It was the first official day of the reopening of Bucky’s Out of this World Restaurant. It had only been a few days since it closed because of Alia’s absence, but it had felt like weeks had gone by.
A lot had happened. Or at the very least, Noele experienced so drastic changes in just a few days. She had been betrayed by one of her first ever idols, then she was left in a near-death state for a prolonged period of ti, before she finally underwent a Class advancent.
Now, she was a [Champion Spellsword], and Nicholas the Noble Knight was dead. It was a lot, to the blonde girl. She had recounted the entire situation to her master— together, they had hypothesized that the Sect of the Abyssal Thorns was after the Noble Spellsword. And now, Alia was trying to concoct so manner of a plan to ensure that sothing like this never happened again.
So Noele had explained everything. Except, she didn’t. Because there was one crucial part of the story she had omitted.
And it was the simple fact that she had accepted her Class advancent.
It didn’t sound like such a big deal. In fact, it shouldn’t have really mattered. Noele had already spoken to Alia about becoming a [Champion Spellsword] back when the option had first been presented to the blonde girl. But still, sothing felt off.
For whatever reason, Noele felt like she had done sothing wrong. And she wasn’t sure why she felt that way. That was why she was here at Bucky’s Out of this World Restaurant first thing in the morning. She had wanted to catch Alia before a large crowd gathered there. But…
“That’s a lot of people,” the blonde girl whistled as she stared at the queue waiting outside of the restaurant.
There were dozens of people already here, waiting for Bucky’s Out of this World Restaurant to open. Many of them were familiar faces— [Farrs] and [Traders] who lived in Wolfwater. But there were plenty others who looked like they were passing travelers or visitors who heard about the infamous restaurant.
“I guess Alia’s got a bigger reputation than I thought.” Noele shook her head, before getting in line behind the queue.
As Alia’s apprentice, Noele knew she could just cut the line and enter the restaurant whenever she pleased. But she didn’t want to do that. Because that would be rude. So she waited as the doors of the restaurant finally swung open, and a busy day at Bucky’s Out of this World Restaurant began.
—--
Edlyn watched as the double doors swung open, and the crowd waiting outside of the restaurant began to shuffle in. Normally, a [Chef] working in a restaurant would never et the custors other than in special circumstances. But this was a special circumstance.
Alia was introducing everyone who was entering the restaurant to the brand new [Chef] working here. And Edlyn was just nodding politely as she greeted each and every single custor. Most [Chefs] wouldn’t really know how to react. But fortunately, Edlyn was a [Royal Chef], so she was used to talking to her diners.
“So you’re Edlyn, huh? Mama has told a lot about you.” A blonde girl strode up with a smile on her face. She proffered a hand. “I’m Noele the Noble Spellsword. A-ranked adventurer.”
“You’re an A-ranked adventurer?” Edlyn blinked, staring at Noele for a mont. “And you’re just casually dining here?”
“Well, I am Alia’s apprentice,” Noele said as she scratched the back of her head.
“I… see.” The [Royal Chef] thought she’d be more surprised upon hearing that. But she barely even visibly reacted, other than a mont’s pause. “Hopefully my cooking will live up to your master’s standards.”
The blonde girl just shrugged in response as she walked up to a chair. “That won’t be hard. Alia’s really not the best cook around.”
“Not the best…?” Edlyn flinched, hearing Noele insult Alia just like that.
The [Royal Chef] glanced over to the side— where Alia was standing. Clearly, the brown-haired woman heard the insult. But all she did was snort in response.
And Edlyn turned around and watched as Noele took a seat. For a mont, the [Royal Chef] just stared silently as more custors funneled in around her.
Alia… really doesn’t care, does she? Edlyn thought as she pursed her lips. She felt like she was starting to understand that monster now. It almost felt Alia really didn’t care about anything except for running her restaurant.
A restaurant which attracted quite an eclectic group of people. So much so that Edlyn wasn’t even phased by seeing an A-ranked adventurer here.
Maybe Harlan is right, the [Royal Chef] thought as she closed her eyes. Maybe I really am starting to get desensitized to all this insanity.
And that only ant one thing— that Edlyn was starting to go insane too.
—--
Edlyn was a good worker. As I expected, her cooking was far superior to my own. I spent all of yesterday teaching her the individual recipes of every item on the nu— and she critiqued them all, giving ways to improve on them.
Well, that was a bit of an over exaggeration. There were so recipes she couldn’t improve. But that was because those were the recipes Xakor had given while he had been staying here. Particularly, for the savis cube and the other dishes he introduced to the restaurant. But as for everything I had brought over from Earth…
The [Royal Chef] was a lot milder in her criticisms at the start, before opening up towards the end, where she pretty much called a terrible chef. She was still scared of — I could tell. But much of her fear of had been assuaged just from us spending a whole day cooking together.
