Chapter 21 Three Peaceful Weeks

It was the next day after my disappointing crying episode. That night had been one of the best nights I've had in awhile. When I got up, I could feel a weight on my chest. I looked at it, and saw both Ana and Astra in their fox forms. They were lying on top of me, sleeping soundly. I guess that both of them were very tired. I tried to slip out of the bed in a quiet manner to allow them to sleep for a longer period of time. They stirred in their sleep as I moved from the bed. I didn't want to wake them up, since they had done so much for me the past week. It took awhile, but I was finally able to extricate myself from them without waking up either of them.

"I know I have already said this, but thank you." I said to them while I brushed their coat of fur with my hands. I would definitely have to do something for them in the future.

However I should decide that in the future. Right now the most important thing would be to fill my belly, and prepare food for them to eat as well. As if to prove my point, my stomach had just begun to rumble, signifying its emptiness. Luckily Ana and Astra had hunted food during the past week, and I had already dismantled all of it. There should still be a lot of food left within the storage. All I had to do was think of a way to prepare it. I think I should just go with a simple roasting, but let's decide after I see all of the ingredients we have.

I then headed out of my room and arrived in the hallway. Following the hallway I started to head to the kitchen, before realizing I really needed to use the restroom. So I went to the restroom first, and did my business. Then I went into the kitchen and headed down to the storage/dismantling room. There I took stock of all the food ingredients we had. There weren't that many edible plants or berries. If I had to guess, Ana and Astra were probably too busy hunting demonic beasts, that they had no time to gather other items. Since there aren't that many other ingredients, I wouldn't really be able to make anything too special. I really think that just roasting it would be for the best.

I don't think I should just eat meat though. That wouldn't really be too filling. I guess some bread would go well with the meat. We still have a fair amount of grains left, so I should be able to make enough bread for all of us to eat. Maybe I could even try combining the bread and the meat. I know that is what we usually do, but what if I tried combining them during the cooking process. I would first have to precook the meat before adding it into the bread dough while it was baking. I don't know how good this would actually be, but now that I've thought of it, I want to try it out. Maybe I could even cook the meat in some fruit juice from some fruits we have, and add that flavor to the bread. I'll just cook some normally on the side so Ana and Astra could have something to eat.

With that in mind I began to grab everything I would need from the storage. Enough meat for all of us to eat, enough grains to be made into a suitable amount of bread, some slightly sour fruits that resembled oranges from the village, and some wood suitable for burning. Once I had gathered all of these materials I brought them up to the kitchen. There I also got out the necessary utensils, like pots, pans and cutlery. I set the grains to be crushed while I worked on cooking the meat. I put the wood in the stove and was going to light it with my flint and steel. However, my flint and steel was within my room, and I didn't want to go in there for fear of waking up Ana and Astra. I would have to find another method to light a flame. I then remembered from my dad that if I ever lost my flint and steel and needed to light a flame, the best way would be to rub two sticks together. I think he tried to explain the reason, but I wanted to go play with Sylvia and Danny at the time, so I wasn't listening that well. Well either way he wouldn't lie to me, so I got some sticks from the wood pile and began to rub them together.

It took a little while before any results started to show. I had even almost given up on multiple occasions, but persisted. My persistence paid off as some smoke had started to come off of the sticks. I rubbed the sticks harder upon seeing that, and even started to blow on them, in a way similar as if I was using a flint and steel. Soon the smoke became full of flames, and I placed the flames inside the stove. I also blew into the stove and fanned air into it. Soon the wood had all caught on fire, and the stove was lit. Once the stove was done I got a pan, and put it over the stove. I left it there for a little while to heat up from the flame.

Once I felt like enough time had passed, I got a fat piece of meat and put it onto the pan. The fat soon melted off due to the heat, and spread all around the pan. Once this was done, I began to actually cook the meat that was meant to be cooked. I just put it onto the stove and flipped it when I felt like one side had been cooked enough. I also cut the meat into smaller pieces so it would cook faster. Once it was around halfway cooked, I cut up the orange like fruit, and began to squeeze some of it over the pan. I then mixed the meat and juice to the best of my abilities. However, this method wasn't that efficient. Not a lot of the juice was absorbed by the meat, and most of it had just stayed on the pan along with the juices that came from the meat. If I were to try this again, I should instead use the juice at the end of the process or at the beginning. If it was in the beginning, then I should be able to let the juice seep into the meat, and if it was at the end, then I should be able to utilize the juice as some sort of sauce.

