Chương 104: 101. Wait What?

Adolin watched as Eurynomos kneaded the bread dough. The estate's kitchen smelled of fresh bread, flour, and a few herbs and seeds. It was a big room that would usually be staffed by at least a few staff members, but now Eury had the kitchen all to himself. After Adolin's insistence that they needed fresh bread to conquer the dungeon, Eury had given up and started making a few batches. The first batch was made with rosemary and flaky salt. It was one of Adolin's favorite breads from his old world.

He didn't limit Eury for the rest of the batches. The boy had full control over them. Adolin quickly got bored watching the boy make bread, so he decided to look around the kitchen. He needed some other types of food to go with the bread. The first place he went was the storeroom attached to the kitchen. He needed to pick up a few jars of jam. The storeroom was larger than the room he had back at the first inn in Mith, the one that had scammed him out of his gold coins.

The room smelled of spices, as most of them were kept there. It took him some time to browse through the shelves. At one point, he even wondered if his scavenging run counted as stealing. He quickly gave up on that thought. They were guests in Ellen's estate, and guests had to eat! Near the end of the room, he finally found the jars filled with jam. There were at least thirty of them, all neatly stacked on the middle shelf. He quickly found his favorite one, the red berry one.

After a few seconds of deliberation, he decided that ten jars would be enough. He didn't really need to pack only for a few days. He could keep them in his inventory, along with the fresh bread, for whenever he felt hungry. Then, he got some butter, smoked meat, and a few other ingredients that caught his eye. As soon as he was done, he returned to the kitchen and watched Eury work. Well, he really was cheating the whole bread-making process.

The dough kneaded itself, the bread took itself out of the oven while the new batch entered it on its own. He just stood in the center of the room, occasionally adding the finishing touches as the seeds and nuts went onto the bread. He was basically running a whole bakery without moving from his little corner. Adolin kind of regretted taking the kitchen for themselves. If the staff were still inside the kitchen, Eury would have been forced to work harder and use his hands. Not whatever this was.

"Are you done yet?" Adolin asked. Eurynomos moved his finger, and the stove opened, a tray of baked bread floating out of it.

"Two more batches and we can go." Adolin frowned and went over to the table that held all the baked bread. One by one, he stored the breads that weren't too hot inside his inventory. He already had over thirty freshly baked breads in his inventory, kept in stasis, holding the same temperature and freshness. An hour later, Eurynomos was done, and all the bread was packed into their inventories, with Adolin keeping the majority.

"Can we go now?" Adolin asked. He had really gotten bored during the whole process, while Eury looked as if he had enjoyed himself quite a bit. It was strange watching the Demon King working with such… love and attention to detail? Had Eurynomos fallen in love with the art of bread making... baking? He didn't want to know and quickly cleared his thoughts. When they finally left the estate, most of the day had already passed, and the sun was beginning to set. Adolin glanced at Eurynomos.

"Well, we can always go tomorrow."

"We are going now. I didn't spend the last few hours baking so that you could skip your job."

"Umm… but it's already getting late. I don't want a kid to walk in the forest at night. It's just… It's really not responsible."

"Bastard! I'm not a kid!" Adolin tilted his head.

"Why are you still pretending? Have you seen yourself in a mirror?" As the Demon King was about to prove that he wasn't a kid, Adolin heard footsteps coming toward them and gave Eury a look to shut up. In a few moments, Clay stopped next to him.

"Going out?" Clay looked exhausted, with dark patches under his eyes.

"Something like that," Adolin said. Well, it really was awkward… or maybe he was making it awkward himself. He still wasn't sure how to introduce the freaking Demon King, or… how to act in front of him. Whatever he did, it just looked weird. If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it. Clay nodded slowly.

"You wouldn't mind if I joined? I really need to leave the estate for a bit." Adolin minded, quite a bit at that. Yet, looking at the state the boy was in, he found it hard to say no. Clay clearly needed to get as far away from Revel, and whoever else he'd gotten into a fight with, as possible. The problem was that Adolin would then be forced to learn what had happened in his party. He really wanted to remain ignorant of it. He also needed to find a way to justify his behavior around the white-haired boy…

the Demon King. His life really was hard. He should have stayed in his room for a whole week, or perhaps even more.

"Who's this?" Clay asked as he glanced toward Eury. Eury was about to open his mouth and spout something he really shouldn't have, so Adolin spoke first.

"A dumb stray I found…"

"A stray? You found?" Clay gave him a questioning look.

"Well, the boy looked… sad? Malnourished? And I couldn't allow him to stay… hungry anymore!" Yeah, he really wasn't sure what bullshit was coming out of his mouth, so he decided to end it there. Whatever else came to mind wasn't going to make the situation any better. It wasn't like Clay would remain ignorant for too long. Eury didn't seem like the type to enjoy hiding his powers, at least not for long, so the truth would eventually come out. That he was a weird one, just like Adolin himself… whatever.

