Chapter 366 Exploring Farther Territories

-----

After the food was ready, we decided to quickly eat to continue our journey. We sat around the fire and I shared a plate of stew and a slice of bread with everybody, while also giving the Magic Juice made out of Apul, this way their MP will also restore quickly.

As always, these kids seemed to over exaggerate about my cooking.

"Hmmmm~! Ahh! So tasty!" Erika sighed, as her eyes shone brightly. "Blake's food is always such a tasty treat! I don't know how he does it but it always feels so nice to eat his food!"

"Yeah, you're right, all my tension and stress is gone with a few spoons of this awesome stew." Erdrich added.

"He might be a bit pushy or ruthless sometimes, but he sure loves cooking if his food is always so tasty." Laughed Chris.

"Yeah, it was really shocking to know he had such an amazing talent at it." Eric added. "I love his food as well, he cooks better than my aunt!"

"I-I've never eaten stew this tasty before, the meat is so soft as well as the potatoes and carrots were well boiled…" Said Elizabeth. "It is a magnificent meal, and the juice and bread go well with it! Blake, you would make an incredible husband!"

"I want seconds!" Erika said, as she had already finished her plate. "Blake's going to be my husband so he'll make yummy food for me every day after we get married! And then we'll have lots of kids!" Erika began to daydream and spoke out whatever she had in mind.

"What sort of weird fantasy are you even talking about?" I sighed. Well, she was young so I guess it is only natural to have such weird thoughts sometimes, they're quite childish. "Erika if you don't behave I won't give you seconds."

Erika's smile quickly transformed into a gloomy and depressed expression.

"Sorryyyy…" She began to apologize while lowering her head.

"Sigh… What am I going to do with you?" I sighed, quickly serving her more stew, this time I added more vegetables. "Also eat the carrots and onions, they're nutrition even for your body."

Her body is capable of absorbing nutrition and transform it into Mana, but I have also noticed that nutrients, vitamins, and all of that is also absorbed into her "living wood body" and therefore it makes her healthy as well. Vegetables in specific have more of this than meat which has protein, something her body doesn't require as much as our fleshy bodies.

"Here."

"Uwah, thanks!"

Erika quickly began to dig in again, as everyone had also finished their plates.

"Seconds, please!" They almost said in unison.

"Sigh… Can you let me eat? You eat way too fast." I said, quickly serving them more before I was finally able to eat myself. They ate faster than what their size and ages could say about them.

I had tasted my own cooking as well, and it was rather alright. It wasn't anything insane as they said. Probably because they had never tasted many delicious things before, they believe what I made to be something of high-ranking cuisine. The ability of the [Cooking] Skill is the one enhancing flavor and nutritional intake, while also granting food I made some sort of healing effect, although it is not as immediate or effective as actual healing items.

When we finished eating things, we packed everything up and decided to move on at long last. Everyone was better than before. The hunt we did was intense and they all wanted to go back home due to their exhaustion but eating some of my food and then drinking Magic Juice to recover their MP faster was all it was needed to heal their exhaustion.

"It seems that my lord's cooking is very effective at healing exhaustion." Eleanora pointed out, sitting over my shoulders in her Blood Bat Form, which was small and unexplainably fluffy looking.

"Yes, I suppose." I sighed.

I had sent three Huginn and two Falcos to scout the area before us while we were having lunch, and through my ability to share my vision with them, I was able to explore more the surrounding lands of the "Miasmic Swamps" as I've called them. It appears that there are several presences surrounding us around fifty meters away from us, so if we move forward, we'll definitely fight another group of monsters.

Which means more EXP!

…However, aside from my joy of earning tons of EXP and Leveling Up, there's another thing to all of this, the mystery. There is certainly someone controlling these monsters. I was already able to tell due to how well coordinated the Demonic Gray Wolves were. The Alpha seemed to be controlled by something else as well.

And doesn't this all seems… rather artificial? As I saw the entire area from the skies using my Familiars, I realized the entire swamp was made into a specific circular shape, with large black pillars made of what seem to be black crystal forming some sort of cycle.

Is someone behind this? Certainly, monsters alone can't do something so complex. Demons, maybe? I feel so much Demonic Energy everywhere that it is rather hard to guess if they're demons or just demonic beasts.

Oh well, we'll find out as we get closer to the swamps.

"Ugh, the smell is getting rather strong around here." Erika pointed out.

We had been walking for roughly half an hour by now, and we had reached even deeper into the swamp woods. The miasma was releasing a toxic fog which was harmful for most people. If it wasn't thanks to everyone having mastered Ki to enhance their physical abilities to resist basic poisons and toxins, everyone would already be unconscious. And of course, Erika is immune to these sorts of toxins anyways.

"Yeah, that's right…" Chris said.

"W-We should really go back home now…" Eric seemed scared.

"Come on, don't be such a chicken!" Said Chris.

"Ah… I can feel something approaching." Elizabeth stopped the group from talking any longer, as the bushes surrounding us began to shake.

-----