"... You want me to raid a mansion? There's some pretty bad stuff in what you just said"
"Thieves steal from thieves, you know? They won't be nobles for long no matter what you find, but if you get something important, it will give us more legitimacy. So don't worry"
"I don't feel comfortable breaking into someone's house to steal"
"I know, but... It's the Verra family"
"... Oh", right, it's Lance's family.
When I think that I can take revenge on him in the name of the sisters... I start to feel extremely uncomfortable, it almost hurts physically, no, no, no, no...
Revenge is not good... Something inside me is screaming at me not to do it for that reason.
'Calm down, it's not like I'm going to kill him...'
Well... There are many kinds of revenge, just taking documents doesn't seem like a big deal, right? Besides, apparently it won't change the outcome much.
"... Are you okay?" Nicole asks.
"For a moment I felt like I was standing in front of an angry dragon..." Ilona continues.
"I'm fine, I just... I don't like the idea of seeking revenge”
“Huh... You don't have to think of it like that, sorry for suggesting it, I thought it would motivate you”
"Don't apologize, I don't know why I'm so worried about it myself"
"Well, as I said, the mission was raised before the Verra dug their own grave, normally it would be canceled, but having more evidence will speed things up, and Gehrman was curious about you"
"Gehrman... Please stop talking about unpleasant things"
“I'm sorry, so, will you?”
"No, I don't want to invade anyone's home, even if they deserve it"
"If that's what you want, that's fine, but soon it won't be their house anymore, besides it's already empty, maybe a housekeeper or a maid?"
Huh, mmm, that being the case, might not be a problem? I might as well try out my stealth skills, which I have a feeling are going to be great.
Then Ilona puts the final nail in the coffin.
"They are corrupt counts, connected to other families, depending on what you find, we could pay you up to a million carions"
"All right, I'll do it"
I hope I don't come across as greedy, but if it really makes no significant difference whether I do it or not, I'd be leaving the money in the air for nothing. I'm going to spend it mostly on presents for my family, maybe some furniture for the elf sisters if they'll take it, and some clothes for me, as usual. And the rest I will donate to the animal shelter or some other good place, maybe Nicole knows something.
We take a rest.
"I'm glad you accept, when you're done here, go to the usual door, a carriage will be waiting to drop you off nearby"
"Thank you"
"As for you..."
"..."
"..."
When the conversation is over, Ilona and Nicole have a little staring contest. The former seems to be waiting for something, while the latter just makes herself comfortable in a bay window.
“Aren't you supposed to go into work at ten in the morning today?” she asks.
"Yes, why do you ask?"
"Do you know what time it is?"
"... Eleven o'clock or something?"
"Look over there", she goes over and points to a large clock on one of the castle walls, visible from the same window.
"..."
It's almost three in the afternoon.
"Go to work"
"But I want to eat with you, I'm hungry- uh, okay"
"Goodbye." I wave.
"See you later... Oh yeah, I've got a surprise for you when you get home, look forward to it~"
"..."
After kicking Nicole out, Ilona leads me down several corridors to another grassy yard, this one much larger and pretty, with a... small building nearby, almost completely surrounded by glass windows, it looks more like a huge gazebo.
Is that the kitchen? When she said field kitchen, I thought it would be one of those ugly carts with pots and pans on top and an umbrella in the middle. But it's literally a kitchen in the middle of a field.
... I like it here, the weather is nice too, sunny, but with enough clouds so that the rays don't burn your skin too much, it's a little windy, but it's warm and pleasant, even though it's almost fall.
Most of all, the smell of freshly cut grass... A bit intense, but not enough to be annoying.
Although it would be better with more trees, there are some, but on the other side of the field.
Speaking of the field, there are a lot of people a bit far from here, even more than the soldiers from before, at least this time they are mostly women... Well, I came to cook, not to talk to them.
"They've been complaining that they have no one to prepare meals for them, and they're too busy to learn, or so they say. I'll ask if anyone is hungry, go ahead, use whatever you can find, everything, if you like"
"..."
I follow a path of cobblestones planted in the grass that leads me to the field kitchen, even the door is a window, only the frame is black painted metal.
