Crackle!
"…Master… Why are we camping out in the woods in the middle of the night? Couldn't you fly us to Orario?"
Kaelis didn't look up from poking the fire with a stick.
"…To build character."
"Oh. Okay…" Bell nodded seriously.
Two seconds later his stomach growled loud enough to scare a nearby squirrel.
Silence settled over the makeshift campsite. Bell sat cross-legged, staring blankly into the fire. Kaelis sat on the opposite side, legs stretched out like he was contemplating every decision he'd ever made.
Eventually Bell spoke up again, his voice barely just shy of a whisper.
"…Master?"
"Hm?"
"We don't… have any food."
Kaelis stopped poking the fire.
"…Correct."
"And… we don't have a map."
"Also correct."
"And we didn't think about how long the trip to Orario actually takes."
Kaelis slowly looked up at the night sky as if it personally offended him.
"…That would indeed have been useful information."
Everything had happened so fast that they didn't have a clear plan for what came next.
In a single day, they went from training and questioning to packing up and leaving.
And now… they were traveling to Orario with no maps and no food.
For Kaelis, that wasn't a problem. But for his disciple, it was a whole different story.
Bell's stomach rumbled again.
"…How long is the walk?"
Kaelis sighed. "A day. Maybe two."
Bell blinked. "…Oh. So if we don't eat until then—"
"You won't die," Kaelis cut in flatly. "You'll just be miserable and in pain…weak too."
Bell pulled his knees up to his chest.
"…That's worse."
Another long beat of silence.
Then Bell raised a hand.
"Um… master?"
Kaelis raised a brow. "What up?"
"…Why didn't you buy food before we left?"
Kaelis stared at him.
Bell stared back.
Kaelis exhaled in a defeated mumble.
"…Because I didn't think that far."
Bell nodded sympathetically, as if this explained everything about his master's personality. "It's okay. Grandpa always forgot his lunch too."
"…Don't compare me to that old man."
Bell grinned a little despite himself.
Kaelis rubbed his face. "Ugh. Fine. Stay here. I'll go hunt something."
"Hunt?" Bell said, perking up.
"Hunt," Kaelis repeated, rising to his feet with reluctant dignity.
Bell very quickly lost the seriousness. "Ooh! Are you gonna bring back a deer? Or a boar? Or a huge bird? Or—"
"I said hunt, Bell. Not massacre the ecosystem. I'll probably not catch anything either so don't get your hopes up."
"Oh."
Kaelis stepped forward, before he paused.
"…Don't touch the fire."
"I won't."
"And don't wander off."
"I won't."
"And if something weird happens, scream so loud I can hear it."
"…Okay."
Kaelis walked into the trees.
Five seconds later:
"MASTER!"
Bell yelled.
Kaelis spun back immediately. "What happened!?"
Bell pointed to the fire with complete seriousness.
"It popped."
Kaelis stared at him.
Bell stared back.
"…Bell." Kaelis pinched the bridge of his nose.
"…Yes?"
"Sit down."
"…Yes, master."
He really needed to catch something soon—the kid hadn't eaten since lunch, and it was starting to make him restless… almost frantic.
Kaelis quickly disappeared into the woods again, muttering something that sounded suspiciously like "why did I take a student…"
Bell sat quietly, watching the fire crackle.
After a moment, he hugged his knees and whispered into the dark,
"…I hope he brings back something tasty…"
Five minutes passed.
Then seven.
Then ten.
Right as he started imagining Kaelis running around trying to catch wild animals, the bushes started to rustle.
Bell jerked upright.
Something crashed through the bushes with heavy steps.
For a second, Bell felt his heart jumped into his throat—
Until Kaelis stepped out into the clearing, holding a deer over one shoulder like a sack of flour… and two rabbits dangling from his other hand.
He dropped them beside the fire with a dull thump.
Bell's jaw dropped.
"Master… what—how did you—"
"I said five minutes," Kaelis corrected, dusting off his hands. "And I was five minutes late. Nature was pretty uncooperative."
Bell stared at the deer. Then at the rabbits. Then at Kaelis.
"…You caught too much, don't you think?"
The deer itself was large enough for the two of them, the extra two rabbits seemed like overkill.
Kaelis shrugged. "They volunteered."
Bell blinked. "…Master, that's not how volunteering works."
"They ran toward me," Kaelis said simply. "See? Volunteered."
Bell didn't argue—mostly because he was starving, and also because he wasn't entirely sure the rabbits hadn't volunteered in some cosmic, suicidal way.
Kaelis crouched beside the fire.
"Alright. I'll prep it."
Bell blinked. "You know how to cook?"
In the four years Kaelis had lived with them, he had never seen him touch anything in the kitchen.
Well… except a knife. But that didn't count.
Kaelis paused.
"…Define 'know.'"
Bell squinted. "Have you ever ruined a kitchen doing it?"
"…That was one time," Kaelis sighed.
Bell scooted a liiittle farther away.
"…"
To be honest, Kaelis was a pretty solid chef.
Being immortal meant he didn't need to eat anymore, but he still enjoyed good food.
And when you travel from world to world, you never know what kind of backwater place you'll end up in—so he made sure he could cook for himself if he ever had to.
Over the centuries, he'd learned from some of the best chefs he could find.
The only reason he never bothered cooking here was because Deus's food was already top-tier.
Now, with no one else to handle it, Kaelis got to work.
He started with the rabbits—clean motions, steady hands, efficient and surprisingly neat.
Bell relaxed.
Then Kaelis moved on to the deer.
There was a moment—just a moment—where Bell swore he saw his master's eye twitch like he was fighting the urge to just vaporize it.
But he didn't.
Progress.
Eventually, he handed Bell the first skewer of rabbit, perfectly roasted.
Smelled amazing.
Bell blinked. "Master… this is… actually good."
Kaelis smirked. "Of course. I'm not uncultured."
He used special spices and sauces he naturally acquired from culturally and technologically advanced society.
His sizable dimension space was filled to the brim with them.
Bell took a bite—and nearly melted.
They ate in relative peace.
The fire crackled.
A cool breeze drifted through the clearing.
For the first time since they left the farm, Bell looked… surprisingly calm.
It wasn't the same as being okay, but it was something.
Halfway through his meal, Bell swallowed and said quietly:
"…Thanks, Master."
Kaelis didn't look up, slicing another piece of meat and putting it in his place.
"…You should hurry and eat. We move first thing tomorrow."
"Mhm. Okay."
Once the fire settled, they stepped into Kaelis's tent.
It wasn't fancy, but it was large enough for both of them to sit and rest without feeling cramped.
~~
Time passed as the sun rose in the sky.
"You ready to move."
"Yes!"
They packed their things, tucked the leftover meat away, and stepped out of the woods onto the dirt road.
As they walked, Kaelis narrowed his eyes and let spirit flow into his vision, pushing his sight far beyond what a human could see.
A tall structure that stretched as high as the sky.
"That must be it," he murmured. "The Tower of Babel."
Chapter 53 end.
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How do you like a little master-disciple bonding.