A goddess by that name...does not exist.
No...No...!
Lies! You...You speak of LIES!
The red-hooded slave yelled hysterically.
...
Pity. That was all that was shown on the man's face as his fellow slave crumbled to his knees before him.
No...
Surely...
She must be...
The hooded slave clutched onto the silver bell ornament tightly.
Surely...
If not...then...
What have I been fighting for?
" ...Kami-sama...? "
Bell uttered towards the emptiness of the room, yet only the unyielding silence echoed in response.
" ...Is she...not home...? "
* lub-dub *
He couldn't fathom why, but saying those words aloud managed to stir an unsettling worry deep within him.
" ...No. Maybe she is simply late... " He said as if to calm himself.
" Ah...that's right... "
His lady had previously mentioned that she will not be home for the night before he left for the dungeon...and if his sense of time were to be trusted, he would have spent at least an entire day inside the dungeon gathering magic stones.
...Maybe, she is still attending the banquet of the gods...?
" ...Yes...that must be it... "
He has but a nary of knowledge regarding the deities of this world...however, back in Lordran, festivities especially those involving deific figures would often last for a few days at least, with some of them even reaching until fortnight.
" ... "
Yes...that would be the most logical answer here. He should have accepted it and waited for his lady here, at home...
...Yet, this feeling within him simply refused to lay untamed inside, no matter how much he tried to reassure himself.
The silence permeating throughout the room didn't do well to cease his worries either, as without his lady here...it simply highlighted just how desolate this place he called "home" is.
He had previously ignored it's condition as his lady had made herself comfortable with living here, yet her absence further emphasized the poor condition that they were living in;cracks overrun the floors and walls of the underground house, and multiple holes can be spotted on the ceiling, some of them even with visible traces of moss growing from them, showing that water is leaking from where they originated.
" ... "
He recalled his promise to his lady, to always be by her side and give her her due happiness.
Suddenly the weight of the stuff he is carrying on his back then made themselves apparent, as only now does he remember that he had bought ingredients in order to cook for his lady when she got home.
He then took the backpack off his shoulders, before opening it to find the various ingredients he had purchased together with Tiona.
Inside it, he can see meat wrapped in parchment paper, pine nuts, rosemary, fish sauce(If his memory were to be trusted they're called Garum?), caul fat, and finally, grape juice.
Underneath everything is a cast iron cooking pan that he had bought from the amazoness.
" ...Perhaps...I...can use this time to practice my cooking. "
Now inside the kitchen, Bell laid out the ingredients before him.
" ...Alright... "
He then took the newly-bought cooking pan from within the bag, and proceeded to put it on top of the stove before lighting it up.
" Hmm... "
He recalled what Tiona had read aloud to him before regarding the recipe.
" ...First...would be...the pine nuts...and rosemary. "
Taking out a mortar and pestle(that he had also bought from the amazoness) from within his bag, he took a tiny amount of rosemary leaves as well as a small handful of pine nuts before putting them into the mortar.
Holding the pestle firmly with his right hand, and his left hand making sure the mortar stay in place, he started to pound on the ingredients inside-
* BANG! *
-Which caused a loud bang to reverberate throughout the whole kitchen area.
" ... "
He inspected the pestle and mortar.
Cracks ran throughout their stone surface, caused by a single hit of his action.
He then inspected the table underneath of which the pestle and mortar is placed, only to see the bottom of the mortar had pierced through the wooden top of the table.
" ...Perhaps...I ought to do it on the floor... "
Preferrably with less force as well.
10 minutes later
" ...Alright...Now, it is done... " Bell said to himself, a sense of accomplishment filled his tone.
After an arduous eternity(10 minutes) of meticulously crushing the ingredients inside the pestle and mortar, he is finally satisfied with the result, as the ingredients have now been reduced to a paste form that stuck to the walls of the mortar.
" ...Next...Will be... "
He then obtained the meat before freeing it from it's parchment prison, revealing thin slices of raw steak that he had bought from the local butcher.
He then put a few slices into the mortar...before pounding on them with the pestle in his hand.
A couple more minutes later, and the meat had been fully integrated into the rosemary-pine nuts paste inside the mortar, in the form of ground beef which held all the ingredients.
" ...Hm... "
Bell then took the fish sauce that he had bought, before pouring in a generous amount of the golden liquid inside the bottle into the mortar.
Afterwards, he proceeded to(very carefully)pound the ground beef, making sure that all the ingredients are mixed well together and that the fish sauce is spread equally throughout.
* sniffs *
" ...Very well... "
The boy proceeded to take out a piece of caul fat, before laying it flat on the table that he had previously cracked.
Taking the ground meat from the mortar(and making sure to scrape off any pieces that were sticking to the walls), Bell went ahead and shaped it into a patty with his hand.
After making a medium-sized patty that is neither too small nor too large, he laid it onto the pale membrane-like fat on the table.
He then wrapped the patty with the fatty membrane, tucking in the beef and ensuring that the wrapping would not come undone once he'd put it onto the pan later on.
" ...Yes...Good... "
A very small grin etched itself onto his face.
Finally, the last step of the preparation would be to put in the grape juice into the pan and letting it simmer-
" ...Ah...That's right... "
He forgot to turn on the stove first, he reminded himself.
