Iris spent the next afternoon and most of the evening sharing recipes with the others while finding out that her list of recipes sometimes held something unique. She found the overwhelming majority of them were relatable to several of the different countries that Doxan and Milly had visited over the years.    

   

Of course, there were some unique uses of different things. Like Iris had found out with one of her easiest recipes. Locally her version of pizza was usually topped with a crust to make it like a flat styled savoury pie. Her crème brulee was novel, as no one had created a flame to simply create a caramelized crust of sugar.    

   

And that had been where she found her recipes diverted from her new world. Whenever she needed a specialized tool or piece of specific technology that would create a desired effect with the food. That is where she had been able to introduce the new ideas, she had brought with her to affect things.    

   

Iris, on the other hand, had been much more interested in learning this new world's recipes. The idea of combining magic and magical ingredients into new flavours and food sounded like it would be thousands of times more interesting.   

   

She could not imagine going through the complicated design work needed to figure out how to get a blacksmith to re-create a pasta roller from scratch. Along with all the right attachments, just so she could have made fettuccine pasta.  She would much rather learn how to use magic like Milly did when she used a spell to create a replacement for a blender.    

   

Why bother bringing the world she left here? Sure, some of the recipes were fun, and she actually would not mind finding a replacement for Chai. That being part of the fun. It was why she wanted to travel this world. Maybe she will never find it, but she was sure it would not be long for her to find her new favourite. Maybe, she would find some sort of magical elf made tea. Or something just as ridiculous.    

   

This was why Iris was so excited.    

What could she find?    

What could she see?    

What could she taste?    

   

One example she had were the eggs she had been given for the custard part of the pudding Iris made. They were monster eggs, and they had been a more intense flavour than the eggs she remembered.  

   

Meaning she had to use more sugar. She then ended up making a lot more custard than she had meant to. Iris had ended up needing to thin the recipe down to compensate for the flavour, but that then ended up making it a more delicate flavour than the others had had before. So, it had been a success in the long run, and it was a triumph she had enjoyed reaching.  

   

Iris had always been a bit of an inventor when it came to her food. She had loved cooking from a young age. Iris had been taught by her grandmother and continued to expand on her own knowledge afterwards. She had then taken all the courses she could get her hands on in her teenage years and even into her early twenties.    

   

Coming to a new world had ignited her love of food again.   

   

After talking late into the night with her new friends and companions, Sue had led Iris to one of the spare rooms in the attached living building of the chapel. The rooms were cleaned often for the travelling priests and paladins of the church did not have to worry about dust.    

   

After Iris had settled into the new bed, she had managed to fall asleep without any problems. Sleeping deeply through the night as she had been able to have her first night on an actual bed since she came to this new world.    

   

Iris awoke in the early hours, with her mind unable to sleep any longer. The excitement of the possibilities that the new day was going to bring were far more interesting than the thought of just rolling back over and returning to sleep.    

   

Another reason Iris woke up had been the feeling of the weight of her little dragon sleeping on top of her stomach. Iris was one of those people that slept like a log. So, when she found the little dragon curled on her like her cat used to do, it made her tear up with memories.    

   

Iris smiled as she reached down, and with gentle hands, plucked up the ball of Fae dragon, and lifted Brulee to her face, “Morning you. I’m amazed you aren’t four times your size with all the pudding you got into last night.”    

   

She grinned at the recent memory of the little dragon going headfirst into one of the extra bowls of the dessert she had made. The little monster had then gone ahead to consume the contents of the bowl with gusto.    

   

After placing the little wiggling dragon on her bedside table, Iris then rolled out of bed herself and started her morning stretches. Loving the feeling of pleasure that came with her muscles warming with her movements.    

   

Movement from her bedside table caught her eye as she saw Brulee also stretching her wings and back as it started to wake up. Which tickled her funny bone and made her laugh. “Oh, so you want to do some exercise too, Brulee? You better! You ate so much sugar last night, you’ll turn into a ball if you don’t.”   

   

Brulee craned her neck to tilt her head and peered at her new owner. Then Brulee opened her maw made a cute squeak sound that almost melted Iris’s heart right there.    

   

Iris then moved over to boop her finger against Brulee’s snoot, “Oh are you saying you’ll be fine? Well, don’t come crying to me when you’re too heavy to fly, you little glutton.”    

   

A heavy knock against the door to the room brought Iris’s attention back to the here and now. Iris turned and looked at the door before responding to the knocking, “Yes?”    

   

The door opened and showed Milly as she poked her head into the room. “I was just coming to wake you up to start our training. I like to get up early, and Doxan told me you seem to be an early riser too. That’s great.” Milly glanced down the hall and slipped into the room before shutting the door after herself to give them some privacy.   

   

Iris looked a little confused at the action but motioned to the chair next to the small desk as she sat on the bed, “Take a seat. What else is it?” As she sat down, Brulee took the initiative to run over and climb up onto Iris’s shoulder again. “Watch the claws.” Iris winced but again noticed she did not take any damage from the sharp little claws.   

