127: Bacon

I spent the rest of the night making more candies—forty-five mana ones using Frost Nettles for flavouring. They were light green in colour and provided +2 Intelligence, mana regeneration, major fire resistance, and minor earth magic potency.

Milo took twelve of these for himself—well, eleven, because Liane stole one to taste-test for safety.

Then I made forty-three of the stamina candies and used Frost Cherries for the flavouring, giving them a blue colour along with a tart but fresh taste. These had +1 Perception, minor stamina regeneration, major fire resistance, and minor earth magic potency.

Jen, Liane, and Hari all took five each of these. Lily didn’t want to try any other candy, so I assumed she wasn’t interested, leaving Micca with a little over one hundred candies.

The curious thing about both batches was the frost items—both the cherries and the nettles reduced Crisplet’s fire immunity buff to just major fire resistance. If Crisplet were not part of the cooking at all, it would provide a minor frost resistance.

Once they were all done, Micca stored them in her storage ring before I turned in for the night. I was exhausted; it felt like I had been cooking all night.

Once I said I was going to sleep, Lily got up, stretching before vanishing into the shadows.

***

The next morning I awoke with a bunch of notifications. It seemed that Lily had gone out hunting last night because I had sixty-four combat notifications.

I should have been concerned about the farmers’ Buvul, but my focus was entirely on a single thing:

The boar belly bacon.

I got out of my bedroll and made my way to the fire, where a steady stream of smoke was still drifting up from the smoking rack. Taking a seat and saying good morning to Crisplet, I asked, “Is it ready?”

I received a burst of embers in response.

Crisplet then removed the ash cover he had over the rack to keep in the smoke, revealing the three bellies. The first thing I saw was a perfectly cooked boar belly, right as the smell hit me—there was a sweetness, but also spice to it, then it was embraced by a smokiness. It took every fibre of my will not to pull it down and start eating it right away.

“So good…” came a voice that sounded almost like an undead groan from behind me.

Turning around, I saw Liane rolling out of her bedroll far too early in the morning for her and making her way to the fire. I then felt a nudge on my other side, turning to see Lily looking between me and the bellies.

“We can’t eat it yet,” I said, using infuse on all three but leaving them out to cool down.

“They have to cool before I can slice them up,” I added, looking at the two of them.

Lily already had a paw extended. I reached down to pat it away—my hand passed through, but she took the paw back all the same.

“Just give it a couple of hours and then I’ll slice up a bunch of extra-thick pieces for both of you and make breakfast. It’s far too early anyway. Oh—and Lily, if you find any boars when you’re hunting, you should bring them back so I can make more of these.”

I had barely finished speaking when Lily looked from me to the bellies, then back again, before vanishing.

Liane let out a tired chuckle. “You’ve made the same mistake again, you know that, right? Wake me up when she returns with a hundred boars—I want to see the look on your face.”

She vanished and reappeared back at her bedroll.

I let out a deep sigh. Maybe she won’t? I asked her not to bring back so much… right?

I carried on preparing breakfast, deciding today to go with pancakes again since it had been a very long time. I got to work making the batter—adding the flour, sugar, a tiny bit of salt, then milk and egg—before storing the bowl away once it was ready.

Next, I prepared a collection of fresh fruits, cutting them into bite-sized pieces and adding them to a bowl.

Lastly, I pulled out a small barrel of regular honey, letting everyone add that to their pancakes as they liked. I didn’t want to use any of my rare ingredients, especially since we’d be travelling all day.

Once all that was ready, I wanted to head outside to see the others, but I didn’t trust leaving the boar bacon out, and I didn’t want to store it either. So I sat and watched Crisplet build inside the fireplace. It was nice that he still kept that up.

***

It was only an hour later when there was a slight tremor through the ground, followed by Milo opening the door to the dome, laughing.

“Trev, you have a gift, I think,” he said through laughter.

I knew straightaway who had brought me a gift—and now the tremor seemed ominous.

Slowly I made my way outside, stepping into the cold sunny morning, and in front of me sat two things: one—a giant boar, easily twice the size of the wagon, with tusks larger than Hari; the other—a smug-looking Lily sitting beside it.

I approached the two of them warily. I knew Lily wouldn’t put me in danger, but the boar looked absolutely fearsome.

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Looking back at Milo and Jen, I saw them both laughing, while Darren looked as shocked as I felt.

“Uh… um… thank you, Lily,” I said, glancing at her before my eyes returned to the beast.

Even the hair on the creature looked like broom bristles, and there was only a single cut on the side of its neck.

Lily was going to expect me to make bacon from this creature’s belly…

I was going to need a lot more salt.

“What even is it?” I said aloud, approaching it more closely now as Lily vanished.

Would you like to store 1x [Rare] Titan Boar for 5 mana? Yes/No

Looking around, I didn’t see Lily anywhere.

“She’s stealing the boar bacon now, isn’t she!” I said loudly, sending Milo into another fit of giggles as I rushed back inside.

Sure enough—there was Lily with one of the bellies in her mouth. She hadn’t eaten it yet, just looking at me.

“Fine! Eat it. But I won’t be able to do anything with that boar you got until I get a lot more salt…” I paused, then quickly added, “But leave that to me! I’ll get it. No stealing salt.”

The belly was gone a second later. And while I appreciated Lily waiting to see if it was okay, could I really have said no? She had it in her mouth already.

I sat by the other two bellies to protect them until they cooled enough. I wanted to slice some up and cook it for breakfast with the pancakes today.