round ball of noodle dough, and with a bit of hesitation she begins punching the dough without using mana, and after half an hour of pounding I cut the noodles and placed them inside a separate pot of boiling water making sure to cook them just enough to make them springy without overcooking them.
And as soon as the noodles were perfect I pulled them out of the water and placed with in two bowls with the peeled hot spring eggs(courtesy of Merleona) in one side of the bowl before scooping the now perfect broth into the bowl, and with that dinner was ready.
"Alright let's eat!!" I hear Merleona say as she reaches for a fork while I pull my chopsticks out of my magic bag and begin slurping down my noodles with grace.
"Mmmm this is good!!" I hear Merleona declare , "what is this?" She asks as she takes a bite of one of the eggs halves as I place my chopsticks aside, "this is ramen, one of the dishes from the land of the sun, usually enjoyed hot, and can sometimes has a hot spring egg added as a side dish." I explain to her as she takes one of my egg halves, "also stop taking my food." I tell her as she smiles.
"So…are you originally from the land of the sun? Your family I mean." She asks after she finishes her meal, looking at me with the curiosity of a cat as I think about her question, "no…I learned of this recipe from my family library while studying about the world." I explain simply, taking some time to slurp up more noodles, "my father was a bit of a scholar." I tell her as I finish the last of my noodles and finish the broth before putting the bowl down.
"My father died before I was born, but my mother told me that he was a kind soul, but if needed he would raze entire kingdoms to the ground if he were crossed." I say continuing my explanation of my family, unknowingly drawing upon the memories of castlevania's alucard, the memories of his mother burning at the stake because of humans, and his father bringing hell upon the world in an act of vengeance, only sparing Isaac who was treated like a slave and punished for wanting to learn.
(Wait should my alucard who is a fusion of the hellsing and castlevania alucard also be able to draw out their memories?)
I look over at Merleona who gave me a thoughtful expression on her face before responding, "your father sounds like a good father, im kind of jealous." She remarks as I realize she misunderstood what I told her, but ultimately decided against correcting her.
"Your father still loves you and your siblings, he just needs to remember his love for his family, and only then cam he mover forward." I tell her, trying to be encouraging to her, which seemed to have worked as she smiles with a small blush as she gives me a light punch on my shoulder, "yeah, you might be right."
"All things heal with time." I tell her as I stand up, "now then…let's take a bath and go to sleep, you can take the first dip, I'll wash dishes." I tell her as she just nods and pulls out a change of clothes, "don't look." Was all she said as I turn my attention to washing the dishes with water magic, ignoring the sound of clothes coming off, I could hear her give a satisfied moan as she washes up, "hey im gonna be a minute! You can rest in the tent in the meantime." She shouts as I finish washing the dishes and head to the tent and set up my sleeping bag.
-30 minutes later-
I was laying on my sleeping bag enjoying the stars as I hear footsteps and Merleona walks in, "okay it's your turn, and I'd suggest taking your time in the water, the water has great restorative properties." She tell me before she yawns and pulls out a bunch of blankets and a fancy pillow, placing them next to mine before laying down.
"Then I'll take my time, you go ahead and sleep." I tell her as I strip down to my skivvies and plunge into the water, giving off the same moan as Merleona made, enjoying every moment, taking my time soaking, and after 30 minutes later I change into my pajamas and enter my sleeping bag.
I look over and see Merleona with me eyes closed, and I chuckle at how innocent she looks sleeping, "goodnight…Merleona." I say to her as I close my eyes and I fall asleep.
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Well folks I hope my pacing In this story is good.
But besides that I'll see you next week, peace😁✌️