Point-of-View: Persia Gerit

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"Hey, hope I didn't keep you waiting too long," I remarked as I jogged over.

"Oh, don't worry about it, I haven't been here long," Responded Key, who was waiting for me.

It was the 20th of May, and I was feeling pretty bored since Kuro was really busy these days, so I decided to call Key and hang out with her. I did consider calling some of my other female friends...and that's when I realized that she's my only female friend that I'm actually close with.

There's Selesa, who's nice and all, but also a huge pervert, to put it lightly. Then there's Fuo, I get along with her okay, but I'm pretty sure that she's got a crush on Kuro, so I feel a bit awkward around her sometimes. There's also Azeria, but she's more of an acquaintance, really. And...that's about it, I can't think of anyone else at all.

"Hope you don't mind me calling you out so last-minute, I've just been really bored lately," I grinned sheepishly.

"Actually, same here...Rai's been pretty busy these days, I've been spending most of my time with Rilia, but she suddenly developed an interest in cooking so had started taking classes. In other words, I've been at home all day, bored out of my mind," She replied with a wry smile.

"I feel your pain...so, shall we go find a place to have lunch in?" I suggested, as I felt my stomach rumble a bit.

"Yeah, that sounds good, I could definitely go for some food right now," She nodded in response.

We then began heading towards an area with a bunch of restaurants, before eventually picking a place that specialized in various meat dishes. I really like meat, it's easily my favorite type of food to eat, with seafood being a close second...I don't like vegetables.

Fruits are okay, I guess. As for stuff like bread, pasta or rice, I only like those if they come with a pile of meat on the side. Mm, thinking about meat is making me even more hungry, I could feel my mouth watering.

Key and I headed into the restaurant and found ourselves a table, before flipping through the menus. I looked through the options with a sense of anticipation, struggling to narrow down the choices that sounded most appealing...because they all seem to be delicious!

"Okay, I think I've decided on what I want," Remarked Key, as she set down her menu.

"Already? Wait, give me a sec, I still need to pick something...alright, I've got it!" I said as I made up my mind.

"I'll try to get the attention of one of the waiters," She replied, before looking around the place.

She soon spotted one and flagged him down, before he approached our table with a small notebook and began taking our order...

"Yeah, I'll have the sizzling steak, along with a shredded chicken and lamb topping, a turkey and bacon sandwich, and...half a rack of ribs," I informed him, as I gulped to keep my mouth from salivating.

That's probably more food than I can handle, but hey, if it's too much to finish in one sitting, I'll just take the leftovers home for dinner.

"Wow, seriously? Okay, then, uh...I'll have the fried stegosaurus stew and a milkshake," Added Key.

Right, so the reptiles that live in the huge underground cavern beneath Abyss, it turns out that the herbivorous ones are edible. Well, so are some of the carnivores, but they don't taste good. Actually, I don't like any dinosaur meat, the texture puts me off, but Key seems to really like it.

"Okay, is that everything you'd like to order?" Inquired the waiter, as he finished jotting everything down on his notebook.

"Oh, and some chicken fries as an appetizer, please!" I blurted out impulsively.

Okay, yeah, I'm probably being a bit too greedy here, but hey, I can afford it, and I won't let any remaining food go to waste, so there's no problem!

"You know how massive the portions here are, right? Even the appetizers are huge...you ordered way too much," Sighed Key in exasperation.

"Hehe, yeah, I know, but we'll share the chicken fries, I won't eat everything I ordered by myself...and besides, I just couldn't help myself, everything on the menu looked so good! Well, except for all the dinosaur meat options...I still don't understand why you like it so much," I responded wryly.

"Well, I like the wild, slightly gamey taste, but I also like the chewy texture," She replied with a shrug.

"Seriously? The texture's the worst part for me, and I find the taste way too strong," I disagreed firmly.

We continued to go back and forth on whether dinosaur meat is good or not, and before we knew it, our food had arrived.

First, the chicken fries...thin strips of chicken fried up, which were super crispy and satisfying to crunch down, though a bit oily. Nevertheless, really good though, I think I might prefer these to regular fries.

Key was apprehensive about sharing it since she wanted to save room for her main course, but the chicken fries smell so good that she couldn't resist and ended up reluctantly joining in. Soon after we finished off the fries, the rest of the food arrived.

The turkey and bacon sandwich was amazing, the bread was toasty on the outside and super soft on the inside, while the bacon was the perfect amount of greasy and crispy. It kinda overwhelmed the taste of the turkey though, which had a nice texture, but was kinda bland in taste.

As for the ribs, the meat was so fresh that it practically peeled off the bone and almost seemed to melt in my mouth...plus it was coated in a sweet and sour sauce that made my tastebuds tingle. That left the steak topped with shredded chicken and small cubes of lamb...but I could barely get through a quarter of it before giving up, my stomach feeling like it was ready to burst.

"I knew you wouldn't be able to finish all that," Sighed Key with a shake of her head, as she sipped on her milkshake, before adding, "But, to be fair, you ate a lot more than I thought you would."

"I-I think I'm gonna puke...," I groaned, as I gently rubbed my stomach.

"Don't be dramatic. Come on, let's get your leftovers packed up and pay the bill, 'kay?"

I wasn't being dramatic though...

"'Kay, I'll try..."

...

A short while later, we were back at the castle, inside Kuro's and my room. I was busy rolling a joint, while Key was taking out a couple of beers from the refrigerator.

It's a new invention, and a super useful one. It utilizes a Cooling Crystal, which is fueled by a cable that pumps Mana into it. In fact, such cables were now spread throughout most of Abyss, providing Mana to appliances that use stuff like Cooling Crystals, Heat Crystals, Light Crystals and so on.

The cables are all spread out from a spot where a huge amount of Mana is stored, Kuro said it's like something called a 'power plant', and that this idea for Mana dispersion through cables was inspired by something called 'electricity'.

And it's made things a lot more convenient...before, we'd have to manually activate those crystals by hand, and then do it again once they run out of fuel, but thanks to the Mana cables, we can switch them on or off with a press of a button.

And this refrigerator thing was one of many items that were created once the Mana cables were set up and ready to be implemented. Before this, we'd need Ice Magic to cool things down, and Store spells to preserve stuff, but now, we no longer have to put in that much effort.

"Alright, I'm done rolling it up! Here, light it up," I grinned, as Key sat down on the carpet, across from me.

"You know you have Fire Magic too, right?" She smiled wryly, before she formed a small flame and moved it towards the tip of the joint.

"Yeah, but I'm not good at forming a small ember like that, I'll end up over-burning the joint," I responded, before I took a deep puff and exhaled slowly.

"Fair enough, that'd be a huge waste," She laughed in reply.

"This is nice...," I sighed, as I rested my head against the wall contentedly, "It's nice and cool in here, my stomach is full and I've got no real worries..."

"Hm, things were really hectic for the last few years, so yeah, for everything to be so peaceful after all that, it's really nice. We shouldn't take this for granted," She replied with a nod, as she took a swig of her beer before taking a puff of the joint.

She's right, things have changed so, so much lately. I'm more used to change than most, but even for me, this has all been pretty overwhelming. I started off in Goldway, ended up in the Rustlands, and now, I'm in Abyss, formerly Platinberg. And, you know what, this is definitely the happiest I've ever been.

"I agree, we'll make the most of these peaceful days for all they're worth!" I declared with a grin.

"Sounds good...and speaking of which, here, have a beer, since we're making the most of life and all-," She began.

"Are you kidding me? Just one gulp and I'll throw up all over the place, I'm not consuming anything else right now!"

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