The setting sun vanished in a blink, and night quietly ascended the stage of the sky, enveloping the entire world.
Clover Kingdom, the furthest village, Hage Village.
Unlike the silent night, the church, adorned with the Clover Kingdom emblem, was brightly lit with candles, and even outside the church, it was exceptionally bright due to burning bonfires and dancing fireflies.
To celebrate Yuno and Bai En receiving their grimoires, Father Orji had prepared a "grand" feast: a wild potato banquet—boiled wild potatoes with wild potato tempura, steamed wild potatoes stir-fried wild potatoes, plain wild potatoes... and hard bread baked from wild potatoes.
He had originally intended to offer comforting words to Asta, who hadn't received a grimoire, like "It's alright" or "Maybe you'll get a grimoire next year." But to his surprise, Asta, rushing back to the church, immediately showed off his grimoire and that dark greatsword.
"What? Even Asta got a grimoire? I can't believe it."
In this atmosphere of astonishment, the comforting words specially prepared before the banquet vanished, leaving only everyone filled with joy and a table full of wild potatoes.
Everyone in the church sat around the dining table, but strangely, no one touched their chopsticks.
Father Orji scanned the group, then was the first to grab a wild potato bread and eat it heartily: "Everyone, dig in quickly, it tastes really good. It seems that even though I haven't shown off my cooking skills in a long time, I haven't gotten rusty."
Nash, with his brown hair and freckled face, unenthusiastically poked at the plain wild potatoes in front of him. He bluntly exposed Father Orji's lie and asked Sister Lily, "Sister Lily, you couldn't stop Father again? Why didn't you wait for Brother Bai En to come back before preparing dinner?"
"It looks like even if we don't eat wild potatoes tonight, we won't escape them for the next week."
Everyone at the table nodded weakly.
Lily, dressed in a nun's habit, smiled at Nash and said a little apologetically, "Although I told him, it didn't seem to do any good..."
"Alright... I'll go help Brother Bai En, he should be preparing something else."
Nash jumped off his chair, and with him leading, the others also left the dining table, leaving only Father Orji, Asta, and the nun.
Asta was eating enthusiastically at the table, showing no sign of stopping.
Father Orji watched this scene, almost moved to tears: "Asta~ you're still the best to me, you can feel my intentions for all of you."
"Huh? Father Orji, what are you saying?" Asta mumbled, wolfing down his food, "I'm just so hungry, I'm just eating something to fill my stomach."
"For cooking, Bai En's food is still the best, right?"
"Eh eh eh... I didn't expect even you to say that..."
"It's true, isn't it?"
Outside the church, a bonfire burned, and the faint sizzling of sparks could be heard.
Yuno expressionlessly used wind magic to cut wood, observing the heat of the fire in the stove, while Bai En systematically processed the fish kept in the wooden bucket, which he had caught yesterday in the stream by Hage Village.
His knife flashed, and in no time, the scales on the fish were completely removed. Then, he sliced open the fish's belly, removed the entrails, placed them on a plate, put a slender, translucent vine plant on the fish meat, and then began to steam the fish with water.
Although March is not a time when animals are abundant, due to magic, many creatures have undergone individual evolution. Of course, it might also be due to the lack of industrial pollution; the fish were few in number but each was plump and delicious.
While the fish was steaming, Bai En picked some seasoning fruits from the vegetable patch next to the church. After the fish was cooked, he crushed the dark purple small berries, letting the berry juice flow over the fish meat, and a unique aroma spread out.
"So fragrant!"
The children, squatting on the ground like short radishes, murmured as they smelled the aroma.
Bai En introduced them: "Purple berries, the flesh is a translucent dark purple gel, and the skin is covered with shimmering silver speckles. Because they look like embedded stars, they're also called star berries."
"They taste salty and release a deep, harmonious umami flavor, making them perfect for seasoning."
"That's amazing!" Liga, with her crimson hair, praised, "How do you know so much, Brother Bai En? I've never heard of these before."
"Read more books and practice more in nature, and you'll know these things too. Alright, it's too late today, so let's have steamed fish with wild potatoes. I remember there's still some fruit pulp, so I'll trouble Nash to get it. I'll make more next time."
