As we started to make our way up the stairs towards the third floor, Patrick slowed down a little to talk in a hushed tone.

"I appreciate your not escalating the situation further down there," he said.

I looked at him strangely, because I did escalate the situation—not intentionally, but Crisplet very much was ready to protect me.

"I didn't really de-escalate that?" I said, confused.

"I mean you didn't include your other companion," he said, waving my comment away as we reached the third floor. Instead of turning left where the rooms were, we turned right, heading down the hallway.

"Oh, Lily. She'd likely only interrupt if my life was threatened, but with that guy, I feel like Crisplet would've been fine," I said, looking down at him in the brazier and getting a burst of sparks.

"I see. We don't get that often, and you can rest assured we'll deal with it. There's no need to seek your own retribution," Patrick said, almost sounding concerned.

Was he really worried I would take great offence to the actions and seek him out?

Was that normal?

"I try to avoid conflict where possible. I won't be seeking anyone out," I reassured him as we came to the end of the hall, which ended in three doorways—one on either wall and one leading into the end of the hallway itself, which had a double door.

"Through the double door there, we have a dining room and a kitchen. To the left, we have a small library, and on the right-hand side, we have a reading room that overlooks the city. It's a really nice room to relax in, but you're all welcome to use them at any time," he said.

Opening the double doors and revealing a large dining room, I was impressed, but Patrick carried on, opening the door to the next room across—and there was a giant kitchen at least the same size as the dining room itself.

"Wow," was all I could manage as I appreciated the size—and it never got used? What a waste.

It was easily as large as the temple's kitchen, and that was used to feed what felt like a hundred people.

Crisplet rapidly made his way to the oven that was built into the side wall, clearly inspecting it. With a chuckle, I made my way over to unload some wood so we could get started. Since Milo was going to be working on the cave, I went with treant wood to get the earth potency.

"Oh, sorry, Patrick—one more thing. Someone will be dropping off a large pot for me at some point. Is it okay to leave the silver with the counter to pay him?" I asked curiously.

"Unusual, but if you'd like to give it to me, I can go down and get it sorted. I might make it into a job so it awards the clerk who takes it experience," he said with a chuckle.

I took out three silver and a small handful of coppers. "The coppers are a tip for the delivery, or the clerk for holding it, or both—I don't mind."

Patrick just chuckled. "No problem. I'll instruct them to deliver it up here—"

Just as Patrick finished his last word, a pressure fell upon us. I was used to feeling this now, but clearly Patrick wasn't, as his eyes widened.

"It's just Lily, don't worry," I said, trying to reassure him.

"Well, I'd best leave you to your cooking, then," Patrick hurriedly blurted out before he practically ran out the door—even before Lily appeared.

Or at least I didn't think she had appeared yet, but I was wrong—she was just lying down in front of the oven flame.

She really is a stray alley cat in everything but size.

I started getting to work, since I had a lot of prep to do for this dinner—pulling a chopping board and knife as well as several bowls. I'd need to dice the onions, garlic grass, tomatoes, and all the chillies I had.

The store owner suggested the more the better to really penetrate the meat.

Once everything was chopped up and ready to go, I started pulling out the crabs. I'd had a demonstration from the owner on this as well, but as soon as I pulled them out, I noticed Lily's head turn to me.

"I'm making chilli crab," I said excitedly.

Then, taking a firm grip of the tab on the underside of the crab, I pulled up hard, and to my surprise the top shell came off easily. I put the juices inside in a bowl to the side. It looked disgusting, but I was assured that mixing it into the sauce really enhanced the flavour.

I did the same for the nine other crabs, then removed the "fingers", as the owner called them, from the inside—saying that they're not dangerous, but they have a very unpleasant taste and are incredibly chewy.

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

Then I found the largest knife I could in the kitchen; mine was clearly not going to be big enough, and attempted to cut the crab into quarters. I failed horribly—I couldn't even dent the shell.

"Uh, Lily, I don't suppose you'd be able to help me out for a moment?" I asked as she was very clearly pretending to sleep but had one eye half-open.

"I'm trying to cut these into quarters, like this." I showed her how I wanted it cut.

"But I don't think I have the strength to break the shell. Any chance you're able to?" I asked hopefully, and after she slowly moved over, with a quick swipe of her paw, the crab on the cutting board was quartered—along with the chopping board itself.

"That's almost perfect. Uh, for the next ones, try to keep the table intact," I said with a nervous chuckle, but Lily just tilted her head at me. It was only then that I noticed all the other crabs were also cut.

"Oh, thanks, Lily!" I said excitedly, though part of me was just waiting for the counter to collapse. At the very least, I'd need to replace that chopping board.

I tried to store it in my storage, only to find it wouldn't go.

"Oh, come on, System! That could totally be four small cutting boards! Or firewood!" I said into the void, storing it in my storage ring instead.

There was a soft squeak at the door that made me jump.

