Amelia the Level Zero Hero

Chapter 187

It was the first official day of the reopening of Bucky’s Out of this World Restaurant. It had only been a few days since it closed because of Amelia’s absence, but it had felt like weeks had gone by.

A lot had happened. Or at the very least, Noele experienced some drastic changes in just a few days. She had been betrayed by one of her first ever idols, then she was left in a near-death state for a prolonged period of time, before she finally underwent a Class advancement.

Now, she was a [Champion Spellsword], and Nicholas the Noble Knight was dead. It was a lot, to the blonde girl. She had recounted the entire situation to her master— together, they had hypothesized that the Sect of the Abyssal Thorns was after the Noble Spellsword. And now, Amelia was trying to concoct some manner of a plan to ensure that something like this never happened again.

So Noele had explained everything. Except, she didn’t. Because there was one crucial part of the story she had omitted.

And it was the simple fact that she had accepted her Class advancement.

It didn’t sound like such a big deal. In fact, it shouldn’t have really mattered. Noele had already spoken to Amelia about becoming a [Champion Spellsword] back when the option had first been presented to the blonde girl. But still, something felt off.

For whatever reason, Noele felt like she had done something wrong. And she wasn’t sure why she felt that way. That was why she was here at Bucky’s Out of this World Restaurant first thing in the morning. She had wanted to catch Amelia before a large crowd gathered there. But…

“That’s a lot of people,” the blonde girl whistled as she stared at the queue waiting outside of the restaurant.

There were dozens of people already here, waiting for Bucky’s Out of this World Restaurant to open. Many of them were familiar faces— [Farmers] and [Traders] who lived in Wolfwater. But there were plenty others who looked like they were passing travelers or visitors who heard about the infamous restaurant.

“I guess Amelia’s got a bigger reputation than I thought.” Noele shook her head, before getting in line behind the queue.

As Amelia’s apprentice, Noele knew she could just cut the line and enter the restaurant whenever she pleased. But she didn’t want to do that. Because that would be rude. So she waited as the doors of the restaurant finally swung open, and a busy day at Bucky’s Out of this World Restaurant began.

—--

Edlyn watched as the double doors swung open, and the crowd waiting outside of the restaurant began to shuffle in. Normally, a [Chef] working in a restaurant would never meet the customers other than in special circumstances. But this was a special circumstance.

Amelia was introducing everyone who was entering the restaurant to the brand new [Chef] working here. And Edlyn was just nodding politely as she greeted each and every single customer. Most [Chefs] wouldn’t really know how to react. But fortunately, Edlyn was a [Royal Chef], so she was used to talking to her diners.

“So you’re Edlyn, huh? Mama has told me a lot about you.” A blonde girl strode up with a smile on her face. She proffered a hand. “I’m Noele the Noble Spellsword. A-ranked adventurer.”

“You’re an A-ranked adventurer?” Edlyn blinked, staring at Noele for a moment. “And you’re just casually dining here?”

“Well, I am Amelia’s apprentice,” Noele said as she scratched the back of her head.

“I… see.” The [Royal Chef] thought she’d be more surprised upon hearing that. But she barely even visibly reacted, other than a moment’s pause. “Hopefully my cooking will live up to your master’s standards.”

The blonde girl just shrugged in response as she walked up to a chair. “That won’t be hard. Amelia’s really not the best cook around.”

“Not the best…?” Edlyn flinched, hearing Noele insult Amelia just like that.

The [Royal Chef] glanced over to the side— where Amelia was standing. Clearly, the brown-haired woman heard the insult. But all she did was snort in response.

And Edlyn turned around and watched as Noele took a seat. For a moment, the [Royal Chef] just stared silently as more customers funneled in around her.

Amelia… really doesn’t care, does she? Edlyn thought as she pursed her lips. She felt like she was starting to understand that monster now. It almost felt Amelia really didn’t care about anything except for running her restaurant.

A restaurant which attracted quite an eclectic group of people. So much so that Edlyn wasn’t even phased by seeing an A-ranked adventurer here.

Maybe Harlan is right, the [Royal Chef] thought as she closed her eyes. Maybe I really am starting to get desensitized to all this insanity.

And that only meant one thing— that Edlyn was starting to go insane too.

—--

Edlyn was a good worker. As I expected, her cooking was far superior to my own. I spent all of yesterday teaching her the individual recipes of every item on the menu— and she critiqued them all, giving me ways to improve on them.

Well, that was a bit of an over exaggeration. There were some recipes she couldn’t improve. But that was because those were the recipes Xakor had given me while he had been staying here. Particularly, for the savis cube and the other dishes he introduced to the restaurant. But as for everything I had brought over from Earth…

The [Royal Chef] was a lot milder in her criticisms at the start, before opening up towards the end, where she pretty much called me a terrible chef. She was still scared of me— I could tell. But much of her fear of me had been assuaged just from us spending a whole day cooking together.

