A way to go travel

The sun had set, and night had fallen. We decided to stay at the spot where our wagon was located deep in the forest for the night. Near the damaged wagon, we set up a campfire, and all of us were hungry for dinner.

"Hey, Vanniez, what are we going to eat?"

"Hmm... Because of the storm, we’ve lost almost all of our food."

"What? We've lost almost all of our food?? Then what are we going to do?”

Wait... if things stay like this, what I'm thinking might actually happen. A group of starving people... stranded deep in the wilderness... they'll turn on each other and resort to cannibalism!!!

Except for me, everyone here can use magic… Don’t tell me… they’re going… to eat… m—

"Ah, don’t worry about that. We can just cook and eat this guy," 

Charollo suddenly said, pointing his finger at the large, fallen bear behind us.

"Huh? Isn't that the same bear that theif took down earlier? When did you guys even bring that thing along??"

Wait… are they seriously planning to cook and eat that bear?? Haha! They’ve got to be kidding me!

"Alright then, since this is all we’ve got, let’s just cook and eat it."

"What?! Vanniez! Are you seriously saying that?!"

"Yay, I've never eaten a boar-bear before! I'm so excited! 

“Sero, you too??"

James, who was nearby, had been watching us as we talked. Due to the situation, we decided to tie him up with ropes, and he looked at us with a disappointed and frustrated expression.

Charollo took on the task of cooking., while Vanniez gathered the necessary supplies from the wagon. Sero and I kept watch around the perimeter of the forest, staying alert to our surroundings.

After a while, the boar meat, which was our dinner, was ready. When we all eagerly looked at Charollo's boar stew, we were hit with an overwhelming sense of disgust, unable to hide our disappointment at how horrible it tasted.

"Charollo, is that really something we can eat??”

“Dude, Are you poisoning us??"

"Vanniez! I think Sero passed out!"

“You guys are really ungrateful..”

 Charollo said this and then he decided to taste the stew he made, and then he also passed out from the taste.

After a while, none of us could touch the stew.

 What are we going to do? At this rate, we're all going to starve and end up turning on each other— 

James managed to break free from the ropes and walked over to the big pot of stew.

“What? Hey! How did you get out of the ropes?”

“I told you, these ropes are nothing for me when it comes to one person like me.”

Sero was ready to fight James if he did something suspicious. James looked at Sero and let out a sigh,

 “You guys need to relax.”

James tasted the stew and seemed to be deep in thought for a moment. Then he spoke up, 

"Don’t worry, this isn’t over yet. I can make this taste better and make it edible.”

"Huh? How are you going to do that? The taste is really terrible…"

"Yeah, I know. But if we add the right spices and seasonings we need, the taste should change" 

“Hey, the guy with the green hair, get me all the spices and seasonings we have in the wagon. Four-eyes and little elf, grab some mushrooms from the forest. As for the half-foot... nevermind.”

"What? Are you underestimating me??"

James started his work, taking the pot with the curry and boar meat from earlier, then tossing the curry into a separate bowl. He kept only a little bit of the curry in the pot and took the boar meat out, getting ready to work on it. 

"Alright, let's get to work!"

"First, I will slice the boar meat with a knife, then add a little bit of the salty seasoning into the sliced meat to mix in with the flavor."

"Then, I’ll add a little bit of oil into the pot with the curry left in it, turn the heat up a bit, and mix the curry and oil together. Once the curry is blended, I’ll add the meat back into the pot and mix it with the curry once more. To enhance the aroma, I’ll add a little more seasoning."

Wow, it really smells better than earlier.

"When the curry and meat are fully mixed, we’ll add the mushrooms that Four-eyes and little elf brought.”

“When are you going to stop calling me Four-eyes?”

“Hey, are those mushrooms even edible?"

"Yes, those mushrooms are edible. Most of the animals in the forest eat these kinds of mushrooms, so they’re safe.”

“However, if you eat too many of them, you might get a headache or dizziness. After adding the mushrooms, I’ll add a little bit of water to keep it from drying out. Then, I’ll continue mixing slowly until the taste blends well. If I mix too fast, the mushrooms might spoil."

