Evil

The Titan's Appetite

A wave of unending relief rushed over me. My gut had proven wrong this time and I gladly welcomed this mistake with open arms. Choosing not to wake him up, I—

"Achoo!"

"Who's—" I just had to go and sneeze. Lucius jolted up, alert eyes zeroing in on me in an instant before he yelped in surprise,"You're awake! How are you? Are you in pain? Hurt? Has the fever gone down?" He bombarded me with a multitude of questions in a worried tone as he pressed his hand against my forehead.

"I'm doing fine. I've caught the flu somehow and my fever is still going strong," I sniffed softly, a little overwhelmed by the questions but still found it cute that he cared so much. It was this goodness that welled inside you when someone cared for you,"What about you? I don't think I had enough mana to h—"

"Worry about yourself first Artemis."

"You're one to talk Lucy."

"Lucy?"

"Lucius, Lucy? Short form. It sounds cute."

"But I'm not a girl."

"But you sound like a worried housewife right now."

"Because I care about you."

"Exactly what a housewife would say, Lucy," I remarked teasingly, poking a finger in his abs which made him wince,"I knew it. You've not fully recovered."

"But you—"

"Relax," I forced him into the chair with a bit of strength and activated healing touch,"A little mana use never hurt me and," Tracing my fingers over his injuries, they mended the wounds, an expression of relief and comfort appearing on his face,"I'm sorry." I casually spoke those words as I concentrated on patching up the last bits.

"For what? You've nothing to apologise for."

"I got you hurt. That's what I'm apologising for."

"It's a man's job to protect his woman."

"We're not living in the age of chivalry anymore Lucy darling."

"But you're important to me so I want to protect you," His hands caught mine and he held them tenderly,"It's not just us being soulmates, Artemis. It's so, so, so much more than just that. I like you."

"Liking someone isn't grounds for nearly getting yourself killed. And I'm not sure how I feel." I gave an ambiguous answer. These questions were best left to quiet nights to ponder over silently, reflect and gather one's scattered thoughts.

"Not being sure of how you feel about someone isn't grounds for taking down a rank 6 by sacrificing your health."

"Touché, Lucy."

"Touché? What's that mean?"

"It's Fr—Never mind. And, done.," I dusted my hands as I cancelled the spell,"You should be good as new. Just a bit of internal bleeding is all. Your bones seem to have stayed intact somehow. Other than being winded from that time, it's just minor injuries."

"That's because I'm a titan. We're known for our strength and defence!" He patted his chest, beaming with pride at my inadvertent compliment.

I rolled my eyes with a chuckle,"Yes, my dear Lucy is such a manly and powerful titan."

A small vein bulged at his temple as he spoke in a little forced manner,"Artemis..."

"What? You're not happy with your nickname?" I feigned hurt, laughing like a madwoman on the inside,"I really tried my best to come up with a nice nickname. I suppose I'll—"

He panicked, as expected,"N-No! Lucy is fine! You can call me Lucy all you want! I'm sorry if I—"

"Then it's a promise!" I grinned triumphantly, switching back to my happy demeanour from moments before.

He sunk back into his chair, defeated,"Haaa..."

Suddenly, an uninvited guest introduced itself in our moment of silence.

Grrrr...

Looking at each other, we realised both our stomachs had growled.

"Pfft..."

"Ahem..Hehe..." After a solid ten seconds of trying to hold back our laughter, we finally broke. This kind of emotional catharsis was much needed right now.

After we calmed down from that hysteria, I managed to take out two small metal containers,"How long was I out?"

"A day. What's that?"

"With the kosmimarians being underground, I doubt they eat normal food. You must be starving. Luckily, I prepared for this." In this world, noodles existed. So, I made my own version of instant noodles with the aid of magic. On the plus side, with the storage ring keeping food fresh—No preservatives. To replace the flavour packet, I got from buying some soup and getting of the moisture to make small cubes with a bit of salt like those flavour cubes people added into soup.

Condensing a bit of pure water from the atmosphere, I heated it up with a flame and set two portions into the bowls with the noodles. Once the noodles soaked up enough water, I added a bit more and added the cubes. Garnishing it with a few slices of beef and an egg, I pushed the bowl to the drooling Lucius alongside a fork since he didn't even know what chopsticks were,"Shall we dig in?"

He gulped down his saliva and nodded, eyes fixated on the bowl like a sailor out at sea for months that'd sight his home. Shoving a mouthful of noodles, egg and beef into his mouth, his eyes widened before he shovelled the entirety of his portion into his mouth in mere seconds before turning to me and asking,"More?"

I'd barely started chewing my first mouthful when he finished,"How much more can you finish?"

"I could eat an entire cow right now to be honest." Judging from the term 'titan' and the way he ate, I found myself believing he wasn't being hyperbolic about his ravenous appetite.

I took out the twenty slabs of pork and twelve slabs of beef I'd packed for my six month-long expedition into the Ypogeios tundra before heading to the city of Blackharp to restock but with the oaf's appetite, I feared that we wouldn't even last a day. Of course, I wasn't planning to eat ramen three meals a day for six months straight—No. I was a foodie that came prepared,"Barbecue it is."