Reincarnated as a Phoenix

Chapter 94 – Lovebirds

"Hehehe... the fruits of our labour, tis a beautiful thing really"

"Heh, if only your stares were reserved for someone else"

"I always look at you in that way! You're not getting jealous over a metal bar... are you Petra?"

"Of course not, my lovely Ikarus"

I'm looking at a small, single golden bar mined, processed and then picked up from the blacksmith's. It's now in my grasp and is making me drool, not literally of course although I wouldn't be surprised if I did. We've only just picked this up from the blacksmith's from that ore we gave him the other day and are now having lunch at the inn, sure we probably should be a little more subtle about such a thing but it's not exactly like I'm waving it about, it's sitting on my lap right now.

Even though we've been eating, I really can't help but keep staring at it. I think the main reason is because I've never seen something like this within my own two hands, sure, gold coins are great and all but this thing actually makes them! And sooner or later, we're could have a vault full of this! This isn't even a full sized one yet as well! We'll definitely have to build or buy a place to store all these at some point though.

What I just said is true about Petra though, I do check her out a load so I think she might be a little jealous. In all honesty though, there was a slight hint of a lie in what she said, a tiny amount but it was still there... you know what? I'm going to use this even if it could backfire, I'd love to effectively tease her and get away with it but if it backfires, that's not the worst thing in the world either...

"So... if I was to give, ALL my attention to this brilliant, sexy piece of metal, you wouldn't be jealous at all? Even if I was to hug it ever so tightly?"

"Heh... you'll regret this Ikarus"

You know what? I think I will but that doesn't mean I'm going to stop this despite this thing now getting uncomfortable on my lap, I'd put it in back in storage but I've got Petra within my grasp now!

"Really? Do tell how I'll regret giving my soul to this absolutely stunning and amazing bar of gold, I'd hate to replace you but with this piece of metal, it might just happen"

I'm so freaking odd, it's a good thing she likes me so much.

"Heh... It's pretty simple how I'll do it Ikarus, I'll just have to draw away your attention by some other method"

Sitting next to me in the booth, she moves even closer, looks me in the eyes and smiles. I can already tell where this is leading and there's no chance I'm going say no to some mouth action.

Petra moves in for the kill and I embrace it, I find very quickly that something else startles me while we're proper kissing though. When I say proper, you should be able to understand what a 'proper' kiss is.

"W-Wha-... what are you doing?"

"Oops, looks like my hand slip... heh"

I can't believe she just did that! You know that whole thing where your hands can kinda wander when kissing? Yeah, one of her hands went to something of which there are two of and pretty soft as well as being brilliant to hold. I don't even need to be explicit, I'm way too flustered to even care about anything else right now.

"Petra... we are in public, ya know?"

Keep in mind, we have been talking pretty quietly throughout this, I guess it was more seductive throughout that gold bit then just quiet but still.

"No one saw or is even here... it's funny how your biggest concern is being seen though, no complaints about what I just did there?"

Damn it, she realized I didn't hate it, I'm still not embracing this female side to me despite it basically being impossible to avoid at this point. Despite this body being great, it still had its drawbacks like with being male as well. I definitely don't remember being like this as a guy back on Earth though, clearly this has had an effect on the way my mind works as well.

Maybe I should've tried to prevent it a little more but it's not exactly like my personality has changed drastically. Ah, an example I can give, the idea of dating a guy with a third leg is still something I'd never do despite me changing a lot on things. I guess I've become a little less insecure about the whole thing but my tastes still haven't changed in the slightest. As much as I love Petra, that male version of her in one of the dungeons is still not a pleasant memory. That huge thing still gives me terrible nightmares time to time, I joke but there was one where it was chasing me through a dark and scary forest...

"Urgh, you caught me... it wasn't that bad... I guess"

Listen okay, this of course is going to make me pout a bit, I should be the one with wandering hands! Not Petra, that's only a slight annoyance though,

"Heh... at the very least Ikarus, you might not want to try something like that again otherwise you may actually regret it next time"

"I'll... keep that in mind"

The thing is, I still don't regret doing what I did even if it made Petra go a bit hands on, literally I might add. Also, I kinda feel like the moment's ruined now even if she was flirting but oh well, that was the first time something like that's happened so it was bound to end a little different.

Despite all that, it didn't feel bad though, maybe a bit sensitive but wouldn't say that's bad...

__________

"Let's get serious for a bit now, should we head to the dwarven kingdom and set up a trade deal yet or not?"

Now we're just wandering the market basically window shopping, the problem is that we might've already done everything this settlement has to offer so the constant waiting around for something to happen is a little dull. Sure, I have the best distraction around but I really need to keep my mind active doing something else, that something can't really be focusing solely on Petra because my mind and body take a long time to adapt to things. Forcing it isn't ideal but the way we're going right now, another step forward is fast approaching...

