Having my group fan out to assist where they could, I threw on an apron and started helping Ban cook. Telling me that they were making rice gruel as supplies were tight, I looked at the people in line and knew that wasn’t going to cut it. While the gruel would keep them from going hungry, it wouldn’t be enough to help them recover their strength. Informing Ban that we needed to come up with a different meal option, he looked at me with a frustrated expression.
“If you got another idea, I am open to suggestions.”, Ban remarked, “Meat and vegetables are going towards the military to keep the troops feed well, this is all we got. Unless you got a supply of food in your pockets to feed everyone, just start cooking already.”
“Well it’s a good thing I have deep pockets then.”, I snickered as I pulled a dead Wyvern out of storage, “We were attacked by a flock of them on our way here, and I brought them with me because they are good eating. In addition, I have plenty of vegetables we can use to cook something nice up for everyone.”
“Those are damn big pockets.”, Ban admitted as I set the ingredients out, “So what are we going to make with all of this stuff? I can think of several different meals we could do.”
“I think the best option is stew.”, I answered as I sent Meliodas to get a cauldron.
The reason stew was the best option was because we’d extract the most nutrients that way. Not only that, due to the small meals people were used to having, there was a chance they’d overeat if we tried preparing a normal meal. Not wanting to send more people to the healers, Ban agreed with my suggestion and began to help me prepare the ingredients.
“I can help!”, Meliodas stated as he set down the cauldron, “With the three of us cooking, we can easily feed everyone. What do you want me to do? I can chop up the ingredients, start seasoning the meat, or-”
“Haha…no.”, I told him bluntly, “I know that you are a terrible chef, that is why Ban had to cook food at the Boar Hat. If he didn’t cook, you’d have gone out of business a long time ago. If you want to do something, get a fire started…I doubt you could mess that up.”
Looking to Ban and Elaine for support, both of them nodded their head in agreement. Having taste tested several dishes for him in the past, they were all too aware of his poor culinary skills. In fact, if I remembered correctly, he was banned from his own kitchen by them for nearly killing them with food.
“He’s right Captain, your cooking skills leave a lot to be desired. We can’t even use it for Monster Bait, it’s pretty much Monster Repellent.”, Ban told him honestly, “If you want to help, you could fill the cauldron with water and get a fire going.”
Becoming a Drama Queen, Meliodas acted like we had run him through with a sword and began stumbling backward. Once he was near Elizabeth, he popped his head up her skirt in a single motion. His sudden movement startled Elizabeth, who responded with a very cute shriek. Looking back at him, she asked him if he really needed to do that right now with everyone watching. Telling her he need to recover from a Critical Blow, Ban and I just looked at him with an unimpressed look. Since Meliodas wasn’t going to get the cauldron ready, I stepped in to get things moving.
Using Water Magic to quickly fill the cast iron vessel, I added several seasonings to the water to add flavor. Quickly heating the water to a boil using my Napalm powers, Ban started to add the chopped vegetables along with a few other spices. While he did that, I hurriedly processed the Wyvern and got the blood drained out of the meat. With the meat on the table, my next step was using an Adamantite Knife to dice the meat into equal-sized cubes for even cooking. Tossing the meat into the cauldron once I was done, we ended up with some free time to talk while the food was cooking.
“So I heard your world froze over for some reason, have any idea how that happened?”, I asked them trying to get the ball rolling, “The timeline that I am aware of for your world doesn’t include freezing over like an ice cube.”
“No idea, the weather started to significantly cool one day with no warning. We didn’t think much of it till snow and ice started to cover everything in the middle of summer. Merlin and Mael tried to stop it, but they couldn’t even slow it down.”, Ban replied, “I bet you have an idea of your own?”
“Well that depends…have you had a run-in with a young woman with white hair, bright, emerald green eyes, and a scar on her left cheek?”, I inquired of them, “She’s pretty good with a sword, and very knowledgeable about monsters and how to kill them.”
“You are talking about Ciri, right?”, Elizabeth replied, “Yes we know her, she helped me find Meliodas and then assisted us with liberating Liones from the corrupted Holy Knights. We aren’t sure where she is now though, she left shortly before the celebration began. She swore to come back and have drinks with us one day in the future. Is she in some sort of trouble?”
Nodding my head, I informed them that Ciri was being hunted by a group called the Wild Hunt. Giving them a description of their group, Elaine mentioned that a group that matched their description tore up a portion of the Fairy Forest several months prior to the weather change. Adding onto that, Elizabeth said her father had mentioned reports of specters on horseback matching that description as well. He had chalked them up to villagers seeing things that weren’t there, but now she regretted not pushing the subject with him.
