Chapter 127: Cooking

"Port Saint-Rose has vanished?!"

Zhao Tianhe stared at the newspaper in his hands, nearly spitting out the energy potion he was sipping. That once-bustling harbor city had been razed to the ground by the emergence of some ancient troll. The individuals responsible, along with the culprits, had already been taken into custody by the renowned S+ Rank Hero, Benevolent King.

The paper included an image of the current landscape of Port Saint-Rose—or rather, what was left beyond its borders. The entire ground upon which the city sat, along with a significant portion of the surrounding waters, had simply ceased to exist, wiped away by a spatial annihilation. Looking at the jagged, towering cliffs in the photo, Zhao Tianhe could hardly reconcile this place with the vacation paradise once filled with beauties in bikinis.

"So what? It’s just a city. If it’s gone, it’s gone. Human cities are always disappearing and reappearing anyway..." Pixie muttered discontentedly from the side. "If we missed the Heart of the Rainbow, it’s truly gone for good. That was the real treasure!"

To an immortal fairy, elves, dwarves, and humans were all much the same, so she collectively referred to all sentient beings within the Divine Council as "humans." After Des had swallowed the Heart of the Rainbow, Pixie had lost her ability to track it. It seemed Des hadn't directly absorbed the Heart’s power but had temporarily sealed it within his own body.

"Hey, hey! You can't just say things like that!" Zhao Tianhe frowned as he ate. "Many people died this time, and even the reinforcing hero squad was decimated—hardly one in ten survived... It’s too tragic. I thought the mega-scale wind-demon disaster we faced was bad enough, but I never expected something even worse!"

Among the casualties on the main battlefield, only two had belonged to Bal Island; the rest were reinforcements. In the subsequent dungeon sweeps, there had been no casualties at all. As for Port Saint-Rose, as tragic as it was, the scale of the disaster meant no other city had the capacity to provide aid, and the Divine Council had taken direct responsibility. Because of the radical change in terrain, the dungeons in that vicinity had also undergone massive transformations. The Shipwreck Cavern, where Zhao Tianhe had once worked, had been completely erased. To be honest, he actually missed that godforsaken place.

"But we missed the Heart of the Rainbow~~" Pixie clutched her head and slumped over the pillow. She couldn't explain why she was so obsessed with it, but she felt as though they should have done anything and everything to get it for Zhao Tianhe.

"Alright, alright, I know the thing is important." Zhao Tianhe drank some stamina potion with his meal, then remembered something. "By the way, which direction did you sense the Heart of the Rainbow coming from yesterday?"

Pixie thought for a moment and pointed toward the northwest.

Zhao Tianhe paused, walked over to a magical map—standard issue for anyone in his line of work—and checked it. He looked at the location of Bal Island, then at the location of Port Saint-Rose, and stood there, stunned.

Yes, Port Saint-Rose was located directly to the northwest of Bal Island.

Next, Zhao Tianhe looked at the report published by the Dungeon Association. Looking at the timeline, the moment Pixie had sensed the Heart of the Rainbow coincided almost exactly with the moment Port Saint-Rose vanished!

The direction could be a coincidence, but if the timing matched up, that was a major problem.

"Pixie, you know?" Zhao Tianhe’s eyelid twitched, and he felt a lingering fear. "If I had actually gone to Port Saint-Rose yesterday, what would have happened to me?"

"Hmm..." Pixie had seen everything along with him. Her mind was a bit scattered, but she wasn't stupid; she naturally understood what he meant.

He would have been obliterated without a trace.

Absolutely obliterated. The entire city and the sea had disappeared!

"That Heart of the Rainbow... it must be incredibly important," Zhao Tianhe swallowed hard, his fear and anxiety overriding his physical fatigue and pain. "If the Port Saint-Rose incident is related to the wind-demon disaster, and the wind-demon disaster is connected to the Saint-Ville incident... does that mean the Saint-Ville incident is also related to the Heart of the Rainbow?!"

"And then there's the anomaly at the slime cavern outside Rogge Town. Is that also connected to these two events?" Zhao Tianhe frowned, feeling a wave of unease as if some massive shadow were looming over him.

Just then, his phone rang. It was a video call request from Artoria.

"How is your body? Still feeling uncomfortable?" Artoria was wearing fluffy lion-themed pajamas, her tone incredibly soft.

"I was feeling pretty rough earlier, but I’m a bit better now," Zhao Tianhe replied with a smile.

"Are you resting today?" Artoria asked.

"Yeah, the situation is really bad. Even though you and Ereshkigal can take care of me, it's hard to say if my condition might worsen," Zhao Tianhe nodded. "If the worst happens, the medical facilities in the city are better."

