Extrait

"You’re right. That’s an ogre slayer up there. You really do know your stuff,” Keithwood replied, opting to keep to himself the final part of his comment—“Except for when it comes to mushrooms.”

Seriously, what is it about this girl and mushrooms? How can she be so obsessed with them while also being so poorly informed about the things?

He’d only begun to dwell on the walking enigma that was Mia before he abruptly seized her wrist. The motion was becoming sort of a reflex by now. A few inches from her outstretched hand was a white mushroom, its hue so bright and brazen that it all but screamed “lethally toxic.” They both stared at it for a second before meeting each other’s gaze.

“...Yes?” he asked with a level look.

“Oh, I just, um...” she said, her tone sheepish but her hand unretracted. “I’ve never seen this mushroom before, and it looked sort of interesting...and I was wondering if maybe it could add some flavor to our dinner? Like a secret ingredient or something?”

“It cannot.”

“But, but, it might taste really good—”

“We cannot use it.”

« Mushrooms really bring out the flavor in a soup, you know? Especially in hare stew—”

“If you want hare stew, we’ll have to catch a hare first. And find something to stew it in. Therefore, I believe the proper progression should be to worry about flavors and secret ingredients after we procure those items first. Does that sound right to you, Princess Mia?”

He smiled. Well, his lips did, anyway. Nothing else on his face involved themselves in the effort.

“Ugh, fine,” she said, finally relenting before adding with a sigh and a what-am-I-going-to-do-with-you shake of her head. “But Keithwood, you really need to learn to be a little more flexible. You « won’t make any friends if you’re always such a party pooper.”

A vein popped on his temple, but he maintained his smiling facade and kept reminding himself of her generosity with the cookies until it receded. A cookie’s worth of gratitude goes a long way!