There wasn’t much else I could do to change her mind. I knew that even if I told her that I wasn’t actually as terrifying as she thought, she wouldn’t believe me. I just had to prove it through my actions.

Anyways, once we greeted the morning crowd, both Edlyn and I returned to the kitchen to begin our work for the day. As I expected, we drew in more customers today than we have in months. The last time we brought in such a crowd was when Xakor had still been here, using his fame to bring attention to my restaurant.

But that crowd back then was mostly there for him. This time around, they were here for me.

I almost smiled knowing that. It was nice to finally bear the fruits of my labor. I had spent months trying to build up this restaurant, and now, I could relax— at least, a little bit. I didn’t need to spend all my time cooking for the restaurant. I could actually take breaks, now that I had a [Chef] working with me.

I also didn’t need to work so hard on marketing my restaurant anymore. Of course, I still needed to go around pulling a few marketing stunts— like hiring Jax for a little bit, or telling everyone that a [Royal Chef] was working here now. But otherwise, I didn’t need to put in nearly as much effort as I did back when I first opened up this restaurant.

The day went on, and Edlyn went on her early lunch break some time before noon. When she returned, it was my turn to take a break as she took over the cooking for the crowd of lunch-goers. I tried to reassure her that I could handle it, and she could take an extended break.

But I guess the [Royal Chef] wanted to prove herself to me, because she insisted on handling the lunch shift. So I stepped outside of the restaurant, giving a wide berth from the large gathered crowd. Apparently, Harlan hadn’t just been relaxing and enjoying himself while I had been at Astral.

He had gone out and bought a bunch more tables and chairs to set out outside of the restaurant to help us handle a larger volume of customers than we were previously able to handle. So I had to step a few hundred feet away from my restaurant, hiding behind a tree so I wouldn’t be bothered by any passersby or sidelong glances. I sat down and began to dig into my lunch.

“This is really good…” I muttered to myself as I munched on the bowl of pilaf. It was some of the leftovers of Edlyn’s cooking. She was definitely a much better cook than me.

In fact, I would go as far as to say that it was better than any pilaf I ever had back on Earth. So not only did she improve on my recipe, but she improved on the recipe as a whole. Which I was very much impressed by.

I closed my eyes as I savored the food and the silence. It was nice— being able to relax. But I had to wonder…

“What happened to the bastion bees?” I asked no one in particular as I raised my head fractionally. “They haven’t bothered me since yesterday.”

—--

And in the bastion bee hive, the baby queen bastion bee was celebrating. We won!

Her thoughts were transmitted across her army of valiant soldiers. After what felt like an eternity of battle, defending her hive from that invader, they had emerged victorious. Or so she was told.

The baby queen bastion bee had passed out because she had been given an option to evolve. She had managed to become something even more— to become a [Lesser Bastion Bee] from a [Bastion Bee Larva]. But because of that, she wasn’t able to witness the death of the invader.

But her loyal advisor— one of the nursing bees her mother had apparently assigned to her— informed her that she was victorious. So the baby queen bastion bee celebrated. She threw a grand party in commemoration of her first ever battle and first every victory.

All of her people feasted with her, stuffing themselves with their royal honey. And they would continue to celebrate, drunk in their victory.

And watching from the side were the adult bastion bees. Each of them exchanged a nervous glance, unsure how long their lie was going to keep up— unsure how to resolve this misunderstanding. But for now, at least they managed to delay the problem for a little bit longer.

—-

I sat there in the shade, my finished bowl of pilaf set to the side, and hearing the muffled voices and laughter of the crowd in the distance. I was just resting— relaxing. It hadn’t even been half an hour yet since I stepped out, so I still had time before my break ended.

But as I leant against the tree, I heard a soft set of footsteps approach me. I looked up and spotted a shadow looming over me. I recognized who it was immediately. I cracked one eye closed as I relaxed, lying back down casually.

“Do you need something, Noele?” I asked as I glanced towards the blonde girl with only one eye open.

“I—” She opened her mouth, then caught herself. She bit her lower lip as she shifted uncomfortably before me. She looked down at my empty bowl, before sighing. “Are you busy right now?”

“Do I look like I’m busy?” I scoffed.

Noele drew her lips into a thin line, not answering my question. I rolled my eyes as i got back to my feet.

“I’m not busy, no,” I said simply.

“Right…” she trailed off.

I raised a brow expectantly. But Noele didn’t give an immediately answer. She just shook her head as she steeled herself, before meeting my gaze.

“Amelia,” she said softly. Her voice barely was a whisper. “We need to talk.”

And I just stared flatly back at her. “...alright? You don’t need to be so dramatic. Just say it.”