ELEGY
“Hmm, hmm, hmm!”
Humming a tune, Syr happily toiled away in the kitchen of The Benevolent Mistress. She was on break and was using the time to improve her cooking ability. She made Bell a packed lunch every day, and yet because she wanted to showcase her very best efforts, she often went a little outside her comfort zone and usually ended up crafting dishes with slightly eccentric flavors that tended to bring Bell to tears. She had to admit that there was still much for her to learn.
But she found herself enjoying the routine more and more. As she merrily mixed some green eggs in a frying pan, Chloe, Ahnya, and Lyu watched from the doorway, unsure about whether they should speak up. Finally, the elf girl gulped and stepped forward.
“…Syr. This is really hard for me to say, but…”
“Oh! Lyu! What is it?”
“I just think…I’m not really sure you need to make those lunches for Mr. Cranell anymore…”
The light left Syr’s eyes, and she spun around in shock. Lyu faltered with her words as she went on.
“H-he has a new familia now and friends to make those lunches for him…”
“I hear that Far Eastern chick, Mikoto Yamato, is a good cook, meow. The gods say she’ll make a great wife someday,” added Chloe.
Syr looked at her in horror. A pretty girl in his own familia who could cook meals for him…It did sound awfully like Syr’s services were no longer required.
“Come to think of it, we haven’t seen adventurer boy around lately,” Runoa chimed in.
“Maybe Syr’s been dumped already!” added Ahnya, cackling.
It was actually because he was incredibly busy due to moving homes as well as the business in the Pleasure Quarter demanding all of Bell’s time, but Syr was horrified by the suggestion all the same.
She stared at her feet—shaking and unable to say a word—as smoke rose off her pan, and the scrambled mess within slowly went from green to brown. Finally, she leveled a determined glare at the other girls.
“Th-that just means I’ll have to get even better at cooking!!” she yelled. “That way he’ll have to pick me! And I know just how you girls can help!!”
“M-Mr. Cranell…Urgh…”
“M-Ms. Lyu?! What happened?! You look ready to faint!!”
It was a few days later that Bell opened his front door to find that Lyu and the other waitresses had turned up unannounced on his doorstep. Lyu was as white as a sheet, clutching her stomach in agony.
“You have to stop Syr…No, actually, please just eat her cooking…”
It seemed that even a former second-tier adventurer’s stomach was no match for the strange girl’s miraculous culinary creations.
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