"Okay~"
As the steamed fish was placed on the table, its aroma wafted through the church, and Father Orji suddenly found the wild potato bread in his mouth bland and tasteless. As everyone enthusiastically dug in, he also secretly picked up a piece.
The rich fish meat, accompanied by the savory freshness of the juice, bloomed on his tongue. His taste buds began to revel as if after a long drought.
Father Orji shed tears, "Indeed, this is true deliciousness..."
"But Yuno and Bai En will eventually leave the church. If I get used to this deliciousness, what about the days to come...? No, I must control myself, control myself!"
Sweet fruit pulp filled the cups, and everyone in the church began to raise their glasses in celebration.
"Congratulations on getting your grimoires!"
"Thank you~" × 3
In the evening, Bai En lay on the ground, looking at his floating grimoire. The steamed fish he made at the banquet had triggered the magic "Blessing of the God of Cooking."
After finishing the meal, an invisible power of desire transformed into magic and merged into Bai En's body. His total magic power increased, though not by much, but if he persisted over time, his future looked promising.
Listening to the breathing of everyone in the church, the grimoire quietly closed. Bai En closed his eyes and gradually fell asleep.
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
The next morning, when Bai En opened his eyes, Asta and Yuno by his side were already gone, leaving only him and a few children like Nash.
'These two guys couldn't have gotten up this early to train, could they? They're really competitive...'
Bai En yawned. He suddenly felt a sense of indignation, as if his normally close roommates had agreed to do something, but then woke up early to compete and abandon him.
After brushing his teeth with a tree branch dipped in coarse salt and washing up, Bai En prepared breakfast for everyone in the church: leftover wild potatoes from last night, paired with freshly picked earth vein roots and echo mushrooms from the vegetable patch.
He stewed these together, and thanks to the innate sense of seasoning and aesthetics brought by "Mikuriya," even his stewed dishes tasted and looked good.
While the stew was cooking, Bai En practiced his breathing technique under the big tree outside the church. The March morning carried a chill, and a faint mist enveloped this village on the edge of the kingdom.
Maintaining the Full Concentration: Constant breathing method, the Water Breathing forms from First Form "Water Surface Slash" all the way to Eleventh Form "Dead Calm" were performed. The heat rising from his breath dispelled the coldness in the wind.
Since he acquired the breathing technique at 14, Bai En had not stopped practicing for a single day, whether it was raining, windy, or snowing. Although it was a different ability from magic, there was more than one way to become stronger.
Whether it was the breathing technique's limit-breaking mark, the Transparent World... or integrating magic slashes into sword forms to create visually flowing water sword energy, all could make him stronger and surpass his limits.
At breakfast, Yuno returned to the church on time to eat. Seeing that Asta hadn't returned, he hastily ate a few bites and left.
To not miss any opportunity to increase his magic, Bai En took breakfast to find Asta, who was training.
Hage Village, far at the end of the kingdom, had nothing particularly special about it. If one had to find something, it would be the giant skeleton lying quietly by the village stream.
It somewhat resembled the weathered bones of a buffalo, but in reality, it was much larger.
In stories passed down orally, this was the skeleton left behind after a Demon God died, and at the very top of the skull was a statue of the First Magic Emperor who defeated the Demon God.
Bai En knew that this giant skeleton was actually what remained after Licht, the leader of the Elf Tribe, used forbidden magic to become a Demon God and died. And that statue at the top, from a certain perspective, couldn't quite be considered a statue... Entering through the giant skull, the interior was a serene forest, with dense layers of leaves. If it were summer, this would definitely be a good place to cool off. In fact, this was also where Yuno, Asta, and Bai En often played in the summer when they were children.
"899, 900, 901..."
Walking slowly along the small path through the bushes, he soon heard counting and intense clashing sounds.
Asta swung the dark greatsword—demon-slayer sword—in his hand, slashing at the iron-leaf tree, practicing his swordsmanship. But after two or three swings each time, his body couldn't maintain the flow, and he had to twist his body again to swing the greatsword.
"When you swing your sword, your footwork should be consistent with the direction of your slash."
Hearing the guiding voice, Asta turned his head to look, "Bai En? Why are you here?"
"I saw you didn't eat breakfast this morning, so I came to bring you some food."
"Really? I actually brought two wild potatoes."
Flames rose, and two wild potatoes were roasting in the burning bonfire.
"But still, thank you very much."
...