"Mhn," Elora groaned as she opened her eyes. Her whole body was sore and tired and she felt like her fingers would fall off. However, her mind felt well rested and clear for the first time in weeks. She looked around the room and rubbed her eyes.

The piles of paper cups were gone. The chaotic pile of papers was neatly stacked into several columns on her desk. The smell of coffee and sweat was almost entirely gone from her room, except for the odor left on her clothes.

A warm cup of tea was on the table next to her alongside a plate of broth and a jar of honey.

Weird. I don't remember telling the maids about this room. Who cleaned it up? And where did this blanket come from? How did I even fall asleep?

The memories began to flood Elora as she rubbed her eyes. It took her a few minutes to register everything, but once she did her face turned bright red.

Oh my stars, I passed out on top of the cooking hero! Oh god, this is so embarrassing! I don't think I'll be able to look her in the eyes for a whi-

Suddenly a bright light illuminated the room and Clara appeared on top of the desk. Before either of the two could say something, Clara slipped off and crashed onto the floor.

"AH!" Elora squealed in surprise.

"Oh hey, you woke up," Clara looked up from the floor and waved at the queen. Suddenly her eyes widened and she jumped to her feet.

"What happened to you?!" she squealed, pointing at Elora.

"What?! What happened to me?!" Elora panicked, looking around for a mirror.

"You're… young?!" Clara yelled.

"What do you mean?! I'm 17!"

"YOU'RE 17?! I THOUGHT YOU WERE 25! BUT YOU LOOK 19 NOW!" Clara yelled, sumbling back.

"When did I look 25?!" Elora fired back, pulling a small mirror out of her pocket.

"When I first saw you over the call," Clara explained, nervously rubbing her neck.

"I don't look 25!" Elora yelled, looking in the mirror.

"I think it was the eyebags and pale skin," Clara replied. "You look a lot better now."

Elora didn't answer and instead brushed her fingers across her neck.

"Why does my throat hurt? Did I yell a lot or something?" Elora questioned, wrapping herself in the blanket. Her body began to shiver as she looked at Clara.

"No, you didn't. But you do have a fever, so I recommend not getting out of bed for a whi-," Clara began, but Elora shot up to her feet and ran over to her desk.

"Oh shoot, how long have I been asleep?! I needed to meet up with the representative of the Tiger Fang and Ground Zero to discuss the material trades and then whatever boomerang island wanted and- where is my list?! I had a list!" Elora panicked and began frantically running around the room. However, her feet got caught on the blanket she was still wearing and she fell over.

Lucky for her, Clara caught the queen before she hit the floor.

"You've only been out for around a day. Also, you need to take a shower and eat some soup. Unless you want to go to a meeting smelling like my brother after a 27 hour gaming marathon," Clara grumbled, pulling the queen back to her feet. Elora didn't fully understand what she meant, but the message was clear enough.

"Yeah, you're right. What is that by the way?" she asked, pointing to the bowl.

"Chicken broth. Or, well, whatever that flying bird was that flew into the window when I opened it was," Clara mumbled.

"The Flaming Vultures?"

"Probably? It tasted like chicken from my world and I heard it was also used in soups for the sick here," she replied.

"What happened while I was out?" Elora questioned, waving to the room. "And where did this blanket come from?"

"Well…" Clara began.

Clara looked around the mess in the room and remembered how Hol absorbed the bag of trash she threw at him. She picked up a cup and threw it into her knife's gem as a test, watching it disappear and reappear in her status. A new weapon form also popped up in her weapon tree.

Paper Knife

abilities locked equip effect: +1 attack

Wow, this is convenient. I do chores and get more stats!

Clara threw the rest of the cups into her knife and looked around the room. It didn't have any windows but it did seem to have a vent going down into the ground with a bit of air coming from it.

I guess this is how the queen didn't suffocate in here yet. How long was she even here for?

