Chapter 16: 16. Cooking in Celia’s Place

Ah… I forgot that I promised to bring Celia food today.

Well, never mind. I got some good meat today, so let’s cook it at home.

On the way to Celia’s house, I take a detour to go grocery shopping.

I want to buy some rice to make up for what I ate yesterday.

It seems that there are two types of rice available on the market: one for one portion only and one for 100 servings.

I take the latter without much hesitation. After all, it’s quite cheap; it only cost me 500 crown.

After obtaining the rice, we continue our way to Celia’s house.

It’s not nice to suddenly barge in with so many people, so I ask them to wait for a while outside the house while I talk with Celia.

"Celia, I’m back!"

"Oh, welcome back, Eve. Did everything go well?"

When I open the door and step inside, Celia immediately recognizes me and greets me back cheerfully.

It looks like she has somehow accepted me as her roommate, which makes me really happy.

"Yes, I hunted a lot more than yesterday."

"That’s great. Which one did you hunt?"

"Umm… before we get into that, I'd like to ask you a favor…"

I tell her about everyone that is currently waiting outside, and fortunately, she doesn’t seem to think it's a problem and immediately agrees to let them in.

"They are Eve’s party members, right? Then, don’t hesitate to invite everyone in."

"Thank you, Celia."

"Wait a moment."

Before I turn back and head outside, Celia stops me and gives me a kiss on the lips.

My eyes widen for a moment before I enjoy the light kiss.

"Now go." Celia said with a smile on her face.

"Yes, I’ll be back."

It somehow makes me feel like we are a newly-wed couple, and it makes my heart flutter.

After inviting everyone inside and introducing them to Celia, I’m going to make the food.

"Celia, can I use the kitchen?"

"I don’t mind. Going to cook?"

"Yeah, me and Yuna-san."

"eh!?"

Yuna-san, who is listening to our conversation, immediately falls into surprise.

Didn’t I promise to teach you how to cook?

Why are you so flustered?

"Yuna-san, you will do it right?"

I ask with a tone that doesn’t leave any room for rejection.

"I understand..."

Her expression is a little bit tense, but she doesn’t outright refuse it, so it’s fine.

"Well then, Yuna-san. Before we start cooking, I would like to confirm something."

"Oh, what is it? You can ask me anything."

"Do you know how to get the [Cooking] skill?"

"Yes, I do. You need to successfully perform an action that conforms to your image of what the skill is about. It's basically the same for all production skills. For example, if you are a blacksmith, you need to make a fire in a stove, heat the metal, strike it, and then shape it to make a sword. Once you make that sword, you can finally learn the [Blacksmithing] skill."

I see. So, that’s how we did it.

"The [blacksmithing] skill learned in this way is also special. If the weapon is of the same level as the one you learned the skill from, you can reproduce it with the skill. If you want to make something better than that, you have to make it without the skill, and if you make a better weapon than before, your skill level goes up, and you can reproduce the better weapon with the skill."

Umu. I get the gist of it.

I think it would be better to teach them carefully and faithfully the basics until they learn the skills at least once.

Currently, I have 3 types of meat: Cuckobird meat, Cherry Swine meat, and Rabby Meat.

All kinds of seasonings and cooking utensils were also available in the kitchen.

Yuna-san also has eggs as an ingredient.

Let’s see… how about making a Tonkatsu?

Yosh! It’s decided!

We start to cook.

"First, this is how you hold a knife. Please observe carefully and follow how I do it."

"O-okay… this way?"

Yuna-san grabs the knife in her right hand and tries to imitate the way I handle the knife, but it’s slightly off.

It’s really apparent that Yuna-san is a newbie when it comes to cooking.

"No, you should extend your thumb a little more. And your index finger should be this way."

As I support Yuna-san’s fingers and fix their position, I can feel her skin a little bit rougher than I thought. It must be because she uses a bow.

Nevertheless, it’s also quite attractive…

No, no, what I’m thinking. Let’s focus on cooking!

"The next step is to prepare the meat. First, beat the meat with the back of the knife. That way, the finished product will be tender."

Bang, bang, bang.

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We both pound the meat on the top of the board.

When the meat has been beaten just right, we go on to the next step.