   

Milly grinned at the antics of the pair as she moved over and spun the chair around so she could sit, “First. As you probably guessed, I saw your status. Second, I’m guessing Doxan probably hasn’t told you how rare appraisal magic is?” As she saw Iris shake her head in the negative, Milly went on. “It’s usually a spell that is used by merchants and healers. So, it’s fairly rare for the average person to have it.”   

   

Iris seemed relieved at that news, and Milly continued with a smile, “It’s also hard to be as good with the spell as Doxan and I are. We’ve been using it constantly for a very long time. You’ll only find a handful of people who are as adept at using it as we are. Most people are only able to read your name and status conditions.”   

   

This news brought a smile to Iris’s face, and she nodded to Milly, “Thanks, that’s a real weight off my shoulders.”    

   

Milly waved a hand, “Knowing Doxan, he was too excited about meeting a young woman like you to think about the questions you would ask and not ask his own.”    

   

Iris shook her head, “No, he was very helpful and was able to answer a lot of questions. The one about appraisal magic slipped my mind until yesterday when you looked at Brulee.”    

   

Milly nodded with a smile on her face, “Understandable being in a new world and everything.” she then leaned forward, “So, how long ago did you become a woman?”   

   

Without thinking, Iris went along with the flow of the conversation and responded to Milly's question, “Oh well it was when I first came to this world.” Then as the words left her lips, she put a hand over her traitorous mouth to stop anything else coming out. She had worry writ large on her face as she looked at Milly, waiting to see how the other woman would react.   

   

Who just continued to smile, “Don’t worry. I wasn’t asking to try and trick you or anything. I just figured there was a chance. Now that I know, I can also help you with other things. I don’t know how much you might know, but if you have any questions of that sort, don’t hesitate to speak to me about it. I’ve raised far more young girls than you could dream about.”    

   

Iris’s face burned with embarrassment as she simply nodded in response. Before burying her face in her hands to help calm down a little. “Thanks. I hadn’t thought about that at all. I’ve got a pretty good knowledge of how it all works, in a biological sense, but I’m sure I will need help. Thank you again, Milly.”    

   

The old paladin just chuckled as she stood up, reached out, and patted Iris on the head. “You’re welcome, Iris. Now. Come on, if you can blush that red, you’ll have plenty of energy to start training with me.” Milly winked to Iris as she looked down at her with a smile on her face, “Change into something you can sweat in, and we’ll go see how much combat training you need.”   

   

Iris let out a laugh, “I want to know too. I hope I’m at least strong enough to go into one of the dungeons. I mean sure I messed up some of those mushroom men, but aren’t those things like one of the easiest monsters to fight around here?”   

   

Milly just gave her a wry smile before heading out of the room. “We’ll have to see. Don’t worry. I’m thorough with my evaluations. So, we’ll know soon enough just what level we should be aiming for.”   

   

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~   

   

Doxan had just been sitting down with Gilda to start talking about the plans he was going to make for the day. Needing her input on a few of the details he was hashing out.   

  

Gilda was holding a mug of tea herself, enjoying the relative serenity of a large kitchen that was clean and not needing anything done.   

  

At the moment the tea touched her lips, and Doxan had taken his seat, an anguished scream was heard. It caused Gilda to drop her tea in fright, spilling it over the table, “W-Was that Iris?” Gilda asked Doxan with alarm in her voice.  

  

Iris was then heard wordlessly screaming again, her voice much closer this time. It caused the pair to look over at the large window that allowed the morning light to spill into the kitchen.  

  

Doxan and Gilda were then able to watch Iris as she ran past the kitchen window. The image Iris gave them was of her in a full-tilt run, arms pumping, hair fluttering back over her shoulders in a mess.   

  

She was then quickly followed by a laughing Milly as she held a massive two-handed practice sword over her head as she gave chase. “Come Back Here!” She bellowed after the fleeing Iris.  

  

Doxan simply looked at the window, then down at his tea, then at the line the sun was making across the ground so he could gauge the time, “Hmm, Iris must be doing well.”   

  

Gilda began mopping up the cup of spilt tea she had dropped with one of the cleaning cloths she had on her. “She was screaming and running. How is this doing well.” There was concern and consternation warring for supremacy in the look she gave Doxan, “I mean usually, screaming is not doing well.”   

  

Doxan shook his head as he responded, “She’s still able to scream and run. Milly must be having fun. It’s not often she gets someone with the stamina to keep up with her in her morning training.”  

  

Gilda let out a soft oh of understanding before jumping at the sound of something heavy that hit the ground outside. “Maybe I should ask them to try and keep the training to the back areas of the church from now on. I don’t want to scare off anyone needing our help.”   

  

Doxan nodded to Gilda after she spoke, “That would be a good idea.”  