Clara looked back at the queen, who was peacefully sleeping where she left her. Clara touched Elora's forehead and frowned.

Well, that's not good. I don't think a higher body temperature is normal for this world. I wonder if this world has chicken broth soup?

Clara carefully walked out of the secret entrance and began to walk around the palace to try to find the kitchen. She didn't see anyone for quite a while, and it almost seemed like the palace was deserted. Clara grumbled as she couldn't find it, instead finding a bunch of empty rooms and storage rooms.

What is it with everyone's obsession with ridiculously large hallways that lead to the most random places?! AND WHY DOES NO ONE HAVE A MAP!

Clara sighed in despair as she found a door out of the palace and into a garden of sorts.

Achievement get, how did we get here?

"CAW!" a screech that sounded like a low crows yell suddenly erupted from the sky. Clara saw a large flock of birds, similar to the one she saw fly into Cloud X's window.

As they got closer and closer, Clara pointed her finger and mumbled "knife rain".

Several dozen knives appeared behind her and flew towards the birds. In an instant, the entire flock got knifed down. Clara watched as the corpses of birds began to barrel towards the ground, right in front of her. She looked around to make sure there were no more birds flying towards her and walked to one of the corpses.

Clara raised her knife and tried to cut off its beak, but as her knife dug into the flesh, the smell of blood and the monster's insides ravaged through her nostrils. She also got a sight of the monster's brains splattering all over her arm.

"Blegh!"

Clara barely got to turn her head to the side and raise her knife to her mouth before her stomach emptied its insides into it. She took a few deep breaths and tried to brush off the brainmatter onto the bird's feathers, but the quick peek at the dead creature forced her to double over as she vomited into her knife again.

Holy moly, how does Goron do this?! It's disgusting!

Clara layed down on the ground and took several short breaths as she waited for her stomach to settle down. Once she felt certain that nothing else would come out, she closed her eyes and poked around with her knife for a bit. Once she was sure she found the body of the bird, she began to cut as quickly as she could. Then she grabbed her knife by the tip of the blade and waved her hand around the place of the corpse until it absorbed it all.

[The requirements for the Flaming Vulture Beak Pot have been met]

[The requirements for the Flaming Vulture Bone Boning Knife have been met]

[The requirements for the Flaming Vulture Meat Skewer have been met]

[The requirements for the Flaming Vulture Feather Knife have been met]

Clara took a deep breath and made sure she didn't miss any pieces. Thankfully she hadn't. With the pieces absorbed, she walked up to the corpse of the next bird and absorbed the whole thing.

[The requirements for the Flaming Vulture Knife have been met]

Huh? Wait, I thought it was only the parts that unlocked things, not the whole thing! And the stats of this knife is a bit higher than any of the knife ones! Why didn't I get one for the butcher golem or the mummy? Well, I guess I didn't get anything for the living armor since it was just a spirit in armor. And the golem was just rotten flesh. I only got the knife and the core 'cause they were separate items. I guess reanimated items rarely give anything, and golems just give their materials? I'll figure it out later I guess.

As soon as Clara finished cleaning up the corpses she looked back at the mansion.

I should probably try to find the kitchen again…

…

"Nah, portal knife."

"From there I just made a soup with Goron's help and teleported back here," Clara finished.

"I see. But where did this blanket come from? It feels really nice," Elora asked, barely whispering the last part.

"Oh that's a coat. Or a cloak? Not really sure but I got it out of my monster drops for killing the flaming vultures," Clara replied, while Elora got a better look at the feathery material. It was a long sleeve coat with a feathery hood. The whole thing was thin, but it gave off a cozy warmth as well as a light orange glow. Elora put on the hood and looked at herself in the mirror. Not only did it look pretty good, she also felt a bit of strength fill her body.

" How much do you want for this coat?" Elora asked, pulling a small coin pouch out of her pocket.

