Before long, Corissa's Kitchen opened with a buffet of mouth watering food. Beef briskets, roast chickens, a variety of salads, garlic bread, even a simple chicken noodle soup along with some extra pasta dishes. And her most proud dish, a dispenser that she filled with milk tea.
"Oh! Oh how wonderful!" One woman sobbed as she shoveled spoonfuls of rice into her mouth even as she was actively cried tears of joy, "I've never had food this good even back in Seawood!"
"How can we bemoan our loss when we have gained something so much more wonderful than we ever had!"
"The smells, they overwhelm me! The tastes, they obliterate me! The flavors transcend my mortal comprehension! A fruit of heaven must've fallen from the skies and harvested to make this meal! Tis the only explanation for such majestic flavors!"
"This shit straight bussin!"
"Seeing everyone so happy really gives you a new appreciation for this food doesn't it?" Momo grinned as she ate her meat with a bone through it.
"Hey, Saba, what do you think?" Helena smirked smugly.
"It's alright, I guess." Saba replied, calmly munching on some chickpeas.
"Have you tried this meat on a bone?" Momo asked, "It's really good."
"I'm not a barbarian." Saba scoffed.
"I'm glad everyone's enjoying themselves." Corissa sat down with a simple meal she had prepared for herself, "It's nice to see smiles on everyone's faces."
"Corissa!" Helena grinned, "You've outdone yourself this time!"
"Really? I feel this is rather tame actually." Corissa smiled, "Granted, I did try to use as little salt as possible as you requested. But I did lay down one trap per say."
"A trap?" Saba frowned.
"Just a little dish with some extra salt in it." Corissa said slyly, "Any monsters that drink it should die if your salt theory is right."
"You devilish woman, you." Helena grinned as she elbowed Corissa on the side, "Look who's taking a bit after Roko after all!"
"Which dish is it?" Momo asked.
"The miso soup." Corissa smiled, "It's a pretty salty dish already but I added a bit more so the trap would be more effective."
"Wow, I drank the miso soup earlier and I didn't even notice!" Momo cried.
"Guess you're not possessed then, Momo!" Helena laughed.
"And I don't see anyone else seeming to be suffering." Saba said as he looked around, "So I guess we haven't been infiltrated yet which is a relief."
"Actually it needs more salt. Even if you double the standard amount of salt in a miso soup it'd be around 2.2 grams of salt in the soup and there needs to be at least 2.7 grams of salt in order to kill the parasites. Close but no cigar."
"That annoyingly preachy voice trying sound reasonable while giving sound advice but only succeeding to come across as pompous because it is giving information that only the speaker knows..." Helena gasped, "It can't be!"
"What the hell's that description?" Roko frowned as he looked up from his miso soup, "Is that really how I come off to you all?"
"Hey, do I count as 'you all'?" Olivia asked as also sipped the miso soup, "Cause in that case-"
"NO."
"I knew it!" Helena cried, "Roko!"
"Been a while." Roko smirked, his glowing crown still atop his head, "Don't mind me, just here for the food."
"Who said you could be part of this?" Roland scowled, drawing a sword while holding a plate in his other hand.
"Corissa?" Roko asked, turning to look the girl in the eyes.
"Huh? Oh, yeah it's fine." Corissa replied nonchalantly.
"There you go."
"Corissa!" Roland cried.
"W-What?!" Corissa yelped.
"He's EVIL!"
"Is he? He seems normal to me." Corissa blinked.
"He does seem pretty normal." Helena squinted her eyes, "Are we sure he's evil?"
"What, do you want me to kill some kids or something?" Roko smirked.
"Aha! See, I knew he was evil!" Roland cried triumphantly, "Have at thee!"
Roland raised his sword to attack Roko only for the sword to suddenly be pinned in place. In midair. No matter how Roland pulled, he could not move his sword suspended in space.
"What the-"
"Roland, please." Roko rolled his eyes, "I almost crushed Momo in water pressure close to 10,000 leagues under the sea. You're no match for me."
"Yeah, now that you got a demon backing you!" Roland snapped.
"Who said anything about a demon?" Roko scoffed, "You say anything about a demon?"
"Someone wants to address the demon in the room?" Olivia smirked.
"Who are you, demon?" Momo frowned, "What's your goal?"