Taking a moment to check the stew, Ban said we were ready to go with serving food. Hurriedly getting bowls laid out so we could fill them, he intended to use a ladle to fill them which I laughed at. Snapping my fingers, I instantly filled the bowls with the stew using magic as I had no intention of drawing this out for hours. Setting the ladle down, he looked at me with a sigh.
“Can you show me how to do that shit? It would come in very handy moving forward.”, Ban asked me.
“If you have the aptitude for magic, I can absolutely show you how to.”, I agreed, “Once we are done here, I can give you a crash course while we-”
Before I finished my sentence, the sound of bells started to ring out to the east of us. Grabbing their weapons before I could ask what was going on, Ban and Meliodas took off running toward the eastern gate. Jumping over the table to run after them, since I assumed it meant the city was under attack, I stopped when I noticed that everyone was starting to panic. Knowing there would be chaos if I just left things as they were, I asked everyone to calm down. When no one bothered to listen to me and began shoving each other to the ground, I dropped a bolt of lightning behind me to get their attention.
Stopping where they were, the refugees turned to look at me with terrified expressions. I understood they were just reacting based on their own experiences, but they were going to kill a large number of people if they didn’t stop shoving each other.
“You are going to kill your friends and family if you don’t calm down, there are elderly and children at your feet that you pushed down onto the roadway. Help them up to their feet, take your meals, and head home at once. As a precaution, I will go to the Southern Gate and help the guards prepare for an attack.”, I told them, “Once you are in your homes, do not come out till we give the all clear.”
“Please do as he says, we don’t want anyone to get harmed on accident.”, Elizabeth pleaded, “We have plenty of food for everyone here, don’t leave empty-handed.”
“Are you really sure you can protect us..?”, one of the men asked me.
“I give you my word that all of you will make it home unscathed by the enemy.”, I replied with a confident tone, “Once everyone has their meal in hand, I will personally escort everyone to their homes then move on to the southern gate.”
Trusting in my words, the refugees hurriedly went through the line to get their food and then followed me to their makeshift homes. Reiterating the need to stay inside with them before leaving each family, I didn’t want anyone caught in the crossfire if we were attacked on the south side. Heading to the southern gate once everyone was in their home, I found the guards frantically trying to shut the gates. Seeing dozens of families still outside the walls, the guards weren’t letting them run inside for shelter.
“DON’T LEAVE OUT HERE!!”, refugees shouted as the guards pushed them back, “THEY WILL KILL US!!”
“I am sorry!!”, the gatekeeper cried, “We can’t risk them getting into the city!!”
Looking further down the road we came from earlier, there was a large group of people on horseback racing towards the gate. Recognizing two of them as Liones Holy Knights, both of them were married to Elizabeth’s sisters. Knowing that we didn’t have long before they’d be on top of the refugees, I demanded the guards let them into the city and then close the gate.
“There is no time to examine each person, they could be spies or saboteurs sent by the enemy.”, one of the guards said, “I am not risking my family for these refugees!! We already lost one home, I won’t lose another!!”
“Be reasonable here, just get them inside and then check them!”, I berated him.
“PLEASE TAKE MY BABY!!!”, one of the women shouted holding her child up.
Pushing her way to the front, the mother tried to hand her child off to us desperately trying to save the infant. Seeing that guards weren’t going to even budge for a baby, my anger boiled over at their lack of courage and honor. Even if they had orders to abandon the refugees, which I would call them cowards for, the infant was of no threat to anyone and should have been in.
“You call yourselves City Guard, but are willing to leave them to the wolves! How many people have you sacrificed to the enemy like this!?”, I shouted as I jumped over the wall, “Get them processed quickly and then close the gate. I will handle the enemy, just focus on getting these people inside safely. If you leave one fucking person outside for a stupid reason, I swear I will kick your ass into last week!”
Hesitating for a moment out of fear, the guards refused to comply with my demand. Glancing over my shoulder and poured out my Killing Intent, the guards began to open the gate and process people in a hurry. Satisfied that they would complete the job promptly, I refocused my attention on the enemy. Using Earth Flow to create a tidal wave of earth, the approaching fighters freaked out and attempted to run around it. Jumping on top of the wave, I began blasting the knights with Ion and Smoke Rockets.
“I am right here you bastards!!”, I shouted blowing the head off what I assumed was an Apostle, “Don’t think you going to get past me! Greater Summoning: Behemoth!!”
Summoning two Balrog looking creatures on opposite ends of my tidal wave, the two behemoths roared out of the summoning circle and blasted the knights with a torrent of fire. Knocked off their horses, their steeds were quickly reduced to ash leaving the men to fight on foot.
