Ch31: Giving Her Some Space

It is honestly pretty hard to believe that none of this is real. That everything here is just line upon line of code mingling with what is essentially Krvavy’s imagination. Suppose that is what she gets for playing a game that sold itself on being so immersive...

But even knowing that Thea is nothing more than an NPC... Krvavy just can’t help but be a bit worried about her.

To say that the girl is distraught feels like far, far too much of an understatement. Thea is... traumatized, quite frankly. Which is entirely understandable. The girl has every reason to be upset. Leanna would probably shut down completely if she was in this situation. No. Leanna would definitely shut down if she was in this girl’s place. She would always just go blank, like the Orc, when...

Thea cried herself to sleep last night.

The girl sobbed for... quite some time. But she didn’t have the energy or will to keep at it for very long. Especially not after Krvavy made it clear that she wasn’t going to back off. Still, Thea’s tears flowed until she couldn’t stay awake any longer. The sounds she made... those sad, desperate whimpers...

Krvavy has a feeling that Thea has never really been hugged before. Or at least hasn’t been hugged in a very long time. The noble girl felt like she was comfortable in Krvavy’s arms, but she shouldn’t have been. Krvavy is the reason why she is so miserable right now, after all.

They stayed cuddled up together all the way until morning.

As usual, Krvavy woke up before Thea. She wouldn’t mind staying in bed longer, but she should really get up and get moving.

And so, she slowly and carefully pulls back from the noble girl. Thea shivers slightly as Krvavy’s body separates from her own, but gently pushing her towards the Orc and covering them both with a blanket seems to warm her back up.

Leaving Thea to sleep, Krvavy rolls her shoulders and stretches her arms above her head. Her dick is jutting out stiffly in front of her, but she pointedly ignores it. After what happened last night, she feels that it would be too mean to wake Thea up by using her Orc to relieve herself. It isn’t a good idea to just ignore her lust, but if it gets bad she can just drag the Orc aside and use her then.

So, what should she do today? Krvavy doesn’t want to leave Thea alone like this, but the girl could probably use some space so it might be good to go out...

Besides, if Krvavy stays home all day then they’ll run out of meat pretty quickly. She doesn’t really catch enough when she goes hunting. Krvavy needs to get something bigger. Maybe one of those goats? But their horns might get in the way when she tries to throw rocks at them...

Shaking her head, Krvavy puts those thoughts aside. She doesn’t need to worry about that just yet, as she should have some breakfast first.

Eating the same food over and over again is starting to get a bit boring. Not that Krvavy really minds though. She got used to doing that years ago and at least this stew tastes good. But Thea would probably appreciate having something different. Maybe Krvavy should try making some actual breakfast for the girl?

But there is a problem with that: they don’t exactly have a lot of choices for food here. Just her mystery meat jerky, the meat from her hunts, some salt and seasonings, a bunch of flour, and oats.

Actually, she might be able to work with that. She might be able to make some sort of flatbread, but that isn’t exactly breakfast food... What else could she make? Maybe oatmeal? It would be kind of sad tasting though, as she doesn’t have anything to add to it. No milk, no honey, no fruits or berries. Just water, grains, and whatever spices or herbs she has sitting around.

It doesn’t hurt to try, and oatmeal is her best bet right now. She actually knows how to make it. Which isn’t something Krvavy can say about a lot of other meals... Without much of a choice, Krvavy heads on up the path towards her storage platform to get the ingredients and cookware needed.

Maybe Thea will appreciate the effort even if it doesn’t turn out well? Oh, who is she kidding. Thea will probably think it is some sort of test or trick. But that might be a good thing...? If the girl still has it in her to be bratty...

Approaching the pile of cookware, Krvavy crouches down and begins searching for a suitable pot and pan. They don’t need to be large, like the one that she has been using for the stew, as this is just for a couple servings. She doesn’t exactly have a wide variety of options here, but Krvavy is able to pick out a small pot to boil the water in, as well as a decent saucepan with a lid. It would seem that her usual video game habit of taking nearly everything not nailed down, even the ‘junk’ items, has paid off.

Krvavy places the saucepan aside and brings the small pot over to the stream of drinking water flowing from her respawn point cave. She might as well get the water ready to boil first, though the campfire will probably need a bit of stoking before that can happen...

Carrying the small pot full of water back down to the living area, Krvavy quietly places it amongst the embers before returning to the storage platform. Now she needs to think about the ingredients. She will obviously need some oats and a bit of salt, but what else is there that she can use?

To be honest, Krvavy hasn’t exactly checked what kinds of spices and herbs she had looted. Well, at least beyond the stuff that the Orcs had. But none of that really helps her here, as she is almost completely certain that black pepper, ground up garlic, dried chives, parsley, and the like won’t be good in oatmeal...

Most of the stuff she looted from the bandit camp probably won't help either, but she didn’t exactly Inspect everything. Krvavy was a bit more focused on bringing things back as quick as she could. But it doesn’t hurt to check the few small pouches she had ignored before.

The first pouch Krvavy picks up is full of small black peppercorns. Kind of disappointing that it isn’t anything new, but she has been using this stuff a fair bit so she doesn’t mind having some more.

The second pouch is similarly disappointing, as it is full of a fantasy version of rosemary. Krvavy has no idea what to use rosemary for, but it definitely doesn’t taste like it would be right for oatmeal. At least it is something new though.

Her luck changes as she picks up the third pouch, which is a bit larger than the last two. It is full of a dark brown powder with black chunks inside of it. Inspect tells her that this is vanilla sugar. This is beyond perfect, as both vanilla and sugar would be great in the oatmeal! But there isn’t a whole lot, so she’ll need to be a bit light on using it. Especially since she has no idea where to get more.

