After what felt like an eternity, Lancer sighed and let her hand fall to her side. “Fine, I’ll keep true to our contract.”
“R-really!?” You sounded much more surprised than you wanted to. “You’re going to fight with me?”
Lancer’s eyes focused on you again, washing you in that petrifying feeling once more. “Don’t make me repeat myself. I’m already reluctant as it is.”
“Well… that’s great!” You say with genuine relief. “What, um, made you decide to stick with me?”
“You were willing to let me decide. You could’ve easily used one of your command seals to force me to obey you. Even if you’re reckless and short sighted, you’re at least considerate.”
“Was that supposed to be a compliment?”
Lancer just rolled her eyes and wordlessly set a hand down next to you. Understanding the message, and not wanting to give her a reason to change her mind, you silently climbed onto her hand. Once you stood in the center of her palm, she brought you up closer to her face. Even though she moved her hand pretty quickly, it remained perfectly easy for you to balance on. That was a good sign, it would be easy for her to carry you around.
Before you could suggest what to do next, you felt your left arm get seized by a pair of fingers from Lancer’s other hand. You stayed quiet as the fingers pulled at your arms with surprising gentleness. The squeeze you received from them was nowhere near as gentle. A sensation of pain immediately rocketed through your arm and you failed to hold back a shout of pain. The moment you shouted in pain, the fingers let go, allowing you to hold your arm defensively.
“C-come on Lancer! What was that for?” A sense of pride forbade you from telling her that that hurt.
“I was testing your durability. You’re as fragile as I thought you’d be.”
“Not too fragile I hope.” You chuckled nervously.
“Um…” Lancer's gaze avoided you, “you’re not completely helpless, at least.”
Yeah, that's more or less what you expected her to say. At least it seemed like she was trying to be considerate of your feelings. It didn’t make you feel better, but it showed that she was warming up to you at least. Or trying to.
“I thought that’d be the case. Let’s just not think about that for now.” You try to change the subject.
Lancer didn’t think that was a good idea, considering how much of an influence that had on your safety, but didn’t say anything. If you wanted to drop the subject she would too. “So what’s the situation? Do you know who any of the other masters are? Or what classes have been summoned?”
“I don’t know who any of the other masters are, but they don’t know who I am either. The last I heard, only the Berserker class was summoned. But that was a while ago and my preparations took a long time, so I’m sure most of the other classes have been summoned.”
“Shrinking yourself to such a helpless state took that long?”
“That’s not the only thing I did! I might be a low quality mage, but I know how to take basic precautions.” You insisted with a small bit of pride. “I prepared an enchantment around my house, it should alert me if anything with a lot of magical energy gets close.” Thinking about what else you had done, you smiled a bit. “And I also did something else!” You began excitedly. “I made a little surprise for whatever heroic spirit I summoned. I’m sure you’ll find something in the other room you’ll like.”
You made a gesture to the only open door in the room. Lancer’s gaze silently followed your gesture to the door. You could see the slightest hint of curiosity in her eyes, which was a relief. Your attempt at a first impression did not go well so all the food you made had to make up for it. Lancer didn’t have to eat anything to survive, but who wouldn’t want to eat anyways? You made so much food, there was bound to be something in there she would like! Hopefully.
Lancer sighed, she wasn’t in the mood for games or any more surprises. But she didn’t have much of a choice. If she tried to go out another door or get you focused on something more important, you’d probably complain. She knew that she should at least humor you, and she couldn’t deny that she was a little curious. So she did as silently asked and moved to the other room.
What she found was unexpected, and didn’t get the response out of her you wanted. The other room was the dining area, where you had set out all of the food you made on a large table. It wasn’t as grand as a banquet or feast, but the selection of food was nothing to sneeze at. You had some cooked fish, beef, chicken, an assortment of fresh fruits and vegetables, grains and rice, bread, an assortment of wine and you even made some Dolmades and Moussaka! All of that food, and Lancer didn’t even react!
She just stood away from the table, taking in the sight of all the food. You really hoped all the food would get some positive reaction out of her, but she didn’t react at all! “Uh… is something wrong?” You cautiously fished for a reaction.
Lancer didn’t look at you. “No, there’s nothing wrong with this, I guess. It seems like a lot of effort for nothing though.”
“Is there seriously nothing here you like?”
“N-no! That’s not it.” Lancer sounded surprisingly… embarrassed? “It’s just… I’m not hungry.”
“Oh, that’s all?” You sigh heavily in relief. “I thought I did something wrong. It’s alright if you don’t eat now, but can you put everything away then? I’ll tell you where it all goes.”
“This is all a waste of time you know. I don’t need to eat, your reckless ‘preparation’ is sustaining my form just fine.”
“Yeah, that’s why I did it.” You laugh. “But I figured whoever I summoned would still want to eat. Just because you don’t have to, doesn’t mean you can’t.”
Lancer rolled her eyes, though something about it this time seemed more amused than dismissive. She was about to walk away from the table, before she stopped. Her eyes focused on a single item on the table, it was already covered by a cloth. “What is this?”
Before you could answer, Lancer had already removed the cloth, revealing a simple cake underneath. “That’s just a butter cake.” You said with slight disappointment. “I started it with putting frosting and stuff on it in mind, but it didn’t pan out. I didn’t know who I’d summon so I couldn’t know if they’d even like frosted cake. Now it’s just-”
You were interrupted when the hand you were standing on suddenly deposited you onto the table. You stumbled as you slid off the hand onto the new surface, nearly falling on your face. Steady on the table, you turned to face Lancer, who had found one of the knives you left out on the table. Delicately, she cut out a small piece of the cake and picked it out. She brought it up to take a bite, but stopped when she noticed you staring at her.
You swore you heard a little huff as she turned slightly to obscure her face with her hood. Free of your nosy gaze, she bit into the undressed butter cake. A quiet sound of delight and satisfaction escaped the giant as she enjoyed the bite of cake. Honestly, you wanted to see the face of the usually stoic giant, assuming that it would be an adorable sight. But she was turned too much for you to see, and maneuvering the table would take too long, even as she just tooker her second bite. You would just have to be satisfied with the fact that you did make something she enjoyed.
“Heh, glad my work wasn’t a complete waste.” You note as Lancer goes in for the last bite. Hearing your voice made her stop and turn back towards you. She looked at you with an unamused expression, but you assumed that she was a little embarrassed about breaking her stoic image.
Consuming the last bite of the cake, Lancer recovered the rest with the cloth and lifted it off the table. “We’ll save all of this later.” She mumbled before walking off in a hurry.
You laughed as she walked off. “Yeah, sure, ‘all of it’.”
A while later, all of the food you had prepared and bought had been put away for another day. Lancer sat in front of you at the table, a little grumpy after wiping off the crumb of cake you noted was left on her face. Even though not much food had been eaten, you mused that your work did help you bond with Lancer. If only a tiny bit.
“So what should we do next?” Lancer was immediately back to business.
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