Hackslashbash: Reuploaded 3/21/2020
CHAPTER 6: Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice
'It hurts…'
The first thing she felt was pain. Pain sharp enough to banish the drowsiness that still lingered in her bones.
The second thing she felt was her usual bed cover. It wasn't smooth, but it wasn't rough either. It definitely beat waking up on the cold-hard ground. Her mattress with all its broken springs was harsh to her back, but it was her mattress nonetheless. No one else used it, so how soft or hard it was didn't matter.
She slowly opened her eyes to the inside of her small apartment. The sunlight peeked through the old window curtains and the toxic smog, irritating her sticky eyes. She let out a low groan as her mind went over her daily checklist.
She had always hated the morning sun. There was little of it thanks to the perpetual haze over the arcology, but it was always the annoying reminder of the work she had to do every single morning.
She was usually awake at about a quarter past four in the morning, and would usually have an all-in-one powder breakfast; tasteless stuff, but it was at least food. Better than what most had. She would then take a quick vapor shower and run to an overcrowded metro straight to the bakery to prepare for the day by five AM.
Every. Single. Day.
Baking had always distracted her, occupying her thoughts as well as offering glimpses of an escape from her brutal reality. If anything, she loved her job. She had to love it. A shudder ran through her as she imagined working in one of the god-forsaken factories so many people had to work in.
But there was no way she would be able to go today. As she slowly stretched her arms towards the ceiling, the pain that had woken her up became ever clearer. Her nerves screamed as a hundred metaphorical needles stung her body.
She slowly inspected her arms and noticed that a large portion of her forearms had begun to bruise. She tried to take in a deep breath, but the unknown weight on her chest freaked her out as she let out a hacking cough.
She smelled like shit.
The sickly perfume of men's sweat and what seemed like the dumpster itself clung like a sticky cloud around her body. She wanted to vomit, and her bowel movements mirrored her thoughts, causing her to run straight to the toilet to heave.
Muscle aches, headache, stomach ache. It felt like her very bones were being pulled apart and crushed together simultaneously. She leaned over the toilet gagging over and over and over. She knew this feeling.
She could still clearly remember the events that had happened last night.
She was thrown to the ground with such force that she thought she had broken a rib or two. It was dim, suffocating, in front of so many people, and there were a number of men holding her down.
She shuddered, even though the room was uncomfortably warm.
Even though she was slightly bigger than the average girl, the fact still remained that one woman could not fight off a group of men by herself.
She knew that this was not the first time. Likely not even the last. But still, the fact remained that it was disgusting and that she hated herself—for it hurt her like no one ever could.
This body was disgusting. Her soul was disgusting. This world was disgusting.
Truthfully, it had been getting harder and harder for her to get up in the morning. She would always convince herself that it was laziness, but the truth was far more scarier. Scary to the point that she didn't even want to think of it.
It was the fact that she had nothing to live for.
She had no family, no home to which she belonged to, nothing she truly loved aside from baking and YGGDRASIL. And even that would sometimes end up like last night. On her worst days, she would think of several ways to end her own life.
Sticking her head into that huge blender at the bakery.
Slitting her arteries with a knife.
Jumping off a bridge.
Strangulation.
Starvation.
The possibilities were endless.
But the ways her life could end didn't matter because she wouldn't last much longer anyway. Everything, from the environment to work to the government to even the people themselves had been geared to cause a slow death. Not necessarily her death, but Death nonetheless. How else could the rich and mighty control their 'numbers'?
Might as well enjoy what little time she had left.
If this was a fairytale, a Prince on a white horse would come and save her one day. Carry her away like a bride or princess.
Far, far, far, away.
But there was no way such a sweet dream could exist in this reality.
This was the place of her condemnation. No one would come and save her besides herself. No one bothered, no one could.
Since this was the situation that she, herself, had created, let her explain how it came to be.