There are only two more small pouches that she has to check, and both of them are great. The first has ground up Nodesian Nutmeg and the second has a few sticks of Ceyani Cinnamon. Nutmeg and cinnamon. Both of those will be great in the oatmeal as well!

Even though Krvavy will have to be pretty sparse with her use of these spices, as to avoid immediately running out of them, it will still make this breakfast taste better than it would have before.

With a smile on her face, Krvavy pours some oats into the saucepan and gathers up the seasonings, almost forgetting to grab some salt as well.

Now it’s time to get cooking. Though not having an oven, or really any way to control the heat, will make this a bit more difficult. Still, it shouldn’t be too hard. She’ll just have to pay extra close attention and pull the saucepan out of the fire a few times rather than changing the heat...

Heating up the oats until just as they started to go brown was rather easy, as was boiling the water. But everything after that was tedious at best.

It basically just amounted to adding boiling water to the oats, along with a pinch of salt, and letting it boil some more before slapping the lid onto the saucepan and moving it out of the flames. Then there was the waiting, taking the lid off and pushing it back into the heat to boil again, putting the lid back on and removing it from the fire, and repeating that until the water was all absorbed. Tedious and rather boring.

Now Krvavy is just stirring everything together. And wishing that she had some milk, or even yogurt, to add in. But that can’t be helped.

Bringing a spoonful up to her lips, Krvavy is pleasantly surprised. It isn’t the best by any means, but it is a lot better than she expected. Especially considering how little of the sugar and spices she used in it. She is actually kind of proud of herself.

“Hnngh...?” A tired groan catches Krvavy’s attention. Thea seems to be waking up, and just in time too.

The silver-blonde haired girl slowly sits up, blearily rubbing her eyes.

“Here.” Krvavy offers a bowl of fresh oatmeal. “I just made this, so it might be a bit hot.”

Thea wordlessly takes the bowl, bringing a spoonful up to her lips and blowing on it to cool the hot food down.

Getting her own bowl filled, Krvavy sits down opposite to her noble girl and begins to eat. The oats are a bit chewy, but Thea doesn’t seem to have that same problem. Maybe it is because Krvavy’s teeth are so pointed? Her molars don’t seem to grind together very well. That is a little annoying.

Thea is acting oddly calm and cooperative. Which is a bit concerning. Does the girl not have anything to say? No insults towards Krvavy? No declaring this as a decent meal considering that a savage cooked it?

“Do you like it?” The barbarian questions.

The noble girl just continues to slowly eat for almost a full minute before she nods her head.

Well... At least she likes it? But the way she is acting... It really is worrying... Has Krvavy pushed her into a depression? She seems kind of hollow or dead inside. Hopefully this is just temporary and the girl just needs time to sort through her thoughts.

“I’m going out hunting again today.” Krvavy idly comments as she eats her oatmeal. “I’ll see if I can catch something big, okay?”

Thea doesn’t even acknowledge that. She just continues to slowly eat, blowing on each spoonful to cool it down.

Krvavy frowns slightly. She can’t force Thea to talk. Well, at least not without being a dick. So she’ll just give the girl some space.

The sun is high in the sky, and the light filters down through the leaves above Krvavy’s head. The forest to the south-west of her cave is rather beautiful with its fairly tall trees, though she does still have to duck under the occasional branch.

Krvavy is trying to hunt a deer, but she isn’t exactly having a lot of luck with that. She spotted one probably around three or so hours ago, and has been tracking it ever since. Though to be honest, chasing might be a bit more accurate. The damn thing just keeps running away as soon as she catches sight of it again...

But she seems to have better stamina than the deer does, as it feels like it is starting to slow down. That or her mind is lying to her, giving her false hope. Could be either one, really.

Krvavy comes to a sudden stop. She sees the deer far ahead of her through the trees, drinking from a stream. The wind is blowing from behind it, so the deer shouldn’t be able to even smell Krvavy. She is pretty sure that is how it kept knowing that she was after it.

Perfect. She can try killing it again. Hopefully this time it won’t notice her and she’ll actually be able to hit it. Krvavy is really regretting not bringing that crossbow with her, even if it would have been overkill.

Sneaking through the bushes with her axe held in her left hand and a good weighty stone for throwing in her right, Krvavy slowly approaches her prey. She is careful to not step on anything that’ll snap beneath her weight, which makes it a slow process.

Being as quiet as she can be, Krvavy gets to the edge of the undergrowth. If she wants to get any closer then she will have to leave the treeline and approach the stream. The deer would definitely see her though, so if she did that she would have to be quick...

Weighing her options, Krvavy decides to throw the rock first. If she hits the deer in the head it will probably die, or at least get stunned. And if she misses then hopefully it will distract the deer long enough for her to rush in.

Carefully taking aim, Krvavy hurls the rock as hard as she can. It seems like her luck has turned around, as not only does she get a hit but it is perfect. The rock hits the deer in the side of the head, just at the base of its spine, and causes it to drop down to the ground completely limp.

Critical Hit! 200 Damage dealt to [Bark Fur Deer]

[Bark Fur Deer] has been slain!+75 Experience

“Yes...!” She happily hisses out, rushing towards the downed deer. Pulling out her knife she begins to gut it on the spot, using Transmute Blood to not make too much of a mess. This will obvious take longer than gutting a grouse or quail, but Krvavy doesn’t mind. She’ll be heading home now that she finally caught a deer.