TBATE: Art and Tess's Second Chance

Chapter 17: The Butterfly Effect

Arthur Leywin's POV:

Sylv and I arrived back at what was practically our temporary home for what would likely be the last time for quite a while. It felt as if the beautiful landscape could truly become our home, we spent a majority of our time here recently after all.

'I hope we can build our first house out here, if Tess likes the area enough anyway. Although that will have to wait until we finish our mission,' I relented.

"Why don't I go into town and get us some vegetables while you go hunt down some kind of meat. Then I can whip up a stew while we wait for the other two," I said as I started up a fire in a pit I conjured.

"Sounds good, meet you back here in ten or so," She replied then took to the clouds.

I God stepped to a city much like my hometown Ashbur that was close by, for my God Step range anyway. I made my way to the market searching and purchasing various herbs and spices as well as some specific vegetables.

What I mainly wanted to get my hands on was potatoes, carrots, and onions which I found. I also managed to get my hands on some corn which would go well with the other ingredients and add another pinch of sweetness above the carrots.

I handed the nice, old shopkeeper a gold coin for the goods. Just seeing the coin nearly caused her to faint, but before she could return it or attempt to give me any amount back as change, I was already back at camp starting my preparations.

I placed a metal rack over the fire then placed a large pot filled with water on top of that rack to boil the water. I started boiling more water for tea as Sylv arrived with two small winged rabbits.

"Here you go, the best tasting mana beast in all the glades, confirmed by my own taste buds!" She squealed as she visibly convinced herself desperately to not to eat them immediately.

"I'm not surprised, you always have been a glutton for food, you know that Sylv," I teased, causing her to pout and leave all the work for me...not that she was going to help out before.

"I'm not even hungry anymore," She affirmed, but her eyes and stomach betrayed her. I could see her take glances at the meat I was preparing and her stomach let out a fierce growl that sounded like an entire hoard of mana beasts.

Once all the meat was separated from the carcass, I put the remains in the now boiling pot of water to create rabbit stock. I then cut the large pieces of meat into bite sized bits.

Moving to the vegetables, I peeled, then cut the potatoes in half, then into roughly even chucks. I sliced the carrots into many thick oval shaped pieces, then finely diced the onions. Finally, I shucked the corn and cut it from the cob.

With all the ingredients ready, I strained the excess of the remains from the rabbit stock and added the meat as well as the herbs and spices. I let the meat cook for a while so it would tender up as Sylv and I talked about a variety of different topics that didn't relate to fighting or wars.

When the meat was tenderized a good amount, I added the vegetables into the stew and covered it. Now the stew just needs to sit for a few hours on lower heat and simmer until the veggies cook thoroughly, then absorb all the wonderful flavors and spices along with the meat.

"Alright Sylv, I think I'm gonna get some shut eye before the other two get here. By the time they arrive the stew should be ready to eat, but the longer it sits, the better it'll get," I said as I entered the stone hut I had conjured for Tess the previous night, and fell into the embrace of the mossy bed.

"Got room for one more in here? I'm pretty drained myself, and we both know if I stay up, I'm definitely not going to be able to stop myself from scarfing down all of that delicious smelling stew out there," She asked as she poked her head into the stone hut with a comical, toothy grin on her face.