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Ascendance of a Bookworm (LN) - Volume 3.1 - Chapter SS2




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One Stressed-Out Chef 

“Hugo, a cart from the Othmar Company with the desserts for tomorrow is here! I dunno why, but Leise is with them!” 

I reflexively clicked my tongue; tomorrow was the day that the archduke’s party would be arriving at the Italian restaurant. 

As it turned out, the apprentice blue shrine maiden whom I had been training under had been an archnoble girl all along. Her devoted efforts in the workshop and the orphanage had been praised widely enough for her to be recognized and adopted by the archduke, which also involved her name being changed from “Myne” to “Rozemyne” for some reason. I didn’t know much about noble affairs so that wasn’t a big deal to me, and as a commoner chef, there wasn’t much of a difference between serving a laynoble or an archnoble or whatever. 

To be honest, I knew that being the archduke’s adopted daughter was a big deal, but it was so far beyond my realm of understanding that it didn’t really click. Looking back, I was blown away by how crazy of a place I had been training in. 

So yeah, I was pretty uninvolved when it came to the whole noble business, but the archduke getting interested in the eatery that his adopted daughter had been funding and wanting to go was another matter entirely. That involved me directly. I would have to serve food to the archduke. 

Under normal circumstances, it would be unthinkable for the archduke to travel to the lower city just to visit an eatery, even if it had been funded by his daughter. That was why Benno from the Gilberta Company and his new funding partner from the Othmar Company were doing everything they could to ensure that there were no mishaps whatsoever—they were selecting the highest quality meat and vegetables, carrying them in, double checking things with the waiters, and keeping in regular contact with the temple. 

We were better at making Lady Rozemyne’s food since she had been available to give us indirect instructions, but frustratingly enough, Leise was better when it came to baking sweets. That was why the guildmaster’s granddaughter, Freida, had decided to put her in charge of making the desserts tomorrow—namely the pound cake, sponge cake, and mille crepes. We were still responsible for any final touch-ups, but that didn’t change the fact that she was stealing our work, which really didn’t feel great. I wanted to bake some desserts of my own to upstage her, but I was too busy making the consommé. 

“Sixth bell rang just a second ago. What’s Leise doing here when we’re so busy?!” I fumed. It wasn’t that I was annoyed to see Leise, I had just been planning to clean up a little before she arrived. Honest. But unfortunately, it seemed that she had heard me loud and clear; she barged into the kitchen, carrying a big plate topped with a dome-shaped metal cover, and glared at me. 

“I came to deliver some desserts and taste-test your stuff. What else? Are you making somethin’ you don’t want me seeing? Don’t tell me you messed up on the consommé, of all things,” she said with a snort. 

“Like heck we did! We’re friggin’ busy making dinner! What are you doing here?!” 

I had been at the guildmaster’s place learning noble recipes until just recently, so I knew when Leise was going to be at her busiest—that is, right now. It didn’t make any sense for her to come here; anybody else could have brought the desserts. 

“I finished dinner prep a long time ago and decided to leave the rest to my assistants,” Leise said dismissively before putting her plate down and extending a hand toward me. “So, Hugo—did you manage to make some consommé that won’t embarrass you and everyone else?” 

Consommé was an essential part of Lady Rozemyne’s menu, but it was by far the most exhausting and time-consuming of all of the recipes. To make matters worse, it was the dish that was most unlike anything nobles usually ate, so failing here would cause everything else to fail, too. 

That was why I had spent my afternoon focusing on the consommé, refusing to leave the pot for even a moment and instead just shouting my instructions to Todd and my assistants. Consommé was the result of very, very carefully cooking the top-class ingredients that the Othmar Company had provided, and the aroma wafting through the kitchen alone was enough to make it clear how well made it was. 

...And it’s even better knowing that Leise still can’t make double consommé. 

I returned Leise’s smug look and poured some still steaming consommé into a small taste-testing bowl, similar to the ones we had used back in Lady Rozemyne’s kitchen. “Have a taste and see for yourself.” 

Leise took the bowl of consommé and swished it around a bit, looking for any cloudiness among the pure liquid. She then gave it a sniff, before slowly easing the bowl’s contents into her mouth. 

...Gaaah! My stomach’s killing me! 

Not only was Leise both Todd’s and my teacher in regard to noble food, she was my ultimate rival when it came to seeing who could make Lady Rozemyne’s recipes better. I was confident in this dish, but it was still nerve-wracking having to wait for her judgment. I knew that I’d die inside if she scrunched up her face while tasting it, but all I could do was wait nervously. 

