A gentle breeze swept through the valley, carrying the fresh scent of soil and grass. The daylight was perfect, and the grassy hollow by the riverbank still held a faint smell of roasted mushrooms. The little fish that had been tossed into the river long ago had grown quite a bit. Every now and then, schools of fish could be seen gathering beside the rocky hollows along the bank, splashing noisily whenever the nearby shadows startled them.
Yu Sheng slipped through the back door of the Special Operations Bureau cafeteria and brought out some skewers of meat, fruit, and a few sweet potatoes. He dug open the pile of embers Rapunzel had left behind, wrapped the sweet potatoes in foil, and buried them in the hot ashes. Then he gathered the remaining branches beside it, lit a small fire, and slowly roasted the skewers over it.
He handed a skewer of cooked chicken to the Blonde Elf beside him.
Luo took it and thanked him. After blowing on it hard, she took a bite and immediately widened her eyes in surprise. "Boss, you can cook!"
"Do you know how much effort it took to keep Huli fed before I signed a strategic cooperation agreement with the Special Operations Bureau cafeteria?" Yu Sheng raised an eyebrow. "This is nothing."
Eileen crouched near the fire, poking at several acorns she had just tossed into the flames with a long branch. Then she suddenly looked up at Luo. "Aren't you an elf? Do elves eat meat?"
"There are plenty of different kinds of elves. Argraidean Elves aren't that particular." Luo glanced at the little homunculus. "What we eat is pretty normal. You should go see the Terra Elves' dietary customs sometime. Even Huli might not be able to handle that stuff."
Eileen blinked.