"Me?" Olivia smirked, "I thought Roko introduced me already. I'm Olivia."
"Olivia, hm?" Momo mused, "And who are you exactly? Who sent you? What are you doing here?"
"I'm on vacation."
"Vacation?!" Helena frowned.
"I told you they weren't going to believe that." Roko scoffed as he took another sip of soup.
"Well I WAS on vacation." Olivia growled.
"Fine, if you won't tell us what you're doing here then that's fine." Momo crossed her arms.
"It's true though..." Olivia muttered, slightly hurt by their refusal to believe her.
"Who are you?" Momo pressed.
"I...I just said I was Olivia."
"But who sent you? Who are you working for?"
"I..." Olivia looked away nervously, "I'm just a normal everyday demon."
"What, you've never heard of Olivia the Sunsetter?" Roko scoffed.
"The Sunsetter?" Momo frowned, "No, I've never heard of that."
"Why the hell are you bringing that up?!" Olivia hissed through gritted teeth.
"I thought that was how you introduce yourself to get respect from others." Roko replied.
"I'm going to strangle you. I'm going to strangle you. I'm going to strangle-"
"Are...we...sure Roko is evil?" Corissa blinked as she watched the demon mutter death threats to calm herself down.
"I mean...he did kill Haddock..." Helena nodded, "Though...I guess...we know now that...he was a monster..."
"Oh figured that out now have we?" Roko smirked, "Looks like you won't be needing the remedial classes."
"Are you also investigating Seawood, Roko?" Momo frowned, "Even though you're possessed?"
"Funny you say that because I'd probably be doing the same thing even if I wasn't possessed."
"Same thing..." Helena sighed, "Is there a grimoire in play?"
"Exactly." Roko said, "Someone has the grimoire and I'm out to find it."
"Why?" Momo's eyes narrowed.
"The demons want it."
"And why's that?" Momo glared at Olivia.
"Oh you know. Wealth. Fame. Power. Take your pick." Olivia shrugged, "Anything to mess with you humans, right?"
"Mhmm." Helena frowned, "And when you say 'we' are you using the royal 'we' or are there more of you?"
"There's only one of me." Olivia replied smugly, "But there are more demons out there. Who knows if they're in Seawood though?"
"Not helpful." Helena shook her head.
"Even evil Roko has been more help than this demon."
"Should've known I'd get this from demons."
"Roko your friends are really mean." Olivia hissed.
"They're just jealous." Roko smirked.
"No we're not!" Helena and Momo protested.
"Hm. You know I didn't say anything but I could've sworn I heard an echo." Roland sneered.
"Shut up Roland!" Helena snapped, "You still can't even move your sword!"
"Not for lack of trying, mind you!"
"Well, I've just about finished my lunch." Roko said as he got up, "So if you're done Olivia, we can just leave now."
"Eh?! But I still want to try the salads!" Olivia cried, "And the beef brisket!"
"Well hurry up then." Roko rolled his eyes, "No one's stopping you."
"So you're their friend huh?" Saba said as he stepped up to Roko as Olivia ran off to refill her plate, "Roko was it? I have a few questions for you."
"Shoot." Roko crossed his arms.
"Are you working with the monsters?"
"Demons, yes. Flesh blobs, no."
"I see." Saba's eyes narrowed, "That's fine with me then."
"Is it?" Helena frowned.
"So long as he's also trying to get rid of the monsters then yeah." Saba growled, "And that brings me to my next question. How'd you find out about our settlement? If you brought demons here then I'm not sure I want you here."
"Please, I figured out this settlement exists even before joining up with any demons." Roko scoffed, "You're really not as well hidden as you think you are. It's just no one cares about a small settlement like yours."
"Tch." Saba scowled, his pride slightly wounded, "Then, how'd you figure out the monster's weakness was salt? And not just salt, but down to the exact amount of salt needed to kill them. What was it, 2.7 grams?"
"Oh that?" Roko scoffed, "It's real easy when the monsters keep ripping out any mention of salt in their pages. After that, all it took was a little bit of experimentation to get the right ratio down."
"Hmph. And you're willing to bet your life that this number is correct?"
