Chapter 262 - The Blood Guards (1/2)

”I finally have a new dagger”

Michael has a huge smile on his face as he played with a dagger on his hand, but then his expression turned into a frown and looked at Miya, who is playing with a black cub full of fluffiness in front of the cabin of Sonya's home.

'Why does she get a pet and I don't?'

'A panther, did that old woman even has panther? Where did she get it?' Michael thought to himself. After all, he hadn't seen a single tamed beast around her.

Michael can't help but admit that he's a little jealous of Miya right now. After all, the only thing he got was a new dagger and compared to Miya's pet, whose grade is a Divine Beast, just below his pet rabbit, Aran, who is an Empyrean Beast.

What he got as a reward wasn't worth it at all as the dagger would slowly lose its value as time goes by, unlike the Cloud Panther Cub whose potential is limitless, especially during the later stages of the game.

And the most confusing thing for him is that the quest of procuring food wasn't even something which would be worth it enough to reward you a tamed beast with a grade of Divine Beast, which is suspicious and confusing for Michael.

After all, it wasn't a good trade-off for Sonya who only told them to procure food for the villagers, and if it was him, then he would only give Miya a similar grade of a weapon like Michael.

'I wonder what Sonya was thinking when she gave that panter cub of that caliber to Miya'

'She's not planning to do something bad to her, right?'

Then Michael shrugged his shoulders at that thought as Druids are known for having magnanimous hearts, but at the same time, the people and players had also dubbed them as Asuras, as they can also become very evil if they are provoked.

Their personalities are almost the same as Moniker, the Asura Monk of The Continental, whose personality changes every time he's hunting for a ”prey”.

That's the reason why the Church of the Wild is one of the most dominating groups in the continent, they are people that shouldn't be easily offended, lest you not only be bringing trouble to yourself but also to your family.

”Kyaa! You are so...cute!!!”

Miya hugged the little critter in her arms lovingly.

As the night slowly sets in, Michael can be seen stirring a ladle in a huge pot.

”Wow, it's really surprising that you know how to cook”

Miya suddenly came over to his side after she grew tired of playing with the village kids, and took a peek at the food that Michael is cooking.

Michael slightly turned his head towards her and said, ”Why do you think so?”

Miya put on a thoughtful look and then said, ”Well, considering that you have a pretty neat face and a kind of a brute sometimes. You...can say that I didn't think you can cook...at all?”

Michael continued stirring the pot, but a clear look of anger is plastered on his face, and he has this urge to smack the ladle on his hand to someone.

”Give me that! I want to give it a taste!” Miya suddenly snatched the ladle from Michael, and took a spoonful of the soup and put it inside her mouth.

'This woman!' Michael groaned inside.

”Oh my! It's so good!” Miya put her left hand on her cheek and exclaimed in surprise when she finally got a taste of the soup that Michael is cooking.

”Of course it's good” Michael said as he snatched the ladle back from Miya.

”Get out of here, and don't bother me while cooking!”

Miya just smiled and said, ”When are you going to be done? Look at the people around you, they obviously can't wait for it”

Michael looked around him, and saw that almost all of the villagers are looking at the pot in front of him with shining eyes filled with anticipation, and when Michael's eyes met theirs, they quickly looked to the side, a bit embarrassed at their behavior.

Even the village kids just stood on their spot and didn't dare to go near Michael, fearing of disturbing him.

Michael just laughed inside as he could see them swallowing their saliva, and seeing their behavior made him a little bit smug about.

'Damn, I was too engrossed into cooking that I didn't even notice them'

Michael just showed a stiff smile, and him not being able to notice them is because he wasn't in a place that he needs to always keep his senses up, so sometimes he would just be lost in what he is doing, knowing there isn't anyone who would able to hurt him.

Before, Michael couldn't always focus much on cooking because he was constantly on guard towards his surroundings, but when he reached Snow Village, only in this place that he was able to cast aside his worries and focus on cooking.

And as a matter of fact, his ability to cook probably wouldn't even lose to those people who had studied culinary for years, because he was able to hone this ability during his life as an assassin.

And sometimes, the results of the food he makes would even turn out to be better because of the added effect of the 'Cooking' skill.

Then a few minutes later, the village folks started gathering at the place where Michael started cooking, which is in the center of the village.

”Line up in a single file! Kids and pregnant women should go first! The rest should be in the back!” the village chief yelled as he started pouring some food that Michael cooked in the bowls of the villagers, as the latter group of people surprisingly made an orderly line.

”Uwah! It smells really good! It smells heavenly, even better than the one he had cooked before!”

”Right!? It's been a really long time since we had eaten meat, and the first time we had one in three years was when he first got here!”

”Meat is the best! All this time, the only things we had eaten are the vegetables from the garden and tree roots”

”We've been eating meat since Michael arrived in our village, it's like he was heave's sent!”

”Exactly! He's really a good person as he even went with his friend to hunt some game and even cooked us some good food with it!”

”Just thinking about the days that we had to starve just to save food is already making me cry!”

”Stop! Don't cry, how could you cry in front of the children!? It's disgraceful for a man! *Sniff!*”

Michael and Miya are standing from a distance and watched the men stifling their cries with a dumbfounded look on their faces.

”I never knew watching men cry would be so disgusting” Miya said with a blank look on her face, looking at the burly men who have tears flowing from their eyes.

”Anyway, you must have spent a lot with the spices, right?”

Miya eyed Michael, it was because she knew how expensive and rare spices are in the game, and no one in their right minds would use it just to feed a group of people who are literally strangers to him, much less from people who are just made from codes.

”It's fine, it's not like I'm lacking in any gold, but I do am lacking in spices now though”

Michael wasn't really concerned about his expenses in Everwinter, but what worries him is that he's slowly running out of spices, and it was because they are very important to the effects of the food he makes.

And without them, the food would only turn out to be ”ordinary” with small buff effects.

Then Michael suddenly noticed that Miya's face turned dark.

”What happened?”

Miya sighed and looked at Michael, ”I have both good news and bad news, what do you want to hear first?”

”Give me the bad one first” said Michael.

”My sister and the others got ambushed by members from Kunlun Guild when they were traversing the road towards the Town of Suaron”