Amelia the Level Zero Hero

Chapter 83

Chapter 83

Noele had wondered how Amelia’s new restaurant would go. While the blonde girl wished her mentor all the success in the world, she couldn’t help but… pace her expectations. She didn’t think this food venture would go well at all, especially considering how it had turned out back in Windrip.

Sure, there were a variety of factors that had resulted in the food stall’s failure. For example… that period was when Jax the Forsaken Archer showed up for the very first time. And he had constantly pestered Amelia when she was just trying to sell her burgers. So that ended up scaring away a lot of potential customers before the food stall could even get traction.

But that wasn’t the main factor as to why Amelia’s food stall didn’t find success in Windrip. It was a simple reason, really. And it was because she was already famous by the time she tried to sell her burgers.

Well… ‘famous’ was a strong word, but plenty of people in Windrip already knew of her as an adventurer. So they knew she wasn’t a [Cook] or a [Chef] or anything of the like. And those who were previously unaware of her status as an adventurer were quickly informed that she didn’t have a cooking-related Class by… her.

It was self-sabotage, on her part. By the time Amelia realized that, it was already too late. Her burgers failed to gain any traction, and she grew bored of her food stall.

Honestly, Noele was pretty sure Amelia wasn’t going to get any customers for her restaurant in Wolfwater either. So it was probably going to suffer the same fate as the food stall. 

“What do you think, Xakor?” the Noble Spellsword asked, turning to face the [Chef].

They were right at the edge of Wolfwater. The sun was starting to set, and they’d soon arrive at the restaurant. Garron trailed after them, biting his lower lip as he rubbed his dented breastplate. 

Xakor raised his head, his cloak still masking his face. “Xrr… what do I think about what exactly?”

“Amelia’s restaurant,” Noele clarified. “I know you’ve invested quite a bit into it— but do you actually think it’ll do well?”

“I invested a negligible sum for someone such as myself,” the alien said as he shook his head. He rubbed one of his four hands on his chin. “However… I am certain it will do just fine.”

“Are you sure about that?” She stared dubiously at him.

“I am certain,” he chuckled. “I have heard about that… incident in Windrip. While it was unfortunate, there was nothing Amelia could do about it— she didn’t quite have the reputation needed to sell a completely unknown food in such a large city. Especially since she was known to be an adventurer. But here, in Wolfwater, with my name behind her… I believe this endeavor will be a great success.” 

Xakor made a convincing argument. But, somehow, with Amelia’s penchant for screwing up the most basic of tasks, Noele still… doubted him.

—--

And the blonde girl was promptly proven wrong when she arrived at the restaurant. When she pushed the door open, she was greeted by the babble of voices. There wasn’t a massive crowd, but there were nearly a dozen people gathered inside, sitting and dining as a man rushed around the room, which was a lot more than Noele had expected.

“...what?” She just blinked. 

Bucky immediately perked up when she spotted Xakor, clucking loudly as she stood up on the bar counter. 

“Bawk bawk bawk!”

“Oh, they’re back?” a voice came from the kitchen. Amelia swept out of a back room, carrying a pair of steaming dishes. She set the food down before walking up to the three figures standing by the doorway. “Sup, welcome to Bucky’s Out of this World Restaurant. What do you guys think?”

The brown-haired woman smirked as she faced both Noele and Garron. The Steel Tank, for one, wore an impressed look on his face. He swept his gaze over the room before nodding at Amelia.

“You’ve attracted quite the crowd, huh? For a non-[Chef], I am very impressed, Amelia.” 

“Thanks. It’s mostly thanks to leveraging Xakor’s name to advertise the restaurant.” Amelia turned to Xakor, gesturing at the small crowd. “Sorry, I know you were out for a few days, but I kinda had to use something to get them here.” 

It had taken Noele, Garron, and Xakor three days in total to track down the kretus boar. None of them had any tracking Skills, so it took them a lot longer than it would have taken… say, a [Hunter]. But considering that they didn’t know where the monster was hiding, especially since its home had been burnt down by the raging wildfires, they tracked it down quite quickly, putting it down before it could destroy any of the nearby villages.

The Patron of the Culinary Sciences just waved a hand dismissively. “Xrr, do not worry about it. It does not hurt to garner some early interest before our grand opening, anyway.”

“Yeah… I got a little bit ahead of myself.” Amelia shook her head. “But I’m sure things will work out just fine. You got what you needed, right?”

He gestured at his Bag of Holding“I do. It took us a bit longer than I anticipated, but the kretus boar meat should—”

The two of them broke into a soft discussion as the nearby customers just looked on. Xakor was still cloaked by his enchanted hood, so his face was hidden by a dark shadow, but his tall figure must have clued the onlookers into his identity.

“Is that him?”

“Angel’s breath, I can’t believe Xakor the Patron of the Culinary Sciences is seriously here in Wolfwater.”

“Should we approach him?”

“Don’t be an idiot! He’ll kick us out of the restaurant if we do that—”

Noele glanced at the whispering customers, before looking back at both Xakor and Amelia. The blonde girl paused when she realized the two had stopped talking. Now, her mentor was just looking at her expectantly. 

“So?” Amelia said, raising a brow. “You haven’t said anything, Noele.”

“You… actually have customers,” Noele replied slowly. 

