32
“I want to cook something for you tonight, Leon,” Ruri said out of the blue as they stepped out of the tailor’s shop.
Huh? That caught Leon off guard. Did Ruri secretly have MAX-level cooking skills?
They headed straight to the market next—
“What dishes can you make, Ruri?” Leon asked.
Ruri gave a mischievous smile. “Everything, or nothing at all.”
Only someone truly masterful in the kitchen would say that.
“What would you like to eat, Leon?”
“Well… Naya won’t touch bell peppers, and Aile refuses anything tentacle-related.”
Ruri nodded knowingly. “Something everyone can share.” She pointed at some lumpy brown tubers. “What’s that?”
“Potatoes!!”
“Raw ones are this hard? I’ve only seen them soft and mashed. Let’s get two.”
Leon’s worries about dinner began to grow.
“We’ll need meat too. Balance is key.” Ruri pointed at beef at a butcher’s stall. The vendor promptly sliced off a hefty chunk for her.
“Those red lumps look like potatoes. What if we boil them together? Let’s try.” She skipped past the meat stall and grabbed two carrots.
Then she paused at a wine seller’s cart. “I heard Druids grow powerful by drinking wine—the blood of nature itself. If I add wine to the food, will it grow stronger too?” She picked an expensive bottle—five silver coins.
Leon followed silently, just paying. Ruri moved like she was in a chemistry lab.
Leon’s worries about dinner doubled.
They also bought salt and spices before heading home.
A purple cat sat on their doorstep.
Leon locked eyes with it for a moment. “You’re Anya, right?”
*Poof!* The cat on the stone steps became a girl sitting on the stone steps.
“Hello, Leon! Everyone’s calling you the Hero who saved the continent now! And congrats on your team’s promotion to two-star rank,” said Anya, the Druid girl.
“Ah, that was only after defeating your teacher. How did you find this place?”
“Tracking skills. I was a hunter before joining the Druidic Faith.” Anya’s wide eyes flicked between him and Ruri. “I thought your girlfriend was that silver-haired Priestess…”
“Naya *is* my girlfriend. Come inside—we can talk.”
Anya hopped aside lightly and followed them in. Back in the living room, Ruri poured tea for Leon first.
“Ruri will prepare dinner.” She bowed like a maid, then carried the bag of mismatched ingredients into the kitchen. Leon didn’t dare peek inside.
Anya watched her leave, astonishment clear in her gaze—*So this is the Hero’s power… training his teammates to this level?*
Leon and Anya sat facing each other. The girl seemed oddly tense—had Ruri’s behavior sparked some misunderstanding? The air grew thick with awkwardness.
After a long silence, Leon broke it. “I’m sorry about your teacher. I had no choice but to stop him.”
“I-it’s fine. I know he wanted to tear the continent apart. As the Hero, it was your duty…”
*Bang!* The front door flew open! Aile stormed in, fuming. “I can’t believe his claws reached Dawn City too!!!”
“Leon.” Naya rushed in behind her and buried herself in his arms. “Sorry to keep you waiting.”
“Who was Aile talking about?”
“The Roaring Mountain Town clerk—the Integrationist heretic we met? He quit his post. Now he’s preaching the ‘Seven Gods Theory,’ claiming Aio is just one form of a single deity.” Aile slammed herself into a chair, still seething.
“He dared say that *here*?”
“He even lumped the Mercurial Deity in as one of the seven forms,” Naya added worriedly. “Back then, the Angelic Faith would’ve burned him alive for that.”
“How dare he compare Aio to that demon Mercurial!” Aile snapped.
“Do people actually believe him?” Leon asked.
“The smaller, struggling sects are willing to listen,” Naya explained. “Even the defeated Angelic Faith has accepted it. After Aile performed Aio’s miracle before over four hundred adventurers, his followers multiplied tenfold overnight. Now he’s the dominant god—and a huge threat. The Seven Gods Sect’s theory weakens Aio’s divinity.”
The Aio Faith declared Aio the One True God.
The Seven Gods Sect claimed Aio was merely one facet of a greater deity.
A brutal holy war seemed inevitable if the sect grew stronger.
“At least that fearmonger’s locked up by the Second Prince now! Next time, I’ll ask when they’ll execute him.” Only then did Aile notice Anya sitting across from Leon.
“Huh? You’re—”
“I’m Anya.” *So the Hero lives with three girls…* she thought.
“I thought it was Ruri. Where is she?” Aile asked.
“Cooking dinner,” Leon replied.
*Ruri… can cook…?* A trace of surprise flickered across Naya’s face.
“Just serve whatever she makes. I haven’t eaten all day—I’m too angry to be hungry,” Aile grumbled.
“So, Anya,” Naya said, resting a hand on Leon’s arm, “what quest brings you to our Hero?”
“We don’t take jobs that aren’t world-saving or history-shaking,” Aile joked.
“It’s… like this! My teacher, the Archdruid, was a good man once. Everything changed after he entered the Murmuring Forest. The power he gained twisted his mind.”
“Your teacher was possessed by a wolf skeleton,” Leon said.
“A wolf-shaped demon, more like!” Aile crossed her arms. “After seeing the Mercurial Deity’s true form, nothing surprises me.”
“Anyway… I’m begging you to take me to the Murmuring Forest! He received ‘flesh of Nature’s Will’ there. I need to know what that truly means—what it *is*.” Anya clasped her hands together. “Please!”
“Did your Four Disciples also drink that ‘blood of nature’s essence’—the wine?”
“The wine he brought back from the forest… it’s more like blood that resembles wine.”
“What do you think, Leon?” Naya asked. “The Murmuring Forest lies beyond the Eilant Outskirts.”
“It’s quite a journey,” Leon said with a faint smile. “But I’m curious. To conquer Eilant—the heart of the continent—we’d have to cross that forest anyway.”
To be continued.
