Peaches walked over, nodded to Kettle then settled his gaze on Kit. “You need a new shirt.” Peaches smirked at Kit in a teasing manner. Kit groaned at Peaches playful words, he didn’t need a reminder that he had been utterly defeated by the thug.

The only good thing about the ambush was that it had all happened so fast. He had no time to work himself up into a proper panic at the appearance of the thugs or the fight that had broken out after.

With Kettle’s reappearance he remembered that the slight man had ran away with one of the members of the gang hot on his heels. He searched his eyes over Kettle to see if he had sustained any injury. Kettle’s clothes were a little crumpled, thankfully there was no signs of a tear.

As if sensing what Kit was looking for Kettle explained what happen after he escaped. “I’m fine Kit, sorry it took me so long to return, it took me awhile to find the city guards in my panic. Once I found them, they apprehended the thug following me, then we set off back to you as fast as we could.”

A watery gaze blinked back tears, Kettle was shaking from his ordeal. “I’m sorry it was not fast enough to prevent any injury from occurring.” The slight man bowed his head. Kit reached out and patted the man’s hand in comfort, it wasn’t Kettle’s fault their group got ambushed.

“You did a fantastic job Kettle, you managed to get away to bring back help. We’re very grateful to you.” He gave the bookish man a warm smile to accompany his words.

Kettle started to glance around the blood stained alleyway with a concerned gaze. “Where is the young man that was with your group earlier, do we need to send out a search party?”

Kit had momentarily forgotten about Pretzel, he jerked up into a sitting position then winced. His side hadn’t fully recovered, he looked down at his torn, blood soaked shirt and grimaced. He quickly took it off and put on a new one. “Peaches it’s time to go, we have to find Pretzel. One of the thugs chased after him.”

A hand appeared in front of Kit’s face, he grabbed it and was pulled up by Peaches. Kettle interrupted the departure. “Kit your friend could be anywhere in Fairweather town, it would be better to get the guards to help in finding him. Plus, there is still one of those bad guys on the lose.”

One of the guards approached Kit as Kettle was talking, he interrupted their conversation. “Kettle is right young man, it is not safe for you to leave yet. We also need to get a statement off you about the incident.” The guard had taken out a note pad and quill while he was talking.

Before Kit gave his statement, he made sure that there were some guards looking for Pretzel. Peaches and he then gave their statement on the events that happened. Once the formality was completed, they were free to leave.

Kit and Peaches wanted to go and find Pretzel as soon as they were done, they were momentarily stopped by Kettle.

“Chef Kit please allow me to accompany you, if anything else happens to you on the way I will not be able to forgive myself.” The slim man had a slight tremble to his voice as he spoke. Kit could tell he was still shaken up by the attempted theft.

He was impressed the man still wanted to accompany them further. “Kettle it would be our pleasure if you came with us.” Kit knew the formalities with the guards had only gone so smoothly because Kettle was here overseeing things. This slim man looked like he would blow over if a strong breeze blew past, yet he had tremendous courage.

Kit liked the man’s spirit, he wondered if he had a chance of luring him to Spartan Fire. They needed more people to fill positions in the town hall and Kettle would be a great fit. Kit decided to broach the subject on an impulse. “Kettle, can I ask you a personal question?” Kettle nodded in response. “Are you happy in your position as a receptionist?”

Kit had a feeling this man was quite smart, he had already displayed his ability in being resourceful in a stressful situation. This would be a great combination for managing the day to day running of Spartan Fire. Twix, Mars and he didn’t like to be stuck in the town hall doing business.

So far Kit had managed to avoid this responsibility thanks to his restaurant, he knew Twix and Mars hadn’t been as lucky as him. He didn’t think either one would have any objections if they handed this responsibility over to Kettle.

Kit waited patiently to hear Kettle’s reply. The man ducked his head and started to shuffle his feet on the ground in a nervous manner. “It’s ok Kettle, you can be honest with me I won’t say anything to the mayor.” Kit offered some reassurances in the hope Kettle would be honest in his response.

“Well, I like some parts of the job, like when I get to talk to lots of people.” Kettle glanced up at Kit shyly, then averted his gaze after a couple of seconds. Kit thought that would be all he would get from the man, to his surprise he kept talking. “I would like something that allowed me to use my brain a bit more, sometimes the job is a bit mind numbing. I repeat the same things every day. I just direct people to the appropriate service that suits their requirements.”

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

A blush dusted Kettle’s cheeks after he spoke. Kit decided to try his luck in recruiting Kettle after hearing that. “Would you be interested in a position that would give you more responsibility and a wider range of tasks?”

Kettle’s head shot up and stared at Kit with an intense light through his glasses. Then his head drooped, and he started to shake his head. “Chef Kit I know nothing about cooking, I don’t think I would make a good employee. I want to rise the corporate ladder in town management one day. That is where my interest lies.”

The urge to take Kettle back to Spartan Fire whether he wanted to or not filled his head after hearing his response. Kit pushed that feeling down, nothing good would come from forcing the man. Instead, he plastered on his best salesman smile and reached out to grip Kettle’s hands in both of his.