The young woman's name was Anna, Hannah Annafelowz. She was an overweight immigrant who stayed in Japan. A young lady of the ripe age of twenty-four.
Her father and mother had died when she was young, buried by one of the many dust storms that plagued the outsides of the Tokyo Arcology. She had no siblings and no people she knew of who she could consider relatives. Her life was pale, cold, and unreal.
Right now though, she was no longer human.
To be precise, Tiamat's thoughts and 'hers' had been fused together.
Tiamat noticed that ever since she had arrived in the New World, her personality had undergone a subtle but distinct shift. She could hear her conscience repeatedly berate her for how stupid she was for not tormenting the men who had tried to hurt her.
'Why?' it had asked. Why did she not make them regret ever being born? Why didn't she bite off their heads and slowly cook their corpses to feed her dragons?
Why waste such precious meat?
Just thinking about it made her blood boil.
Why indeed?
It would've been easy. She could have stuck countless enchanted needles through their dicks, tongues, thighs, and heart. They would have begged for mercy as she shredded their muscles like butter before healing them and repeating the process over and over again.
Speaking of butter, Tiamat had been whisking the butter and sugar mixture in front of her for a while now; small droplets even flying out of the bowl from her intensity. She grabbed a few eggs and separated them before whisking the yolk together with the butter and flour.
'Not good, not good,' just one more rotation and it would've been overmixed.
Her mind started to wander again.
It would've been so easy.
Just like cutting butter with a hot knife. The molten edge would slide through the butter as the fat would sizzle from the heat. Juicy, delicious, sumpt—
"My Lady."
She moved toward the egg whites and slowly added in a small amount of sugar and began to whisk the whites to make a meringue.
The sound of the metal whisk scraping against the glass bowl filled the kitchen as Tiamat continued to obsessively rotate her wrists.
So easy…
She finished making the meringue in record time. Tiamat wiped her forehead and grabbed the bowl filled with cream cheese and egg yolk. She carefully balanced both bowls and began to slowly combine them into one huge bowl.
Since the whisk she had on her was dirtied, she would have to switch it out for a new one.
Without looking, Tiamat grabbed the nearest tool next to her, ready to stab all her emotions into the mix.
"My Lady!"
A firm hand gripped over Tiamat's. She glared at the person, only to find Yuri softly gazing into her eyes. Her eyebrows were furrowed in slight frustration, and her eyes were filled with worry.
She looked so sad. Why?
Tiamat's mind anchored back onto reality. It felt like she was looking at Yamaiko's child if the kindly teacher ever had one. What made her look like she was on the verge of tears? Was she okay?
"Yuri?" she asked softly, wondering what was wrong with her.
The Dullahan's fingers let go of Tiamat's arm and gently pulled her fingers away from the knife she had been holding.
"I apologize for touching you without permission, My Lady," she smiled softly at her, fixing her glasses with her other hand. "But you were holding the wrong utensil."
Tiamat looked down at her hand and realized that she had grabbed a knife instead of a whisk. She winced at the image of her mindlessly stabbing the mix.
Tiamat slightly turned her head to look at the table and stood in shock at the mess she had created.
Countless glass bowls and cake molds filled with cheesecake mix were ready for baking. Spoons, spatulas, and whisks were piled in a massive stack in the sink. Moreover, flour had been scattered all over the table, reminding her of the chaos she had made years ago when she was just learning how to bake.
It was catastrophic to say the least.
"I'm sorry, Yuri. I'll help you clean up my mess," was all Tiamat said as her mind slowly comprehended the extent of the damage she had caused to the kitchen.
Yuri shook her head in disagreement.
"You don't have to apologize, My Lady. It is my job to serve you to the best of my abilities and that includes cleaning as well," she moved the knife away from her and put it inside the sink. "You seemed to have been a bit lost in thoughts since this morning. Forgive me for my impertinence, but is there anything bothering you, My Lady?"
Tiamat's heart skipped a beat, but she swiftly composed herself in front of Yuri and put on her usual gentle smile.
