Chapter 804: Kaelia’s Cooking Class [Bonus - ]

Chapter 804: Kaelia’s Cooking Class [Bonus Chapter]

The late afternoon sun slanted in through the tall arched windows of Aki’s new Hearthbloom Kitchen and threw warm amber beams across the polished granite floor and the gleaming copper pipes.

That morning, it had been a plain little stone cookhouse with one chimney.

Now it was a big three-chimney kitchen, with sweet-smelling cedar shelves lining the walls, stocked with brass mixing bowls, jars of dried thyme and rows of polished ladles.

Down the middle of the room, three big stone hearths were roaring with steady birch fires, feeding heat to dozens of cast-iron cooktops lined up along both sides.

...And behind almost every one of those stoves stood a girl.

The kitchen was packed.

More than thirty of Aki’s girls had squeezed themselves in, with white linen aprons tied on over their leather tunics and hunting pants.

There were young archers, spear girls, the five new Shieldmaidens, who’d leaned their shields up against the doorframe, and even the Captain.

Every single one of them was staring at the front counter with wide reverent slightly terrified eyes, like they were about to witness some ancient ritual instead of a row of iron pots.

Standing at the front row of stoves, side by side like a set of mismatched guards, were Aki, Elowynn and Ther’Abella.

Ther’Abella looked completely ridiculous in an apron.

She’d flatly refused to take off her armor, so the white linen bib was strapped awkwardly across her breastplate and tied behind her waist in a crooked lopsided knot.

Her long silver hair was tied back with a spare bowstring, and she was holding a heavy wooden spoon like it was a dagger, gripping it so hard in a reverse grip that her knuckles were white.

Her cold blue eyes were staring down at the small iron pot over her burner, but her mind was miles away.

’They think I’m here to learn how to keep house,’ Ther’Abella thought, her teeth clicking together behind her tight lips as a dark venomous spark lit up in her eyes. ’They think I care about caramelizing leeks or balancing honey glazes! Fools, all of them! I’m here for one reason and one reason only... revenge!’

A wicked twitch tugged at the corner of her mouth as her imagination took off.

’Once I learn how to make their soups and stews... once I learn how to hide a taste inside another one... I’ll cook something special, just for him,’ she plotted, her constellation marks pulsing with a faint mischievous light. ’Weeping-spore root... Bitter nightshade... A big pinch of everything that grows in a swamp. I’ll serve it to him with a smile, and that arrogant usurper will take one big swallow... and then down he goes! Flat on the floor, clutching his stomach, rolling around and groaning while I stand over him and laugh! For every time he’s carried me like a sack of potatoes! For every time he’s laughed at me! For the spoon!’

The sheer petty perfection of the plan bubbled up in her chest so hard that a tiny breathless snort escaped her nose.

"Pfft... hehe... hehehe..."

She had to bite her tongue until it hurt to keep from bursting into a high-pitched cackle right in front of the soup ladles.

The archer at the next stove slowly scooted half a step away from her.

At the stove beside her, Elowynn Embershade was caught up in a completely different kind of madness.

The tall redhead had tied her apron on snugly, and the white cloth hugged her narrow waist and generous curves, while her long red braid hung over her shoulder.

She was leaning on the cool edge of the stone counter with both forearms, staring at the iron pot in front of her without blinking, her amethyst eyes swirling with deep obsessive concentration.

’I have to master this,’ Elowynn thought, her heart thudding with heavy determination. ’I don’t care if my fingers smell like garlic for a month. I saw his face at lunch. I saw how his eyes lit up when he ate that little chef’s stew... He looked at her like she was the warmest fire in the whole world...’

Her fingers drummed against the counter, and she caught her lower lip between her teeth.

’I can blow a monster apart with a snap of my fingers,’ she reminded herself with sharp burning resolve. ’I’ve sailed through storms and crossed blades with Morwenna more times than I can count... If I can keep my fire under control on the deck of a rolling ship, I can figure out how to make food that makes Silas smile at me like that. I’m going to learn every single recipe that girl knows... and then I’m going to make him a dinner so good he won’t be able to keep his hands off me.’