Either way this was just a waste of that fruit. At least I could learn from my mistakes, and do better next time. I continued cooking the meat until it was done, before putting it on a separate plate. The fire on the stove was getting a little low so I put some more wood in it that I had gotten from the storage. By this time the grains had already been sufficiently crushed.I was going to just add some water, like I would normally, but then I had an idea. I could use the juices still left in the pan instead of water. I could also dilute it in water in case there wasn't enough. That is exactly what I did. I combined the dough with the meat and fruit juices. Since there wasn't enough I also added water before mixing thoroughly.

The mixing of the dough with water was soon done. This would definitely have to be one of the easier parts to the process. As for what came next, I separated the dough and meat into thirds. One third was to be for me, one third for Ana, and the last third for Astra. Using another pan, I began to cook Ana and Astra's bread like normal. However for my bread, I added a portion of my meat into it and mixed the dough some more. If I were to do this another time, an important thing to remember is to cut the meat smaller. This way it would be easier for it to mix with the dough.

Despite this I was able to finish mixing the dough before placing it next to Ana and Astra's bread in the same pan. I then watched over, and occasionally flipped the dough to make sure it was cooked thoroughly. The fire was a bit low again, so I had to get wood another time, but that wasn't too much of a pain. Soon the bread had finished cooking, but it once again fell short of the village bread. Their bread was just so much more fluffy, and sweeter than mine. I could guess they added some sugar or honey to it for the sweetness, but I don't know what they used to make it fluffy. It was like they just pumped air into it while they cooked the bread. How they do that though, is something I don't understand.

Well either way the food I had created was finished. I put each portion onto a different plate before placing them on the table. I also went to get everyone a glass of water and placed that onto the table as well. I still wanted to let Ana and Astra sleep some more, so I didn't go to wake them up. Instead I went to wash all of the dishes involved in creating this meal. I just got some water and an old cloth and scrubbed the dishes. If I didn't do this early, then the stuff would just stick to the pan, and make it excruciating to scrub off later. This action didn't really take that long, so once I was done with it, I had nothing else to really do, other than wait, which is exactly what I did. I waited for both an and Astra to wake up.

I didn't just wait though. I had already made up my mind to train harder these days. If I didn't, then, Ana and Astra could be out in another dangerous situation. I wouldn't want them to be hurt, nor would I want to separate from them. Even though I can't use my magic at the moment, I'll be able to train my body. I haven't really trained my body when I left home. I didn't want nor need to do so. Magic was able to solve most of my problems, but I can't just keep relying on magic. I could run out of mana, and if I did then I wouldn't have anything to back up on. I would just follow the training routine my father had left for me. While thinking of my father tears began to once again fall from my cheek. I didn't cry out loud though, and just let them silently fall down.

Once the tears had stopped flowing, I instantly went into training. I just followed my dad's routine. It was a pretty simple one that includes stretching in the morning. By doing this the body will become more flexible, which will allow for a variety of moves in combat. I wasn't really that flexible though, since I haven't done any stretches in over 12 years. However I didn't let that stop me and continued working at it. At this moment though, both Ana and Astra came into the kitchen.

"Good morning sylvi. Can I ask what you are doing?"

"Mornin Ana and Astra. I'm doing some stretches. This is part of my dad's training routine. I haven't been doing it for a while, so I am a bit rusty. I already told you that I am too dependent on magic, so I'm trying to remedy that."

"Well are you going to eat with us then?"

"Of course I am Astra. Once we are done eating, I'll head back to the stretches."

"So what did you make for us?"

"Just some meat with bread."

"Why is there no meat on this plate, then. Is one of us not going to eat meat."

"No Ana, I was just trying something new. I wanted to cook the meat into the bread, and this is what came out. I don't know how well it will taste."

"Well if it's good, then you will definitely have to make us a portion later."

"Yes, I'll definitely do that, but let's eat before it gets any colder."

"Okay." "Okay."

With that, we then began to eat the food I had prepared. We were all eating it silently, so I couldn't tell how they liked it. It should taste fine though. The only thing I did differently was add some orange fruit juice, and not a lot was absorbed in the cooking process. It shouldn't really taste any different. After we were done eating Astra asked me a question.

"Sylvain, did you do anything special to the meat and bread? It tastes different, but I can't quite put my finger on it."

"Yeah. I felt the same way sister. It doesn't taste as usual. In fact it tastes even better."

"Well, I tried something different when I was cooking. I remembered we had this orange, so I squeezed it while I was cooking the meat. There was a lot of leftover juice in the pan, so I then also added it into the dough. There is still much that can be improved on though."

"Oh, wow. Why haven't you tried doing this before?"

"I guess, I never had the idea to try to combine these two ingredients before."

"Well at least you've had the idea now. I can't wait to try what you come up with next sylvi. Oh, by the way how was your meal? I would really want to know if it was any good."