No one would ever know what had happened to her.
Not even Momonga.
It was her burden to bear this disgusting body and soul of hers.
Hers and hers alone.
"It's nothing, Yuri. I just had a bad daydream, that's all."
Tiamat proceeded to insert the whole tray of filled cake molds into the oven and set the timer as she dug out a pair of baking mittens. While the Dragoness kept herself busy, Yuri gazed at her back, her eyes still a bit wary.
"Alright! Fifty to sixty minutes in the oven and we'll have a bunch of cheesecakes ready to eat. I hope the people eating in the cafeteria won't mind only cheesecake for dessert," Tiamat sheepishly smiled.
'Man, I must be really stressed…'
Stress baking had always been an activity she resorted to in troublesome times. But never to this extent.
Cheesecake was—and always would be her favorite dessert dish. But for her to have cooked it in such large quantities alarmed her even more.
Yuri nodded behind her. "They will be thrilled, My Lady."
"I really hope so… It would be a waste if no one wanted to eat them," Tiamat absentmindedly remarked while scratching her chin.
She couldn't help but notice that Yuri's gaze was fixed to the oven. Her face was professionally stoic as always, but the eyes often betrayed the soul's expression.
"Yuri, after I set apart the homunculi maids' share, you can divide and eat the rest with your sisters and the Floor Guardians. Ah, and don't forget to pack me two slices!" Tiamat beamed. She knew the look of craving when she saw it.
"I-Is that alright?" the Dullahan's voice carried a hint of barely repressed excitement.
'So Yuri has a sweet tooth… I approve!'
Yuri Alpha—the eldest and second-in-command of the Pleiades, one of the strongest battle maids with the pre-programmed personality of a mature, composed, and calm older sister—usually didn't display her emotions for the world to see. But now, Tiamat couldn't help but notice that Yuri's eyes had lit up when she heard her offer.
"Yes. Please eat with your sisters and tell me what all of you think."
"Understood!" Yuri bowed.
Later, Tiamat would find out that the cheesecake had been the homunculi's favorite dish by far that day. Even the Pleiades and most of the Floor Guardians had nabbed one whole cake each from the kitchen and stuffed themselves silly. Strangely enough, Aura and Mare weren't among the ones who had taken a cake.
"Fu fun~ I'm going to deliver these two slices to the sixth floor and personally give it to Aura and Mare."
Just thinking about it filled Tiamat with a sense of anticipation.
Everyone had given her great reviews so far. So much praise in such a short time. She had never been the recipient of so many happy faces ever since Suzuki and his friends had come over for the yearly guild meeting.
"But geez, those maids were crazy. If it's that good then I hope I'll get to see Bukubku-chan's twins' lovely smiles," Tiamat inwardly squealed from imagining the cuteness overload.
(゜Д゜*)
After reassuring Yuri that she was allowed to take a short break with her sisters for lunch, the temporary leader of the Pleiades promised to meet up with Tiamat at the Arena.
Yuri was feeling guilty because it was her job to escort Tiamat throughout Nazarick. Although the head maid's expression remained mostly stoic, the Dragoness still felt a bit abashed as she repeatedly told Yuri repeatedly that it was alright, all while staring into dark eyes that conveyed a sense of failure.
'Well, it's understandable I guess… They've been hardwired this way by our guildmates after all.'
Even still, having Yuri follow her around all day would not only be mildly creepy, but also extremely tiresome.
It seemed that she would have to talk to Ainz or Albedo about forcing the maids and workers in Nazarick to take breaks—not just for breakfast, but also for lunch and dinner—as well as introducing a rotation system to Nazarick's workforce. The last thing she wanted was to become like those soulless monsters who ruled their last world.
But that could be done later.
Tiamat hummed as she packed two slices of cheesecakes and a pot of tea with milk and sugar on the side into a sturdy straw basket. She did a once over of the basket and the table and with a satisfied smile, she teleported straight to the Sixth Floor using the『Ring of Ainz Ooal Gown』.
