NOVEL ONLINE FREE Chapter 273: Walking Disaster
Aisha had already warned Cassius about how bad Julie was when it came to any sort of chores.
He, however, was far too curious to leave it at that. He wanted to see for himself just how bad she was at this, if the stories were true, or if she was hiding some hidden talent.
"Alright, Julie." Cassius began, his voice a playful tease. "Aisha's got me convinced you're some kind of kitchen catastrophe. A walking, talking culinary oopsie, daisy and I've gotta see this for myself."
"...Just how bad can it get? Come on, I want a front, row seat to the chaos!"
"W-What?" Julie's cheeks flared, her voice a flustered stammer. "That's...that's not true!" She protested, waving her hands like a frantic hummingbird. "Aisha's just blowing it out of proportion, okay? I'm not some...some culinary catastrophe! I don't need to cook to prove anything!"
Her eyes darted to the bubbling pot, a desperate longing warring with a deep, seated fear of setting the campsite ablaze.
And hearing that, Cassius wanted Julie to cook, Aisha, a feline-shaped alarm system, sprang to her feet, darting behind Julie.
"Oh, no, Cassius, that can never happen!" She declared, hands on her hips, a general guarding her troops. "You don't want the Captain anywhere near a kitchen! I'm dead serious, give her a spoon, and she'll burn the whole camp down and give her water and she'll somehow even burn that!"
"...No offense, Captain, but anything you touch in a kitchen turns into a disaster. We're not risking our meal!" Her brows furrowed, her voice a sharp warning siren.
"No offense?" Julie's face turned a shade of crimson usually reserved for embarrassed tomatoes. "How am I supposed to take no offense when you're saying stuff like that right to my face?"
She mumbled, clutching the spatula like a security blanket.
"You're making me sound like I'm cursed or something!...I'm not that bad, Aisha!" Her eyes flicked away, her shoulders slumping into a protective, self-pitying crouch.
Cassius, however, was clearly immune to warnings.
"Nah, I'm not buying the warnings." He chuckled, shaking his head. "I wanna see this legendary clumsiness in action."
He said, a glint of mischief in his eyes as he retrieved the ice cream maker from Aisha. He then pulled out a paper and pen from his storage ring, scribbling down simple instructions before handing the paper to Julie and setting the machine on a stump, and a treasure trove of ingredients: milk, heavy cream, a vial of shimmering moonpetal syrup, and a bag of sparkling enchanted ice crystals.
"Making ice cream's easy, Julie. Just follow this, add the stuff, and the machine does the rest." He said, his voice a smooth, encouraging purr. "I know you want to cook, your eyes are practically glued to the pot. So, come on, give it a shot. I wanna see what you can do."
Aisha's eyes widened, her voice erupting in a panicked squeal.
"No, no, no, Cassius, you can't do this!" She exclaimed, stepping closer, her tone sharp enough to cut glass. "I'm looking forward to that ice cream, and I don't want her turning it into some gross sludge worse than that oat porridge we ditched!"
"...Captain, tell him you're not doing it! Save our dessert!" Her hands flapped wildly, her expression a desperate plea for dessert preservation.
Julie cast a pitiful glance at the instructions, biting her lip.
"Cassius, as much as it hurts to admit, Aisha's right." She said, her voice barely a whisper. "I'm...not great at this stuff. There's a real chance I'd mess it up—maybe even give us food poisoning or something. It's better if I just stay out of it."
Her eyes lingered on the paper, fingers trembling with a suppressed longing, her face a cloud of self, doubt.
Cassius's eyebrows shot up.
"Food poisoning? Seriously? Now I really wanna see this." He said, pushing the paper back into her hand. "Come on, Julie, I don't care about the warnings. I've got extra ingredients if you screw up, so there's no pressure. Come on, make the ice cream yourself. I'm dying to see what happens."
His eyes glinted, a mad scientist's curiosity overriding any semblance of caution and Julie hesitated, her voice faltering as she stared at his determined expression.
"Cassius, I...I don't know." She mumbled. But seeing the stubborn look on his face, she sighed, her resolve crumbling like an old cookie. "Fine, but don't blame me when this goes wrong."
She muttered, shuffling over to the ice cream maker and then knelt, her brow furrowed in concentration as she meticulously read the instructions first before she did anything.
At that moment, Aisha stormed up to him, her voice hushed but urgent as she tugged at his arm. "Cassius, don't let her do it." She whispered fiercely. "Don't listen to her. If she starts scooping or measuring or…anything, something bad's bound to happen. I'm begging you—stop her before it's too late."
Cassius however, now stirring the pasta sauce with a forced calm, tried to reassure Aisha.
"Relax, Aisha, there's nothing to worry about." He said, his voice tight. "I've got faith in Julie. She'll pull it off. It's ice cream, it's super easy to make. She just adds the ingredients, and the machine does the rest."
"...How hard can it be to screw that up—"
"CRACK!~"
But just as he spoke, a sharp crack echoed through the camp, like a tiny glass earthquake and in response, Cassius and Aisha slowly turned, their gazes landing on a bottle of milk—perfectly intact moments ago, now shattered on the ground, its contents pooling in the dirt, while Julie also stood frozen, hand outstretched, face flushed with guilt, shoulders hunched like a turtle retreating into its shell.
