That night, we stopped near the crossroads. Hari said the army would almost always veer off here and head southwest—but Portland was directly south. Our plan was to head to Portland first, gather some information, and then, if needed, swing west to intercept them.

But the more important thing tonight… was dinner.

Or rather, how I was going to cook two giant Galvonson wings.

I'd already explained my plan to both Milo and Crisplet, who insisted on helping build the setup. Crisplet added his own ash structure to the stone oven Milo was forming. The end result was a massive, fireproof oven lined with Crisplet's ash and reinforced by Milo's stonework.

The inside looked… dangerous.

Crisplet was already assembling something within it when I arrived.

I provided wood scraps for fuel—going with a mix of Treant and regular wood. Crisplet immediately arranged them where he felt they were needed.

Next came the wings.

I had two, and they were massive—each one easily larger than my torso.

I'd seen a few recipes for chicken wings in the book. They usually included a mixture of herbs and spices, sometimes fire salts, or a good fry-up in oil. But these were far too large for that.

And I wanted flavour. Something that would soak into the meat.

I stood staring at the wings, lost in thought, when Liane appeared beside me. Expected, to be honest. I'd also half-expected Lily to be here already, staring at them.

"Something wrong?" Liane asked after a moment.

"No, nothing wrong. I just don't know what to put with it…" I sighed.

"What about that special honey?" she suggested.

"We don't know anything about it, honestly. None of us have even tried it to see if it's safe," I replied.

"I'll try it!" she said immediately, grinning.

"I know you would—but you didn't see what I saw. It was glowing as bright, if not brighter, than the crystal salt vein."

"Interesting…" she murmured. "It's fine. I won't risk it tonight. But we do need to try it at some point. And I can burn my mana quickly if something goes wrong," she offered.

"Right, back to the wings… I've got plenty of salt and pepper, but not enough oil to coat them."

"You don't need to cover the whole thing, do you?" Liane asked. "The top—the skin side—is what really crisps up, right? So just use a thin coat on that side. And pack flavour in with strong ingredients."

She paused, then added, "Like you did with the drake—those pockets of onions and Garlic Grass?"

"Won't that be too boring, though?" I asked.

Liane gave me a look. "I don't know what part of a giant wing you think is boring, but not every meal needs to be extravagant or outdo the last one. I can speak for all of us—we've never had Galvonson before. We're all just excited to see what it tastes like."

It was true—I had been overthinking it.

Nodding to myself, I got to work. I started by cutting two large pockets into the side of each wing until I hit bone, deciding to do one on the opposite side as well.

Inside each pocket, I placed two whole onions, a small handful of Garlic Grass, and shaved off a little bit of the Mana Truffle. I didn't expect to taste it, but it was earth-related, and the wood was as well, so maybe we'd get some layering effect there.

When I was done stuffing the pockets, I used a lot of salt and pepper on the top, adding oil and making sure to rub it into the skin to stretch it as far as I could.

I didn't think it would change much, but I added some fire salt to the one for the party, and scraped from the salt crystal for Lily's. I wasn't worried about mixing them up—the fire salt gave it a vibrant red colour.

I used Purify on both wings just in case, then Liane helped me carry them to the oven where Crisplet was waiting.

We both needed to take a bite of a roll to get Fire Immunity, because the heat emanating from the oven was intense. After placing each one down, I stood back to admire them. That's when I noticed tendrils of ash piercing the base of the wings, lifting them slightly—but more importantly, they were evenly spaced for uniform cooking from the inside.

Crisplet was a little genius. I left him to it.

As I walked out of the oven, I spotted Lily sitting there, looking inside.

"Galvonson wing for dinner tonight. This is the giant bird you saved me from," I said to her, as she just tilted her head at me.

"I can't cook everything you brought—it was far too much. I just don't have the time or the mana. But thank you for the meat. I will try to cook you extra each night!" I said, hoping that would suffice.

But I was quickly dragged away for training, calling out to Crisplet, "Let me know when it's done! I'll come in and get it."

Lily lay down outside the oven entrance, her gaze never leaving the wings.

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Training was much like other nights. Hari had me repeating forms until it felt like my arms would fall off, correcting me whenever I got sloppy. We were just about to spar when Lily appeared, stopping us both in our tracks.

I was immediately met with a head nudge towards the building.

"I guess the wings are ready?" I said helplessly to Hari, who was trying to hide a smirk as I was being pushed along.

Entering the structure, Lily didn't stop nudging me until I stood at the entrance of the oven—where I saw two incredibly golden-brown wings resting on the floor.

I was having trouble telling them apart, and since I couldn't carry them alone, I stored them both and walked back out to the area where everyone was sitting.

"You coming?" I asked Crisplet, but a single shot of embers indicated no, and I saw he was already starting to build something else inside the oven. Looked like he'd be having his fun tonight.

Lily trailed behind me, her eyes never leaving me—and honestly, you'd easily forget this giant cat once took on a dragon and won.

Milo quickly made two large platters to hold the wings, keeping them separated.

I pulled Lily's out first: [Rare] Mana Salt Infused Roast Galvonson Wing.

Then the second one: [Uncommon] Herb-Stuffed Roast Galvonson Wing. That made sense—Lily's had the potent salt infusion.

