Chapter 45 (1/2)

Smith Jr. held two knives, one in each hand. He was dicing carrots with his left hand and smashing garlic with his right on two different cutting boards. Karen was standing behind him with her hands on her hips, inspecting every single one of his actions. He was used to her behavior. If he messed up even by the slightest bit, she’d hit his ear with a hot spoon. It was a cruel and unusual but effective punishment. He hadn’t made a mistake for the last twenty steps.

“Faster,” Karen said. “You want to chop faster than you can think. You want your body to know how to do it without your brain interfering. You want to reprogram yourself into a precise golem capable of accomplishing any task with just the slightest thought. Thinking requires energy—the best chess players can burn up to six thousand calories a day by sitting in a chair. When you can do your tasks automatically without thinking about them, you’ll save a lot more energy.”

Smith Jr. frowned and chopped a piece of garlic instead of smashing it. “You’re distracting me.”

Karen’s arm flashed, and the hot spoon struck Smith Jr.’s ear. “You’re not pushing yourself to the limit. Your hands should be working automatically. Separate your arms from your brain. Focus on my voice; don’t even think about cutting carrots or smashing garlic.”

Smith Jr. exhaled through his nose, his arms still moving. It was difficult, extremely difficult to disassociate himself from his task. “Isn’t there a multi-tasking technique I can learn to do this?”

“What do you think I’m trying to teach you right now?” Karen asked and rolled her eyes. “You can’t rely on the system for everything.” Although Smith Jr. never admitted it, Karen knew Smith Jr. had a system thanks to her own mission. She was supposed to raise Smith Jr. into a chef as good as herself.

“I don’t know what system you’re talking about,” Smith Jr. said and shook his head. With that, his left hand also wavered, and the knife didn’t fully cut through the carrot below. He received another scorching hit to his ear in response. “The store’s opening soon.”

“Keep practicing,” Karen said and rolled up her sleeves. “I’ll take care of the store.” She left the kitchen, went to the entrance, and opened the door. As usual, Eula was there with her carriage; however, unlike usual, she was accompanied by Paul. They strolled into the shop without greeting Karen, walking directly past the rude chef to take a seat. Karen snorted and followed behind them. “What do you want?”

“One of everything on the menu,” Eula said.

Paul nodded. “I’ll have the same.”

“Got it.” Karen headed into the kitchen and inspected Smith Jr.’s actions. There was nothing she could find fault with, probably because she wasn’t actively trying to distract him. She shook her head before going to her station. If it were just one or two dishes, she’d spend more time coaching Smith Jr., but the two waiting outside were rich gluttons. Who else would spend a year’s worth of rent on breakfast? She picked up the rice scooper and was about to dip it into the bag of rice when a scream came from outside, startling her.

Karen and Smith Jr. whirled their heads around. The dining room didn’t look any different; however, when they saw what was going on outside the restaurant, they both stopped what they were doing. Fire was raining from the sky, and people were running while screaming. Someone ran towards the restaurant’s entrance, but before they could get there, a massive bird swooped down and snatched them up with its talons. The horse attached to Eula’s carriage whinnied and bolted, but it didn’t get very far before a tiger-like beast tackled it, bringing it down to the ground while smashing the carriage apart as if it were made of paper.

“What the hell?” Karen asked, her eyes as wide as saucers. She might’ve been a rude person, but she wasn’t callous enough to remain calm upon seeing someone die. “What’s going on?”

“Seems like the world’s ending,” Smith Jr. said with an expressionless face. He had already died once before, and honestly, this new life of his, it wore down his soul through the repeated grind. If a beast were to maul him right now, he didn’t think he’d mind it too much as long as it was quick. He walked out of the kitchen, holding both of his knives. Although he wasn’t afraid of death, that didn’t mean he wanted Eula to get hurt. If a beast came in, he’d fight it. With all his experience in the forbidden corridor, he was confident in himself when it came to combat.

“Stay behind me,” Paul said. That was the first thing Smith Jr. heard when he walked out of the kitchen, and the words weren’t even directed at him. They were directed at his crush, Eula. He wanted to tell her the same thing, but Paul was just too strong, and there was no way Eula would take Smith Jr. seriously, making him feel a bit helpless.

“Do you know what’s going on?” Eula asked with her brow furrowed. The people dying outside were her countrymen. They were her citizens. She might not be the one in charge, but that didn’t mean she didn’t care about her home country. “Can we help them?”

Paul shook his head. “I’ve seen something like this before,” he said. “An immortal is attacking. The best thing to do is stay here.” His eyes shifted onto Tutor Golem 3000. “This is arguably the safest place in the whole empire right now.”

“An immortal is attacking the empire?” Eula asked. “Why would an immortal attack us? We haven’t done anything wrong!”

“I don’t know,” Paul said and shook his head. He grabbed Eula’s arm, stopping the princess from charging ahead. “Where are you going?”

“I can’t just sit here!” Eula said. “I have to help my people!” She struggled to get free, but Paul’s grip was too strong. “Let go of me!”