Chapter 10: Specially Made Meal
[You made it through the night safely.]
[Because you didn't sleep well, your body is fatigued and your status parameters have temporarily decreased.]
The calendar flipped to a new day.
A new day began.
Brilliant sunlight poured into the main building of Chaldea. Students woke up one after another to wash their faces. The academy's lively and cheerful atmosphere returned, as if yesterday's shadow had never existed.
Around 7:30 in the morning, at the Chaldea Academy cafeteria, various Servants were lining up to buy breakfast.
Meanwhile, Eikou—still shaken from the previous night—was trembling as he tore open the seasoning packet for his yakisoba.
Gawain, seeing the state he was in, couldn't help but ask, "Why were you drenched in sweat this morning when you woke up? And those dark circles under your eyes… You didn't sleep well? Or are you sick?"
Truly the Boss of the Knights of the Round Table—he instantly picked up on all of Eikou's unusual signs.
"Gawain… is there some kind of ghost story or creepy rumor about our dorm?"
"I've never heard of one."
"I see…" Eikou's shoulders slumped. "But last night, I really did hear it. A woman's voice… in the dorm."
Gawain's eyes immediately sharpened. "I want to hear the details."
"Why do you get so fired up the moment a woman is mentioned? And it wasn't anything romantic last night—it felt more like something out of a Hitchcock film. I nearly pissed myself."
"Then why didn't you wake me up?"
"Well… I thought about it a lot. On one hand, it wasn't quite desperate enough, and on the other hand, dragging you into it didn't seem right either." Eikou shrugged. "Sure, you're really strong, but nighttime isn't exactly your stage."
"It's fine, Sir Eikou. If something like that happens again, just wake me up," Gawain said. "We—the Knights of the Round Table—can't just sleep soundly while our friends are gripped by fear and danger is close at hand."
Hearing Gawain say that, Eikou really did feel a lot more reassured.
"Besides, my mother told me to take good care of you." Gawain beamed brightly.
"R-really..."
Well, it makes sense. Who knows, maybe one day I really will become part of this family.
If I'd known that, I wouldn't have been so polite with Gawain last night. I should've just woken him up and gone into the hallway together to see what the hell was going on—whether it was Sesshouin Kiara not letting go, or some other ghost woman.
"If she shows up again tonight, I'll call you."
"Umu, leave it to me." Gawain looked at the cup yakisoba in front of Eikou and frowned. "Sir Eikou, why are you only eating this for breakfast? There's no nutritional value at all!"
"Well, I've already made up my mind to attend the social party. Gotta save up on living expenses—it's a necessary sacrifice."
The ghostly incident from the previous night had only made his resolve stronger. Even if he had to sell everything he owned, he'd join no matter what.
He lowered his head and took a bite of the yakisoba.
Gawain pushed his own bento box toward Eikou.
"Here, I'll share half with you."
"You made this yourself?"
"Yeah. At Chaldea Academy, students are allowed to bring their own ingredients and cook. It's pretty free like that."
Gawain pointed at the bento box with confidence.
"To balance the nutrition, I got up early and made this myself. Try it out—see how my cooking is."
Eikou was so touched he nearly burst into tears—this Sun Knight was truly reliable at all times!
However, when Gawain opened the bento, Eikou's smile slowly faded.
"What… is that?"
He pointed to the pale, greasy-looking, massive lumpy blob inside the box.
"It's Gawain's specially crafted nutritious mashed potatoes!" the other said cheerfully.
All Eikou saw was 'a bunch of pitiful potatoes brutally smashed by a gorilla.'
Eikou lowered his head and went back to eating his yakisoba. "Thanks, but you go ahead and eat it."
"Don't be so picky, Sir Eikou. Potatoes are full of nutrients. My King knew the value of this food well—she loved it. Mashed potatoes in the morning, mashed potato rice bowls for lunch, stir-fried shredded potatoes with mashed potatoes for dinner… I even sometimes prepared midnight mashed potatoes for her."
"Go apologize to Artoria right now on your knees."
"Haha, I don't get what you mean. Come on, Sir Eikou, let me give you a bite."
"Don't contaminate my yakisoba!!"
Before he could even finish the sentence, Gawain had already dumped the entire oily, mushy blob into his yakisoba bowl.
Noooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!
...
[By end of lunchtime, you began browsing job postings to find a part-time job.]
["Amazoness Logistics Delivery Staff": Requires Agility A or higher, 50 QP/hour]
["Massage Therapist for VIP Room at Enma-tei": Requires Strength B, preference for skills like "Human Anatomy Research," 100 QP/hour]
["Guitarist for Elizabeth's Band": Requires skills like "Eine kleine Nachtmusik" and "Harp of Healing," must bring own earplugs, 500 QP/hour]
["Kinoko Heavy Industries": Requires Strength B or higher, 30 QP/hour]
What the hell is Kinoko Heavy Industries? Has 'God' descended to this world and opened a company?
These days, job hunting wasn't easy—besides attribute requirements, they even demanded all sorts of weird skills.
Eikou glanced over his skill list.
Strength: B+. And he had "Human Anatomy Research A."
Perfectly qualified to work as a massage therapist at Enma-tei.
And if he remembered right, the owner of Enma-tei—Beni-Enma—was a fairly kind person. She probably wouldn't torment employees like Edison did, nearly turning a factory into Babbage's morgue.
Decision made: he'd go work part-time at Enma-tei.
[You successfully applied for the job. You can start working after school.]
[You checked your wallet balance, calculated the time left before the social party, and decided you'd head to Enma-tei right after class today.]
[However, your plan hit a snag. Poor Tristan was still being held in detention, while class rep Gawain had been assigned by the teacher to a task and was tied up with Round Table Club activities—too busy to get away. Meanwhile, just thinking about Sesshouin Kiara still lurking somewhere made you too scared to go out alone.]
[You began searching for a classmate willing to come along to work part-time.]
[But you'd only just transferred a few days ago. You didn't know many of the Servants yet. In the end, you had to turn to Gawain for help.]
[In this matter, Gawain actually had someone in mind right away. Without another word, he walked over to the neighboring classroom and shoved a girl with blonde hair and a couldn't-care-less attitude in your direction—like he was handing you a burning-hot potato.]
"This is Mordred from our club. I'll leave her in your care—take her with you."