The Insider System

Chapter 52: Gossip

Once the servants left for their rooms Nia said. "I told you to come here so we could tell you something." Lake cut her off and said. "Is it about Solomon?" They both looked shocked after he said this, especially Millie. "How do you know already? It took us years to find out about him." Lake could understand why it had taken them so long, Solomon was good at acting, it just so happened Lake was better at reading people.

"He just gave me a bad vibe, so what's up with him?" Lake didn't know the specifics other than he seemed untrustworthy, but maybe he had already done something to one of these two. "Up until a year ago he was sitting where you are now. Neither of us had ever thought anything bad about him; it just changed one day. The night after I picked my specialty of food I woke up and heard something in my room digging around in the kitchen. They were being quiet but it made me paranoid enough that I had the servants throw everything I had in the kitchen at the time away and bring new stuff."

Millie stopped talking after she said this and Lake wasn't sure why she hadn't given any evidence that said it was Solomon. "What made you think it was Solomon?" Lake actually thought they were right even if they didn't have evidence, because Solomon had given himself away when Lake had implied what his skill did which matched with what had happened to Millie. Solomon might just be really into other people's skills for some reason.

"He never came for lunch again after that like he had lost interest in our friendship." Millie seemed upset when she said that. Lake wondered how long they had known each other before all this happened. "What about you Nia, did he do anything to you?" If Lake had been doing what Solomon was doing he would have continued to eat lunch here so he could stay friends with Nia.

That seemed to be his plan to get close enough to people that they reveal what their skill does and even if he thought he blew it with Millie there was still Nia. "No, for whatever reason me and him were never close, he only seemed interested in Millie so I thought he had a crush on her. Some guys are like that, only pay attention to the girl they like."

"He was being weird with me as well." As he said this Lake tried to think of a reason why Solomon would ignore Nia but not either of them. "Nia, are you an Alchemist?" This was the only thing he could think of, maybe she didn't have what she wanted. "Yes, but I don't have a Legendary skill in it."

This meant that people the guild thought were valuable still lived here even if they didn't meet the exact definition of Legend. "Do you have a Legendary skill from another Job?" Lake always felt weird when he asked questions like these; he never knew if it was ok. "Yeah, a few actually." It seemed she was fine with it though.

"It seems you came to the same conclusion I did." It looked like part of the reason she answered was so she could see if he thought the same thing he did. "He's only interested in Legendary Alchemy skills." After he said this Nia gave Millie a I told you look and in response Millie looked at the ground.

Lake wondered if Nia maybe got it backwards when she thought Solomon had a crush on Millie. By the way Millie was acting Lake bet she would still forgive Solomon if he came back and confessed to everything. She might even buy him denying everything because she didn't want it to be true.

This made him look down on Solomon for failing to manipulate her when it had been so easy. If Lake had been in his shoes, he would have just asked her out first then done whatever he was trying to do. Added bonus of not needing to break into her house, which was what got him caught in the first place.

"So are the two of you doing anything about this?" This was what really mattered how they handled it. "We brought it to Lucas, but there was no evidence." Lake felt there had to be plenty of ways to gather evidence, so either Solomon was extremely careful which Lake doubted considering he got caught, or Lucas killed the investigation for some reason.

After Lake thought this he looked up at the two of them and realized just because he didn't trust Solomon that didn't mean these two were good. The food helped, but he still needed to stay on his toes. Lake decided this was deep enough for him there was no point in him getting more involved with this unless Solomon tried something on him, especially when there was this much food to eat.

Grabbing a piece of bread on his plate, Lake took a bite. He decided to start with the bread because it was probably going to be the most bland part of the meal, and he wanted to see if it was just sourdough. "Holy Crap." This was a crude thing to say at the table but it had been involuntary. He still apologized though. "Sorry."

Surprisingly neither of them seemed upset by his outburst, but instead they were both smiling. Lake could see why they thought Solomon not coming anymore was such damning evidence, it was. Just a bite of bread had blown Lake's socks off; he didn't even understand what was happening in his mouth.

It didn't taste like anything but bread but it was still better. It was like his brain was experiencing eating a thousand pieces of bread at once, and he was able to get the satisfaction from it. Lake wanted to know if this was the only trick her food had or if it could do other stuff to him. He wouldn't be disappointed if this was it, he just wanted to know.

Picking up his spoon he got some of the soup he tried to get as many of the different things he could see so he would get the full experience. Lake slowed down when he put it into his mouth. This was a similar feeling he had gotten from the bread only much slower. It was like Millie knew it would be too much if it happened all at once and she had found a way to slow down the pleasure.

It wasn't to the point where he could tell all 20 flavors separately, but the flavors were better together so that would detract from the overall flavor. This made Lake think Millie had a few different things she could do to your mind to make you experience her food in an enhanced manner.

All this made Lake willing to put the lizard meat into his mouth. He was sure it would be worth it but he decided to inspect it using his skills first just to be safe. Millie had said it was naturally poisonous and Lake didn't want what had happened in the cart to happen again. Lake read through the various facts that came up and nowhere did it say anything about it still being poisonous though it did tell him who had cooked it, Millie.

He took a bite, this was truly all the info he needed. Lake was not as blown away as he had been with the last two things but the fact it was the best piece of meat he ever ate told you how much of a miracle Millie had pulled off. "Millie Do you want to know what I think yet, or do you want me to wait till after the cold custard?"

Lake looked at Nia after she said this because he hated the way cold custard sounded. His main problem being it was good enough to stick, people loved alliteration. As someone from Earth Lake would never get used to calling it that. Really thinking about it, Lake decided not to say anything because ice cream might not be custard. He wasn't a chef.

"I already know what you're thinking, the lizard's laking." This was a spot on analysis in Lake's opinion, but he was still going to finish it. "You can wait for the detailed review till after the dessert." After Millie said this she smacked the table and a few seconds later her servants all came running into the room.

"Serve the dessert, and you can stay here to eat it we're done with talking business." Lake was actually a little jealous of her servants; they just did what she said in exchange for food and they got to eat it every day. Thinking of his servants, Lake bet they would give anything to switch places with Millie's.

He should think of a way to make sure they were loyal. He assumed the guild had its own way but how much could he trust the guild. There were plenty of reasons for the guild to plant unreliable servants in his room; they could turn on him at any time, but Lake bet Millie wouldn't have the same problem.

If he was her servant someone would have to kill him, and control his dead body to get him to abandon her food. Lake wondered if just bringing them some leftovers would be enough. It would show he cared, but it might have the effect of them preferring Millie over him and he still wasn't sure if he could trust her.

Lake hated this kind of stuff; it was why he never schemed even though he was capable. He would much rather eat his ice cream and enjoy it than think how he could screw over the person who made it. Which was what Solomon had done. Scooping the top of the ice cream a little, Lake thought the consistency was a little off but he doubted that could make it not the best cold thing he had ever eaten.

Putting it into his mouth he experienced something new. It still had the amplification effect like everything else had but this was somehow different. Lake would have been satisfied with one bite of the bread or soup. But this, he was having a hard time not breaking his own jaw so he could shove it in his mouth faster. He couldn't get enough but as soon as he took the last bite the feeling faded. It was like he had just completed an impossible task, the most satisfying feeling he had ever felt washed over him.

Lake looked over to see he hadn't been the only one to freak out. Everyone but Millie was already done with it. After a few minutes Nia was the first to recover enough to say. "Millie, I think this might be a little far."