Having my group fan out to assist where they could, I threw on an apron and started helping Ban cook. Telling me that they were making rice gruel as supplies were tight, I looked at the people in line and knew that wasn’t going to cut it. While the gruel would keep them from going hungry, it wouldn’t be enough to help them recover their strength. Informing Ban that we needed to come up with a different meal option, he looked at me with a frustrated expression.
“If you got another idea, I am open to suggestions.”, Ban remarked, “Meat and vegetables are going towards the military to keep the troops feed well, this is all we got. Unless you got a supply of food in your pockets to feed everyone, just start cooking already.”
“Well it’s a good thing I have deep pockets then.”, I snickered as I pulled a dead Wyvern out of storage, “We were attacked by a flock of them on our way here, and I brought them with me because they are good eating. In addition, I have plenty of vegetables we can use to cook something nice up for everyone.”
“Those are damn big pockets.”, Ban admitted as I set the ingredients out, “So what are we going to make with all of this stuff? I can think of several different meals we could do.”
“I think the best option is stew.”, I answered as I sent Meliodas to get a cauldron.
The reason stew was the best option was because we’d extract the most nutrients that way. Not only that, due to the small meals people were used to having, there was a chance they’d overeat if we tried preparing a normal meal. Not wanting to send more people to the healers, Ban agreed with my suggestion and began to help me prepare the ingredients.
“I can help!”, Meliodas stated as he set down the cauldron, “With the three of us cooking, we can easily feed everyone. What do you want me to do? I can chop up the ingredients, start seasoning the meat, or-”
“Haha…no.”, I told him bluntly, “I know that you are a terrible chef, that is why Ban had to cook food at the Boar Hat. If he didn’t cook, you’d have gone out of business a long time ago. If you want to do something, get a fire started…I doubt you could mess that up.”
Looking to Ban and Elaine for support, both of them nodded their head in agreement. Having taste tested several dishes for him in the past, they were all too aware of his poor culinary skills. In fact, if I remembered correctly, he was banned from his own kitchen by them for nearly killing them with food.
“He’s right Captain, your cooking skills leave a lot to be desired. We can’t even use it for Monster Bait, it’s pretty much Monster Repellent.”, Ban told him honestly, “If you want to help, you could fill the cauldron with water and get a fire going.”
Becoming a Drama Queen, Meliodas acted like we had run him through with a sword and began stumbling backward. Once he was near Elizabeth, he popped his head up her skirt in a single motion. His sudden movement startled Elizabeth, who responded with a very cute shriek. Looking back at him, she asked him if he really needed to do that right now with everyone watching. Telling her he need to recover from a Critical Blow, Ban and I just looked at him with an unimpressed look. Since Meliodas wasn’t going to get the cauldron ready, I stepped in to get things moving.
Using Water Magic to quickly fill the cast iron vessel, I added several seasonings to the water to add flavor. Quickly heating the water to a boil using my Napalm powers, Ban started to add the chopped vegetables along with a few other spices. While he did that, I hurriedly processed the Wyvern and got the blood drained out of the meat. With the meat on the table, my next step was using an Adamantite Knife to dice the meat into equal-sized cubes for even cooking. Tossing the meat into the cauldron once I was done, we ended up with some free time to talk while the food was cooking.
“So I heard your world froze over for some reason, have any idea how that happened?”, I asked them trying to get the ball rolling, “The timeline that I am aware of for your world doesn’t include freezing over like an ice cube.”
“No idea, the weather started to significantly cool one day with no warning. We didn’t think much of it till snow and ice started to cover everything in the middle of summer. Merlin and Mael tried to stop it, but they couldn’t even slow it down.”, Ban replied, “I bet you have an idea of your own?”
“Well that depends…have you had a run-in with a young woman with white hair, bright, emerald green eyes, and a scar on her left cheek?”, I inquired of them, “She’s pretty good with a sword, and very knowledgeable about monsters and how to kill them.”
“You are talking about Ciri, right?”, Elizabeth replied, “Yes we know her, she helped me find Meliodas and then assisted us with liberating Liones from the corrupted Holy Knights. We aren’t sure where she is now though, she left shortly before the celebration began. She swore to come back and have drinks with us one day in the future. Is she in some sort of trouble?”
Nodding my head, I informed them that Ciri was being hunted by a group called the Wild Hunt. Giving them a description of their group, Elaine mentioned that a group that matched their description tore up a portion of the Fairy Forest several months prior to the weather change. Adding onto that, Elizabeth said her father had mentioned reports of specters on horseback matching that description as well. He had chalked them up to villagers seeing things that weren’t there, but now she regretted not pushing the subject with him.
