276: Steak
Heading back into the main room, I saw that someone had already started a fire, which Crisplet quickly moved towards, followed closely by Lily, who flopped to the ground next to it.
“Milo, could you make me a stone oven by chance? I’ll need it for dessert,” I asked.
He didn’t question, just started to form a stone oven that sat right next to the fire itself, and surprisingly, it was the perfect size for the sticky rolls.
I didn’t waste any time; usually, a sweet roll took longer to rise than regular ones, so I needed to give myself a couple of hours for that.
I also took out some fresh lemon tea grass and started to dry that in the oven as well, using bowyer blend for the smoke in this case.
I noticed that Clacks was watching us intently as we cooked. As a little tester, and because I knew I would need to feed Clacks at least once before I served dinner properly, I pulled out one of the smallest river fish Lily had collected and added it to the oven to smoke with the tea. This would let me know if Clacks was fine with cooked fish or not, at the very least.
With that all on, I took out the tenderloin cut from the spikeback, placing it on the stone table that Milo had made for me, noticing it barely fit, with the tail end of it going off the edge.
I started to cut across the grain into thick steaks. I had a couple of smaller ones, and when it got to the tail end, I hit them out to make them a similar size. Something I noticed while cutting it, however, was it felt incredibly soft, which was unexpected from a creature that looked as monstrous as it did.
When the steaks were all cut, I then pulled out the bacon, going with the titan boar bacon for two reasons. Firstly, I really didn’t want to waste the drakon, but also the titan boar had an earthier flavour I felt would complement the garlic grass butter sauce I was going to add to this.
Finally, I pulled out four little river fish. Two of them I gutted and cleaned, then adding some small slices in the skin, I rubbed in some fire salt and pepper, before deciding to try something where I wrapped the fish in lemon tea grass so it was in a neat wrapper.
Importantly, I was not going to infuse Clacks’ dish, and truthfully, it was just because at this stage I wasn’t sure if that would be fine or not. She was very young and I don’t know about monsters, their own system, and how much mana they can handle.
It would be something I look into in Elarith Vale.
Looking over, I saw the first fish test was ready as Crisplet was floating it out of the oven himself.
“Let it cool down before you give it to Clacks,” I said.
But Crisplet just let off a burst of sparks as he slowly approached the nest.
Clacks, who had been watching intently, let out several chirps as Crisplet put it down on the edge of her nest.
A couple more chirps were let out, then she appeared to sit next to it, just waiting.
This absolutely confirmed to me either she understood or, at the very least, Crisplet could communicate with her; there was no chance that was random.
While Clacks waited for her meal to cool, I moved on to finishing dinner.
First, I finished preparing the sweet rolls, getting essentially a thin stone box from Milo with an open top that I laid them all out in, adding a caramel sugar and butter mixture between the gaps.
“Looks like cooked is fine,” Liane said from behind me.
I turned around in time to see Clacks tearing the fish to shreds, having absolutely no issues eating it, but she was certainly messy with it, as she got little bits of fish all over her feathers.
Happy with that, I put the bacon-wrapped steaks on the grill Crisplet made, while pulling out a large pan and adding in a large chunk of butter, melting it down, before adding the finely chopped garlic grass.
When they were nearly done, I put the fish wraps on the edge of the oven to gently cook.
From the corner of my vision, I spotted Gilain pulling out a piece of his horrible-looking jerky.
“Stop!” I said far louder than I expected.
He froze in his place and I quickly realised everyone thought something was wrong, as all eyes turned to me, even Lily, so I quickly followed up,
“No jerky tonight. I have a special meal, put it away.”
This caused Lily to let out a sigh, as Liane was the first to laugh.
“I thought he actually had done something!” Liane said.
To finish the steaks off, I used the oven as I pulled the rolls out to start cooling down. I had made them rather thick, so I was worried if I didn’t use the oven to finish them off, I’d burn the bacon.
I also set aside Clacks’ meal to cool down slightly as well, still wrapped in the lemon tea grass.