On the ground, between the lawn and the building, there are many, many... Uh... If I remember correctly, they are called Cynodon? No, I think that's the family or something, Bermuda grass, yes, that kind of plant that always reminded me of chicken feet... Nice, but I have a bad memory with them, so I'll ignore it.
Oh, on one side of the building there are... ten long tables with twelve chairs at each, will I have to cook for everyone here? I hope not. It's not that I don't want to serve them, it's just that I don't have experience cooking for many people... But isn't it just the same but in more quantity? And a lot more tiring, I guess.
I walk in, there's more furniture, separated from the kitchen by a nicely lacquered wooden bar, with bar stools along the length.
Okay, I cross the bar and examine everything, let's see... small pots, normal pots, big pots, very big pots, a huge pot I could fit myself into... I'll pretend I didn't see that.
Huh, the cupboards also have glass, so you can see inside, there are lots of expensive looking dishes, but downstairs there are mountains of all kinds of plates, cups, lots of containers, cups...
One of them is full of sauces of all different sizes and colors. I don't recognize most of them, so I'll play it safe and ignore them for now.
The drawers. Mountains of cutlery, knives, chopsticks, spoons of all kinds. But mostly forks, lots of forks... I recognize some of them, they are for fruit, meat, grilling, uh, I think the one with the wooden handle is for cheese. But mostly I have no idea.
I pull an elongated drawer vertically and, uh, ooooh! It reveals five rows of jars of all kinds of spices. I need a drawer like that at home. Huh, although I also like the way we have them now, displayed in a spice rack on the kitchen wall, they serve very well as decoration too. I'd better leave it at that, but I'll make a note of this drawer.
Let's go to the most important place, where the food is kept, right next to the stove, there is a wooden door that leads to a small storage room full of barrels, cupboards, drawers, boxes and more boxes, which conveniently have their contents marked on the side. There is also another door, this time made of metal, leading to... A very cold room! How terrible!
As soon as I stepped through the door frame, I felt the huge change in temperature, especially on my face, arms and legs. That's why I don't bother to look around too much, I just take two big pieces of beef steak and leave the place.
Then I realize... I didn't have to go in, I could have let my darkness give them to me... What an idiot, whatever.
Let's see... lots of fruit, like apples, pears, lemons, grapes, cherries, huh, and others I don't recognize, but I guess they'll last a good while before they spoil.
Vegetables, mostly of the root type, I guess because they also last longer, like carrots, radishes, potatoes, turnips, beets... And more. Though also more common types like onions, pumpkins, celery... Anyway, it's not that I love vegetables on their own, so let's see what else...
It's kind of exciting and frustrating to see what ingredients you have in an unfamiliar kitchen, but also useful if you're not the best at improvising. I usually cook by eye, not by recipe, but like today, I can't experiment much if others will be eating what I make, except Nicole.
I spend the next few minutes examining the contents of the warehouse. It is much better prepared than I expected, I assumed the army would have little more than beef jerky, but that seems to be a prejudice on my part.
Huh? I hear a small explosion outside. As if something very heavy had fallen to the ground.
"Hey Sei, are you back there?"
Ilona comes in. Well, I guess the explosion is none of my business. I already have an idea of what I can do, simple but complicated at the same time, if you know what I mean.
One third of this building is a storage room and a refrigerator, another third is the kitchen with drawers, stoves, ovens and furniture. And the last third is even more tables and chairs, though smaller and fancier than the ones outside, two tables and chairs for five people each.
These tables and some bar stools are occupied by... 15 women. Unknown women... In a nice red uniform, red pants and a red jacket, white undershirt, knee-high metal boots and gauntlets of the same material up to the elbow. They also wear a diagonal black cape that covers their shoulders and part of their backs... Except for one, who has the colors reversed, all black clothing and red trimmed boots, gauntlets and cape.
"You seemed a little stressed earlier, so I invited some girls over for lunch, it should be okay if they're women, right?"
... I think I'm more nervous about the fact that they are women, quite beautiful women, each in her own way, even the 'ugliest' of them can at least be considered a pretty girl.
