Chapter 978 (2/2)

Vye blinked. “I don’t have the cooking Skill. But I grew up cooking a lot, so it shouldn’t be much of a problem.

Marry and Wilbur exchanged a long glance. Marry’s eyes were heavy with meaning as she gazed soulfully at him. Wilbur winced. Marry’s eyes remained cold.

Coughing lightly, Wilbur turned back to Vye. “Uh… actually, why don’t we just order take-out? It will be so much simpler.”

Hours and a dozen pizzas later, Vye and Wilbur were once more alone after Marry wandered off to recover from the veritable feast that she had just inhaled. Wilbur was bubbling like a shaken sprite. “Did you see her face when you said you didn’t have the Cooking Skill? Who knew marrying a chef would have made her so entitled.”

Vye pressed her lips tightly together. They didn’t even trust me to make a pizza! I handled Tatiana’s entire schedule at Erickson Steel. When needed, I was trusted to fill in every step in the forging process. People begged me to be more involved. And yet now…

Casually, Wilbur pulled the ticket for the lottery out of his pants pocket and put it on the table between them.

“I want… to earn this. I don’t deserve this gift.” Vye said through gritted teeth. Immediately afterward, she was mortified.

She hated the sleazy way the phrase had sounded, especially after spending so much time with the couple. There was not a chance in hell that Vye was willing to sleep with this man. It was just the least insulting version of the fact she didn’t want to owe him anything and her mouth moved faster than her filter. She also hated that she had to say it to Wilbur, who had been such a vicious flirt in her memories. She hated saying it after having such a fun time with Marry.

But Wilbur just released his charming smile and didn’t comment on the phrasing. Instead, he simply said. “I admire your spirit. I felt the same when I started my first restaurant in the Orchard. We should all start out with such a bold ambition. But it was only after I had really gotten my feet under me that I realized how many people had helped me without me realizing it.

“Whether it was acquiring funding, speaking with the patient architects and builders who were willing to listen to my constant demands for the layout, or negotiating with the administration of Orchard allowing for a unique method of tax collection, I couldn’t have gotten here alone. The people with power I met looked at me and gave me the chance to prove myself. Without that support, my small restaurant would have failed. And that’s, I think, why I fell in love with the Orchard. Everyone here is working together to build something worth having.

“Now I have four locations, and one of them is in the running for best restaurant in the Orchard. I achieved that honor because I gave a kid without the Cooking Skill a chance when he was fresh out of the time freeze. At the time I had more pull than I knew what to do with. But I still remembered how close I had been to failing. To such a determined kid... could I refuse the same chance I received?

“But I didn’t do it alone. The workers in this district, back when it was just scaffolding and a sketch in the dirt, had to walk a half mile back to the closest restaurant at which they could afford to eat. But because of the distance, they often had to skip lunch or let someone off early and carry it back.

“I didn’t have any money for a building when I came here. The next best thing I could buy was tables. I just came out to the place where people were working all day and set my tables up in the muddy paths they called a street.”

Then, Wilbur winced. “And man, if you could taste what I served then as food… I had to make such large batches that the process really lowered the quality of the taste. But I was the one who came to give them what they needed. So they were loyal when I finally could set up shop in an actual building. For the longest time, they were my only customers. No matter how low my Cooking Skill was, they still ate it.

“Now… it’s hard to say which of us needed the other more.” Wilbur slapped his cheeks. “But we both needed each other. There is no shame in that.”

Vye just looked at Wilbur as she slowly digested what he said.

His smile lessened somewhat. “I get the desire for independence. More than any other time, the System has made it so that there are threats that will end our lives as quick as breathing. But even the Ghosthound received help to become what he is today.”

“...I thought the Ghosthound was the one who helped everyone else?” Vye asked quietly. She remembered Randidly’s burning emerald eyes, surveying the entirety of Erickson Steel.

“Maybe, but he also worked closely with Senator Firefly for quite a while. He made the big push for the Orchard. The two are really close.” Wilbur shrugged. “With monsters surrounding us… humanity needs to band together. That’s the only way we can win over this fucked up System.”

Very slowly, Vye chewed her lip. “But… why me? Why help me? Let’s be honest; we weren’t that close. I don’t even know why I came to visit. It’s just-”

“-it’s just that we, to each other, are the only people that we knew from before,” Wilbur said quietly. “I wasn’t in the original batch of people, but I was one of the first rescued. There will people waiting to assist our escape. And still, everyone else who was there with me… died.”

With a sigh, Wilbur pushed the ticket across the table toward Vye. “Nostalgia is a strange thing. Even though we weren’t close, you are the only living link to my previous life. Vye, I’m about to have a son in this fucked up world. He’s going to need to live here, and I’m going to pray every day that he doesn’t piss off the wrong Level 50 Barbarian or wander into a Raid Boss nest.”

Wilbur’s hand clenched into fists. “If I help you now, someday you might be able to help him. And then he will save someone else and humanity…”

Shaking his head, Wilbur seemed abruptly exhausted by his previous emotions. “Well, I don’t know much about humanity. But you remind me that things were once better, and that can happen again. So think of it as an investment in the world, for my son’s sake. You always had too many ideas to just be buried on the project team of some corporate schmuck. We need people like you, Vye. Out there, given wings to make the world a better place. So… this is just me... with paste and feathers.”

After ten seconds, Vye nodded and took the certificate. Her hands were trembling. “What… ah… have you picked out a name for your son?”

Wilbur’s wide smile made a sudden comeback. “Heh. Marry isn’t such a fan, but… I really want to name him Wilbur Jr. To preserve the noodle shop legacy…!”

Vye eyes tightened as she resisted an urge to groan audibly. You are still such a douche.