The pinkish meat circled in the bowl as I moved my spoon. The liquid was sticky, which obscured the spoon's motion as I twirled it around. It had a peculiar image when one would discern the bowl from afar. I almost thought that what I made was a failure, not until some voices called to my head, saying that it was just about right.
'Are those my ancestors calling for me? This rabbit stew should probably smell and taste like chicken, right?' I thought while staring at the make-shift soup made from the leftover leaves, jars of butter, mushrooms, and other ingredients lying on the board.
These belonged to the girl, who was now sleeping on the mattress. The gothic girl became unconscious and had been slumbering for sixteen hours already by the time we arrived inside this bunny hole. I did not want to wake her up, knowing that the girl might need a few hours' rest before moving her body.
I placed the voice box that came out from the bat on the board. It was at the same table that I saw the gothic girl from before. The voice box was just a piece of curb painted with obsidian hues. It glowed an eminently sinister aura, as if calling out for me.
'I was expecting something else, like butchering that bat. Maybe this place is a different world after all,' I thought.
There was nothing for me to do with the cube, so I planned on waiting for the girl to wake up. She might have something to do with the voice box and grant me the ability to speak. Not that I did not know how to talk, but I just couldn't.
All I did during those times were stitching back my worn-out limbs and scratches on my body with the spare strings, yarns, and needles on the desk. I did not have any experience fixing a doll, so I had to use what I saw from the gothic girl when I first saw her.
What I did was not something perfect, but it did the job well. I could reach out for things that I needed and retract them anytime I wanted my arms back. Although my movements felt a bit wobbly, like noodles, I could stand on my feet and walk around just fine!
Half through the uneventful hours, I tried fiddling with the residue of spices left by the gothic girl. There were many herbs and otherworldly peppers and fungi that I dared not to touch. Those mushrooms might have poison in them/ It was the automated voice in my head telling me about it. I could only hope that these components did not become spoiled and still edible to eat by humans. I was a puppet, so I cannot tell about the taste of my cooking.
But living alone in my apartment, I learned how to cook on my own. I had confidence in my cooking skills, and I wanted to present them to the girl. It was my only way to express my gratitude to her.
A sudden movement alerted me from behind. 'It must have come from the girl,' I thought, and stopped whatever I was doing.
As I gyrated at my rear, the blankets nudged at the sides, informing me that the sleeping girl was now awake, or should be. If it was not her, an insect or an earthquake might have moved her into bed.
'Are you awake, princess?' I called out for her and sauntered, tiptoeing upon going in the girl's direction. I wanted to make sure that I would not make a sound once I approached her, and I did.
I was in front of the gothic girl and observed her angelic face. Despite having no baths at all for two days, or approximately a day and a half in this world, the gothic girl still looked stunning as ever. She had defined eyelashes that mimicked those people in royal balls. The girl crumpled her dress, but it did not obstruct her beauty.
"Mghmm…" the girl moaned inaudibly.
By the time she peeled her eyes open, the girl finally met my eyes. The gothic girl jolted back and hit her head during the process. She let out a violent scream afterwards.
"Who, who are you? Oh, you! Puppet! I mean, Mask! We're alive? What is that I am smelling? It smells...like chicken?" The girl closed her eyes and protruded from her nose, sniffing at whatever smell she noticed.
'Ha! I told you, it was chicken, me!' I said, while pumping my chest. 'And why the heck would she think we would die? Did she have no faith in me?'
I left that negativity aside.
The girl jumped from the mattress, showing her regained energy to the world, and sprinted to the sides. It was in the kitchen where I prepared the rabbit stew using my recipes as a cook. Although, those steps I used just came from an advertisement video that I coped with five years ago during my shift.
"Can I?" the girl said, and looked at me with pleading eyes.
'That food is for you' I gave the girl a nod and watched her fill her stomach.
She lifted the spoon and poured the contents through her lips. It was now the moment I had been waiting for all this time. I wondered what the taste would be for the girl's taste buds.
I shuffled to her sides and leaned my head close to the girl, hoping to see her reactions. The gothic lady closed her eyes and did a twister. There was no telling what she felt, so I waited for the girl to describe the food in words.
"It tastes better compared to frying it in a pan!" the girl exclaimed, and slurped the stew without holding back.
As soon as she finished eating, the gothic lass placed the plate down and screamed for seconds. But then she realised that reality shattered her expectations, with the walls reminding her of her current status.
The girl then looked in my direction. With a surprised facial expression, the girl expanded her eyes upon seeing my figure.
"Whoops! Sorry... I thought this bowl was only for me. I forgot to share with you some," the girl said her apologies and lowered her head.
I shook mine, wishing that she knew what I wanted to say. I was a puppet that needed nothing but a companion. Now that I had found one, I yearned for nothing more but her safety.
"Yay! Next time, I will definitely leave you some! Be sure to remind me, okay?" the girl announced, and let out a giggle.
After giving out a blaring burp, the girl's eyes wandered around the cavern. Her orbs paused upon witnessing the obsidian box I left from the desk. With an exclamation mark raised above her head, the gothic girl snatched the cub and raced in front of me.
"Voice box, voice box! I got it! We got it!" she stated, with a grin carved on her face. The gothic girl looked like a girl that found her lost puppy in the streets after searching for the pet for a long time.
I shook my head up and down as my reply. The girl presented the obsidian box to me, rushed back to her table, and explained everything she wanted me to know.
"You must be surprised why this cube just whooshed out from the bat's body, right? You see, if you defeat a monster, their items fall off on the ground! There's a list of items or materials you can use from every monster. Sometimes they fall, other times they won't. It's a matter of luck whether these items would just pop out from them! The monster's body fades away after leaving it for a few hours, except if you chant a spell to preserve their meat. Some butchers and magicians know those spells. Others who don't have an aptitude for these magics cannot use them." the girl elucidated while tinkering with the voice box gripped in her hands.
I blinked a gazillion times after hearing her explanation. All those details of items appearing from the ground after defeating such monsters would be like a game! If I wanted to have the boar's horns, I needed to defeat the animal first and wait for its ivory to come out! But the rabbit I cooked did not disappear, despite not having any incantations from it. I knew some magic because of the girl, but I was not aware of how those chants worked.
'It must have been a mystery,' I wondered, and did not dig deep through the complex of prowess here in another world.
The pocket-sized cube gave out soft, high-pitch sounds with each movement by the girl. After a few minutes, she emerged from her desk and returned to me with a grin.
"I'm no doctor, but I also wanted to say this!" The girl stood from the chair and balanced her body. She grasped the cube tightly in her hands and instructed. "Now, open your mouth as wide as you can!"
Thank god I did not feel pain at all, or else this would have been a hellish nightmare.