Filling Her Belly

"Then it's settled, you'll be my first minio…comrade." Liam looked at Alice with a smile. "Our first goal is to clean this place but that can wait." He turned toward the lord. "I know I'm asking too much, but can they help us take all the old furniture outside? I know this is a rented house, but look at them." He pointed at a couch.

"This thing will conjure new life, couch bugs!" He tapped the couch and a puff of dust rushed out.

"We'll clean those that can be cleaned and I'll sell or throw the unusable ones. Of course, I'll buy replacements."

The lord nodded, "I do agree, this house isn't in a condition fit to support living. I'll send someone to ask that old lady," He looked at one of the guards, "Take my horse and ask her. Leave your weapons here." He didn't want him to start a fight like Ricardo.

"Thank you." Liam smiled.

"No need to thank me. If I don't think it's fit for my daughters to live in then I won't accept it as a reward for the one that saved them." William looked at the other guards. "You've heard sir Liam, drag all the furniture out and be careful, they aren't clean or rigid, they might break."

As the guards started rushing out to get the furniture out, Liam approached Alice. "Just wait here for a moment. I'll be back with something." He looked at the guards. "Treat her well, I'll be back." And he rushed out of the house.

One of the guards stared at Alice, "Alva, aren't you lucky? You don't have to spend the winter in prison to survive it."

"Liam accepting me here doesn't mean I'm not charged with trespassing." She mumbled.

"What trespassing? We didn't see anything." The guard smiled, "You aren't charged with anything."

The lord approached her. "The guards already got a note for your presence here. Of course, we'd investigate an allegedly haunted house. They asked me to ignore the case until someone wished to rent the house. We don't have to abide by the law all the time, I can judge case by case."

Several minutes later, Liam returned with a large bag on his back. "First, let's deal with the biggest problem. Alice, come here and help me."

She barely managed to stand and started walking toward the door, "Do you need…" She pushed the door open and saw him holding a small cup filled with water. "Mixed some honey into it. Drink it for now and come help me."

"Honey?"

"We're cooking." He pointed behind him. He had a whole adventurer's kit laid on the ground; it had cooking utensils, a tent, two hide sleep bags, torches, hooks, ropes, candles, flint and steel, an axe, and a lot more, everything that an adventurer could need to camp outside, beside the skill to ward monsters.

"Cooking what?" She looked around and quickly spotted several large bags that he had brought.

"I'm quite a bad cook so I'll only make something simple. But it should be decent." He picked a shovel from the adventurer's kid and dug two small holes in the ground. He then took two fire rods, the steel structure that holds a pot above the flame, and then rushed toward the furniture that the knights were pulling out.

"This bed is wasted." He smiled as he started ripping it apart. "What are you doing?!" Alice gasped.

"It's already going to be burned in the trash, so why won't I use it here to cook? There isn't much difference between using the bed's wood and the wood from a tree. In fact, the bed's wood is better since it's dry." Liam explained as he destroyed the bed and chugged it into the two fire holes.

Alice watched him work, "What should I do?"

Liam turned toward her, "I know you're starving and have no energy at all, that water and honey is just a temporary remedy. First, wash your arms in that bowl, to the elbows at least, and use that piece of cloth to cover your hair." He pointed at the bowl. "I'll be honest, you're too dirty. I'll take you to a clothes shop and the bath today, but we must put some food inside you first."

Alice did what he said. She knew that she was just too dirty to approach food. She hasn't bathed since she came to this body several months ago.

Liam looked at her. "Don't look so sad. I swear I was dirtier than you this morning, we'll figure something out. Let's keep trying."

She smiled back at him. "You're an adventurer, do you intend for me to join you?"

"Of course. I'll need all the hands that I can get." He replied as he filled a pot with water.

"But I'm weak, too weak." She showed him her thick and bony arms, "Humans are useless against monsters."

"That isn't true." Liam turned toward her. "Human aren't weak, they lack the motivation to try and risk their lives. Anyone can start working out each day and raise their strength and speed. Even if they lost all of their limbs, they can still study magic and learn spells."

"Not all humans are fighters…" She approached him after cleaning herself.

"Today, I cleared a goblin nest without fighting myself. I made the goblins kill each other. If I can do that without fighting, humans who can't fight could also." Liam's body was weak, far too weak. But he could still defeat the goblins using a simple common tactic, using the goblin's low intelligence against them. His body's owner was only a three-page read away from being successful. This is why I can't have sympathy for humans, they have everything in their reach, but they don't make the effort to grasp it.

"Not everyone has the courage to face goblins." Alice replied.

"Buy a pot for several copper coins and then head to the forest edge, it's safe there. Pick some medical herbs and start growing them, anyone can do that if they know how to grow them. In fact, they don't require anything but water." Liam replied as he looked at her. "You can't win that argument against me. I've spent a while thinking like you, and life always proved me wrong."

"That…" She mumbled, but he cut her, "Look, it's boiling." He threw a pinch of salt in the water then pulled a bag of flour and started pouring it in while stirring.

"Porridge…is that what you're making?" She stared at him.

"I told you I'm not a good cook, but this will be good. And it's soft and sweet, perfect for a stomach that didn't work in days." He gave Alice a large ladle. "Now stir it nonstop while slowly adding the flour, use your hand." He grabbed a fist full of flour and slowly poured it in the water by gently opening his fingers. I'll make the second dish."

"Wait? Me?" She tried to stir the pot but could barely move the ladle, it was even harder with one hand as she tried to add the flour. "I can't do it."

"Make it happen." He replied as he started cooking on the second pot.

Alice growled. I'm the former hero… this pot won't beat me! She started trying her best even though her body felt exhausted.

Liam pulled a large pan from the kit, threw it on the flames, and threw a spoonful of butter on it.

"What are you making?"

"This…" He pulled a large piece of meat from one of the bags and threw it straight into the pan. "You can't have a decent meal without meat. Eat meat to grow meat,"

Using a knife he cut the meat into small cubes in the sizzling pan, pulled a clove of garlic, took some and peeled it, crushed it in his fist, and threw it in there with a splash of salt. "No pepper for us, too expensive for us poor people. But I found this." He pulled a batch of fresh thyme.

"You found or bought it?"

"You catch on quick. I found it growing at the forest's edge so I picked some." Liam replied with a smile.

"You ran all the way to the forest for it?" She gasped.

"No, I borrowed a horse. I saw the thyme this morning as I'm always on the lookout for something edible in the forest. Everyone needs to survive." He threw the thyme into the pan and started stirring it. And by borrowed he meant that he took the horse and returned it before the owner noticed.

After a while, they had done cooking. Liam pulled several plates and started filling them. To each of them, he poured a plate full of thick porridge, dripped a bit of butter in the middle, and filled a small cup with honey. "You can add honey to make it sweet." He then filled another plate with the fried meat and a mug of water. "Eat slowly and start with the porridge. You have your meat…" He pointed at the fired meat, "I added a lot of butter you have a lot of fat, and even something sweet." He pointed at the honey and then the porridge. "And this is your wheat. I don't care if it takes the form of bread, porridge, or anything else, wheat is wheat, and it's good for you."

"It looks delicious…especially the meat." She looked at him. "You can cook."

"No I can't." He put a bowl in front of her that had raw carrots, zucchini, onion, and tomato. "We're eating those as they are?"

Liam bit one of the zucchini, "Yep, be grateful I'm not feeding you a raw potato."

"They are eating…" A guard mumbled with a sad face.

"And we're here working…" Another added.

"You'll eat when you get back to your wives! Keep taking everything out!" The lord yelled at them.