Poison-Wielding Fugitive   Chapter 55
The miasma crept in as we ascended the mountain.
It’s pretty much nothing to us, but I guess miasma gathers just about anywhere.

‘Thou and I suffer not, but it is enough to be suffocating for low-level adventurers.’

The thicker the miasma gets, the stronger it makes me as well.
We finally reach a tunnel… or is it a mineshaft?

“We have reached the dungeon. The miasma gets quite dense, so be alert.”
“Yes, but don’t worry about us; we are quite resilient against miasma,” Arleaf responds to Celes.

“Even better, then.”

As she says that, we hear a growl… from Muu.

“Muuu…”

Muu places a hand on its stem and makes a hungry-looking expression.
Good timing though, since we haven’t gone in the dungeon yet.

“Shall we stop for lunch?”
“Good idea. Can’t fight on an empty stomach, right?”
“Agreed.”
“Muu!”

With a unanimous decision, we began to prepare lunch.
Incidentally, in our party, I’m usually the one in charge of cooking.
It goes without saying it wouldn’t be Arleaf and Muu isn’t capable of something like cooking.
We pick whatever herbs and wild vegetables we can find and get meat from a market or monsters.
Veno also stores water for me, so we’re almost always prepared.

As I take my tools and utensils out, Arleaf lights up some firewood and adjusts the fire.
Since her magic is a lot more powerful now, she can easily cast flames for a length of time.
On our way to Lif’el, Veno helped Arleaf with magic practice and training.
It’s very handy for cooking.
Oh, and this is our first time cooking outdoors since we’ve been on this trip; we’d always found villages to stop for meals.

“Hmm, I would like to assist with the cooking, but it seems like you have everything covered…”

Celes looks at Arleaf.

“Umm… Yukihisa is quite good at cooking, so I tend the fire.”
“Muu!”

It’s a sensitive topic with her food being Poison Cooking and all.

“You’re a lot stronger than us, Celes, so we’ll be counting on you in battle. Take it easy for now.”
“But…”
“No buts. We all have our roles to play. I’m not planning to make anything complicated anyway.”

I take out my skillet and preheat it on the fire. The meat looks just about ready. I’ve had it soaking in Mollifying Poison.
Soak it for too long and it just dissolves, so you have to keep an eye on it.
Veno?

‘Understood.’

Veno causes a bucket with Mollifying Poison to appear.
I take out the meat from the bucket and check it over.
Mm, perfectly tender.

It gets boring having perfectly-marbled meat, so I adjust how soft it gets.
It’s a good medium today.
They sell all kinds of meats in Lif’el, so it goes without saying that I have to check the meat every single time.

The results of my research indicate improvement every time, even if soaked for a little while.
Heat kills off the poison, so there’s no reason not to cook it up.
… it reminds me of something though.

‘Speaking of which, forget not thine experiment with fish.’

Oh, that’s right.
I got my hands on some oddly tough fish, so I soaked that too.
Should I cook it too? It might dissolve if I keep it any longer.

‘Understood.’

Veno pops the fish out.

“You have all sorts of things stored up by magic, Cohgray.”
“Yeah.”
“But it is not such a simple magic…”
“There’s a knack to everything. I’ve actually learned it when I was little.”

I’m used too used to lying.
There’s a knack to that too, I guess.

“Hmm…”

Oh? The fillet is all jiggly.
It seems like it would be good sliced raw… but of course, Arleaf and them wouldn’t be able to eat it.

But, hmm… this tenderness reminds me of something.
I’ll slice it thin and try grilling it on a stick.
Oh, got it. I know what it’s like. It’s like skin-on eel.
Let’s try preparing it like that then.

I get some of vegetable soup cooking and place the grilled eel above the pot to steam it.
It’ll be hard to make a soy sauce seasoning for it… so I got some ketchup-like condiment and mixed it with some grease from the faux-marbled steak. It doesn’t quite taste like an eel sauce, but I slather some on anyway.
Oh, and naturally, I have some plain ones with just salt.

“How skilled of you, Cohgray. It smells fantastic.”
“Just the finishing touches now.”

With that, the pseudo-eel grilled by a fire built by Arleaf is completed.
We have false well-marbled steak, pseudo-eel, and a vegetable soup for today’s meal.
We only have some bread from the village for our carbs though.

“Alright, dig in, everyone.”
“Thanks for cooking.”
“Muu!”
“Much appreciated.”

I divvied it up for everyone then helped myself.
And now, time to say grace.
I’ve heard Arleaf pray ever since I came here, so I have a pretty good grasp on what she says.
She’s probably doing it now too, but she barely whispers it out loud.

“O Mother Tree, today we are blessed by this bountiful meal. We shall eat and be nourished, wasting none of Your grace.”
‘…’

That sounds familiar.

‘It is a prayer to the Sacred Yggdrasil.’

Oh, and Arleaf’s family prays to you, Veno, eh?
Should we be worried?

‘Thou needn’t be. Our enemies are not necessarily the followers of the Teachings of the Sacred Yggdrasil, but rather, Saint Yggdra.’