Taking a moment to check the stew, Ban said we were ready to go with serving food. Hurriedly getting bowls laid out so we could fill them, he intended to use a ladle to fill them which I laughed at. Snapping my fingers, I instantly filled the bowls with the stew using magic as I had no intention of drawing this out for hours. Setting the ladle down, he looked at me with a sigh.
“Can you show me how to do that shit? It would come in very handy moving forward.”, Ban asked me.
“If you have the aptitude for magic, I can absolutely show you how to.”, I agreed, “Once we are done here, I can give you a crash course while we-”
Before I finished my sentence, the sound of bells started to ring out to the east of us. Grabbing their weapons before I could ask what was going on, Ban and Meliodas took off running toward the eastern gate. Jumping over the table to run after them, since I assumed it meant the city was under attack, I stopped when I noticed that everyone was starting to panic. Knowing there would be chaos if I just left things as they were, I asked everyone to calm down. When no one bothered to listen to me and began shoving each other to the ground, I dropped a bolt of lightning behind me to get their attention.
Stopping where they were, the refugees turned to look at me with terrified expressions. I understood they were just reacting based on their own experiences, but they were going to kill a large number of people if they didn’t stop shoving each other.
“You are going to kill your friends and family if you don’t calm down, there are elderly and children at your feet that you pushed down onto the roadway. Help them up to their feet, take your meals, and head home at once. As a precaution, I will go to the Southern Gate and help the guards prepare for an attack.”, I told them, “Once you are in your homes, do not come out till we give the all clear.”
“Please do as he says, we don’t want anyone to get harmed on accident.”, Elizabeth pleaded, “We have plenty of food for everyone here, don’t leave empty-handed.”
“Are you really sure you can protect us..?”, one of the men asked me.
“I give you my word that all of you will make it home unscathed by the enemy.”, I replied with a confident tone, “Once everyone has their meal in hand, I will personally escort everyone to their homes then move on to the southern gate.”
Trusting in my words, the refugees hurriedly went through the line to get their food and then followed me to their makeshift homes. Reiterating the need to stay inside with them before leaving each family, I didn’t want anyone caught in the crossfire if we were attacked on the south side. Heading to the southern gate once everyone was in their home, I found the guards frantically trying to shut the gates. Seeing dozens of families still outside the walls, the guards weren’t letting them run inside for shelter.
“DON’T LEAVE OUT HERE!!”, refugees shouted as the guards pushed them back, “THEY WILL KILL US!!”
“I am sorry!!”, the gatekeeper cried, “We can’t risk them getting into the city!!”
Looking further down the road we came from earlier, there was a large group of people on horseback racing towards the gate. Recognizing two of them as Liones Holy Knights, both of them were married to Elizabeth’s sisters. Knowing that we didn’t have long before they’d be on top of the refugees, I demanded the guards let them into the city and then close the gate.
“There is no time to examine each person, they could be spies or saboteurs sent by the enemy.”, one of the guards said, “I am not risking my family for these refugees!! We already lost one home, I won’t lose another!!”
“Be reasonable here, just get them inside and then check them!”, I berated him.
“PLEASE TAKE MY BABY!!!”, one of the women shouted holding her child up.
Pushing her way to the front, the mother tried to hand her child off to us desperately trying to save the infant. Seeing that guards weren’t going to even budge for a baby, my anger boiled over at their lack of courage and honor. Even if they had orders to abandon the refugees, which I would call them cowards for, the infant was of no threat to anyone and should have been in.
“You call yourselves City Guard, but are willing to leave them to the wolves! How many people have you sacrificed to the enemy like this!?”, I shouted as I jumped over the wall, “Get them processed quickly and then close the gate. I will handle the enemy, just focus on getting these people inside safely. If you leave one fucking person outside for a stupid reason, I swear I will kick your ass into last week!”
Hesitating for a moment out of fear, the guards refused to comply with my demand. Glancing over my shoulder and poured out my Killing Intent, the guards began to open the gate and process people in a hurry. Satisfied that they would complete the job promptly, I refocused my attention on the enemy. Using Earth Flow to create a tidal wave of earth, the approaching fighters freaked out and attempted to run around it. Jumping on top of the wave, I began blasting the knights with Ion and Smoke Rockets.
“I am right here you bastards!!”, I shouted blowing the head off what I assumed was an Apostle, “Don’t think you going to get past me! Greater Summoning: Behemoth!!”
Summoning two Balrog looking creatures on opposite ends of my tidal wave, the two behemoths roared out of the summoning circle and blasted the knights with a torrent of fire. Knocked off their horses, their steeds were quickly reduced to ash leaving the men to fight on foot.
