I woke up the next morning, and immediately began to exercise. I was only able to finish making one weight yesterday, so I exercised like normal. It would just do me more harm than good if I only used one weight to increase the intensity of my training. My center of balance would be all off. After I finished my exercise, I went to the kitchen. Today was my day to make our food, so that is exactly what I did. I didn't make anything too fancy, and the heating magic circle really quickened the cooking. In fact, I was able to finish cooking before Astra and Ana came in. I quickly ate my food, after setting the table for everyone, because I still didn't want to see Ana.
I know that my actions are probably causing her to worry even more, but I just don't have the heart to see her. This will probably be over in a couple of days, so I hope she can just wait until then. I also know that Astra is going to be worried as well, but only because this will delay us going into the larger cave area. I just hope that they don't go in there by themselves. Pushing these thoughts out of my head, I focus my mind on creating my weights. I have already created one, and I would like to create three more. This way, I will have one for each limb. I'll need to make more of them, or make them heavier, though if I want to have any increase in intensity. However, this will be a start.
"O spell of wind, form from my hands a sharp dagger that follows my movements to dismember my enemies."
I chanted my dismantling dagger, causing it to appear in my hand. I then gathered the wood that was leftover from yesterday, and began to carve. I hollowed out the inside of the wood, the most time consuming part of the process. Once I had finished hollowing out the wood, I then smoothed out its surface. After that was done, I split it down one side, and placed an adjustable strap of leather. After a little bit of time,, I had 4 identical bracelet-like wooden objects. I immediately placed them on each of my limbs, and adjusted the strap, so I would have the most comfortable fit.
Once that was done, I then tried to move to see the difference the weights made. It was very significant, as it took me much more effort to do basic actions. However, it was still pretty easy for me, and caused practically no trouble. I'm guessing that it only feels so dramatic because I haven't done something like this before. In a little bit, it probably won't even feel like I have any weights on. This just reinforces the idea that I need to create more weights, or find some way to make them heavier. I don't think I'll find a way to make them heavier, so I'll instead focus on making more of them. However, I first need to go out and check the time. It may be time for me to make lunch after all. I also have to talk with both Ana and Astra about the other area of the cave.
I left my room, and left the cave. I didn't run into Ana or Astra, nor did I hear them. I can only assume that they are in their own rooms, the storage room, or are outside hunting. Either way, I checked outside, and could tell that it was getting close to noon. While it wasn't exactly noon, the sun was pretty high up in the sky. I decided to just go ahead and start making lunch. After all, they'll definitely start getting hungry, and I could use this time to create something delicious for them.
Now while I say that, I don't really have a good idea of what to make. After all, Ana is already so great at cooking, that anything I can make would be overshadowed by what she could make. However, I remember that she has never really tried to make sweets. Sure, she has made sweet stuff before, but she hasn't made any desserts. In fact, the only time we have had anything close to a dessert, is the cookies I've made. This will be the best thing to make for them, but I'll also have to make an actual meal. I'll just make something simple, and quick, so I can have more time to make my dessert.
Now, the thing I want to make is a cake. Back in the village, on rare occasions would the bakery have what they called cake. However, I always called it sweet bread, as that is what it tasted like. Now, I would have never been able to afford the cake, but I was allowed to try it when Danny bought some. He would share it with Sylvia and I, and...I should stop thinking of these things. That is something that happened long ago, and isn't something I can get back. I should focus on making the cake.
Anyways, as I was saying, I would call it sweet bread due to how sweet it was, but it just wasn't the sweetness that made it cake. It also had this thing called cream that was placed on top of the cake. I've always seen it as white, but was told that it comes in different colors, and it would be used as decoration. This makes the cake more visually appealing. There are two main problems with making a cake. First, it needs to be puffy, which means I need an egg. We don't have any eggs, as Ana usually takes them to experiment with her cooking. I'm sure she will be able to make many tasty dishes, but we don't have a steady supply of eggs.
