It was supposed to be a night of rest. But no, Arthur couldn’t get that. Three random guys smashed his door, begging for a room.

They tried to encircle Arthur, but he did not allow that. Arthur ran toward one of them, wielding the sword Wisa gave him. The man was surprised to see how fast Arthur was and tried to block the upcoming attack, only leading to his weapon breaking.

“How?”

The man could not believe that his weapon had broken. He looked up to stare at Arthur, but the only thing within his line of sight was Arthur’s foot aiming directly at his head.

Arthur jumped, twisted his body, and sent a kick to the man’s face. It was so powerful that most of the man’s teeth fell, and he flew into the inn’s hall.

The other two were only watching, as they did not think their friend needed help to deal with a kid. But the events turned out to be entirely different from what they expected. And that scared them. They knew they were all the same when it came to power, which meant they would have the same fate.

“Hey, can we talk? I know we started on the wrong foot, but there’s still time to fix things. Look, we will sleep outside with the horses. You don’t need to worry about us, okay?” the man that seemed like the leader said.

“What did you say, boss? Sleep with the horses?”

The man’s boss stared at him with a vicious gaze, and then he said, “yes, that’s right. We will sleep with the horses, hehe.”

.

Arthur wondered how he should deal with them, but it seemed they spoke the truth about sleeping outside. They left after saying that, grabbing their friend, who was unconscious in the hall, not giving Arthur a chance to beat the rest of them.

“What is this noise?” Samuel said. He opened up his door after hearing that much noise. He was tired and would kill anyone who disrupted his sleeping.

Arthur looked at him and shrugged his shoulders, saying, “I don’t know. I also came to check, and there’s no one here. How strange.” With that, he returned to his room.

There wasn’t much to do in that inn. Arthur was tired but not to the point of falling asleep yet. Samuel was responsible for driving the carriage, and he did not sleep a single minute during their trip. But Arthur did, even though it wasn’t the best.

He was still worried about becoming a chef inside the palace. Arthur read the cooking recipe book over and over again. The problem was that he couldn’t practice what he read. There was no time for it. They would arrive at the palace the next day. What if he screwed up the first time he cooked, and that caused Jane to suffer? Arthur couldn’t get those things outside his mind.

After a session of reading, he grabbed some food from the inn. All he needed to do was go downstairs and order it. It wasn’t as fancy as the foods he had inside the academy, but still, they were good. And he was hungry, so anything for him would be good.

“Now I think it’s time to sleep. I read this recipe book multiple times. There’s no way reading it more will help me. It is getting me more nervous,” Arthur thought as he grabbed a few blankets to warm his body.

It was time to sleep, and he did just that.

Meanwhile, inside the stables, two men talked to each other.

“We should revenge our friend for what that kid did. Look, our friend now looks like an elderly without teeth. Gross.”

“Revenge? Didn’t you see how strong that kid was? And he’s not even alone. The inn’s owner said two people rented the last rooms, and they are probably together. If the kid can beat us, imagine what the other can do? Just leave it be. We have more important things to do,” the boss said.

“More important things? Like what? Sleep with the horse shit? Damn it.”

“You need to think brightly. Look, at least we still have our teeth.”

“You do have a point.”

~~~~

Morning came with the sun blazing in the sky. Arthur and Samuel grabbed some food from the inn’s owner and left. They still had a day worth of travel to get to the palace. Arthur switched his clothing to the ones Marget gave him. It was ordinary white chef clothing with a hat that improved the chef vibe. It looked cool. At least Arthur thought so.

The royal palace was within the capital of the kingdom, Embercoast. It was a gigantic city, protected by a tall stone wall that had magical formations to ensure the safety of all citizens. It was a livid city and a place of opportunities.

Arthur waited in a queue to enter the capital. The guards checked if the carriages had illegal goodies or if someone was a wanted man. They couldn’t allow a dangerous person to enter and threaten the citizens and the royal family.

When it was Arthur’s turn, it all went smoothly. They did not have anything illegal inside the carriage, so they entered the city without problems.

“I’ll lead you to the palace, and then we will part ways. My mission here in the capital is different from yours,” Samuel said.

Arthur knew from the start that he would have to deal with this alone, so that did not surprise him.

The capital’s streets had many people. They all talked happily with each other. Another thing Arthur noticed was the immense amount of stands that sold many different items. Food, unenchanted weapons, enchanted weapons, books, magic books, potions, and other things.

“I barely have money. Will the royal family pay me to cook in the palace? I hope so. This place has so much good stuff that I want,” thought Arthur.

Embercoast was immense, and it took some time before they got to the palace. But when they did, Arthur could not keep his mouth closed.

The royal palace was majestic. It also had walls to ensure the royal family’s safety. But these walls were not crude and were made with top-tier materials. Many guards patrolled the area, looking for anyone suspicious near the palace.

But what made Arthur lose breath was the inside of it. The palace had a beautiful garden filled with flowers that Arthur had never seen. It had many buildings inside the walls, and all of them were made of something similar to marble, as it was white and shiny.

All buildings had golden details carved on them, and Arthur was sure that it was presumably all gold.

“Who are you, and what brings you to the palace?” the guard said in a threatening voice.

“I’m Arthur, the new chef. Here, take a look,” Arthur said, handing them a paper. Samuel gave that paper to him before they reached the palace and said that it was proof that he was indeed a chef hired by the royal family.

The guard read the paper and said, “I’m sorry for the inconvenience. Come in. I’m sure the trip was tiring for you.”

Success. The first step of getting inside the palace was a success. When Arthur entered, all of the servants looked at him. Arthur gazed back, only to notice that almost all servants were women, and they were as beautiful as the one’s inside the Frostpeak academy.

“No way. My luck in this world is without precedence,” thought Arthur as he smiled.

The guard showed Arthur his room and the kitchen. He loved the fact that he got a room for himself, and it was a fancy room nonetheless.

“You can rest for now. The royal family is busy with other things, so there’s no need for you to cook today,” the guard said as he left.

Arthur needed a proper rest anyway, so that was the best thing that could happen to him. He unpacked his belongings and stored them inside his new room. As he was doing that, someone knocked on his door. Arthur had no idea who it was. He barely got inside the palace. Maybe the guard forgot to say something and returned?

But when he opened up the door, a beautiful lady was waiting for him. She wore similar clothing to his own, indicating that she was also a chef inside the palace. But it was clear that she opened up her clothing on purpose, trying to entice Arthur with her two mountain peaks.

“Hi. Ahh, you are the new chef, right? I’m Hily, nice to meet you,” she said.

Hily was, without a doubt, gorgeous. She not only had a perfect body, with two rounded big boobs and an ass, but her skin was flawless, and the shape of her face was nearly perfect. Something inside Arthur was making him anxious. He wanted her.

“Why don’t you come in? That way we can talk better,” Arthur said.