Will I have to cook for them!?
“Y-yes, thank you, so they all want to eat something? I'm not a professional, of course."
"Yes, please," says the only one in a black uniform. "We usually eat little more than beef jerky with water and fruit. The kitchen is well kept and stocked, but we are expected to cook for ourselves... Maybe it is because we are mostly women in this squadron. But none of us knows more than simple cooking..."
"How simple?"
I may be being a bit rude, but I'm going to chat while I look for ingredients, conjure up a cloud of darkness to carry things for me, and put whatever I see that I can use on top. Let's see... first I'll have more meat, pork and crab, avocados, rice, sesame, seaweed...? I might make some sushi too, why not, soy sauce, avocado, mayonnaise... I'm going to keep adding and adding stuff if I keep going like this, better to take the main thing and come back when I need something.
Remember, the most important things for the recipe... Green and yellow onions, sugar, garlic cloves, oils, peppers, ginger, herbs... I think that's it. I'll look for the rest later.
"Well... I can cook pasta, very simple soup and... Um... Cereal? What about you ladies?"
“Pretty much the same”, "I once made rice pudding with cinnamon", "In my hometown there is a store that sells gummies in the shape of hamburgers, I put them together many times, does that count?", "No, you idiot", "Yeah, it doesn't count, it's a candy", "Oh, I once cut a pancake in half and filled it with milk jam, it was delicious", "Sounds good, but that's almost a candy too", "I don't think so", "I can boil eggs", "Does that count?", "You put food on the stove and you can eat it later, so I guess that counts", "In that case, I can roast marshmallows in the stove", "Is that even food?", "Well, you eat it, don't you?", "Doesn't sound healthy", "I don't know any recipes, but I'm good at chopping fruits and vegetables, if you tell me what to do, I could help a little".
So, basic stuff or candy for kids? That doesn't help much now, but they might help when I fully figure out what I'm going to make. I'll remember as I go along.
I keep listening as I put things on one of the tables... No, I'd better leave them in the cloud of darkness, there's plenty of room, but in a kitchen the more room the better, having several work areas helps tremendously, especially for dishes with a lot of ingredients or in large quantities. Like now.
Talking about sweets and seeing some pretty little white cups gives me an idea... But I'll leave that for later.
Let's get started. First, I clean the kitchen with magic, it looks and smells good, quite fresh and clean, but with a touch of parsley and laurel still noticeable.
But a kitchen can always be a little cleaner. I also wash my hands, they are clean, but... Mentally they feel dirty, so to speak, besides, I have an audience, they can't think I didn't wash my hands.
With a slightly large and heavy knife I cut the yellow and green onions, I'd like to do without them, but that's the recipe... At least in this dish, I do like to eat them, I will cut them into very small and thin pieces, that will help. For now, I just do a little bit to remember the quantities... I pour it over a glass bowl.
Soy sauce on top, a little sugar, the same amount of sesame seeds, several cloves of garlic... There was no sesame oil, but there was walnut oil, a good substitute. Where did I leave it? Oh, yes, ginger, there are several graters and a food grinder, but... Oh, never mind, I find ginger powder in a jar in the spice drawer. I add it and mix everything well.
While I'm here... Freshly ground red and black pepper. There is also sugar here, is it normal to keep it with the spices? I've never wondered... I keep it with the coffee.
'Oh. I think I got too disconnected from the conversation... I hope they haven't been talking to me.'
"I need to pet her..."
Okay, I know where this is going, but this time it feels wrong that I'm the only one working while they just watch. Even if they're resting from whatever they were doing that made those explosion noises.
"You know?" I tell them, "I'm sorry, but I hope you're watching what I'm doing, I could use some help right now."
"Of course!", "Yeah, if you don't work, you don't eat", "I'm not good at this... How about I buy a beer for whoever does my part?", "I'll do it if I can", "You? Since when do you know how to cook?", "As long as I can get close to those cute ears, I wouldn't mind learning right now", "I feel the same way, but for that tail, I want to wear it as a scarf", "I want to bury my face..."
