A blue-tinted waterproof lunchbox, ordered and delivered by a drone minutes before they ever stepped foot into the dungeon, packaged with meals to go by the only cook among them, opened up to reveal chicken sandwiches. Fried, to be exact, a fact that drew Lilias's crimson eyes.
Elsa grinned.
"Dig in."
Naturally, Lilias and Rose dug in. The dragonian's tail happily wrapped around her waist as she ate while the homunculus smiled slightly at the figure who was so dangerous to fight mere moments ago.
'It's hard to believe that she's the same person,' Rose thought, taking a bite of her meal. Though she didn't need to eat, Elsa never forgot to feed her. As she ate, she thought it one of the joys of living. To taste something so deliciously crafted by a friend.
Her eyes paused, staring at her empty hands.
'And it's hard to believe I'll remain the same person.'
Her mind momentarily wandered, adrift, and touched upon the memory she had recently lived through. The memories came randomly, and she had no idea how many would come, yet she was grateful they had yet to interfere with her life. 'Yet. . .' She thought, ruminating on that word. 'At some point, will a memory eat a part of me up and replace it? At some point, will the personality and will of my old self completely fill my core and replace my individuality?' After all, her creator had used 'erased' to describe what would happen to her. It hadn't sounded like she would merge, rather she would be taken over entirely.
'She wants the past quite badly,' Rose thought, finding the girl's words from the recent memory ironic. Scoffing at tradition, she had still grown into a woman clinging to the past in her own ways. Yet, Bianca was also someone who seemed to have been extremely close to her. Almost all the resurging memories had featured her in some way or another. 'I can understand her grief if all this came from the result of a death she couldn't handle. . .perhaps I would feel similar if Elsa were to. . .'
Rose folded her hands and placed them back on her lap, catching herself from delving further into that thought.
Instead, she focused back on the food she had just tasted.
"You could start your own restaurant." She smiled.
"Huh? No way," Elsa laughed before reaching her hands out, "And here, you look like you could use this."
Rose blinked her eyes as her vision turned. The girl held a cover-cup glistening with a red liquid, the bottled container next to her, and a napkin in the other hand.
"Is that. . .?"
Elsa grinned. "A napkin to clean your hands, and Rose Tea to clear your mind."
"Thank you."
The aroma of the Rose Tea soothed her even before she touched her lips to the cup. Then, when the taste of the crimson liquid graced her tongue, she was lost to the hum of the world and her core. She was calm and composed, silently sipping the drink with no other thoughts in her mind. She stared at the void of the white room, back against its walls, legs folded. She noticed reality only when Elsa refilled her cup.
'Right now, I'm still me, and I'm still alive,' She came to that conclusion, her mind momentarily touching upon the climax of her battle with the individual known as Shana Striker. 'And that's all that matters at the moment.'
The trio spent their time, in silence, until everything was eaten or empty.
"That was a very satisfactory meal," Lilias spoke as she cleaned her hands with a napkin, "I agree with Rose, you could start your own restaurant."
"Yes but. . .yeah no, too much work, and that'd be less time for actually making stuff, ya know?" Elsa replied, already beginning to neatly pack things up.
As Rose watched the girl, she thought, at some point, she herself should learn to cook. If she enjoyed Elsa's meals, wouldn't it be nice if the girl enjoyed her own?
"Lilias, do you know how to cook?" She asked.
"Hmm?" The dragonian narrowed her eyes, smiling and sending her a look that spoke of the answer.
"I guess not. . ."
"Why you. . .do you wish for another spar so soon?" Lilias sharply asked, "The coldness of my blades against your neck once more?"
Rose rolled her eyes, unamused. "Sure, but I'll use my gear's sheath as well. Or perhaps my flames, too?"
"Then should I use my spirit?"
Their eyes crossed. Neither had any guarantee who would win if they fought each other all-out. Particularly, Rose still had never seen the girl throw everything at her, not the full breath of her swordsmanship, nor her true magic, whose elements were unknown to her.
Elsa chuckled. "You two wanna learn to cook?"
The two girls in question turned their gaze to her.
"Hmm. . .possibly. . ." Lilias replied, "If the cooking in question pertains to fried food. . ."
Elsa blinked her eyes.
"Wow you really like that stuff."
The dragonian could only shrug, though there was a noticeable quiver to her tail.
"I'll learn," Rose said, "As much as you can teach."
"Oh oh? Gotcha then. How about the weekend?"
Rose started counting the days remaining. Though there were ten days in a week, the ending two were referred to as 'weekends.' As they were on the sixth day, she only had to wait two days.
She nodded, smiling. "That sounds good."
They rested, checked the time, and, in the end, decided to tackle the 4th floor before they would call it a day.
Poor people of this world. 10 days week and still only 2 days to rest
Thanks for the chapter.
Thanks for reading.
Come to think of it, you keep mentioning how Rose doesn't need to eat. But in a previous chapter, you wrote that if Rose ate three meals a day, she'd generate about half a day's worth of energy. Isn't that quite valuable? As long as she eats regularly, she would need to spend half as much on buying cores. Or would the amount of money spent on food be comparable to the money spent on cores?