The world rapidly distorted from the kitchen to a familiar dark corridor. Tiamat rapidly blinked from the sudden change in scenery that she was still unaccustomed to before beginning to walk towards the Arena.
As she reached the end of the corridor, she saw Aura circling around the Seraph Empyrean that she had summoned yesterday. An avatar of beauty incarnate with a majestic aura of the highest order celestial was just floating there?
'I forgot that I ordered the angel to sit and wait in the arena. Wait? What? How...is that even possible? The summoning time should have expired at least a dozen times or something.'
From the end of the corridor, Tiamat smiled as she watched Aura fawn over the otherworldly being. The baby dragons—who also hadn't expired yet, to her surprise—were nipping at Aura's heels, following her every move.
When Aura tilted her head, the dragonlings tilted their heads. When Aura ran around the Seraph Empyrean, they hurried behind her as well. When she got excited, they got excited.
'Waaaaa! What an adorable sight~'
But there were only two dragons playing with Aura.
'What about the other one?' Tiamat looked around curiously.
Despite the loud romping of Aura and the dragonlings, Tiamat's keen draconic ears could still hear the faint rustling of paper from the VIP box. Her eyes moved away from Aura and the baby dragons and peered at the box.
As soon as she did so, the last baby dragon's head peeked from over the box to glare at the unwelcome intruder in the Arena. Tiamat could feel the baby dragon's irritation at being awoken flowing into her in waves from the mental connection. A Dragon's sleep was a very, very important activity.
But as soon as he laid his eyes on Tiamat, he instantly popped up in excitement and purred with overwhelming eagerness. So much so that he unfurled his red wings and flew straight down from the box to ram right into her stomach.
Tiamat received his hug with an equal amount of excitement. His wagging tail jerked from side to side, up and down, hitting the floor like a dog's, except with the strength of a young dragon. She coughed as clouds of dust rose around them.
"Hello to you too!" Tiamat cooed—fanning the dust away with her hand—as she greeted the baby dragon in front of her, instinctively rubbing his long neck. Or was it a she?
Tiamat lifted the baby dragon upside down and gave it a good long look. The baby dragon let out a guttural gurgle, surprised and elated at his mother's sudden action.
'Yup. Definitely a boy,' she put him back down on the ground.
Once the rest of the baby dragons were aware that Tiamat was in the Arena, they immediately came swooping towards her, knocking her backwards with the force of their excitement and momentum. Now, a chorus of three happy purrs resounded before her, their tails excitedly wagging sideways with frightening power.
A normal person would've seen their impending demise.
But all Tiamat saw were her little baby dragons.
'Wait, have they grown a little?' She had left them alone for barely a day, and they were already an inch or so taller?
Tiamat couldn't tell precisely since they were still much taller than her standing. But her mental link told her that they were a tiny bit bigger. And stronger.
'Wait? My summons can grow? But how?'
Now that Tiamat thought of it, it made perfect sense. If this was the real world, there was literally no reason for a creature to simply cease existing. Nor start existing either, but who was she to look a gift horse in the mouth?
So if her dragons were living, breathing creatures—and this mental link Tiamat felt with them certainly indicated that they were alive in every sense of the word—did that mean she had control over life itself?
What a contrast to her life on Earth.
'But does this mean Ainz's undead are also permanent? Are they alive too...unalive?' Tiamat lowered her head in deep contemplation as her dragonlings began frolicking around her, 'Wow! If this is true, that means we can make Nazarick super strong! Stockpiling on summons… wait, my God Beast racial 『Call of Níðhöggr』 is also...ohhh...!?'
