Rakna entered the house after leaving Kara to enjoy the garden outside and saw the living room mostly cleared out. Only Natsu was there, lying down on one of the couches.

“Evelyn’s still unconscious?” The therian asked as he passed by the Celestial Blaze.

“Indeed,” the elemental replied. “Astraea is looking over her but she said she might not be awake in time for lunch either.”

“I see,” Rakna nodded and went to the kitchen where he could sense Flavia. When he got there, he could only smile wryly at the sight of a large cauldron in the middle of the room with a bubbling dark purple substance inside.

“You’re putting that in the food?” He asked after leaning on the counter to her right. She was using her telekinesis to stir a pot while she manually gutted an assortment of fish.

Instead of answering his question, she pouted. “In situations like these, at least you should hug me from behind. A few neck kisses would be nice too.”

“…I could still do it.”

She harrumphed in mock resentment. “It’s too late for that.”

Rakna smiled. “Is that so? Well, what’s that then?” He pointed at the cauldron with his chin.

“A witchcraft concoction, as you can see,” she said with a mysterious smile. “You’ll see what it does during lunch. I’ve been working hard on it.”

“As long as it doesn’t kill us,” the therian shrugged. “Though, I’ve been meaning to ask. What does it mean to be a Sorceress? If this is witchcraft… what differentiates Sorcery and Witchery?”

“Hm,” Flavia mused for a short moment. “Well, apparently, there are many schools of magic. It’s to the point that it exceeds a thousand in number. But some are parallel to each other. A Sorceress is someone who excels at ‘manufacturing magic’. We use materials, rituals, sacrifices, etcetera.”

“But Witchery is different. Actually, Witchery and Witchcraft are two different things. The former is what I have. As a Chaos Witch, my ability is closer to a psychic power. It’s an innate element. It usually has a specific title accompanying it, like my ‘Chaos’. Witchery only awakens in women from what I’ve heard too.”

“Witchcraft is learned by Wizards and Witches both. It’s similar to sorcery. But the way they are defined is different. Their basis is ‘communicating with the World’ to cast spells. They can interact with nature, contract spirits, extract life energy out of ingredients to make potions, and a few other things that include the best of curses.”

Flavia waved at the cauldron. “Sorcery has a very broad application. Wizards are better at making concoctions but that doesn’t mean we can’t do it too. Our basis is manufacture, after all. As long as it can be made with materials, we can do it. But culturally, anything involving concoction has been coined ‘witchcraft’ even if used by sorcerers.”

“Uh,” Rakna exclaimed dumbly. “Thanks for the lecture, I guess.”

She smiled widely. “You’re welcome.”

After glancing one last time at the very ominous bubbling inside the cauldron, the therian cleared his throat and turned back to Flavia. “Anyway… I had a thought earlier. Your girls helped me a lot to figure myself out.”

“Oh, really now?” The Chaos Witch retorted with a sarcastic tone.

He rolled his eyes. “Point in case, I helped Kara just now with something… I thought I could extend the favor to all of you. If not to thank you, then at least spend some time together.”

Flavia’s smile became brighter if that was even possible. “I’ll gladly take the offer. But I don’t think there’s anything I need… You already gave me everything I want,” she said softly.

Rakna gazed at her. “You know… I never bothered to ask any of you because I knew it was a useless question, but… I need to ask you.”

She blinked in surprise. “What is it?”

“I don’t want to phrase this too heavily, and love is tiring topic, but… simply said, why did you ever like me?” He asked calmly and she froze. Her expression became vaguely distraught, but not in a way that spelled fear or confusion.

“That’s…” She smiled bitterly. “Can’t we just say it’s because you saved my life that time?”

“I would have left it at that if I knew it was the real cause…” Rakna paused. “No, in fact, I would say it was related to that day to some extent. But I fail to understand the exact reason… I would have been able to tell if it originated from gratitude or admiration, but it wasn’t.”

Flavia looked down at the cutting board with an illegible expression. Despite that, her telekinesis never stopped preparing several ingredients around the kitchen.

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After a moment, she chuckled weakly. “You’re right. You didn’t just save me that day,” she said and grinned. “Honestly, you could say you seduced me!” She declared with a somewhat joking tone.

