A Cup of Tea

"Hey, are you comfortable?"

"Huh? I-I mean... yeah."

"Good. Because I don't want you to feel weird when you're with me."

It had only been a short time since Sarah had tricked Phil into staying with her, claiming that she would be in danger if she was alone in the night.

But now, as she sat next to him, Phil could sense that she might have had other intentions. His heart was pounding in his chest, he could feel his face flushing with embarrassment and nervousness as he saw the beautiful, mature figure sitting beside him.

"Miss Sophia, what are you doing?" Phil asked, trying to keep his voice steady.

"What do you mean?" Sarah replied innocently, feigning ignorance. "I'm not doing anything. I just feel safer when I'm sitting next to you. But please tell me if I'm making you uncomfortable. You were so kind to give me a bit of your time. I would hate to take advantage of your compassion." She said with sad eyes and convincing genuinely.

Phil didn't understand why he had arrived here. His mind was still blank from the invitation from 30 minutes ago. Sure he had saved her, but he hadn't expected any kind of reward in return for his generosity.

Wait, did this even count as a reward? Wasn't it ungentlemanly to see being alone with a girl as a reward?

'Yes, it is,' Phil decided. This was just going to be him taking responsibility for saving her. He was not going to do anything uncordial. He would be a good gentleman and just work as a security guard for the damsel in distress.

His honour said it so! Or at least he believed this part would entail in his code of honour. He wasn't sure, because like said before, his mind was blank.

Unfortunately for him, there was still a lot of time before nighttime came. So he was still stuck in an awkward situation regardless. He wasn't good at talking with women, or people in general.

'This is going to be a hard night,' Phil dreaded.

And it would've gone that way. That was until Sarah decided to speak up for him.

"Mr Knight. If it isn't too much to ask, can I know your name? You never told me when you saved me from before," Sarah said with a slight tinge of nervousness in her voice. Her masterful play elicited a pity response from Phil as he felt almost forced to answer her.

"Yes, it is okay to ask Miss Sophia. My name is Philip Georgia. Don't worry about my full name and just call me Phil." Phil said with a slight smile. His previous emotions starting to calm down from his wild thoughts of before.

Sure he hadn't ever talked to any woman before, or even been close to one, but for some reason, he felt himself loosen up a bit around Sarah. Relaxed even, compared to all of his previous experiences in the capital.

Sarah gave a slight nod as she smiled at Phil. Keeping eye contact as she did so.

"Then you can call me Sophia. Did you want some tea by chance?" She said.

With his slowly lightening heart and shoulders, Phil answered, "Yes. Some tea would be nice and help me relax as well."

Hearing the positive answer, Sarah showed an angelic smile as she got up to warm the kettle.

How was she going to warm it? Of course with an invention made by the Scholar of Nashi!

The man was a terrifying genius. With some stones called 'Hot Rocks', and some heat induction that traps air, sunlight, and geothermal heat, the Scholar of Nashi had somehow invented a heating platform hot enough to cook and boil food and water for the common people.

And it was truly common. Hot Rocks were a type of rock where it could trap 97% of the heat it comes into contact with. Even body heat, which sometimes leads it to be cold to the touch when people hold it.

But the special characteristics of these rocks were that when it reaches '100%' capacity of heat storage, they would start vibrating and release all of their heat in quick succession, leading to extreme temperatures on the stone. Hot enough that the only thing with a higher temperature would be flames burned from wood.

Now, with these special characteristics, the Scholar of Nashi had created something called a 'Stove'. It was named after the fact that it was made out of black stone, and also because of the sound, the stone makes when it starts vibrating. He had also decided to call it 'Stof' at one point because of the scoff he made when he saw the product's simplicity. But the last part was just rumouring in his hometown when he invented it.

Now, with the advert in her mind over, Sarah put some leaves into the pot as she open the small opening from the top of the tent to let light in, and also connect the heating rod which connected to the campfire nearby and placed it against the Hot Rocks on the Stove.

Soon, once this was done, some vibrating noises began ringing under the flat platform where the Hot Rocks were kept, and the surface above it started to rapidly heat up.

At this point, Sarah stirred the pot a few times as she began asking Phil some questions.

"I've heard you came here from far away. Can you tell me a bit about your place?" Sarah asked with a smile as she tucked her golden blonde hair behind her ear and tasted the boiling tea.

Phil scratched the back of his head with a wry smile, "Nothing much. Just came from a pretty far away place. We actually used to live near the capital- Oh! When I mean "we" I mean, me and my two best friends. You've already met one of them. His name is Anthony!" Phil said as he suddenly got excited when he started to talk about his precious friends.

Outwardly, Sarah smiled as if what Phil was doing was adorable. But inwardly, she couldn't help but sneer.

'Every single one of you three fuckers I've fucked has talked about each other as if you are lovers. If you like your friends so much, then why don't you get a room and start a gay threesome and fuck for the night!?' Sarah thought with slight disdain, but also helplessness.

She was stressing out at the moment. She didn't know when that Lieutenant of hers would figure out if she was the cultivator of the camp. In fact, she wasn't sure if he already knew. And if he knew she was a cultivator, it wouldn't end with something sensual as it would during the simple times in the slums.

No... She would most likely be killed.

'No! Stop going there! The quest didn't say anything about failing yet. Yes... I can still do this. All I have to do is make good use of these three friends,' Sarah thought as her gaze slightly sharpened at the face of Phil. Which he didn't notice because he was too busy talking about his friends.

"...and that's why Michael almost had his manhood chopped off by the husband of one of the women he'd slept with. Actually, now that I think about it, I remember seeing some blood back then... Oh! I'm so sorry Miss Sophia. I was just rambling on. Can you tell me a bit about yourself? For example, why you decided to join the war efforts? Or maybe a few stories about your experiences with your patients? It would be a pleasure to hear how everything's been going for you," Phil said when he saw Sarah just suddenly stop and stare at him while his story-telling.

"...Also, I think the tea is boiling over?" He said as he pointed at the bubbling and whistling pot.

Immediately after hearing that, Sarah got out of her reverie and worked swiftly to open the lid of the kettle, kick the iron rod away from the Hot Rocks, and quickly started to blow into the pot to try and keep the water from spilling over.

And after a while of doing this, the crisis was averted. Except, it led Sarah to feel a bit awkward about things.

"Phew... Sorry about that. I was just so... engrossed in your stories that I completely forgot about the kettle. Just wait a moment, for me. I'll go get some cups and put down some tea for the both of us," Sarah said as she felt slightly embarrassed of her previous miss with the pot.

'God, get your head in the game, girl! Stop fretting over something you can't fix yet. The time isn't right. You've just gotta make use of the time you have left...' She thought while taking a deep breath as she tried to stabilise her anxiety from her worries.

Shaking her head from the intrusive thoughts of before, Sarah poured some hot tea into two cups and brought them over to the table where she and Phil sat. And soon begin to talk.