"Erm... probably not Ikarus, might be better to wait till we've got a decent stock for the blacksmith to smelt so there's always some being made"

Ah, forgot about that, I'm the carrier so transporting the ore over is solely my duty for the moment, otherwise it'll just sit there in the mine and gather dust. When we leave, the miners will have to find another way of transporting it over, probably by rowboat simply because it could take weeks for us to get to the kingdom and back depending on the trip. Forget that worry though, we're basically just on carrier duty for now and even that doesn't take up much time.

"So... what should we do now then?"

I'm actually starting to miss Zeki and Ariza a little, they should be coming over here at some point when they're both done in the capital but the main reason is that there always is something to talk about with those two. Petra's great and all but she's not always so talkative when nothing's going on so I'm basically always initiating conversations. There's only so much romance we can realistically do, it's not like we're especially clingy... actually, that might not be true, we do hold hands all the time when just wandering around like this and are pretty much inseparable now.

"If you're starting to get bored Ikarus, we can always train or try something new out"

A problem with her first suggestion, we train to pass the time a lot, normally have a little sparring session most days at this point. I still can't get Petra to fight back but she's adamant I'm improving a lot so I'm just accepting that for now.

"What new things can we even do though?"

"Well... don't really have any suggestions but there's got to be something you've wanted to do but never had the time for... most of mine involve things with you but you're not ready for that yet"

Urgh, I feel like that was her flirting a little there but I have no idea what she's implying, I'll just ignore that otherwise that'll start to become a worry... something I've wanted to do for a while but never had the time... did always want to try my hand making chocolate but maybe making something like lemonade but have no idea how I'd go about either ideas-... Wait, there's an idea that some people do when being isekaied, haven't come across anything like that in this world yet so we could be the first to do it.

"Petra... you reckon we could make fried chicken?"

There's quite a few food and drink combinations that simply just don't exist in this world and fired chicken is something I'm yet to come across, all the ingredients do exist as well.

"Hmm... pretty sure Zeki tried that at one point but nearly burnt down everything inside the cave when he used the wrong type of oil, that put him permanently off trying anything he hasn't cooked before"

The wrong type of oil? No, he's not that stupid, right?

"Please don't tell me he used the black gold type of oil that Earthen country loves so much?"

I'm sure I remember seeing a small puddle of it in the desert over here when we last were there, clearly that type of oil exists in this world but using it for cooking? Petra can't help but have a nostalgic smile from that though.

"Heh, like I said to you before Ikarus, you really aren't stupid... for Zeki, it's debatable, Ariza would say it isn't though"

He actually tried to cook chicken in the oil used in fuel!? It literally is black! How the hell could he think that would work? You'd think him being American, he'd be able to tell the difference between oils but that's just a stereotypical thing, Zeki might just be stupid after all.

That's actually sounds like a fun idea though, cooking with Petra, obviously not doing anything stupid like that idiot but us two cooking side by side sounds alright actually, it'll also give me an excuse to eat Petra's cooking once again.

You know what? This chicken plan could really work though, you can buy them on this island despite it being pretty expensive since they are mostly used for eggs, cooking oils are an actual thing in this world and the batter can be either flour or breadcrumb based after all. Who cares if we basically just ate? I can always eat more.

"Screw it, let's try frying some chicken, what's the worst that could go wrong?..."

__________

"Fuck fuck fuck!... Petra, I need some help over here!"

Standing over a roaring fiery cooking pot, I've clearly fucked up here, why the hell am I so incompetent when it comes to cooking? All that oil inside has turned to flame and could easily burn down this entire kitchen at any point.

"Ikarus... how did you even manage to light it on fire? The pot is on the stove's heated surface, that shouldn't even be possible"

"Urgh, I don't know, please just help me, I'm so fucking useless at this"

We've rented out the kitchen at the inn we've been staying at and wouldn't you know it, I'm as incompetent as Zeki when it comes down to this, all the oil and the chicken in my pot is now useless. I hate cooking now.

"Just absorb it in, it's only fire after all"

"Wait, that works for other flame?... oh, I guess it does... sorry about that"

Like the odd creature I can be, completely forgot I can basically absorb back in any flame like when it comes to cancelling my magic. For some reason, I had the thought other flames can't be affected in that way, I do tend to make way too many assumptions.

"Heh, don't worry about it Ikarus, mine is now done"

Petra looks kinda cute in these aprons we're wearing but let's keep the checking out to a minimum right now, fried chicken awaits then admiring her constant beauty. Petra uses a grabber to pick up several pieces of the completed fried chicken and sets them down onto the plate, it really looks good but will need a taste test to confirm but it clearly passes the eye test.

This did take a while to set up and it's even gone dark now, hopefully it's worth it. We had to start by plucking several chickens and cutting them up, then preparing the batter mixture and making sure the oil is up to the right temperature. Trying to maintain that temperature was incidentally that reason how I ended up setting the whole thing alight but that's why there's two of us. When I fuck up, Petra is there to back me up, I'd love for the roles to sometimes be a little different but I still love our relationship regardless.