"Bet my life?" Roko scoffed, "On some experimental results? Please. Who are you trying to impress by pretending to be this intense? You either trust the people underneath you or you don't. What's even the point of trying to make sure you can blame me for any failures? Take responsibility for your own decisions like an actual adult instead of playing the blame game like you're some sort of politician. Red tape isn't going to save your people."
"..." Saba glared down at Roko, the young man's cutting words seeming to wound deep in the stoic adult. For a moment the girls wasn't sure if he was actually about to attack Roko but soon enough Saba let out a sigh, "Your mouth will get you in trouble one day."
"One day? It has and it will." Roko scoffed.
"I'll kill him myself if no one else does." Roland added.
"You can try." Roko scoffed, "Come on Olivia. We're leaving."
"Yeah, big talk for someone who made a contract with a demon." Roland scoffed, "For all your talk about how you hate Alec, you ended up doing the exact same thing as him didn't you?"
Roko's intent to violently kill Roland could be felt shooting out of his intense glare at Roland who was only mildly cowed by the success of his own ragebait.
"Olivia. Castrate him." Roko would soon command.
"Can't." Olivia replied simply, "I know you think I'm good at magic but I'm not THAT good at magic. Yet."
"Then crush one of his balls."
"Which one?"
"Flip a coin."
"Wait, you wou-"
And then, in an unnervingly quiet and unseen attack, Roland let go of his sword to hang in midair as he collapsed on the ground clutching his crotch.
"So." Roko said as he coldly turned around and began to leave, "Left or right?"
"Left."
"Nice. Also, you can drop the sword now."
"Oh yeah."
And with a snap of her fingers, Olivia released the hold on Roland's sword, the weapon finally able to succumb to gravity and fall butt first into Roland's head who was in so much pain already, he could only let out a small moan of pain.
"...Are we sure he's not not evil?" Saba asked.
"That's just Roko." Helena smirked, "Honestly, Roland should be proud he finally got a rise out of Roko."
"Who's this Alec person?" Saba frowned, "And what did he do?"
"From what I can tell? Be lazy."
"That's it?" Saba chuckled, "Maybe there are some things we can agree on after all."
"Yeah, Roko can be very agreeable when you don't get on his bad side." Helena nodded.
"Oooooo~"
"You good down there, Roland?" Helena smirked.
"Fuck...that…bitch..."
"You talking Olivia? She did have some nice tits."
"Yeah...she did..."
Roko sighed as he left the dregs of Driftwood behind him.
"Are you sure you didn't want to try out more of the food?" Olivia asked as she floated behind him, "They're really good. They have this nifty new drink called a 'milk tea'."
"Yeah I know." Roko sighed, "Jasmine flavored too. I don't know how she managed to guess my second favorite flavor of milk tea."
"You don't sound all that impressed though." Olivia noted.
"I eat Corissa's cooking everyday. It's not new to me." Roko replied.
"Well look at you, lucky little man." Olivia scoffed, "And you think your friends will still be friends with you when you come back?"
"If they don't that's fine. I never asked for them to come and never forced them to stay. My mission is my own and I'll complete it on my own if I had to."
"Hm. I know you think you're being nice by saying that but maybe you can at least pretend you want to have your friends around." Olivia remarked.
"There are more important things than my personal comfort."
"God, you have no idea how to nourish relationships do you?"
"And you do?"
"I have friends." Olivia shrugged.
"Like your husband?"
"You know what, I hope you remain alone and unmarried for the rest of your life." Olivia stuck her tongue out at Roko.
"Damn. Not like I haven't been alone for the majority of my life already."
"...I know we let each other into parts of our minds so the telepathy spell could work easier and I'm not saying I went ahead and poked around in your memories..."
"It's fine if you did."
"...Why'd you do it Roko? And why didn't you fix it if it really bothered you that much?"
"...There are more important things than just me."
"That's funny. I didn't think you believed in a god."
"I don't."
"Well you sure act like a zealot."
"If only doing the right thing gave us superpowers like the gods here, huh?"
"Is that why you made a deal with a devil instead?" Olivia smirked.
"You do make for better company than I had before."
"Damn. Better than even Corissa?"
"No. Before even her."
"..."
"For the record, I still haven't looked through your memories." Roko smirked.
"Okay, Roko. You've made a deal with the devil already so you can stop acting like saint!" Olivia snapped.