The volatility spike once the ruin edict ended was relatively minor. He’d popped the last resort ability early enough that adding another twenty some volatility to his total barely pushed him over fifty. Between the sinew around him vanishing like hot breath on a cold day and his fingers turning into his own personal blood fountain, the slight headache it was causing was very low on his priority list.

  The structural integrity of the bone dragon’s legs gave out before its spine, so while the ride to the ground was pretty bumpy, it could have been much worse. Maybe it was coming down off of the Ruin Edict, or just the general high of killing a dragon, but he didn’t feel any pain in his hand.

  Greg grimaced slightly, staring at the hand as he was jostled around a final time before the ribcage fell apart. I guess he hadn’t really killed it. It was technically already dead.

  A chunk of spine clattered across his skull, and the world went dark.

  The bouncing pressure of someone’s shoulder in his gut told him he was being carried when he came to.

  Grass.

  Long blades of grass.

  They’d made it out. His eyes naturally drifted up the leather-clad legs that carried him, but before finding their mark, Isabella threw up a notification box in the most appropriate place.

  Auto-loot: Enabled

  Looting….

  200x dragon bones added to inventory

  6x ounces powdered dragon heart crystal

  Powdered dragon heart crystal. He’d automatically looted it. Dismissing the message, his eyes shot to his hand. They’d wrapped it up, but his fingers were definitely gone. He let out a little groan, and his carrier stopped.

  “He’s awake.” Autumn said. She jostled him over into a cradled position in her arms, which was far less emasculating than he’d expected, before setting him down.

  Greg cradled his hand against his chest, gnawing on his bottom lip as one too many seconds of silence passed. “We uhh…We got 'em then?”

  Seraphae raised an eyebrow at him, the corner of her mouth twitching slightly until, after a moment of silence, Autumn burst into laughter. The two of them were holding their sides within seconds, struggling to breathe they laughed so hard.

  He grinned, but didn’t join in on the laughter. Missing two fingers on his non-dominant hand wasn’t the end of the world. Not like he was particularly excited about it either, though. Noting his UI felt a little empty, he glanced around and found he was no longer in the party.

  “She disbanded it when she woke up.” Isabella spoke to him. “Seraphae stopped the bleeding, but unless you find a healer out here, it’s unlikely you’re getting them back anytime soon.”

  Greg nodded slightly and took a look around. He must not have been out for too long. They’d barely made it out of the graveyard. Gerty had dug a hole near a tree and was pulling some kind of massive earthworm out with her trunk. After the laughter had died down, Greg cleared his throat and spoke.

  “I’m glad you’re both alright, but I could use a little rest.” He lifted the hand with the wrapped up stumps.

  “Of course.” Seraphae pursed her lips and nodded her head toward the hand. “I’m sorry, I didn’t plan on the arrow sliding down the crystal.”

  He gave her a little shake of the head. “Not your fault. I wouldn’t have been able to get it out without your help. Couple of fingers beat being dead.”

  “I guess I should probably apologize too?” Autumn shrugged. “Maybe I shouldn’t have just hopped up there like that. If there were three of us, probably would have been smoother.”

  “Friends don’t…” His voice caught, and he dragged his bottom lip through his teeth. “Friends don’t apologize…”

  Maeve.

  She was waiting for him. He didn’t have time to rest. They needed to keep moving. Find Kael. Deal with the Frost. “On second thought.” Greg shrugged. “I’m alright to go until we need to camp.”

  The two women exchanged a glance, Seraphae shaking her head. “It’s alright, we can hang out here for a bit.”

  “No,” Greg said a little too fast and caught himself. He reached back, rubbing two fingers and a couple of wrapped stumps painfully against the back of his neck. “No. We should keep moving. Get to Kael before he can hurt anybody else.”

  Seraphae nodded, saying something to the effect of ‘alright, let’s head out’, but his eyes had found Autumn’s. She was squinting at him, nostrils just slightly flared out, a strip of sunlight illuminating the tip of her button nose and the tiniest little curve upward to her lips.