After turning on the stove and waiting until white wisps of smoke started coming out of the surface, he then poured a generous amount of grape juice into the pan.
" ... "
He simply watched as the grape juice started to gradually simmer in the pan.
...He wondered how long he should leave the grape juice in there.
Slowly, but surely, the grape juice is starting to lose more and more of it's volume, before finally turning into a black sludge that let out multicolored bubbles on the surface.
" ...This should suffice... "
He then gently laid the fat-wrapped patty into the concentrated(burnt) grape juice.
After a few minutes, he flipped the patty onto the opposite side.
...The surface that was previously at the bottom had turned to a shade of the darkest black that resembled the blood of the Dark Soul itself.
" ... "
Ignoring the glaring similarities aside, Bell patiently waited until the other side finishes cooking, which by his estimation should be in a few more minutes.
" ...Finally. "
The dish is now done.
Before him, a jet black patty(?) had been wrapped between two pieces of flatbread.
" ...Hm... "
He inspected the Isicia Omentata meticulously and with unwavering attentiveness.
* Sniffs *
Taking in the distinct aroma of the dish, he determined that it is...satisfactory.
Although, had literally anyone other than Bell had been in the same room with him, they would most likely have been put off by the smell of burnt grape juice and meat emanating from the dish.
" ... "
Bell looked at the old clock on the wall, the time displayed on it seemed to be 11:56. Almost midnight.
...His lady still hasn't returned yet.
" Well then... "
Now for the taste test, he picked up the Isicia Romantata from the plate, and took a bite out of it.
* Munch *
* Munch *
* Gulp *
" ...Hm. "
...Bell had never been particularly picky when it comes to food in his previous life, and back in Lordran he had stopped eating after realizing that the undeads are able to march even on an empty stomach...and that they would be reborn even if they were to starve.
The dish itself is...passable, at least to him. However, for his lady, being barely edible isn't going to cut it.
Plus, there is also the distinct taste of...
" ...Blood. "
Looking at the cross section where he had took a bite out of, in spite of the outer crust of the patty being "cooked", it's insides show a pale pinkish colour, with red liquid that resembled blood oozing out from the center.
...No. His lady will not have...this, he thought to himself.
And so, determined to recreate the dish in a manner that will satisfy his lady, he put down the burger and started to repeat the process all over again.
Half an hour later
" ...Hm. "
A new Isicia Omentata is now laid afore him.
Bell had repeated almost every single steps he had taken previously, however this time he had made sure to leave the patty on for a longer time than before.
He was about to try out the dish anew, however stopped himself and looked at the old clock on the wall.
12:26 past midnight. His lady is not home, yet.
" ... "
He then picked up the dish from it's plate and took a bite out of it.
* Crunch *
* Crunch *
* Gulp *
" ...No. "
Now, the meat inside have been properly cooked, and the scent of blood assaulted his taste buds no more.
...However, the crust around it bore a taste reminiscent of burnt tinders, as well as the looks of it too.
And so, putting the dish down, he proceeded to repeat all the steps over and over again.
1:06 past midnight
* Crunch *
* Crunch *
* Gulp *
" ...No...This...This is not... "
The patty is now both burnt as well as uncooked on the inside.
" ...Again... "
Hestia is still not home.
3:13 past midnight
* Crunch *
* Munch *
* Gulp *
" ...There is no taste... "
Save for the taste of blood and burnt meat.
He had forgotten to put in the fish sauce.
" ...My lady... "
Again.
4:26 past midnight
* Munch *
* Munch *
" ...Why... "
Now he forgot to put in the pine nuts and rosemary.
" ...Why are you not home... "
5:34 in the morning
* Munch *
" My lady... "
* Munch *
" Where is my lady... "
He doesn't even notice the taste of blood anymore.
6:44 in the morning
" AAAAARRGHHHH!! "
He bellowed at the top of his lungs.
Throwing away the burnt-and-raw Isicia Omentata he sweeped off all the ingredients that was on the table, before-
* BANG! *
grabbing the table and throwing it against the wall.
The wooden table shattered into a thousand splinters as it made contact with the stone walls of the kitchen.
" KAMI-SAMA...! "
" Where...art thou...?! "
The broken pieces of the table lay strewn across the floor.
The passage of time seems to crawl at an agonizingly lethargic pace.
Each passing minute stretching into an endless eternity as he anxiously awaits for the return of his lady...
...Yet, she returns not.
And he knew not of the reason. Nor does he know whether or not she is safe.
Worry for his lady is starting to gnaw away relentlessly at his heart. It's as if his very sanity is being chipped away for every passing second she is not here.
" ...Hah...Hah... "
He can feel himself gasping for air, each breath he took like a desperate attempt to quell the restless tempest of anxiety tormenting his heart.
" Ah. "
Only then did he realized what he had done.
Wooden splinters were strewn haphazardly across the floor, a testament to the mess he had made. Adding to the disarray, the ingredients that had been previously violently discarded further contributed to the chaos, with the pungent scent of the fish sauce and rich grape juice spilling their entirety, cascading and pooling across the floor in an unholy blend of aroma and colors.
" ...What...What have I done... "
He had desecrated this place his lady had so lovingly called her home, in a fit of tempestuous rage.
" My lady...Please...I beg for your forgiveness... "
Clasping his hands in the form of a prayer, Bell crumbled onto his knees.
Tears started to flow.