Leise frowned, unamused. “Looks like I really don’t need to butt in,” she said, thrusting the bowl back at me before shouting to the people outside the kitchen. “C’mon, bring it all in!” 

Heck yeah! I won! 

Basking in a sense of victory, I set the carried-in desserts into the winter prep room of the kitchen where it was coldest and moved the pot of consommé to the storage room. At times like this, I wished that I had the big ice room that we had in the temple on hand, but as it ran on mana—something that only nobles had—neither the guildmaster’s place nor the Italian restaurant had one. It was a real shame, since it was beyond convenient. 

Todd and I thoroughly checked that everything was ready for tomorrow, then I finished cleaning up and locked the doors to go home. Ended up leaving kinda late... I thought to myself as I power-walked through the fancy northern part of the city. The Italian restaurant was located in a nice spot in town, just northeast of the city center, so heading straight down would take me to the main street connecting the east and west gates. 

I glanced at the bustling east gate as the sky darkened and then entered a narrow side alley, turning away the women looking for customers. When I reached the well closest to my place, I stopped for a moment and looked up, hoping to see my very recent girlfriend Kirke. Luckily, there was a shadow in the window to her room. 

“Welcome home, Hugo!” she called down. “Tomorrow’s the big day, isn’t it? Good luck!” 

“Yep, it’s gonna be great!” I called back. I knew that everyone would be able to hear me since it was summer and their windows were open, but I didn’t care; it had taken training under an apprentice blue shrine maiden and being selected as the head chef of the Gilberta Company’s high-class eatery for fate to finally bless me with a girl. 

Listen up, everyone. Hear how happy I am. At next year’s summer festival, I’m gonna be the star of the show! 

After years of throwing taues during the Star Festival, it was finally my time to be the star. I hadn’t made it in time for this year’s festival, but next year would be my year; I was going to dodge taues from lonely, jealous losers and run home with my new wife. To that end, I needed to make sure that tomorrow’s lunch succeeded no matter what—both for my future as a chef, and for my marriage. 

I’m gonna do it! 

And so, the day of my most important challenge finally came. I desperately cooked with Todd and my assistants, feeling such a tight knot in my stomach that I was close to throwing up. The whole time, Todd and I kept reminding ourselves that we were fine. Lady Rozemyne herself had assured us that we were good enough. Everything would be okay.

“The archduke and all of the nobles said that they had never tasted anything like this cooking before, and each person was beyond satisfied,” Mark said as he pushed a cart back into the kitchen, having finished serving dessert. 

Only once hearing that the customers were satisfied—that I had succeeded—did the tension drain from my body, and a smile spread across Mark’s face as he saw Todd and me fall to our knees on the spot. 

“Excellent work, everyone,” he continued. “I know that you all wish to rest, but remember that it is now time for the waiters and attendants to eat. Give it one last push.” 

At Mark’s instructions, we prepared meals for everyone else. The attendants from the temple and the musicians ate in the side room, while waiters searched for places to sit at empty tables around the kitchen or by the doors in some halls. Todd and I hadn’t been raised to be as proper as the attendants or employees of major stores, so we were fine eating while standing. The food tasted so good that it almost moved me to tears, maybe due to the immense relief of having succeeded. 

But the story didn’t end there. For some reason, the nobles then flew out of the restaurant on strange flying animals, bringing Benno, Mark, and the guildmaster along with them. We saw them off in a daze, but the passersby in the street were throwing a huge panicked fuss. Screams and yells could be heard coming from outside, and then we had people rush into the eatery to ask what was going on. 

With all those in charge having been taken away, the only two who could deal with the crowd were Freida and Fran, the latter being one of Lady Rozemyne’s attendants. They politely apologized and explained that nobles did as nobles would, offering to pass on complaints if anybody had any. But few seemed interested in complaining directly to nobles, and so the crowd naturally dispersed. 

Once everything calmed down and we had finished cleaning up the kitchen, the nobles came back. Mark slid away from the group, entering the dining hall and summoning Todd and me. 

“Hugo, Todd—I have important news. Due to very profound circumstances involving the archduke, the opening of the Italian restaurant will be delayed by a month or possibly two. You will, of course, still be paid during this time, but we would ask you to continue working for that pay. Is that acceptable?” 

I didn’t mind as long as we weren’t getting fired out of nowhere; doing work for pay was just the way of the world. 

