"Do you need anything else with that?"
"I'm also going to need twenty jars of Happiness Honey and that'll be all, thank you dear."
"Well, in that case, that'll be five thousand gold. Have a nice day."
"You too. Take care of yourself with this strange weather. You wouldn't want to fall ill."
Odette effortlessly lifted the huge bag of provision that made for the result of her shopping spree. Since that young vampire, Vanilla, had created a network merchant, most of the food was now directly supplied by said network at the Pocket Castle to be cooked, and sometimes it was even prepared. After all, feeding an army of several hundred monsters required more resources than what a single person or even a small village could provide. And even then… It was not always enough when the more voracious monsters fell in a binge.
And it was why the misstauros was shopping out today in the streets of Grand Noah, nobody spared a secong glance at the minotaur who was carrying a huge axe around. From afar, she just looked like any farmer. A closer examination of her equipment was needed to see that she was equipped more richly than someone who did hard housework would. Her axe was made from rainbow material, and her clothes were sturdy versions reforged by angelic smiths, with discreet golden ornaments.
"Greetings, Odette… Wow, do we really need that much extra food?"
The misstauros turned to see Lemon, the Ustrel that lived in Luka's castle. The monster's upper part looked like an elegant woman wearing a bowling hat, but her lower part was made of tentacles ending in toothy maws.
"It appears Candi and a few of her friends got hungrier than usual. We will have to make sure they get satiated before they decided to take a bite out of another of the resident of the Castle or go to a village to eat its inhabitants."
Her interlocutor nodded. "Well in that case, allow me to assist in preparing a few cakes and ice creams as well."
"Thank you. Let us not lose any time."
The duo of monsters made its way back to the Pocket Castle. Candi and a few other monsters were indeed currently binging in a dining room that was otherwise empty. No other monsters wanted to take the risk of possibly being the victim of her unfortunate appetite. The table the monsters were surrounding was slightly bent under the weight of all the food resting over it: Cakes, ice creams, chocolate, parfait… from afar, it looked like a world escaped from a fairy tales for children.
The most alarming aspect of this surreal picture was the speed at which the food was disappearing in the maws of the monsters around: entire cakes were swallowed without second thoughts, parfaits were devoured in mere seconds, and huge chocolate bars were ended in the bat of an eye.
The two cooks only took a second to look at the scene, having difficulties concealing their disgust for the relentless assault happening in front of them. That food was to be savored, not fully gulped down in a mere second in a slaughter of debauchery.
They hurriedly joined the kitchen where Teeny, the young lamia, was already working expertly with the support of Cecile, the scylla maid. The two shoppers instantly joined forces with the monsters that were failing to keep the flow of food reaching the tables sufficient to satiate the group of ravenous monsters.
With expert hands, Odette started mixing flour, milk and eggs to create a huge cake that she hoped would at least make the monsters relent, if ever slightly. In the meantime, Lemon took a mix of milk, sugar and fruits, and used her skills in magic to freeze the crushed slush to create an ice cream in record time. In the blink of an eye, both of them were passed over to a succubus maid that was waiting for additional plate to help the table's content stand against the craving group. Unfortunately both plates were ended in a single stroke from the monsters that targeted them as they arrived.
The cooking team did not give up, even as the table started to appear under the food that was yet to be consumed, a silent signal to an approaching defeat. They redoubled the effort and chained the confection of more sweets and sugary confections with their expert skills. Only by staying fully focused could they hope to match the hunger of their opponent. In a single swift motion, Odette perfectly equalized the honey glazing on top of her cake while Lemon added a few perfectly symmetrically cut fruits at the top of it. They were acting in perfect sync, doing their best as a team to not get overwhelmed.
However, Cecile's flames accidentally overcooked one of the cake, resulting in the article being scorched and improper to consume. While none of her ally scolded or even took a second glance at her (not that they could do it in the first place, as all had to focus on their own technique to prevent getting overwhelmed), that misstep threatened ever slightly more their delicate situation.
Fortunately, it seemed like most of the monsters at the table were full now. The only remaining opponent was Candi herself, the most formidable foe they could face. The quartet did not relent. In a silent agreement, each cook started crafting a different cake while Teeny was preparing a thick, sugary cream with a mix of milk and honey.
Odette was creating a large basic cake with flour, milk, sugar and eggs, while Lemon also added chocolate in her smaller one, and Cecile was crafting one as thin as a sheet, upon which she spread jam before rolling it. Once each of them had completed their tasks, they piled up the cake starting by the bigger, classical one, then the chocolate one, then the rolled one, and finally, Teeny poured the glazing on top of it while the three other monsters spread it evenly across the cake.
Odette herself carried the almost human sized cake to the now almost empty table in front of Candi. The monster started gorging herself on the sweet food, but she needed several bites to chug it all down. The dessert lasted only barely a minute in front of her, but it appeared indeed to be sufficient to fill her almost bottomless stomach.
"I'm full."
The towering monster slowly got up and left, the quartet hoping that she wouldn't come back at least before a few hours. All five of them sighed in relief when it was clear that they were victorious over their opponent, even if only for a short time.
"I don't know about you, but I'm getting thirsty. First round is on me."
Everybody followed Cecile to the pub.
A few hours later, the cooks were back at the kitchen to prepare meals for all the monsters, angels and humans that were currently residing in the Pocket Castle. Not all of them were present, but their number this particular evening was high enough to require their combined effort to satisfy all those hungry stomachs. However, their honed skills made quick work of the task required, and soon enough, they could sit themselves with the satisfied sigh of someone who accomplished his duty.
