Chapter 210

Chapter 210

For now, I stepped out of the kitchen and let Edlyn return to continue cooking. She was both a better and far more efficient cook than me, so that was why I chose to excuse myself. Now, it might have seemed cruel for me to go and take a break while forcing my employee to take on my workload. However, not only did she actually enjoy cooking and trying out my unique recipes, but I also would have preferred to continue working in the kitchen. Unfortunately, I had a far more important task— a far more boring task.

And that was to lead the baby bastion bees out of the kitchen. Now, while they were bees— so they didn’t feast on anything besides pollen and honey— they could still contaminate the food here. I didn’t want that. But I also couldn’t really communicate with the baby bastion bees as of right now. Because of that, I had no other choice.

I had to step out of the kitchen through the window and hide myself in their small stone fortress of a hive. The baby bastion bees followed their queen, and their queen followed me. And I wanted to keep them all out of view from my customers. That was why I excused myself to a place where nobody else could see me.

When I stepped inside, I saw the twelve nursing bees flitting about as they made walls and walls of honeycombs. I waved at them, then took a seat on the ground.

“Hey, how are you doing?” I asked casually.

The main nursing bee flitted down to meet me. She looked down at me, then she looked at the swarm of baby bastion bees accompanying me. The new queen was still resting on my shoulder, cuddling up to my neck as she made soft buzzing noises.

“Bzzzt... bzzzzzt...”

I eyed the relaxed expression she wore on her face, then I looked back up. The nursing bee gave me an apologetic look. I shook my head.

“It’s fine,” I said as I leant back against the rock wall. “I just have to figure this out somehow.”

I stared at the swarm of baby bastion bees. They buzzed cacophonously all around me, echoing in the small cave-like chamber.

“...yeah, I’m not getting any ideas.” I sighed as I closed my eyes.

I massaged my temples for a moment, trying to figure out a solution— a way to resolve this problem. Because I couldn’t just babysit the baby bastion bees forever. I had a job... a life I needed to get back to. While I understood that this was the obligation I had undertaken when I said I’d help look after the baby bastion bees, I wasn’t expecting it to be this much of a hassle.

An idle thought crossed my mind. That perhaps I should just send them back to their mother. However, I quickly dismissed it. That would be too cruel. After all, the baby bastion bees saw me as their protector right now. In a sense, I was like their mother.

“Then what do I do?” I muttered under my breath.

This was the most difficult challenge I had faced ever since arriving here in Vacuos. No matter how hard I tried to think things through, I came up with no way out of this problem other than waiting for the baby bastion bees to grow up. And that wasn’t a real solution...

“I—” I opened my mouth to wonder aloud idly to myself.

And then, to punctuate this point, Amelia had summoned the baby bastion bees in droves— to show that everyone and everything in this restaurant fully obeyed her.

So it wasn’t even Harlan’s words that convinced Edlyn to return to cooking. It was the clear and immediate threat Amelia had made to the [Royal Chef]. That was why Edlyn dragged her feet back into the kitchen, even if she wanted to flee from this farming town.

“If I escape, Amelia will find me,” Edlyn whispered as the pot began to froth at the edges. She stared blankly for a moment longer, then shook her head. “I have to stay... for the sake of the kingdom...”

She tried to find the resolve to continue working here in Bucky’s Out of this World Restaurant. As she did that, she moved the pot away from the burning fire, then began chopping up more fruits and vegetables.

But even as she mindlessly prepared dish after dish— a normally therapeutic act for her— no matter what Edlyn told herself, she could barely convince herself to stay here any longer.

“If even one more insane thing happened—” she started.

And then there was a flash of light coming from outside the window. Edlyn blinked, then paused what she was doing. She stared out the window, but saw nothing there. However, she was pretty sure the light came from the side of the window. So she had to poke her head out to see what it was.

“...do I even want to know what it was?” Edlyn asked herself hesitantly.

In response, she heard a loud crash. The ground shook, knocking over plates and pans from the kitchen counter. Edlyn caught herself, then took in a deep breath. She heard muffled shouts and screams coming from outside as a commotion grew in the common room.

“I have to check what it is,” she told herself as she walked up to the window.

She heard even more loud voices from outside, then she poked her head out of the window.

“I have seen... a lot since I’ve arrived here. It can’t be that bad—”

And Edlyn froze at what she saw. A massive crimson figure was lying in a crater right outside of the restaurant. A small crowd had gathered by its side, whispering and pointing at it. It was a figure that Edlyn had never seen before in her entire life. But she took one look at those massive wings and those glistening scales, and she knew what it was lying there in an instant.

It was a Dragon.

Edlyn closed her eyes as she processed that sight. And then she fainted.