The therian blankly stared at her. “The walking stoneface kid that I was… did that?”

“Wow… how self-aware,” she giggled. “But, yes, you did. You may not know how, but I can assure you that it stole my heart. However… I don’t think I can say it.”

“Why? It’s embarrassing?”

“You could say that,” she smiled awkwardly. “I mean, you were young too at the time. It’s a bit of a conundrum to talk about.”

“I see…” He closed his eyes. “It’s not like I’m trying to authenticate your feelings or anything. So, if you don’t want to say it, I don’t mind. I suppose I’ll just enjoy my unintentional ‘seduction’.”

She laughed lightly. “Yes, you can do that. As for your earlier offer…” She held her chin. “How about a hug?” She spread her arms with a wide smile. “I was a bit jealous of Kara when I saw it.”

“Well, I don’t mind but… can you put down the kitchen knife first?”

“Oh, I forgot about that,” she sheepishly put the knife down and then happily welcomed her lover’s embrace. And as she bathed in the warmth, she closed her eyes and remembered the day a young boy stormed into a warehouse to save her from her abductors.

After seeing her on the ground and injured, he tore them apart; one by one. Mercilessly. Breaking limbs and gouging eyes while unarmed. Some of them died without him even aiming for it but had he been carrying a weapon, all of them would have suffered a gruesome death, she was sure of it.

That day, Rakna may have thought she had been unconscious and only woke up to stop him from killing the last one. But it wasn’t the truth. She was awake and had watched it all. A pang of disgust sometimes flares up because of what she thought then.

She had cried tears of joy, not anguish. She had begged him to stop, not because of morality, but because she feared his already unstable psyche would become even more broken. In some way, it wasn’t necessarily reproachable thinking. She still acted for his sake, right?

But it wasn’t the complete truth. His cruelty, born from the anger he had for her sake… his path of slaughter, she had admired it. She couldn’t let it be degraded into some sort of mindless machine’s design. She wanted to see more of it; she wanted it to be preserved.

In the end, the only word that went through her mind that day when she witnessed death bloom at his every step was…

‘Beautiful.’

* * *

❮ ◈ ❯

You have eaten a Quasi-Divine Meal cooked by a proficient Sorceress and Witch.

All forms of regeneration, Soul Power included, will increase by 5% for the next hour.

Your Stamina, Swiftness, and Mana will increase by 5% for the next 24 Hours.

Your experience gain will increase by 25% for the next 24 Hours.

Note: Regular consumption may increase statistics permanently. This food possesses smell and taste capable of inducing addition into lower-level beings. Nutrition effects cannot stack with other meals. The stronger ones will overwrite the weaker ones.

❮ ◈ ❯

“Wha—”

“What?!” Kaelith immediately overpowered Rakna’s half-formed exclamation.

Flavia stood near the dining table after serving the lunch she had been preparing. She had a proud smile on her face, visibly delighting in the shock of everyone present. Not even Rakna could have predicted this result despite keeping her company as she cooked.

“I was waiting to show you this,” the Chaos Witch said happily. “I have been working on combining my cooking with my magic. My Sub-Path gave me a breakthrough recently. And after I got a title for it, well, it helped me make this possible. Sadly, since I’m channeling ‘Chaos’ into these dishes, the effects are mostly random unless I commit to other methods. But in return, they’re potent.”

“B-b-but…” Kaelith’s mind was overlocking.

“Hm, delicious!” Fiora praised as she chewed the fish. In contrast to the vixen, it was as if she did not even notice the effects. “Master is fortunate to have a wife such as you.”

“Eh? O-oh!” Flavia’s face flushed and she cleared her throat, looking away slightly. “O-of course,” she stuttered whilst glancing at Rakna repeatedly who simply smiled in amusement.

“Plenty of love went into it, right?” Higure teased with a grin as she finished a steak with a hum.

“…um, going by Kaelith’s reaction,” Allan spoke up. “This isn’t normal, is it?”

“Correct,” Kara smirked. “Undeniably abnormal.”

