Chapter 56: What Are These Rewards?!

Zishan stared at her.

She had just healed every injury left in his body, removed foreign Mana he did not even know was still inside him, and somehow the first thing she wanted to return to was cupcakes.

His respect for her increased even further.

"Right!" Zishan immediately straightened himself. "We were talking about cream cheese frosting."

Ollie looked between them. For several seconds, he genuinely did not know which part of the conversation was stranger anymore.

Zishan started explaining recipes instead. Buttercream depended heavily on how much sugar someone used. Ganache could be changed through the ratio of chocolate to cream. Cream cheese frosting worked best when the sweetness did not completely bury the tang beneath it. Whipped cream needed enough structure to hold itself on top without becoming dense.

Elinox listened with the focus of someone receiving military intelligence.

Then, she started talking as well.

She had spent a lot of time adjusting the oven because controlling the temperature across the entire chamber was difficult with ordinary fuel. She eventually got better results by keeping the heat around the oven as even as possible instead of simply making it hotter.

Zishan stared at her. "That’s actually fucking smart."

"I know."

Ollie remained several steps away and watched the two continue discussing baking as though they had known each other for years.

High General Holmes had arrived at the <anno data-annotation-id="b4b1d79c-271c-6c40-bd57-b36db2d61390" data-title="camp">camp¹</anno> less than a day ago. Zishan had spoken to her for only a few minutes. Somehow, Ollie was now watching them argue about whether a cupcake should have more frosting than cake.

"No," Zishan insisted. "Absolutely not. If the frosting is taller than the cupcake, somebody fucked up."

Elinox crossed her arms. "That depends on the frosting."

"It really doesn’t," Zishan replied. "You’re supposed to taste the cake too, not drown it under enough sugar to kill a horse."

Elinox looked unconvinced, which only made Zishan more determined to defend his point.

Then, a while later, they began laughing again.

Ollie looked toward the transparent wall of water surrounding them.

For a brief moment, he wondered whether everyone outside would even believe him if he explained what was currently happening.

The youngest High General in the Kingdom was hiding herself behind Light and Water Magic so she could argue about frosting ratios with a newly promoted Soldier no less.

Ollie decided he would keep that information to himself as he nodded to himself.

Zishan eventually moved on to red velvet, only to discover that Elinox knew that, too. The realization made him suspicious for roughly two seconds before excitement won.

"You’ve made red velvet?!"

Elinox nodded. "Several times."

"What do you use for the color?"

Elinox began explaining a fruit-based extract she had tested after disliking the taste left behind by another ingredient. Zishan had never heard of the fruit, though the idea made enough sense that he started asking where it grew.

"Wh—"

Zishan was about to say something when the camp’s horns blared.

Another series answered from farther along the western defenses, louder than the first. Several soldiers outside changed direction at once, leaving their work behind and moving toward the barricades.

Ollie’s face changed.

Elinox turned toward the western road, and in an instant, she was the High General everyone else knew again. The relaxed expression she had worn while discussing frosting disappeared as her attention moved beyond the station.

The water surrounding them fell.

It did not splash across the ground. The entire barrier collapsed into several streams that curved away from their boots before sinking into the dirt, while the Light Mana covering them dispersed.

The station saw them again.

Officers were already shouting orders.

"Enemy movement!"

"Western approach!"

"Get everyone back to their positions!"

The engineers inspecting the repaired barricades abandoned their tools and moved away while soldiers climbed the defensive platforms. Artillery crews rushed toward their weapons, and several mounted messengers left the command area heading toward other sections of the line.

A soldier came running from one of the forward observation positions. "They’re marching toward us!"

One of the officers intercepted him. "How many?"

"Enough that the scouts stopped counting and returned. Infantry, cavalry, Mages, multiple military formations. There are officers throughout the front."

The man took a breath, his face turning even more serious. "And... there’s a High General leading them."

The noise around the command area seemed to change.

Zishan looked toward Elinox.

She had already narrowed her eyes.

The High General leading the approaching army was not the young prodigy Elinox had thrown through a wall at the enemy station. The officers around them recognized enough about the report to know which figure was coming, and the reaction spreading through the western post told Zishan that this one carried a very different reputation.

One of the senior officers leaving the command area stopped near Elinox. "High General, the scouts are certain. It’s one of their established High Generals. His forces were stationed farther north until this morning."

Elinox looked toward the distant road beyond the barricades. "So they moved him."

"Yes."

The officer lowered his voice. "He’s far stronger than the one you encountered at their station."

Elinox did not seem surprised.

She had warned them this might happen.

Destroying an enemy military station, tearing through its defenses, crippling its supplies, and returning across the border was never going to end with the Kingdom of Degenerates quietly accepting the loss.

It would have been stranger if they had swallowed it.

Elinox glanced toward Zishan.

For half a second, he thought she might say something else about cupcakes.

Instead, her body disappeared.

There was no dramatic explosion of Mana or large spell formation beneath her feet. One moment she stood beside the wagon, and the next she was gone.

Several soldiers near the barricades reacted a moment later.

Zishan followed their attention.

Elinox was already standing outside the western defenses.

Her long hair moved behind her as Mana spread across the field ahead. She faced the distant road with narrowed eyes while the first shapes of the enemy formation became visible far beyond the station.

Zishan remained beside the wagon, staring first at Elinox’s back and then at the empty spot where she had been standing only a moment ago.

"We weren’t done talking..."

Ollie slowly turned toward him. "Sir, there’s an enemy army coming."

"I know!" Zishan pointed toward Elinox in genuine frustration. "That doesn’t make the timing any less fucking rude! We were talking about cupcakes!"

Ollie had no idea how to respond to that. He just thought that perhaps there was something about cupcakes that made them as strong as they were now. Ollie’s face practically screamed this exact realization, oblivious of the real truth.

That guy was just that obsessed with cupcakes.

Zishan crossed his arms and looked toward the approaching enemy force, still visibly annoyed.

He had finally found someone in Cyrune who understood proper cupcakes, only for an entire fucking army to arrive in the middle of the conversation.

’These Degenerate bastards really have terrible timing.’

[DING!]

Zishan’s expression changed.

A greenish panel opened in front of him.

[EMERGENCY QUEST]

[The Enemy Kingdom Strikes Back!]

[The destruction of a military station belonging to the Kingdom of Degenerates has provoked an immediate retaliatory advance.]

[An enemy High General is approaching the Western Defensive Line alongside a large military force.]

[Objective: Survive the coming assault and contribute to the defense of the Western Defensive Line!]

[Additional conditions are being evaluated...]

Zishan stopped being angry about the cupcakes.

His eyes moved lower, and his expression changed the moment he reached his favorite part of any quest.

[QUEST REWARDS]

Several lines formed beneath it.

Zishan read the first reward, then the second, and his eyes only widened further as he continued down the list. Ollie noticed the change in his face and quietly took one cautious step away.

Zishan’s shoulders started shaking.

His laughter exploded across the western station.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Several nearby soldiers turned toward him as he doubled over, one hand instinctively going to his abdomen. This time, however, there was no pain whatsoever.

"FUCK! SYSTEM! WHAT THE HELL ARE THESE REWARDS?!"

He looked over the rewards again as though he needed to make sure he had read them correctly, only for his laughter to become even louder.