Reincarnated as a Phoenix

Chapter 8 – Cooking

"Hey, can you help me with this?"

<In a second Ikarus, just playing with Minos>

"Cu cu!"

Mother's currently giving Minos a belly rub who's in the nest. Personally, I've never really seen the appeal of it but he is having the time of his life. Father is laying around chilling and I'm checking through some stuff I've collected.

I've been out collecting various things in preparation to cook with and put them alongside some of my other belongings. As for the items I've collected, a wolf for the meat, wood and kindling for the fire as well as a small piece of flint for lighting it I found near a stream.

Since it wasn't far away, I was allowed out by myself but the distance I'm allowed to go is extremely limited. If I can't see the home mountain, then I've gone too far. That seems to be the rule for the time being.

I managed to get this all back in one trip by using my claws holding a large fur I folded up, kind of like it was a shopping bag. Who needs arms anyway? That's rhetorical, wings suck over arms.

I'm still missing several things but I don't know where to get them.

"*Sigh*… I still need to something like a metal bowl to cook with"

<Metal little one? Darling, take littlest one out of the nest for a second.

<Fine, fine>

"Cu?"

Mother picks Minos up and then father gets up and goes towards the nest.

'What's he doing?'

He grabs one side of the nest and yanks it off to the side. There, under the nest, a huge pit filled to the brim full of metal items can be seen.

My eyes instantly light up, there must be money signals in them as well. The pit reminds me of that duck that's dives into a pit of gold. God, why must you tempt my greed?

"How much gold do you two have!?"

"CU!!!"

Even Minos shares my greed, even he looks excited siting in mothers' arms from this sight. I might be a bad influence on him.

<Once you get to a certain age, little ones, shiny things start losing their appeal>

<If you're looking for anything metal Ikarus, it's probably in there>

Then looking at the pit, I realize there's not just money. I can see gleaming jewels, shiny swords, polished armor and pot and pans scattered about with some other things as well.

'Dragons and birds must love shiny things then, huh'

[<Affirmative>]

'That was an observation, not a question!'

"Can you get me a large and small pot as well as a sharp swor- no, several swords out please? I would but, you know, kinda lacking arms"

<You can't keep using that excuse forever, little one>

"Easy for you to say, you have arms and can fly. I can only do one at a time"

<Fair point>

After father answers, he grabs the requested items out of the dragons' pit and drops them next to me. He then goes back to the nest and folds it back over the stash. This takes him a little while since a lot of the furs are loose and went all over the place after he lifted it earlier.

He looks a bit irritated after doing that, the tedious job must have wound him up slightly.

"Cu…"

Damn it Minos, your sad cu's won't work on them, I think?

<There's no point getting depressed, littlest one>

<It's not going anywhere Minos. You get to sleep on top of a big pile of money every night!>

"Cu!"

Well, that cheered him up, mother places him back down on the floor as well now.

"Now that issue is sorted, I only need two more things now"

<Damn it, little one>

"I just need help with putting on that choker and getting clothing"

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There's no way I'm walking around this cave naked, partly for Minos's sake and partly for my own. The longer I'm naked for, the redder and more flustered I'll turn. I purposely haven't turned into a human since coming back because of that issue, think I like my new body too much and that's slightly embarrassing. I'm purposely only doing it today since I really want to eat something cooked.

<Fine then, this is the last request I'm accepting this week>

"I'm not staying in human form for a week"

<Get your mother to help after, I'm tired>

Damn this grumpy old dragon. I think mother is in her own little world playing with Minos again so I'll have to interrupt them if I want to change back quickly.

Thankfully, the grumpy old dragon grabs a loose fur robe which I think he or mother wore back when they changed form and puts it near me. Then, he goes over where I am, grabs the choker from the floor and puts it on my neck.

<There you are, little one>

"Poof"

As I say that, a cloud of smoke appears around me concealing my body change. While this is happening, father goes back to his spot to relax.

'Crap, where did I put that?'

I'm trying to find that nightgown I brought with me, I left it on the ground near where I was but I'm struggling to find it in the smoke. Thankfully, I find it just in time and put it on sparing my eyes from my nude self. That was way to close!

"*Sigh*"

[<-User's- mind is corrupted>]

'Shut it'

A put on the makeshift robe as well and once I'm clothed, a question comes to mind.

'System, I'm guessing that I can't grow wings like my parents?'

