Blessed By A Yandere Goddess

Chapter 48: A BBQ Date

The gate spat them back into the warehouse with the usual lack of ceremony.

One moment they were standing in a forest clearing, surrounded by the boss’s remains, and the next they were back on concrete, the portal humming its last before flickering out behind them.

Ronan rolled his shoulder. Still not bruised. The golem’s inheritance was ridiculous.

Across the warehouse floor, Tristan and Yeula were already putting distance between themselves and the now-dead gate. Tristan’s cap was pulled low, his bandana still in place, and Yeula’s star sunglasses hadn’t budged.

To anyone watching, they looked like two hunters who’d just finished a job and wanted to go home.

To Ronan, they looked like two people who’d just had their entire worldview rearranged and were still processing it.

"Dean. Haley."

Tristan stopped mid-step. Yeula’s shoulders tensed.

"We’ll be in touch."

Ronan didn’t elaborate. The threat was already there, hanging in the air between them. And Sarael’s perfectly pleasant smile was not at all reassuring.

"Y-Yeah. Sure."

Tristan managed. Then they were gone, the warehouse door swinging shut behind them with a heavy clang that echoed through the empty space.

✧ ✦ ✧

[Guardian’s Staff (B-Rank)]

[Druidic Coat (B-Rank)]

"With the cash Zero paid me for the job, plus this loot..."

Ronan smiled as he scrolled through his inventory.

"That’s basically a neurosurgeon’s monthly salary. Never thought I’d be saying that."

Especially not on the walk back home after a dungeon run.

Back when he was a porter, even the dangerous jobs only got him the smallest share of the take. Sure, it paid better than retail or fast food, but that wasn’t saying much.

And once you factored in how much prep work each run required, gear maintenance, potion restocks, transportation fees, he was practically earning less than both those jobs combined.

"Do neurosurgeons really earn that much?"

Sarael asked, tilting her head.

"A lot would be an understatement."

He grinned and summoned the coat first, the druidic fabric materializing over his shoulders. He toggled off the visuals for convenience, letting it blend into his current outfit.

"Fifteen percent mana regeneration boost, plus passive healing when I’m near shrubs... that’s solid."

He read the tooltip aloud before moving on to the staff. This one didn’t have a visibility toggle. Weapons never really did.

"Thirty percent stronger spells when channeled through this?"

Thirty percent was huge. Problem was, Ronan didn’t really use spells. The closest things he had were Corrosive Dark and Shadow Merge. Whether those even counted as "spells" in the system’s eyes, let alone scaled with a staff...

That definitely needed testing.

But that could wait. Right now, he had a successful run to celebrate with Sarael, and more than enough cash to pay for it.

"I know a good barbecue place near here. Let’s go."

He glanced at his phone, the battery icon flashing red.

"Need to grab a charger too. I’m at two percent."

Sarael’s eyes lit up. "Barbecue? Is that the one where they cook meat over fire?"

"Yeah. You’ll like it."

"I already like it, and I haven’t even seen it yet."

She was getting more human by the day. Though Ronan doubted that progress extended to anything involving love.

Not that he minded. After all this time, he’d come to find that side of her surprisingly... hot.

[Affinity: 4.0%]

[+1 Skill Evolution Point Obtained]

"Four percent already?"

He hadn’t even done anything special. Just the dungeon run, the deal with the investigators, and now a barbecue invitation.

Apparently, inviting his goddess wife to dinner was enough to bump his affinity up a full point. And earn him another skill point on top of it.

"Is something wrong?"

"No. The opposite."

He showed her the notification, and her expression shifted from concern to quiet satisfaction.

"I’m glad. It means you’re happy, right?"

"Yeah. I am."

He pocketed the phone and reached for her hand. She took it without hesitation, her fingers cool against his palm, and they continued walking.

The barbecue place was a hole-in-the-wall joint tucked between a laundromat and a closed-down bookshop. The sign above the door was faded, the paint chipped, but the smell coming from inside was enough to make Ronan’s stomach growl.

Sarael stopped at the entrance, her nose twitching.

"That’s meat?"

"That’s meat."

"I’ve never had meat. Not fresh at least. The rations from your dead companions were... good. But the smell alone tells me this one’s far better."

"Then you’re in for a treat."

The interior was exactly what Ronan expected. A few cramped tables, a counter with a glass display case showing cuts of marinated beef and pork, and an old woman behind the register who looked like she’d been running the place since before Ronan was born.

She glanced up when they entered, her eyes lingering on Sarael for a moment longer than Ronan would have liked. But she didn’t say anything.

Just gestured toward the empty table near the window and went back to wiping down the counter. freewebnσvel.cøm

Ronan ordered for both of them. Two portions of beef, one of pork, extra rice, and a side of grilled vegetables that he wasn’t sure Sarael would touch but figured he should offer anyway.

The food arrived sizzling on a stone plate, smoke curling toward the ceiling, and Sarael stared at it like she’d just discovered a new organism.

"It’s still cooking..."

"That’s the point. You take the meat off the stone when it’s done, dip it in the sauce, and eat it."

He demonstrated, plucking a piece of beef from the hot stone with his chopsticks, swiping it through the soy-based sauce, and popping it into his mouth.

Sarael watched every movement with the focused attention of someone studying a sacred ritual.

Then she tried it herself.

Her chopstick technique was clumsy, her first piece of beef nearly sliding off onto the table, but she managed. The moment the meat hit her tongue, her eyes went wide. The heart-shaped pupils returned instantly, warping from round circles into those familiar violet hearts.

"Ronan." freēwebnovel.com

"Yeah?"

"This is amazing~!"

She was already reaching for another piece, her earlier clumsiness vanishing as she adapted with supernatural speed. Within minutes, she was eating like she’d been using chopsticks her whole life.

Ronan leaned back in his chair and watched her.

’Now I see what people mean by happy wife, happy life.’

The old woman behind the counter had stopped wiping and was now openly staring at them. Ronan met her eyes briefly, and she looked away, pretending to reorganize the display case.

He couldn’t blame her. They made an odd couple. A man in all black with a white mask hanging around his neck and a violet-haired woman who ate barbecue like she’d never tasted food before.

But they were paying customers, and the old woman had clearly seen stranger things in this neighborhood.

By the time they finished, Sarael had eaten more than Ronan thought possible for someone her size. The stone plate was empty, the rice bowl was scraped clean, and the grilled vegetables had been... partially eaten.

She’d tried one piece of broccoli, declared it "acceptable but not amazing," and focused entirely on the meat.

Normally, Ronan would scold her. But then stopped when he realized that Goddesses probably don’t need vegetables to stay healthy.

"That was the best meal I’ve ever had."

She said it with absolute sincerity, her fingers laced together on the table, her expression blissful.

"You’ve only had, what, five meals total?"

"Then it’s the best of five."

Ronan laughed and pulled out his wallet. The cash from Zero’s payment was more than enough to cover it. He left a generous tip on the table, more out of habit than generosity, and stood up.

"Come on. Charger next, then home."

"Can we come back here tomorrow?"

"Sure."

"Not here specifically. But... somewhere. Another place like this. With different food."

"You want to try more restaurants?"

"I want to try everything."

She stood and took his hand again, her fingers interlacing with his with the ease of long practice.

The bite mark on her neck was visible above her collar, and Ronan noticed the old woman noticing it. Her expression flickered, something between disapproval and resignation, before she turned away.

"Kids these days are way too kinky..."

(A/N: Yes, fluff Chapters are important to the experience, trust me)