There wasn’t much else I could do to change her mind. I knew that even if I told her that I wasn’t actually as terrifying as she thought, she wouldn’t believe . I just had to prove it through my actions.
Anyways, once we greeted the morning crowd, both Edlyn and I returned to the kitchen to begin our work for the day. As I expected, we drew in more custors today than we have in months. The last ti we brought in such a crowd was when Xakor had still been here, using his fa to bring attention to my restaurant.
But that crowd back then was mostly there for him. This ti around, they were here for .
I almost smiled knowing that. It was nice to finally bear the fruits of my labor. I had spent months trying to build up this restaurant, and now, I could relax— at least, a little bit. I didn’t need to spend all my ti cooking for the restaurant. I could actually take breaks, now that I had a [Chef] working with .
I also didn’t need to work so hard on marketing my restaurant anymore. Of course, I still needed to go around pulling a few marketing stunts— like hiring Jax for a little bit, or telling everyone that a [Royal Chef] was working here now. But otherwise, I didn’t need to put in nearly as much effort as I did back when I first opened up this restaurant.
The day went on, and Edlyn went on her early lunch break so ti before noon. When she returned, it was my turn to take a break as she took over the cooking for the crowd of lunch-goers. I tried to reassure her that I could handle it, and she could take an extended break.
But I guess the [Royal Chef] wanted to prove herself to , because she insisted on handling the lunch shift. So I stepped outside of the restaurant, giving a wide berth from the large gathered crowd. Apparently, Harlan hadn’t just been relaxing and enjoying himself while I had been at Astral.
He had gone out and bought a bunch more tables and chairs to set out outside of the restaurant to help us handle a larger volu of custors than we were previously able to handle. So I had to step a few hundred feet away from my restaurant, hiding behind a tree so I wouldn’t be bothered by any passersby or sidelong glances. I sat down and began to dig into my lunch.
“This is really good…” I muttered to myself as I munched on the bowl of pilaf. It was so of the leftovers of Edlyn’s cooking. She was definitely a much better cook than .
In fact, I would go as far as to say that it was better than any pilaf I ever had back on Earth. So not only did she improve on my recipe, but she improved on the recipe as a whole. Which I was very much impressed by.
I closed my eyes as I savored the food and the silence. It was nice— being able to relax. But I had to wonder…
“What happened to the bastion bees?” I asked no one in particular as I raised my head fractionally. “They haven’t bothered since yesterday.”
—--
And in the bastion bee hive, the baby queen bastion bee was celebrating. We won!
Her thoughts were transmitted across her army of valiant soldiers. After what felt like an eternity of battle, defending her hive from that invader, they had erged victorious. Or so she was told.
The baby queen bastion bee had passed out because she had been given an option to evolve. She had managed to beco sothing even more— to beco a [Lesser Bastion Bee] from a [Bastion Bee Larva]. But because of that, she wasn’t able to witness the death of the invader.
But her loyal advisor— one of the nursing bees her mother had apparently assigned to her— inford her that she was victorious. So the baby queen bastion bee celebrated. She threw a grand party in commoration of her first ever battle and first every victory.
All of her people feasted with her, stuffing themselves with their royal honey. And they would continue to celebrate, drunk in their victory.
And watching from the side were the adult bastion bees. Each of them exchanged a nervous glance, unsure how long their lie was going to keep up— unsure how to resolve this misunderstanding. But for now, at least they managed to delay the problem for a little bit longer.
—-
I sat there in the shade, my finished bowl of pilaf set to the side, and hearing the muffled voices and laughter of the crowd in the distance. I was just resting— relaxing. It hadn’t even been half an hour yet since I stepped out, so I still had ti before my break ended.
But as I leant against the tree, I heard a soft set of footsteps approach . I looked up and spotted a shadow looming over . I recognized who it was imdiately. I cracked one eye closed as I relaxed, lying back down casually.
“Do you need sothing, Noele?” I asked as I glanced towards the blonde girl with only one eye open.
“I—” She opened her mouth, then caught herself. She bit her lower lip as she shifted uncomfortably before . She looked down at my empty bowl, before sighing. “Are you busy right now?”
“Do I look like I’m busy?” I scoffed.
Noele drew her lips into a thin line, not answering my question. I rolled my eyes as i got back to my feet.
“I’m not busy, no,” I said simply.
“Right…” she trailed off.
I raised a brow expectantly. But Noele didn’t give an imdiately answer. She just shook her head as she steeled herself, before eting my gaze.
“Alia,” she said softly. Her voice barely was a whisper. “We need to talk.”
And I just stared flatly back at her. “...alright? You don’t need to be so dramatic. Just say it.”
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