The moment finally came.
I watched with bated breath how the saintess reached out and took the cup from my hand, careful with her fingers enough not to touch mine even for a second.
She didn't flinch when her fingers pressed against the hot sides of the cup. She did give me a curiosity-filled glance as she pulled her hand back, though, her eyes dancing between my reddened hand and my face.
Still, between my lack of reaction to the heat on my hand and the content of the hard-paper cup?
It was no wonder her eyes soon fully locked on the meal.
Nevertheless, while I had to suffer the lack of attention from the saintess, I was more than fairly compensated for it with her reaction to the instant-made meal.
And so I watched how she carefully picked up the very edge of the thin, metallic foil covering the cup's top before pinching its edge and slowly, carefully lifting it up.
Bit by bit, the yellow mush inside revealed itself to her eyes, still smoking-hot, with my personal spork at the ready to carry the chemical sludge up to her mouth.
The saintess's eyes brimmed with curiosity when she finally dared to grab the spork's handle and then slowly, carefully lift a small scoop of the bacon-infused potato mash.
Still, rather than putting it in her mouth right away, she took her time inspecting the content on her spork from every possible angle, even going as far as to raise her hand to look at it under the ray of direct sunlight that, by some miracle, managed to get through all of the tree crowns and reach the ground.
For one more moment, the saintess hesitated before tensing up a bit and then stuffing the yellow sludge in her face.
Her plump, red lips closed over the spoon. Then, her face froze only for her light-blue eyes to suddenly widen.
Her eyes switched, rising up to lock on my face while her face filled with a sense of loss, delight, and confusion all at the same time.
Then, she slowly pulled the spork out of her mouth, her lips pressing tightly against it as if she wasn't going to let even a single iota of the meal remain on the utensil…
All the while giving me quite the intense show of it, instantly compensating for all the exhaustion of the day.
'That much?'
Frozen in place, I dared not make even the slightest move in fear of disturbing the girl's meal. And honestly?
The sight right before my eyes was too damn amusing for me to even consider looking away!
After the initial confusion passed, the saintess didn't wait to plunge the spork into the yellowish sludge again, quickly raising another scooped ball of it and then stuffing it into her mouth.
Then again.
And again.
With every raise of her hand, her movements grew faster, her cheeks redder, her eyes more vibrant. There was even steam rising from her head, as if she radiated all the heat of the meal out.
When it came to me, though?
All I could do was sit tight and watch the show, studying the genuine eagerness in the saintess's moves as she shoveled the cheap instant food into her mouth like a loader would shovel coal into a steam-locomotive's engine.
Honestly, though?
In this moment, the powerful sword saintess vanished. The aura of strength and authority that she seemed to unconsciously project was now all but gone, revealing the soft, normal girl hidden behind it.
The slight curving of the corners of her plump, vibrantly red mouth, the small fog covering her eyes as the taste of the meal pushed her into a dreamy state, even the slightly labored movements of her chest as she breathed in and out to combat the high heat of the meal.
All of those pointed to this woman being just another girl. A girl of a beauty that not even engineered photos of earthly models could compare to. A girl with power to slaughter powerful beasts with a single swipe of her hand.
And yet?
Just a normal girl all the same, burdened by her own set of circumstances that I ultimately knew nothing about.
Then, a dull, empty sound filled our camp as the spork in the saintess's hand struck the bottom of her cup.
Her movements stopped… Only to then resume with renewed vigor as she got to the past part of scraping the sides, edges, and corners of the cup to extract the last few bits left.
And judging from the look of bliss that she revealed right after, I didn't really do all that great of a job when stirring the food, making those last few bits even more full of flavor than the rest of the meal.
Then, the saintess raised her eyes from the perfectly cleaned-out cup, locking her sights on me while not making a single sound.
For a moment, we simply stared at each other. The saintess looked at me with clear yet slightly weird intensity. I, on the other hand, didn't dare to look away now that she caught me staring.
Next, the saintess's face sunk a little as her eyes darted over to the empty insides of her cup and then down to the ground.
"Fine," she finally spoke, her voice somewhat softer, lighter than before, "I admit. There's no food like this in this world."
My eyebrows shot up my forehead.
'That easily?'
While my suggestion was designed to convince her of the legitimacy of my claims right from the get-go, I never really expected for it to work so damn well!
Still, convincing the saintess that I really was who I claimed to be was merely the first step of the process. And now that she appeared to lower her guard at least a tiny little bit…
It was time for me to press the attack.
"Hey, I really don't want to annoy you with one question after the other," I started with a preamble, even though it was actually the first question I was about to ask in quite a while, "but what will become of me, now that you know I was telling the truth?"
I couldn't afford to hear an unfavorable answer to this question. Which is precisely why I was already rummaging through my backpack, not even paying any attention to the woman ahead.
Right now was the time for me to unleash the largest caliber weapon I had. But why was it so damn hard to find it in the mess I had inside my bag?
Finally, as the silence that followed my question started to reach uncomfortable levels, my fingers locked in on the small if not tiny object I was looking for. This allowed me to raise my eyes back to the saintess, only to be struck by the conflicted look on her face.
What sort of conflict was going through her head? I couldn't know, even if I could try to guess. And as her eyes darted between the cup she just emptied out, my face, and then the closed fist I pulled out from my backpack, clearly hiding something…
"I will bring you over to the nearest town, at the very least," she finally spoke out while turning her face away.
Not before I'd noticed yet another quick glance she stole at my fist or how a sliver of saliva appeared in the corner of her mouth before she managed to turn her head away to hide it.
"Oh, I will need to drag you to the temple to confirm something, but after that—" she shook her head. "After that, you will be free to do as you wish."
"That's…" I hesitated for a moment before shaking my head and then opening up my fist, only to reveal a piece of candy in the standard, twisted wrapper.
I picked the piece by clutching at one end of the wrapper before mirroring it on the other side and then pulling my hands apart, untwisting the whole thing and revealing a small chocolate piece hidden inside.
"That's one hell of a relief to hear," I said with a slight smile before passing the candy over on the open palm of my hand. "And this is to show just the small bit of my gratitude."