“Lucinda?”

My ears can hear the loudness of the party dampen, slowly dying down as I take in the full figure of the woman in front of me. Her hair cascades down along her light pink dress with frills and a generous decolletage. So far, I had never seen Lucinda wearing anything else than the Watch uniform and other rather boyish clothes.

But this?

This makes her look like a princess.

I swallow as the sound of the party starts again, and she smiles hesitantly.

“Hi, Joey,” she says.

“H-hey,” I stutter. “You are… wow.”

“Huh, thanks,” I see her eyes darting around, looking for someone.

“What’s that?” I ask, pointing at the cake in her hands. “Someone put you on delivery duty?”

“Er…” Lucinda doesn’t reply, but her eyes sparkle, and as I turn to follow them, I can see the original pink hurricane pouncing at us at the speed of sound.

“Lucinda! Finally! I’ve already given my demonstration, silly!”

Flaminia gives the redhead a light hug, making her look more than a bit awkward. Suddenly, something clicks in my head.

No, it’s impossible. Flaminia didn’t… or did she?

“Joey,” Flaminia says, with a hand on the [Mage]’s back, “I present you the person who saved your life.”

…

After thirty seconds of being dazed in a flurry of Flaminia’s words, I finally managed to open my mouth.

“You?” I ask Lucinda.

“I—It wasn’t easy,” she says. “Flaminia taught me how to cook steak.”

We stare at each other as Flaminia steps in the middle with the widest grin.

Lucinda helped Flaminia figure out the runes for the Ethereal Cattle steak that, paired with the [Greater Nourishment] sketches, saved my—well, not saved since Magister Mulligan had lied about that, but still…

She still basically saved my life.

I owe Lucinda, out of all people – what a weird world.

She loathed everything outside of magic. She didn’t even consider anything outside of being a [Mage] worth living for. Now, she… cooked for me.

I look at the beautiful dress she’s wearing again, and I hear grinning sounds from Flaminia.

“I gave Fulvia her measurements and bought her a dress. What do you think, Joey?”

“I think,” I say, trying to gather myself, “that it looks really good. You look gorgeous, Lucinda.”

Lucinda nods sheepishly and blushes.

My goodness, Lady Luck. Are you…

“It wasn’t easy, but after getting the [Magical Chef] class,” