With the dying light of the already dim day fading rapidly, the makeshift cooking area was alive with activity. Fires crackled beneath suspended pots, casting dancing shadows across the faces of the won who worked diligently to prepare the evening al.
The sll of roasting dire wolf at, enriched with the scant quantities of mana that perated their flesh, mingled with the aroma of wild herbs that had been foraged from the surrounding woods.
Among these won were Tara, Hema, and Rhonia, the middle-aged woman with the Cook class who had arrived along with the Lumberjack and their son. Rhonia's hands moved efficiently as she stirred a pot of stew while her sowhat plump face flushed from the heat of the cooking fires.
Tara was preoccupied with cutting chunks of at for the stew, while Hema sorted through various herbs she'd collected, adding pinches of this and that to the cooking pots to enhance the flavor of the otherwise gay at.
The settlent had been in a state of heightened energy since the battle with the Hill Giants and the arrival of Starius. News had spread quickly, and it seed everyone wanted to hear more—especially from the woman who apparently knew the Hero personally.
"So," Rhonia began, as she cast a glance towards Tara. Like many others, she had already heard about the apparent shared history between Starius and Tara. She could no longer hold back on her questions. "How do you know Starius? Mind sharing the story?"
Tara's knife hesitated for a fraction of a second before continuing its rhythmic chopping. "We grew up in the sa village," she replied simply, not looking up from her task.
"Oh co now," Rhonia pressed, not satisfied with such a sparse answer. "You don't just 'grow up' with soone who becos a Hero. What was he like? What was your relationship like?"
A few of the other won nearby slowed their tasks, clearly interested in the gossip.
One of the nearby won, a relatively new refugee with a slender fra, asking with asured suspicion, "Is he really a Hero? I an, aren't all Heroes of Goddess Selune quite well known? Yet, how co I've never heard of this Starius before coming here?"
It was a reasonable question. Heroes in this world were like celebrities. Any Ruler who had a Hero staying within their borders would do all they could to make sure the other Realms knew of this. Starius, however? He was relatively unknown even within Selune's Divine Domain on Warnath.
"He is." Tara confird with a mild frown on her face. The reason for her confidence was two-fold. The Starius she knew was not a liar, especially not when it ca to important things like this. Moreover, it was Hiro who had brought up the matter of Starius being a Hero. Tara's trust in Hiro's abilities was quite high.
"I've known him since we were children, before either of us had classes..." Tara reminisced the events of her past. She told the surrounding won about a ti before Starius had beco a Hero. About how she thought he had sacrificed his life trying to save her.
As for what happened after that fated day? Tara did not know. All these years, she had received no word from Starius – not even a single letter informing her that he was safe. That he had gotten himself a Combat Class and beco a chosen of Goddess Selune.
'He must've had his reasons...' Tara told herself. Without realizing it, she had ended her brief narration and was lost in her own thoughts.
Now that so ti had passed since their reunion, Tara's initial feelings of ecstasy regarding Starius' survival diminished. Of course, she was still happy that he was alive and well, but she couldn't help but seriously consider what the future held for her.
'If only we reunited a bit earlier...' Tara couldn't help but think about the relationship she now shared with Hiro. 'Does Lord Hiro even care about , though? What if this is nothing more than a convenient deal to him?'
Within her mind, Tara knew that Hiro did not love her in the traditional sense. It was not guaranteed that she would officially have a place beside him in the future. anwhile, although Starius and her were never lovers and had never engaged in any physical intimacy, the relationship between them was not so simple. For now, Tara's mind was a ss, and her future seed unclear.
"Were you and Starius lovers?" Rhonia asked bluntly after misunderstanding Tara's distracted appearance. Her eyes glinted with mischief as she continued her playful speculation. "Childhood sweethearts perhaps? The way he kept looking at you before..."
Tara's cheeks flushed instantly. "No! Nothing like that. We were just friends."
"Friends, she says," Rhonia snorted, giving a conspiratorial look to the other won.
The won giggled, and Tara's blush deepened. Even Hema's lips curved slightly upward, though she kept her focus on the herbs she was sorting.
"We should focus on finishing the cooking. It won't be safe to keep the fires lit for much longer," Tara said seriously. This was just a ruse to divert the attention away from herself, but it worked. The surrounding won mumbled so words of agreent after looking at the diminishing ambient light and the got back to their stations.