“Yeah, pretty impressive, right? I guess my cooking is pretty good after all.” The brown-haired woman grinned. “Well, it’s also partially thanks to Harlan’s help. He’s been running around advertising for us non-stop too.”

Noele was still reeling from the fact that the restaurant wasn’t completely empty. But she eventually broke out of her stupor after a moment. 

“Wait, who’s Harlan?” she asked.

“Him.” Amelia gestured towards the man rushing back to the counter to serve the steaming dishes she had left behind. “He’s my first employee. He does whatever I tell him to do. He also lives here now.”

The blonde girl blinked a few times. “Why do you… how did you get an employee?”

“Shit happens.” Amelia just shrugged. “Anyways, we’re closing soon, so I gotta get back to cooking. I still have a few more customers to serve. I can whip something for you guys too after that if you’re still here.”  

She drew back as Xakor followed. They returned to the kitchen, and both Garron and Noele exchanged a glance. The blonde girl was at a complete loss for words. She slowly started towards one of the nearby tables, before plopping down onto a seat.

“What’s wrong, Noele?” Garron asked, sitting across from her.

“I just— I just can’t believe it,” she said as she rubbed her temples. “This is the first time I’ve seen Amelia do anything that’s not related to killing things… well.”

“Hasn’t she been working at your father’s farm for a few weeks now?” The Steel Tank furrowed his brows.

“Amelia burned down the field, Garron. And then she raked away the ash— the ash. It’s literally a fertilizer.” Noele gesticulated vaguely back towards her farm.

Garron frowned. “Oh. That is certainly true… but I feel like you are still giving your mentor too little credit.”

Noele pursed her lips. “I guess I’m just surprised? I mean— I know that Amelia’s cooking is pretty good. But she doesn’t have a Class, and you know how overly-reliant everyone is on the World System, right?”

“What do you mean by that?” he asked, narrowing his eyes.

“It’s like the World System makes you… the World System…” the blonde girl trailed off.

Garron blinked. “What were you saying?”

“Huh? What?” Noele sat back up, glancing around. She pinched the bridge of her nose as her vision blurred for a moment, before clearing up. “Right— I was talking about how Amelia’s not a [Chef]. So I’m surprised that people are actually giving her food a chance.”

“That is true,” the burly man said, leaning back on his chair. “But with Xakor’s name behind the restaurant, I’m sure that most people would at least give her cooking a try.”

“That’s true, but—” Noele opened her mouth, then paused. She hesitated as she closed her eyes. Her head ached as the world briefly spun around her. “W-wait, what were we talking about before this?”

“About Amelia burning down part of your father’s farm?”

“N-no, after that…” The blonde girl gritted her teeth.

Garron peered at her curiously, but she ignored his gaze. She tried to remember. This didn’t feel right. But was it right? What had she been saying before this line of thought? They had been talking about something… something…

And Bucky clucked loudly in the background. “Bawk bawk bawk!”

“What’s going on?” Garron got to his feet, tensing.

The small crowd of customers turned to face the kitchen as Noele blinked. The blonde girl raised her head as her headache instantly dissipated. And she looked on as Bucky clucked at a man approaching the kitchen. 

One of the customers had left his seat and was trying to edge past the chicken. He gritted his teeth as she wouldn’t let him through.

“You damn chicken!” the man yelled, kicking Bucky. “Let me through—” 

Garron took a step forward, his brows snapped together. “Oi, don’t—”

But Bucky just leapt over the attack, landing her own kick on the man’s chest. The man grunted as he was sent flying across the room, before sliding to a stop just before Harlan. Noele stared, and Garron paused.

Harlan blinked a few times as the man groaned at his feet.  

“What’s going on?” Amelia asked as she emerged from the kitchen. 

“Your damn chicken attacked me for no reason!” the man said as he stumbled to get back up. “I’m going to lodge a complaint to Xakor— where is he?”

She narrowed her eyes, looking at Bucky, then at the man. Her gaze swept past the both of them as she faced Harlan. “Is that true? Did Bucky attack this man for no reason?”

“Uh, Bucky did attack him, but that was only because he kept trying to push his way into the kitchen to see Xakor, even after I tried to stop him.” Harlan scratched the back of his head as he replied.

The man cursed, glaring back at the server. “Why is there even an animal in a fuckin’ restaurant? It should be thrown into a stove and cooked up for what it did!”

Amelia just crossed her arms. “I’m going to ignore that you just said that, and give you only one warning— fuck off.”

That sent a chill down Noele’s spine. The blonde girl shifted back, but she was the only one who even reacted to Amelia’s words. The rest of the room just watched, whispering and pointing. The man strode forward with a glare plastered across his face.

“What did you say to—” he started. 

And Amelia flicked a finger at his forehead. “I said: fuck off.”

The man blinked, then was sent flying straight out of the restaurant. He smashed through the door, crashing into a field hundreds of feet away from Wolfwater. Noele winced as everyone else just stared in shock. Even Garron and Harlan just looked on in complete awe at what had happened.

Amelia shook her head, picking up Bucky, before taking a step back. “New rule: nobody messes with the chicken. Got it?”

Everyone quickly nodded in response. And Bucky clucked.

“Bawk bawk bawk!”

MelasD

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