Odette was slowly eating her salad when Lemon expressed her concern.
"It's getting harder to get supplied quality food those days. With all this chaosization around, there are more and more mutant fishes and cultures."
"It's unfortunate." Cecile was eating a cream stew. "I used to rely on Port Marle and Gold Port to supply me in fishes and other sea products, but lately their quality was abysmal, and the quantities decreasing. At this point I will have to look elsewhere to get the supplies I need."
"Sorry to break your bubble, but Port Natalia is currently not any better itself. They pulled a fish the size of a large whale from the ocean a few days ago. Its flesh was simply improper for consumption."
Odette sighed. "Where are we supposed to get our supplies from? Those other worlds?"
Lemon stared in the air as Mephisto stared at the misstauros with an eyebrow raised. Fortunately, Lemon dismissed the idea before anyone else could seriously consider it.
"No, it would be a logistical nightmare since you'd need a team led by the hero to travel each time."
"Besides, grabbing an excessive amount of resources from other worlds risk worsening the chaosization. I would advise against it."
Odette nodded. It sounded more like an order, but she gave in anyway.
"In that case, I will leave your company right now to travel a little. Maybe I will get a few ideas for cooking for this evening."
"I'll go too." Lemon sat up. "I need some space to get creative right now."
"Take care. There are monsters out there."
Mephisto sinisterly laughed at her trait of humor, which only brought exasperated breathing from the other monsters at the table.
Odette left the Pocket Castle to find herself near Grand Noah. She was getting a little too familiar with the resources available in the region, and she didn't feel at ease cooking with Yamatai foodstuff. She could probably practice it later, but certainly not now.
She pondered the situation for a minute. How about going to Sabasa? She never visited the place, and it could be a region as good as any to get the next meal…
A few hours after reaching Sabasa, the old minotaur regretted her choice. A lot. She had taken up on her to wander the desert in search of ideas, but the place was barren of flora and void of life. The only things she found were small scorpions, which, while edible, would only be consumed by the most desperate adventurers. Or the most idiotic, since a good one would have prepared enough provision to spare himself the trouble.
Her eyes noticed signs of life from afar: A few trees were apparently disseminated across a small meadow around a lake. So that was the Oasis of Blessings… She checked around the place and could see a few desert fruits and other edible plants, but that would be barely enough for a few monsters, and, most of all, it looked like taking them could damage the local ecosystem and make the place as barren as the remainder of the desert.
Upon looking at the pond itself, she saw a few fishes happily swimming. She somehow produced a fishing rod made of dragon fossil and a master-crafted bait. After throwing in her lure, she only had to wait for a few seconds before her first catch. She reeled in a large fish, and instantly noticed the poisonous gland under its mouth. She released it back, and the fish swam away.
Odette sighed as she realized what she had done amounted to a waste of time when she suddenly saw a large cloud being kicked up on the horizon. She needed for the phenomenon to be quite close before her tired eyes could identify it properly: It was a large pack of Cacti Girls. Around thirty of them were currently moving toward the Oasis of Blessings.
They stopped themselves a few meters away from Odette, and looked at the misstauros with a mix of curiosity and annoyance.
"…You're in our sanctum. This place is sacred for us as a drinking point."
"I apologize, my dears, I did not wish to disturb you."
"And what are you even doing here in the first place?"
"I was just happening to try to search for food, so I considered fishing."
A gasp ran amongst the ranks of monsters.
"She profaned our sacred pool!"
Odette frowned. "I sincerely apologize my dears, you see…"
"Stop calling us my dear, you old hag!"
The cactus girl leading the group wrapped Odette's legs with her whip. The minotaur just stepped back and effortlessly pulled down her assailant, breaking the plant-made restraint in the process. Every Cactus Girl screamed a war cry in unison while she pulled her large Rainbow axe.
The fight was extremely one-sided. In spite of their number, the plant monsters simply couldn't do more than slow down the cow monster. She was not particularly fast, but was tanking hits as if they were so many annoying flies buzzing around her, and she regularly struck down her opponent with the flat of her axe, knocking one unconscious each time. The curb stomp battle only lasted a few minutes before the remaining half that the minotaur hadn't stunned left in a panic in front of this apparently unstoppable force.
The misstauros bent over the leader of the cactus girl with a contrite smile.
"Please, I would like it if you didn't call me a hag. I'm still quite young, you know."
As she looked at the stunned plant monsters, Odette noticed something interesting. Most of them had fruits grown on their body in quite interesting proportions. It looked she had found what she wanted after all. The minotaur smiled, and pulled out a large kitchen knife in front of the terrified Cacti Girls.
"Don't worry my dears, I'm only here for the fruits, you will heal in due time."
A few hours later, Odette was back at the castle, consciously preparing her hard-gained food with a mix of milk and sugar or with other fruits to make various desserts.
In the meantime, Lemon had started to cook large slabs of meat that she was seasoning with a mix of spices from Plansect Village.
"Well, it looks like we both found something nice for that evening." She looked at Lemon who remained silent while wearing a sour expression. "Are you alright?"
The scylla was "That meat was harder to get than I expected..."
"Oh, were did you get it?"
"Somewhere near Grand Noah. You don't want the details."
"Oh, I'm an old lady that has seen some things, you know."
Lemon was suddenly barely an inch away from her face, showing off an uncanny smile.
"No. You, and especially you, are part of those people that really don't want to know."