Rhonia, who was naturally working pretty close to Tara, did not look like she was going to let the matter rest though. "This Starius sure is strange! The man arrives, kills a Hill Giant that had the lot of us scared silly, and then what does he do? Starts helping Targon and the others clean up monster corpses!" She shook her head in disbelief. "Never seen a man so eager to do nial work instead of catching up with a pretty woman like you, Tara."
"Well... he always had a strong sense of responsibility," Tara wryly said while recalling so fond childhood mories.
"Or maybe he's just nervous to face you," Hema suggested with an imperceptible smile. "It's been years, after all."
Tara looked at Hema with mild surprise. All this while, she had been feeling that Hema was too serious of a person to engage in such banter, but apparently, she was mistaken!
"Well," Rhonia continued, undeterred by Tara's silence, "if you ask , it's a sha to waste ti on clean up duty when there are more... pleasant reunions to be had." She said conclusively.
Tara did not respond to Rhonia's words, and a lull fell over the place. Rhonia too realized that she might have gone a bit too far with her teasing. It wasn't like she was on very familiar terms with Tara.
As the won worked towards finishing their dinner preparations in silence, it was Tara who spoke up a while later. Sothing had been bothering her for a while.
"How did your outing with Lord Hiro today go, Hema?" she asked, her question holding hidden anings behind it.
Even though Rhonia found this question strange at first, her gossip-senses imdiately tingled. The atmosphere shifted perceptibly. Hema's face remained impassive, but her hands stilled montarily over the herbs she'd been sorting.
"I required escort to gather herbs from the forest," she replied evenly. "The Baron was kind enough to accompany ."
"And? How was the Baron?" Rhonia asked, like a bloodhound that slled blood. "Was he approachable? Or was he high and mighty? Perhaps he even showed so interest in you?" Rhonia inquired with a giggle.
Tara glanced up sharply, her interest heightening.
Unfortunately for the two of them, Hema seed to have steeled her mind. She was not flustered in the least. "You might be overthinking this," she said sternly. "Rember that we are in Goddess Selune's domain. Such speculation about the Ruler is inappropriate."
"Right..." Rhonia guiltily acknowledged Hema's words. Just like that, Hema was able to skillfully shut down the topic and prevent any further questions regarding this matter.
Tara was unconvinced, however. She might not know much about Hema's character, but she held great faith in Hiro's unbridled lust. Surely, that man tried to make a move on Hema. Unconsciously, a pout appeared on Tara's face.
'I will confirm directly with Lord Hiro himself!' she decided since Hema wasn't saying anything.
"My Lord! Are you busy?" Tara utilized the telepathic link she shared with Hiro.
"No, Tara." Hiro was about to return to the settlent at this ti. He had been paying partial attention to Tara's conversation using [Inspect Sense], and already had a clue about what Tara was going to ask him. He found her behavior to be kind of cute.
"Then, can you tell if sothing happened between you and Hema in the woods today? How much progress did you make with her?"
"My, my. Aren't you a curious girl. Feeling jealous, Tara?" Hiro said in a humorous tone, much to Tara's frustration.
"As for the matters between and Hema, sothing did happen," Hiro admitted after sensing Tara's silence. "However, the progress was frankly unsatisfactory."
Tara perked up upon hearing that. What did her lord an by those words? As Tara sunk into thought, Hiro interrupted her.
"Don't think too much about this. I will be returning in a few minutes. Make sure food is ready to be served to all the citizens."
"...Yes, My Lord."
Having received such instructions, Tara had no choice but to obey without further question.
She temporarily shelved her complicated feelings and conveyed Hiro's orders to Rhonia who was the one in-charge of the cooking.
Although Rhonia was confused by how Hiro could remotely send orders to Tara, she did not think that Tara was lying. She went around the makeshift cooking area to make sure the food was ready.
A lot of people bought so basic items like utensils and dishes with them when they sought refuge. Rhonia instructed all the won to start transferring the at stew into these dishes so that the food could be served on notice.
By this ti, the cleanup was mostly handled, and so n were scattering Yelough mushrooms around the settlent in preparation to extinguish any fires.
Several minutes later, Hiro returned.
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