102: Chilli Crab

As we made our way up the stairs towards the third floor, Patrick slowed down a little to talk in a hushed tone.

“I appreciate your not escalating the situation further down there,” he said.

I looked at him strangely, because I did escalate the situation—not intentionally, but Crisplet very much was ready to protect me.

“I didn’t really de-escalate that?” I said, confused.

“Well, what I meant was you didn’t include your other companion,” he said, waving my comment away as we reached the third floor. Instead of turning left where the rooms were, we turned right, heading down the hallway.

“Oh, Lily. She’d likely only interrupt if my life was threatened, but with that guy, I feel like Crisplet would’ve been fine,” I said, looking down at him in the brazier and getting a burst of sparks.

“I see. We don’t get that often, and you can be assured we’ll deal with it. There’s no need to seek your own retribution,” Patrick said, almost sounding concerned.

Was he really worried I would take great offence to the actions and seek him out?

Was that normal?

“I try to avoid conflict where possible. I won’t be seeking anyone out,” I reassured him as we came to the end of the hall, which ended in three doorways—one on either wall and one leading into the end of the hallway itself, which had a double door.

“Through the double door there, we have a dining room and a kitchen. To the left, we have a small library, and on the right-hand side, we have a reading room that overlooks the city. It’s a really nice room to relax in, but you’re all welcome to use them at any time,” he said.

Opening the double doors and revealing a large dining room, I was impressed, but Patrick carried on, opening the door to the next room across—and there was a giant kitchen at least the same size as the dining room itself.

“Wow,” was all I could manage as I appreciated the size—and it never got used? What a waste.

It was easily as large as the temple’s kitchen, and that was used to feed what felt like a hundred people.

Crisplet rapidly made his way to the oven that was built into the side wall, clearly inspecting it. With a chuckle, I made my way over to unload some wood so we could get started. Since Milo was going to be working on the cave, I went with treant wood to get the earth potency.

“Oh, sorry, Patrick—one more thing. Someone will drop off a large pot for me at some point. Is it okay to leave the silver with the counter to pay him?” I asked curiously.

“Unusual, but if you’d like to give it to me, I can go down and get it sorted. I might make it into a job so it awards the clerk who takes it experience,” he said with a chuckle.

I took out three silvers and a small handful of coppers. “The coppers are a tip for the delivery, or the clerk for holding it, or both—I don’t mind.”

Patrick just chuckled. “No problem. I’ll instruct them to deliver it up here.”

Just as Patrick finished his last word, a pressure fell upon us. I was used to feeling this now, but clearly Patrick wasn’t, as his eyes widened.

“It’s just Lily, don’t worry,” I said, trying to reassure him.

“Well, I’d best leave you to your cooking, then,” Patrick hurriedly blurted out before he practically ran out the door—even before Lily appeared.

Or at least I didn’t think she had appeared yet, but I was wrong—she was just lying down in front of the oven flame.

She really is a stray alley cat in everything but size.

I started getting to work, since I had a lot of prep to do for this dinner—pulling a chopping board and knife as well as several bowls. I’d need to dice the onions, garlic grass, tomatoes, and all the chillies I had.

The store owner suggested the more the better to really penetrate the meat.

Once everything was chopped up and ready to go, I started pulling out the crabs. I’d had a demonstration from the owner on this as well, but as soon as I pulled them out, I noticed Lily’s head turn to me.

“I’m making chilli crab,” I said excitedly.

Then, taking a firm grip of the tab on the underside of the crab, I pulled up hard, and to my surprise the top shell came off easily. I put the juices inside in a bowl to the side. It looked disgusting, but I was assured that mixing it into the sauce really enhanced the flavour.

I did the same for the nine other crabs, then removed the “fingers”, as the owner called them, from the inside—saying that they’re not dangerous, but they have a very unpleasant taste and are incredibly chewy.

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Then I found the largest knife I could in the kitchen; mine was clearly not going to be big enough, and attempted to cut the crab into quarters. I failed horribly—I couldn’t even dent the shell.

“Uh, Lily, I don’t suppose you’d be able to help me out for a moment?” I asked as she was clearly pretending to sleep but had one eye half-open.

“I’m trying to cut these into quarters, like this.” I showed her how I wanted it cut.

“But I don’t think I have the strength to break the shell. Any chance you’re able to?” I asked hopefully, and after she slowly moved over, with a quick swipe of her paw, the crab on the cutting board was quartered—along with the chopping board itself.

“That’s almost perfect. Uh, for the next ones, try to keep the table intact,” I said with a chuckle, but Lily just tilted her head at me.
It was only then that I noticed all the other crabs were also cut.

“Oh, thanks, Lily!” I said excitedly, though part of me was just waiting for the counter to collapse. At the very least, I’d need to replace that chopping board.