『Call of Níðhöggr』was a once per build ultimate trump card which Tiamat had never used, due to the stupidly unbalanced payoff. Who in their right mind would just casually use a once per freaking character summon?! No matter how dire the situation was, she always believed that it was not the right moment. It had to be something epic. Something like a final guild battle or goodbye world level threat boss. And since no one had ever used this skill, or at least no one Tiamat was aware of, she wasn't even sure what it did. Was it a summon, a buff, a skill like World Breaker except much stronger? It had some vague hints written in free-verse poetry, but nothing concrete. But it had the name of Níðhöggr in it, and it could only be used once, so it had to be something grand…
Well, it didn't matter. Tiamat wouldn't be using it anytime soon. Or at least until she was absolutely confident it would not go to waste.
Her mind was running through all the possible applications of permanent summons and the gold it could bring her if she managed to find a loophole in the new system.
'It's going to be a bit of a headache handling all those mental connections though… Wait, gold?'
Hannah was never into gold. Sure, she was sometimes jealous of extra rich clients who showed off in her bakery wearing jewelry that cost more than her yearly income, but why gold all of the sudden?
Was it her newfound dragon nature calling to her?
'Must be. Dragons are greedy bastards.'
But if it was lore that was affecting her character, didn't the lore of God Beast say that she was almost above all material desires? Tiamat's almost celestial nature of being a meta-physical manifestation of a God of monsters gave her an extremely close proximity to the first sphere of celestials. Lored to be closer to God than even Seraphs themselves, God Beasts were stated to wield supreme authority over monster-kind. Which was weird because she had just made a ridiculous mess in the kitchen from cooking cheesecake and was cuddling with her dragons on the floor in a pile of flour and dust.
Not very Goddess-like behavior if someone asked her.
Tiamat shuddered.
'How did I even think of all that so quickly? That took like, a few seconds, tops,' This mind of hers was definitely not normal. Not human at the very least.
The growling of her dragonlings snapped her out of her thoughts. They butted their heads against her body as if to ask her to play with them. All of a sudden, a long smutchy lick with the sticky smell of raw meat slathered her face.
'Wow, this is getting scary. Spacing out in my own thoughts. Definitely sounds like something a dragon would do,' Tiamat thought as she gazed into a pair of adorable eyes.
"Aww," she patted their heads and embraced all three of them. "I'm sorry, have you been waiting long?"
"Lady Tiamat!" Aura looked at her, clearly surprised by her unannounced visit. Even though Aura was surprised, the young elf smile widened even wider, as she beamed up and shone like a child on christmas eve. "Welcome to our floor My Lady!"
"Hello, Aura," Tiamat replied to Aura as she fell on her back with a soft thud from the baby dragons' excitement, "My, my, did you miss me?"
"Hey!" Aura called the baby dragons, and they stopped rubbing their head against Tiamat to look at Aura. "That's no way to treat the Supreme Beings! Come here!" Aura ordered.
The baby dragons looked at Aura, questioning why they had to follow her orders. One of them growled back at Aura, his chest puffed up in pride as if to say 'We are dragons, we bow to no one!' Of course, they were just dragonlings, at the young level of twenty-five, hatchlings one might say. Their dragon senses were sharp enough to know that Aura could easily stomp them if she wanted, but draconic pride won out over common sense.
Tiamat smiled as she watched one of the dragons puff his chest out—trying to act all-mighty and mature in front of his mother—but once he heard Tiamat giggle, every semblance of independence vanished and he returned to wagging his tail and trying to lick her.
Aura puffed her cheeks, frustrated that the baby dragons refused to listen to her orders. Her ears were slightly red, and her large eyes had become watery in frustration. This was supposed to be her moment to show her usefulness to Supreme Being. She was a beast tamer after all.
A whimper was the only thing that escaped Aura's mouth. She had practiced so long with them. For almost an entire day she had taught the dragons proper etiquette and behavior when in the presence of the Supreme Beings.
She was on the verge of tears as she thought of her failure. Surely the wise Lady Tiamat sent them to her floor of all places so Aura, Nazarick's greatest beast tamer, could teach and train them. There was no other reason to send them explicitly to her.