I could see this going wrong to begin with so I made sure to buy four chickens just in case this turned-out shit, it's obvious this won't be as good as the fried stuff on Earth but I at least want it to taste nice and not just be edible. It matters little about my mess now, hers was always going to taste better so let's try a piece.

I take one of the legs from the plate, they are one of best parts in my humble opinion and bite into it. Immediately, my love for this woman increases tenfold.

"Petra... why the hell are you so good at everything!? It's perfect!"

There might be joyful tears in my eyes, how the fuck can she cook so well? It's not as comparable to some of the restaurants that specialize in making fried chicken but the balance in taste is just sublime, the crispiness is perfect, barely any grease at all and it doesn't taste like it makes you feel sick, kinda opposite to that feeling you get when eating this type of food that makes you feel a little grossed out despite how good it is. Damn this woman and her fried chicken, is she seriously this oblivious to how good this is? Of course, she would be because of the lack of taste but still.

"Heh, it's just a bit of seasoning Ikarus, this kitchen has quite the few options so used a bunch of different things, think it was eleven different herbs and spices. Glad you like it though; the texture seems pretty good"

She must've been good at this even back on Earth, the way to get to a man's heart is through their stomach after all... even if that isn't technically true anymore. Forget that crap though, Petra's cooking is top tier, it sucks immensely that she can't even taste this but one day I'm going to help her disabilities, mark my words!

"Still though... more please"

"Heh, sure"

She gives me another piece of fried chicken and I quickly scoff that down as well, sometimes I do feel bad for the animals that die to fill our stomachs but if God didn't want you to eat meat, then why does it taste so good? Also, some animals need to eat meat to survive so it's just the natural order of things, I know some vegetarians would hate me right now but I don't abide by those human standards goddamn it! I'm a freaking bird after all!

"What's that smell in here?"

Oh great, it's that cliché that I've read or seen a hundred times over. The main character makes fried chicken, then ends up providing for the whole town, that shit ain't happening today, capiche?

Anyways, the old guy poking his head through the open doorway to the kitchen is the inn owner, he normally cooks himself for customers in this place but you'll be surprised at the lack of visitors in this inn so that side job isn't needed. Most travellers flock to the hot springs and this inn isn't close by to it so business is pretty crappy after all. He is a decent chef to be fair, just obviously not comparable to the best waifu lovebird by my side.

"Just chicken cooking, you're welc-"

"It's nothing, nothing to see here! We'll be done in a bit so you don't need to worry about something like a fire starting out or anything like that!"

I have to put my hand over her mouth, I'm reserving her cooking for myself! Seriously though, we're not doing that cliché today, there isn't enough chickens on this island and knowing Petra, she'll just agree to do it unless I tell her explicitly not to. I've seen that cliché enough to know where this is heading, we're not feeding the entire settlement Petra's fried chicken... Heh, we could make a company called PFC but that's just a silly idea.

"I wasn't worried what you two kids were up to but just noticing it smells nice, I'll leave you be"

The old inn owner quickly leaves the kitchen and now it's just back to me, Petra and the holy fried chicken that could cause world peace. I've got to slow down eating this and stop scoffing it when I'm not speaking, there was something strange Petra just did to my hand covering up her mouth though.

"Erm... did you just lick my hand?"

"Heh, must be your imagination... you know it's okay to share though Ikarus, it's not like we're going to eat all four chickens we bought"

"You seriously underestimate me woman... and besides, nobody else is allowed to taste your cooking but me"

I'm a selfish tsundere at times but I don't care, Petra seems to adore that side of me as well so let's embrace it! Fried chicken clearly brings the worst out of me, I might share with Minos and Ariza but that's it though!

"Heh, do you seriously want me to cook more Ikarus? You'll go chubby if you eat all four chickens"

She's got a point but then again, I'm a bird weighing tonnes so I can eat a lot without worrying. Actually... thinking about it, I'm unsure how much I'm even supposed to eat for a reasonable diet. You'd think having a form weighing tonnes that you'd need to eat loads but that's never really been a worry, always just eaten how much a human normally does after all, apart from a few exceptions like eating an entire wolf back in the early days, Petra's always been the same as well... it might even be the case we don't need to eat, can't say I remember ever feeling full or even starving but doubt that.

"Well... it'll only be three at this point since mine's ruined and I'll make you eat some more so it's not really all four... even if you can't actually taste it, I can describe the taste for you in my own dumb way!"

It is really a shame she still can't taste food despite being able to cook like a Goddess, maybe I'll say it's a good as kissing or something like that, she definitely enjoys those as well even if the kissing might be better though.

"Heh, fine then Ikarus, you might want to start plucking another then"

"Yes, ma'am!"