  

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

  

Iris was sprawled out on the ground. Her eyes stared up at the fluffy clouds passing overhead as she lay there panting. Her hair was soaked in her sweat, with the purple strands that escaped their constraints plastered to her face.   

  

She did not even blink as Stavic’s face came into view. He smiled at her as he asked, “Hey, are you dead? I’m just asking because I think Sue might claim your pet as hers if you are.”   

  

Iris turned her eyes to look at him, “Shh, be quiet. If I don’t move. Milly won’t see me, and I might be able to live until tomorrow.”   

  

Stavic laughed dryly and nodded, “Well you’re in luck as Doxan is talking to her, so she’ll be distracted for at least thirty minutes. So that should be long enough to make an escape.”  

  

Iris groaned in response, “Just drag something over here to give me shade. I’ll just lay here until I can feel my limbs again.”   

  

The memories of the last few hours for Iris were that of some sort of boot camp nightmare. Milly had started them off with a warm-up run, and some stretching. Then Iris was made to try and attack the older woman. Iris had been scared she might hurt Milly with her strength.  

  

What Iris then learnt was very important. Which was that if she wanted to spar someone like Milly in a fair and equal fight, she would need to practice a hell of a lot more than she had been already.  

  

Milly was someone that had spent the last sixty years training their body in the art of war. She was also apparently at a much higher level than Iris. Milly was neither someone who had to worry about damage from Iris's attacks. Nor someone Iris ever wanted to fight in a real battle. Not at least until she had managed to get some levels and a few decades of training under her belt.  

  

Stavic pulled the cork out of a waterbag and lowered it down to Iris, “Here, drink up. You need to get some water into you, so you don’t just collapse later.”   

  

Iris looked up at him with gratitude in her eyes, “Thanks, you’re a lifesaver.” she groaned as she sat up and swigged down some of the cool liquid from the waterskin. After she had quenched her thirst, “Would you mind helping me to a shady spot? I think I want to die over there, and not in the sun.”  

  

Stavic laughed and then helped Iris move over to the shade under a nearby tree. Shaking his head, at the way she had been completely worn out.   

  

Doxan watched Stavic and Iris from the entrance to the chapel. With Milly, who stood there looking abashed as she rubbed the back of her head, “Sorry, she just had so much stamina, I rarely find people that can last that long, I might have gone a little overboard.” Milly spoke softly, trying to sound apologetic.  

  

Doxan sighed and shook his head at her words, “Might have gone a little overboard? I believe what you meant to say was that you went overboard. And while you were at it, you wrestled a Kraken to see who could be the furthest one overboard. I understand you got excited, Milly. Be that as it may, you were just supposed to test her abilities.”  

  

He then looked up at Milly's face, noting that she had lost the apologetic look that she had been wearing on it earlier. Now Milly was just looking like a blacksmith that had found a good piece of metal to beat into shape. “So, what is your opinion?”  

  

Milly tore her eyes from Iris, and grinned at Doxan, “She’s got a good start. I have known paladins that couldn’t last as long as her, and she’s still only the priest class. She’s strong enough to take some of my actual attacks and not need me to crack out the healing spells. On top of that, you said she has magical power?”   

  

Doxan nodded before he replied, “She has High-level nature casting, she has a lot of potentials there too.” He then ran his fingers through his beard again, “I wonder if this is why the Oni were such threats back then? Why the kingdoms around them felt no qualms about eradicating them as a species.”   

  

Milly shook her head, “No. I can tell a lot of what she is doing is from a lot of practice. Iris wouldn’t have been able to stay ahead of me if she was just relying on some sort of natural ability. She has spent a lot of time having her fighting style beat into her. She really surprised me when she stopped messing around. I was lucky I’d seen some styles like hers before, or she might have actually caught me off guard.” she grinned and rubbed her ribs, “Glad I’m as tough as I am.”  

  

Doxan looked up at his old friend with surprise, “She got a hit in on you? That is surprising.”   

  

Milly laughed at his reaction and shook her head, “Don’t be too surprised. It really was me taking her too lightly.” She rubbed her chin in an almost mirror of Doxan’s own beard musing, as she thought over her plans for training, “I think what I need to do, is train her more in how to wear real armour and get her up to speed. I’m sure once we have her at that point, it’ll be near impossible to keep her out of the dungeons.”  

  

Doxan laughed at that and nodded as he agreed with her assessment, “I’ll work with her on spell-work as well. I think what I’ll also do is try and work with Sue. If we can get her casting speeds up, she would be a good supporter for Iris in the training dungeon.”   

  

Milly grinned as she stretched her arms over her head, “I’ll add her in for the morning warmups, and get her trained with a shield, unless she has your level of magic, Sue will need something to protect herself properly.”  

  

Doxan smiled as he thought that through, “Alright, but try not to wear them out too much, alright? I do need them awake when I am teaching them.”   

  

Milly’s grin got more feral, “I can only try.”   

  

Which left Doxan shaking his head as he thought to himself, Sorry Iris, I'm leaving her to you.