“Kettle the position I was thinking of was not in my restaurant but at Spartan Fire’s town hall. You see we only have one employee running the town hall at the moment and they are fresh out of school. We need additional staff to help run Spartan Fire smoothly.” Kit pleaded not only with words but also his eyes.

A frown appeared in between Kettle’s brows. “Kit why is the mayor not running the town hall?” Confusion was plain on Kettles face.

Kit chewed on his lip, with one question Kettle had stumped him. Spartan Fire didn’t have a mayor, it had three founding members. Kit didn’t know if a founding member was the same as a mayor, if that was the case did Spartan Fire have three mayors?

Kettle was patiently waiting for Kit to reply. “Well umm … I think we have three mayors.” Kit became nervous for some reason talking about Spartan Fires founding members. “It’s just that they are always busy with their own things, so the everyday running of the town is left to the employee at the town hall.” Kit blushed as he said this, when spoken out loud it sounded like they were incompetent at managing Spartan Fire.

Kit wasn’t going to be able to convince Kettle to leave Fairweather town with an argument like this. He sucked in a breath and decided to try another way, praising Kettle to the high heavens! “So you see we are all new to the position of mayor, so having someone with your skills join us would be a great boon. You have fantastic people skills and the ability to think on your feet.”

“Plus you have a wide knowledge of what is needed to manage a prospering town. You said it yourself that you direct people to the appropriate service for their requirements. That means you understand each branch of the town system. Someone of your calibre is needed to bring Spartan Fire to its pinnacle. Now that I have met you, I don’t think we can do it without you!” Kit laid the complements on thick. The more he tried to convince Kettle to come the more he realised that the man really would be a tremendous addition to the village.

The sight of Kettle’s mouth gaping like a fish made Kit feel like he was going in the right direction to convince him to accept the position. Though Kit didn’t quite know what the position was he was offering, they could figure that out once Kettle accepted. Kit squeezed the hands he was holding and stared at Kettle like he was his saviour. “Kettle, you have to accept, I won’t take no for an answer!”

The eyes behind the glasses darted to the side to avoid Kit’s intense stare. Kit squeezed his hands once again to grab his attention. “T-this … U-umm.” Kettle cheeks were bright red, the poor man was so flustered he couldn’t talk properly.

Kit didn’t ease up on the man, “Kettle we really need someone as special as you in Spartan Fire, please accept.” He didn’t want him to feel like he could reject the offer. Kit felt like he could see the man crumbling under his praise.

Finally, Kit saw Kettle draw in a deep breath. Tension filled Kit, this would either be good news or rejection. Time seemed to slow down for Kit as he waited to hear the man’s answer. “O-ok, I w-will accept.”

Ding!

[CAL]

Special employee recruited.

Kettle is a hidden talent, because of his quiet nature his skills are always overlooked. Kettle has a wide range of knowledge in administration and town planning.

Skills

Paperwork is a breeze.

You go there to get your paperwork done.

Manager? Who’s your manager! (Can manage any area in administration branch)

Negotiation, platinum rank.

Official delegate, platinum rank.

Skill blaster (raises any skill in administration three times faster)

Devourer of knowledge (restricted to government knowledge).

Holy big bananas! Kettle was amazing, Kit thought he would just be getting someone to do the daily functions of running Spartan Fire. Kettle was in another ballpark all together, having the skill devourer of knowledge in government meant that Kettle would be able to do any job in that branch as long as he learnt the skill. He could literally slot into any job! He could even be the mayor with these qualifications!

A big smile spread across Kit’s face. “Kettle, you won’t regret this!” He had a feeling if they hadn’t been ambushed on the way out of town, he would have had no chance at recruiting Kettle. For the first time he was so happy with Chef Nutmeg for being a greedy bastard.

Thinking of Chef Nutmeg Kit felt his frustrations at the man surface, he really would need to come up with a way to deal with this fellow. He flicked the thought aside, he had more important things to concentrate on like finding his other new recruit.

Kit focused back on Kettle to see then man’s eyes were nervously twitching behind his glasses. “Kettle are you not happy coming to Spartan Fire?”

“What, no I’m happy to get this opportunity Kit. It is just that I won’t be able to leave straight away, I will have to train a new staff member to take over my position.” Kit felt a moment of panic, was this Kettle’s way of backing out?

As if Kettle could see what he was thinking he explained further. “If I just leave, I would feel guilty, you understand right?” Kit was immediately relieved, he could tell Kettle was the responsible type. The more he spoke with the man the more Kit was excited to have him come to Spartan Fire.

“Of course, I understand Kettle, you can come and see me at the restaurant when you arrive in Spartan Fire and I will introduce you to the founding members. Now that we have that sorted out, it is time for us to go and find my other friend.”

They headed over to the guards to see if there was any news on Pretzel. When there was no news of the young boy being found they headed to the pre-arranged meeting point.