Chương 59: Slice of Life (1)

Rowan's mouth immediately began to water from just the smell of food. Rushing over to where the group was gathered around the fire pit, sitting on logs, he saw Henry slowly stirring something in the pot. Once he was closer, he looked into the pot. Inside the pot were hunks of chopped-up meat and vegetables he didn't recognize, all boiling in water. Gritting his teeth as he realized that they had only just started to cook, Rowan sat down on one of the logs, watching the bearded man cook.

He didn't know if it was something about the meat or just his hunger and enhanced senses, but the meal smelled… he didn't even have the words to describe it. He was exhausted, but the promise of food in the near future was enough for him to stave it off. Glancing over at him, Henry looked over his new clothes.

"You look good. It's a good thing we had them; you wouldn't want to be wandering around naked, I assume?"

"That shirt fits you quite well, actually; you look good in it," Eren said.

"It's a bit of a strange style, but like Henry said, it's better than being naked." Rowan laughed and thanked them for the clothes. Then, he stretched and continued staring longingly at the still-cooking soup. After a few minutes of silence, Eren looked over at him from her place across the firepit.

"Hungry, huh?" Rowan nodded.

"How much longer do you think it'll be until it's done?" Eren shrugged, but a moment later, Henry responded.

"It'll be a while; I just started cooking." Doing his best to conceal his disappointment, he just smiled.

"It smells amazing." Henry raised his eyebrows in surprise.

"Really? This is pretty standard—oh, right. You've been surviving off of the rations the System gives, haven't you? Damn, that must've been tough. They aren't exactly bad, but to only eat them for so long?" The bald man shook his head and kept stirring the pot.

"The meats from the creatures around here are surprisingly good, so you'll be in for quite the treat. Apparently, the higher level the thing you get your meat from, the better it tastes. Interesting, no? I wonder how it works. I'll find out what it tastes like eventually, "He shrugged.

"I haven't had the opportunity to taste anything from the stronger beasts." At that moment, Cynthia, who'd been sitting quietly on one of the logs, leaped to her feet and wandered over to Rowan.

"Uncle Rowan!" She demanded, smiling brightly as she poked him in the leg, feeling his new clothes.

"Play with me!" Looking away from the soup, Henry scolded the little girl.

"Don't be like that, Cici. Ask nicely, okay?" Cynthia pouted a bit but still nodded before turning back to Rowan.

"Will you play with me?" Her adoptive father shot a look at her.

"Please?" Rowan laughed and began channeling his mana. He needed something to take his mind off the food, anyway.

"Alright. Give me a second, though." He'd made a butterfly last time, but this time, he wanted to try something different. With a thought, he began forming a wispy construct before him, shaping it into a small bird. It was done in a few seconds, but now, he had to figure out the wing movements. He couldn't just use the same ones as he'd done for the butterfly; that wouldn't look right at all. No, he needed to start from scratch. He made the construct flap its wings, adjusting it each time to look more real.

And, slowly, he was making progress. One flap at a time, it became more and more realistic, until it began to look almost like a real bird would fly. Still, the rest of the body remained static, so he would have to fix that—Cynthia poked him in the leg.

"Uncle Rowan!" She whined and kept poking him. This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. Rowan's eyes widened, and he quickly sent the bird chasing after her. He'd been so focused on making the bird that he'd completely forgotten why he was even doing it in the first place. Thankfully, Cynthia immediately forgot about it as she giggled, trying to knock the bird out of the air.

He watched her for a while before turning his attention back to the rest of the group, they were all staring at him. Henry let out a little laugh before returning to the soup, while Eren just smiled and shook her head. Looking away, Rowan hid his face and continued watching Cynthia. It was a bit embarrassing that he'd completely forgotten that she was waiting for the mana construct, but he was still getting used to not being the only person around.

But the little girl was adapting terrifyingly fast, dodging each of the bird's charges and destroying it over and over, even as it tried to flee. With a thought, he increased the speed of the mana construct and began having it feint and pull out of attacks. At first, it caught her off guard, and the bird got her a few times, but after a minute, she figured out its patterns once more. And so, the game went on.

Rowan would increase the speed and add to the maneuvers the bird would do, and Cynthia would adapt to them, one after another. Soon, he even began bringing back old moves that he'd stopped using to surprise her, but she would still figure out how to counter them. After a while, it began to look less like play and more like a fight. By now, the movements of the bird were so fast and sudden that it required most of his concentration, so much so that he didn't even notice when Henry called out that the food was ready.

Of course, though, Cynthia noticed, and she immediately stopped playing with the bird, running over to the fire without a second thought. Blinking in confusion, Rowan looked towards where she was running. Then, as he watched Henry scooping soup into crude wooden bowls with an even more crude wooden ladle, he understood what was happening. Immediately, his stomach began to growl once more as it remembered that there was food to be had.

Time had flown by, and as he clanced up, he realized that the sun was almost setting. Only another hour or so, and it would probably be dark. Once he had his bowl, he took a deep breath, clutching the wooden spoon he'd been given. Then, he began to eat. Once he'd started, he couldn't stop. It was just too good and, as Rowan began to really taste the flavors, he realized that meat and vegetables hadn't been the only things that the bearded man had put in the soup.

There was some kind of seasoning that he couldn't quite place the flavor of. All he knew was that it tasted exotic. And good. One spoonful after another, he scooped up all of the solid chunks. Then, once they were gone, Rowan brought the bowl to his lips. The broth may not have been as rich as that of the soups he'd had back on earth, but compared to what he'd been eating for the past weeks? It was divine. As he continued drinking, he realized something. The water had just been boiling.

And yet, while he could feel that it was warm, it didn't burn at all. After a moment of thought, though, he realized that it would be more concerning if hot water could hurt him now. Just then, he finished the bowl and, with a reluctant sigh, he brought it from his lips. Most of the party was occupied with their food, scarfing it down, but Henry had his bowl resting on his lap, watching Rowan with an amused smile.

"You know," The man said.

"I think that was the biggest compliment anyone has ever given me. Huh." Rowan raised an eyebrow.

"I didn't even say anything." His eyes widened, and he did everything in his power not to curse in front of Cynthia.

"Oh sh…I never said thank you, did I?" Henry smiled.

"Exactly." Then, with a sigh, he continued.

"I know you were probably so eager to eat because you've been eating System rations since you got here, but I'm going to pretend that I don't know that and assume you were so eager to eat because my cooking is just that good. It'll boost my ego a bit, y'know?

"Anyway, would you like seconds?" Rowan immediately perked up and began nodding enthusiastically. With a laugh, Henry gestured for Rowan to give him his bowl. Once he had it, he began to ladle out more soup. Then, with a smile, he passed it back to him. Looking down at the bowl of steaming goodness before him, Rowan was about to start eating once more before he stopped himself and looked towards Henry.

"Trust me, I would be just as enthusiastic about this meal even if I'd been eating like a king for the past month. Thank you." While there were hints of truth in it, it was still mostly a lie. The soup was good, a lot better than Rowan had ever imagined, but it still wasn't great. He knew it was probably due to limited ingredients and time, but he still wasn't going to tell the cook that. If he were being honest, he thought that Henry probably knew he wasn't telling the truth, but in the end, it didn't matter.

After all, the bald man was now smiling happily as he sipped from his bowl.