103: Feast

I waited in the dining room, pulling out my books on runes and continuing to study the cold rune I had been working on. It was then that I was reminded that I should really work on the Sugar Reed juice I had been meaning to make.

With the time-freeze nature of the pantry, I couldn’t store it there—well, I could; it just wouldn’t gain anything.

But if I made a large barrel of it like I was planning, I wouldn’t be able to fit it in the storage ring, since it was too small for that.

While I was practising my circles, I was thinking about that issue. Then it struck me: we could ride double with the horses and bring Darren and George, so either we purchased two extra horses, or we could possibly get a wagon.

If we had the wagon, I could work on the barrels like I wanted and store them in the back of the wagon while we travelled. My thoughts then went to the wood and the barrels themselves. My skill implied it would work on food, and if Pantry recognised those barrels as food-adjacent—or even the wood scraps I store in there…

Then surely I could carve a cold rune on the barrel and keep the drink cold once it was ready?

I was deep in thought and still practising when the first person arrived; I didn’t even notice the door opening.

“What ya’ doing?” Liane said, sitting on the table just ahead of me.

“Practising my runes and waiting for people to show up for dinner,” I said, trying my best not to let my shocked reaction show—but I failed horribly when I practically leapt out of the chair.

“Oh! You made dinner already? What is it?” she said, shuffling closer.

“You’ll see!” I said with a chuckle. “We should get Milo up here for it—it’ll help his earth magic.”

“You’re going to make me gather everyone, aren’t you?” Liane said in a sad tone.

“It’s only fair—I made dinner, after all.” I just grinned.

Liane let out a big sigh and made a point of dramatically opening and closing the door, but I knew she wasn’t actually upset; the smile on her face gave her away.

Knowing Liane would collect everyone pretty quickly, I packed up all my rune stuff and started setting up for dinner. I knew as soon as the pot came out on the table, Lily would make her way in here and demand more, so it would be the last thing I did.

I pulled out all the bowls I had, which were a mismatch of sizes and materials, along with all the stone and metal spikes I had. We didn’t have the luxury of just eating shell and all, so the spikes would help us get to the meat.

It didn’t take long before people started showing up, with Hari entering first, followed by an exhausted-looking George and Darren.

I was surprised when Milo was the next to arrive. It looked like he had not slept yet; there were huge bags under his eyes, and he was absolutely covered in dirt—which I was fairly sure he could have just removed from himself if he wanted to.

“Oh, Trev, before I go back down, you wouldn’t happen to have more of that candy, would you?” Milo asked as he caught my eye.

I quickly pulled out a small handful of the shards and handed them over. I didn’t have much left myself, but I could add that to the list of things to experiment with while I had the kitchen and access to the market.

“Thanks, Trev! These have been a lifesaver,” Milo said, storing them away—and I caught sight of the glare I was getting from Hari.

“What did I do?” I asked, confused by it.

“He needs to sleep, and he’s been using those candies—and the excuse he still has mana—as a reason to stay up,” Hari said, before turning to Milo.

“But you’ll be going to sleep tonight right after you wash? You look like you’ve been playing in a dirt pile,” Hari added, as Liane, Jen, and Micca entered the room.

“Uh, yeah, sure,” Milo muttered, taking a seat and looking around.

“So, what is it?” Liane said, taking a seat next to me.

I just pulled out the pot, and the room was immediately filled with the smell, a sweetness and spice lingering in the air. As expected, Lily was immediately out of the kitchen and sitting on the opposite side from where Liane was.

“Chilli crab!” I announced happily.

I served Lily first, taking one of the larger bowls I had pulled out—the same one she had used earlier—and placed another four pieces of crab in there, adding some sauce, then turned to place it on the ground for her.

“Dig in! There is a ladle for the sauce, bowls, and sticks there to help you get the meat out of the shell. Oh, also—” I pulled out a small stack of random rolls I had stored. Feeling the bread would go amazingly with soaking up the sauce.

I had not even turned around fully when the first crunch from Lily came. Noticing both Darren and George wincing at the sound, but everyone else seemed entirely focused on the food.

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Liane was the first to eat. “So hot, so delicious!” she practically squeaked. “So good!”

I thought Jen would protest it a little, like she did with the spider. To me this didn’t seem too much different: they both had a hard shell, both crawled on the ground—but she, like Liane, seemed to really enjoy it.

George made me laugh because he bit straight into some chillies and was scrambling to find some water.

I sat down to enjoy eating it myself, just watching my surroundings. I really was lucky to have so many good friends and to get to cook this for them.

In the end, there were no crabs left over. I thought we’d get a second meal from it, no problem, but Lily came back for seconds and thirds, and despite coming back again, was only refused a fourth serving because there was none left.

That said, everyone had their fill, and it was safe to say they were a big success. I would likely need to secure some more before we travelled again, just so I could cook something similar in the future.

Once the food was gone, Lily vanished again—but I guessed she was likely already in the bedroom or in the kitchen by the fire, because her pressure never lessened, so she wasn’t gone.

Surprisingly, Milo convinced Hari to let him go back downstairs—arguing that he’d be foolish to waste the buff he’d just got from the crabs and, since it only lasted three hours, he should work for at least that long.

“As long as you promise to sleep tonight, or I will drag you up here myself and stand by your door,” Hari said sternly.

Milo gave a nervous chuckle. “I will, I promise.” He then left the room quickly.