"I think it was good. The meat being cooked into the bread definitely gives a different flavor to it. I think you guys would like it, so I'll cook it for all of us for breakfast tomorrow."

"Okay then. I'll wait for your breakfast. I hope it really is good as you say, and you are not just overselling it."

"I guess that will be up to you to decide."

"Yes, you are definitely right about that one."

"I think we should move off of the food topic. So Sylvain, do you need any help in your training? We should be able to help you."

"No, I don't think I will need any help at the moment. I need to first get familiar with the training again. I haven't done it in so long after all. I'll probably need your help in the future, but I'm sure I'll be fine for the first couple of weeks. If you want you can join me as well."

"I don't really want to join, but I'll be sure to watch. It's not like we really have anything else to do."

"Can't you both practice magic. Even if I can't use my own mana, you two should be able to use mine. You can try to use some wind spells, or even make your own combination spells. Who knows, this might be useful in the future."

"You are definitely right. With our coats others will definitely believe us to be elemental foxes. It's common knowledge that elemental foxes are only able to use one element. As such us using a different element would definitely confuse the enemy."

"Are you sure that is common knowledge Astra. I mean, I have never heard of an elemental fox before meeting the two of you."

"It may not be common knowledge where you come from, but it should definitely be common knowledge here in the Forest of Calamity."

"Well, if you say so. I guess we both will be training them. Be careful when using your spells though. I won't be able to help you control your elements if they go out of control again."

"Don't worry sylvi. Astra and I won't make any mistakes controlling our element."

"Well, as long as you are confident."

With that, we then went into our training. I once again continued my stretching, loosening myself up. I was still rigid and stiff, but that would definitely go away with time. Of course, I would have to continue this training routine for it to take any effect. While I was stretching, Ana and Astra were also controlling my mana. That weird sensation assaulted me again. The one in which my mana would flow without my control. That messed up my concentration on the stretching more than once. However I didn't let it get to me that much. I continued to stretch, and Ana and Astra continued to practice magic.

Then I switched to the next part of the training routine which was to start exercising. I didn't really have anything that could help me out, so I just went with the basics. The basics were sit ups, push ups, running in place, and other various excersises. I honestly didn't know how much excessive my father had, as it felt like he would always show me a new one each week, since I began to train with him. This sort was easier than the stretching. For the stretching you would have to hold the position for an undefined amount of time. However for the exercises you would have to do them until you can't work anymore. At least this is what my father told me to do. So of course that is exactly what I did.

I would rotate the exercises I was doing. Doing one one set of one particular exercise, before moving on to another one. By the way, one set was equivalent to completing the particular exercise 20 times. Once again, during this whole process Ana and Astra were also practicing their spells, so my mana would be moved without me moving it, causing a weird sensation. This would distract me when I was doing the exercises, and I would lose count of how many of them I had done. However I soon reached my limit, which was honestly pretty embarrassing. I was only able to do 2 sets of each of the 2 easy exercises I had decided to do. I, as a kid, was able to do at least 5 sets of 5 different exercises before reaching my limit. Totaling 500 completed individually, and this was as a kid. Now I could only do 80, which is very embarrassing.

I wanted to continue, but I had to stop for two reasons. The first, is that overworking myself wouldn't help me. In fact, that would only hurt me in the future, according to my father. The second, is that I am hungry. Even though it may have felt like a little bit of time had passed, the sun was already high in the sky, signaling that it was noon. If I didn't eat then I would have the energy to continue the exercise, so I would have to take a short break. After the break, and once I had recovered enough, I would go back into training. I need to get used to this routine once again.

"What do you guys want to eat for lunch?" I asked Ana and Astra who were still practicing their spells.

"I don't really care what is for lunch. As long as it is filling I'll be fine. I think I'm close to making a new spell, so don't interrupt me."

"I'm fine with whatever sylvi decides to make. I'm sure it will be tasty, whatever it is."

"Okay then since you have so much trust in me, I'll have to answer that trust and make you something delicious. I'll let you get back to your training now. Good luck to the both of you."

"Thank you." "Thank you"

I got up, and went down to the storage to see what ingredients I could use to make a good lunch. There honestly wasn't much, and I couldn't really think of anything new to make. I wanted to try to make breakfast better using my ideas. However, I felt like the first one would take too much time to do. Also, even if I managed to do it, it wouldn't be anything new since they have already eaten it for breakfast. I couldn't really think of anything, so I just decided to grill up some meat. I should also cook some vegetables as well for variety. I decided to cook 3 potatoes along with enough meat for all of us.

We had potatoes at our village, but no one would eat them. It was said that they were poisonous, and made people sick or ill. However, Ana and Astra proved that to be wrong. While they were poisonous, only certain parts were, and as long as you took out those parts, then they would be safe to eat. I then cut off the poisonous parts, and cut up the potatoes and meat. I then cooked it in a pan after adding a fatty piece of meat to grease up the pan.

