Dinner

Five ants!

"Aww~ Chew~ Chew~"

Serie looked completely satisfied, her chopsticks almost leaving afterimages as she flicked them.

The same was true for Frieren; at this moment, the two elves seemed to have begun a silent contest.

Stark's movements were somewhat restrained, but the food in front of him was disappearing just as quickly as the Frieren's table.

Rienta and Fern ate slowly.

She would occasionally get up to remove the empty plates and go to the kitchen to bring out new dishes to replace them.

The dinner lasted until late at night.

In the contest between the two spirits, Serie won by a narrow margin.

After the meal.

Fern was responsible for using magic to clean up the mess.

Stark remained motionless on the other side of the courtyard, stretching his body.

Yeah, a thousand handstand push-ups.

Every time Rienta saw this scene, she would think to herself, "Monster."

Why not just sit quietly and drink tea like everyone else after the meal?

Why undergo such high-intensity training?

He was seriously injured just this morning.

Those who frequently experience excessive blood loss know that after losing a certain amount of blood, the body will experience symptoms such as dizziness, weakness, and palpitations.

Even if there were [Magic That Heals Everything] to completely heal the injuries.

The blood lost from the body cannot be replenished through magic.

Perhaps Priest skilled in [Goddess Farmer] could do this.

But Rienta can't do that.

Because he couldn't imagine the process of hematopoiesis in the human body.

As I was thinking, the counting sound came from the other end of the Stark.

"195, 196, 197..."

Well, for Stark, those thousand handstand push-ups don't seem like a high-intensity activity.

After muttering a few words of reflection, Rienta began to enjoy her tea under the moonlight.

A night breeze rustled through the maple leaves.

The tranquil atmosphere under the maple tree didn't last long.

Frieren suddenly asked, "Now that the [Golden Land] has been resolved, when are you going back, Serie?"

Upon hearing this, Rienta and Fern also secretly glanced at Serie out of the corner of their eyes.

Before Serie could answer, Frieren said solemnly:

"The Continental Magic Association must be very busy; you need to go back and take charge."

Around this time in the afternoon.

I don't know what Serie was thinking, but she actually said she wanted to stay in Weise for a while.

She wanted to relax and enjoy herself in the city.

Could we possibly let Serie ruin this precious moment of leisure?

Serie gestured to Rienta with her empty teacup, and as Rienta refilled her teacup, she chuckled and said:

"Don't worry, I've left a [Clone] at the Continental Magic Association; it can handle routine matters perfectly well."

After saying that, Serie looked at Rienta and asked in a cryptic tone, "Rienta knows that magic too, right?"

Rienta naturally knew about this magic, because he also had a Grimoire of [Clone Magic].

From Lant, his rival during the First-Class Mage exam.

I just haven't had the time to study it.

The reason I was able to defeat Solitär was because I optimized and improved Übel's magic, imbued it into my weapon, and used it in combination with compressed and solidified Mana to achieve that result.

"Yes, I know that magic..."

Rienta answered instinctively, but her voice trailed off as she met Frieren's calm gaze.

"Ahem, well, I'll go check on the late-night snacks."

Rienta coughed lightly, put down her teacup, and ran towards the kitchen.

Serie tilted her head, looked at Frieren, and said with some surprise:

"Late-night snack? Didn't we just have dinner?"

After saying that, Serie rubbed her stomach.

She thoroughly enjoyed her dinner, not only because she was thinking of competing with Frieren.

The dishes were so delicious that she couldn't help but eat more than she should.

Frieren glanced at Stark, who was exercising not far away, and explained:

"Normally, Rienta will prepare a late-night snack."

"After all, Stark is still very young, and he's a warrior; he's prone to hunger after training."

At this point, Frieren paused, turned her head, and looked at Serie:

"That's why I didn't perform at my full potential during dinner just now."

"Late-night snacks are even more delicious than dinner."

Serie: "..."

For a moment, she didn't know what to say.

It praises the friendship between Rienta and the others.

I still want to complain about Frieren's strange competitive spirit.

She clearly won, yet she still claims she didn't play to her full potential.

What does it mean when a late-night snack is more delicious than dinner?

She greatly admired the cooking skills of both Rienta and Fern.

However, since they are all made by the same person, how could there be such a big difference?

Could it be that you didn't put much effort into making dinner just now?

Thinking this to herself, Serie didn't say anything more.

Frieren also temporarily gave up the idea of persuading Serie to go back.

The two strongest mages on the entire continent sat quietly under the maple tree.

One of them took out Grimoire, flipped to the section they had previously visited, and continued reading.

One person rested their chin on their hand, their gaze fixed on the brightly lit kitchen, seemingly lost in thought.

Inside the kitchen.

Fern had already tidied up all the kitchen utensils she had used before.

He was standing in front of the stove, holding a notebook, writing and drawing.

Rienta arranged the chopped ingredients one by one in the bowl, and then added the prepared sauce.

Then I put the full bowl into the steamer, turned on the heat, and mentally timed the process.

"[Kou Wan] is indeed a bit complicated to make."

"I chose this dish today because I promised Stark."

"First boil, then fry, then steam."

"Including food preparation, this whole process takes at least three or four hours."

"But the taste is definitely worth the time it took."

Fern looked at the densely filled notebook in his hand and nodded.

Pork ribs, pork belly, tofu, chicken thigh meat, fish, lamb, beef, glutinous rice, etc.

Regardless of the ingredients, the preparation process is very simple and easy to learn.

She also looks forward to late-night snacks regularly.

This is especially true after acquiring the [magic of not gaining weight no matter how much I eat].

While preparing dinner, she saw that Rienta had prepared a lot of ingredients.

Since those ingredients weren't used in making dinner, she knew there might be a surprise for her midnight snack.

So she only ate about 60% full at dinner.

"How long will it take?"

Rienta for a moment and said, "More than two hours, that way it will be softer and more flavorful."

"Normally, it's ready to eat in about an hour, but the exact steaming time depends on personal preference."

"Let's set it at two hours or more this time. Next time, when Fern does it herself, we can try a shorter time."

Fern nodded and added a few more sentences to his notes.

Then, the two looked at each other, and without hesitation, neither suggested leaving the kitchen.

Rienta took out two chairs from her [Personal Space] and handed one of them to Fern.

The two found a place to sit in the kitchen and waited for the steamed Kou Wan to be ready.