I feel my hand warm for some reason... Ignore, ignore. They went back to talking to each other... Anyway, I continue.
With a thin, smooth knife, I cut thin, long pieces of meat from the beef steak and put them in the glass bowl, along with the mixture from before. As I finish and begin to mix everything well with a wooden spatula, one of the women calls out to me, a young woman who looks about my age, with red hair and pointy ears.
"So... those little saucers you put everything in before you add it to the mixture are the right amount for this?"
"Well... I don't know, I filled those two to the top and added the other ingredients according to what I thought was the right amount"
"... Are you guessing? Even if I'm not good at cooking, that doesn't sound very good"
"For a beginner, it may be difficult to cook properly by intuition alone"
"I thought you said you weren't a professional"
"I'm not, but I rely on my experience, and even if it doesn't look like it, I'm following a recipe"
"Stop bothering her, Aile," the captain interrupts.
"E-eh, did I bother you? I'm sorry! It's just that I remember my mother mixing ingredients without thinking too much, just so that the food would taste different every time she made it"
"I heard that's normal when you cook without a recipe, you get better at it over time," a black-haired short woman interjects, starting another conversation between them, which I take the opportunity to continue.
Now the dish needs to be sealed, the less air I give it the better, but I can't find anything... First mistake in this beautiful kitchen. The darkness will work, I think. I make a lid for the glass bowl and harden it. Then I put the bowl in the refrigerator, I'll be back in... an hour? Yes, I remember, the cuts are not thick, so an hour, maybe even half an hour is enough to marinate the meat properly.
"Very well! It's your turn, if you'd be so kind as to, uh..." My own darkness interrupts me, the cloud parting on its own, pulling the ingredients I just used closer to me.
"..."
This isn't normal, is it...? It's useful now though, so I won't worry about it.
"Leave it to us, how many of these do we make?"
"Mmm, if I remember correctly, one bowl is for about five people, but better to save, about five equal bowls please"
"Okay."
The pleasant atmosphere makes even me relax and able to concentrate even being in a closed place with many strangers
The meat will be the main thing, I also saw a lot that can be cooked as is, with a simple marbling, so if anyone else comes to join, they can do that. Moving on, a simple salad... Maybe I can take the opportunity to see how useful my magic can be doing this. Okay.
I'll think of different, uh, orders, so to speak, to see how conscious it is. Darkness, I need... Potatoes, it brings them to me. Eggs, the same. Something I just used, and it's layered, takes longer, but bring me onions, okay. Mmm... Something that goes well in a salad... it doesn't seem to know. Then don't order so much on the air.
Lettuce, spinach, arugula, cucumber, yogurt, lemon juice, more garlic cloves, olive oil, salt and pepper...
After experimenting a bit with the magic looking in the back and bringing me the ingredients, creating an unusual spectacle, I noticed a few things, if I tell it the name it brings it to me as is, if I refer to something the magic did before it takes longer but also brings it to me, if I try to get it to guess it draws a blank or brings me something that matches the description but doesn't help with what I'm doing now.
Seems like magic has a memory of sorts, but there's not much of a brain that thinks properly about what to do with it... 'Oh well, not that I care how or why it works that way.'
So, I'm going to focus on something much more important than magic. Food.
I boil water in a saucepan, add the potatoes and a little salt until they are tender. Then I let them cool a bit, peel them and cut them into small pieces with a simple utility knife.
I boil some eggs for only 5 minutes so that the yolk does not solidify completely. I wash some cucumbers and cut them into thin slices, peel the onion and cut it into strips.
Now begin to assemble. A bed of green leafy vegetables, then cucumber, onion, potatoes, eggs cut in half, or in three if they are very large.
Now a sauce, made of yogurt, garlic, juice, salt, pepper, oil... Well mixed. And I pour it over the salad. That's it.
While I'm making other, simpler salads, like mushroom and rice, I pay attention to the conversation again.
"Is this normal?", "Let's pretend it is, shut up", "It makes it easier, but it feels weird thanking a dark cloud for giving me something...", "Yeah, it's even a bit disturbing", "I think it's cute, so helpful~", "Come on, don't stop moving your hands", "Yes ma'am".