The other problem is we don't have cream, and I don't even know the process to make it. I know it involves milk and butter, which also comes from milk, but other than that, I don't know anything. To make matters worse, demonic beasts don't produce milk, as they can live off of mana. While demonic beasts are found eating meat and plants, they don't need to, and this has even been proven. According to mom, people have captured demonic beats before, and forgot to feed it, but it didn't grow weaker. This was what started the research on demonic beasts, and, from this research, all of our knowledge on demonic beats.
That is besides the point. The thing is that demonic beats don't produce milk, meaning I wouldn't be able to create cream. As such, even if I had an egg, I wouldn't be able to create a cake. I could only think of one solution to this problem, and that was to go out of the Forest of Calamity, to find cream outside. However, this would be a long journey, if I do plan to do it, and that is only to get out of the forest. I would take even longer to find the cream, and get the money to pay for it, and that is all on the assumption that half elves are suddenly accepted, which is practically impossible.
I'll have to give up on the cake for the time being. I'll make it later, and for now just make cookies. After all, I already have experience making them, and will only need to go out to find an egg. We already have all the other ingredients needed. I could even add some raisins that were created from a grape-like fruit that we found. It would be better than a plain sweet cookie after all. While I was thinking of all of this, I had already finished creating today's lunch. I wanted to waste no time, especially since I am going to make desserts.
Since I had finished creating lunch, I could now focus on getting an egg to make this batch of cookies. The best thing for me to do, would be to use my hiding spell and detection spell. I would have to focus on the hits that come from above me, and also have to make sure that I am properly concealed. This way, I would be able to find demonic beasts in trees, which are most likely bird-type demonic beats. Bird-type demonic beats also lay eggs like regular birds, which will be where I find the eggs. I just have to work at it, and not give up. Although it is weird that demonic beasts can lay eggs, but not produce milk.
"O spell of wind flow around my body to hide myself. O spell of wind spread with me as the center to detect my enemies."
With my thoughts done, I quickly chanted my hiding and detection spell. Of course, I only did this once I was outside the cave. However, before leaving, I wrote a little note, and placed it under a plate, with a little sticking out. It just said that I was leaving to find something. I didn't want to be specific, as these cookies are going to be an apology gift of sorts, and it would be detrimental if they knew that. As such, I kept the note as vague as possible.
I was walking for a while, while focusing above me. I couldn't find anything with my detection spell. In fact, I would run into demonic beasts on the ground since I was too focused on the ones in the sky. Luckily I wasn't noticed because of my hiding spell. However, I wasn't able to find many bird-type demonic beasts, and the ones I did find were all flying, meaning they weren't near their nests. I became frustrated at my lack of results, so I began to follow one bird-type demonic beast.
"O spell of wind follow through my body to reinforce myself."
Since it could fly through the sky, I chanted my reinforcement spell, in a bid to keep up with it. With my reinforcement spell, I was able to keep up with the bird. I'm pretty sure that if the bird wanted, it would have been able to lose me. However, it didn't notice I was failing it due to my hiding spell, so it had no need to go any faster. It took a while, but the demonic beast soon returned to its nest. In the nest, I could see a couple of eggs.
I didn't want to fight the demonic beast over them, so I waited for it to leave. I didn't have to wait long though, as it left the area. Almost as soon as it left, I could hear a familiar voice, and the loud shriek of the demonic beast. I realized that some intruders had come into this demonic beasts territory, and it had gone to confront them. Also from the voice, I could tell that the intruders were Diego and his crew. They probably followed me, through my poorly concealed tracks that I left because I was too focused on the sky. Even though I was found, I'm pretty sure that they wouldn't be able to follow me. As such, all I had to do was steal the eggs, and get out while covering my tracks. This honestly shouldn't be too hard for me to do, so I immediately set out to do it.
Thanks to my reinforcement spell and exercises, I was able to scale the tree quickly. Once I scaled the tree, I could hear the sound of fighting in the distance. This means that Diego and his crew were fighting the bird-type demonic beast. I quickly grabbed two eggs, as I didn't want to be greedy, and jumped off of the tree. After landing on the ground, I began to run. I didn't clean up my tracks, as I wanted to lead them away from the cave. Only after I travelled a good distance, did I start to head back home. Of course, on the way back, I was cleaning my tracks to the best of my abilities.
