"Kyuu! Kyuu!"

Mmm... What should I do...?

"Kyuu..."

I mean... I could give it my meat. It's not like I'm running out of them anyways. I still have many wolf corpses stored within Dark Domain. Plus, I also have the corpse of that one snake monster, so... eh, why not?

"Kyuu!"

Huh?

All of a sudden, a blue fireball was conjured by the fox as it then floats to my front and just... stays there.

Uhhhhhhhh.....

"Kyuuuuu~"

The fox spirit then stares at me with a prolonged kyuu, as I stared back at it in utter confusion as to what it wants me to do.

I look at the blue floating fireball. Then, the raw meat in my hands. Afterwards, it clicked to me.

It wants me to cook the meat using its fireball, right?

I gave the fox spirit a glance, point at the fire and asked for confirmation.

"You... want me to cook... using this...?"

"Kyuu! Kyuu!"

Looks like that's the case, huh.

Still though... How am I supposed to cook the meat without getting my hands burned?

If only I have a pan...

No wait, I got an idea.

I placed the meat aside first and took out a wolf corpse from Dark Domain. Then, using the darkness, I began gutting away its innards until I reached the bones and pulled one out that is long and straight.

"Kyuu?"

The fox spirit moved closer as it watched me crave the wolf's bone into a thin stick. Afterwards, I took out the meat which I had placed aside earlier and cut it into smaller pieces using the darkness, skewering them together onto the thin bone stick I had just create.

With this, I can now cook the meat without worrying about getting burned by the flame.

So while holding onto the end of the bone stick, I placed it over the blue flame and begin cooking my meat. Slowly rotating it around as I carefully watched the meat, so that it doesn't get overcooked.

I have never cooked before in my entire life. The only knowledge I know about cooking is from a certain anime about the topic. But then again, I dropped that show partway through due to the amount of lewd scenes from it which just weirded me out.

Ugh... dammit. If I knew I was going to be in this situation, I would've at least studied some knowledge on cooking.

Anyways, how's the meat doing? Is it cooked yet?

...

Hmm... This... is cooked, right...?

It sure looks like it. Rather, it resembles the colour of the steak I'd always eat alone in my room. So... this is fine... right?

...Welp, only one way to find out.

*nom*

This is... not bad actually. Asides from the toughness of the meat, this ain't so bad compared to eating raw meat. Then again, the bar for that was pretty low from the start. If anything, the only problem I have with this is the lack of any taste. But other than that, a bland-tasting cooked meat is way better than a disgusting-tasting raw meat. So I have no complains! Heck, this is basically my first time cooking and I've done pretty well if I'd say.

"Kyuu..."

Hm? Oh yeah, I have to thank this little guy for the fire. After all, me eating cooked meat is only possible because of it.

I removed one uneaten piece of wolf meat from the skewer, which is pretty hot by the way, and offered it to the fox spirit.

"Thank you... Let's eat together... shall we...?"

"Kyuu...."

The fox spirit stared at me for a moment, before jumping up onto the rock I am sitting on, sitting next to me as it then make its fox spirit noises.

"Kyuu! Kyuu! Kyuu!"

Seeing how close to me it is now, I held back my urge to pat its fluffy head and placed the meat in front of it. The fox spirit blew on the meat for awhile, before munching on it entirely.

"Is it... good?" I asked the fox, hoping it is up to its taste.

After swallowing the meat, it then responded with enthusiasm.

"Kyuu! Kyuu!"

Oh thank god. It'd be bad if it didn't like it.

Alright then, while the fire is still burning, let's have a feast, shall we?

I took more wolf corpses and began butchering them for their meat, making more wolf meat skewers for the fox spirit and I.

Surprisingly enough, no monsters disrupted our meal by attacking us, despite me sensing them nearby with Life Sense.

Maybe it's because of the mountain of corpses next to me. Seeing the number of dead wolves, they probably deemed me as an existence they shouldn't mess with and just left. Either that, or they probably didn't notice me and was just passing by. Who knows, because I don't. I'm not a monster, so there's no way for me to know the thought process of monsters. Besides, even if I'm wrong, I'm okay with that since they're not disrupting my meal in the end.

Huh? The fire is... shrinking.

"Kyuu.... Kyuu...."

The fox spirit is sweating a lot, yet it seems to be trying to keep the flame going.

I see. So it is reaching its limit. At this rate, it will probably pass out, so...

"That's... enough."

"Kyuu...?"

"I'm... full now. So... you can stop... the fire now."

"Kyuu."

The fire gets extinguished. The fox spirit laid flat on the rock and went to sleep from exhaustion and a possibly, a full stomach as well.

Seems like without knowing it, I made it push itself, huh?

Sorry, little guy. I'll try to be more considerate next time.

I stored everything back into the Dark Domain, carried the sleeping fox spirit in my arms and entered Shadow Sneak with it, as we then left the area before any monsters arrive to attack us.

Truth be told, I wanted to find some more lone wolves to hunt after my meal. But for now, I'll return to the safe spot and rest early until the little fox spirit wakes up.

By the way, is this fox spirit a boy or a girl?