Ascendance of a Bookworm

Volume 5, Extra 2: An Apprentice Chef in the Temple

As everyone in the orphanage had left to butcher the pigs, Hugo and I stayed behind to teach Monika and Nicole how to cook. These two new apprentice gray shrine maidens would assist us over the winter.

Nicola had braided her large volume of orange hair, they shined so brightly that they seemed to glow red. She enjoyed cooking and looked really cute because she always smiled whenever she worked. Conversely, Monika was an introverted and serious girl who always tied her dark green hair. I was putting lots of attention in teaching them as they would help me throughout the winter with Hugo gone. They both learned fast.

During lunch with Nicole, Monika, Hugo and the new chef Todd, Nicole asked me, “Ella, why did you decide to become a temple chef?”

“Ella, why did you want to be a chef in the temple?” she asked.

Hugo looked away because he knew my circumstances, while Todd leaned in with curiosity, but Monika just looked down on the table.

“People from the lower city don’t have a good impression of the temple, right? It’s pretty noticeable when walking to the forest. But you still chose to come to the temple. You don’t even mind teaching us to cook. I find it really perplexing,” she continued speaking. My thoughts travelled to my meeting with Benno who caused all this.

…Wow, he looks really rich.

My uncle had made me make a trip to the Dining Guild to request for an extension on our tax payments. I noticed a man sitting in the most prestigious seat in the guild. His clothes were a class above those normally seen in the Dining Guild. I continued staring at him and was curious why someone as rich as him was here. I strained my ears to hear what he was discussing with one of the guild members…

“Have you found anyone to be Hugo’s assistant?”

“Hmm… I know this job is too hard for Hugo alone, but as I’ve mentioned before, Benno, nobody wants to take this job.”

From their conversation, it seems that the rich man was Benno and he was here to hire an assistant chef. My heart gave a thump. My fists tightened as I felt the blood coursing through my blood burning up with excitement… Was this a blessing from Cuokokalura, the God of Cooking?!

“Ella, I said this before, we can’t wait this long… Hey, are you even listening?” I zoned out when talking to the guild member in front of me.

I turned back at him in surprise. He had slipped off my mind momentarily. I pointed at Benno and whispered in an urgent voice, “Hey, is that rich-looking man looking for a chef?!”

“Huh?… Oh, Mr Benno. He’s hiring a chef for the restaurant he’s planning to build. But he’s not looking for just any chef, he wants them to be trained in the temple to cook for the nobles.”

“…Wait, did you say the temple?”

Everyone wanted to avoid anything to do with the temple unless it was absolutely unavoidable. No one knew what the consequences would be if you offended a noble. Anyone from the temple orphanage was treated like slaves by the nobles. People have said that the nobles could easily kill anyone without repercussions, and that the girls there had to sleep with them.

…What’s the difference from being a waitress? I worked as an apprentice chef at my uncle’s bar during the night. I was helping out in the kitchen for now, but when I came of age I would be a waitress. My cousin Lea, who was uncle’s daughter, also became a waitress when she came of age, so I expected the same. The men in the bar would harass and catcall me, some had paid my uncle so he would make me serve them in their rooms.

Even though I hated the job, I couldn’t run away from my fate as it was the family business. I had to choose between a high-risk job assisting a noble’s chef or to save sufficient funds for my own store before I came of age. I strived to be like Leise, she excelled at being a noble’s chef that she was now the head chef for the Merchant’s Guild. There was a possibility I could be like her if I trained in the temple to cook for the nobles.

“Excuse me, sir. Do the temple chefs work as waitresses too?” I asked Benno from a distance. His deep red eyes look at me in surprise. His expression quickly changed from that of a stunned one to a frown, his sharp eyes locked into mine.

“…No, they don’t work as waitresses. The apprentice shrine maidens are served by their attendants. You only have to work for just one shrine maiden and they don’t want that service. Honestly, they don’t want commoners speaking to them.”

This was beyond my wildest dreams, to serve a rice noble girl as an apprentice chef and I didn’t need to work as a waitress.