“Once the boar curry mixed with mushrooms is ready, we need to cover the pot and let it sit for about 5 minutes before eating. While we wait, I had placed some leftover curry into another bowl earlier. I’m going to add a bit of seasoning to enhance the flavor and then toss in some of these leaves.”

“By the way, what kind of leaves are these?"

“These leaves are the ones that mostly grow in the summer season. While they don’t have much flavor on their own, adding them to the curry can slightly alter the taste of the curry. After adding these leaves, I’ll pour in a little water. we’ll let the boar stew with mushrooms simmer on the fire for a while and finally serve the curry. “

“Done! The boar stew with mushrooms and a curry that’s been turned into a soup-like consistency."

We all stared at James' dishes in awe. 

They had a pleasant aroma and looked like something edible, but none of us could bring ourselves to actually taste the food. Maybe we still couldn’t fully trust him.

Vanniez started by picking up a spoon and tasting the stew, then looked at the flavor.

“Wow, this is really different from before. It actually tastes good now!”

Charollo and I listened to what Vanniez said and decided to try it.

 As soon as the stew reached our mouths, we were filled with joy from the flavor, and the taste was so good that I couldn’t help but feel grateful and almost tear up, realizing that I hadn’t continued eating the stew Charollo made earlier.

Sero looked at us,  she still didn't fully trust James so she hesitated to eat. 

I looked at Sero and called her to try it. She decided to give the stew a taste. She picked up a spoon, took a bite of the mushrooms, and put it in her mouth. We watched her reaction, and after a while, she started to cry.

“It tasted so good. The mushrooms didn't have much flavor, but once they hit my mouth, they began to melt, and the stew was much better than before.”

James saw that we were enjoying the foods he made and smiled, then decided to eat away from us. I realized what he was doing and called out to him, 

“Come eat with us. It’s lonely eating alone.”

 Along with Vanniez, Charollo, and Sero, we allowed him to join us.

James looked at us and smiled, then we all sat together and enjoyed our dinner happily. I looked at James and asked,

“Hey, how did you cook it like that? I thought you were just a thief after all”

As soon as I said that, the others also became curious about James' response. James looked at us and proudly said,

“Well..it’s because i used to always make dishes like this for my wife and daughter.”

"Huh? You have a wife and a daughter??"

We all didn’t know he had a family. If he has a family, why did he end up becoming a robber? I wanted to ask this question, but I didn’t have the heart to do so.

After all, I didn’t want to ruin the fun moment. We all ate dinner happily, and the night passed by peacefully.

…

The morning came, and we all packed our things and started to head out of the forest. We decided to leave the wagon behind and head towards a nearby village first.

 Although we didn’t know the exact path to leave, James told us to follow him, and even though we didn’t know how he planned to lead us out of the forest, we decided to trust him.

After walking for a while, we managed to find our way out of the forest. As soon as we got out, we came across a village located just ahead.

“That village is..”

“It’s Bambo!”

Charollo said, 

"Bambo?"

“Yes, I’ve been here before for some trade-related matters. We got lucky to run into this place, I know my way around here. Let's go ahead.”

We entered the village called Bambo, it was peaceful and calm inside. It was a beautiful, serene place with vast grassy fields. We all followed Charollo, and after a while, we noticed a crowd gathering. 

| "Why are you still rejecting our offer HUH?? Who is the one making this village so peaceful and prosperous until now?" | 

What’s going on over there?

An elderly man was being attacked by someone. Is that a robber? And why is everyone just standing there, watching without doing anything?

No, they're scared... Who is that person that they're afraid of?

Vanniez and James couldn't hold back anymore as they were about to approach the man, a girl suddenly ran over and punched him hard in the face.

"Are you still doing this to my grandfather?? I– no we  will never accept your offer!"

The man who was punched got back up from the ground and fled in fear, shouting, 

“Remember this!! You will pay for this!”

Who is that girl? She's amazing!