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“Indeed,” Osman sagely nodded. “And preparing the ingredients is only the first step, Princess.”

She scoffed, “I know that at least. I’m not that naive.”

“Ah, but before this, you didn’t even know how to properly chop vegetables.”

Xenia clicked her tongue as she heard Darius chuckle at Osman’s remarks. The admiral got her there, she supposed.

“Okay, fine. I need the help, but at least I learn quickly,” she protested with a pout. “Now, what’s next?”

The admiral smiled at her as he led her towards the stove, a fire already brewing as a pot of boiling water sat over the flames.

“Surely, you know how most mages brew their potions. Cooking is just more of that, but simpler,” Osman explained. “Just add in the ingredients at a set time and order. Make sure that everything’s properly prepared, and just add seasonings to taste.”

Xenia nodded as she absorbed as much of it as possible. Then again, it was so vague that it might as well be useless to her. She already knew how potion brewing worked. Watching Mother and Mineah work sometimes was a highlight depending on how decently their sessions went. Sometimes, they exploded. But mostly, she might see colorful flashes of light that were just a treat to watch swirl around the room.

“I see…” she pensively nodded. “For some reason, I have a feeling you just want to see me fail.”

“Nonsense,” Osman denied with a laugh. “You ruining this boar would mean me going out there hunting for another one. I, for one, don’t wanna go through that again.”

“Indeed,” Darius hummed. “Besides, if he fails, we all don’t get to eat.”

At that, both she and Osman shivered at the concept. On second thought, maybe they should take this so-called trial seriously.

“You see? This is vital for our continued survival,” the admiral nervously chuckled. “I’ll walk you through the steps, so watch closely, okay?”

“Got it.”

From there, Xenia did her best to keep up with the admiral as he walked her through the motions. From properly chopping up her ingredients, to how to properly butcher a boar with nothing but a knife, the man seemed to know what he was doing. Eventually, they finally got to the so-called good part of cooking, which was mixing up the ingredients and hoping that they’d get something edible.

“You two certainly took your time,” Darius lightly scoffed from the table as he watched them work. “It’s already well past noon. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you two are cooking for dinner as opposed to lunch.”

“Unfortunately, I had to make sure that Xenia absorbed what she was doing, Your Majesty,” Osman reasoned with a chuckle. “We can’t have her cooking herself to death out there, right?”

“Hey…”

Darius smirked. “Fair enough. Do hurry up, however. I’m starving.”

Xenia fumed as she was promptly ignored by the two men in front of her. Brandishing her knife, she was half-tempted to try and cut through their hides for even suggesting that she’d die in the wild without any sort of help. She had already survived with nothing but her wits even before she met Darius, and she will surely get through any kind of situation so long as she was still breathing…

Then again, she did poison herself that one time… and most of her food throughout the wilderness consisted of burnt meat and whatever fruits or berries she managed to scrounge up…

Okay, maybe she did need some tips to better prepare some food for herself.

“You heard him, Princess. Let’s get to cooking.”

Hearing Osman, Xenia resisted the urge to sigh as she kept her eyes peeled. They were in front of the cauldron now, their ingredients already lined up and ready for them to dump into the boiling water.

“First up, you should remember a simple rule in cooking, firstly, that all ingredients cook at different times, and that they release their nutrients depending on how you cook them,” Osman sagely explained. “Fibrous meat like this might need more time on the flame, while soft vegetables might only need a few seconds before they’re ready to be eaten.”

Xenia nodded in understanding. That would probably explain why she always managed to burn what few vegetables she found in the wilderness.

“Controlling the flame is also important,” Osman added, his hands already adding the boar meat into the pot. “Too much fire would cook your ingredients unevenly. Likewise, too little heat might spoil your food before it’s even cooked.”

“I… didn’t know that,” Xenia admitted. “I usually just put meat on a stick and roasted them over a fire.”

Osman chuckled, “While that’s a valid method of cooking, you can run the risk of vastly undercooking your meat if you don’t know what you’re doing. At that point, you’re better off making sure you’ve burnt your meat as opposed to eating it raw.”

She hesitantly chuckled in amusement. At least she did one thing right.

“Okay. You think you can take over from here then?”

Her eyes widened, “What? Why?”

“I’m sure you can handle it,” the admiral smiled at her. “Just make sure that everything’s properly cooked and mixed. Add in salt to taste, and make sure that nothing won’t be over or undercooked.”

“What he meant to say is that you should pay attention to what you’re cooking,” Darius added. “Be patient. Don’t stoke the flames, nor let it die out.”

Xenia blinked at those words. For some reason, what Darius just said seemingly made sense in a lot of things. Was that the lesson she was being taught right now?

“I understand,” she answered, in more ways than one.

Staring at the pot, she did as she was told. Adding in what she deemed to be harder to cook, she paid attention to what she was doing, adjusting the flames as necessary as she waited for the soup to cook. Eventually, she added salt to taste, making sure to only add what was necessary to elevate the dish to a different level.

By the end of it, the delicious smell of boar wafted right in front of her. Giving it a taste, she was surprised to know that it wasn’t half bad.

“That smells good, Princess,” Osman smiled at her. “Again, I told you it was easy.”

Xenia grinned, seeing Darius already scooping himself with a bowl of her soup. Seeing him smile at her just from one bite, her heart felt like it was given a great reward.

This was great… If cooking was this easy, she might just pick up more of it.