[<Affirmative. -User- needs to learn magic>]

__________

"Haha… burn burn burn!"

<You could have just asked me for fire Ikarus. I would have cooked that for you>

"Where's the fun in that? And you were playing with Minos"

After twenty minutes or so, I've managed to get a fire roaring under a metal pot filled with boiling water hanging from a tripod set up using several swords. Even I'm a little proud on how I've managed to achieve this. In particular, lighting the fire with the flint was a piece of cake!

I chuck a chunk of wolf meat I've cut off in to the pot and wait for it to boil.

While I'm watching this fire, my inner caveman is starting to come out looking at it, fire is good, fire is great! I want to bang some rocks against something as well now.

As I'm cooking the meat, something funny comes to mind.

"Hey, my gran could cook better, and she's dead!... Oi, pinhead, the lamb is fucking raw!"

<Ikarus!>

Wait a second… that didn't get me smacked? Mother must have held back since she didn't want to hurt me in human form. I've finally found a way to curse and get away with it.

<What are you talking about, little one?>

"Just quoting a chef who likes to swear a lot"

<A chef? Never understood why humans do such a pointless thing like cooking food>

<I've told you this before, humans can't eat raw meet. Your age is catching up with you Dermak>

<Hmph>

Father goes off to sulk like an overgrown child again and wants to head out.

<I'm going hunting>

After he says that, a murderous aura surrounds mother and a fake smile appears on her face. Not this again, his cheating is getting boring now.

<If you're going where I'm thinking Dermakvar, don't you think of coming back to this cave>

<I promise, I'm not! I'm just going hunting this time, I swear!>

<This time? You still haven't admitted what happened last time?>

<…I'm heading off>

<Dermakvar!>

Total fear is seen in his eyes while he responds and flees the cave, mother thinks about chasing but decides he's not worth it.

After father's gone and their little spat can't continue, a little time passes and my food is finally ready. My first meal in this new world that I can actually chew is finally here!

I take a bite into the boiled wolf and my reaction is instant.

"My disappointment is immeasurable, and my day is ruined. What a colossal waste of time. I spent that long getting all this crap ready and this is the result? I'm not cooking again, fucki-"

<Ikarus!>

"Ouch!... Give me some warning, mother!"

Turns out, she does still hit me in human form. I've got be careful now since I'm smaller and that hurt a lot more.

As for the food, I knew it wouldn't taste great since I have no seasoning and it's a wolf but still, come on! I bet a foot would taste better, that's not a pleasant thought.

"Cu?"

"No Minos, even you don't want to eat that"

__________

<Humans>

<Dermak, you also smell what they're riding on?>

<Yeah, it's insulting>

I wake up the following morning hearing both the dragons communicating.

"*Yawwnnnn*… What's going on?"

While getting myself up, I wipe my eyes and yawn. I'm still in human form since I thought it might stop Minos cuddling up to me in the nest, didn't work. He really can be like a puppy sometimes, he's still asleep as well.

<Humans are heading towards us, little one>

<Maybe a dozen, probably less>

"I'm confused, why are you two so calm about this? Isn't this bad?"

I know these two dragons can kill anything but having a group of humans heading to our direction is definitely not good. They almost seem too calm about it.

<You really can be quite anxious Ikarus>

"We should be after what happened several months ago"

…

The atmosphere in the cave went deathly quiet again due to me bringing up the incident that we don't discuss. Thankfully, father broke the silence.

<We'll find out why they’re here very quickly, little one. They're flying in this direction now>

"Flying?... Oh…I see, what are they on?"

I walk to the entrance of the cave while speaking and off in the horizon, I can see around ten knights or so on bird looking creatures flying from the mountain range towards the cave.

<Wyverns. If the humans wish to send an insult, they couldn't have sent a more disgusting bird>

<You're being racist, Dermak. Their part dragon as well and don't forget, our daughter is similar>

<Don't compare little one to those vile creatures, she's completely different>

I'm honestly ignoring these two since I'm curious on something, that conversation would just annoy me anyway. Father's just talking crap.

'Status?'

[<Target is out of applicable range>]

'Thought that might not work'

Oh, since I've got a second before they get in range, I should give an update on my status.

