Wounds (4)
"Cinnamon, chilli, turmeric, pepper, salt, basil, cumin, sesame seeds, chilli.. MSG? I believe we have most of what you need here Prune." Liliath was checking the cabinets on the various condiments she bought last time.
"Noel, bring out the dragon meat already-- i'm dying to know how it looks," Nine had her head propped on the table as she said that.
"Kay."
I operated the UI and pulled up the bookmark item in the store… eh? There's a promotion? 500 grams for 2000 points? 25 percent more? Heck yeah.
500 grams of dragon meat--not a deinve dragon nor a wyvern, just the normal kind.
A medium sized block of dragon meat manifested in the air and dropped down on the flat plate-- jiggling like tofu. I wasn't sure what part of the dragon this was-- the tail? The breast? The legs? There wasn't any particular description about it. Hopefully it isn't made from some less-than-welcomed parts of the dragon like the reproductive-- cough.
"What.. it looks so.. It looks like A5 wagyu beef?"
"Really? You've tried it before?" Prune stared at the slab of meat in surprise.
"I've only seen it on the internet. I think it looks something like this..."
"That's cheap~" I said.
"Shut up."
I don't quite know how to describe a good piece of meat but in my eyes, it's well marbled, a good mixture of fat and lean. The white parts with clear defining web-like lines that contrasted the salmon-redness of the in-betweens.
It had a good colour? Is that something you judge the meat by?
"There's no particular smell to it," Nine brought his nose close to it and took a whiff.
"Yeah. What do you think, Liliath? What does it smell like to you?" Prune asked.
"It smells like meat," Liliath stated the obvious.
Yeah.. I suppose it just has that sort of smell. Maybe it's because of the purity of dragon meat? It doesn't smell anything like poultry, or pork or anything like that. Just meat.
"I should start by cutting them into slices. We'll go with our intended plan of oven baking it if it's alright with everyone?"
""Yup.""
"Any method should be fine."
I wonder if it's because of the baking club's influence, but Prune decided on oven-baking dragon meat.
Cutting it into cubes and then rubbing a mixture of spices on the surface, Liliath then arranged it on a tray with baking paper on top. Drizzling some olive oil on top and then adding a twig of thyme on top, the cubes were tossed into the oven.
"Have you ever cooked dragon meat before Liliath?" Prune asked, looking at the dial to adjust the temperature and time. Dragon meat is ultimately a different kind of meat so the optimum cooking temperature may be different.
"I have never. Unfortunately."
"Hm.. I guess I'll just assume it's like mutton."
"It's dragon meat you know? I bet that it'll taste good no matter how you cook it," Looks like someone has an optimistic view on it.
As the meat was roasting inside the oven, Liliath walked to the fridge and checked for something.
"There's an absence of canned drinks. It's during these sorts of times that the meal should be accompanied by drinks, correct?"
"Oh yeah! We need cheese and fries too," Nine shouted to agree.
"Ah. I can't believe I forgot to prepare the side dishes."
"We'll just get them from the stores down stairs then."
Since there's a fast food restaurant on the ground floor, we can easily order the missing dishes and drinks without too much of a problem.
"I'll go get it-- who's going to pay?"
"I'll do it," I went to get my wallet.
"I volunteer myself to join Nine," Liliath said.
"Okay."
I suppose it's good that Liliath is opening up to other people besides me.
"Here." I passed Liliath a couple hundred bucks. "Nine, Liliath, make sure to count the money properly and safe trip."
"What's up with you?" Nine raised an eyebrow.
"What do you mean?"
"Nevermind-- Onii-chan became way too overprotective-- Let's go Liliath!"
"I'll be sure to watch out for myself Noel," Liliath said.
And then the two left out the front door.
Hm.. Overprotective huh?
Yeah. I would've never said such a phrase. Weird.
The hum of the oven, the heat in the kitchen, the aromatic scent of the spices practically melting into the meat.
I glanced at Prune who wore a pink apron, sitting on the dinning table as she observed the dragon meat cooking in the oven.
I sat down opposite to her and likewise, stared into the fiery orange light.
"Do you mind telling me what's in your mind?" Prune asked without shifting her gaze.
"You could tell?"
