The Insider System

Chapter 51: Dinner Party

Lake could vaguely hear someone cooking behind the partitioning wall that separated where they were sitting from the kitchen. Lake was hoping she was almost done because he could have already eaten if he had gone to his room. Thinking it was best to take his mind off his stomach, Lake turned to Nia and asked.

"You said Millie doesn't really leave her room, how does she practice Alchemy?" When Lake had looked around his room he had noticed a distinct lack of a Lab. He had thought it weird but he was sure they had their reasons. "Millie decided to focus on another aspect of Alchemy, so she doesn't need to leave her room. She has everything she needs right here."

Lake thought back to when he had been talking to Solomon that morning and he said it was rare for people to pick what they planned to focus on this early but it had also made him guess that Lake's skill had something to do with poison, so using this logic Lake could probably guess what Millie's skill helped with.

Just to make sure Lake asked. "So Millie's using Alchemy to make better food." Lake thought this was brilliant. In his experience food was one of the few things that made life better, no matter who you were, a good meal was always nice. "Something like that." Lake saw now why Nia always came here for lunch; this might be the best thing he'd ever eat.

"Is the guild ok with this, or is it a contentious topic?" Lake thought that might have been the first and last time he would ever say contentious, he wasn't even sure he used it right. "The guild always supports whatever you choose to research, even if the benefits are hard to see you might stumble on a new way to do something."

This was a far-sighted approach and Lake thought it was the right way to do it considering you would have to force people to do something they didn't want to. It was always best to play into people's passion especially if you had the resources not to worry about a few of them missing. "Is what we're eating part of the surprise as well, or do you even know?"

"It's usually random but if you like anything tell her and she'll make it whenever you come, you just have to let her know the day before." This kind of made it sound like Millie was a grandmother type. Lake usually got along with really nice people so maybe she would end up being his new best friend.

Nia pointed towards the kitchen. "The food's ready." Lake looked over to see two different people carrying a platter of food. Seeing the goods Lake was happy with the amount he had been a little worried there was only going to be enough for two. It seemed she knew he was coming, or maybe she always made more than necessary.

Lake was just looking for any way this could be a scheme. He had promised himself not to trust anyone just because they seemed nice after he realized Solomon was planning something nefarious. After the platters were down on the table Lake was expecting an introduction, but the one he assumed was Millie went back into the kitchen.

"Was that Millie?" Lake just wanted to make sure, maybe that had just been one of the servants and Millie was still in the kitchen. "No, Millie has white hair you'll know when you see her." White hair, Lake wondered how old she was, maybe she was actually a grandma. Lucas had said this floor was for people around his age but he wondered what the specific age group was, maybe that meant 40 and under.

"There she is." Lake looked up to see the person who he originally thought was Millie was helping the real Millie carry a long platter with a roasted animal on it. It didn't seem too heavy but the length of the animal made it impossible for one person to carry it. Lake laughed a little. This full animal roast was almost as long as the table they were sitting at and now that it was down on the table Lake realized it was some sort of lizard.

What kind of chef would make someone eat a lizard why not a pig or cow? It took a few seconds for Lake to remember what was normal on earth had very little to do with where he was in this world; people would eat anything they could kill and cook. Meat was considered a luxury and most people were forced to be vegetarians here.

"Millie, this is Lake. He's the new guy I told you about two days ago. He arrived yesterday." Lake saw Millie wipe her hands on her apron and reach out for a handshake. Lake wondered if she was wiping away sweat or grease from the food. If it was sweat it was possible she was nervous to meet him and nervous people were usually pushovers.

Lake had no plans of using this to his advantage, but it was still good to know he shouldn't put too much faith in her if they ever became friends. Reaching out his hand to shake hers, Lake said. "Nice to meet you, and thank you for inviting me to lunch." As lake held her hand he could feel how clammy they were which kind of proved he had been right about her being nervous.

What it didn't prove was it was about him; she could just be nervous about something else like how the food came out. "I didn't invite you. Wh whwh What I mean is I didn't know you were coming. You are welcome for lunch any time." Lake giggled a little; he loved how nervous people also seemed to be the ones who said stuff that came off as an insult or a slight.

It was like no matter how worried they were about it they would still end up offending someone. Another thing was if Millie's stance was anyone could be here for lunch why was Solomon not here. This put more evidence in the Solomon sucks column. With the introduction over Millie started to walk them through what all she had cooked.

"This is soup. I haven't decided on what kind of soup though because it has over 20 ingredients so for now I'm just gonna call it soup. This is fermented bread. I'm not too sure on what to call it either so let's just go with bread." Lake wondered if she had just invented sourdough, or this was something new he had never heard of.

With the first platter down Millie moved on to the second and what Lake assumed was for dessert. "Nia, do you remember that custard I made Last week? Well, I tried freezing it to see what would happen and I think it made it better." Lake had been wondering why there was a block of ice on the platter. It was keeping what Lake guessed resembled ice cream frozen.

Lake felt blessed to be able to witness the birth of ice cream in this world but it made him think about the fact that there had been no cheese this morning when he had made a sandwich so where did she get the milk. He decided he would bring this up during the meal; it would be rude to stop her in the middle of her description, especially now that she was moving on to the lizard.

"This is a Nenomor lizard, a pretty common monster in areas with water. The only problem is they are poisonous. I used the same method you would use to remove poison from a potion to make it edible. This is really just for me, because I always thought it was a shame we couldn't eat them whenever my dad would kill one when I was growing up."

Lake thought the image of a child wanting to eat this was funny, because if someone tried to force him to eat this when he was little he would have run away from home. This made Lake think they had been starving at the time. Maybe no one had known how to grow corn or maybe the Scarerat was going to be a revolution for the farming industry.

It was possible there were places where rats ate everything people tried to grow and it caused people to starve. Lake needed to get back in touch with Wallace soon to see if he was rich yet. Lake didn't want to miss out on payday. "Go ahead and sit back down. I'll have my servants make our plates." She didn't actually have to say any more than this because they instantly got to work making the plates.

Once they were down in front of them Millie said. "You three can go and eat in your rooms." Lake thought it was funny Millie wasn't nervous to tell her servants what to do. That made him think she had been here for a while even though now that he got a good look at her she didn't seem much older than him he wondered if her hair had always been white.