This wasn't training.

This was torture.

I groaned as Hari struck me again with the wooden stick he was using in place of a sword. He was taking it very seriously, and now—on the second day since we'd started—I was beginning to understand just how poorly trained we really were.

I couldn't even land a hit. Every time I swung, I left myself wide open for a counter.

"Trev, you need to make sure you're not leaving your side open like that. What if I had a dagger? You'd be dead," Hari said, tapping me for what felt like the hundredth time.

I was frustrated. It felt like everything I'd learned was wrong. And if that were the case—why had we been taught anything at all?

I swung again, too wide. Hari stepped casually to the side and tapped me on the back.

"They really didn't teach you much, did they?" he sighed. "That's okay. We'll get you up to at least a basic level."

I felt embarrassed.

Thankfully, no one else was watching—at least, not openly. On the first night, Liane had been outside watching, but Hari had sent her away to give us some privacy. At the time, I hadn't understood, but now… I was grateful.

"Why didn't they teach us properly?" I asked, pausing to catch my breath.

"Two reasons," Hari said. "Mainly, cost. No orphanage can afford proper trainers, so you're getting someone unqualified trying to do their best. Then there's the fact that it doesn't matter to them. Every soldier gets a set of armour and a spear. They're used in formation lines. If you tried to solo a demon, it'd shred you apart with its claws before you even drew your sword."

He stepped back and gave a small nod. "That's enough for tonight."

He stored his stick away, and I slumped down, sore all over.

"Will I be able to learn properly?" I asked.

"Yes—eventually," Hari said. "But I'm only going to teach you how to defend yourself. You're a support class. You should know how to protect yourself, but don't mistake that for a reason to fight with a sword unless you absolutely have to."

I nodded. I couldn't lie—since Hari had agreed to train me, I'd definitely imagined being a front-line adventurer, sword in hand, battling monsters.

That fantasy had faded quickly.

"Are all new adventurers like this?" I asked as we walked back to the structure Milo had prepared.

"Yes. At least, anyone from the orphanage system. There's one in most towns," Hari said. "That's why they often get treated poorly in the adventuring teams they're assigned to. A lot of people see them as a burden."

"And you?" I asked, curious if Hari felt the same.

"Honestly, Trev… I used to believe it was," Hari admitted. "When we were first assigned an orphan, we weren't happy about it. But I learned—far too late—that it wasn't the orphan's fault. It was the system."

There was a sad tone in his voice that made my stomach twist. Were all of my old friends being treated like that? Looked down on? Dismissed?

I didn't know what to say.

"Don't worry yourself, Trev. You'll get there. You're still young," Hari said as we stepped inside.

Everyone was already sitting around. I was surprised not to see Lily. For the past three nights, she'd shown up and waited for food.

Feeding her for those three nights had earned me two level-ups.

I pulled up my status to take a look.

Name: Trevor

Class: Arcane Chef

Rarity: Rare

Level: 23

Experience: 9158/20651

Hit points: 233/290

Mana: 236/650

Stamina: 78/290

Strength: 13

Dexterity: 33

Endurance: 29

Intelligence: 65

Wisdom: 32

Charisma: 10

Willpower: 13

Perception: 8

Luck: 6

Unspent: 6

Abilities:

Precise Palate:

3

Butchery:

4

Carving Touch:

2

Resonate Balance:

3

Chef's Pantry:

4

Culinary Transformation:

3

Arcane Foraging:

3

Ashborne-sous:

2

Stock Reduction:

2

"Do you think I should put some points into Strength?" I asked Hari after looking over my stats.

Milo answered first. "Absolutely not."

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Hari quickly agreed. "I understand you want to succeed at swordsmanship, and you can become proficient. But your class won't involve combat, and it gains nothing from Strength—except maybe shifting large monster carcasses. That would be a poor investment."

Milo nodded along, clearly in agreement.

"Besides," Hari added, "your class is giving you Dexterity—and lots of it. You should be nimble, quick, and able to dodge. Strength would never be your stat of choice. You just need to train."

"Right! That's enough sword talk!" Liane interrupted loudly.

"We need our chef back!" Jen added with a laugh.

Micca joined in, chuckling, and even Crisplet seemed to take their side—firing off a few playful embers in agreement.

"Fine, fine! I'll cook dinner," I said with a tired chuckle. I was still aching from training, and I had a strong suspicion Lily was either already watching or would be soon.

So, I got to work.

I wanted to keep it simple. I pulled out one of the boars I had stored, figuring a roast with a Honey and Garlic Grass glaze would hit the spot. Fresh rolls would go well with it, and if Lily did appear, I could cut off a large portion for her.

Once I had the plan set, I got started. I was surprised when, instead of letting me use a stone spit, Crisplet practically insisted I use the one he formed from ash.

Who was I to say no to my Ash elemental sous chef?

I gave Crisplet some Treant wood scraps along with regular firewood to test how diluted the magical effect could get and still carry through in the cooking.

With that underway, I moved on to preparing the rolls. I wanted to try something new—an ingredient Jen and Micca had picked up from the market. It was a small black seed called the Nerelta Seed. I'd seen it used on bakery rolls before; when roasted, it gave off a nutty burst of flavour.

I mixed that into the dough along with some Virfolium, then portioned out several rolls and set them aside to rise.

Finally, exhausted, I collapsed to the ground. The boar was on the spit and turning slowly under Crisplet's supervision. The rolls were in the stone oven Milo had built next to the fire.

I could finally relax.

Just as I leaned back, I felt something soft—and cold?