“I’m only an apprentice chef, but I would love to help out. I’m pretty confident in my skills.” I slapped my arm with a large grin.

Benno turned back to the guild member and pointed at me, “How good is she?”

“Ella has nailed her basics, you probably want someone better skilled to cook for a noble but she would be capable enough to be Hugo’s assistant. She aspires to be a noble’s chef, I can assure you that she has all the motivation and spirit needed.”

“Hm…” Benno thought deeply as he looked at me.

The guild member who was with me yelled in a serious tone. “Wait, Benno! It’s already a thing to hire a man for the temple, but a lady? It would be nearly impossible for her to get married. Ella, please reconsider this with your own future in mind. Don’t be so impulsive to jump at any opportunity that comes at you, you’ll just be played like a fool!”

I bit on my lips in response. I wasn’t dumb, I was very well aware of my actions. I didn’t want to be a waitress, even if it was for the family business. I wanted a different future.

“My uncle will force me to be a waitress when I come of age. I don’t expect the temple to be any different. And he mentioned that the employer is a blue shrine maiden, so she must be a rich noble girl. I have always dreamed of being a noble’s chef if I ever left my uncle’s store. There’s no problem working in the temple for that dream.”

I said my piece as Benno looked on. He nodded to show his approval of my determination.

“…Fine. I’ll hire you.”

~~~

“My uncle was strongly against it, but Mum was very supportive. Mum had to work as a waitress after Dad died, even though she was so reluctant to. Now she is just glad that I’ve found a new opportunity in life…”

“Oh, so waitresses had to do something like how we offer flowers here. Well, we can’t refuse a blue priest if he asks for flowers, I can relate to you when you said that you wanted another path in life,” replied Nicola.

“One of the reasons why we cook here is so that we can get closer to Sister Myne. We hope that one day she will ask us to be her attendant.” Monika continued on.

So it was true that the gray shrine maidens from the orphanage were made to work like waitresses here. Now I understand why Nicola and Monika were trying so hard to improve themselves to avoid ever having to offer flowers.

“That person you called, “Mum”, sounds awfully kind,” Nicola praised and Monika agreed with a grin. I had to fight the impulse to laugh and explain their misunderstandings because they seemed earnest. I had no idea how to describe families to them because the idea of families were so familiar for me and everyone else I knew. I could only brush off their words with a smile and continued speaking.

“I’m not of age yet, so I can’t change my workplace without Mum’s consent. She accompanied me to the Dining Guild to sign the contract with the Gilberta Company. I also met Hugo that day too.” Nicole and Monika looked at Hugo who smiled back.

“I never would have imagined I’d work with another person who had yet to come of age like Ellla. I was so surprised when I saw her.”

“I was so happy to know that you were a nice person, Hugo.”

Hugo was now my colleague and teacher. He looked very friendly because of his chestnut coloured hair and brown eyes.

“I’m always being seen as just the nice guy because of my looks!” Hugo ranted, saying that it was because of that he couldn’t find a girlfriend. But Nicola and Monika just looked surprised.

“Is being a good person a bad thing? Or is it a troublesome thing?”

“Can’t say the same for me,” I laughed while looking at Hugo.

“And the both of you don’t have to worry about it too.” Hugo had broad shoulders and buff arms, most chefs looked like this because of all they heavy lifting they had to do. He had calluses in his hand because he handled the knife for a while. On our handshake during the first meeting, I noticed he had calluses like me too.

I saw that he was looking at my hands too. I smiled back and so did he.

He said this back then, “Not bad. You have my approval for now.”

… That sounded pretty cool. He had such a cool expression when he said that, and he also looked cool whenever he worked. When he was cooking, he always looked so serious and refined. A guy who had a job and performed it well had a certain coolness about him. He most likely didn’t have a girlfriend because he had no female coworkers at the restaurant he worked at.

“I signed with the Gilberta Company to avoid becoming a waitress. But ever since I’ve worked at the temple, I’ve been constantly surprised by everything. Isn’t that right, Hugo?”

“Yea. Though I’m used to it now, those first few days were insane. This place is worlds away from the city,” said Hugo, and Todd nodded along.

“I still get surprised everyday. My hands get covered in sweat and tremble so much at the thought that a noble might see me. It gets so hard to work.”

“Todd, that sounds bad. You need to learn how to relax sometimes.”

My life as a temple apprentice chef was nothing like my usual life. I didn’t expect to be taught about cleaning my hands, personal cleanliness, and general hygiene before learning more about cooking. Hugo and I had glanced at each other with shocked eyes before processing the idea that we had to clean ourselves before visiting the orphanage director chambers.

Fran first instructed us that, “You will be expected to maintain a high level of hygiene.”

“The Italian restaurant that Sister Myne is planning to open will demand the same level of cleanliness, so the sooner you get used to it, the better. At your current state, I cannot allow you to meet Myne and start your job.”

“Hugo, Ella. This is Fran, he is the head attendant of the shrine maiden you will be serving,” explained Benno. “You will heed his every instruction. Fran, I will wait in the room. Please do me a good job and teach these two the rules in the temple.”

