"Did you know? The diner at the city gate has reopened, and there's something new inside!"

"Something new?"

"Shawarma, have you heard of it?"

"Never heard of it, and I'm not interested. Who would eat at a place like that? Haven't you had anything decent?"

"The chef is new."

"So what?"

"Have you ever seen a bird that can cook?"

"Eh?"

Early in the morning, this conversation spread throughout the underground city. The once disdainful and aloof believer, upon hearing about the cooking bird, underwent a complete change of attitude and joined the group tasting shawarma.

Meanwhile, more and more guests were arriving at the inn's kitchen.

Miss Keroy was bustling around in the kitchen, her chopping of vegetables and meat was agile and fluid, drawing amazed admiration from onlookers. A few burning golden feathers floated around a roasting skewer, upon which were slices of beef, pork, and chicken neatly assembled. If one listened carefully, they could hear the sizzling sound of the dripping fat.

The aroma of the meat was overwhelming, and the queue stretched from the counter out into the restaurant.

The counter retained the essence of "self-service," allowing diners to freely choose the kinds of accompanying vegetables.

"Fresh lettuce, sliced tomatoes, and pickled cucumbers with cream… Miss Keroy is truly capable!"

Soon, a familiar face appeared in front of Ethan.

Nightmare had also come.

She smiled and said, "Five portions, I want to take some back for Lindong and the others too."

Watching Ethan busy behind the counter, Nightmare increasingly understood why Lindong had become enamored with the man before her.

Ethan's hands seemed to blur at times, as if some unseen helper was aiding in wrapping the shawarma behind the counter.

It looked something like magic.

Vegetables floated into the air, magically placed into the spread flatbread. Miss Keroy handled the meat slicing while Ethan squeezed the secret sauce onto the ingredients.

This made Nightmare conceive a new plan in her mind.

If Lindong were to become a chosen one, he would replace Flor's position, becoming the new ruler of the underground city and even the abyss. Then, she would have enough reason to convince Lindong to stay in the abyss; although it could not last long, perhaps it could be maintained for weeks to months.

With the relationship between Ethan and Lindong, perhaps they would also stay longer in the underground city.

Nightmare's thoughts subtly shifted.

Initially, she aimed to return to the imperial capital for her students and excellent subordinates, but now it seems… the students' fate doesn't matter anymore. Lindong maintains a cold attitude towards others, including her, maintaining an ordinary colleague relationship. This made Nightmare realize that perhaps her student never regarded her as a teacher.

Initially, it was a saddening realization, but it no longer mattered.

Just like how today she overheard the servants gossiping in the manor, saying someone had outdrunk a room full of Father of War devotees and reopened the city gate diner, even having a beautiful golden bird assisting in the kitchen, Nightmare immediately thought of Ethan, and abandoned the breakfast prepared by the servants to rush to the city gate inn.

Prior to this, she had never eaten in such a shabby place.

Her manor was located in the Upper City of the underground, where mainly the upper echelons of Old Gods followers resided.

The Elder Council, the War Council, and the Lofic Commerce.

These restaurants established for the underground city's commoners naturally wouldn't catch their eye.

Her student Lindong was currently exerting his influence—so long as her student remained in the abyss, Ethan wouldn't leave.

As thoughts lingered, a packed shawarma was handed to her, emitting an aroma that whetted Nightmare's appetite.

Today, she got to taste the breakfast Ethan had prepared specifically for her.

It was undoubtedly a good beginning.

Ethan exchanged a few words with Nightmare before diving back into work.

How did things end up like this?

Initially, he just wanted to prepare a sumptuous breakfast for Miss Keroy, so he followed the shawarma recipe, hummed a little tune while threading the grilled meat onto skewers, kneaded dough, chose fresh vegetables, and prepared the sauce.

However, the aroma of the grilled meat attracted the duty officers waking from hangovers, and these straightforward Father of War devotees couldn't praise the simple delicious food enough.

When the news of a bird chef at the inn spread wide, diners who heard the news began flocking uncontrollably.

During this time, Ethan received another piece of intelligence regarding the underground city and Old Gods followers.

These people typically didn't have anything serious to do, mostly acting on whims, so whenever something lively occurred, they would be the first to rush over to join the excitement, and him being the one to bring shawarma to the underground city naturally became the new chef at the inn.

Ethan initially wanted to refuse, since he had already surpassed the stage of needing to work for money, but when the inn's owner tearfully knelt beside him, clutching his arm and proclaimed, "I beg you, without shawarma, I…" Ethan felt sympathetic.

After all, he was new here and had nothing to do during the day.

The inn's chef had been gone for a long time.

The note on the wall was left years ago, stating "will return in three days," but after leaving this note, the chef left the underground city and never returned.

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