"No no, just take it. You're already paying for transportation and food and pretty much everything else I need. Plus, I have another one in my inventory," Clara replied, handing Elora a cup of tea. Elora gulped it down in one go and her eyes widened. Not only did her body seem to recover a bit of energy, but a weird message popped up in her status.

[+37 food exp]

"Are you ok?! I just heated that tea up! It was still steaming!" Clara exclaimed as Elora put the cup down.

"Hm? It was?" Elora looked at her with confusion in her voice. She looked back at the coat and shrugged. "I guess this coat gives me fire resistance? It did come from a flaming vulture after all. Wait, no, more importantly, what is food exp?! It showed up after I drank the tea! And something called food level has risen?"

"That's one of my upgrade methods. If I make food, it gives the person who eats it food exp, which raises food level. It's like a second level up bar, except you don't have to hunt monsters for it," Clara explained. "The better the quality of food, the higher the bonus. Also I gain a bonus for cooking it, and a bonus for eating any food at all."

Elora seemed to ponder this information for a moment before turning to her papers and frowning.

"What level are you at the moment? Normal and cooking," Elora inquired, pulling out some more papers.

"Uh, 51 and 25," Clara responded, opening her status. Elora wrote something down and looked at her papers again. The warm welcoming atmosphere from before was replaced by a cold and soulless aura that surrounded the queen, as a cold piercing gaze crept onto her face.

"I see. I'll need you to raise your level for now. I also heard that you were training with Laura, is that correct?"

"Yes."

"Alright," Elora wrote down more notes and turned to Clara. "Well, thank you for helping me, Cooking Hero, but I'm afraid I must get back to work. I still have meetings to attend and documents to fill out."

"Is there anything I can do to help?" Clara asked, looking around the room.

"For now, it is enough that you level up and get more power. I'll send you out on missions when you're ready. For now, you should focus your attention on the waves. When is the next one?"

Clara peaked at her status.

"12 days. But isn't there anything else I can do?"

Elora shook her head and turned back to her papers, her gaze as firm as before.

"No. Please continue to raise your power and prepare for the next set of waves. I wish you luck on your journey, and inform Laura or Ellrona if you require any resources. Good day, Cooking Hero," Elora finished, running out of the room with a handful of papers.

Clara sighed as she slumped onto Elora's couch and buried her face in her hands.

I'm still nowhere near Hol's and Ellis' levels of power. That's why she doesn't want to give me any missions. She knows I'm too weak for them.

Clara swapped out her weapon form to an unmastered one and laid down on the couch as she waited for the portal skill cooldown to run out.

Clara tried to run forward, but a seemingly endless amount of ropes began to wrap around her body, holding her to the ground. She tried to reach out for someone and screamed a name. She didn't know or care who it was, but it wasn't one she recognized or understood.

The whole world seemed to shake as the ropes dug into Clara's skin, burning her. She yelled and thrashed around, trying to break the ropes with her bare strength.

You aren't strong enough.

Clara looked around for the source or the voice. She continued to squirm in the burning ropes bindings, but her body seemed to have lost its strength. The energy she had began to rapidly leave her body as more ropes began to hold her down.

She felt like she was suffocating. Clara tried to take a deep breath and scream, but the ropes were already tied around her throat and crushing it. Tears poured out of her eyes as she tried to think of something, anything that would lessen the burning pain in her lungs and skin, but her eyes were met with darkness that began to swallow her mind.

The last thing she remembers is her body beginning to fall through the ground as the ropes pull her down.

"Ack!" Clara yelled out as she fell off the couch and crashed onto the floor of Elora's secret room.

Damn it! Did I fall asleep?

She got her bearings straight and rose to her feet. According to the timer on her status, she has only been out for a bit over an hour. The teleporting skills cooldown finally ended. Clara rubbed her eyes to remove any leftover fatigue and portaled back to the ship.

What time is it right now?

She pulled her phone out of her pocket and grumbled.

Laura is gonna kill me.