The infamous Jötunheimr draconicus. Rumored to be one of the closest descendents to Níðhöggr himself.
Aura was always thrilled when she got to meet new pets. And Jötunheimr dragons were among the mightiest and largest dragons of all!
True Ancients of their species were essential in the sacred activity of 'grinding', whatever that meant, in creating Lord Ainz's Guild Weapon. Primordial Jötunheimr draconicus were even called 'Event Bosses': beings so strong that they took the combined might of Ainz Ooal Gown to slay even one.
'And now Lady Tiamat, the last Lady of Nazarick, has entrusted me with them. Because she knew I wouldn't let her down...but they still won't listen…' Aura thought to herself.
Aura was helplessly looking as dragons who frolicked with complete disregard for their training. Now, they were even licking Lady Tiamat and dirtying her dress with their dirty paws, 'I have failed Lady Tiamat,' tears slowly descended down her brown cheeks as heteromorphic eyes of Blue and Green became ever so pinkish.
"A-Aura?" Tiamat looked at Aura in worry at the sight of the young elf crying. It seemed that even if her appearance had changed into Tiamat, she was still weak towards children, especially if they were crying.
Somehow, Tiamat could understand Aura's frustration. Aura had a number of job levels in Beast Taming. But none of the baby dragons were listening to her orders. 'Being so specialized in something and not being able to handle a few children... She must be feeling terrible. Wait, does she actually think she's failed me in some way?'
"Okay! That's enough, children!" Tiamat stood up and patted all the dust off her clothes. The Dragoness walked to the one baby dragon who had openly defied Aura, and flicked his forehead with her finger. "Don't be mean. Aura is family and family should protect each other. You should listen to Aura," she firmly reprimanded her dragon.
It softly squawked in defiance before reluctantly backing down. He lowered his head towards Aura in a pose of submission.
'Awh, why do you have to be so adorable?!'
"It's okay, you all should get along with each other from now on, okay?"
The baby dragon gently nudged Tiamat's back as if to say sorry. Just like a child hiding behind his mother's back after being reprimanded.
She kneeled in front of him and patted him, "It's alright. Just don't do it again."
Aura ran and stopped in front of her, "I'm so sorry, Lady Tiamat! I should've done my job better. I-I've failed you!" the elf kneeled as she apologized with the shaky sad voice of someone who had made a dire mistake, "I will accept any punishment!"
"I understand but before that, where is your brother, Mare?"
Suddenly realizing that her brother was missing, Aura lifted her eyes towards the VIP box and yelled, "Mare! What are you doing up there?! Come down and welcome Lady Tiamat!"
Soft blond hair slowly peeked out from the box, and one green eye looked out. Tiamat waved as green met her amethyst. The eye widened before it ducked down and out of sight.
Aura lowered her head, "Please don't get too mad, Lady Tiamat. He's just shy," she turned towards the box with a fierce scowl on her face, "Oi! Get down from there now!"
A nearly inaudible reply came from the VIP box, "I-I can't, Onee-chan…"
Aura took a deep breath and face palmed. She sighed, clearly frustrated by her brother's shyness and angrily shouted again at the VIP box, "Lady Tiamat's come to visit us, but you're not even here to greet her?! You better come down before I make you!" she cracked her knuckles intimidatingly.
"… I-I'll take the stairs down…"
"How long do you want to make Lady Tiamat wait?! Get over h—"
Tiamat raised her hand to stop Aura, "It's alright Aura."
"No! My Lady, he's just scared! He's not trying to disrespect you or anything!" Aura, despite her earlier anger, tried to defend Mare.
Tiamat gently ruffled her hair, "It's fine, Aura. I know."
"B-but…"
The Dragoness completely understood. Growing up, she had always been a shy kid herself. Hannah had no desire to meet strangers either out of fear or spite.
Just like her was when she was a kid, Mare was an introvert.
