Melina looked carefully at the sailors who were likewise looking at her. Their gazes weren't malicious, she knew that, but being at the center of attention made her feel uncomfortable. It reminded her of the time before the time rewind.
"I didn't know Captain was accepting new crew members," one of the older sailors addressed her, assessing her suspiciously.
"The Captain instructed me to go to the kitchen," Melina replied plainly, not at all intimidated by the grizzled man.
"Ah! That makes sense. Brock has been constantly complaining that nobody here knows anything about cooking. Just head below decks, go past the sleeping quarters, and keep going straight. The kitchens will be at the end of the corridor to the left while the dining hall is to the right," the sailor explained and pointed towards the staircase.
"Thank you," she said and quickly headed below deck, trying to escape the eyes of sailors. They didn't seem too pleased by her presence here. Perhaps, it was due to that old superstition that it was bad luck to bring women aboard a ship. But by that logic, all women should be banned from sailing and that wasn't exactly possible with how many people of Alemahria traveled through the sea.
Melina followed the sailor's directions, surprised to see that the sleeping quarters were basically a bunch of hammocks. She couldn't help but wonder whether it was comfortable sleeping like that, not to mention the proximity these men were sleeping at.
At least I won't be sleeping alongside them, although I'm not sure whether sleeping in a pile of hay will be comfortable. Not that I can change that, I'll just have to bear it for a few days. Can't be as bad as the places I had to sleep at these past seven years.
After a few minutes of walking through the narrow corridors, she finally managed to find the kitchen. A grumpy-looking man was sitting on a stool in the corner of the tiny kitchen, peeling seemingly an unending pile of potatoes. She looked at the pile in horror, praying that she wouldn't be tasked with peeling them.
"Hello. Captain Gaillard sent me here to help," she said to the grouchy chef.
"About damn time he found someone to help me out. Well, what are you waiting for? A formal invitation? Put on an apron and gloves and start peeling these," he growled, and Melina did her best to restrain a groan. Of course, she would have to peel all these. That's what she gets for getting on the cheap ship.
Don't complain now, Melina. Every copper coin is important. And it's not like you would have anything better to do on this ship. Hard work has never stopped you before and it won't stop you now.
So Melina took the apron, put on the gloves she found in its front pocket, and sat down to peel the potatoes while the chef proceeded to cut the already peeled ones. The special peeler made it easy for Melina to clean the spuds but even so, it was a time-consuming task. Her attempts to make small talk with the man met a dead end as he replied either with a groan or by telling her to focus on her task instead of talking. Seeing that there was no way of breaking the silence, she wholly dedicated herself to her work.
But there were so many potatoes. She peeled one, two, five, ten, twenty potatoes and yet there were still more. It was just like casting the same spell over and over again to slowly strengthen it and increase its rank. Except here the only benefit would be clean potatoes. But she could manage, one spud at a time. Just when the pile was finally cleaned, the chef retrieved a bag of carrots and dumped those in front of her. She barely restrained the urge to scream at the man in frustration.
It's alright, Melina. Remember that you're paying only 10 silver coins to get on board this ship. That is really cheap for going so far. A bit of hard work is only to be expected.
She slowly exhaled and started peeling the carrots. One carrot, two carrots, five carrots, twenty carrots, forty carrots. Were her hands starting to feel numb? No, she had just peeled so many carrots that her senses were becoming dull. To think that once strongest [Archmage] would be defeated by mere vegetables. But no, she would not be defeated. If she could cast a hundred fireballs in a row to increase the spell's rank, then she would peel all of these pesky carrots.
Fifty carrots, seventy carrots, eighty-three carrots, and she was finally done. Melina sighed with relief as the last carrot was finally clean. As she looked up, she saw that while she had been busy peeling, the chef had already chopped nearly all of the vegetables and they were stewing in three giant pots.
"Alright, girlie. The stew needs to simmer for about an hour before it's ready. Stay here and make sure it doesn't spill. If you don't hear bubbling anymore, you add a bit of water. But only a little bit. Got it?" The chef asked as he wiped his hands in his apron.
"I… Yeah," she said, a bit surprised. Would he really just leave her alone here?
"Good. I'll be back in about an hour," he said and was gone before Melina could object.
Really? You're just going to force this on me and leave. I don't like this guy.
But what choice did she have at this point? With a sigh, Melina sat down and waited. Occasionally she would stir the stew or add a bit of water. But mostly she was just sitting. The kitchen was warm from steam constantly coming from the pots. It made her sleepier and sleepier. She felt her eyelids starting to close and her head drooping to the side. But then a System message appeared in front of her, and she jolted awake.
