Heart of a Scout (Lisbeth X Reader)

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The city of Alswyr, Floor 63. It was the only settlement on the floor, located in a clearing within the thick jungles. Part of it was even built into a nearby cliff. The town had a great verticality to it, possibly to contend with the treetops. It had the usual amenities for players, such as inns and markets. You had brought Lisbeth to one of these inns to let her rest, as well as to reflect on the journey there. Specifically, those weird feelings you've been getting around Lisbeth. What you knew was that you wanted to get closer to her. You wanted to know more about her. And that she was actually really cute. It was safe to assume for a second that you were in love with her. The feeling was just unusual to you.

Love was never really something you got. At least, you never got how people could make things work out so easily. To you, love was something really complex, and something you didn't know how to handle. If you were in love with Lisbeth, what do you do with those emotions? Honestly, you weren't even sure if it was love, or if this whole trial was just you wanting to save another player from the jaws of death.

You wished you could just say "screw it' and see how things work out, but it wasn't that simple to you. Lisbeth said that you usually seemed pretty serious, and for once you were feeling like it. Maybe it was time for you to loosen up a bit. Keep doing what you always did, but every once in a while, just listen to your gut and do what felt right.

Maybe Lisbeth was wiser than you had initially believed.

A distraction would do wonders for you right now. That was something your scattered mind could agree on. The inn had a small kitchen in every room, not enough for a feast, but enough to cook a small meal. It took a bit of time to buy all the ingredients from the market and return, you guessed about 20 minutes. When you got back to the inn room, Lisbeth still seemed to be asleep. The debuffs from the swamp should've definitely worn off by now, so this was a true deep sleep. Oh well. You bought enough for two anyway.

Wait, now you're about to cook for her. So much for a distraction.

You took out a small crystal bottle used for storing skills and swapped your Mixing skill with the Cooking skill. It wasn't very developed, only about 400 out of 1000, but it was still better than NPC meals, and you could use it out in the field. With what you had, you could make a decent meat and vegetable stew pretty quickly. It was a simple dish, but filling. Not to mention you could make it taste pretty good. And the smell from the herbs you had on hand. The smell was probably the best part. It immediately got your appetite going, and woke up Lisbeth. She sat up in the bed and took a big whiff of the air.

"Hey, what's on tonight?"

Her sudden voice startled you, but not too visibly. "Just a meat stew. Nice to see you're awake."

"It smells great. I didn't know you were such a good cook."

The compliment made you blush. "It's not really that great, but it gets me by. I just wanted to be able to eat well in the field is all."

Lisbeth paused for a second, like she was wondering what to say. You were actually the one to break the silence.

"Hey, you don't have to stick around, you know. We're out of the swamp, so you can go back to your smith shop."

"I can't exactly do that without the rest of the crystals, you know."

"Oh! I'm sorry." The stew didn't really need your attention at the moment, so you opened your inventory and initiated a trade with Lisbeth. Once you had handed her all the Entropy Crystals, you went back to your meal. Lisbeth still stuck around, though. Unless there was something else that she wanted, you weren't going to stop her from staying any more.

You took out a couple bowls, one for each of you, but then you saw Lisbeth heading towards the door. It was pretty disappointing to see her go, although you shouldn't stop her. She had probably delayed her customers long enough. Although, she did look pretty red in the face.