Distant Worlds ~ A Black Clover Story (Fuegoleon Vermillion X OC)

Chapter 48 - Eagle's Prey

"Hm, I wonder what the right ratio of nutmeg, cinnamon and cardamom is? Shoot, too bad all the kitchen staff left this morning." I mutter to myself staring at the cluttered countertop in front of me. It's littered with an array of spices, ranging from the mild and common to the intense and rare variety. "What do you two think? Any suggestions?" I ask the girls. The only response I get back is a gurgle or two and a small stuffed lion thrown at me. Sighing I wipe my hands on my apron and bend over to pick up the toy. "I'll take that as a 'no' from you Mira." I gently give the toy back to my youngest, who starts to wave the soft plushie in the air. "How about you Alexa? Any thoughts on what mommy try next to help mask my potion's flavor? Hm? What's that?" I lean in closer to listen to Alexa's coos. "You say the recipe to the ultimate potion is... I have to poop? Come on Alexa! Focus, these are important matters!" I tell the young Vermillion, but she finds my scolding amusing and continues to giggle. I can't help but smile at the two cheerful 25 week old babies.

I start to tickle both of the girls, which causes them to start giggling uncontrollably. Their laughter always has a way of making me forget what problem I'm stuck on. The sound of the kitchen's double set doors causes me to look up from the twins. Turning to my right I see Fuegoleon, dressed in his usual Crimson Lion's attire, just coming home from work. He spots me playing with the girls and smiles before fully entering the kitchen. He then comes up to me and greets me with a passionate kiss. As he pulls away to greet our daughters, he looks around the kitchen. I follow his gaze. Every cabinet is open to display the empty space where things used to be. The countertops are all covered with a variety of gadgets, spices and finished dishes, crafted by my marvelous hand. But it does look like a war zone. Flour dusts every surface, while random splatters decorate the side of the cabinets. What's most troubling is the blackened scorch marks near the oven.

"What happened this time?" He inquires, picking up Mira and Alexa before walking the expanse of the kitchen to see the damage I've done. "I thought you knew how to cook."

"I do! But I was trying to bake some of my potions into cookies to mask the taste. But I was using some powerful herbs and the whole thing caught on fire when I was distilling the koroko extract. But the pharrey phenol I made last week worked just fine! Here! I need someone to try it!" I push a plate of light green cookies his way. Fuegoleon looks at the burnt stove, down to the cookies then back at my smiling face, eyes glistening.

"I'd love to, but I got my hands full." He says indicating to the two girls in his arms. My smile disappears and is replaced with a pout.

"They aren't bad this time. I swear! I think I got this whole "medicinal cooking" stuff down."

"Then why are they green?"

"Well, they're matcha flavored cause I knew you didn't want to try another chocolate chunk cookie. Although I think you're insane for turning down any form of chocolate." I mutter, slightly heart broken that my lion isn't ready to face another one of my concoctions. In his defense I have made quite a few variations over the last few weeks. Each time I got better and better at discerning which potion would pair with what ingredients. I found that cookies were the easiest place to start with for masking my potions. They traveled well, could be made into a variety of sizes for dosing and in general people would be much more willing to take their medication if it was in the form of a cookie rather than a straight up vile liquid. Plus I'd be lying if I said tasting the batter wasn't a prime objective in all of this. But with the kitchen staff scared away with my antics, that meant Fuegoleon was usually left to be the taste tester. Last week I heard him sigh heavily as I left him with several new cookies to try. This prompted me to suggest taking my creations over to the Crimson Lion base when he went to work every day so the knights could try it. But Fuegoleon vetoed the idea, saying he needed every knight in tip top shape, not hindered by an upset stomach. I can't help but think he was speaking from personal experience.