I made it to the cave with little issue. I'm sure that the bird-type demonic beast will be angry at the loss of two of its eggs. However, it wouldn't be able to find me. As such, it can only accept this loss. It might even go out of its way to attack Diego and his crew. After all, they were the reason it left its nest. I hope it does do that, since it will distract them from looking for me. After all, we don't need to kill them, and only need to survive until the succession tournament. After that, there will be no meaning in hunting me or Astra and Ana down.
While thinking of these things, I got the ingredients that I needed to make the cookies. I got out the grains, some sweet flowers, bowls and cooking trays, raisins, and the egg I had gathered. Once I had gathered all of that, I set the grains to be crushed. While they were being crushed, I crushed the sweet flowers to get sweetwater. Of course I had to remove all the parts of the flower, leaving me with the sweetwater. The grains that I had set to be crushed, had been crushed long before I was done with the sweetwater.
Once I had the sweetwater, I began to boil it. This was a technique that was discovered by Ana, a while ago. It is also the reason why we can have a lot of sugary dishes. Basically by boiling the sweetwater we are able to concentrate the sweetness, by boiling off excess water. However, we have to be careful, since the sweetness can also be boiled away. Also, this doesn't make sugar, only a very viscous, sugary liquid. After I finished boiling the sweetwater, I let it cool down, as that would make the overall product better.
While I was waiting for the sweetwater to cool down, I mixed the crushed grains, raisins, and a pinch of salt. I wanted to add the egg as well, but decided to add it in later, along with the sweetwater. I really wanted to add chocolate and make these chocolate cookies. However, chocolate is even rarer than cake, at least in my village. I only know the name, and don't have a clue on the making process. In fact, I've never had chocolate before, and only know it tastes good from Danny, who was luckily able to try it. He would always have such high praises for it, which makes me especially interested in it. However, I would not be able to get it if I stayed in the Forest of Calamity.
Well, I don't want to think of those depressing thoughts. As such, I tried to think of different ingredients I could add to the cookies to make it better. However, I wasn't able to think of much. Anything I could think of, needed me to go to a village or settlement, to get. They weren't just things I couldn't find out here, where there is no civilization. There was truly nothing I could think to add, and just waited for the sweetwater to cool down.
Once the sweetwater was cooled down, I added it to the bowl. I then cracked the eggs I had, and also added them in the bowl. Then I used a wooden spoon, and began to mix the ingredients. I had water prepared, but I didn't need it. The two eggs were enough liquid for this small batch of cookies that I was making. After the dough was thoroughly mixed, I used the wooden spoon to separate parts of it into the tray. The tray was big enough to use all of the dough, and the dough didn't connect in any ways. This made it so I would only have to make one batch. This batch also had 6 cookies being created.
I then began to heat up the oven. The heating magic circle made this very easy. It didn't take long for the oven to heat up. Once I decided it was heated up enough, I put the tray within. I then would check their progress periodically, as I couldn't see through the oven. On the tenth check up, the cookies were done. Using gloves, I pulled the tray out of the oven. I then placed the cookies on a spare plate, and waited for them to cool down.
"Astra Ana." Once I finished creating the cookies, I called Ana and Astra over to have a bite. However, I didn't get an answer to my calls. I checked the table to see if the food was still there, which I should have done earlier, and it wasn't. This meant that Astra and Ana had eaten the food I had prepared. I then notice another note, sticking out from underneath the dirty dishes. I realized this was a different one because there were now two notes, and they were each under different dishes. I grabbed the note, but didn't open it. I decided to read it after I had finished cleaning the dishes.