Introverted children were often misunderstood and viewed as standoffish, rude, anxious, and often mislabeled as shy. Shyness and introversion weren't the same thing. Just because a person was introverted didn't mean that they were shy.
There were several ways to forge quiet friendships with introverted children.
Step one, Introduce the child to new situations in a slow way.
"Come here, Aura," Tiamat beckoned Aura to come closer.
The short Dark Elf looked at her curiously but moved closer anyways. As soon as she was close enough, Tiamat placed her arms around her bottom and picked her up. Aura's small head rested on her shoulder as her legs dangled beside her hips.
"W-wait, My Lady!" Aura stammered with a red face.
Ignoring Aura's protest, Tiamat jumped up towards the VIP box and landed behind Mare's back. Mare was still gazing warily at the Arena, but once he realized that she and Aura were missing, he looked all around him in confusion.
All he saw were three baby dragons playing amongst themselves.
Tiamat tiptoed her way towards him. "Boo!"
"A-Aaaaaaah!" Mare jumped up and turned around to see the Dragoness carrying Aura. "M-My Lady!"
"Hello Mare," Tiamat bent down so Aura could hop off. The child in front of her looked almost identical to Aura with the same face, the same eyes, hair color, and more. Only their hairstyles and outfits were a bit different, but somehow, they radiated a completely different aura from each other, just like the sun and the moon.
Mare looked down nervously as though he was afraid of being scolded. "Sorry for scaring you Mare," Tiamat gently lifted his chin up, "Since it took you so long to come down, I decided to go up instead."
"I-I'm sorry to have kept you waiting, My Lady…"
The two dark elves were standing right in front of her.
'Too adorable!'
It was as if her heart was a fast moving train.
'Be still—my beating heart.'
"No, it's okay, Mare," Tiamat assured him, "By the way, you asked me to punish you since you weren't able to get my dragons to behave, isn't that right Aura?"
Aura chin quivered as she was reminded of what had happened earlier and knelt down again. Mare also knelt, following his big sister's example.
"I am truly sorry, My Lady."
"Then, both of you, please sit down," she ordered them.
They immediately followed her orders.
Tiamat sat in front of them and laid down a blanket with pink floral designs before pulling out the straw basket she had brought with her. She carefully laid down two plates—one for Aura and the other for Mare—and put down the two slices of cheese cake on the plates. Tiamat then leisurely pulled out the pot of tea and milk that she had packed with the cheesecake.
They accepted the plate, but eyed the cheesecake warily. Tiamat pretended not to notice and just prepared two cups of tea filled with milk and sugar.
After some time had passed, the twins still didn't move. "What are you guys doing? Eat," she told them.
"Yes!" was their immediate reply, but the twins were still looking at Tiamat, "But what about you, My Lady?" Aura asked.
"I'm alright Aura, please," Tiamat waved her hand towards the plates, encouraging the twins to eat the cake in front of them. They briefly glanced at each other before taking a careful bite into the cake.
Tiamat smiled as she looked at their captivated expressions. It was as if reality had vanished and the only thing left in the world were the two measly pieces of cheesecake in front of them. The sight was hilarious if anything. 'Kids,' she sighed with a small smile.
The twins ate mouthful by mouthful, a complete 180 from their earlier wariness. Tiamat looked happily at the twins who were happily enjoying her creation.
"Slow down, so you won't choke. Here," she handed each of them a cup of warm milk tea, "Careful, it's a bit hot."
They took the cup of tea and slowly sipped from it. Soon afterwards, they finished with a loud "Ahhhhh…".
"So, what do you think?"
"It's wonderful, My Lady! The cake is super soft, and it was really sweet, and the crust was super crispy. Oh, oh! And, and, the milk tea was suuuuuper tasty too!" Aura rambled with childish delight, "It's truly worthy of being called Lady Tiamat's cheesecake!"
Tiamat held back a giggle at Aura's excitement, 'Aaaaaa! Aura is so adorable when she gets hyper... Wait, how did she know that I was the one who cooked it? There's no way information got here so fast, it was barely half an hour ago! … Yuri.'
