Chương 46: Chapter 45: Bits and Bobs

The cooking staff was more or less destroyed. There were few actual cooks now, and in the words of Cook himself, the waiting staff wouldn't be trusted to so much as hold a pan without bludgeoning themselves to death. The Retainers and Guards, along with most of the fighters in that battle, weren't allowed in the kitchen, so that left three intact people apart from myself and Gelidia, and of course, Cook himself. The pantry was out of the picture - apart from a few herbs and spices, what we had was what we had.

"Things are dire, but we're not sunk yet." Cook growled.

"Good news is, I know just the dish." he said, and set to work immediately. Taking the potatorr chunks, he started laying them out in pans as he got other people going on dishes and cleaning the surfaces, leaving he and I to work.

"Mmm. Ever make potato gnocchi, girl?" he asked me as I followed him, and at a shake of my head, he grinned a little"Well, today you learn. Heat that oven, girl, up to four bobs." and at my blank look, he gave a deep sigh and moved to the stove, motioning me over. He pointed at the rune on his stove, and used his thumb to brush off dust and grime from what turned out to be a bit of metal inscribed in the stone into which the rune was set.

Come to think of it, even at the stove in the Inn there had been those markings, or something like them, I thought. I could see there were six distinct segments of the metal semicircle. He pointed at one and explained it.

"This is a bob or an abacus or a tick. Each full chamber is about a hundred Hetzels." he said, and paused as Gelidia said"She is a Riftwalker, Cook. Would you mind explaining a Hetzel?" she said, and Cook glanced at her, then at me, before nodding as if suddenly everything made perfect sense to him. With good grace despite his clear and perpetual grumpy mood, he nodded.

"Two hundred Hetzels will boil water. At four bobs, it'll bring it to four hundred Hetzels, which will bake these potatorr chunks up a treat. You know how to operate the rune, girl?" he said, and at my nod, he squinted at me and said"Then show me." Once again, Wolf stepped aside a bit to let me do something a bit more delicate with my mana, such as remained.

I was surprised to see it had recovered a bit, but I shouldn't have been - my Samu skill made recovering mana a fair bit quicker as long as I was meditating or doing something with my hands. I pressed one of my digits against the rune, and concentrated, pushing some of my recovered mana into it.

"Now see here - look, see that line as the metal in the bobs warms up?" and I looked closely. I could see a change in the color of the grayish metal as it turned green a little, and like a bottle filling up it began to climb on the bobs themselves as I put more mana into it. I nodded.

"You get a feel for it if you use it a lot - I can see you've used it a fair bit. Artifices like this allow us to control the heat of a flame very closely and quite easily. That precision and its kin are the doorway to mastery of cooking skills" he explained, and I tilted my head this way and that as I drank that in. The devil was in the details, right? Made sense. I nodded, and filled four of the bobs precisely. At his approving nod, he and I started arranging potatorr bits on cooking trays.

"For this bit, bake 'em, don't boil em'." he said, and started stabbing the bits with a knife.

"We don't need more moisture in them or we wind up wasting flour and you get shitty gnocchi. Puncture em' like this, so they don't blow up in the oven." he said, and with my claws, I carefully poked holes in the potato bits. Between us, we filled sheet after sheet after sheet with potatoes prepared just so, making sure each and every one were cleaned just so as one guy went around filling the oven rune's bobs to four as Cook had instructed.

By the time we were done, we had sixteen sheets of bits all prepared, and the six of us - Cook, Gelidia, myself, and the three sub-chefs, put them into the oven.

"Don't put em in on the sheets, put em on the grates themselves" he said"Keeps em from getting a brown over-cooked spot on the bottom." he explained, and we did so. Tail wagging, I placed each piece as far back as I could, lining them up carefully as Cook did the same.

"Next is sauce. We'll be makin' some pesto sauce for this." Cook said, and I blinked. What the HECK was Pesto? I tilted my head and he grinned at my expression.

"It's a green sauce made with Basil leaves and-" got no further.

"We don't have any basil. What we had is... well..." one of the cooks said, and held up a sad bunch of brown twigs. Cook looked like somebody had struck him, and scowled, going red in the face. As that was happening though, my ears perked up on my head as my Cookery skill gave me an idea. I looked to Gelidia and cupped my muzzle a moment, making an arrrarr noise. She blinked, then, smiling, I felt her energy push into me, giving me the gift of speech once again. I worked my jaw a moment.