'Status'

[Name: Ikarus  |  Species: Phoenix  |  Level: 11]

[Health    2,500/2,500]

[Stamina 2,498/2,500]

[Magicka 500/500]

Like usual, I've been solely investing in stamina and health as well as ignoring magic. If I compared myself to human standards, I would be around fifty-five but clearly that still isn't high enough to reasonably defend myself yet. I've already come across people much higher than that, still remember a glimpse of that mage's status.

Now going onto Minos, he has hit level sixteen and has gotten even bigger now, still some ways of my bird form but he's bigger than my human form at least. As for why I'm unable to show his status, he's still sleeping. Another limitation of this odd system is that targets who are asleep cannot be viewed. I know, it's really stupid.

[<-User- is stupid>]

'Damn it system, don't be interrupting my update like that'

Back to the present situation. The flying knights on the wyverns are getting closer and closer to the cave. While they're doing this, father has now joined me by the entrance while mother and Minos are still inside.

"Father, please play nice"

<Nice? I'm always nice, little one>

"No, you're not. I can tell from your expression that you want kill all of them"

<Your perception is quite similar to your mother's>

Father really doesn't like humans but at least he can control himself to an extent. Thinking back to that incident again, even he seemed fearful of mother in the city. If I had died, I dread to think what would have happened to the world.

'Forget it, that's not a nice thought'

As soon as the humans got in close range, father jumps from the cave and starts flapping his wings. As soon as he starts gaining altitude, the humans on wyverns stop heading towards us but remain in the sky.

"Father, DON'T!"

He ignores my plea and flies up to the stationary wyvern knights.

I'm worried that he's only going to make what happened worse. I'm unsure why mother isn't intervening here.

Once he gets a suitable distance away, he stops moving towards them and speaks while flying stationary.

<You're trespassing here little mortals! State your intentions or face my wrath!>

"-- ---- --- --- ---- family -- ----, --. ------. -- ---- ---- -- speak -- --- ---- -- --- ------ -- ---- ------"

'I'm slightly out of distance to hear what's being said'

<Amends? If that's true, then there isn't anything in this entire world you can offer to make up for the pain your empire caused my daughter>

Pain the empire caused me? It's as if he's making out what happened was extremely traumatic for me, he's either trying to shake them down or must really believe that. If he does believe it, fathers completely delusional. I need to stop him before he says something even stupider.

<Ikarus, you don't need to stress so much. Your father knows what he's doing>

"Are you sure? I'm worried he'll just eat them at any second"

<If he does that, then they probably deserved it>

She's no better either, we're going to end up going to war with the entire world at this rate.

As the black dragon and humans were conversing, it wasn't before long the conversation was just starting to hit its end.

<Four, if I see any more or less, you will regret it, little mortals>

"--- ---- -- word"

Then father turns around and flies back to the cave. The second I notice this, I let out a sigh of relief

"*Sigh*… that seemed dangerously close"

Just as father is landing, he uses his telekinesis or telepathy or whatever these stupid dragons use to let out a message.

<Darling, it's time to clean up a bit, we have guests unfortunately coming over. You should hide your stuff as well, little one>

'Wat?'

__________

<No Minos, you can't eat the pink people when they arrive>

<Listen to your mother, littlest one. Stay in your nest as well for now>

"Cu…"

I might be a little out of it slightly, how have I gone from be worrying about world peace to a couple of dragons inviting humans over?

The way the two adult dragons are going around and moving stuff trying to make the cave look cleaner is baffling to me. Reminds me of when my human parents used to do this type of thing when guests came over or a party happened.

'Are these dragon's more human than I thought?'

Even the poop corner has been cleaned. Yes, I know, that's disgusting but me and Minos both had to use it before we could fly and go outside. Even now, that's still a massive encouragement for me slowly getting over my fear of heights.

But still, they're grabbing handfuls of water from our drinking reservoir and splashing it about on the cave floor, then using their arms like a mop to clean it.

Anything loose has been put under the nest including my random assortment of stuff I've collected throughout the time I've spent here. Still got my clothes on since I haven't changed back from human form yet. I won't ask to change since a bunch of humans are about to enter a dragons' den, maybe seeing someone who looks human might ease up tensions?

Just as I'm finally coming to grips with what's going on, both my parents finish up and four wyverns can be seen flying into the cave entrance.

<Why are we doing such a mundane thing for a bunch of mortals? Those birds are pointless as well>

<Dermak, shut it! Ikarus, I don't want to hear you make a single curse, okay?>

Just as they land their wyverns into the cave, I notice two familiar faces.