[Amelia] The Level Zero Hero Chapter 210 (Patreon)

For now, I stepped out of the kitchen and let Edlyn return to continue cooking. She was both a better and far more efficient cook than me, so that was why I chose to excuse myself. Now, it might have seemed cruel for me to go and take a break while forcing my employee to take on my workload. However, not only did she actually enjoy cooking and trying out my unique recipes, but I also would have preferred to continue working in the kitchen. Unfortunately, I had a far more important task— a far more boring task.

And that was to lead the baby bastion bees out of the kitchen. Now, while they were bees— so they didn’t feast on anything besides pollen and honey— they could still contaminate the food here. I didn’t want that. But I also couldn’t really communicate with the baby bastion bees as of right now. Because of that, I had no other choice.

I had to step out of the kitchen through the window and hide myself in their small stone fortress of a hive. The baby bastion bees followed their queen, and their queen followed me. And I wanted to keep them all out of view from my customers. That was why I excused myself to a place where nobody else could see me.

When I stepped inside, I saw the twelve nursing bees flitting about as they made walls and walls of honeycombs. I waved at them, then took a seat on the ground.

“Hey, how are you doing?” I asked casually.

The main nursing bee flitted down to meet me. She looked down at me, then she looked at the swarm of baby bastion bees accompanying me. The new queen was still resting on my shoulder, cuddling up to my neck as she made soft buzzing noises.

“Bzzzt… bzzzzzt…”

I eyed the relaxed expression she wore on her face, then I looked back up. The nursing bee gave me an apologetic look. I shook my head.

“It’s fine,” I said as I leant back against the rock wall. “I just have to figure this out somehow.”

I stared at the swarm of baby bastion bees. They buzzed cacophonously all around me, echoing in the small cave-like chamber.

“...yeah, I’m not getting any ideas.” I sighed as I closed my eyes.

I massaged my temples for a moment, trying to figure out a solution— a way to resolve this problem. Because I couldn’t just babysit the baby bastion bees forever. I had a job… a life I needed to get back to. While I understood that this was the obligation I had undertaken when I said I’d help look after the baby bastion bees, I wasn’t expecting it to be this much of a hassle.

An idle thought crossed my mind. That perhaps I should just send them back to their mother. However, I quickly dismissed it. That would be too cruel. After all, the baby bastion bees saw me as their protector right now. In a sense, I was like their mother.

“Then what do I do?” I muttered under my breath.

This was the most difficult challenge I had faced ever since arriving here in Vacuos. No matter how hard I tried to think things through, I came up with no way out of this problem other than waiting for the baby bastion bees to grow up. And that wasn’t a real solution…

“I—” I opened my mouth to wonder aloud idly to myself.

But then I felt some soft and thin brushing against my face. I looked back down as my eyes blinked open and saw the baby queen bastion bee touching me with her feelers. She looked at me with a face of concern, clearly sensing my distress.

And she was trying to comfort me. I pursed my lips as the baby queen bastion bee stared at me with round eyes.

“...you’re really quite cute when you’re not attacking me,” I said, before patting her head with a finger.

She tilted her head back at me, then I turned back to face the rest of the swarm. I was definitely not going to send them back to their mother now. Even if this was a lot to work through and quite some stress for me, I was not going to just give up. I had to take things slowly with them, step by step, so for starters…

I looked at the baby queen bastion bee as she looked at me happily, glad that I am calmer now.

“I guess I could come up with a name for you while I’m waiting here,” I said, returning the smile.

—--

Edlyn stared at the sizzling pot as she stood alone in the kitchen of Bucky’s Out of this World Restaurant. The last few days had been nice and relaxing. She had been starting to acclimate to working here in this crazy place. She had befriended Harlan, and she had actually been enjoying cooking and learning the strange recipes being served here.

It reminded her of back before she became a [Royal Chef]. Before she had to deal with the glitz and glam of the nobles of Astra Palace. And while Bucky’s Out of this World Restaurant seemed to always be at max or near-max capacity, Edlyn actually enjoyed the rush of it all. It was a thrill she liked— hands-on cooking, very different from being the head [Chef] of a kitchen.

So her opinion of Amelia and this insane restaurant had started to change. Just like Harlan had told her it would. But then today came, and it had been a terrible day, completely reshifting her opinion back to what it once was.

First of all, the swarm of giant bees started to cling onto Amelia… again. This time around, they weren’t attacking her. Instead, they were just hovering around her— which was also incredibly strange. However, as long as they didn’t get too close to Edlyn, the [Royal Chef] didn’t really pay it any mind.

Unfortunately for her, that was exactly what happened. The baby bastion bees had been put to sleep, and they shouldn’t have been able to bother Amelia for the rest of the day. Or so was said. Then they came bursting into the kitchen, which made Edlyn scream and run out of fear.

She almost refused to return to the kitchen, even after Harlan tried to reassure her that everything was fine. Because this incident wasn’t all that shook her. Edlyn remembered just moments before the baby bastion bees came swarming in.

Amelia had threatened me, Edlyn thought as she closed her eyes. Harlan tried to tell the [Royal Chef] that that wasn’t the case. But Edlyn was certain it was true.

This had all just been an intimidation tactic by Amelia. First, she waved around a knife and spoke warningly— she said words of affirmation, but her body language said all that needed to be said. She wasn’t happy with Edlyn’s performance. Amelia was upset that Edlyn had started slacking off.

And then, to punctuate this point, Amelia had summoned the baby bastion bees in droves— to show that everyone and everything in this restaurant fully obeyed her.

So it wasn’t even Harlan’s words that convinced Edlyn to return to cooking. It was the clear and immediate threat Amelia had made to the [Royal Chef]. That was why Edlyn dragged her feet back into the kitchen, even if she wanted to flee from this farming town.

“If I escape, Amelia will find me,” Edlyn whispered as the pot began to froth at the edges. She stared blankly for a moment longer, then shook her head. “I have to stay… for the sake of the kingdom…”

She tried to find the resolve to continue working here in Bucky’s Out of this World Restaurant. As she did that, she moved the pot away from the burning fire, then began chopping up more fruits and vegetables.

But even as she mindlessly prepared dish after dish— a normally therapeutic act for her— no matter what Edlyn told herself, she could barely convince herself to stay here any longer.

“If even one more insane thing happened—” she started.

And then there was a flash of light coming from outside the window. Edlyn blinked, then paused what she was doing. She stared out the window, but saw nothing there. However, she was pretty sure the light came from the side of the window. So she had to poke her head out to see what it was.

“...do I even want to know what it was?” Edlyn asked herself hesitantly.

In response, she heard a loud crash. The ground shook, knocking over plates and pans from the kitchen counter. Edlyn caught herself, then took in a deep breath. She heard muffled shouts and screams coming from outside as a commotion grew in the common room.

“I have to check what it is,” she told herself as she walked up to the window.

She heard even more loud voices from outside, then she poked her head out of the window.

“I have seen… a lot since I’ve arrived here. It can’t be that bad—”

And Edlyn froze at what she saw. A massive crimson figure was lying in a crater right outside of the restaurant. A small crowd had gathered by its side, whispering and pointing at it. It was a figure that Edlyn had never seen before in her entire life. But she took one look at those massive wings and those glistening scales, and she knew what it was lying there in an instant.

It was a Dragon.

Edlyn closed her eyes as she processed that sight. And then she fainted.

Author's Notes:

What thonk?

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