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After having changed Jobs, Ervas and Veronica ran back to the tribe of the Harpy, which was not completely affected by the Undead Horde, remaining with most of its buildings intact. Although the Harpy lived mostly inside caves, they had a few dozen buildings outside of them, which were built from bricks and mud, and had strange appearances, resembling birdhouses from Earth.
?
Each Harpy Building had one to three 'holes' which were the entrances, and no other apparent orifice, nor windows, nor anything, there was a large log beneath each hole within the buildings, which the Harpy would use to enter their nests inside.
There was only one small forgery where the Harpy crafted primitive equipment and also a small 'kitchen area' where every Harpy would cook for the rest of the families. Harpies were a very unified tribe, perhaps even more than Squirrel-kin, to the point that most of their meals were eaten with all of the entire tribe together gathered around the 'kitchen area'.
A designed group of chefs, which were often very skilled Harpy women with a few old males would have the job of cooking for the entire tribe, and their work was highly respected. There were also many new members each month, so it wasn't as if they were completely overwhelmed with work.
Because whatever they hunted would be eaten by the entire tribe, Harpy liked to hunt in packs while bringing a ton of prey, accumulating it all behind the kitchen area.
Because of such custom, Harpy always had saved up food, from dried meat to fruits, seeds, edible plants, and more. However, although they had dedicated 'chefs' what they were able to cook was limited to the ingredients they could find in the mountain.
Things such as spices, bread, sweets, and more, were very rare, and for instance, most of the tribe members had never tasted any of them.
Because of this, when Gaius and several other people from the Igni Kingdom began to cook plates for the people, they fell in love with the food almost instantly, the intense flavors danced on their almost virgin tastebuds, and the soft and warm bread with butter and jam was easily the favorite of the younglings, while things such as hamburgers with cheese and sweet or spicy sauces became the favorite of the adults.
"This is… what is it called again? Borgar…?" asked Desephise as she stuffed her mouth with a large hamburger, which had cheese made from the milk of Demon Ox, cow-like monsters found in the Devil Forest's Dungeons. The cheese was a bit rough and slightly more salty and bitter than conventional cow cheese, but it was still just as delicious when melted within a freshly grilled burger.
"That's a cheeseburger with sweet and spicy sauce," said Ervas while eating one himself, although without the spicy part.
"Amazing… this is simply amazing!" said Desephise, finishing it in one go as she drank a mouthful of beer, it seemed as if she had recovered completely now, the tiredness she felt before had dissipated long ago.
"And my vitality and stamina as well… it all went up so fast, my body is filled with warmth now… Is this the effect of eating a cheeseburger?" asked Desephise while cleaning her mouth from the burger's juice.
"It is the meat is a special combination of several monsters… All of them are strong Monsters above Rank 6, so the meat gives a lot of energy to the body. And thanks to Gaius and the rest, who have high leveled Cooking Skill, the food they make often brings special effects to those who eat it. (I better not tell them that it has Anir's Bone Marrow and Nyarlathotep's meat, which is what gives it the restorative capabilities…)" said Ervas.
"I see… Gaius is such a talented chef!" said Feroya.
"Indeed! Ah, I never thought I would eat again after having died, but it seems that I can!" said Sevapheso.
Feroya and Sevapheso were eating not through their vessels but through their Ghost forms themselves, as they possessed the Digestion Skill, they were able to eat food and convert it all into Mana, not only them, but all of the Undead present in the feast was able to digest and taste food as if they were alive, it was one of the wonders that brought Ervas and Veronica to the Harpies, who would have never guessed that Undead could even eat and enjoy food.
"We Undead cannot feel satiated, but eating is like the funniest part of our undying existences," said Veronica.
"Indeed, and it makes it a bit better, to be honest, we can eat as much as we want!" said Feroya.
"Well, I think we do feel satiated, when we eat too much food, we will produce so much Mana that our Souls will be filled with it, making us feel 'satiated'," said Ozgeth.
"Is that so? I guess we cannot eat infinitely, Feroya-chan," said Sevapheso with a chuckle.
"Eeeeh? I will eat a ton still! Nom, nom, nom!" said Feroya, as she began to eat several cheeseburgers in one single bite.
