Chapter 678 - I“ll Be Responsible for Eating!
At the entrance to the elven embassy, Yngwie looked up at the beautiful woman riding on horseback, and said, “Young Master, you shouldn’t make this trip back.”
“What do you mean? Isn’t Young Master Blour still in the embassy?” Blour looked down at Yngwie with a carefree smile as he assured, “Don’t worry, I’m just making a trip back. I might not even do anything. Maybe I won’t even bump into them.”
“Young Master, if your cover gets blown, not only will those bastards not allow you to leave, there will be many people from the elven race who will be after your life. That’ll be really bad for our Baibilly Family as well.” Yngwie was still very concerned.
“Don’t worry, even if I die, I’ll make sure not to drag the family into this.” Blour raised a hand and tightened his legs on either side of his horse, upon which the horse raced into the distance.
Yngwie stood in front of the door for a long while before heaving a forlorn sigh.
“If I were 300 years younger, I’d probably go with him…”
…
Receiving praise for his dishes was already a run of the mill occurrence for Mag, yet there were very few people who were able to appreciate the way in which he cooked.
As such, Mag’s ego was feeling very much inflated as Anna stood beside him with undisguised admiration and reverence in her eyes, such that even the knife in his hand was feeling lighter than usual.
After his knife came to a rest on the chopping board, a large round potato had already been chopped up into rice-sized granules, each almost completely identical.
Mag turned to the amazed Anna, and said, “For your first task, you’ll be practicing by chopping potatoes. Once you can chop a potato into granules of even size, then you’ll have completed your first task.”
“Yes!” Anna nodded obediently before picking out a slightly smaller Chinese chef’s knife from the box. She pressed her small hand over the potato before carefully extending her knife toward it. She had only just exerted some force when the potato slipped out from under her hand, and rolled into the nearby sink.
“Oh!”
Anna faltered slightly before hurrying down from her little stool. She got up on the tips of her toes and grabbed the potato from the sink before placing it onto her chopping board and trying again.
Mag stood off to the side and looked on in silence without giving her any tips or advice. For a complete newbie like her, it was best to allow her to experiment on her own. At the very least, it wouldn’t make the process an overly drab and boring one.
Furthermore, Anna’s strength and fine-motor skills had both exceeded his expectations. A normal five- to six-year-old human child would struggle just to be able to hold the knife, yet Anna was able to do so with ease, and the way in which she was chopping vegetables was very convincing as well. All she had to do was to find the right way to execute her knife skills through trial and error.
She has a vast amount of experience from traveling abroad and the body of an elf. With these advantages, she should be able to master some simple dishes very soon. Mag nodded with a content expression before withdrawing his gaze as he set about preparing ingredients for the dinner service. He had taken a break during the lunch service without any prior announcement, and the customers were most likely not very pleased.
Over two hours later, Mag was still preparing ingredients while Anna continued to stand on her stool while chopping potatoes. A small mound of potato granules had already built up on the large plate next to her, and the granules were all quite uneven in size. However, it could be seen that there was a forming trend, which was that the size of the potato granules was slowly becoming more even. The improvement was quite noticeable.
Yabemiya stood at the entrance of the kitchen, and said, “Anna is so impressive. She’s already been chopping potatoes for an entire afternoon, and she’s still persevering.”
“She really is. If it were me in her shoes, I probably wouldn’t even be able to last a single potato. There seems to be an immense amount of energy within the small body of this little girl.”
Sally also wore a gratified smile on her face. Boss Mag was a really kind person, and if Anna could continue to persevere under his tutelage, she would definitely be able to become an exceptional chef in the future. If she could attain widespread acknowledgment for her cooking skills in Chaos City, then she wouldn’t have to worry about being captured and forced to go back to the Wind Forest.
Mag looked at the pile of potato granules on the plate and nodded with approval. At the same time, he was feeling rather embarrassed as Anna’s cutting skills had already far outstripped his level of proficiency with a knife in his past life. It appeared that this was the difference that inherent aptitude made.
“Father, I’m back!”
The sound of knocking on the door and Amy’s voice erupted from outside. Ugly Duckling, which was sleeping on the counter, immediately opened its eyes before sliding onto the ground and rushing to the door. Yabemiya opened the door, and Amy skipped inside, unintentionally kicking the oncoming Ugly Duckling in the head as she did so.
“Meow~”
Ugly Duckling fell back and rolled several times before lying on the ground and looking up at Amy with an indignant expression.
“You have to be careful next time, Ugly Duckling,” Amy warned before greeting Yabemiya and the others. She then continued to skip toward the kitchen.
“Huh? Big Sister Anna? Why are you here?”
A surprised look appeared on Amy’s face at the sight of Anna, and her surprise was only compounded at the sight of Anna wearing her little apron and hairnet while holding a knife in her hand.
“This… Amy, Anna is…” Mag looked at Amy, and was scrambling for the right words to explain this situation to her. He was worried that she would develop some negative emotions upon seeing Mag teach Anna how to cook. After all, Mag was everything to Amy, and he didn’t want her to feel jealous.
Before Mag had a chance to formulate an explanation, Amy’s eyes lit up as she exclaimed, “Oh! I know what this is: Big Sister Anna is learning to cook from Father, isn’t that right?”
“Yes, Amy. From today onward, I’m going to learn to cook from Uncle Mag. When I learn how to cook some dishes, I’ll be sure to cook for you.” Anna turned back to look at Amy and nodded with a serious expression on her little face.
“Yay! Father won’t be the only one who can cook delicious food for me, then; Big Sister Anna will also be able to cook for me! I’m so happy!” Amy nodded with elation as she skipped into the kitchen and examined Anna’s little knife set with curiosity in her eyes.
Mag raised his eyebrows upon seeing this. It appeared that his concerns had been completely unwarranted. The two little girls had become such good friends that there was simply no degree of jealousy that could exist between them.
“Amy, do you want to learn to cook with me as well? Cooking is really fun.” Anna turned to Amy with an expectant look.
Mag also turned to Amy upon hearing this. He had thought about getting Amy to inherit his cooking skills, but it had always appeared that Amy was far more interested in eating than cooking. As such, he never mentioned this to her as he didn’t want to pressure her into doing anything against her will.
“I feel like with you and Father both cooking, there has to be someone who’s responsible for eating. If I learn to cook as well, then no one would be responsible for eating, and that would be a waste. Hence, I’ve decided not to cook; I’ll be responsible for eating instead.” Amy shook her head firmly.
Anna contemplated this arrangement for a while before nodding as she said, “Hmm, that does sound like it makes sense.”