"You knew?" lina rushed after Master Gilbert. Her heart was beating like crazy, her mind reeling in panic.
"Of course, I knew. Who do you take for? You're just openly reading your System ssages whenever you're working and using your skills at the first chance you get," the man shook his head.
Dammit! I grew too complacent because I assud he wouldn't report to the Church. Not to ntion that he never appeared very interested in how I was doing my work, but rather in the results only. I should have been more careful.
"Master, you won't—"
"Of course, I won't give you out to the Church. I assud you already deduced that I'm a System user myself so you must have figured that out as well."
"Erina did say that you hated the Church," lina admitted.
"Even went prodding for information. You're more clever than you look. Erina told you right. I hate them and I'm hiding from them just as you are. Not sure what your reasons are and quite honestly I don't care. It's better not to get involved with them."
"Thank you," she sighed in relief. "But how did you know that I was using a skill?"
Her lingering on the System ssages—yes, that was a mistake on her part. But it's not like she needs to perform a dance or special hand gestures to activate a skill. A re thought is enough.
"I have a skill that allows to identify all skills and enchantnts used to prepare a dish."
lina clicked her tongue in annoyance. She should have known. There were so many different detection skills, that it was only logical to assu that there would be one for detecting skills used on crafted goods. It was just so niche that lina didn't think of it.
"You must be rather high level to have such a skill," she noted sowhat bitterly.
"I gained it while I still had the [Baker] class so it's not that high level. Which level are you, girl?"
"Level 11 [Cook]."
"Bah! That's barely anything. I'm surprised you even have any skills unlocked," the old baker waved his hand dismissively and turned to leave.
"Wait, I have one question!"
"What?" he stopped for a mont, looking sowhat annoyed.
"When did you figure everything out?"
"The first ti I saw you," he said with a smile and hobbled inside the house, leaving lina alone with her thoughts.
The first ti? But how? Unless… he has , doesn't he? All of my caution and care wouldn't have mattered anyway if he can see my Status Screen.
The next day lina and Gilbert spent the whole day preparing the required orders of bread for the bakery. The baker expected them to be gone for the rest of the week but was unwilling to leave his regular clients like Erina without their orders. Apparently, few local businesses relied on his bread since there wasn't another bakery in town. Not to ntion that that's where the largest part of the inco for the bakery ca from.
From early morning until late afternoon, lina was busy making the simpler bread—pumpkin seed bread, plain white bread, grain bread, sunflower seed bread. Gilbert focused on more complicated pastries. It was tiring but she once again gained two levels.
"Master, which stats are best to invest points in?" she asked as she was pulling the last pastries out of the oven.
"For those with classes similar to ours, and are the most important stats, especially in the beginning. I think the first one is quite obvious, while the latter allows you to rank up and unlock skills faster," the old baker explained, then threw a glance in lina's direction. "Although in your case, a few points in wouldn't hurt."
" is my second highest stat," lina retorted.
"And you're still this weak? Perhaps a few laps around the town is what you need," he scoffed. "Boosting it much higher would be a waste of points, so focus on and for a while. Maybe occasionally throw a point in ."
"What about ? The System claims it makes it easier to sell your produced dishes to custors."
"If your bread is good, custors will co on their own, so don't worry about it. Besides, high will co with its own troubles."
He's right there. My stat was decently high last ti so I could boost the effect of my mind magic spells, and I always had n hitting on wherever I went. Maybe I'll just forget about this stat altogether this ti around to avoid attracting attention.
With that settled, she invested the two points she got from leveling up into and checked her status screen.
[Na: lina Dufour]
[Level: 13]
[Class: Cook]
[Intelligence: 9]
[Agility: 6]
[Strength: 8]
[Skill: 9]
[Charm: 5]
[Active Skills: 2]
[, ]
[Passive Skills: 2]
[]
Once all the breads and pastries were ready and packaged, Master Gilbert loaded all of them in the cart and together with Knight set off to deliver them all. lina offered to go along and help, but the baker rejected her, saying that she should prepare for tomorrow's journey.
Putting everything she needed in her sack took a maximum of ten minutes but it was already too late to do cleaning in the garden. So instead she decided to take a bath and go to sleep early. lina felt exhausted, her body screaming for rest, but once she got in the bed, her mind refused to let her sleep.
We'll have to travel together with a System user who also happens to be a noble. Both Master Gilbert and I will have to be incredibly careful, not to reveal that we are System users ourselves. Although I believe Master won't have any issues there. The only reason I discovered that he's a System user is because he gave that at bun with effect.
Thinking back on it, it must have been deliberate. He probably wanted to gauge my reaction. In either case, it worked out quite well for in the end. But I'll have to be really cautious around this noble. No looking at my Stat screen, System ssages, or using my skills. In fact, I won't talk to them at all or even look in their direction. So nobles get offended if a commoner rely looks at them the wrong way.
With her resolve set, lina fell into a restless sleep—her dreams plagued with all the tis her etings with nobles have gone awry. It was a long and difficult night.
Support creative writers by reading their stories on , not stolen versions.
In the morning, she was up before the alarm even woke her, finding Master Gilbert already whisking eggs for breakfast olet. The simple dish made her rember her ti on the ship.
"May I cook breakfast this morning? Brock taught how to make olets on the ship," lina offered.
"Sure, go ahead."
She buttered up the large pan, then poured the whole mixture into it, watching how the eggs quickly stiffened on the hot pan. A few minutes later, she slid the spatula underneath and neatly flipped it over.
[You've made . You've gained 15 exp.]
She took two plates and after breaking the olet in half, put one plate in front of Gilbert and took the other for herself.
"Not bad. You didn't even burn it," Gilbert nodded as he began to eat.
"I'd like to say that it's due to practice, but I do have
User Comments
0 comments from readers