“…” Ceresta was silent as she continued to eat. Each bite she took was methodical, but the fact that she was not stopping for even a second was telling enough. Hans was of a similar case… or maybe not since it wasn’t really different from how he usually ate.

“This is the best food ever!” Lanata positively glowed as she devoured her plate.

“Thank you, everyone,” Flavia bowed with a pleased smile.

Kaelith.exe still needed a reboot though.

* * *

“Spend time with us?” The vixen tilted her head at Rakna after lunch. “Wow, wolfy, are you finally eager to get it on?” She grinned, her tails wagging merrily. “You can’t hold back, after all, eh?”

“…not that kind of ‘spending time’.”

“Hehehe, I’m just joking,” she snorted. “Hm, well, I certainly don’t have anything I want like mom’s tree outside. We were all startled when you grew it, you know? Aren’t you showing a bit too much favoritism today?” She narrowed her eyes.

The therian shrugged. “As long as any of you ask, I could do anything smaller or bigger. It doesn’t matter as long as it’s something I can do.”

Kaelith smiled softly. “That’s sweet. Well, let’s see… oh, I know!” She exclaimed and grabbed his hand with a mischievous expression. “Let’s go up for a moment.”

Right after the words came out of her mouth, her blue flames swirled around them and after just a moment, they reappeared on the surface of the Plateau. Fortunately, the swamp seemed brighter than usual today. The sky was cloudy but there were enough sun rays to illuminate it.

“All right, turn into a wolf,” Kaelith said as soon as they were dropped by the teleportation. “Make yourself a bit bigger than a horse as well.”

“O…kay?” The therian hesitantly shifted into his quadrupedal form, his midnight fur and its purple spots glowing as he grew the mane he had inherited from the Dusk Lion King genome. When the transformation ended, the vixen readily jumped on his back and he choked.

“Hey, what’s that reaction for?” She glared at him. “I’m not heavy.”

“No, that was…” He shook his head. “No, more importantly, what are you doing, foxy?”

“Well, I’m riding you, obviously.”

“…thanks for pointing that out.”

“Now run, wolfy!” Kaelith pointed forward boisterously and with a blank face, Rakna immediately complied. He did say he would do anything, didn’t he?

He ran through and over the swamps with speed nearing the 500s and the vixen promptly grasped his mane to stay in place. She then laid down, resting her head on the back of his neck.

Rakna’s eyes flicked upward on reflex before he snorted fondly. “Is this all you want?”

“Yes,” she responded quietly. “I wanted to see how it would feel to ride you like this.”

“And the verdict?”

“It’s strangely… relaxing,” she smiled, her ear picking up the wolf’s heartbeat. “The wind streaming past you and brushing my back plus your presence is unexpectedly very soothing.”

“Is that so?” Rakna snickered and in the blink of an eye, one pair of wings grew on each side of the vixen. They flapped before she could say anything about it and their altitude rocketed. She almost felt dizzy but when the wolf stabilized his flight, she felt as if the air was caressing her whole body instead.

“Ooh… this is much better,” she marveled. “You’re the perfect mount, wolfy.”

“Why, thank you,” he deadpanned.

Kaelith giggled. “Don’t worry, next time, maybe I’ll just have you tag along in one of my hobbies.”

“I don’t know if I should be reassured by that.”

“My hobbies are perfectly normal,” she scoffed.

“Really now?”

“Yep! Like pranking anyone I don’t like in my clan.”

“…”

“But I also love doing Puzzle Dungeons.”

Rakna raised an eyebrow in curiosity. “Puzzle Dungeons?” He inquired as he nonchalantly swung one of his tails to send an arc of star energy that killed a flying Wilden.

“They’re relatively low-risk Dungeons with little fighting involved. In fact, those have no level cap and it’s generally preferred for people who want to level up more easily. Of course, some puzzles can kill you, but they’re rare. I like doing them. They can be very unique.”

“Hm, sounds interesting. I haven’t visited a Dungeon in a while too.”

“Then, it’s decided. I’ll bring you to one next time,” Kaelith smiled. “We can do a cooperation type together. There should be some among the recurrent Dungeons I haven’t done yet…”

Sensing the vixen’s excitement, Rakna smiled internally and flapped his wings, accelerating.