Amelia the Level Zero Hero

Chapter 184

Edlyn changed her mind. This was definitely the worst choice she had ever made in her life. She should not have come here to Wolfwater— she shouldn’t have cared about her family, her country, or her friends. In fact, she should have just told King Jalen to surrender himself over to the Kingdom of Kal there and then.

Because now she had to deal with this abomination of a human being.

“Glad to see you’re finally awake,” Amelia shouted over the clamoring in the room.

Her hands were on her hips, and she stood not too far away from the [Royal Chef]. Yet, she was still shouting. But even more than that, Edlyn could barely even hear the brown-haired woman.

The [Chef] was told to come to Bucky’s Out of this World Restaurant located in the corner of Wolfwater. After mustering up the courage needed to even leave the farm, Edlyn eventually found the restaurant and took a step in—

Only to be greeted by this scene of a cacophonous crowd gathered in the room.

That made Edlyn stop in her tracks. It made her freeze where she stood, jaw hanging agape in shock.

As a [Chef], she had worked in many restaurants in her life. She had seen many different crowds of people. So she knew what there was to expect. But she never expected… this. Whatever this was.

No— Edlyn wasn’t faced with a large crowd that could fill out even the largest ballrooms of the Astra Palace. She had seen plenty of such crowds before in her life. That was a normal sight to her considering that she was the most decorated [Royal Chef] in all of the Astrad Kingdom.

It wasn’t a small crowd either. Seeing an empty restaurant wasn’t an unusual sight. Edlyn didn’t come out of the womb as a high-leveled [Chef]. She had to grind her way up to where she was now. And that meant she had worked in many restaurants, with many of them barely even attracting a crowd back when she was still an [Apprentice Chef].

Now, what Edlyn saw was something she had never seen before in her life. It shocked her more than seeing Amelia defeat the [Knights of the Astral Order] without even touching them. It seemed to be a common trend, but everything Edlyn witnessed since meeting Amelia had been almost completely insane.

And this was no different.

Amelia stood there, in the center of the room, covered in giant buzzing bees. There had to have been at least a hundred of them— each one the size of Edlyn’s fist. And they were angrily stinging the brown-haired woman as she stood there without any care in the world.

“Yeah, the restaurant is empty today,” Amelia said as she gestured at the vacant room. “We had a little bit of an incident, so we can’t open back up just yet.”

“An incident?” Edlyn just blinked.

And Amelia gestured vaguely around herself— at the giant bees swarming her. “This incident.”

“Oh.”

The [Royal Chef] just stared blankly back at the swarm attacking the brown-haired woman. It took a minute, but Edlyn gathered her wits about and asked the question in her mind.

“What are… they?”

“They’re bastion bees,” Amelia replied simply. “Baby bastion bees, to be exact.”

“Bastion bees? As in— the sacred monsters?” Edlyn wasn’t even sure how to react anymore. Her head spun, and she didn’t know if that was from the spinning swarm of the baby bastion bees or because of what Amelia just said.

“Yeah, they help me make honey for my curry,” the brown-haired woman said with a shrug.

“I… see.” The [Royal Chef] certainly could see that. After all, she knew where honey came from. Although, she didn’t exactly know what a curry was.

But she shook her head as she dismissed the thought. There were other pressing matters to ask. Like for example—

“And why are these bastion bees attacking you?”

“Hell if I know,” Amelia scoffed.

“Hell? What’s—” Edlyn started.

“All I know is that they’re mad at me,” the brown-haired woman continued, ignoring the question. “And I’m waiting for them to calm down before I reopen the restaurant.”

The [Royal Chef] frowned, looking Amelia up and down. “And do you, uh, know when they’ll calm down?”

“Nope.”

“Right…” Edlyn pursed her lower lips at the answer.

“But they’ve been at this for a day,” Amelia said optimistically. “So surely they’ll calm down soon, right?”

Unbeknownst to her…

—---

Attack! Destroy the invader! the baby queen bastion bee sent the buzz of command throughout her swarm.

They were winning. She was certain they were going to defeat this monstrous beast. It was a difficult battle— especially after they had been assailed by the deadly environment around them just before that. So they were all fatigued, partially injured by the terrible heatwave that had swept across their home.

But then their safety barrier had been breached just after that. Their impenetrable wall that protected them from the wretches of the outside world was taken down. That was when the baby queen bastion bee gathered her forces to repel this invader.

While she didn’t have a name quite yet, she wasn’t too young to lead her people in battle. Her caretaker was against it. The baby queen bastion bee didn’t get it, and she didn’t care either. She was the one who was in charge. And she knew they were going to come out as victorious.

After all, why else would she be growing even stronger with each passing moment she attacked the brown-haired monster?

So she would persist. She would continue her onslaught of attacks. Even as she grew tired, she would never waver. She would not stop until she won.

