After defeating the giant toad, Elferis stood proudly, saluting in her usual cheerful manner.
"Dissection complete, Darling!" she announced.
"We got some meat and oil from the giant toad! I confirmed the oil is edible with appraisal!" she added.
"Good job," I replied.
"Fwaaaaahhh~~~♡" Elferis squealed in delight.
Here we go again.
"What now?" I asked, bracing for whatever was coming.
"You said 'good job'! Darling praised me! I'm so happyyy~~~♡"
"It's only natural to thank someone when they've done something for you. Why are you so over-the-top excited, you idiot?" I sighed.
"Ehehe♡ Sorry, I can't help it! I'm a 65 IQ elf, after all♡"
...Seriously.
"So, what do you want to do with the oil and meat?" Elferis asked, still grinning ear to ear.
"Yeah, well... I'm a bit hungry after all that, so why don't you cook something?" I suggested.
"Yes! How about fried food?!" she chirped excitedly.
My eyes widened.
"Wait, you can make fried food?"
"Yes! I found some bread in our supplies, so I'll make breadcrumbs from that! And we have eggs too!" she said, brimming with excitement.
...Fried food.
I haven't had anything like that since I came to this world... and now I really want some.
"Please make it," I said, trying to contain my eagerness.
"Leave it to me!" Elferis said, absolutely beaming as she got to work.
Watching her, I noticed she was about to start cutting the meat.
"Hold on," I interrupted. "I'll cut the meat. You prepare the fire."
Her face froze for a second.
"What's up?" I asked.
"Oh, nothing! Thank you! I'm so happy♡ Ehehee♡"
What's with her?
"Ahhh, love is in the airrrr! Darling is showing me his love by helping me with the meal!♡" she exclaimed.
"I have no idea what you're talking about," I muttered.
"Well, you're helping me prepare the meal when you could have just let me do everything! That's love!" she said with an over-excited grin.
...Damn.
Now that she mentioned it, she was right. I could have just let her do everything.
"Well, if you'd prefer, I could leave it all to you," I said, slightly annoyed.
"No, no, it's fine! I'll handle the oil. I'm so grateful, 65 IQ elf reporting for duty!" she teased.
Soon, the oil was ready, and Elferis coated the toad meat in breadcrumbs.
"Now, let's fry it!" she said as she carefully lowered the breaded meat into the oil.
Ssssssssss…
The sound was music to my ears, and the smell... that sweet, tantalizing smell of frying oil filled the air.
"Almost done, Darling! Here you go, while it's still hot!" Elferis said, quickly plating the fried meat and handing it to me with a fork.
I pierced a piece of meat with the fork.
Crunch.
My eyes widened in shock.
The coating was incredibly crispy! This... this was going to be amazing. I could already tell.
"Here goes," I said, bringing the fork to my mouth.
Elferis gasped, tears forming in her eyes.
"Huh? What's wrong?" I asked.
"I'm... I'm just so happy," she said, her voice trembling.
"What? Why?" I asked, confused.
"You said 'here goes' before eating... You have no idea how much that means to me!" she cried.
Stop getting so emotional over every little thing, seriously.
Ignoring her dramatics, I bit into the fried meat.
Crunch!
The flavor exploded in my mouth—sweet, juicy oil mixed perfectly with the tender meat. It wasn't greasy at all. In fact, the balance was just right. The more I chewed, the more the flavors deepened, becoming richer.
It was... delicious.
"How is it?" Elferis asked, her eyes filled with hope.
"It's delicious," I admitted.
"Yay! I'm so glad you like it! Please eat as much as you want!" she said, practically bouncing with joy.
At that moment, her stomach growled loudly.
"A-Ahaha! Don't worry about me! This is all for you, Darling!" she said, looking a little embarrassed.
...Of course, she's hungry too.
I realized she hadn't eaten anything while I was scarfing down all the food.
"....."
Magical beasts' meat is usually poisonous... but I have a solution.
"Let's try this," I said as I prepared a bullet imbued with my skill.
"[Harmless], applied."
"Huh? Harmless?" Elferis asked, tilting her head.
I fired the bullet at the plate of fried meat, neutralizing the poison within.
'Interesting... This skill doesn't just grant resistance to poison like [Detox], it actually neutralizes the poison itself. Although, it seems it can't be used on cursed objects,' the sword spirit commented in my mind.
Now that the meat was safe to eat, I handed it to Elferis.
"Here," I said.
"Huh?" she blinked.
"Eat it. It's going to get cold," I said, a little impatient.
Her eyes widened, and tears began streaming down her face again.
"Wahhh! Thank you, Darling! I'm so happyyyy!"
She was crying and laughing at the same time, looking like an absolute fool.
"Darling gave me foooood! Waaaahhh!" she bawled.
"Just shut up and eat already," I grumbled.
"Y-Yes! I will!" she sniffled, biting into the fried meat.
Crunch!
"Mmm... it's so good... wahhhh... so delicious... wahhh..." she cried while smiling, tears of joy streaming down her face.
What a strange girl...
'To think you'd go as far as sharing your food with Elferis... You must really like her, hmm?' the sword spirit teased.
...Well.
'Hahaha! I'm a considerate sword, you know. I'll take a nap and leave you two lovebirds alone until morning!' it added.
...Shut up, stupid sword. Sleep forever if you want.
"It's so good, Darling!" Elferis said, still munching away.
"Yeah, it is," I replied.
"Eating with you makes it taste a million times better!♡" she said, beaming.
"Uh-huh, sure," I muttered.
We ate the entire fried toad together, enjoying the moment in silence. Once we finished, Elferis looked at me with a contented smile.
"See? Food tastes better when you share it with someone!" she said.
…She might be right.
Eating like this, with someone by my side, was... different. It was better than when I used to gnaw on raw meat alone.
Maybe... just maybe, I found a sense of peace eating with her.
"Yeah... It was good," I said, the words coming out more naturally than I expected.
Elferis grinned brightly, as usual.
"Ehehe♡"
No matter what I said, this fool would always smile like that.
So, if that's the case... maybe it's better to just be honest around her. It's easier that way.
Being with her... was comfortable.