Finally though, I was ready to serve. I had the sauce ready, and the steaks were all cooked so they were soft to touch, and still pink in the middle.
The bacon around the side had crisped up in the oven as well.
Getting ten plates from Milo, with Lily’s being extra large, and Clacks’ being a tiny one, I quickly infused everything. Then, on each plate, I put a steak, with Lily getting the most. I unwrapped the fish for Clacks and was immediately hit with the lemon citrus smell. For Crisplet, I had a surprise, pulling out one of the Ember cores I got from Katherine and placing one on a plate. To top it all off, I added the garlic grass and butter sauce, even adding a little bit to Clacks’ fish.
The only thing left was the lemon tea grass I had prepared for everyone, so I poured out several Lemon Teas.
I had considered including the merchants in the meal, but we had never got close to them on this journey, and they seemed content to be sitting outside the house right now, apparently setting up a mini shop outside.
Plus, they still kept talking about last night.
Handing everyone their plate, I got a huge burst of sparks when Crisplet realised he had one as well. I noticed that Milo had made a finger-sized little cup that he added a dash of lemon tea to for Clacks to enjoy with her mini-plate. She let out a happy chirp before ruthlessly shredding her fish.
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Lily was eating surprisingly slowly; her first steak went instantly, but her second and third still sat on the plate, where she took a tiny bite of the second.
“This is great!” Gilain said between mouthfuls.
Looking around, I was just happy to see that everyone was enjoying their meal, so I could finally dive into my own. The taste was interesting.
The titan boar bacon had an earthiness to it, while the spikeback steak had a gamey flavour. It was still incredibly juicy and practically melted in the mouth. Its flavour was only just noticeable over the garlic butter sauce, however, which seemed to elevate the flavour.
The lemon tea worked as a really subtle palate cleanser.
“How’s the fish?” I asked Clacks.
She let out a very loud chirp, while flapping her wings.
It was only then that I realised I had infused her food as well, as panic took over.
“Are you feeling okay?” I checked again.
Internally kicking myself for being careless, but Clacks just let out a chirp, looking up at me confused.
“The buffs are not causing any issues?” I asked.
Another chirp, and she just went back to eating.
“Monsters generally have a better tolerance, Trev. I wouldn’t go overboard, but they are naturally designed to consume creatures with higher mana,” Milo explained.
I pulled up the stats just to have a look.
[Uncommon] Lemon Infused River Pip
+1 Wisdom
+1 Intelligence
Fire Immunity
Minor Speed Increase
It didn’t seem too bad. The speed increase was coming from the lemon tea grass, but the fish themselves being common kept things low. The steak, on the other hand...
[Rare] Bacon wrapped Spikeback Tenderloin
+7 Willpower
+6 Strength
+11 Endurance
Scaled Skin
Fire Immunity
I had forgotten just how potent that bacon was with its eleven endurance.
I was startled from my status screen.
“Woah! I didn’t know you had abilities too!” Gilain practically yelled.
I saw his arm turning to scales, as he was staring at it like it was the first arm he’d ever seen.
“And moderate speed as well?” He added.
He looked up, realising everyone in the room was staring at him, before, for the first time since meeting him, he looked to almost be embarrassed.
“Uh, sorry, stats are nice, but unless it’s percentage based at my level, it’s just not overly impactful, but abilities are a different matter altogether,” Gilain said quietly now.
“I suppose now’s a good time to ask, are you going to come with me after Elarith Vale without issue?” Luis asked.
He had a smirk that told me he already knew the answer, and with Gilain’s immediate hesitation, I realised there was no chance Gilain planned on following Luis.
“Well, now seems like a good time to bring it up, I guess. I took an oath not to say anything of what I learned till Elarith Vale. What say we amend that, and I take an oath to not mention what I have learned at all, provided I can continue to travel with your party for now?” Gilain asked, looking to Hari.
He quickly added, “It won’t be permanent; when you’re next in the capital I will leave and deal with the diplomatic trouble the prince wants me to deal with.”