"Faster! No slacking off!" Laura yelled, running after Clara, who was running on the track around the gym equipment. Clara had a bracelet with a piece of the same stone as in the needles she used to cancel out Hol's weapon, created specifically 'for training'. In reality, it removed a big chunk of Clara's stats and left her fatigued.

"Alright, break time. Get some water as you walk around the track," Laura commanded, tossing Clara a bottle of water. The girl barely caught it as she stumbled forward on the track, gasping for air.

"So uh… Hol's also gone for who knows how long," Laura started, looking at Clara carefully. The girl nodded as she gasped for air.

"You want to hear a bit more about his story while we take a break?"

"Yes *huff* please *huff*," Clara gasped out as she pulled off the bracelet from her hand. Her stats rose to what she was used to, and she felt her body become lighter. Laura didn't let her use the bonuses provided by the holy tool as she said that it would slow down her progress and make her lazy. Clara couldn't exactly disagree with someone who could fold her in half with stats alone.

"Alright. Where was I?"

"One second!" a high pitched voice yelled out. A loud thud erupted from the room and the door swung open. A girl a bit older than her stood in the doorway. She looked at Laura for a moment. "So uh… what can I help you with?"

"I'm Laura, and I…" she started, but was unsure how to finish her sentence. Her meeting with the farming hero didn't go according to plan and she doesn't even know if Hol told her the right rooms or not.

"Laura? Oh! You're the sixth party member! I saw your name pop up in the party menu a few minutes ago. Nice to meet you! I'm April, the party's support mage. That's Taline, our archer," she said, pointing behind her. Laura looked at where she was pointing and saw a woman with a bow around her shoulder putting her boots on.

"Yo!" she said, not sparing Laura a glance.

"Nice to meet you too. I use knives and daggers," Laura replied, pulling out a few daggers from her belt.

"Nice! Sheron and Izuma are in the next room. Taline, could you please call them over for me?" she asked, turning to the archer.

"Whatever," Taline replied and walked out of the room.

"So, do you have any questions so far? If you do, you can ask me anyth-"

"OI! GET YOUR BUTTS OUT HERE! WE GOT A NEW MEMBER!" Taline yelled, banging loudly on the door. Two voices yelled back at her but she ignored them and walked away from everyone.

"So… what's this team like?" Laura asked, even more concerned than before.

"Taline is nice once you get to know her, but she's rough on the outside. She doesn't like to talk for too long, but you can rely on her in battle. Sheron is pretty nice, while Izuma is… a bit much. His magic is pretty strong though."

"I see. What about Hol?" she questioned, looking at her party's menu.

"Well…" she mumbled, her expression darkening.

"What's wrong?"

"I don't think he likes any of us," April answered, looking away from Laura.

"Why's that?"

"He tends to go off on his own and fight alone. He doesn't talk to us much when he's sober, and he fights or sleeps when he's drunk."

"I'm sorry, but is… was he always like this?" Laura asked. She looked around at the group in horror as they all nodded.

"It wasn't as bad at the start. Well, he was a bit rude and dismissive, but at least he was sober. Well…"

"I took the guy out to the pub to relax but… well…" Izuma began.

"He just wouldn't stop after that. He got a sense of relief from grief, and he can't go without it now," Sheron said with a heavy sigh.

"Has anyone tried to stop him or get him in a rehabilitation center?" Laura suggested.

"There was one on this ship," Izuma explained. "Keyword, was. You try stopping a guy who can throw a level 80 person out the window like a cup."

"Oh…"

"Well, we do get some levels though, and some money out of it. All we have to do is keep the hero out of trouble and alive as best as we can, which usually boils down to taking him back onto the ship when he finally passes out," Sheron finished.

"Oh…" Laura said, a bit disappointed.

'This is not at all what I thought being in a heroes party would be like. But from the looks of it it doesn't seem to be as hard as I thought,' Laura thought, looking at the status screen of the party.

Suddenly a loud crash and shattering of glass, followed by heavy footsteps rang out behind her.