Zelos, Li Mei, and the others had gone to clear dungeons as usual today, but Zhao Tianhe had no choice but to rest. After all, he was currently in a delicate stage of evolution; as a future top-ten-tier contender, it was better to play it safe. The dungeons had all been tainted by the wind-demons, and no one knew for sure if any abnormalities had been left behind. Besides, to be honest, his gains from the previous main battlefield had already surpassed two months of dungeon clearing, so no one would complain about him taking a break. Li Mei, however, didn't dare to rest; her potential was far below that of Zhao Tianhe and Zelos, so she had to keep working hard.

"I see..." Artoria thought for a moment and said, "It must be boring just staying there. How about I come over and cook? I’ve been watching some cooking videos recently, and it seems quite fun. Plus, I can take care of you."

"Of course, no problem!" Zhao Tianhe’s eyes lit up. He slapped his chest in agreement, though the contact sent a spasm of pain through his muscles.

A moment later, Artoria appeared in her 'Battle Soldier' form, though her attire had changed. The complex long gown was replaced by a simpler short-sleeved top and skirt, and her combat boots had become white, knee-high leather boots. The cuffs and hem of her clothes featured golden embroidery, with a golden sword-and-shield emblem on her left chest, a lion’s head on her left shoulder, and a dragon’s head on her right.

"This is the best form my Spirit Garment can take. It’s quite convenient, isn't it?" Artoria asked, spinning around.

The ribbons on her outfit were tied into a blue bow at the back, fluttering in a way that made one’s heart itch. 'If I pulled that, would it come undone?' Zhao Tianhe thought involuntarily, but the thought was quickly dispelled by the sharp pain coursing through his body.

"What? Is it that bad?" Artoria noticed his expression and hurried over to feel his forehead.

"It's fine, it's fine..." Zhao Tianhe intentionally leaned forward, burying his face in Artoria’s chest.

Artoria froze, her cheeks flushed, and she pushed him away, coughing a few times.

"Alright, don't be a brat," Artoria said with a smile.

*'There's a chance! There's definitely a chance! Damn it! When will this body finally recover?!'* Zhao Tianhe lay back on the bed, feeling utterly miserable.

However, his attention was soon drawn elsewhere. From the kitchen, a series of gasps and clattering sounds echoed. Although his pain dulled his senses, he could still calculate that at least three medium bowls, one large bowl, six small bowls, and nine plates had met a tragic end.

*'Judging by the smell, is that... pizza? Fruit pizza? It’s exactly the kind of thing a girl would like...'* As Zhao Tianhe sniffed the air, he heard faint chewing sounds. *'Eating to calm her nerves?'*

Half an hour later, the sounds of chewing and a strange, sweet scent wafted over, occasionally interspersed with a girl's pained groans.

*'Trying to handle the failed experiments herself?'* Zhao Tianhe thought of Artoria in the kitchen and laughed, causing his abs to throb with pain.

Just then, his phone rang again. Zhao Tianhe turned his head with great difficulty and saw a request from Ereshkigal.

"Hi! Tianhe!" Ereshkigal said with a smile. She was wearing a black camisole dress with a white apron, holding a pot. "I used the Meslamtaea furnace to make this! I learned it from the souls back in the Underworld—it’s an ancient-style stew!"

As a divine artifact, the scorching shrine Meslamtaea was capable of anything, but using it as a cooking stove was certainly... unique. As for the ingredients, there was a massive refrigerator in the living room of their daily space, stocked with snacks, ready-to-eat meals, and bento boxes. Judging by the look of the stew in Ereshkigal's pot, she had used those ingredients.

*'What do I do?! If I refuse, forget about progressing our relationship—even meeting in the future will be incredibly awkward! But...'* Zhao Tianhe heard Artoria sighing and chewing in the kitchen again, realizing she was failing and starting over... *'Artoria will be crushed, won't she?!'* Zhao Tianhe’s forehead was beaded with sweat. *'And if I summon Ereshkigal, I'll definitely be seen as a scumbag! But if I don't, Artoria will run into her anyway when she comes out...'*

"Sure," Zhao Tianhe said with a smile. "But, could you do me a favor?"

Thirty minutes later, Zhao Tianhe was eating stew and fruit pizza. Artoria sat to the side, sweating profusely and looking exhausted; it seemed that cooking was far more troublesome for her than beating up dungeon monsters and bosses. Ereshkigal sat nearby, smiling as she peeled an apple.

It was clear from Ereshkigal’s work that, unlike Artoria—who had simply watched a few cooking shows and tried to wing it—Ereshkigal had actually practiced her culinary skills. Zhao Tianhe had asked Ereshkigal to take over the cooking. Though this meant he couldn't have any intimate moments with either of them, there was no other choice; the situation would have been much worse otherwise.

"Who knew cooking was so difficult... I should have taken notes..." Artoria sighed, looking utterly drained. It seemed her situation was much worse than he had imagined; she had likely been relying purely on instinct and a faint memory of what the food was supposed to look like.