After that, Benno went into the room first, leaving us with Fran. Even after we started working at the Italian restaurant, it appeared that we would keep in touch with Sister Myne. We had no choice but to clean ourselves.

Fran brought us to a well. First off, he gave us a thorough examination, then he made us wash our hands and faces repeatedly. He was so nit-picky that I honestly wanted to point out how wasteful he was being for making us waste that much soap. Despite the fact that we had both showered the night before because Benno insisted that we needed to be clean when meeting the apprentice blue shrine maiden (because she was a noble), Fran seemed dissatisfied at everything. I did not want to imagine what would unfold if we did not try to clean ourselves before

“Please take a bath the night before you go to the temple.”

“Huh? Wait, so we have to bathe every day? I asked. Hugo muttered a soft “Seriously?” next to me. I was shocked too. We could get by in the summer because we could just haul the water over us, but in the winter we would have to build a fire first to heat the water over. Hugo and I shuddered at the thought, but Fran nodded as if it that was expected from everyone.

“Sister Myne is very particular about hygiene when it comes to cooking. Furthermore, you will come across other noble blue robes, so you must always look clean before you come to work. This applies to everyone else in the temple, even for priests and shrine maidens in the orphanage who aren’t attendants.”

…So to say, this Fran person showers everyday. That’s supposed to be normal here? Aaah…

After we were clean to his standards, Fran nodded and escorted us to the hall where Benno was waiting to introduce us to our new master, Sister Myne. He then ascended the stairwell to her personal room on the second floor.

After Fran left, I moved over to Benno.

“Benno, what’s going on? He said that everyone in the temple cleans themselves and their clothes everyday. Do we really have to do that too? That would be excessive,” I resisted this fact. Benno’s eyes widened in surprise, but Hugo continued on.

“I agree with Ella. It’s impossible to tell if our clothes will dry by the next morning. The one set of uniform you provided isn’t enough for this.”

Hugo worked at a typical lower-city restaurant, so he was not affluent and I didn’t have sufficient clothes needed to work in the temple. I felt a bond with Hugo about our predicament, and I complained to Benno that cleaning clothing every day would be outrageous because we didn’t have any servants to help us like he did.

“Yea, Lutz said the same too. Fine, I’ll sell you some cheap clothes.”

“Whew, thank you.”

“Oh. Shush, Ella. Sister Myne is here,” Hugo warned me. I quickly shut up and glanced at the stairs to see a small girl in blue robes descend the stairs with poise. So that was Sister Myne.

Wow! An actual noble girl! This is my first time meeting Sister Myne. She’s such a cute girl. Her dark-blue hair looks like the night sky, it was silky straight and swishes nicely behind her, it was totally different from my messy curls. Her nose, eyes and mouth gave her a small, pretty and cute face.

“Sister Myne, this is Hugo, the Gilberta Company’s chef. Ella is his assistant. Hugo, you’ll learn how to cook like a nobleman here. Pay attention and study hard.” Benno spoke politely. His polite demeanor made it evident how that Sister Myne was of noble status…

“I shall guide you to the kitchen, “Fran said, and we were guided to our new workspace.

…Amazing! It was a large kitchen that had all the tools one could ever need. There was even a huge furnace oven that you only see in bakeries. I needed to master all these tools if I wanted to get hired at the restaurant Benno was preparing. This place was the best place for us to cultivate our skills.

The kitchen was sparkling clean, it was completely different from my uncle’s store. Hugo seemed excited by this too. A kitchen like this could not be found anywhere in the lower city. It was true that nobles live in another world from commoners. But everything will change for me from this moment, my work will now be as amazing as this kitchen.

“As I’ve mentioned, you must understand the importance of practicing good hygiene. Always keep your utensils and dishes clean. The kitchen must always look the way it is now.”

Fran was now our instructor. He held up the wood board and repeated the words Myne instructed us. He was an orphan and a gray priest here, but he was literate as he could read the words on the board. His way of speaking was so polite and graceful that I was beyond impressed. I could immediately tell that he had a proper education and was thoroughly trained. He was acting beyond my expectations of what I heard about orphans from the city

But we continued to be surprised. The instructions he gave us continued on, each of them were equally shocking. He told us to wash our hands often when cooking, the recipes had lots of prep work and the order in which the food was made had to be strictly followed

“You will use the broth to cook the food. Do not throw out the water after boiling the vegetables.”

“We’re not to toss out the water?” The idea that we were not to pour out the water after using it to boil the vegetables seemed like a bad idea. All the soil and first would contaminate the water, it was a common fact that boiled water causes miscarriage or made you infertile.

I glanced at Benno and he nodded back. I recalled him instructing us to follow Fran’s every order, so I held back my distaste at this and continued cooking.

However, when I tasted the soup with a bowl, I never had something like this before. The vegetables’ flavor was stronger and the tiny amount of salt enhanced its sweetness. It created a balance of delicate flavors that wafted throughout my entire body.

My eyes glistened, and it felt as I discovered a new realm to cooking and this shone an amazing light onto me. I could feel my universe growing, and I couldn’t control myself even though Sister Myne was still present.

