“Anything I can help you with?” Bartoli inquired; meanwhile, she hurriedly greeted him with a wizard’s standard bow.
“Oh, hey!” Wizard Alberta replied; his attention was obviously too occupied with the smell, “Hello there! My name is Alberta. If you don’t mind me asking, what are you cooking right now?”
Bartoli didn’t seem to catch on, “Um… I’m not sure what you mean by that question…”
“Please, can we have a conversation inside?”
All this time, Wizard Alberta’s had his eyes fixed towards the source of the smell. He wasn’t even looking at Bartoli when she greeted him. But, when he requested her to invite him in, the expression he had… It was sincere. It was so humble, it felt like it should’ve not come from an intermediate wizard.
Bartoli was a little annoyed with this intrusion, though, “Sorry, but I’m just a housekeeper, Without a legitimate reason to let you in, my master will not be pleased.”
Truth be told, Abel was in a good mood today. He probably wouldn’t mind to let Wizard Alberta in, but Bartoli just didn’t feel like letting Wizard Alberta get his way. Honestly, Wizard Alberta wouldn’t know if she was deliberately keeping him out of the door. He was still trying to process the fact that Abel had an intermediate wizard as his housekeeper.
“A legitimate reason, uh…” Wizard Alberta scratched his head, “Just hear me out, alright? It might sound weird, but bear with me.”
“I happen to live next to you all, you see. A few days ago, I started smelling some great food coming from your yard. I’ve got to say, you do some excellent cooking over here. Every day, I can’t help but snort at the good smell that’s in the air to the point that any other food I consume feels tasteless…”
At this point, Bartoli was more annoyed than surprised by the explanation, “Well, my master’s been teaching me some cooking skills lately. Now, if you’ll excuse me, please come by at another time. ”
“Erm … Could you please sell me some food, I can buy it with points!” Wizard Alberta pleaded.
Abel’s voice suddenly came and interrupted, “Just give some to him for free! Ask him to leave after.”
“Yes, Master!” Bartoli replied. As the obedient housekeeper she was, she walked back to the house, picked up one steamed egg (the plainest dish), packed it in a box, and walked out with it in his hand.
“Here!” she said unwillingly.
“Thank you so much!” Wizard Alberta took the box over in joy, “Now, how many points should I pay?”
“Thank you, but it’s fine! Please, just leave us now!”
Just like that. After Bartoli shut the door on Wizard Alberta, he was left alone at the front entrance. He might’ve been a respected figure in Liante City, but to be fair, his behavior just then was no different from that of a beggar. It made sense that he would be shooed away like this but by a housekeeper? Guess that showed how significant Abel’s status was.
Whatever. Bartoli might’ve not been very polite back there, but Wizard Alberta got the food that he was after. After suffering from injuries from his latest missions, he didn’t have a lot to do in his pastimes. Recently, the only thing that hooked his interest was the food that he kept smelling.
Of course, he tried to keep it in at the start. He tried to ignore the smell, but he quickly noticed that something was wrong. Even the spiritual beast meat he bought was starting to taste bland. His regular meals just felt boring. It felt like a chore to eat normal food. Something was getting on his nerves.
He first suspected the smell to contain some sort of poison. Yet, after using various means to test this hypothesis, he couldn’t find that anything wrong. He tried drinking antidote for poison, but it didn’t help. He still couldn’t enjoy the food that he had.
With no solution at all, he was left with one choice. He was desperate, so he didn’t mind being called cheeky or other things. He had an urgent need, a need that he wouldn’t care to spend quite some points over.
After walking back into his house, Wizard Alberta first placed the container on the table. When he opened it, he almost fainted from the good smell that was coming out.
It was incredible. He kept on telling himself to wait. As he lingered onto his sanity, he reached for a wooden bowl to put the steamed egg in. Instead of digging in, he took out a circle board that could determine whether the food was harmful. Then, after carefully picking out a tiny piece from the steamed egg, he put the tiny piece on top of the circle.
There was no reaction.
“It’s not poisoned!”
Wizard Alberta cried out enthusiastically. If the food was really poisoned, he would’ve had to look for another way to satisfy his hunger.
“Now, time to do some tasting tests.”
When he put a spoonful of the egg inside his mouth, his jaw almost dropped from how delicious it was. It was truly a blessing. He was about three hundred years old now, but he’s never had an experience like this before.
Suddenly, he heard a loud banging from his door.
“Ugh, so annoying!” Wizard Alberta dropped the spoon to open the door. It was probably his neighbor. He always had the habit of being a bother during lunch.
“You still alive, Alberta?”
That’s the first question that the middle-aged knight asked when Wizard Alberta opened the door for him. Needless to say, it was not a polite thing to ask. Wizard Alberta’s injuries were quite bad, and he sure didn’t want anyone familiar to find out about it.
To give a bit of introduction, the man that came was Head Commander Lange. He was the captain of the Warhammer Adventure Team, the same team that Wizard Alberta was in. The two were really good friends, so he didn’t bother with any formality.
“It smells so delicious!” Head commander Lange sighed over the smell of the steamed egg.
Due to his injury, Wizard Alberta couldn’t move fast enough to stop Lange, “Hey, hey hey hey! Don’t touch that bowl!”
Head Commander Lange was already stuffing a big spoonful in his mouth, “Mmmmm. It smells great, there’s no doubt about that. It’s not quite enough, though, don’t you think? No wonder your health is on a decline. You can’t be thinking about having one egg as your entire meal.”
Suddenly, as Lange was still mouthing about how Alberta wasn’t taking care of his own health, tears started flowing down his cheeks. It’s weird. Despite all that’s happened in his life, Lange hadn’t cried in years. Actually, he was starting to feel something. It was a feeling that he hadn’t felt ever since he became a knight.
“AGGHHHH! My goddamn egg!”
A heart-wrenching voice echoed could be heard across the entire building. Then, with one instant movement, Wizard Alberta snatched the spoon from Lange.
Head Commander Lange shrugged after he wiped away his tears, “That’s a bit stingy, man. You should’ve told me if you’re having food this good.”
Wizard Alberta was literally staring at Lange, “Listen, alright? I bought this food with my own points. Besides, I am sick. You shouldn’t steal food from a sick person. Didn’t your mother ever teach you that?”
“Alright, alright! It’s yours! Gee, don’t bring my mother into this!” Head commander Lange raised his arms to surrender, “Actually, where did you buy it from? Did you cook it from the raw ingredients you’ve bought?”
Wizard Alberta replied as he continued to eat the egg, “It was done by an intermediate wizard housekeeper next door. From the way she said it, she’s learned it from her master.”