"Cook, I have an idea. Tasty greens, right? We could use Queenslace leaves - they're tasty, sort-of sweet and pungent, and I know where to find wild sage too" I said, and Cook's eyes went a bit distant as he considered it. He licked his lips and frowned a little.

"Flavor a little strong for a good pesto... but. Can you find some mint too?" he asked, and wagging my tail, I nodded. He grinned broadly.

"We can work with that." Cook said, and turned to Gelidia.

"Girl, take one of my cooks here with you with a couple'a baskets. Fill'um up - we need a lot. Queenslace is strong so get me lots of sage and mint too. Hop to it." he said, and the cook assigned to us opened a pantry for a couple baskets that looked more or less intact. One he handed to me, one he kept for himself, but Gelidia accepted the basket from my paws easily. Then, at a brisk pace, we set off and headed for the exit of the dungeon.

Roxala was waiting a few feet down the hall with Torch and Fel, and the three of them stood up straight as we approached.

"Hey Goldie! What's the situation?" she asked, and still with the gift of speech, I spoke.

"We're going to gather herbs for some pesto, some kind of green sauce." I said, and the three of them looked at each other. Fel nodded at that.

"I've had it - basil grows on the coastline, but that's miles away. What are you using instead?" he asked, and waggling my tail, I looked at Gelidia a moment as I said"Queenslace leaves, sage, and mint." and Fel looked a little dubious. Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

"Queenslace is poisonous, isn't it?" He said, and I shook my head.

"Bitterlace is. Its stems grow taller than queenslace, and they have little purple splotches on them. Also, they smell like mouse doings." I explained. Fel blinked at me, and chuckled.

"Alright then" Fel said with a grin.

"What should we do?" he asked, and wagging my tail, Gelidia nodded at the group.

"Come along and help - we shouldn't split the party if we can avoid it. Will that reset the instance?" she asked, looking to Fel. Fel frowned, and nodded.

"It would. But if you come back in, you'll return to this instance. Even so, we should go wait in the Dive room. Also, Goldtail - it's daylight outside, I'm sure of it. I'm almost certain you will be forced to change back, and return to this form when you return." he said, clearly concerned for me. Wow, that.. was a lot. I'd never shapeshifted that often before, and given how hard it was on me, I don't figure that was a great idea. But waht choice did I have? Besides...

Roxala said I needed to test things to understand what effect they would have on me, right? Also, a chance to grind my Lycanthropic Transformation skill. So, after that moment's thought to consider it, I shrugged.

"I don't know what will happen, but I guess we'll have to find out." I said, and Roxala grunted, getting it. She clapped my shoulder firmly, nodding in her approval.

"We'll follow you into the Dive room. Torch?" Roxala said, and the Scout looked to her.

"Eyes up. Any boogity boos jump us and I want to know about it before they get to us." she said, and the man nodded, grinning.

"Actually I'd like to go with her when she goes - a bit of herb lore would make long distance travels easier, and Goldie here seems to know a thing or two." he said. Roxala, following along with the cook, Gelidia and I closely, nodded.

"Fine. Be quick about it, hear?" she commanded, and the Scout nodded mutely at that, taking the chance to walk hand in hand with Fel as he went, eyes scanning every door we passed on the way out. The delve room was unchanged, except for the pantry set just outside the broken gateway, quiescent without mana to sup off of. As we moved towards the doorway, Gelidia put a hand on the cook's shoulder and stopped him from following me as the others lingered near the hawk statues on the steps.

"She will change shape - it's nothing to watch. Wait here until she's done doing so." I heard her saying, and... approached the edge of the dungeon, the gate through which we'd strode. It was bright on the other side, I could see the sun, but I wasn't being warmed by it. Funny, that - in here it was probably something like ten at night, but on that side? Probably more like noon! I hesitated... I didn't feel any warnings in my body at all, but... that made sense. Magic portal, right? This was a dungeon.

It didn't need to behave like normal. WHY ARE YOU SCARED? We're about to change shape, I think. ALRIGHT. I AM WITH YOU. my wolf said, and I felt almost like she brushed against my mental perceptions as she made her way towards the mirror in our mind. With a sigh and a final test of my resolve, I stepped into the light. Dawn has lifted and the curse is broken... for now and I of course saw the sleepy bat nestled in the barn once again as my body flushed and I buckled a little.

