-SPLASH

"Whaaa!"

"Wake up; it's time to get ready."

At approximately 4 o'clock in the morning, Rodion abruptly roused Allen from his peaceful slumber by splashing icy cold water all over his face. The sudden shock of the liquid pouring onto his face made Allen alert, and he immediately shot up from his sleeping position. Although he had every right to be angry with Rodion for the unexpected wake-up call, Allen's emotions were overridden by his surprise at the fact that he had not realized Rodion was approaching. Usually, Allen's acute sense would have alerted him to the presence or any sound of even a footstep approaching him. Yet, much to his amazement, he had been completely oblivious to Rodion's approach.

"Why are you staring? Quick, follow me," Rodion said.

'This old man... who exactly is he?' Allen thought.

The previous night, Allen had been taught basic things like wiping tables, cleaning the attic, washing dishes, and delivering food orders, all of which he would do once the tavern was open.

Allen was ordered to get up at 4 in the morning. Rodion had said that if he couldn't get up by himself, he would throw water on his face. Allen just nodded, as he was sure that he could get up once Rodion came near him.

The tavern did look 5 meters wide, but it was bigger than Allen thought.

It had a small second floor containing three rooms. The second floor only covered the upper part of the place where customers ate, while the upper part of the kitchen was empty until the roof of the house. The first floor was divided into the customer's dining area and the kitchen. The customer area took up only 3 meters, while seven meters back was the kitchen.

In the center is the cooking area; a simple stone construction surrounds the burning wood, with a long stone hanging the metal cauldron over the fire. Then there are cupboards and various kinds of food hanging on the walls, such as meat, coconuts, and others. There were also multiple barrels where fruits and vegetables were placed.

Rodion took one of the logs in the corner of the room and set it upright on a rock. He split the log into four with an axe.

"Look, do this until the wood runs out," Rodion said.

Allen nodded and started splitting the wood,

"Wrong! You have to split it right down the middle! If the wood is too small, it won't burn for long. It won't burn deeply enough if you make it too big!"

He split the wood again as instructed.

"Don't just use your hand muscles! Also, use your upper arm muscles to lift, and slide your back when you lift the axe, when swinging you need to strengthen only your arm muscles!"

'This old man is so noisy.

About an hour passed, and Allen finished cutting all the wood while Rodion prepared something else.

"It's done," Allen said.

"Good, now come here."

A raised stone shelf was attached to the wall; Rodion used it as a table to prepare the ingredients.

" I'll teach you how to make that soup from that time. This is a recipe I got from an other-worlder; it's called Russian potato soup."

"What am I learning this for-"

"Because you have to help me when I cook! Just shut up and do what I ask!"

'This old man is really noisy.'

Rodion taught Allen to cook. Starting from scratch, everything. Because he wasn't very experienced, Allen was often scolded by Rodion.

"Oh my! You don't need to peel the body of the potato! You only need to peel the skin! I feel sorry for the potato farmer!"

"Don't split the leek so big! It needs to be smaller!"

"You cut the mushrooms too small! You're destroying the shape!"

Then on to the cooking process,

"Don't grill too big! The soup won't be cooked!"

"Put the wood in slowly until everything burns well!"

"Raise the hanger again, if it's too low the fire could get into the soup!"

Allen gradually felt his patience running out. His ears started to go deaf just from hearing the old man yelling and screaming beside him.

"It looks like it's done; turn off the flame and use the wind amnis to remove the smoke."

Allen drew a circle of amnis in front of him.

-FUUUSH

The wind came out of the sweet circle, blowing the smoke all over the room.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"

"Huh?! Didn't you tell me to use the amnis wind to get rid of the smoke!" shouted Allen, who had completely lost his temper.

"All you're doing is blowing the smoke all over the place! You're useless!"

Rodion quickly drew different wind amnis,

"Wind spirit, please gather all this smoke." All the scattered black smoke was sucked into Rodion's circle of amnis. Once the smoke went through the circle, it turned into small ash grains. The little ash was in Rodion's hands for him to throw out.

"You should learn this amnis later."

'Old man is such a pain in the ass,'

Rodion then poured his soup into a bowl, and tasted it.

"hmm... not bad."

Rodion then stood up and said,

"I'll take a quick shower; you turn on the oven first. What we need now is to keep all the ingredients warm,"

Rodion went to the room to the left of the kitchen. Allen put everything Rodion instructed into the oven made with brick and wood.

Allen then tried the soup.

"It's a bit bland,"

Allen then stood up, opened the cupboard; and took some spices and arranged them on the table.

"If I'm not mistaken, this tastes like the green leaves in the dungeon."

He added many new things to his cauldron without Rodion's knowledge. He often had to taste the soup because he didn't know the right amount.

Suddenly he felt another warmth inside him.

Without realizing it, he was happy.

While cooking, he thought of what new things he could make by adding other ingredients.

But as soon as he finished, Allen thought

'What the hell am I doing... what am I doing something like this for. What do I expect here? I woke up to water splashing, my ears hurting from the old man's shouting, my hands burning, and my sweat making my body sticky.

What's the point of all this, anyway?

After I cook, what then?

I'd better leave this place as soon as possible.'

-Knock knock

Someone knocked on the back door.

Allen put down his spoon and opened the door.

"Ah! Allen!" she was Susan, the little girl who also worked with Rodion. She was surprised that it wasn't master Rodion who opened the door.

"How did you know my name?"

"Eh?! You don't remember me?! I was the one who brought you food yesterday!"

"Oh, the little girl from yesterday."

"Umm can you step aside a bit? It's cold here."

Allen shifted his body, letting Susan into the kitchen.

"Aaaaaaaah... it's really very cosy here. Master's kitchen in the morning is the best. Unfortunately during the day, this place gets too hot."historical

Susan turned around and extended her hand to Allen,

"We haven't gotten to know each other properly yet. My name is Susan Lambert. What's your name?"

"Allen," Allen replied as he accepted her hand.

"Yup, nice to meet you."

The girl immediately turned around as soon as she smelled a good smell behind her.

"This smell... is master cooking something new?" she looked at the contents of the quart, there was the potato-mushroom soup that her master used to make there.

'Hmm... it's a normal soup. But why does it smell so good? Is it because I'm starving?' Susan thought.

"I'll have some," Susan took the pot and put it in the bowl. Allen looked at Susan carefully, he didn't know what came over him; he wanted to see Susan eat her food.

-Slurp

Susan ate a spoonful.

She didn't show any particular expression.

Then she ate another spoonful

She still showed any expression.

She spooned more soup into her mouth, this time faster and in a hurry. Until finally the soup ran out.

Susan put the soup down...

Then...

While she held her cheeks, she said

"THIS IS SO YUMMY ..!!!"

Susan's cheeks looked flushed, her eyes slightly teary, and her face overjoyed. So happy that the joy reached Allen, melting something frozen in his heart.

Allen remembered all his hard work to make that bowl of soup. He remembered how Rodion had berated him while making it. At first when Rodion ate the soup, he felt empty, as if his hard work had gone to waste. That's why he added some spices to the soup, which was the result.

Susan's expression as she enjoyed her meal was priceless. Allen painstakingly tried to hold back his tears. He looked at his hands, which were blistered, dirty, and smelled of spices. They were the hands that had produced the satisfaction and smile of the girl before him.

"Allen, what's wrong?"

Tears streamed down his face without him realizing it.

"Eh? No... This is..."

He was confused. What were the tears coming out of his eyes? He didn't feel anything sad; why did he need to cry? Why couldn't the tears stop when he didn't feel sad at all?

Allen didn't know then that it was the first time he cried from happiness.