Flower caskets… Chris says that the spirits, who are still flying around, say we don’t need to worry about these perfectly lined up spirits.
But Chris still doesn’t feel good about it, and she’s resting, leaning on Sera.
Needless to say, she moved away from this place too. She didn’t want to see it.
But I’m curious. I want to ask what that’s about, but I feel like it isn’t the best time.
Could it be that Chris actually knows something?
“I want to cook. Is that okay?”
I don’t have a translator here, so I try asking a spirit hovering in front of me, but it doesn’t respond. I don’t think they understand me.
But it does react when I take meat out of the Item Box. And when I keep taking out ingredients, the spirits that swarm in when I cook all come to me.
We need to eat something, so I guess I’ll just cook. It doesn’t feel like they’re going to try to stop me either.
I prepare a space on the ground, and start a fire. I need to be careful about lighting a fire in the middle of a forest, so it’s nice that I have an empty space that’s perfect for me to cook.
If sparks fly, I have to put them out quickly with magic, so I can’t get distracted.
I have three cooking areas. Two to roast meat, and one to make soup.
I don’t really understand them, but I feel like after seeing them eat a few times, they like meat.
I figured spirits would like vegetables, and stuff like that that grows in nature, but Chris told me that the flavor of meat made an impact because they’ve never had it before.
I put meat on the iron plates, as I think that they would really get along with Hikari, and the spirits gradually approach.
They don’t seem to get burned, but it makes me feel nervous. All I see is balls of light, but knowing that they’re actually like the dolls we saw before makes me concerned.
Well, they actually have good manners when it comes to this, and wait until the food is served on plates. They’re not diving on the hot plates after the meat.
They did that once right at the start, but Chris got mad and scolded them. That angry look was nothing new but… It was pretty scary. Let’s not get her angry.
I check the meat, finish it with salt and pepper and a special sauce, and then serve it.
And when I step away, the spirits swarm it.
At this point, I know they’re not going to be satisfied with that, and when I start preparing the second round on the iron plates, Sera comes over.
“Are the spirits the same as usual?”
“Yes, as you can see. How’s Chris?”
“She’s lying down. I don’t think she can talk about why just yet…”
“I see.”
I give Sera soup and steak I put aside for us, and when she starts eating, the swarm of spirits all turn to the plate.
I’m eating mine too, while minding the meat being grilled, and restocking the empty plates.
This repeats four times, until the spirits are seemingly satisfied and stop around the empty plates.
If they were human, I’d say they were too full to move.
Sera and I have a drink while watching them.
“What about Chris’ portion?”
“You should put it in one of those insulated containers you made. We can take turns going to sleep if you want.”
“We should be leaving this floor tomorrow, and we slept well last night, so that will probably work.”
And so, tonight Sera and I are taking turns staying up. She goes to sleep first, and I take firewood out of the Item Box while cleaning up the cooking area, and feeding the one fire I didn’t put out.
It’s not cold, so I don’t need a strong fire, and I just give it some firewood once in a while.
I watch the flames dance, and feel the tension leave my shoulders and my body relaxing. It’s a strange feeling.
Before I know it, the spirits are flying around the fire, but they don’t really do anything.
I keep hearing the cracks of the fire echoing in the silence, as time slowly passes.
Watching the fire like this makes me forget I’m even in a dungeon.
“Sora?”
Suddenly I hear a voice, and when I turn around, I see Chris.
“Are you all right?”
I ask, and she nods as she sits next to me.
I look over at the side of her face, but I can’t see her complexion because of the fire.
“Do you want some soup?”
“…Yes.”
It doesn’t look like she has much of an appetite, but she knows she has to eat something.
I heat it up again, and give it to her.
I feel like the spirits also want it, but you guys ate all that meat before.
“Sora, you should go rest. I can handle it from here.
She says after she finishes the soup.
I hesitate, but accept her offer. I’m not tired, but I get the feeling that she wants to be alone.
“Go to sleep after you’re done having a breather too, okay?”
Is all I say before I leave, but she reaches out and grabs my clothes.
Even she looks surprised. I guess she did that reflexively.
I think her face is a little red, but that might be just the fire reflecting off it.
I sit back down, wrap myself in a sheet, and go to sleep here.
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Thanks for the treat.