221: Offering

The next morning, I woke up early. I wanted to have everything ready for the dinner that night, and after I left my room, I made my way directly to the kitchen with Crisplet trailing behind.

I would first need to get a list of all the ingredients I needed Archie to get for me. I would have liked to go to the market myself, but I couldn’t risk running into any trouble on the second-last day in the city. Besides, I really wanted to visit the temple before we left, too.

Passing Milo, Jen, and Liane in the dining room, I waved to them all.

“I’m going to make some breakfast and prepare our offering for the temple today. If anyone would like some, too?” I asked them all.

Milo didn’t respond, just gave a grunt as he continued to work on his rune.

Jen waved it off. “No thanks, Trev. Archie already made us breakfast.”

“Speak for yourself! I’d love some more!” Liane said happily.

“You’ll not fit your armour if you keep eating so much,” Jen joked.

“You can’t judge me. I caught you eating that pastry last night,” Liane retorted, giving Jen a light punch.

“That you stole half of,” Jen bluntly replied.

Liane practically jumped out of the chair. “Details, details.”

Making my way into the kitchen, I had a good idea of what I wanted to make for breakfast. The book simply referred to it as sweet toast.

I even had Archie get me the two ingredients I was missing ahead of time for this dish. The first was a black paste made from a seed pod, Vilia. Its taste was complex, with a very floral aroma, while the taste was sweet, floral, and woody.

Only a small bit was required, which is just as well, because it was incredibly expensive.

For the sweet toast, however, it was very simple: eggs, milk, a pinch of fire salt, and a tiny amount of the Vilia. You’d mix all this together, then dip the bread into it before cooking it in a pan with some butter.

Once it was cooked and got a deep golden-brown crust on each side of the sliced bread, you sprinkle some fine sugar on it. Ideally, you’d also add some fruit. Unfortunately, I used all the berries yesterday making the tarts. I did, however, have the sugar-sap it requested.

I was surprised that Lily didn’t show up, so after giving Liane hers, I cooked off my own. The book made it clear that it should be eaten hot, so that’s what I would do!

“Trev, this is so good. It doesn’t seem like royal food, but I can see why they’d like it,” she said between mouthfuls.

“It’s not from the royal cookbook. I’ve started going back through the first couple of books I purchased. This one came from Sweetie’s Sweet Tooth,” I explained.

“Good book. You should use it more,” Liane simply said, going back to her food.

She was right. It was delicious. Perhaps sweeter than I’d like for breakfast, but for a dessert or a treat, this would be nice to repeat.

Next, we needed to prepare our offerings for the temple. This time I got Crisplet his own chicken and plenty of ingredients for him to choose from, and I sneakily gave him some of the Ignel petals. I’m sure the princess wouldn’t mind if it went to the goddess, right?

“Liane, what happens to offerings that are placed on the altar, usually?” I asked.

My concern was that these meals would have buffs, especially Crisplet’s, and if they are shared with people or eaten by the residents of the temple, it may cause issues.

“That really depends on the items. If you’re worried about the food, it’s generally not consumed unless it’s a smaller temple. Here in the capital, you’ll see there is a garden on either side of the temple, and food offerings are either buried in the garden as a symbol of giving if it’s a meat, or if it’s vegetables, it becomes part of the compost that nourishes the garden,” she explained.

“But at smaller temples it can be eaten?” I confirmed. This was useful knowledge to have in case I did this in the future.

“Yes. They get fewer donations and have less income in general, so they will justify a food donation as nourishment for the temple,” Liane nodded.

“I see. I’m just worried about making this donation and someone getting buffed food,” I said, feeling better about it now, only a hint of worry remaining.

“Just have Crisplet encase it in charcoal. No one will touch it if they think it’s on fire or inedible,” Liane shrugged.

Crisplet clearly agreed, as he let off a burst of sparks.

“That’s a great idea! Thanks, Liane.”

We both got to work on our meals. We were both going to make roast chicken since that had been accepted last time. I was going to do a simple spiced seasoning with a lemon stuffing. First, I rubbed the chicken with oil, placing half a lemon inside the chicken itself with some virfolium leaves, then on the outside I rubbed in some fire salt and some of the dried mixed herbs I got from the market.

I was proud of myself for not going overboard.

I couldn’t say the same for Crisplet, however, who had seemingly taken the challenge to heart and was currently crushing the Ignel petals and chilli together into a vibrant red paste.

What amazed me was that none of this was a recipe we had done before and Crisplet was making something up. I felt Crisplet push across a feeling of help.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

“Do you want me to put it inside the chicken, or on the outside?” I asked.

Crisplet threw a tiny piece of coal at the outside.

“You got it.” I took the paste that Crisplet was crushing and rubbed it on the outside of the chicken, the whole thing turning a vibrant red, as did my hands.

Once that was done, Crisplet let off a burst of sparks and finally made a charcoal spoon to spread some pepper and salt.

“All done?” I asked happily.

Another burst of sparks.

They only took a little over an hour to cook, and I had to admit, Crisplet’s was potent. The smell coming from it tingled the nose. I was kind of glad I wasn’t eating it. This would absolutely be too spicy for Darren and George.

As they sat in the oven, I watched as both chickens slowly became encased in a black and white charcoal. The good news with this was that no one would think these were edible at all, so that concern was gone.

Once they came out, I figured there was no reason I shouldn’t infuse them. After all, maybe that was the difference between the goddess liking it and not liking it. How was I to know?

“Liane, is it just you coming to the temple today?” I asked.

“Nope. Everyone is coming, even Hari. We need to collect him from the cafe on the way,” Liane said, getting up from the corner.

Archie, as always, had the carriage ready to go, and it took us no time at all to collect Hari. I was not really sure where the temples were, so I was eagerly looking out the window to see where we were travelling to, especially when we left the noble district altogether and moved through the main roads of the city.