Arknightcraft Modpack
Chapter 459: Simple Happiness
After firmly planting the extremely unwilling Yamato beneath the snowfield cabin as a living "spawn anchor"—ensuring that the underground crops could grow at proper Minecraft speeds—Steven finally climbed back up from below and returned to the cabin.
Recovering the cost of producing all those little maids would still take some time. Fortunately, he didn't actually need them to enter combat anytime soon. In fact, he didn't even have a proper opponent yet. For now, even his hypothetical enemies amounted to nothing more than Ursus, used as a target for planning.
So what Steven was doing could be considered nothing more than early preparation—stockpiling resources and infrastructure in advance. As for when he'd actually unleash his army? That would depend on whether some suicidal fool decided to pick a fight with him first.
Because there was no sense of time underground, by the time Steven stepped out of the cabin again, dusk had already fallen. Bathed in the orange-red glow of the setting sun, Steven stretched comfortably. Such a spur-of-the-moment project had once again drained a sizable chunk of his already precarious supply of World Acknowledgement Points.
"I'll have to figure out when I can step into the main storyline and fleece this world a bit," he muttered to himself. "Otherwise, my shipgirl elite plan is going to be shelved."
With that, Steven opened a black hole and teleported straight back to the Infected camp.
Alina's lessons had long since ended. Now she was acting like an ordinary village woman, preparing the thin porridge for dinner. She seemed completely unaware of Steven's return, fully focused on washing the wheat in her hands.
Thanks to Steven's generous backing as a local tycoon, the Infected had seen their standard of living improve dramatically—at least when it came to food. Cooking porridge with whole wheat was something that, in the past, even ordinary villagers could only dream of. More often than not, people had to make do with a barely edible mixture of bran and a tiny bit of flour, just enough to keep themselves alive.
Flavor and nutrition were concepts they had never even heard of. No matter what it tasted like, filling their stomachs was the only thing that mattered.
Being able to cook porridge with intact grains of wheat was, to these Infected, something that only existed in dreams.
It was no wonder that some of them had doubts about Reunion's motives. Even the guerrilla fighters had never been treated this well. The distributed meals sometimes even included a strip or two of jerky—something so unimaginable they wouldn't have dared to think about it.
As dinner approached, the entire Infected camp was filled with the warm, earthy atmosphere of daily life. Everyone could eat their fill. Such a simple thing—something that sounded so easy—carried an indescribable sense of happiness here.
As the person responsible for all of this, Steven cleared his throat with a hint of pride. The sudden sound startled the girl washing grain, making her let out a cry like a frightened deer. Only then did Steven meet her eyes, wearing the satisfied grin of someone whose teasing had succeeded.
Once Alina realized that the culprit behind the annoying prank was Steven, the trace of confusion on her face instantly faded away. With a bit of unwillingness, she dipped her fingers into the basin of cloudy rinse water and flicked a few droplets at him before issuing a "If you keep that up, I won't let you have dinner later." warning so gentle it carried no real authority at all.
"That won't do. I came here specifically to wait for your dinner, I wanted to try your cooking. You can't be that cruel."
Steven rubbed his stomach, putting on an exaggeratedly pitiful expression, then looked at Alina's face with pleading eyes. He looked exactly like a naughty child who'd played too hard outside and come home expecting food to be ready.
"Then I'll say this first," Alina replied softly, nodding at him with a smile. "There's only wheat porridge, plus some wild mushrooms I secretly picked outside earlier."
With that, she went back to her work.
Calling it "cooking" was generous—she simply placed the basin of washed wheat over the campfire, then took out some mushrooms from who-knows-where and carefully added them to the gradually boiling porridge.
Steven watched her the entire time, gazing at her gentle, capable figure that looked just like that of a devoted wife. Before he realized it, a deeply contented smile had appeared on his lips.
People often said that waiting for a loved one to cook for you was one of life's greatest happinesses. This was Steven's first time truly experiencing that feeling—and if he had to rate it, he'd say it was pretty great.
Time seemed to flow unusually fast during moments like this. Steven felt as though he'd only been watching Alina's back for a short while, but when he came back to his senses, she was already sitting across from him, resting her small face in her hands and looking straight at him.
On the low table between them sat a bowl of wheat porridge, releasing a rich aroma of grain and mushrooms.
"What's wrong?" Alina teased when she noticed he hadn't reacted for a while. She waved her hand in front of his eyes. "Is my cooking really that good? Did the smell knock you unconscious?"
"No," Steven replied. "It's just that someone looks a little too tempting. What enchanted me wasn't the porridge, it was the person who made it. Just watching her back made me feel full already."
After delivering this deliberately cheesy, almost embarrassingly corny line, Steven finally picked up the bowl and took small sips, secretly watching Alina's reaction.
To his surprise, instead of looking annoyed, she seemed to enjoy the sweet talk immensely. Not only did she not show any hint of disgust, her smile grew even brighter.
"Really?" she asked softly. "Then… is the porridge good?"
She looked at him with gentle affection. Her eyes were large, and at this moment, they reflected only Steven.
"Why don't you try it yourself?" Steven said after swallowing a mouthful.
Before Alina could even respond, he pulled her into his arms, closing the distance between them once more and pressing a kiss to her soft lips—warm, familiar, and filled with the quiet happiness of the moment.
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Note: Character Illustration is in this Google Drive:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1iuyfwNVFHzIi9H4rWNT_lAm7jTSiah_M
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https://www.patreon.com/collection/55713?view=condensed[4]
[1] https://www.patreon.com/collection/55713?view=condensed
[2] https://www.patreon.com/posts/152281351?collection=55713
[3] https://www.patreon.com/posts/152281351?collection=55713
[4] https://www.patreon.com/collection/55713?view=condensed