Ripples

While Daron was just leaving to go buy the ingredients, someone rushed into the castle at the centre of the city, running with all her might and a rather large container in her hand as she huffed and puffed to make it a moment faster.

This was the old lady Daron had sold all his spaghetti to, who was running into the central building of the palace as the doors shut tightly behind her as though to even prevent the air behind her from entering.

After quickly rushing through some mandatory poison testing, she arrived in a dining hall where a middle-aged man, an aged woman of similar age to the old lady, another lady of similar age to the middle-aged man, but a much prettier face, and a 4 year old child.

"Madam, Lord, Lady, young-lady, this humble servant greets you. However, there is no time to waste. I already went through all the poison testing, and ate some myself as well. Maybe a little more that some, but that is not the point." As she said this, she beckoned the servants in the room to open the container she had brought and server the dish that looked like animal guts, but smelt like fresh tomatoes and beautifully cooked food.

The gazes of slight confusion from the old lady's actions soon turned to interest at what kind of interesting object she had brough over from town this time around. And to be in such a rush, it must be really important.

Plates of perfectly portioned spaghetti were placed in front of each of the people seated at the table, and they all just gazed at it as though looking at some sort of circus.

"What are you all waiting for! Dig in before it gets too cold to enjoy!" The old lady said in a fit of great emotion before quickly calming herself and bowing in apology at her mis-demeanour.

However, no one at the table took offence. This old lady had been the handmaiden of the madam, the mother of the Lord of the city, and had practically been the Lord' s aunt, and the madam's sister since childhood.

Since Sir Zack Bard's mother came from a relatively well-off merchant, she had been given the privilege of having a handmaiden form a young age. This old lady was that very handmaiden named Kelly as the new identity of the child.

She had served the family through thick and thin, and over the years, although she rejected the positions of butlers and head butlers due to not having the qualifications and skills necessary to hold those positions, she had a rather unique position in the castle. Although she technically had no position, everyone treated her with respect just below that of the family members, even higher than the head butler, who did not mind it at all, and in fact gave her the same respect.

"WHO MADE THIS!"

A thundering voice boomed within the castle walls with certain amounts of energy mixed in. If Sirious were around to feel this energy, it would have sent out alerts already like,

[Alert! New form of energy detected!]

[Unable to scan]

[Unable to analyse]

[Please name the energy]

At this very moment, Daron was precisely going through the messages by Sirious when the golden light had entered the kitchen. After thinking for a while, he decided to name that form of energy [Holy Light Element] since it was created by a head priestess of the church.

After naming it, he began his walk back to the church after a long, few hours of bargaining and making the steely merchants reduce their price. Unlike Joanne, who had an unspoken deal with everyone only for daily necessities, Daron was buying for his business and did not enjoy such a privilege.

However, after arguing for the merchants for so long that they gave in, he got the price down to a level which was similar to his previous estimates on the price of the ingredients he had stolen.

While he was returning, preparing for his next day of business, thinking about whether that old lady would return the next days as well or not, the palace was in an uproar.

"Just who made this?!!"

Sir Zack Bard yelled out, unknowingly releasing some of his 'energy', causing great distress among the people closest in position to him, and causing the guards outside to also suffer.

The only ones who were not in a total state of panic, or completely fainted were the few official knights Sir Zack had been personally taking care of as part of his military force.

These three Beginner Knights all rushed into the dining table with their swords unsheathed and pointed at the Lord at a speed unseen to the naked eye of normal people.

However, just as they entered, they stopped in their tracks and put away their weapons before bowing deeply and exiting, running away like a child would after getting caught stealing the sweets from the kitchen.

Lord Zack soon realised his errors and calmed down, waiting for everyone to slowly regain their senses, especially for the old lady, who was the only one with the information he wanted.

Soon, the old lady stood and acted as though nothing had every happened and spoke softly.

"I know the lord wished to get the cook over here. I know, that food this delicious cannot be found in most places other than the capital, especially in a place like this one, a forgotten land. However, the one who made this is Priestess Joanne."

Hearing the name, almost all colour drained from the Lord's face. However, the old lady continued.

"However, the one who came up with the recipe seemed to be a little child around the same age as my lady. I personally saw him instructing Priestess Joanne on making the dish."

Hearing this, Zack's eyes flashed as multiple thoughts ran through his mind. Suddenly, he stood up and dashed out of the palace, heading straight for the church.