  When Seraphae requested to reopen the party link, Autumn had respectfully declined. She sited some nonsense about extended use giving her a headache and making healing take longer. She’d had the function open to them for days before that and never said a word. No, he was certain she was giving him a break. Giving him some time to talk to Isabella, which he was going to take advantage of.

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  He fell back from the two of them, letting them get far enough ahead that they wouldn’t hear him before saying anything. “No one has said anything about vanishing dragon heart crystal or bones. Think I need to be concerned?”

  “Maybe.” She responded. “It’s not uncommon for magical components to fade away after use, but you don’t often find most of a skeleton that does.”

  “Advice?” He asked.

  She was quiet for a moment before letting out a spine tingling sigh into his mind. “Trust them? I’m much more partial to your ex than the demigod, but I’m coming around. It’s better to get ahead of something like this. If they think you’re hiding something and it turns out you are…well any rapport build can easily be torn down.”

  “What if they want the crystal?” Greg asked, pulling up his inventory to stare at the most recent addition. Six ounces of powdered dragon heart crystal. According to Brannoc and Maeve, even this small an amount was worth a fortune.

  “Whatever happens…do not let go of that crystal.” Her tone shifted from reluctant acceptance to stern in moments. “We are going to need it.”

  Greg shifted slightly in his saddle to lay forward against Gerty’s shoulders and stroke her. “To bring you back?”

  “Yes,” she said without hesitation. “We’ll need more, though.”

  Greg nodded, tracing the edges of the murmox’s plated carapace as she walked. She’d not shared a lot about her plan to get her soul out of him and back into her body, but if it required a significant amount of dragon heart crystal it made sense she didn’t think he was ready.

  “Guessing getting lucky with kobolds trying to bring a dragon back to life isn’t likely to happen again?” he said.

  “Doubtful.”

  “Be upfront and honest. Don’t give up the crystal. Got it.” He pushed himself up, sudden throbbing pain coming from his missing digits. He hissed and shook his head. “Any ideas why this doesn’t have me in absolute agony? Figure any adrenaline would have worn off already.”

  “The boon increased your constitution. Gives you a better pain tolerance and increases your natural regeneration. It’s not going to regrow them, but the wounds are probably well on their way to healed.”

  “What about someone like Brannoc. Is his constitution high enough to regrow limbs?” Greg asked.

  “No, I’ve never seen anyone regrow a limb. If something somehow severed one of Bran’s limbs, he could probably hold it in place and the flesh would mend itself together.” Isabella said.

  “That’s not a pleasant image,” Greg muttered, “but good information to have.”

  He took a few more minutes to chat with Isabella. They’d already been exposed to Autumn, but keeping her a secret from as many people as possible was ideal. She’d been surprisingly supportive of his approach with the kobolds and the bone dragon, though she did once again point out that adding a more reliable ranged weapon option was something he should seriously consider.

  She also had a lot to say about Autumn’s fighting style. Isabella herself had been more of a ranged caster, but the woman’s movements in battle reminded her of the blessings of Veyru. Those blessed by The Stormborn were fast and powerful, but with the wild grace of a tornado. From what he recalled of religious lore Veryu was twin to Nareis, The Drowned Queen, but neither of them were naturally antagonistic toward the mother below. That was just the known half of his power, though.

  For all Brannoc told him about demonic power being relatively commonplace amongst the Gifted, he’d never seen anyone worship them. Call upon them in times of need, or even slander them when stressed. Whatever demonic forces were out there, the only access he’d had to them was the Deva that had stabbed him.

  After a few more minutes, Greg urged Gerty forward to catch up to the women. She hadn’t even glanced back, but once he got within speaking range, he received a notification.

  Autumn Claskey has invited you to a party.

  Accept?

  Yes/No

  He accepted, but paused when he noticed only her status bars came up in the corner of his vision.

