NOVPUB-----
While being gently carried by the Phantom Dragons and with the Snowdragon and the Snowdad as bodyguards behind them, Nyx led Fran and Alma to an area of the sewers that seemed to be an open, old-looking room with a hole in the ceiling where the sun came out from.
She quickly closed the entrance by grabbing a big boulder from the ruined place and covering it, finally finding a safe space, Nyx took out a whole bed from her Shadows, letting Alma rest over it, the pink-haired girl sighed in relief.
"Haah… I'm so sleepy… I'm sorry… that we had to cut short our travels for me," Alma muttered. "It's my fault for being so weak…"
"Y-You aren't weak Alma, you protected me… you saved my life," Fran muttered by her side. "Thank you…"
"Fran…" Alma smiled gently, holding her friend's little hand. "I-It's alright, you don't need to cry anymore… I'm fine after all, right?"
"Yeah," Nyx nodded. "But… I owe you two an apology, if I had paid more attention, nothing of this would've happened… I-I'm sorry… I'm really sorry for not being careful enough…"
Fran and Alma glanced at Nyx with worried expressions, they seemed to not think the same thing she did.
"It wasn't exactly your fault, things were happening beyond your… Um, your power," said Alma.
"Y-Yeah!" Fran nodded. "You did everything you could, Nyx! Sometimes… Um, well, mom says that sometimes, there are things that happen, which we cannot change… or do anything about. They just happen. We just have to learn to adapt to them and move on."
"You girls…" Nyx muttered, feeling slightly comforted by their words. "Thanks… Um, are you hungry?"
"A bit…" Alma said.
"Yeah…" Fran nodded.
"Okay, let's eat something more than snacks. I think I could cook something!" Nyx smiled, as she took out a whole cooking set, and created a bonfire by breathing some flames. Her magic flames burned nicely, didn't produce smoke, and were perfect for cooking.
"Cooking? Do you know how to cook, Nyx?" Fran wondered. "I have never cooked before… I'm too little. Mama and sometimes big sis cooks. But big sis' food is not really good compared to mama."
"I have cooked sometimes…" Alma said. "My grandmother has taught me how to make baked potatoes and bread… I also know how to grill meat and fish."
"Ooh! Alma, you know so much!" Fran was amazed, clapping.
"Heheh, well, it's not really that much… They won't let me cook more than that…" Said Alma. "After all I'm a kid I suppose… Or… Or am I?"
Alma suddenly looked at her little hands, looking confused. Then she groaned, grabbing her head for a bit.
"Ugh…"
"Alma? A-Are you ok?" Nyx wondered.
"Alma!" Fran panicked.
"I'm fine… I just got a strong migraine. Maybe I should really take a nap…" Alma sighed, resting her head over the pillow. "Hmm… the pillow is soft at least…" 𝚗o𝚟pub.𝚌𝚘𝚖
"Yeah, you can rest, I'll cook up something," Nyx nodded. "I've learned how to cook some stuff like stew from mama. So I'll make that!"
"Stew?" Fran walked to Nyx's side. "Which kind?"
"From back home, when we didn't have much money or food, I remember we used to raise Big Rats! It is a type of monster from back home," Nyx said, licking her lips. "They're very big and fat, and their meat is delicious and full of fat too!"
"Y-You ate rats?!" Gasped Fran. "That's gross…"
"Gross? Why? They're a good source of protein!" Nyx smiled.
"But that's… the rats that attacked us were disgusting, don't you think?" Fran asked.
"Ah those… they're Nightmare Beasts though!" Nyx said. "The Big Rats from back home are big and fluffy and once domesticated they're cute! And also they have kids very quickly… I remember always taking care of the babies."
"They aren't ugly or gross?" Fran wondered.
"Not at all!" Nyx said. "Though, thinking about that made me wonder what Nightmare Beast meat would taste like… I guess I could try it out? I did bring a few of their bodies with me…"
"E-Eh?! You did?!" Fran screamed a bit.
"D-Don't yell! Alma is sleeping," Nyx reprimanded her.
"S-Sorry…" Fran covered her mouth. "Um, but what if its poisonous?"
"It shouldn't really do anything to me," Nyx said. "I'm a dragon and we can eat even the most poisonous of venoms, that's what dad said."
"Oh…" Fran muttered. "Well, you can eat it but not me… nor Alma, please…"
"It's fine I am not feeding you anything, geez," Nyx sighed. "But I'll cook myself a big Nightmare Rat Steak, also some Grilled Nightmare Catfish too, salted! And some… Um, some roasted Nightmare Frog Thighs!"
Nyx licked her lips, since she was a child that she liked eating nasty little critters she found around. She could still recall strolling through farms and fields and chasing rats, big spiders, moles, and eating them whole. She also liked biting the tail of her father, which earned her the [Tail Biter] Title, which she feels embarrassed about every time she looks at her Status.
She started by first doing the normal meal, taking out potatoes, peeling them, cutting them into little cubes, and then adding some tomato slices, onions, olive oil, some garlic, and stir frying it for a few minutes like her mama taught her.
After that, she took out some beef from her inventory, bought from the convenience store, similarly to all her ingredients, and cut it into several little chunks, stir frying it with everything.
"Alright…"
Nyx poured some water she had boiled on the side until the potatoes were fully covered, and then some tomato sauce and some dehydrated chicken stock which she crushed with her little hand and poured on top, for more flavor.
After stirring for a while, she let it all simmer down slowly with a small flame, covering the entire pot with a lid, and moving on to cook her Nightmare Beast meat.
Their meat wasn't that different than the monsters she had eaten before, although they had weird black spots here and there, which resembled to be where the highest concentrations of Nightmare Miasma were.
For good measure, Nyx cut them off before cooking them, leaving only the clean-looking red meat of these three different creatures, and cooked them slowly.
The delicious smell slowly woke up Alma, who looked both sleepy and hungry.
"Food… Smells so good- Uwaack! A rat?!"
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