Eurynomos chuckled and made himself look sad.

"Eurynomos," he introduced himself.

"Clay." They started walking toward the gate, with Clay continuing to tease Eury. The boy's mood had improved after leaving the estate. Well, it hadn't changed much, but at least the "don't talk to me" expression was gone. Clay hadn't even asked where they were going. He seemed to just want to be as far away from the estate as possible. The kitten was sleeping when Adolin went back to check on her, so he left her at the estate.

The little one was growing fast and needed food and sleep more than useless adventures in dungeons. Well, there was also the fact that… Eury was with him, and he didn't really want the brat teasing him about the kitten. It took them more than an hour to leave the city. The city was big, but since it was already night, most people were in their homes, making the journey much faster. He also heard the guards talking about some kind of illness, but he didn't learn anything useful. …

"Is it really smart to walk in the forest at this time?" Clay asked. The forest around them was completely dark, with only a meter or two visible in front of them. The more time they spent inside the forest, the less visibility they had.

"And bring a kid with us?" Clay added.

"Listen here, Clay! I'm not a kid, and I'm getting tired of you saying that I am!" Eury protested. Clay chuckled and tapped Eury on the head.

"Sure, sure." Adolin almost broke out laughing. It was really funny watching Clay treat Eurynomos like an ordinary kid. Well, it wasn't his fault. It just really was funny to him. If Clay knew the truth, or… when he learned the truth, Adolin was sure that Clay would be scared to approach Eury. Clay's mood had changed, and he looked more energized. The little excursion had already had a positive effect on him, which Adolin was glad to see.

Time passed slowly as they walked, and Eury gave him weird looks every few minutes. He looked rather bored. Adolin couldn't really blame him, as he himself had no clue why they were even walking. There was no real reason for it, except for… well, Clay didn't really know what else he could do. And after what he'd let Clay go through in the last dungeon they were in, he didn't really want to show his strength, at least not at the moment. Maybe after he had made it up to Clay… and taught him some skills, or something.

He still wasn't sure how he was going to make it up to the boy, but he would need to try his hardest. That was the best way he saw of righting his wrongs. He could always just apologize… Yeah, no. He would teach Clay a lot of skills that would double his strength. That sounded a lot better to him than a measly apology. It was also preparation for the job he'd already been hired for: teaching mages healing magic. He was quite certain he would be a bad teacher, a really bad one at that.

So this little exercise would allow him to adjust to it. Soon, it got much darker, and they could barely see in front of them. Adolin noticed that Eury was using a spell that allowed him to see in the dark and wasn't sharing it with them. He grumbled and cast Light. The spell illuminated everything within a hundred-meter radius with a bright white light. As soon as the spell was cast, Eury stumbled back, his hands covering his eyes. In moments, he tripped over a branch and stumbled to the ground.

"Bastard…" Clay rushed to Eury and helped the boy to his feet. He didn't let him go for a whole minute, checking for any injuries. Adolin just continued walking as if nothing had happened.

"Hey, Dareth. You could have at least warned the boy. Look at what you did to him," Clay said as he helped clean the dirt off Eury.

"My bad. I didn't think the boy would get scared of… light." More curses followed, which he ignored. It wasn't like he'd done anything wrong. All he'd done was light the way so that Clay would have an easier time navigating the forest. The journey toward the dungeon lasted more than four hours. Adolin even considered apologizing a few times, but… didn't. What was a few hours' walk? He thought. Eury had tried to return the favor by tripping him with his mana a few times. Yet, he didn't succeed, not even once.

As Adolin had already expected, he had taken a few precautions. Clay remained ignorant of their little squabble, at least Adolin hoped. Adolin thought about the dungeon and what they needed to do. He'd played around with the corrupted core a few times but hadn't managed to learn much from it. Now, somehow, he was supposed to help Eurynomos take control of a dungeon core that was still attached to the dungeon. How was he going to achieve that? He didn't have a single clue.

Hopefully, Eury had studied enough about how the process worked, or at least how it started. If not, they were just wasting their time.

"Here," Eury called out, pointing. They were currently climbing the mountain and, at the moment, were near the base. The area around them was full of trees, with a rock formation ahead that led toward one of the peaks. Eury was pointing toward the rock formation, a few meters to their left.

"Here?" Clay asked.

"Yes," Eurynomos said.

"You see the markings?" Adolin looked toward the spot Eury was pointing at. It was covered by branches that had been arranged into an X and tied to one of the rocks. Well, that was one way to mark a dungeon…

"The giant X?" Clay asked. Eury nodded proudly.

"There's no way to miss it!" Clay chuckled.

"That's true…"

"So, what am I looking at?" Clay asked. Eury stopped beneath the giant X, straightened his body, and looked slightly above them.

"My dungeon!"

"Wait… what?" Clay said. Now that Adolin thought about it, maybe they should have told Clay where they were going… because the boy didn't have the best kind of experience at the last dungeon…