  “Everything good? You alright, Isabella?” Autumn sounded into his mind while she held a conversation he could only hear mumurs of with Seraphae.

  “All good. Thank you for the privacy, dear. You’re a good egg.” Isabella answered for him.

  “Thank you. Greg? Hows the hand?”

  Greg screwed up his face and looked down at the wrapped up appendage. The bandages were soaked through with blood, but unless he smacked it against something, the throbbing had stopped.

  “Pretty sure it’s healed over by now. When we stop to camp, I’ll check it.”

  “Good…” her voice hung in his mind for a moment. “I don’t know what happened in there, but I’m pretty sure I’d be dead if it weren’t for you and Seraphae. So thank you.”

  His mind struggled for a moment to find the right words. Eventually, he was able to push the part of his psyche down that wanted to showboat about saving her life and went with, “I’m just glad you’re alright.” Urging Gerty forward a little faster, he came up behind them close enough that they could hold an actual audible conversation.

  “Hey, need to talk to you guys about something.” They both glanced back, though riding the temple-beast Autumn was on a much lower level, and he continued. “I want to keep the secrets to a minimum…I imagine you guys saw the bones disappear?”

  Seraphae nodded slowly. “I believe Autumn was still out, but yes, I did. I was going to ask you about it when we stop to camp.”

  Greg bobbed his head affirmatively and gnawed on his lip for a moment. “I’ve got an ability that automatically loots anything I kill, as long as it’s not a human. So I’ve probably got a couple hundred pounds of dragon bones ready to fall on my head at my command.”

  “That’s disturbing,” Autumn said with a shrug. “Is that why all the kobolds were naked after you stabbed them?”

  “That would be why.”

  Seraphae stared at him, suspicion evident in her eyes. “Why say anything?”

  “I want to trust you guys, and I know it goes both ways. I’ve not always been good at communicating, but I’ve been working on it.” Greg’s cheeks heated up, and he swallowed hard against a lump that formed in his throat. He could feel Autumn staring up at him, but couldn’t bring himself to meet her gaze. After a long moment of silence, he didn’t need to as Seraphae addressed him again.

  “You’ve got the crystal, don’t you?” She asked.

  His eyes shifted up to hers. She didn’t seem angry, more curious than anything. He gave her a slight nod. “I do. Well, sort of. It’s powdered.”

  “You know what that’s worth?” She questioned him again, not taking her eyes off him for a moment.

  “A couple of fingers, hopefully.” Greg raised an eyebrow and gave her a shrug. Autumn snorted from below, and a slow smile crept onto Seraphae’s lips.

  “Keep it safe," she said, "We’ll deal with separating the loot when the mission is finished.”

  ??? Fantasy Cooking Isekai

  Reincarnation Noble Ducal Politics Food & Magic Slow-burn Romance

  CHEF'S KISS

  Ritsuka Izumi dies before she can ever hang her own sign over a restaurant door.

  On her forty-first birthday, the Tokyo chef who spent decades carrying other men’s careers on her plates is betrayed over one last “special” dinner. When she opens her eyes again, she’s in the body of Julia Wynnee, the quiet, sickly daughter of a duchess in Savora – a sunlit island state rich in gold and monsters, and starving for food, stability, and someone who actually knows how to run a kitchen.

  Ritsuka doesn’t care about thrones or prophecy. She wants one thing: a restaurant of her own and a dining room full of people eating honest food. If that dream now sits in the middle of a fragile sea duchy, a simmering holy war, and a droplet-shaped relic that reacts to her cooking, she’ll grit her teeth, sharpen her knives, and survive long enough to open the doors.

  For readers who like reincarnated heroines, political sea duchies, goddess relics, and food that can change the board.

  ? New chapters on Royal Road

  Come taste-test Savora’s future.

  Play “Chef's Kiss – Opening Theme” (CSN Publishing)

  

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