Lorin hummed to herself as she practiced a few swings of her sword while in the air. She smiled as she spotted the convoy of wagons below her, and she alighted on the seat next to Nelson, startling the horse and driver. “I’m back! And I regained some of my strength.”

Monika glared at the fallen angel while pulling Khrx towards her chest. “Your hands are stained with so much blood,” she said. “You shouldn’t be touching Khrx.”

“Eh?” Lorin asked, her eyes narrowed. She climbed off the seat into the wagon’s interior. “What’s that supposed to mean? Your hands are cleaner than mine?”

“That’s right,” Monika said, nodding her head. “You slaughtered a whole settlement. When word gets out, you’re going to be hunted down like a dog. I won’t let you implicate Khrx.”

Lorin tilted her head. “But that’s why I left no survivors? And none of them saw me anyway.” With that, she lunged forward and tackled Monika before the mage could respond. Lorin seized Khrx, fending Monika’s hands off with her wings. “It’s my turn to take care of him.”

“Turns? This isn’t a board game!” Monika sat up, her hair crackling with mana. “You let go of Khrx right now, murderer.”

“Stop fighting,” Khrx said and furrowed his brow. He had been busy daydreaming, but he lost his train of thought after being tackled. Now he couldn’t remember what he had been thinking about. His tail swished a few times, brushing against Lorin’s shins. “You two should try to get along.”

Monika and Lorin responded at the same time. “Impossible.” They froze before glaring at each other, sparks flying between their eyes.

Nelson let out an awkward laugh. “Don’t you think it’s about time to stop for lunch? How about we all step out of the wagon before it’s destroyed? What do you think, Khrx? Are you hungry?”

Khrx prodded his stomach a few times, and it shifted before letting out a gurgle. “I think so.”

“It’s my turn to make Khrx lunch!” Lorin said while standing up.

“I already told you this isn’t a board game! We don’t take turns. I’m not letting you feed Khrx raw meat. He was starving while traveling with you!”

“I’m not going to feed him raw meat,” Lorin said, stamping her foot, cracking one of the wagon’s floorboards. She reached for the bag of food by Monika’s side. “My cooking is definitely better than yours!”

Monika summoned a mana barrier over herself and the bag of food, blocking Lorin. “This food is mine. You said you’d make lunch for Khrx; don’t tell me you want to use my ingredients?”

Lorin snorted. “I don’t need your crappy food. I’ll get my own.” She stepped onto the driver’s seat and spread her wings before soaring into the air, leaving Khrx behind. Luckily, there was a forest nearby. The earth dwellers always sought their food in forests, right? As an angel, Lorin didn’t have to eat and had no experience with cooking food, much less gathering it. But she wasn’t going to let that stop her.

“This…,” Lorin said as she alighted on the forest ground. She glanced around while furrowing her brow. A fluffy, red-colored mammal with bright yellow stripes was hanging onto a tree, chewing on a leaf. “The leaves shouldn’t be poisonous, right?” The mammal didn’t react as Lorin approached it. She gathered the leaves on the branches around it and was about to store them away when she realized she didn’t have a bag. So she grabbed the brightly colored mammal and killed it by twisting its neck. With steady hands, she skinned it without an issue, intending on using its skin as a pouch. She stored the leaves inside of it before glancing at the mammal’s carcass. “Should be edible. But I won’t let Khrx eat organs.”

After dismantling the poor mammal into a lump of unrecognizable meat, she stored what she thought were the edible parts and continued on. “A balanced meal should have a main dish, some staple to eat it with, and some sides. I already have meat and leaves, all I need are sides.” But there wasn’t anything suitable. She sighed and spread her wings, jumping into the air. A purple patch on a tree’s trunk caught her eye. She flew over and hovered next to it. Mushrooms. Perfect! She scraped them off into her makeshift pouch using her rusty sword and hummed as she left the forest, flying towards the convoy of wagons which had stopped on the side of the road.

The Golden Crow Merchants had created three campfires, each with a pot of boiling water suspended over them. Lorin stole one of the pots and a burning log of wood, ignoring the merchants’ complaints and separated herself from the group. She wasn’t going to let anyone judge her nonexistent cooking skills. After setting up the pot and fire, she unceremoniously dumped the three ingredients she found into the water and waited, peering behind herself every so often to make sure no one was watching. Purple fumes rose out of the pot, but Lorin fanned them away with her wings. The water in the pot was starting to turn a sickly green, but what broth didn’t change colors? Lorin stirred the stew with her rusty sword while humming to herself, mentally patting herself on the back. Who said angels couldn’t cook?

When the meat had turned from red to brown and the broth had gone from thin and watery to thick and syrupy, Lorin removed the pot from the fire. “Khrx! Food’s ready!”

Monika’s eyebrows scrunched together. How did Lorin finish cooking before her when she had started first? She raised her hand to stop Khrx from leaving, but he was already sitting by Lorin’s side, his tail swishing back and forth.

“Careful, it’s hot,” Lorin said as she fanned the pot of stew with her wings.

Khrx ignored her and placed his hand into the stew. His eyes widened as his face turned red. A second later, he yanked his hand out of the pot and flailed it around. “Gah! What the hell!? It’s hot!” Tears fell out of his eyes as he blew on his fingers while sniffling.

Lorin bit her lower lip. So this was the result of only having one intelligence. She flew over to Monika’s side and stole the mage’s bowl and spoon. She dashed away while saying, “Khrx needs this more than you.”

Lorin poured some stew into the bowl and scooped out a spoonful of stew with a mushroom cap. She blew on it before holding it in front of Khrx’s face. “Open up.”

Khrx opened his mouth and ate the spoonful of stew.

Lorin studied his face while holding her breath. “How is it?”

Khrx responded by turning green and falling over backwards.

“Khrx!?”

“Ah,” Khrx said, purple smoke billowing out of his mouth and nostrils. His vision blurred as he stared at the sky. Two red dragons were looking down on him. “I see my parents.” A screen flashed in front of him.

[You’ve seen the unseeable. Perception +5.]

[You’re also suffering immensely. Constitution -1.]

[You have died.]

[The god of the underworld is amused.]