Dungeon? This Tree? Why Don't You Join Me for Lunch? (Dungeon Core)
Chapter 102: Bonding

Chapter 102: Chapter 102: Bonding

There weren’t many things which I would have considered more awkward than teaching Fin how to cook.

The woman already knew how! I could see it in the way she diced potatoes! I was sure that she didn’t need no dicing skills to dice internal organs!

"Ok, you can stop now," I told her, as she nodded. She placed the perfectly diced onions in a bowl, looking at me. "If you don’t want to cook, then you don’t have to."

It was a strange thing to say, considering I was the Foodie Nymph, but it was still something I felt that she needed.

She did need good food, but not cooked by her. No, she needed warm food which was cooked while she told her story.

"Your mind rune is cheap," she noted, then she looked at the frying pan. "I can cook. I’m sorry I lied."

I nodded. Of course, she lied. She was an organ harvester.

"I am happy now," she said, as I placed the onions in the frying pan. The oil was already nice and warm. The cut up cubes, something she had spent only three minutes getting done, were beginning to make music.

Sizzling softly.

"I’m glad," I didn’t tell her that she deserved to be happy. Everyone did. I didn’t want to state the obvious.

"What are you going to be doing?" She looked at the ingredients I had there.

Now, if I had to be honest, I was just trying to make something which could appear fancy.

But the last time I tried to make a soufflé omelet; it had ended up as scrambled eggs with sugar.

And that one time I tried to make a salty pancake; the thing had stuck to the pan!

Nah, I was going to make something nice and easy.

Something hearty! Something for the soul!

"Shakshuka," I told her, taking out the bottle with the mushroom-tomato sauce.

Now, most people make it from scratch, but I get it from the Dungeon of Preserves.

A better sauce no one could ever find!

And if you can’t find anything better, then maybe it is for the best not to even search.

I shook the bottle, then I opened it with a satisfying pop, and dumped all of the sauce inside of the pan.

Soon, I was pouring water in the bottle.

The deal the Dungeon of Preserves had on its produce was that we were supposed to return the packaging, if possible.

It was big on recycling.

Personally, I thought that it was a client dungeon of Aurora’s, seeing as the two worked together most days, but Aurora denied it every time I asked.

I thought that she just didn’t want to arrange a discount for me and left it at that.

I shook the water in the bottle again. Not only was there going to be more of the Shakshuka, well, my version, which was more of a Clean the Pantry Pottage meal, but whatever!

It was easier to clean the bottle that way! No sauce went in the trash!

"Here," Fin was handing me a cutting board with some diced garlic. I smiled.

"Careful, my lady. I am a married man," I teased. She was no doll. She had done things which she was not proud of.

But that didn’t mean that I should treat her like a broken doll.

Because she was a human, a warrior, and I didn’t want to disrespect her.

"Careful, my lord," Fin teased back, as she dumped the garlic inside the pan after a small nod and a smile from me. "I am a widow."

If she expected that my playful mood would sizzle out, then it would be too bad! It did not!

I smiled even brighter, as I began to stir the mix in the pan. Hm... should I put some peppers inside? Maybe some sweet corn?

I looked at her. At how thin her waist was.

Yeah! Let it be hearty food!

I might not have been a healer back then, but even I knew that the girl should be recovering from a miscarriage after miscarriage.

My heart bled for her. It did. But I respected her.

I respected her more than I cared to admit.

"Then, cheers to you getting the..." I blinked. She was a widow, but I had already given the kingdom to Sadie...

Oh, snap...!

"What?" Fin was like a shark, as she began to cut up a blood sausage. That thing had been grilled the night before, so I had no remorse in dumping it in the thing, which was now officially no Shakshuka.

But, hey, at least it was still a joined effort!

"Well, Queen Sadie came first," I told Fin, who just shrugged. "And this strange thing about inheriting... I didn’t inherit you, Fin. There is nothing to worry about."

Fin nodded, eating a piece of blood sausage. Grease falling down her fingers.

Huh, so she knew magic as well?

Was she just like her brother, or even stronger? Or maybe life had taught her all of that so she could protect herself?

It was a strange world, I decided, where girls had to learn magic to have a chance at life.

"Is she pretty, the Queen?" Fin winked at me. I knew then that the woman was recovering.

But, darn, with Alexios’ own widow? The one who was recognized as the man’s heir?

"If you try to make this into revenge, neither of you will be happy," I felt that she should know that. Because if she didn’t, then she was going to ruin something that might save her.

"He married her while still married to me. We... found comfort in one another at night," Fin sighed.

I blinked.

Man, Alexios was such an ass! He could have had threesomes! Those were fun!

"And I might have helped Sadie lose a child. But that child... Alexios would have realized that it wasn’t his," Fin sighed. "So, did the twig I knew grew to be a pretty rose?"

I nodded, not knowing what else to do.

"Then, mind if I leave your side?" Fin asked, as she winked at me. "You can be my little Shoulder Angel!"

I grinned! Oh, she wanted me to be a matchmaker!

"Listen here, lady!" I clapped my hands like the imp I was. "I am a Shoulder Devil! One who feeds people!"

Fin chuckled; I giggled.

The pottage began to smell like dreams coming true...