It felt like somebody had socked me in the gut as the wolf pressed into the mirror and my body began to steam and shrink rapidly, flesh shifting and tingles flooding my body. When I next had thoughts that were coherent, I was on my knees, droplets of sweat hitting the flagstones beneath me as the change washed over me. I hurt - man alive did I ache. I'd changed several times today at least, and I could feel how much it was taking out of me to do so, but... I'd made it.

Steaming, I fought my way to my feet, my bare body glistening with sweat, my muscles all tense and hard from cramping up so much. Gelidia was there beside me, rising and halfway reaching out towards me before hesitating at touching me. Tears streaked my cheeks, and I was still covered in blood, but little else, but she offered my tunic-dress towards me meekly, and my moccasins.

I accepted them, and before I felt fully comfortable, the rough fabric and leather feeling scratchy on my skin, I struggled into them awkwardly.

"That... looked like a bad one. Are you well?" Gelidia asked, and I wiped my cheeks as tears flowed out of my control. Had I been actually crying? I felt stuffed up, and snurfed a bit, but nodded at her. She pulled me quite gently into her arms and held me a moment, and I just held on for several seconds. I was shaking, but something in me told me... I probably shouldn't change again for a while. She pet my head carefully, and kissed my brow and my cheeks, wicking away my tears as I calmed down. Ow. Even so...

I felt the world waiting patiently for me to notice a couple notifications. The first was unexpected. Your [LIFE] Cookery skill has improved, and is eligible for rank up! Rank B costs 2 peasant class skill points! Oh yeah! I sank the points into it without a thought - sure something else might have been more useful, but heck with it - this skill gave BUFFS! I gleefully looked at the new description with eager anticipation! [LIFE] Cookery rank B: 0% - The ability to cook hearty and delicious meals.

Dishes you cook give substantial buffs, last longer, and ingredients go further than before. But that wasn't the only bit of good news! Your [MONSTER] Lycanthropic Transformation skill has improved, and is eligible for rank up! Rank B costs 2 Lycanthrope class skill points! YES! Heck yeah! Wolf and I cheered up considerably, and she got up from the floor on the other side of the mirror in our mindscape and shook off, giving happy tippy-taps!

I couldn't help but laugh a little at how ragged and tired but SO HAPPY she looked! Chuckling, I eagerly sank the points into the skill as firmly as I could, and read the new description. [MONSTER] Lycanthropic Transformation, Rank B: 0% - Your mastery of your cursed body grows each night! Changing between forms is even easier, and though you can change at night into your hybrid form, you are now only forced to change during the night of and the three surrounding the full moon. That was... huge!

It changed everything - and had been well worth the wait. Now it would be a while before I could upgrade my Transformation again, so maybe it was time to think about how to spend points otherwise? Bestial Might was my next skill that I wanted to upgrade, I figured. I had one single Lycanthrope skill point left, after all! Next level, I'd bring that to B as well. Regardless, I didn't feel as terrible. Maybe it was the rank up, maybe it was the hug, but I felt a lot better and nuzzled Gelidia, smiling at her.

"Are you well?" I nodded again, even if she'd asked the question of me twice now. I kissed her gently, and reluctantly broke the embrace with her.

"I'll be just fine - we better get moving. Would you... mind getting the cook for me?" I asked, and she blinked at me, then seemed to remember herself.

"OH. Right - I'll go get him." she said, and moved back into the dungeon to call to him. The man came out and locked eyes on me immediately. I could see his confusion at seeing a human woman instead of the beast, as if he hadn't known or believed I was a werewolf, but I paid him little mind - just moved to the large wooden pantry with the carvings and inscriptions that looked a lot less foreboding in the daylight. Hands on hips, I thought about how to move it and decided...

heck with it, and just physically lifted the thing up. It was heavy, made of solid oak and metal, but... well, I was me. Muscles strained and the cook, still staring, went pop eyed as what looked like a peasant girl just... HUP! Picked up a four hundred pound piece of furniture like it was a sack of potatoes and slung it onto her shoulder easily. I turned to him, and winked once.

The man, terrorized thoroughly by this, immediately tore his eyes away and if I didn't have my senses, I'd have missed the soft ' World preserve me!' he muttered. Gelidia, already back at my side, motioned for him to follow. He did so, nervous as he was, and the three of us (and the pantry!) set off towards the Inn, and then, for the woods.