~~~

“I’ll never forget how surprised I was the first time I drank the soup for nobles. It’s a pain to make, but it tastes amazing. It was absolutely out of this world.”

“Oh? But the soup we cook here isn’t the same as what nobles have,” Monika said in bewilderment and looked at Nicola who nodded in agreement.

“Out of all the food we’ve received from the nobles as divine gifts, the soup here is the tastiest.”

Hugo, Todd and I all exchanged looks of surprise. We all assumed that the recipes were weird because they were for nobles, but it appears that it was only because they were made by Sister Myne.

“So it’s only Sister Myne’s food? Not just her soup, but all the others are like this too…? No wonder Benno made us sign the contract that we could not make these food outside from the temple without his or Sister Myne’s approval. These recipes must be a big deal” I thought.

“Urgh, this sucks. I didn’t need to know about this big secret now,” Todd replied as she shivered from fear, he was terrified at the thought that he was now connected to and knew about some important secret.

But Hugo just gave an amused grin. “Ha. Food that not even nobles know? This is getting more interesting.”

His confidence was such an inspiration to me. I placed my hands on my hip and puffed up with pride. “Hugo, glad to see that you’re this excited, but I’m the one who will learn all of Sister Myne’s recipes.”

Hugo was bewildered by my remark and I continued on with a proud expression, “Well, I’m going to be living here throughout winter, so I’ll be doing all the cooking. She’ll definitely teach me new recipes. We’re going to give our best, Nicola and Monika. You two need to become Sister Myne’s attendant, and I’m going to beat Hugo.”

“Yea!” Nicole and Monika gave a heated response, they exchanged smiles and I looked at Hugo.

“Oh, I have no issues teaching you the new recipes during spring. Of course, if you’re nice about it.” Everyone started laughing but Hugo was disappointed and sighed.

~~

…I’ll get to cook lots of dishes this winter, learn new recipes, and finally overtake Hugo!

Autumn was ending and everyone was preparing for winter, but I was motivated with a new goal in sight.

Back then, I was still clueless as to why I was so fixated on Hugo and so obsessed with trying to catch up to him.