To Elowynn’s left, Aki was having a quiet romantic crisis of her own.

She was swaying gently back and forth in her boots with her arms loosely wrapped around her waist, completely oblivious to the fire under her stove.

Her long blue hair drifted softly across her shoulders, and her chest rose and fell in slow dreamy breaths.

Her cheeks were dusted with a permanent glowing strawberry pink, her azure eyes were staring blankly at her pot, and a faint blissful completely vacant smile was curling her lips.

’Silas sitting by the window...’ Aki daydreamed, her toes curling happily inside her boots. ’The snow falling outside, the fire crackling... and I walk in wearing a pretty little apron, carrying a bowl of stew and some warm biscuits I made all by myself... He takes a bite, his eyes go wide, and he looks up at me with that gorgeous smile... "Aki," he says, in that low warm voice, "this is the best thing I’ve ever eaten..." And then he pulls me down into his lap right there by the fire, and he...’

"Ehehe..."

Aki let out a soft dreamy squeak and pressed both hands against her burning cheeks, squirming in place, completely lost in her own fantasy... then she said, out loud and very dreamily.

"Oh, Silas... not in front of the stove..."

Elowynn and Ther’Abella both slowly turned to look at her.

"My Lady?" Ther’Abella said.

Aki was too busy squirming to hear her.

...At the front of the kitchen, behind a raised oak chopping block that had been scrubbed until the grain shone, stood Kaelia.

Blessed Land’s S-Rank Chef had completely recovered her composure, and she’d stepped straight into her element with quiet formidable authority.

She wore a crisp white chef’s coat buttoned up to her throat, her dark hair was tucked neatly under a pleated linen cap, and a clean white towel was tucked into her apron string.

The flour smudge from that morning was gone, and her face looked surprisingly professional.

She clapped her small hands together.

CLAP!

The sharp crisp sound cut through the murmuring of thirty nervous girls like a silver bell and snapped everyone to attention.

Aki jumped and quickly smoothed down the front of her apron, Ther’Abella stiffened her spine, and Elowynn leaned forward with laser focus.

"Welcome to your very first cooking lesson, everyone," Kaelia began, her voice sweet and clear and carrying the unmistakable ring of someone who knew exactly what she was doing. "Before we talk about glazes, stews or anything fancy, we’re going to start with the most basic thing there is..."

She reached into a wooden crate beside her chopping board, lifted out a smooth pale brown egg and held it up between her thumb and forefinger for the whole room to see.

"The boiled egg," Kaelia announced with solemn seriousness. "A lot of people think it’s easy but it’s really a test of heat, timing and water. If you can’t boil an egg, you’ve got no business touching a good cut of meat..."

A murmur of nervous awe rippled through the rows of archers and Shieldmaidens.

"Each of you has an egg and an iron pot," Kaelia went on, pointing at the bowls sitting at every stove. "Put the egg in the pot, add water from your pitcher, set your fire to a gentle simmer and then put the lid on... Once the lid’s on, don’t take it off until I come check your stove. A good cook learns to judge what’s happening inside the pot by the sound and the steam, not by lifting the lid every five seconds and letting all the heat out!"

"Yes, Chef!" thirty girls chorused, raggedly and nervously.

The kitchen instantly burst into a flurry of frantic chaotic movement.

Pitchers were tipped, ladles clattered against stone, and the heavy hollow thud of iron lids slamming down onto pots echoed all through the room.

KLANG! KLATTER! KLONK!

Within moments, thirty iron lids were sitting firmly on top of thirty pots, hiding whatever was inside.

Kaelia pulled the towel out of her apron, draped it over her left forearm and started a slow careful march down the middle aisle between the stoves.

She moved with calm watchful eyes, stopping at each stove, resting a hand lightly on the lid to feel it rattle and then lifting it with a smooth practiced flick of her wrist to peek inside.

"Good water," Kaelia told a young archer at the first stove, nodding approvingly. "Your simmer’s a little strong, so turn your damper down a bit, but the egg’s covered. That’s fine..."