Aside from Gaius, Ervas Phantom Clones and Veronica's Clones were cooking a lot of the food as well, so the rest could enjoy things without having to work so hard cooking for the rest.
"Pekorina nee-sama, what are you eating? It looks good!" said a tiny Harpy chick, he was of the size of a toddler but was already able to speak, and his body was still growing feathers, as there were some bald areas.
"Peko? Oh, this? They are named Candied Apples! They are sweet and juicy fruit covered in delicious candy! It's melted sugar~! It's so good! Here, takes a bite, peko!" said Pekorina, offering the youngling the candied apple as the young harpy's eyes shined brightly with excitement, smelling the sweetness of the fruit, he opened his mouth and bit the entire thing, munching the entire apple inside of his mouth.
"PEKO! Don't eat it all! Agh… You already ate it, peko…" muttered Pekorina.
"Hmm~! It's delicious, Pekorina nee-sama!" said the young harpy child, as he ate the entire apple within a few seconds. Unlike other races, Harpies had voracious appetites and were able to gulp food very easily, perhaps due to the trait of birds that was inherited within their capabilities, as most birds do not chew their food but just swallow it entirely.
"Sugar? It has been so long since I saw sugar… but how did you even found sugar within the Devil Forest? I've heard that only Humans, Elves, and Dwarves have it, as they buy it from the forest of the elves to the far west," said Desephise.
"Ah, well, it's not exactly sugar," said Veronica.
"We extracted the sweetness of the sap produced by our Ents, Ainsley, Alder, and Anna, then we dried it into a white, sugar-like material, which we then melt again to create candy," said Ervas.
"That's… that's quite the complicated task, isn't it?" asked Desephise.
"Not really, it can be fairly easy as long as you do the steps accordingly… Ah, well, and a few of my Spells helped on the extract as well, such as Alchemy and Pharmacist," said Ervas.
"Amazing…" muttered Desephise, as she tasted a piece of the pie that had candied fruit and a crusty and buttery dough.
"Aahh… Holy mother of sweetness… this is… this is heavens!" said Desephise.
"Isn't it? I was never too fond of sweet things, but after having eaten the preparations made by my son, I just fell in love with them! Gahaha!" laughed Ragdaz.
"You old man, you're just as gluttonous as I remember you, Ragdaz!" said Desephise.
"And you're just as pretty as I remember you, Desephise!" said Ragdaz.
"E-Eh?! What are you talking about, old bear! Don't dare flirt with me! Is the booze affecting your head?" said Desephise with a bit of embarrassment.
Ervas and Veronica glanced at Feroya and Sevapheso, asking for a reason in this strange interaction, it seemed that both chiefs knew each other from before.
However, Feroya and Sevapheso were just as surprised by the strange exchange of words, it seems that they didn't know anything about this.
Gaius and Azra were the same, they didn't know their old man was into something with the harpy chief.
"W-What are you all glancing at me?! Don't get us wrong, we had just met a few times before to do trades between tribes! We are not at all into anything romantic…!" said Desephise.
"Except that night!" said Ragdaz.
"…Eh?!" muttered Desephise, as her face grew redder.
"Ah!" coughed Ragdaz as he realized what he just said.
"What night?!" asked Gaius.
"Speak, mother!" said Feroya.
"T-That's… not something that you children should know about!" said Desephise with an intense flush, as she averted her gaze and drank more beer.
"Well, if things had gone to this… maybe I should admit it!" said Ragdaz.
"What are you going to admit?!" asked Azra.
"That night…" muttered Ragdaz with a serious expression.
"Stop! Shut up, you idiot, we have not seen each other in years, and you come to ruin my reputation even further?! Aaargggh!" roared Desephise as she flew over Ragdaz's enormous back and covered his face with her wings.
However, Ragdaz kept talking but no one could understand what he was talking about.
"Mmmhnn, mmmgnnn…"
Veronica was dying out of laughter as Ervas could not help but release a slight chuckle. Feroya, Gaius, and Azra's faces seemed to be the funniest of them all though, as they were both frustrated and embarrassed by their parents.
And so, the night went on, celebrations and feast were done until very late, and as the night grew older, everyone ended up going to sleep in their respective tents.
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