[Congratulations! You have unlocked the [Cook] class.]
Melina blinked in surprise. She never expected to unlock a class simply by helping out in the kitchen. Curiously, she walked up to the pot and sampled a bit of the stew with a tasting spoon that sat on the counter. The vegetables were soft and easy to eat, indicating that the stew was ready.
The class must have unlocked because the stew finished cooking. But I never thought that I could actually unlock and use a class not related to fighting. I mean I knew that there were classes besides combat classes, but I never thought it'd be so easy to unlock one. Getting the [Mage] class the first time around was a nightmare.
As if on cue, the chef strode back into the kitchen while yawning lazily and scratching the back of his head, "Is the stew ready?"
"Yes, I believe it is," Melina said. The man strode up, took a taste from each of the pots, and nodded.
"It's ready. Get those bowls and start putting stew into them. We'll have to bring them to the dining hall," he commanded and pointed towards the cupboards. Melina opened it and saw it filled with simple, white bowls. It took Melina a while of running to the adjacent dining room, until all of the bowls were set up and ready for the sailors to eat. As she ran, she noticed that the ship was swaying gently, meaning that at some point they must have left the port.
"Good job, girlie. Here's your bowl of stew. You can eat here in the kitchen. Eating with the crew might get too rowdy for a little lamb like you," the chef said and left, presumably to call everyone to eat. Melina was a bit dumbfounded by his thoughtfulness, as he had struck her as an uncaring and cold man.
I'm not really that fragile. It'd take more than a few stares and snarky comments to get under my skin. But I appreciate the gesture nonetheless. It'll be more peaceful eating here. Not to mention that with him gone I can finally take a look at the System and make sense of this [Cook] class.
Melina settled down on the stool with a bowl of stew in her hand and willed her status window to appear.
[Name: Melina Dufour]
[Level: 1]
[Class: None]
[Intelligence: 5]
[Agility: 5]
[Strength: 5]
[Skill: 5]
[Charm: 5]
[Active Skills: 0]
[Passive Skills: 1]
[Archmage's Shadow.]
This hasn't really changed since I checked it the first time around. Let's find out more about the [Cook] class.
[Cook is a basic class where the user can gain experience and skills by preparing food, serving dishes to people, and inventing new recipes.]
Basic class, huh? That means there must be advanced classes I can unlock if I meet the requirements. Is [Baker] perhaps one of these advanced classes?
[To unlock the [Baker] class, you must fulfill the hidden requirements while possessing the [Cook] class.]
Well, that's convenient. Who knew that peeling over a hundred root vegetables would pay off? I guess my road ahead is clear then. At least in terms of my progression within the System. Time to accept [Cook] as my class.
[Would you like to become a [Cook]? You can change your class later if you wish.]
Melina hesitated for a moment. Is this really what she wanted to do this time around? Make one dish after the next every single day? She looked down at the half-eaten bowl of stew in her hands. While it didn't look very impressive, she knew that this simple dish was the result of her and the chef's hard labor.
By cleaning and cutting the ingredients and preparing them in a certain way, cooks and bakers are able to create delicious dishes that give strength to those who eat them. In a certain way, it was just like magic—alchemy specifically. You take ingredients and then create something completely different out of them. Melina's doubts disappeared and she nodded to herself resolutely.
[Congratulations! You are now a [Cook]. You will now gain experience from making dishes, serving them to people, and inventing new recipes.]
The moment was bittersweet—she was saying goodbye to her magic and accepting her new life as a [Cook]. She knew that this feeling would still linger with her for a while. But as she ate the rest of the warm stew, Melina knew that the path ahead of her was the right one.
The first night on the ship was… weird, to say the least. Melina had never stayed aboard a ship overnight since whenever she needed to travel a large distance, she'd use her teleportation skill. It was a high-level spell that required a lot of her mana, but with all traveling discomforts removed, it felt well worth it. Or if she was trying to conserve mana then she'd take a train. But sleeping on a ship was completely different.
It's not that Melina wasn't used to uncomfortable sleeping conditions. She had traveled a lot on land as an [Archmage] and there were times when she was forced to sleep on the ground with dirt as the only source of comfort. But even sleeping in the dirt was somehow better than this.