"Next comes the seasoning. Stab the meat with this fork. After that, apply salt and pepper and rub the seasoning into the meat."

…

Slowly and carefully, I teach Yuna-san how to make tonkatsu. I really want to make a side dish as well, but I guess I don’t have any suitable ingredients in my possession currently.

Not long after, Yuna-san and I finish our first tonkatsu in this world.

Immediately, a window popped up, showing that I’ve learned a new skill.

---

Cooking Lv19 (New)

---

Oh my, I reach Lv. 19 as soon as I get the skill.

Is raising the level of [Cooking] easier than I thought?

Or did it become this high because I make the dish meticulously?

Well, it seems that Yuna-san has also learned the skill properly.

"Thank you, Eve-chan! I get the skill thanks to your help!"

She hugs me with all her might. By the way, Yuna-san is a little taller than me. I hug her back, enjoying the rare sensation of my boobs being pressed against her boobs from the top.

"Yes. Congratulations, Yuna-san. What level are your skill at?"

"It’s at level 14! Amazing, you’re amazing Eve-chan."

We laugh together for a while before going back to the dining room.

The one that I cook I serve for Celia, Irika, and Iris-san, while Yuna-san and I have the one cooked by Yuna-san.

Eventually, we try each other dishes, and both are surprisingly delicious.

"Yuna-san, I’m a bit curious." I ask, "You’ve opened a yakitori stall for a while, but why have you never learned the skill until now?"

It’s quite baffling because we did learn the skill just after cooking once. According to that logic, Yuna-san should’ve gotten the skill a long time ago.

In my estimation, Yakitori should’ve been able to raise the [Cooking] skill up to level 2 or 3.

"Well… maybe because I didn't have the basics down. I was just doing things as I went along. This is the first time I've done it properly, starting with how to hold a knife, so maybe that's it."

In Yuna-san’s opinion, the basics are the most important thing to learn a new skill. If that’s true, maybe we can learn various skills that way. Although, at that time, it'll become more difficult for me to decide where I'll spend my free skill points.

"Eve, and everyone, can you listen to me for a minute?"

Before we can call it a night, Celia asked in a rarely solemn expression, "Eve. Let me confirm once again, do you still want to continue as a thief?"

"Of course, I will."

I don’t know how to change my job in the first place. Besides, I kind of like how the thief looks a bit like Kunoichi.

"Is that so... then I have a suggestion. Why don't you let me train you? As a former thief, I want to teach you my skills. Of course, I'll ask everyone to help me."

Listening to Celia’s words, we look at each other’s faces.

I heard from Yuna-san that it’s common knowledge that you can’t learn a thief’s job-specific skill unless you join the Thieves’ Guild. But just now Celia said that she would teach me the skill, and somehow everybody gets involved.

Before I can react, a quest window floats in front of my eyes.

---

"Celia’s Training"

Client: Celia

Request content: Receive training as a thief from Celia

Reward: A small amount of money. Others

---

It seemed to indicate that I would be trained and that everyone else would help me train. We all nodded to each other and decided to take this quest.

From my perspective, it's a chance to learn a skill I thought I would never learn.

From everyone's standpoint, it is to make the party members stronger.

From a third-party standpoint, it's to get information about a quest that no one else seems to know about.

Even though there are disadvantages that it’ll take up some of our time, the benefits far outweigh the disadvantages.

"Thank you, Celia. May I ask for that training?"

"Of course," she replies with a smile. "You guys are willing to help me with that, right?"

"Yes!" "Of course." "Count me in!"

"Well if everyone agrees, let’s start the training tomorrow morning. It's already late today, so everyone should stay the night. We have an empty room available."

Eehh?! Celia, you’re terrible!

How long do you think I’ve been waiting for the night to come….?

"The guest room is upstairs, so feel free to use it. Anyway, Eve, I need to take a bath, so may I ask you to help me?" Celia says calmly without blushing.

"……Yes!"

Celia, you know me the best!

"Then I'm going to help Celia take a bath. Thank you everyone for today. See you tomorrow. Good night."

I speak in a single breath and hurriedly chase after Celia.

In hindsight, my actions would have been questionable at best, but I don't have the time to think of such a thing right now I have a more pressing matter to attend.

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