Before I could answer, Hari already spoke up, “I’ll have to speak with just my party privately after dinner before any decision is made.”
“I understand,” Gilain said.
Next, I pulled the rolls out of the tray, giving everyone except Crisplet Clacks and Lily one. Surprisingly, Lily was still eating her third steak, which might have been the slowest I had ever seen her eat.
“Is everything alright, Lily? You’re eating slower than normal,” I asked.
She looked at Crisplet, who let off a burst of sparks, indicating yes.
It was Milo who seemed to get it right, though, “It’s possible that the ability you have also makes those meals much more filling as well as nourishing, as it mentioned.”
Crisplet let off another burst of sparks to confirm it.
“Oh, do you want smaller meals then?” I asked concerned; I didn’t want her to force herself.
There was an immediate single ember that hit me right in the head, as she took the last of her third steak in her mouth.
I couldn’t help but laugh at that while I finished handing out the sticky buns to everyone.
“Alright, continue with the big meals, you got it,” I said through my laughter.
Though I wondered what exactly was happening—did it increase the potency of the mana? how did someone nourish a cat as powerful as Lily? and would it work on Sylverith or the gods? I had a lot of questions.
When everyone had finished their dessert, and Lily had fallen asleep next to the fire, Gilain and Luis went outside to train, leaving us to have our discussion. We were immediately surrounded by the pocket of air, which earned a chirp from Clacks.
Hari began, looking directly at Liane, “Before you immediately say no, I think it’s important to consider this, or more importantly, the oath he’s willing to take.”
Milo nodded, but I just listened as Hari went on.
“He’s offered an oath not to say anything at all regarding you. Right now, as it stands, he could get around his current oath by learning about your abilities after the journey to Elarith Vale through other sources, knowing what to look for, though I don’t know he will,” Hari said.
Milo was in agreement, “It seems he wishes to join for the same reason others are orbiting you at the moment, Trevor: it’s something new and chaotic, throwing off the natural order of things, which makes for entertainment to creatures and beings who have been doing the same thing for centuries or millennia.”
“How do we know he won’t try to break the oath somehow?” I asked.
“If we make it as simple as possible, finding a loophole for an oath is very difficult. In this particular case, swearing on his class that he’ll say nothing he has learned about you, or in relation to you, to any outside source, would be likely unbreakable,” Milo said.
“And if he breaks it anyway?” I asked.
“Then the system removes his class; he goes back to base stats, and as the man is many hundreds of years old, I would say time would catch up to him very rapidly and he would quickly pass away, not to mention the soul damage associated with it,” Milo said.
“A death sentence, basically,” Jen added.
Milo nodded again, “Precisely.”
“I still don’t trust him; his people tried to kill Trevor,” Liane said.
“Agreed, I understand that fully, and I’ve had plenty of conversations with him now; I believe that he strongly condemns those actions,” Hari said.
“Personally, I like him; he’s helped me with some cooking. I’ve nearly finished the soup cubes now, but the safety of everyone here is more important to me.” I gestured to everyone.
“If we agree to let him stay, it’ll be important that we stipulate this will only be till we reach the capital again, which won’t be that long as we need to resupply Micca,” Milo said.
There was a pause as everyone seemed to be in thought. I liked Gilain; I thought he got along well with people, and he seemed like a nice person who loved to joke with locals despite his high level. Even when Lily was being hyper-protective, he still made an effort to teach me.
Eventually, it led me to say, “I think I am for him staying, just until the capital, if he makes the oath.”
Liane shook her head, “I’ll go with whatever Trev wants, but just know if he double-crosses us in any way, I want everyone here to agree that Lily should remove him permanently.”
I nodded my head in agreement to that, as did everyone else.
“So do we all agree then?” Hari asked.
There was a ‘yes’ from both Milo and Jen, as well as sparks from Crisplet and a chirp from Clacks.
“We’ll do the oath tonight then, so there’s no chance to send a message between the oath of finishing the trip and the new one. Just to be safe, I’ll get them now and we’ll get it done,” Hari said, standing up.