46. Before the Bath

Her Cook profession finally saw some decent progress. There were enough ingredients in the Guild’s pantry to whip up some interesting dishes. The large rooms stockpiled with sacks of vegetables and an iron, cold storage rooms housing frozen meat was a surprise to see.

Much like how certain stones were able to produce fire, these storage rooms were lined with Ice Stones. These continually cooled the surrounding environment, but upon closer inspection with Appraise Object – she realized that it instead absorbed heat from the surroundings.

“… This isn’t a technology, is it? Is the Warped Stone something similar to these?” Frost asked no one in particular. Curious eyes would always befall her whenever she spoke like this. Frost played it off like she was just speaking out her thoughts to avoid suspicion of being… well, insane.

“It is a natural mineral. Hardly a technology. And please do not mistake the Warped Stone as any ordinary stone.”

“Back on Earth you’d have to use certain gases and thermodynamic shenanigans to get a refrigerator working. Here you can call something that does all that a ‘mineral’. Haaah. Nav, want me to describe the vegetables for you?”

“I’d like it if you could allow me to see what you see.”

Frost picked out various ingredients alongside Jury and the ex-broods as she mentally described everything she touched, while at the same time appraising them for some free levels.

Jury, being primarily a carnivore for most of her life, picked out racks of meat and hoisted them above her shoulders proudly. The broods each picked out whatever ingredient seemed to interest them, like the Bee-woman choosing sweet fruits, and the dog-girl also pouncing on the meat.

As for the feline ones – they were equally as disappointed that there weren’t any fish as they were afraid of a certain vegetable. Cucumbers. Frost never really understood why cats were afraid of them. And neither did these people. It was just another one of the mysteries in life.

That being said –

They hauled the goods back to an extravagant kitchen and began to cook. Hellen was rather skillful in the kitchen being a housewife, as was Calfasio to her surprise. The man used to cook for his daughter and wife, and just the mere mention of it fired him up.

In the meantime, the broods did all the prep work as Jury became their dedicated taste tester.

“It’s good!” Jury said after munching on a sweet boar-meat cube.

“Mmm~! It’s good!” She said again after slurping a spoonful of stew Frost whipped up.

“Tasty!” She exclaimed, taking a bite from a shredded beef sandwich.

“… N-Not bad. But I don’t want to waste anything you make so…” The only thing that Jury despised was the salad.

Frost couldn’t help but to laugh at this.

* * *

The food was thoroughly enjoyed by all. It was a familiar comfort in a place far from home. The warm stew and the sweet, savoury scent of the skewers paired nicely with the bread the guild had on hand. Although, the bread was quite hard. Almost like tack. One had to dip them into the stew to even chew them.

For Frost and Jury? They didn’t realize it was this hard until someone complained.

In any case – everyone’s bellies were filled with delicious food, and their morale had reached new heights. Confidence quickly returned as did their spirits. Jaris made a call for those capable to patrol the town for any potential survivors or threats, and explicitly insisted that Frost and Jury remain here with the others.

They’d rather have their strongest closest to their weakest. That was the logic Jaris went by. In the meantime, around a dozen and more people left with the man, all bearing their arms as they ventured out into the afternoon sun.

In exchange, Frost offered to watch over the group overnight. It was not like she required sleep anyway. No one besides Jury knew this of course, but no one dared to question her either.

In the end, only the ex-broods, Hellen, Alice, Via, Calfasio, the battle-axed woman, and Furio – to their surprise – remained. The Guild hall felt much larger now that their group had shrunk. When the clanking of metal disappeared Frost suddenly asked why Furio decided to stay.

“I overheard the conversation of a bath. As much as I hate to admit it, I thought it would be a good idea to watch over this low-ranked soul right here.” He motioned towards Calfasio who sheepishly smiled in returned. “Plus, I have a question I wanted to ask.”

“First off, if you want someone to answer your questions, then don’t speak like you’re some big shot!” The battle-axed woman scolded him before receiving an instant, flaming glare. “What, resorting to violence again bastard?”

“Just shut up and stay silent. Frost. What exactly are you? If you can answer me this, then it’ll put my mind at ease because I can’t discern what race you’re from. Never mind your friend.” Furio began, getting straight to the point.

However –

“I’m sorry, but I’d appreciate it if you continued to see me as companion on this trip above all else.” Frost instantly shut him down.

“You won’t reveal anything I take?”

“Think of me as a member of a race from a distant land. Where your commonalities are our abnormalities.” Frost intentionally spoke cryptically. There was not a lot she wanted to reveal, and by talking like this she made her intentions loud and clear to him.

Furthermore, having the name of ‘the Amalgam’ spread would put her under the crosshairs of Iscario again. She was confident she’d be able to put up a decent fight this time around, but there was no way in hell that Jury would survive in a fight against a potential level 200 Star of the Nexus.

Additionally, there was no other race that she could suitably fit in. Revealing anything specific would raise brows and only further put her under scrutiny. She could always force anyone troublesome to get off her back, but she’d rather deal with this peacefully.

At least with these people.

Furio only sealed his eyes and exhaled a near flaming puff of air.

“Then that’s it then. Calfasio.” He surrendered, but Frost could tell how underwhelmed he was with her answer.

“Yes!?”

“Follow me. The women want to bathe. I understand you’re pathetically weak, but I don’t think you’re weak enough to be harmless to a naked woman.” He began walking away in the presumed direction of the baths.

“L-Listen to me! I have a wife dammit!” The man yelled.

The two eventually disappeared behind a pair of gold-tinted doors at the other side of the hall.

“Nnnnghhh~! Whaddaya say about takin’ a bath now?” The cat-eared brood spoke euphorically as they stretched their arms out, shattering the silence before it could persist.

“Oh~ Shall we head in then? I’ve checked them and the waters are still hot. The heated stones are quite useful.” Hellen hummed.

“A bath… finally. We can clean off all this dirt.” Alice sounded excited. The younger ones did enjoy playing in water. The young girl suddenly ran towards Jury and clutched onto her hand.

“Mmm? Hello?”

“Let’s go Jury! Let’s go see the hot water baths!”

It seemed like Jury made a friend. How fitting of it to be a child as well. Jury momentarily looked upon Frost as if asking for permission to be dragged away by the little creature. Frost only needed to smile before they scurried towards the golden doors.

Still a child at heart, huh.

For some reason, Frost did not see the grown back of a woman, but rather the back of the child-like Jury from the first time they met. It had been more than a month since the tribulations they faced in the Black Forest. And hardly over a week in reality thanks to how time was distorted in that place.

This would be the very first time they’d have the luxury to relax. To just… lay back and rinse off the burdens and filth. Frost subconsciously looked forward to it because of this. The other part of her was more interested in what laid underneath her clothes.

And she couldn’t believe she was more than 50 days late to this.