Looking around, I realised I'd leaned back into Lily, who had once again appeared out of nowhere. Startled, I nearly jumped up, but she didn't move—just lay there calmly, her gaze fixed firmly on the boar.

Sighing, I sat back down. "That's not all for you, by the way," I said, feeling far more comfortable around her now. I knew she understood me perfectly.

She gave me a look. Then what appeared to be a sigh.

"If you want lots of meat," I added, not thinking it through, "you should make sure you bring me something to cook."

I regretted it instantly.

Her eyes widened—like she'd just come to a realisation.

What had I done…

***

The rest of the night passed without issues.

The boar had turned out amazing—the Honey and Garlic Grass glaze crisped up beautifully under Crisplet's flame. But more than that, it seemed to have cooked from the inside as well, thanks to the Ashen spike Crisplet had formed and driven through it.

Somehow, there were no traces of ash left behind.

I still hadn't tried the rare honey we'd collected in the forest, and we were quickly leaving the trees behind now, entering open plains with scattered farmland on the distant outer edge.

Lily had left immediately after devouring an entire leg of the boar—practically eating a quarter of it by herself.

And it turned out I wasn't the only one who'd realised I'd made a mistake.

"You know she's going to come back tomorrow with a mountain of carcasses, don't you?" Liane said, chuckling.

"And expect you to cook them all," she added, now laughing.

I just fell onto my back with a groan, letting out a low cry.

Liane, Jen, and Micca all burst into giggles.

***

The next morning, I woke up to a very smug-looking Milo and Jen peering at me from the doorway.

"Morning, Trev. You might want to come and deal with your mess," Milo said with a chuckle.

Still half-groggy, I had no idea what he meant by my mess. Rubbing my eyes, I shuffled to the entrance—only to walk outside and find a small mountain of carcasses.

It felt like there were hundreds of creatures—spiders, snakes, birds, boars, wolves, even things I didn't recognise. All piled neatly into a single, towering heap.

"She's been dropping them off all night," Jen said with a laugh. "Haven't seen her for a few hours, at least."

"Make sure you get all that cooked for tonight, Trev," Milo added, grinning.

I just groaned.

What have I done…

I was definitely going to need to talk to Lily tonight—with a peace offering. Something big. Maybe a whole roast.

Walking over to the pile, I started storing everything. There were bears in there. Multiple.

"How did she even get all this here?" I groaned aloud.

It took about half an hour to store everything—there was just that much. And because the carcasses were so large, I couldn't just store them all as one bulk stack. By the time I was done, I was already running low on mana.

Going by mana usage, there were sixty-four carcasses in total.

Sixty. Four.

I dragged myself back inside and got started on breakfast. Just something simple—porridge. I tried to conserve mana where I could, but just to be safe, I took out a small piece of mana candy while Jen wasn't looking.

The last thing I needed was another lecture on how "candy at breakfast is forbidden!" I chuckled quietly at the thought.

"What's so funny?" Micca asked, sitting down beside me as I stirred fruit into the mix.

"Nothing," I tried to say, mouth full of candy.

"Ahh, I see." Micca grinned. "Don't worry, I won't say anything. So… what happened outside?"

"Lily," I replied simply.

Micca burst into laughter. She clearly knew exactly what that meant.

"How many?" she asked between giggles.

"Sixty-four," I said darkly.

"You do know she'll expect you to have all of that cooked tonight, right?" she said, laughing even harder.

I just groaned again. This was going to be a problem.

After breakfast, I headed to the stable and pulled out the mash I'd made for the horses. Each one got a portion, and I'd definitely need to make more tonight. But it had been a hit—every horse had eaten happily, especially Sable, who devoured the apples first.

It was hard to say how much it was helping, but Hari insisted we were making good time. So for now, there was no reason not to keep feeding it to them.

***

The day's travel continued to be uneventful—until just after lunchtime, when Liane rode up alongside me.

"So, Trev," she said with a gleam in her eye, "when are you going to cook the Galvonson?"

"I wouldn't even know where to start with that one," I replied. It had crossed my mind several times, but it was so large I genuinely didn't know what to do with it.

"Look, I don't want to pressure you here, but a giant Galvonson wing would be amazing. And I think Lily would approve as well," Liane said, nodding like she'd just offered the wisest advice in the world.

"You just want to eat it yourself!" I said, laughing.

"Do it for Lily, I say!" she replied, pretending not to hear me.

I sighed. I supposed I could. Maybe I could treat it like the dragon tail—with a large enough oven, I could roast the wings. But how would I season them?

I was lost in thought for a long time, trying to puzzle out the recipe. I barely noticed when we came to a stop.

"Looks like the military group moved through here," Hari called out from the front.

Looking around, I saw a large clearing where a massive camp had been set up at some point. There were dozens of old campfire rings and disturbed earth where tents had once stood.

What surprised me most was the sheer size of it.

"How many people are in the group?" I asked, scanning the area.

"By the time they reach Portland—several hundred," Milo answered simply.

Jen had dismounted and was inspecting the site more closely. She returned a few moments later.

"About two weeks," she said. "That's how long ago they passed through."

My heart sank.

"That's bad, right? We're only a couple of days from Portland?"

"It's a couple for us," Hari clarified. "But the army travels through all the villages and towns along the coast in a big loop before reaching Portland. We're still good on time."

I nodded, the knot in my chest loosening just a little.

We set off again, and I found myself more determined than ever. I didn't know what I'd say to George when I found him—or how he'd react. Maybe he'd pretend he didn't know me, like Lukas did.

But I had to try.

And Liane was right; Galvonson wings tonight.

Lily would like that… Then we could chat about food expectations.

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