"It's obvious. Something happened this morning after all. What exactly happened?"
"Let's see.. I was suddenly attacked by that girl-- Lyndia the moment one of the officers who could evolve TALENTS tried to evolve my TALENT."
"What? TALENT evolution? That really happened?"
"Yeah. And rather than the attack being Lyndia's fault-- I have a feeling that it's more like.. my fault.You know-- how my TALENT drags people into drama and stuff.." I pulled up the UI and showed Prune the evolution quest. I don't really get how it works but an additional tab has now appeared in my UI, allowing me to view the task whenever-- that's just goddamn confusing.
"Resolve the issue? What does this mean?"
"I have no idea.."
I actually do have an idea.. it's really vague isn't it?
In the beginning, I thought it was to do with Lyndia. Solving the conspiracy between her and Kai. After that-- I thought it had to do with Liliath. She remained clingy the whole morning, she's alright now.
Though.. what if..
"Prune.. what if it's inevitable that my TALENT will force me into.."
A harem.
I paused, the words didn't manage to come out of my mouth-- stuck somewhere in my throat.
"Force you into? All sorts of weird situations? Isn't that already happening? First Liliath, then we have Rishell, now a random girl called Lyndia?" Prune tilted her head, her silver eyes eyes sparkling in the warm glow of the oven light.
"That's not what I mean.. ugh. Just assume you never heard me ask that."
I turned my face away-- was I blushing? I didn't know.
And I also didn't know why my devotion for Liliath became so easily swayed. What if it really isn't possible to be together with Liliath? Do I really have to marry Prune? What's this sense of guilt?
I'm I being too greedy? To go against Liliath's proposal, sticking to my wish which I don't even know whether or not it's going to work out?
"There really is something wrong. You're just like Liliath after she ate the book," Prune muttered.
"Hm? What do you mean?"
"Nothing."
"C'mon. Seriously.."
That's just annoying.. why?
I'm not acting like me aren't I? What the hell.
"Noel. Whatever happens, you can always talk to me if you have any problems alright?"
Her words were like a thorn lodged in my heart..
"Alright."
Why was she doing this? Knowing that my heart is for Liliath. Doesn't she feel disappointed? How long can she suppress those feelings? Or is it just my own delusions?
It's stupid. I'm drowning in my sentimental thoughts.
Calm down Noel. Deep breaths.
I massaged my forehead with my knuckles and got up from my seat.
"Are you going somewhere?"
"Nah. I'll set up the plates before Nine and Liliath come back."
\\
\\
\\
Nine and Liliath arrived faster than expected. French fries, potato wedges, cheese sauce, a few cups of carbonated drinks. Basic fast food stuff.
The dragon meat took a little longer than half an hour. Prune took out the meat and sliced it up to check the rawness of it but had to put it back.
The delectable smell of dragon meat from the oven wafted in the kitchen, Nine showing a look of delirium, quite literally watering at the mouth.
She had to put it back in because the middle part hadn't been cooked properly. Dragon meat is harder to cook apparently. Maybe it's because dragon bodies naturally have high fire resistance?
Another 15 minutes later, the meat was taken out and then arranged on a plate. Nine dumped the potato wedges and french fires around it to create a large food platter. Cheese sauce was drizzled all over it, a little salt, pepper and chives and our dragon meat food platter was done.
The taste? Absolutely delicious. I don't really understand it myself but it tasted nothing like 'just meat'. It's meat, tastes like meat, has a deadly pleasant texture that just melts in your mouth, just the right content of fat-- this dragon must have not been working out-- but without your typical meat aroma.
Liliath ate the meat with a smile. With a fork and knife, cutting up the potato wedges and skewering it with the fork and together with the dragon meat, brought it to her mouth. Small amounts at a time.
She can still eat in such a refined manner despite how tasty it is huh?
Prune's tail was wagging non stop, Nine was the victim of a few hits from that tail of hers but it seemed she wasn't paying any mind to that at all.
Nine brought the first piece to his mouth and said.
"So this is what a family means huh.."
Everyone turned to her and noticed that water was accumulating in her eyes.
"Eh? What's wrong?"
"No.. it's just. No. Thank you." Nine wiped the tears with the sleeve of her shirt. With a smile she continued, "Thank you for all of this."
