Vampire Summoner's Rebirth: Summoning The Vampire Queen At The Start

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I had cooked the usual dishes that were quick to make and delicious, such as fried rice, spaghetti and Napolitan sauce, pork soup with noodles, meat buns, lots of salad, and also many types of stew, using some of the meat we got recently from the draconic beasts, which once purified, tasted rather good.

"Hmm, I love eating like this once we finish a hard day of work!" Erika said, finishing her second plate of fried rice with grilled salted fish. "Now I'll eat some of those noodles! Hmm~!"

"You always are so noisy when eating, Erika…" Elfriedden sighed, as he enjoyed his salads and his rice. "Please mind your manners for once!"

"Bleh!" Erika didn't care about his words and just made an annoyed sound. "I say whatever I want and eat whatever I want! Don't be so stuck-up Elfriedden!"

"S-Stuck up?!" Elfriedden felt shaken. "I-I thought you needed to be reminded of manners, as the child of a noble…"

"I don't care about manners nor being a noble!" Erika said. "I'm happy with how I am now, right?" she looked at me. "Also Blake doesn't mind me talking, he likes me like that!"

She hugged me and kissed my cheek.

"Hm…" Elfriedden sighed, eating his salad. "Whatever."

At least he's learning to not bark so loudly, though his pride as a noble and his quick temper still resurface, it is not as extreme as before.

Before, he would have berated Erika, but now he just kept it to himself now.

Or maybe that's because Erika is my girlfriend and therefore, fears my retaliation?

I wouldn't really hurt him for that, but I would indeed tell him to shut up if he continued with it.

Anyways, that doesn't matter now, we're friends after all.

"Elfriedden, my friend, you should try to relax," I said. "I know you're perhaps the person that's most nervous about this entire ordeal. But don't channel that anger to someone completely unrelated. Meditation could help you keep a cooler head."

"Hahh… Maybe you're not wrong," he groaned. "I do feel mentally exhausted as well. I think I'll go to sleep once I'm done eating. I need several hours of rest."

"It's fine," I nodded. "Rest is important."

"Maybe your head hurts because you barely eat your proteins dude!" Chris said. "Here!"

Suddenly, he dropped a huge piece of roasted draconic beast steak over his plate full of vegetables.

The delicious smell of roasted meat and the many spices added on top filled Elfriedden's nostrils, although he made a disgusted expression.

"Chris! What do you think you're doing, you damn brat?! My perfectly fine salad ruined with your disgusting meat!" he complained.

"Elves mostly eat vegetables and grains, sometimes fish, so meat is not in their menu, huh?" wondered Alberta. "Well, didn't he eat Bestellen's meat though?"

"T-That was an exception because I had to so I could grow stronger!" Elfriedden cried. "I don't need meat! Our kind sustain ourselves with the bounties of nature. Killing animals to eat them is something only beasts do…"

"Well, we've killed plenty, right?" Chris laughed. "Might as well eat their meat so it doesn't go to waste dude! Do you prefer the meat of a monster to rot away or to go to the belly of a starving person?"

"That's…" Elfriedden gulped saliva as he saw the huge steak. "Well…"

"Hahaha! He's falling for it!" laughed Erdrich. "Come on dude, just eat the damn steak already. Is your religion about not eating meat?"

"Well… not exactly, but… Um, it's not about not eating but not eating the meat we hunt, innocent animals that don't hurt anybody… eating them is wrong," he sighed. "However… Fine, dammit!"

He dug the fork and the knife into the huge, sizzling steal and cut a tender piece of it, taking a bite.

His eyes widened.

"S-So… So…"

"So?" Chris asked.

"So delicious, dammit! Screw you Chris!" Elfriedden cried, yet he kept eating. "And its damn tender too! Those monsters looked so huge and tough, why is the meat so tender?!"

"I prepared it thoroughly," I explained. "Any tough meat can become tender when prepared correctly. Try some of the fried rice, it has meat and chicken too. Also eat the noodles and the sauce, they also have cow meat. All of these are good for you, Elfriedden. You spend a lot of energy, eating only salad will not help you regain your energies completely."

"Hah… Dammit…" he sighed. "Whatever!"

I finally understood why he was complaining to Erika, he was actually jealous of what she was eating. Of how everyone enjoyed such a huge feast, while he limited his eating habits to the little his culture demanded. He hated how Erika enjoyed it because he also wanted to enjoy it, hah.

"Heheheh…" Erika smiled smugly at him, making Elfriedden almost spit his food. "Sooo? Who's the one speaking out loud about the food now, eh? Huuuh?"

"S-Shut up…" he muttered while embarrassed. "It's good, okay? I admit it! N-Now leave me be!"

"Hahaha! Okay, calm down Elfriedden! We're all friends here!" Erika was a friendly and good person, so she forgave him quickly. "Here, I'll give you this dessert, it's really good! It's called pudding and it's made of cream and eggs and milk! Try it!"

"Pudding…?" he wondered, tasting it. "Hm?! S-So creamy and… soft… Milk and eggs can create such a sweet delicacy?!"

"Yeah, there are myriads of ways in which you can turn ingredients into delicious meals, Elfriedden," I smiled. "Anyways, let's enjoy the food. We deserve it."

As we ate, I noticed a new message in my grimoire.

Ding!

[The {Holy Spirit of Light} is happy of your progress so far.]

[The {Holy Spirit of Nature} is grateful for what you've done for the elven continent. They fervently ask you to save their sibling, Yggdrasil, before a week ends.]

[The {Holy Spirit of Ice} seems pleased her blessed child has begun to open up and enjoy more meals, which are healthier for him.]

Well, would you look at that, they've been watching.

[Congratulations! You have completed the {Liberation Quest}: {Defeat all the Lizardmen in your path and Free the Fallen City of Claria and Evergrace}!]

There was such a quest?

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