"Alhrite! Whoes here ready to kill a bazillion monstirs?" Hol asked, swaying from side to side. The bottle inside his hand was almost empty and he smelled even worse than before.

"I'm sorry, are you drunk?" Laura exclaimed.

"F*cking *burp* wasted. Welcome to da clooob," he sputtered out, almost falling over. Hol gulped down the rest of the bottle and raised his weapon. "Portal Farming Tool!"

The gang teleported into a clearing in front of a dense forest.

"Alrighy, I'll go check up *hic* ahead and see what what's what what. Y'all wait here for a few and I'll be back!" he exclaimed and threw the empty bottle away before running into the forest.

"Oh god," Laura grumbled.

"You'll get used to it. Eventually," Sheron assured her. He set a large picnic basket onto the ground and pulled out a sandwich.

"How are you going to find him if he passes out?" Laura asked.

"Don't worry about it," Izuma began. "I put one of my tracking spells on him so I'll always know where and how far he is. If he stops moving, that's when we start moving." Izuma replied.

"And if he gets out of range for the spell?"

"I can track him down from an island away. My spell never fails!" Izuma insisted, summoning a few glowing stars to show off.

"Wait, aren't you using 8 stars to track him?" Laura questioned.

"Yep. You're looking at a 12 star mage and one of the best may I add!" Izuma bragged.

"He got the queen's approval and the church's blessing for his deeds," April whispered to Laura.

'Never thought I would meet a 12 star mage. Or a drunk hero. This is so weird compared to what I expected.'

"Huh… well that's…. Wow," Clara mumbled, as she was finally allowed to sit down.

"Yeah. One hell of a team, am I right?" Laura laughed at Clara's reaction. "That's what I get for partying up with a hero."

"Did Hol ever get better? Did you guys even find him that day?" Clara asked.

"Sure. It wasn't exactly a pretty sight," Laura shuddered at the memory with a face of disgust, before continuing. "But we did find him. While I just hung around with everyone else and kept an eye on the hero, he proceeded to get drunk as hell and fight monsters in such a crummy state."

"Was he like that the whole time?"

"Oh not at all. Not many people know this but during his drunk phase he… wait, no. I don't think I'm allowed to say that, sorry," Laura stopped herself mid sentence and looked away.

"What?! Hey! Don't leave me hanging!" Clara whined.

"Sorry, but not many people know about this part, so you're gonna have to ask Hol for that, if he even wants to say anything," Laura sputtered out, gathering her things.

"And where is he right now?"

"Well…"

"Laura, I am the cooking hero. If one of my vassals has a hidden history that could somehow interfere with our future, I should probably know about it," Clara reasoned. Laura paused and looked over at Clara. Despite the girl's body shaking from exhaustion and cold in the room, her gaze was firm. Laura shifted uncomfortably under the hero's glare and grumbled.

"Fine. But it will have to wait until next time. Plus, while we continue stamina training, we should also start sparing to help your hand-to-hand combat. And a few other things could come in handy as well. Anyhow, I'll see you later then, cooking hero," Laura said, dumping the rest of her things into a large bag.

"Just call me Clara," Clara muttered, laying down on the side bench.

"Alright Clara, I'll see you later!" Laura exclaimed, leaving the room. Clara laid on the bench for a few more minutes as she tried to regain strength. Her whole body screamed in pain from the training and she lay there for a while, waiting for her body to recover.

Clara willed her status to open and looked at her stats. A weak smile crept into her face.

Well, the training did raise my stats a bit. It's not much, but it's progress. This isn't a lot now, but every little bit helps.

I hope I'll be strong enough one day.

HEY HEY HEY
Guys
BEfore u go listen for a moment
So the MWP got a discord server where you can get pinged every time your favorite worlds update, and you can talk to the authors.

http

s:/dis

cord

.gg/

gbTbhXJc9j

PS. WE HAVE ALLEN