While his sister babbled on about the wonders of the cake and tea, Mare was rubbing his cheeks as he chewed on the sumption morsel. A dreamy expression of childish bliss was glued to his face. Tiamat noticed that he had visibly relaxed and wasn't nervous anymore.
"Are you guys pleased with it?"
"Yes, My Lady! It's really yummy!" Aura gave her a big thumbs up as a stamp of approval, while Mare vigorously nodded in agreement with his big sister.
Mare gulped down his last bite before he shyly asked Tiamat a question. "A-Are you the one who made this, Lady Tiamat?"
"Yes."
A surprised expression made its way to Mare's face as his teacup began to tilt over from his astonishment. A few drops of the tea spilled onto the blanket while the rest of the cake became lopsided. Tiamat scrambled to straighten the teacup in Mare's hands, 'Well, it doesn't matter as long as they enjoy it.'
In a moment of short lived bravery, Tiamat told them, "If you like it, I could cook some for you two everyday."
"E-eh?!" the shout of the dark elves twins resounded throughout the Sixth Floor.
"But I'm supposed to be punished, My Lady. Instead, this is…" Aura said as she scratched her head, while Mare looked at his sister with slight concern.
"This is the first cake that I've baked... in this world, at least. In a way, this is a punishment, isn't it? I'm feeding you something that I didn't know if you would like or hate. So, I'm gonna punish you tomorrow, then the day after that, and the day after that as well. Until you grow bored of me," Tiamat lightly laughed, trying to dissolve Aura's concern.
She continued, "Don't worry about messing up Aura. Your job class wouldn't have been able to affect any of the beasts that I've personally summoned anyways. As you know, they are my summons. And if you could recall, my racial class is 'God Beast'. This means as the one God who rules over all the beasts, they will only answer to me. So you aren't at fault here, Aura. Being punished for something you didn't, or rather couldn't do is unfair, isn't?"
She took a deep breath, as the twins continued listening with wide eyes.
"I'd be more concerned if you actually could control them," Tiamat joked slightly, while deep inside actually getting a bit scared at that thought. 'I'll have to investigate that a bit.'
Aura's jaw slightly opened, and soon Mare's followed, finally understanding the implications of their so-called 'punishment'. But soon, their shock faded, and in its place were a pair of smiles; smiles so bright that Tiamat couldn't help but to turn away.
The smile of children.
Happy children who had love and joy in their life. Who wouldn't have to hunt cockroaches for breakfast, fight for gas filters, and throw away their friends when they didn't survive another winter in the poor excuses for 'orphanages'. Her entire life, Tiamat had wanted to erase her childhood, the memories…
"We understand! And we will gladly accept this punishment, My Lady!" Aura's shout shook her out of her thoughts.
"M-Me too!" Mare suddenly said out loud, not wanting to be left out of the dubious punishment. "If that's the case, t-then I want to be punished too…"
Tiamat looked at Aura who grinned right back at her, and both of them fell to the floor and laughed out loud at what Mare had just said, or at least the implication behind it.
"W-What?"
At his innocence, they laughed even harder.
Sugar and spice really did make everything nice.
But Aura's exclamation from earlier had awakened her to just how deep seated her trauma was. If this continued, it could really become problematic. Moreover, this draconic nature of hers wasn't helping. Tiamat needed a distraction. Something fun and joyful.
'What did I like to do?'
Cooking, already tried. Sleeping, well, she was a dragon so she had all the time in the world to catch up on that.
What else, what else? Right, Yggdrasil. But now the entire world was Yggdrasil. What exactly did she like?
Beep Beep
'Is that a message? Who could be calling me?'
[Umm, hello. Tiamat listening.]
[Tiamat. Are you busy?]
[No, why?] she scratched her head curiously.
[How do you feel about reenacting the good old days and venture out to the unknown?]