"So it's that huh?"
Successfully earning a living as a streamer, went against her parents to strive for her own independence. I mean.. It's something to celebrate.
"Well. Just enjoy yourself. You've come all this way after all.." I said.
"Yeah. I was just feeling emotional, that's all. Thank you."
"So what occasion should this be?" Liliath swallowed the piece of meat in her mouth and asked.
I don't think there's any particular occasion to this.
"Occasion.. occasion: eating a forbidden food item. Dragon meat! I never thought it would be possible, all thanks to Noel's TALENT and Prune's cooking skills," Nine said.
"How about this dinner celebrating two weeks of school?"
"Yeah, yeah, good idea."
"I think that's good."
"Happy two week of school everybody," Prune cheered.
""Happy two weeks of school everybody!""
"Thank you for taking care of me, let's continue to support each other for the next three years to come," Liliath bowed a little.
"Likewise."
"Thank you for taking care of me too Liliath. We'll definitely support each other along the way."
"Oh, does anyone want champagne? I hid one in the fridge." Nine said something semi-topic related.
"Champagne?"
"Yeah. A ten year old Euala Lux de Forquet," Nine practically bounced to the fridge and from who knows which compartment, pulled out a beautiful bottle of sparkling champagne. The glass bottle was the non-coloured transparent kind, the liquid having a slightly yellow tint.
What the hell.. how does she know the inner anatomy of the fridge better than I do?
"What kind of drink is that? Aren't we still underaged?"
"That's not an issue isn't it? Don't tell me you've never drank alcohol in your life?"
I'm pretty sure we've tried alcoholic drinks at least once.
"So what's the alcoholic content?"
"About 10 percent. Quite a bit. So I'll only pour a little bit for each of us, the most it would do is make us tipsy. Since my anti-Noel document hasn't been legally approved by a lawyer, it's better safe than sorry."
Liliath and Prune suppressed a giggle.
I could only shake my head in resignation. Whatever, I'll let her say as she pleases this time. Bitch.
Unfortunately we don't have any fancy wine glasses here in the kitchen so we had to improvise and use clear glass cups. The champagne had been opened before since the cork had already disappeared, replaced by a plastic alternative. So that meant Nine had been drinking all this time? How had I never realized that?
Anyways, Nine returned the champagne to the fridge after pouring a little bit for all of us.
"""CHEERS!"""
We clinked glasses-- it seems it's the first time Liliath is doing so, she was a little confused but managed to complete this toast without breaking the glass so all is well. Then we downed the small amount of champagne in one go.
Ah..
It stings. A group flavoured carbonated drink. I could definitely taste the bitter note at the end, and the kick of alcohol.
I could feel the heat run down my throat, my oesophagus before ending at my stomach.
"It's comparable to high grade wine where I came from," Liliath commented, a tinge of surprise to her voice.
"Really? That's great. I should make us drinking buddies. It's actually quite an expensive champagne, half a thousand dollar-ish."
Wow.. Nine has that much money lying around?
"I would gladly accompany you for another glass," Lilith had an expectant look on her face.
"Um.." Prune sounded concerned. Ah well..
"Hahaha. Who cares about legal age!" Nine laughed. I'm wondering if she became tipsy from just that-- her face was flushed, a rather heated look to her expression. "Let's get this feast going already!"
The dinner party went. Relishing the food and the joyous mood. The soda to wash down the taste. Liliath added tea leaves to the soda she heated uh.. well. I had to share my soda with her after she found the mixture tasting-- off. It's alright though.
Putting that seriousness aside, It was great. This is probably the first time we've ever had this sort of gathering, just us. Without our parents or guardians present. Moreover, it's our first time eating actual dragon meat. I wonder how much it would actual sell if such a product appeared in the market--
It would indefinitely cause the rate of poaching dragons to increase. But there are no dragons you say? Well.. I thought so too but, I mean, I saw a chinese dragon and a fruit dragon today. I never did count summoned dragons as dragons but if you really think about it, perhaps there are other fantasy-creatures out there too.
Ah, I'm moving out of topic. Did I ever have a topic to begin with?
Nah. Let's just enjoy this evening.