"Thank you, Chef!" the archer gasped with relief.

Kaelia moved on to the second stove and checked the pot belonging to one of the new Shieldmaidens.

"Very nice," Kaelia said. "Gentle little bubbles... You’ve got steady hands."

The Shieldmaiden beamed and puffed out her chest like she’d just been handed a medal for bravery.

Stove by stove, Kaelia worked her way down the line.

Most of Aki’s girls had learned enough from surviving in the wilds to get through it without disaster.

Their water was fine, their fires were steady enough, and their eggs were bobbing along in the hot water exactly the way they were supposed to then Kaelia got to the front row.

She stopped right in front of Ther’Abella’s stove.

The silver-haired elf was still standing in her rigid fighting stance with her chin held high and her eyes fixed on the far wall with lofty superior boredom.

Her hands were folded over the end of her wooden spoon, and she was breathing slowly and evenly, like she’d already won.

Underneath her pot, though, the fire was roaring like a blacksmith’s furnace.

A strange dry sizzling sound was drifting out from under her lid, along with a thick dark ribbon of gray smoke that smelled very distinctly of burnt eggshell and scorched stone.

TSSSSSSSSS...

Kaelia’s delicate eyebrows knitted together.

She reached out with her towel-wrapped hand and lifted the heavy iron lid.

SKREEEK!

Kaelia looked down into the pot.

...There was no water... There wasn’t a single drop of anything inside the pot...

At the bottom of the bone-dry glowing-red iron, one lonely pale egg was rolling around in frantic little circles.

The bottom of its shell was completely black and smoking furiously, and tiny cracks were spreading across it with sharp little snaps.

POP!

The egg was roasting on bare iron like a rock someone had tossed into a campfire.

Kaelia slowly turned her head and looked up at the proud elf with wide completely bewildered eyes.

"Ther’Abella..." Kaelia said, her sweet voice full of gentle concern. "W-where’s the water?"

Ther’Abella blinked, and her eyes dropped down to her pot for the first time in ten minutes.

She stared at the smoking blackened egg rolling around in the dry pot, and her mind ground to a complete halt.

A violent wave of crimson rushed up her neck and flooded her cheeks, her nose and the tips of her long pointed ears.

"I... well..." Ther’Abella stammered, her dignity shattering into a million pieces as her hands tightened around the wooden spoon. "I-I put a perfectly adequate amount of water in the pot before I lit the fire!"

"There’s maybe three drops left around the rim," Kaelia pointed out with innocent brutal accuracy, pointing a small finger into the smoking pot. "Did you... did you only put in one spoonful?"

"I-it was an elven technique!" Ther’Abella protested, her voice jumping an octave as her constellation marks flickered frantically. "Where I come from, we use the moisture in the air! The water in the pot was supposed t-to make its own steam!"

The egg rolled over in the pot and let out another sad little pop.

POP!

Kaelia tilted her head, blinking with complete guileless curiosity.

She looked up at the tall silver-haired warrior, at the constellation marks on her cheeks, her fine elven armor and the aura of age and authority coming off her.

"Ther’Abella..." Kaelia asked softly, without the slightest bit of malice. "How old are you?"

Ther’Abella’s jaw tightened, and her chin lifted on reflex.

"I’m... a warrior of the Viridian Guard," Ther’Abella declared, her voice trembling a little with buried shame. "I’m... a-around 700 years old."

Kaelia blinked twice.

Her small mouth fell open a little, and her head tilted to the other side as she stared up at the seven-hundred-year-old warrior with pure unfiltered bewilderment.

"And you still can’t boil an egg?" Kaelia asked.

[Author’s Note]

Heh, I received a spacecraft and these are all of the Bonus Chapters for it! Thank you for the gifts as well as your golden tickets, I cherish every single one and I’m glad you’re supporting the book.

Well I’m just making a bit of an announcement that for Halloween, There will be a special coming out. It’ll most probably be in Volume 0 so it’s free for everyone to see, I hope you all check it out and enjoy it when it comes out of course.