Todd and I nodded together, and Mark gave a smile. “Thank you very much. I appreciate your understanding in this matter. Now, would you rather work in the Noble’s Quarter or the temple for the next month?” 

“What?!” 

“The plan today was to sell Lady Rozemyne’s recipes to the three important visitors who came to eat today, but Lady Rozemyne’s recipes are a bit unusual, are they not? There needs to be someone who can teach the others directly, and to that end we would like you two to teach their chefs.” 

Lady Rozemyne’s recipes certainly were strange; a lot of prep work went into maximizing the flavor, and some of the cooking methods were hard to believe at first. Someone looking at them on paper would almost certainly expect the food to taste bad. From my experience, I had found that the more experience a person had, the harder it would be for them to believe and understand the recipes. Ella was younger than me and she had gotten used to them pretty quickly, while Todd still ended up getting confused while we were cooking. In fact, there wasn’t even any guarantee that noble chefs would take us seriously even when we were teaching them directly. 

“I’ve gotta go to the temple,” Todd said, the blood draining from his face as he clutched my arm. “Please, Hugo. I’ll die before I go to the Noble’s Quarter.” 

He was useless whenever he got too nervous, and he feared nobles so much that he even tried his best to avoid Lady Rozemyne whenever he was in the temple. That said, he was at least familiar with the temple, and it would no doubt be better to have him go there than brave the Noble’s Quarter. 

“Yeah, I don’t think you’d survive there either. You can take the temple.” 

“Thanks, Hugo. I owe you one!” 


Not that I’m gonna have a good time in the Noble’s Quarter, either. Pretty sure I’m gonna be throwing up every day from the stress! 

“I see it’s settled, then. Please come with me to the dining hall.” 

Mark brought Todd and me to the dining hall, where we were introduced as today’s chefs by Lady Rozemyne. After fussy negotiations that seemed to be centered around money, we were rented to the nobles as teachers for one month. 

On my way home, I saw Kirke among the women preparing dinner by the well. I said hello, grinning at the thought that, by this time next year, we’d be married and she’d be making that food for me. It kind of felt like we were already newlyweds. 

“Hi, Hugo. How’d it go? Did everything turn out okay?” 

“Yeah. In fact, it went so well that I’m gonna be going to the Noble’s Quarter for a whole month. I’ll be teaching noble chefs how to cook these new recipes.” 

“Really?! Wow! Teaching in the Noble’s Quarter! That’s amazing!” Kirke exclaimed, her eyes glittering. I held my head up with pride, only for my mom to emerge from the crowd of women and scold me for not telling her first. 

Sorry, Mom. Kirke’s a lot more important to me right now. 

Kirke saw me off on the day I was leaving for the Noble’s Quarter. “Good luck! It’ll be lonely, but I’ll be here waiting for you,” she said. 

Once I had said my goodbyes, I headed to the central plaza where I met with Todd, and together we went to the temple. When second bell rang, we identified ourselves to the gray priest standing guard, who took us not to the familiar orphanage director’s chambers but to the High Bishop’s chambers deep, deep within the temple. 

“Good morning, Lady Rozemyne.” 

“Good morning, Hugo. Good morning, Todd. I imagine it will be a great struggle to work in the kitchen of a noble who isn’t me, but I trust that you will both do well,” Lady Rozemyne said in the expensive-looking clothes of a proper noble girl. “Zahm, Todd is here.” 

At that, a gray priest apparently called Zahm began lining up large golds and silvers on the table. 

...That’s my first time seeing a large gold! Woah, and there are so many! 

“This seems to be the correct amount. Zahm, please guide Todd to Ferdinand’s kitchen. Fran, please gather the money and contact Ferdinand.” 

“As you wish.” Zahm took away the uneasy-looking Todd while Fran put the money into a bag and exited the room. In their place came Nicola, who had sometimes helped out in the kitchen, and Ella, who had become Lady Rozemyne’s personal chef. 

“Lady Rozemyne, I have brought Ella.” 

“Thank you, Nicola. I now ask that you take Hugo and Ella to the carriage for attendants.” 

“As you wish. Ella, Hugo—please follow me.” 

We followed Nicola to the temple’s gate, where we found unbelievably beautiful carriages for noble use. Lady Rozemyne would be living in the castle from today onward, so carriages had been sent for her as well. 

“Please wait here until Lady Rozemyne and the High Priest are ready,” Nicola said. Commoners couldn’t enter the Noble’s Quarter without noble approval. 

“Thanks, Nicola,” Ella replied. “I know it’ll be hard without me for a bit, but I’m sure you’ll be fine.” 