Pay attention just in time, as I am called.
"So your name is Seina huh, where are you from?"
The tallest woman in the group calls me, already a bit calmer, now that the hard part is over, I take the liberty of looking at her more closely...
Quite tall, even taller than Sherianna, she also has a muscular but still feminine body, short brown hair, a few shades paler than mine, and an unusually cute face full of freckles on her cheeks.
A little too intimidating for my taste, though the contrast between her body and face, coupled with her soft and high-pitched voice, is endearing.
'Damn this overthinking habit of mine, it doesn't usually bother me, but it tends to make me slow to react when someone talks to me, like it just happened now.'
"Um, nice to meet you, yes, I'm Seina, I'm from Castelmar City"
"Huh... Boss, isn't that where they sent your sister?"
"Yes... Oh, you see, my sister is a healer, there's a lot of sick people in Castelmar these days"
“... I see, do you know what the disease is?”
"It's unknown, but they're finding out some things, like that it's airborne and that it leaves ugly welts and spots all over the body"
Then I'll have to hurry, just in case. My house is in the northern part of Castelmar, near the fields and before the mountains, or rather the mountain range, so there aren't many closed places my family is around, so their chances of getting infected aren't as high as someone from the city, but it still worries me, especially if it's an unknown disease.
...There's no use worrying about something I can't intervene in, by now, they would have said something if they were sick, and even though we're not rich by any means, Dad and my siblings still make enough to pay a good doctor, someone who is anything but the old son of a...
'Calm down. My food will taste like garbage if I prepare it while angry... Breathe, relax, clear your mind... Okay.'
I can continue, I'm still hungry, but this news has killed my excitement a bit, so let's make one last complex dish, the rest will be different meats with marbling, seasoning and so on... Delicious, but relatively simple enough to be considered a dish.
I don't know how well it fits in with what we're doing, but the idea came to me when I saw them. Little white porcelain cups, adorable, almost childlike, but still big enough not to be considered a toy.
Baking is not my forte, but I can bake a thing or two.
Let's get started! Melted butter, egg, sugar, vanilla, milk, more butter, flour and yeast!
I add the ingredients, in that order, to a large bowl, stirring all the time, and then to each of the small cups, halfway through. When finished, I put the cups in the oven for a few minutes, until the bread rises a little above the height of the cup.
Which it does at just the right moment, which makes me happy that I calculated the right amount, especially of the yeast.
Finally, I sprinkle some powdered sugar on top, and that's it! A very simple bread, but delicious, cute and with one of the most adorable names among the breads.
A vanilla mug cake. In a little cup.
I put a few small spoons inside and the dessert is ready.
So, we pass the time, chatting and cooking. Although they are obviously inexperienced in the kitchen, they work hard, listen attentively to my instructions, are very clean and do not interfere with each other's work, I like them.
Skewers, salads, sushi, different kinds of meat, different desserts... Slowly but surely, we all manage to make a lot of food. When the main course is sufficiently marinated. I feel like I could have skipped this step if I had used my magic and concentrated enough, but it gave us time to make a lot of other good stuff, so never mind.
While the five women who decided to help me in the kitchen fill many small plates with all kinds of side dishes, salads, vegetables, sauces, appetizers, rice... And a lot of stuff, they arrange them around a huge ceramic pot where we'll put all the meat when it's ready.
One of the women, who didn't cook, lights a wood grill that she got from some unknown place, so we move everything outside, including several barrels of beer, wine and juice, where we will have our little impromptu party.
The meat goes on the grill... it comes out, we decorate it a bit with herbs and it goes on the pile... This is fun, I prefer to cook just for Nicole or for myself, but to be in charge of the grill like now, where there is no lack of ingredients, but a cook... It makes me feel useful and... Like I'm part of them, it's nice.
More people join in, attracted, I think, by the amazing smell of meat in the air, which makes my mouth water and my stomach growl with impatience. The place might get too crowded for my comfort soon, so I'll enjoy my real favorite part before that happens.
Time to eat!