I didn't have to use the rubbing method to light the fire, as I was able to get my flint and steel from my room. This allowed me to have more time cooking. I didn't have to spend as much time lighting the fire. I just cooked up the potatoes and meat, and didn't do anything special to them. It didn't really take that long for this to be done. Once they were done, I put them on plates after splitting up the food into thirds for all of us to enjoy. I then placed it on the table.

"Ana and Astra, lunch is ready."

They both came into the kitchen when they heard that. I guess they stopped practicing while I was cooking, because I couldn't feel any sense of discomfort when I was cooking. Or the other option was that is as just so engrossed in cooking that I didn't notice. I doubt that is possible though. We once again ate our meal in silence. After we finished they praised the food for being delicious, and that is how we spent the rest of the week. I would continuously train my body, while Ana and Astra would train their magic. Then, we would eat some food that was cooked by one of us. We switched who cooked so that way, we wouldn't get bored of eating the same food.

We had a lot of food in storage, so we didn't need to go out to hunt. This helped out a lot since I still couldn't use magic, and I wanted to focus more on training. By the end of the week, I was able to do what I could do as a kid. It is kind of sad, that I could only be as strong as a kid without mana. However, as long as I continue training, I should be able to grow to higher heights. As I train my body, my reinforcement spell should increase, and I will have another option to use if I ever run out of or can't use mana. Speaking of mana, I could finally control it properly after this week had ended. It no longer hurt, and for all purposes, I was fully healed. Their is the possibility that there are still some side effects, but I could train my mana now as well as train my body.

The first thing I did with my mana was test out the effect of the new healing spell. Training the body is a tedious and repetitive task. As such I was thinking of different things while I was doing it. The thing most prevalent on my mind was the healing spell though. Ever since Ana had given me the suggestion to base it off of an already made healing spell, I was always thinking of what I could do. As such, I had continuously refined that idea over the week of training, and I believe it should work. Testing out this spell would definitely be easy. To do so I made a cut on myself, and began chanting.

"O spell of water, combine with the wind to come forth as a healing mist that heals my allies."

I looked back at the cut in expectation, however it didn't heal. It felt like I had the right words, but they were in the wrong order. I don't really know how to describe it other than that. However, I could tell that I was close to having my own healing spell. This one is just taking a little longer than the other spells I have created. However, this one will definitely be the most useful one of the spells I have. That is why, I will continue to think and change it until I can actually get it to work. I will need to try to change up the order of words, but not know.

After bandaging up my self inflicted wound, I then work on training again. This time, I will also train my mana as well though. I'm not going to be reinforcing myself with mana though. That would just defeat the purpose of my training. No, I'm going to train my multitasking skill. The fight with the king showed me just how important multitasking is, and even though I can do two things simultaneously, I will need to strive for more. I should keep training this vital skill. As such I decided to train my dad's routine, and while I was doing that, I would be maintaining three balls of mana. They would be wind, water, and fire mana.

With this new training routine, I was strengthening my body, strengthening my multitasking skill, and strengthening mana control. This was all around a good thing, and I really had no complaints. Another week had passed by without any worries. However, near the end of the third week, we were running low on stored food. We would have to hunt in the coming days for our own food, but I wasn't worried about that. Instead, I was worried about the wasted time that could have been spent on training. However, there was a piece of good news. I had finally perfected the healing spell.

"O spell of water, combine with the wind as a healing mist that heads to heal my allies."

I realized that my previous spell had two commands back to back. "Combine with the wind" being one of them and "to come forth" being the second one. This can't happen since as my mom said, the spell gets messed up as it tries to figure which command it should follow. So all I had to do was separate the commands, and I was able to finish the spell. I now had a healing spell, and would be able to help heal all of us if we need to. We would still need to hunt for food though.

"So how do you guys want to hunt for food?" I asked when we had all gathered.

"I think we should all work together to gather food. That way we could all watch over one another, and protect one another. Besides, a family should stick together right?"

"You are right Astra. It also gets boring staying in the cave when sylvi is not here. I would much rather have us all hunt together."

"Okay then, we will hunt together from now on. With all three of us working together, I doubt anything in the beastmen zone would be our opponent."

"Yeah." "Yes."

With that we had decided our plans. Although we didn't set up a strict hunting plan, we didn't need one. We would just go out, and find demonic beasts to kill. Even if we couldn't find any by just walking, I still had my detection spell to fall back on. We should definitely be able to hunt efficiently, and with all three of us killing the demonic beasts would be the least of our worries. All that was left was to wait for tomorrow to come.