“I will be, now that a lot of gray priests and shrine maidens are learning. I can’t wait for you to learn a lot of new recipes and come back to teach me more,” Nicola said, before turning on her heel and heading off. 

Ella waved Nicola goodbye as she left. I could guess that a lot had happened with Ella over the winter while Todd and I were gone, as she looked a lot more mature than she used to. 

“Wait. Did you come of age?” 

It was only once we had stepped into the carriage and were out of sight that I could finally relax, at which point I noticed something that I hadn’t before. Of course Ella looked more mature; she had her hair tied up. 

“Uh huh. Back in spring. Though I missed the coming of age ceremony since I was in the Noble’s Quarter.” 

“That’s a shame.” 

“Mm? I don’t really think so. Lady Rozemyne gave me new recipes to celebrate, and a small meat grinder to use in the kitchen since we girls lack arm strength. Eheheh... It really is something else. I’ll show it to you later; I have it packed.” 

Meat grinders were machines that minced meat. The ones in the city were pretty large and owned by butchers who used them to crush a lot of meat for turning into sausage, and those definitely weren’t small enough for an individual to own. I had never thought there existed small meat grinders. 

“That sounds like it’d make it a lot easier to make ground beef. No fair.” 

“She said she’d ask a smith she knows to make other cooking tools for me, too. Us women have it rough in the Noble’s Quarter, so she wants it to be as easy as possible for me to cook...” 

It sounded like Lady Rozemyne had really taken a shine to Ella; she had never given me any tools to make cooking easier. Again—no fair. 

“Hey, Ella. That reminds me. Where in the Noble’s Quarter are we going?” 

“Hm? Where else but the archduke’s castle? Kinda slow on the uptake there, Hugo.” 

“The castle?! I mean, I’d heard that we were going to the Noble’s Quarter, but nothing else!” 

I had assumed that Lady Rozemyne would be going to the castle while I would be sent to the knight commander’s home, but according to Ella, she and I were both going to the castle’s kitchen. Ella was a woman who had just come of age, and people would no doubt be judging her by her looks more than her talents. That was why she would be teaming up with me until she was a regular member of the castle’s kitchen. 

On top of that, the knight commander would be sending his estate’s head chef to the castle to learn recipes. Ella knew that chef, and had taught him some recipes before. He apparently still looked down on her, but was sucking it up because he wanted to know Lady Rozemyne’s recipes that badly. 

“I thought I was going to be thrown into a kitchen even bigger than the one in Lord Karstedt’s estate all alone, so I’m glad you’re here with me, Hugo. It feels like such a long time ago that we were first going to the temple’s kitchen together... That time, it was Benno taking us to the temple. Now it’s Lady Rozemyne taking us to the archduke’s castle. It’s only for a bit, but we’re court chefs now, huh?” 

“Just the thought is making my stomach hurt...” 

The very idea of a commoner chef suddenly shooting up to be a court chef of the archduke was staggering, especially after hearing Ella talk about how prideful and arrogant noble chefs were. 

“Hugo, you’re actually more of a scaredy-shumil than Todd, aren’t you? It’s not every day you get a whole new workplace like this. Let’s do our best to sniff out new recipes. It’s good to have a goal to work toward.” 

“Alright! Y’know, you’re right. I’m even gonna go and talk to Kirke’s dad when I get back from the Noble’s Quarter.” 

“Wha...? ‘Kirke’? Hugo, did you get a girlfriend?” Ella asked, her mouth agape. It was written all over her face that she couldn’t believe it. 

...Believe it or not, I don’t care! Facts are facts! 

“Yep, not too long ago. Working for a noble in the temple got my name out there, and before I knew it, we were dating. I can’t imagine it’d be too hard for you to get a boyfriend, and I very much recommend it. It’s a lot easier to work hard when you’ve got a special someone to impress.” 

“Wow, very cool. I’ll definitely keep that in mind,” Ella replied, clearly not interested at all. She was so obsessed with cooking that, despite coming of age, she still seemed to be a little kid who had no interest in romance. 

“We’re not working here forever, but you can’t get much more prestigious than a court chef. You think Kirke’s dad will let me marry her on that alone?” 

“Assuming she doesn’t break up with you while you’re away at the castle.” 

“Ella, don’t say that!” 

I’ve been stuck throwing taues at the Star Festival over the last couple of years, but next year will be different. I’ll do it. Once I get back from training in the castle, I’ll go straight to Kirke’s dad and ask for his permission! 



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