And for her bravery, she was greatly rewarded.

[You have leveled up! You are now Level 7!]

[You have leveled up! You are now Level 8!]

[You have leveled up! You are now Level 9!]

…

This was why she was able to keep going— each time she faltered, these blue boxes would come and save her, giving her the to continue this effort. Until the invader was dead.

—--

“They’re going to run out of energy eventually,” Amelia said, nodding reassuringly to herself.

Edlyn bit her lower lip. She wanted to argue against it, but she decided to remain quiet. Instead, she stood there quietly as Amelia shrugged.

“Anyways, while the restaurant is closed, you should take your time to familiarize yourself with the kitchen— learn a few of the recipes. Maybe even introduce yourself to the other staff.”

“Right… I’m here to work, after all,” Edlyn said as she lowered her head. She was so focused on the task given to her by King Jalen, she almost forgot about the ostensible reason why she was here.

So she nodded and started towards the kitchen, keeping a wide berth away from Amelia and the swarm of bastion bees in the process.

“I’ll just make my way here—” she excused herself.

And Amelia waved a hand dismissively. “Sure. And I’ll be outside. If you need anything, call me really, really, really loudly. I can barely hear anything because of… all this.”

Edlyn just steeled herself as she stepped up to the bar. Behind her, her new employer exited the room. And the [Royal Chef] just stared at the doorway leading into the kitchen.

She was dreading meeting her fellow employees here in Bucky’s Out of this World Restaurant. After all, whoever was working for Amelia probably had a few screws loose. At the very least, no sane person would willingly want to work in an establishment like this, where a swarm of baby bastion bees attacking the owner was considered the norm.

It took her all her strength to even step foot into the kitchen. There, she immediately caught sight of three men gathered together at the back of the room. She shuffled her way up to them as she kept her head low.

Calm down, she told herself. Nicole was very nice. Just because these people are working for Amelia, doesn’t mean they’re crazy like her.

“Hey, are you the new [Chef]?” a young man called out.

Edlyn looked up to face him. He had short brown hair, and his skin was rough and calloused. Like he had previously been either a [Warrior] or a [Farmer]. He proffered a hand to her as he smiled.

“My name is Harlan. I’m the head server here. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“I’m, uh, Edlyn,” she said as she shook his hand. Her eyes flickered up to meet his gaze for a moment, before she looked past him.

A second man came forward as Harlan stepped to the side. He had long blond locks that fell past his shoulders, and he looked to be about a decade or so older than her.

“I’m Arthur, the bartender. And I must apologize for what you had to witness earlier.”

“What I…?” Edlyn raised a brow.

And Arthur chuckled, gesturing past the [Royal Chef]. “What happened with Amelia. It was really surprising for all of us, and I’m sure it must be quite the surreal sight for most normal people.”

Edlyn frowned in return. “Normal people?”

“Oh, sorry, I didn’t mean it as an insult. I just meant that what happens around Amelia might seem quite insane from the perspective of someone who doesn’t know her.” Arthur scratched the back of his head apologetically.

“I didn’t take it as an insult,” the [Royal Chef] replied as she slowly raised her gaze. She looked between both Arthur and Harlan. “I was just… you both—”

They exchanged a glance. “We?” They repeated after her.

Edlyn sighed as her shoulders sagged. She didn’t know how else to describe it, so she just out and said it, “You both seem… relatively normal.”

Harlan blinked for a moment, before guffawing. He wrapped an arm around Arthur’s shoulder as he shook his head.

“That’s because we are just a couple of normal guys, right Arthur?”

“...right,” the bartender agreed not-too-enthusiastically.

“I didn’t mean it as an insult, either,” Edlyn quickly clarified. “I think it’s a good thing that you’re both normal.”

She wanted to sigh in relief. By the Thrones, am I actually going to be working with ordinary individuals? Am I going to be spared from working with absolute lunatics?

Edlyn shook her head and looked back up. There was still one more man standing here. She looked towards him as she narrowed her eyes.

“What about you?” she asked. “What’s your name?”

Harlan and Arthur stepped back as the third man drew forward to introduce himself. Immediately, Edlyn noticed that he had pointed ears— that he was an elf. Which was slightly unusual. But she tried to ignore that little detail until he opened his mouth.

“I am Jax the Forsaken Archer,” the elf said as he crossed his arms. “And I am a temporary waiter at this establishment.

“Jax the…?” Edlyn’s eyes crossed. It seemed she was wrong— she was still able to react to the insanity of Amelia and this restaurant.

She stared at him for a long moment, before she dropped to the ground and closed her eyes. All three men stared at her in confusion as she muttered wildly to herself.

“I knew it was too good to be true… I knew it…”

And Jax just gestured at her, glancing towards Arthur and Harlan. “Is this girl crazy? What’s wrong with her?”

The two human men just shrugged in response.