Turning back to Lily, I started to say, "Just be careful of the bon—" but I was immediately interrupted by Lily taking a giant bite out of the wing. She was completely unfazed by the bones, slicing through them as if they weren't even there.

"—bones…" I finished, but didn't bother to elaborate as I turned back to the one meant for the rest of us.

Everyone was already helping themselves, so I joined in too. I really wanted to try some of the skin—it looked super crispy.

The mood was light. Everyone was happily enjoying their meals when I noticed Lily was finished with her own—and now lying down, staring directly at the second wing.

"Everyone better get seconds now, because it's not about to last long, I suspect," I said with a laugh.

Sure enough, everyone quickly caught on and noticed Lily eyeing off the remaining wing.

"Hey! That's our wing!" Liane tried to jokingly protest.

"Didn't you steal some of Lily's food a while back?" Micca asked teasingly.

The mood changed in an instant.

Pressure slammed down on all of us—even me—as Lily's gaze locked onto Liane. I could see Micca struggling visibly under it.

"It was a joke, Lily," I said quickly. "She didn't actually steal your food."

Lily's piercing gaze shifted to me.

"When we were preparing drake for you the first time," I explained, "Liane tested it to make sure it tasted good and was safe to eat. But she didn't steal anything from you. We just made the joke that she did."

The pressure started to lift.

Okay! Note to self: don't steal Lily's food. Ever.

It all calmed down after that, and Micca—seemingly running with the story—apologised to Lily, saying she was just joking. But I couldn't help but notice that despite her smile, there was definite concern in Liane's eyes.

The rest of the night passed without issue. I gave the remaining wing to Lily once everyone had had their seconds, and she happily ate it—seemingly savouring this one for longer. longer.

***

It wasn't until we were back on the road the next day that we talked about what had happened the night before.

"I felt like my soul was getting peered into. It was horrifying," Liane said with a shudder.

"I think this is a good lesson," Hari said in a serious tone. "From now on, no stealing food designated for her."

"You think I'd try taking any of her food again? After that? I'm reckless, sure, but not suicidal," Liane said, throwing her arms in the air.

Jen was chuckling, and Milo was giving her a very I-told-you-so look.

"It was actually terrifying. I've never felt anything like that before," Micca added.

"The aura of high-level beasts is dangerous in its own right," Milo said. "I don't believe that was Lily's full strength—she didn't even get up. She just glared at Liane while lying down."

"It was still terrifying," Liane said.

"Agreed. I felt like I was going to pass out," Micca said.

"Uh, so I forgot to look—and ask—but did anyone take note of the buffs from last night?" I asked, a little embarrassed.

"Fire Immunity, Ember Surge, Greater Earth Magic Potency, Earthen Core, +5 Strength, +4 Endurance, +4 Dexterity, +5 Perception," Liane recited.

I let out a whistle.

"I wish we had kept it!" Milo groaned.

"It's okay. We still have plenty more Galvonson. That recipe was honestly pretty simple—and Crisplet did an amazing job cooking it," I said, glancing at him.

I got a burst of embers from the brazier in response.

I noticed today that Crisplet had chosen to travel inside the brazier instead of floating around like usual. He seemed to be working on something. This morning, when we packed up, he had taken a large piece of coal from the oven fire and was now slowly manipulating its shape into different objects.

I figured it was best not to interrupt his practice.

***

As the rest of the day passed. We had left the trees almost entirely now, heading south, and the land had shifted to plains scattered with farmland and lots of grazing Buvul.

And lots of Grumfel. It was only now that I truly appreciated just how numerous those things were.

What I also noticed was the saltiness in the air. Hari explained it was because we were approaching the ocean. I'd never seen the actual ocean before—I used to think the lake beside Boltron and Divinmere was endless. So just how large was the ocean?

That evening, I went with a very simple dinner—making a stew, since it had been a long time. I also cut off another chunk of the dragon's tail for Lily, and, staying true to my word, it was an extra-large piece. I just roasted that one.

Strangely, she didn't show up.

"Wonder if Lily's okay?" I said aloud, half expecting her to appear. I left the dragon out on a plate for her.

"She'll definitely be okay. It's more of a wonder what she's up to. Just keep the dragon handy—you'll need it eventually," Milo said.

The night passed, and I stored the dragon away. Lily never showed up.

I knew what Milo said was true… but I was still worried. Was it because we were close to town?

I didn't get much chance to rest, though. Hari insisted I keep up my training, and right after that, Milo decided it had been too long since I'd done any rune practice—so he made me sit through a session.

It was late in the evening when Hari gathered us all.

"Right, so tomorrow we'll be getting to Portland. It's primarily an army town, with very few adventurers. There is a guild there, but it's tiny. Trevor, more than ever, please keep your skills as quiet as possible. If they find out you can be of service to the army, it wouldn't surprise me if we ran into trouble pretty quickly. We'll just be doing a very quick visit—getting information and leaving. If it all goes well, we'll be out the same day," Hari said, looking around at everyone.

I just nodded. I'd had enough trouble—I didn't need more. Especially not from the army. And not this close to the demon invasion.

It's said that from Portland, you can see the red tear in the sky—the place where the demons crossed over—and that their lands are in constant darkness.

I couldn't see it yet, but that's how the stories went. At least, the ones we were told as children.

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