I took the dishes and began to wash them with the underwater river. It was while washing them, that I got another idea for a new practical spell. It would basically generate water to be used elsewhere. This would shorten our dependence on the river, and allow for the water to be used everywhere. It would also be useful for cooking, as we won't have to get water from the river. This would just make things easier, and I'm sure that there will be other uses for this spell that I can't think of at the moment. The only problem is I'm not sure if I would be able to make it into a magic circle, so we'll have to use Ana's mana for this spell. However, I'll create the spell another day.
While I was thinking of this idea, I had finished washing the dishes in the river. I left them to dry by the riverside, as I didn't want to dry them with leather. That would just be time consuming, and I have the note from Ana and Astra to read. As such, I just left the wet dishes to dry, and hurriedly grabbed the two notes on the table. I opened up one, but it was the one that I had created. I wanted to burn it up, but I still wasn't that good at using one element through our mana links, so I decided to wait for Astra to come back. I opened up the second letter and began to read its contents.
To summarize, they went out of the cave for their own reasons. Astra went to hunt demonic beasts so she could dismantle them. Even though she is already good, it seems like she still wishes to improve, which is admirable. Ana, on the other hand, left to help Astra hunt. She also left to see if she could find any new ingredients. They also thanked me for the food, but the wording felt stiff. If I had to guess why, it would probably be because of me. The way I'm acting is beginning to affect them now. When they come back, I'll apologize properly. I'll wait for them here, while keeping the cookies warm.
With that decided, I waited for them to come back. From the kitchen, I had a clear view of the entrance, so I could see when they came back. Of course, that would only be if they weren't using a hiding spell. While I was waiting for them, I was using my multitasking skills to keep the cookies warm through the heating magic circle. While I am working on multitasking 4 things, I am only able to do 3. So at the moment, one part of my mind was unoccupied, and I used that to think of the new practical spell. Of course, I wasn't thinking about it too deeply, since most of my focus was on the cookies and cave entrance.
I stayed this way for quite a while. I even began to get a good base for my new practical spell, even though I wasn't focusing on it. Then, after this, Ana and Astra came in. It was a good thing too since I was beginning to worry. They had been gone for around 4 hours after all. I know that because I was keeping track of time, as a way to advance my multitasking skill. It is still hard, but I was able to do 4 tasks since 3 of them were relatively simple.
"Welcome back," I say to both of them when I see them. I also stop multitasking, and get up to help them. Even though they had the magic bag, Ana was also carrying a large leather one. It was apparent they were going to stay outside for a while, and probably only came back because they had run out of room. I carried the leather bag to the storage room, while discreetly hiding the cookies. It was supposed to be a surprise after all.
"It seems like you are finally willing to talk," Ana says after I leave the leather bag in the storage room.
"Your food is just so good, that I was in shock over not being able to eat it," I reply in a joking tone to try to alleviate the tension that had formed from her words.
Astra seemed to get what I was trying to do, as she said, "yeah, anyone would be in the same situation as you."
I'm not sure if she was serious about that, but I don't really care, since she was able to alleviate the rest of the tension.
"Yeah so I'm sorry for avoiding you…" I began to say, but was interrupted.
"Apologies aren't needed," Ana said. "I'm just glad you weren't angry at me."
I didn't know what to say. She was afraid that I was angry at her. I can't think of anything that could have given her that idea. Sure I avoided her for a little bit of time, but that doesn't mean I'm angry. It would be just like a little spat. I had them all the time with Danny and Sylvia. I then realized that Astra and Ana wouldn't have had those spats. They were siblings that cared for each other deeply. They were also ostracized by the people of their clan, so they wouldn't have made any friends. That should have been why Ana was so worried. However, I didn't know how to express these ideas in words. Anything I thought of saying would just needlessly complicate this matter.
As such, I just said, "even if apologies aren't needed, we should still eat these cookies that I've made."
While we were talking, we moved from the storage room into the kitchen. We were already in the kitchen once I said that final sentence, and since I wasn't hiding the cookies, they were on full display. Ana and Astra just nodded to my words, and we began to eat the cookies.
"I'm pretty sure Ana could make them better," I say while we are eating the cookies.
"No, I'm sure I couldn't," Ana replies as we continue to eat our cookies.