"See? See, Cassius? I told you!" Aisha exclaimed, pointing dramatically at the milky mess. "This is exactly what I was talking about! She can't even hold a bottle without turning it into a disaster! That was our ice cream milk! Now we're gonna be stuck with nothing!"
Her expression twisted with frustration, though her eyes now held a glint of "I told you so."
Julie's voice stammered, her face burning. "I, I didn't mean to! It just...slipped!" She protested, a pathetic whimper escaping her lips. "I told you I'm no good at this! I was just checking the bottle, and it...it just broke! I'm sorry, okay?" Her eyes pleaded for mercy, hands trembling as she gestured at the shattered glass.
Cassius's eye twitched. His earlier amusement, rapidly draining as he never expected to screw up so fast and right at the first step.
"Hey, i-it's not a big deal, Julie. You only broke one bottle." He managed to say even though the words were stiff. He then waved a hand, trying to sound casual as he stirred the pasta sauce, the faint glow of cream catching the firelight. "There's another one right there by your feet...Just grab that and keep going."
He was sure she wouldn't mess up again. She'd already dropped one bottle—there was no way in hell she'd break another.
Only an idiot would do something like that, and Julie wasn't an idiot.
She'll definitely manage it this time, he told himself, clinging to that fragile optimism as he kept an ear out while stirring.
"CRACK!~"
But just as the thought settled in his mind, a sharp CRACK split the air.
Cassius froze mid-stir, his eyes widening in disbelief and growing horror. Slowly, he turned to see the second bottle of milk shattered on the ground, its contents splattered across the dirt like an accusing ghost, while Julie's hands hovered in the air, her face paling as she stared at the new mess.
"I-It slipped again! The bottle was slippery, Cassius, I swear! It's not my fault—the milk bottle's cursed or something!"
She waved her hands frantically, shoulders hunching as she tried to deflect blame onto inanimate objects, or perhaps, a vengeful dairy spirit.
"Are you kidding me?!" Aisha let out a dramatic scream. "My ice cream's gone! Gone! Captain, how do you even do this?" She wailed, stomping her foot. "You broke two bottles in, like, ten seconds!"
"...I told you, Cassius, she's a walking disaster! Now we're never gonna have ice cream!"
She slumped against a nearby log, burying her face in her hands, a picture of utter despair, while Cassius gritted his teeth, a muscle throbbing in his jaw.
The sight of the second broken bottle pushed him to the edge of his patience, but he still took a slow, deliberate breath, trying to rein in the rising tide of frustration.
"Alright, alright, everybody calm down." He said, his voice strained but steady as he looked at Julie, who was practically wilting under his gaze. "It's fine, Julie. I've got more milk in my ring. Just...move on to the next step, okay?"
"...There's a packet of fresh cream over there—add that to the machine. You've got this."
He nodded encouragingly, though his eyes screamed, 'Please, for the love of all that is dairy, just follow the instructions!' He then resumed stirring the sauce, its ethereal glow reflecting his silent torment.
Julie nodded hesitantly, her voice barely a whisper.
"Okay, I'll...I'll try." She mumbled, crouching down, hands trembling as she scanned the ground for the cream.
But then her brow furrowed, eyes darting around in confusion.
"It's...it's not here. Where's the sugar? I don't see it anywhere."
Just as she opened her mouth to ask, Aisha-still slouched against the log like someone watching a slow-motion disaster, lifted a finger and pointed downward with the solemnity of a funeral bell.
"...Captain, look at your feet. You'll understand."
Julie's heart sank.
Slowly, hesitantly, she glanced down and her breath caught in horror.
Under her boot was the mangled remains of the fresh cream packet, now burst wide open like a casualty of war, its contents oozing out in pale rivulets, mixing with dirt and twigs into a sad, sticky mess.
"Nooo!" Her voice cracked, raw with disbelief.
"No, no, no, how did I—?!" She staggered back, nearly losing her balance as she lifted her foot like it was suddenly made of lead. "I didn't even see it there! I swear I didn't step on it on purpose!"
"It's like the universe WANTS me to fail!" Her shoulders sagged, her hands clutching her head in a theatrical display of guilt and pure, unadulterated panic. "The cream, it ambushed me! It's not my fault!"
Meanwhile, Aisha buried her face in her hands with a groan, while Cassius stood frozen, torn between horror and laughter, his lips twitching as he tried desperately to keep his composure.
"This...This is exactly what I was talking about, Cassius!" Aisha's voice rose again, sharp as a chef's knife.
"This is why we don't let her near a kitchen!" She exclaimed, throwing her hands up in exasperation. "First the milk, now the cream? I'm mourning my ice cream already! I can't believe this!"
She clutched at Cassius's sleeve for support, her expression a chaotic blend of exasperation and a strangely morbid fascination.
"You should've listened to me! Now we're doomed! No more icecream for us!"
"...Skadi would probably commit treason and try to attack the Captain, if she finds out that she lost out on icecream! Just what are we going to do?!"