(MC POV)
"Ufu… Ufufu… Ufufufufufu~"
Oh no… She did the stereotypical three stage laughter for villains… That's not a good sign.
Look, even Long Er is looking at Iris with concern since it looked like she just started laughing for no reason.
"Ara? Ufufufu~ Forgive me for that outburst, I just remembered something amusing~ Don't mind me~"
Long Er was still looking at her weirdly so I coughed to get her attention, "Umm… I think you should tell someone to come get these goddesses before they wake up… And also we'll stay the night after all… Would that be ok with you?"
She bowed her head quickly, "I cannot ask for more, Divine One! Please, if there's anything you need, just let me know and I will do my best to accommodate you!"
The girl then flew out of the courtyard, presumably to look for her father to come and pick up the unconscious goddesses.
I felt a little bad for these girls since they were going back to be locked up again but I'd rather that than be hounded by these unhinged goddesses instead.
Right then, the Qilin also flew down from the sky and landed in the middle of the courtyard, huffing proudly.
On its back was Cai Hong who was giggling happily while clapping her hands.
When she spotted me, the loli dragon immediately leapt off the Qilin and ran towards me with her arms outstretched.
"Papa, Papa!" She squealed, allowing me to pick her up to cuddle in my arms.
"Hello Cai Hong, did you have fun?"
"Cai Hong fun! Papa play?"
I patted her head, "Now, now. It's almost dinner time so we'll need to eat and bathe soon."
Cai Hong's eyes sparkled and she looked at me with anticipation, "Papa cook?"
Hmm… I suppose I can't trust the people here to cook for us so I would have to be the one to cook… Although I could simply make the food appear, I prefer to do it myself since that makes it more personal.
All I have to do is just create some cooking utensils and I'll be able to whip up some food for all of us using the materials I have in my storage ring.
I nodded, "Mmm… It's been awhile hasn't it? Papa will cook for all of us."
"Yayyyy~ Papa cook!"
Alright, I suppose I should get started then.
Waving my hand over the space in front of the courtyard, I created several stoves as well as all the pots and pans I needed to cook.
I then took out the raw meat and vegetables I planned to use from within my storage ring and began preparations for dinner.
Most of the materials I had on hand were obtained back when I was still clueless about my real identity, so this would be a good chance for me to use them up instead of letting them sit in the ring and remain unused.
Let me see… I have some Divine Bull meat, some Godly Venison, a few cuts of Royal Pork and a good selection of various Heavenly vegetables.
It's kind of ironic that all of these ingredients would have been regarded as legendary materials that could raise one's cultivation immensely but they're just normal ingredients to me right now since all of my disciples have ascended past the mortal cultivation stage.
Well, I would sometimes pass some of these to Eris who would cook our meals with them back then, so it's not like I've never used them before.
For today… I guess let's just go all out and make a feast. If there are any leftovers from this dinner I could simply put them back in my storage ring for next time. I wouldn't even need to worry about food wastage.
I got started and began preparing all the ingredients needed, even splitting myself into multiple bodies just so that I could prepare everything all at once.
I also went ahead to do a little bit of time manipulation so the soups and the stews could be prepared without waiting several hours for it.
Just as I was putting the finishing touches on most of the dishes, Long Er returned while carrying a small but ornate looking box in her hands.
She stood there while staring at me with a dumbfounded look on her face.
"Di… Divine One? What… What's happening?" She asked.
I raised an eyebrow, "I'm cooking, can't you tell?"
"Di… Divine One can cook? Ah… Umm… I mean… We have already prepared a feast for Divine One here! There's no need for you to bother with that!"
I waved my hand at her, "I'm doing this because I want to. Anyway, who is going to pick those goddesses up?"
"Umm… About that… Father asked if it would be possible to let them stay here for a while since they did damage their prison cells quite badly… They will need to repair it before they can lock the Goddesses up again… In… In return, we prepared this for Divine Ones!"
She opened up the box in her hands quickly and a large table laden with various different kinds of food appeared in front of her.
Even from here, I could tell that the food there was prepared meticulously and they used the best ingredients they could to prepare the dishes as well.
That made me feel a little bad since they went through all that trouble to prepare it for us so maybe we could just leave my cooking for some other time and eat the food they prepared instead?
There was just one very important thing stopping us from doing that though...
"Cai Hong want eat Papa's cooking!!" My loli dragon huffed.
"Well, that settles that. Sorry Long Er, but we're not touching that," I informed her.
"Ah… I see… Umm… I should bring this back then…"
"Actually, why don't you join us? There's more than enough for everyone. You can just leave that there for now," I suggested.
There's one thing I still believe in and that's eating together with more people is much better.
In fact, those goddesses can join us too, as long as they behave of course, but that could be easily done with Iris here.
Long Er fidgeted, "If… If Divine One insists… Please allow this lowly one to intrude on your meal time…"
"Umu… Just give me a minute more and dinner will be ready. Could you help set up the table please?"
She nodded and went ahead to move the cutleries I had created to the table in the courtyard.
I did notice Iris went up to the table of food that Long Er brought along and stared at it for a moment, as though looking for something.
She then made a really scary face before turning away from it, her face returning back to normal as though what I saw was just a figment of my imagination.
Was there a particular food she didn't like?
Oh damn! I forgot about dietary restrictions! Is there anything you don't ea-- Wait. What the heck am I even talking about?
She doesn't even need to eat to live… Neither does Cai Hong either… Nor those goddesses… So of course we don't have dietary restrictions.
But… Why did Iris have that reaction then?
'Ufufufu~ Don't worry about it, Master~'
…
If you say so…