The constant swaying of the ship never allowed Melina to fully relax. She felt like she would tip over at any moment and fall onto the hard floorboards. It never happened, but it felt like it would. Not to mention, the constant noise. It was either the sound of water crashing against the hull of the ship or the bustling of the crew. There was always somebody awake, and even if they weren't going out of their way to make noise, Melina heard their every footstep.
In the end, she managed to sleep for a few hours at best while trying to fall asleep the rest of the time. At least her body was well-rested and full of strength thanks to the good meals she had yesterday. Bad sleep or not, Melina felt better than she had in years.
I better go to the kitchen. I'm sure that the chef will need my help with breakfast preparations. Also, I should probably ask for his name. It feels odd to keep referring to him as "the chef".
After waiting for her turn to get to the ship's toilet—an affair so disgusting that Melina decided to instantly erase it from her memory—and washing her hands and face, she went to the kitchen. The chef was already there, cracking some eggs into a huge bowl.
"Morning, girlie. Glad to see that you have a good sense of time. Unlike some of those lazy louts out there," he said, not taking his eyes away from the task in front of him.
"Good morning," she returned the greeting and put on the apron and gloves, ready to help. She was actually a bit excited to get to work. With the [Cook] class unlocked, she might actually start gaining some levels from cooking. What skills could a [Cook] even unlock? Maybe something that would help her determine how much spices to add to the dish? Or something that would warn her if the food about to burn? She wanted to know.
"Take the whisk from the drawer over there and start whisking the eggs. We're making omelets this morning. Lots and lots of omelets," he said, and she could even see a faint smile on the man's face. It appeared that he was in a far better mood than yesterday.
"Of course. But before we begin. May I ask you something?"
"What is it, girlie?" He turned away from the eggs and looked at her suspiciously.
"What is your name?" she asked a bit awkwardly. The chef blinked a bit for a while and then laughed.
"Right. Right. I never introduced myself. I was so mad at those idiots yesterday for not even being able to peel a potato that I didn't want to talk to anyone. Sorry about that. The name's Brock," he said, and Melina remembered that it was what the Captain had called him. Then again, she had never been good at remembering names.
"I'm Melina."
"Melina, huh? I'll remember that. It's been a while since I had some decent help in the kitchen. But enough chatter. Those omelets aren't going to cook themselves," Brock said, and Melina nodded, retrieving the aforementioned whisk, and started to work on the eggs. It was a simple enough task, even if she was slower than Brock.
"Good, good. Now add a bit of salt, and whisk it again. Then get some of the hard cheese from that cupboard in the corner and grate a bowl full of it," Brock instructed, whisking eggs at amazing speed. Melina couldn't believe how fast the man was. But then again, her scrawny arms could not compare to the strength of an adult man. All the muscle she had built up surviving in the wild was gone.
Unfortunately, her lack of strength became all too apparent when she started grating the cheese. It was like trying to descale a dragon—the cheese was resisting her, trying to remain intact. She could only get little bits off from the big block. Her hands ached and her muscles screamed from the workout but the bowl wasn't even half full.
Curse these flimsy arms. To think that grating cheese would be so difficult. But I'll persevere, and I'll finish this omelet. And perhaps invest a few points in
So she kept grating the cheese. Despite the pain in her arm, despite her muscles screaming at her to stop, she kept grating the stupidly hard piece of cheese until finally, after what felt like an eternity to her, Melina managed to get the bowl filled up.
"Took you a while. You need to work on your hand strength," Brock snickered, already standing at the stove, cooking omelets. She saw that he had two pans running at the same time, and there was an impressive stack of cooked omelets sitting on a plate next to him. "Just add the cheese, mix, and start cooking those."
Melina nodded, feeling excitement rise within her. It was time for her to start gaining levels again. With the mixture ready, Melina approached the stove and took the free pan. She looked at how Brock cooked the omelet first—pour a ladle-full of the egg-cheese mixture in the pan, cook for a bit, flip it, cook a bit more, and done. It looked simple enough.
She carefully poured the mixture into the pan, watching it sizzle and cook at lightning speed. The process was really fast, just a minute later it had reached the stage where it looked ready to be flipped—cooked on the bottom with just a little bit of liquid remaining on top. She took the spatula and was about to scoop underneath the omelet to flip it.
Except she couldn't get the spatula underneath the omelet. It was firmly stuck to the bottom. Brock watched her fumble around and growled, "Did you add butter to the pan?"
"Butter?" she looked at him in horror and, as a distinct burnt smell rose from her pan, realized that she had not.
[You've made