An absolutely terrified clerk, with her eyes glued on Lily—who was back lying on the floor in front of the fire—was holding an absolutely giant pot.

"Oh, I'm sorry—I didn't see you," I said, rushing over to her, where I took the pot from her hands. She didn't say anything, her eyes never leaving Lily, then quickly backed away, and the last thing I saw was her running out of the dining room.

Oh well, that could've gone better, but I have the pot—perfect timing!

I walked into the kitchen, looking around, and immediately ran into a problem…

There was no water source in here, only an empty barrel in the corner, and I didn't know where in the town to fill up. I could probably go downstairs and ask Milo, but I didn't want to interrupt him. That's when I caught sight of my finger… my ring… it purifies water, right?

I left the dining room, heading down the hall to my room. I had a plan, but I couldn't let anyone see me or they'd for sure make fun of me.

Slipping inside the room, I approached the bathtub and activated the water rune, watching as it filled. I filled the pot and then channelled mana into the ring to use the purity spell it gave me, and sure enough, the water glowed briefly before it returned to exactly how it looked before.

I shrugged, storing the pot of water so I didn't need to carry it back, then quickly made my way back to the kitchen.

Once I was in, I ran into my second problem: I needed to cook the vegetables off first and add the paste and spices before the crab, then lastly cover it in water. So, with a sigh, I pulled out my two other smaller pots and filled them both with the water, then put the last bit in several bowls I had.

Taking the pot to the fire, I added some suet to the bottom to get oil, first adding the chopped onions and stirring them to make sure they didn't burn.

Once they cooked down and started getting a nice golden-brown colour, I added the garlic grass and chilli, along with a peppery but tangy root plant I'd only seen Geo use, called ginger.

Once that cooked down, I added the bean paste—just a small amount—and was immediately struck by a very potent smell. I even considered using Purify on it in case it was toxic and the owner had tricked me, but he was adamant this was best.

I stirred it around for a little while, then added the tomatoes in. I didn't need to cook those for long before I added all the crab into the pot and, with a lot of difficulty, tried to coat them in the mixture. Next, I needed to add the juices from the inside of the crab, so I poured all of that in, and lastly I added the water—just enough to cover the crab.

I then ran into another small problem: I hadn't bought a lid for this pot. Placing it next to the fireplace, I looked inside.

"Crisplet, we need to seal the lid, but it shouldn't take long to cook once it's boiling," I said excitedly, and got a burst of sparks as a result.

At this stage, Lily was sitting next to me, observing the pot.

And since this wouldn't take very long to cook, I also stood there waiting.

In total, it only took about fifteen minutes before Crisplet gave me the burst of sparks, and the covering that had been made for the pot faded away. A large steam cloud escaped as soon as it opened and filled the room with the most amazing aroma. It was fishy, but there was a spice there as well. I couldn't wait to try it, but I had one more thing to do.

Next, I pulled out the root starch that I used to thicken stews and, after mixing it with the tiny bit of water I had left over, added it to the sauce while Crisplet kept the pot at a simmer. Over the minute I stirred it, it quickly thickened up.

What surprised me were the crabs—they went from a dark green to an incredibly bright blue. How did that even happen?

I took a spoon from storage and tasted the sauce. It was incredible! But I wanted to spice it up just a little more. I knew the Pyrrhosite salt has a spice element to it, and, now knowing I could purify the dish after adding it as a safety precaution, it could be eaten. On top of that, I added some Fire Salt. Buff-wise it wouldn't add anything to the dish, but it might have some synergies I hadn't seen yet.

Finally, after removing the pot from the heat, I brought it over to the counter, Lily following behind me the whole way. I first cast Purify on it, then I infused it. Immediately, even before I'd eaten it, I knew what the buffs of the dish were—and I was right: there were synergies from the Fire Salts.

[Rare] Smoky Chilli Razor Crab.

Fire immunity.

Major earth magic potency.

+7 Endurance

+2 Charisma

+4 Willpower

+1 Luck

Minor Fire Conjuration.

Hardened Carapace.

I took a large bowl for Lily and took out eight of the quarters, which filled the bowl, then scooped in some of the sauce to go with it, before placing it on the ground in front of her.

I was really curious how she would like it. She sniffed it tentatively, and it wasn't until too late that I realised there was one major flaw in my plan here: Lily had no way to get the meat out of the crab shells.

I was just about to take it back when she took the shell in her mouth, and there was a loud crunch before she went back for seconds—and thirds—and in what felt like seconds the whole bowl was empty.

Even going as far as to look at me with what I swear were sad eyes.

"If I give you more now, you won't have any left tonight when we're all eating," I said.

This seemed to pacify her, so she went back to the fire, where there must have been a conversation with Crisplet, as some embers and sparks were sent off, before she went back to sleep in front of the fire.

I stored the rest to keep it hot. I was incredibly happy with what I'd made and waited for everyone else to show up from their chores for the day.

Next chapter will be updated first on this website. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.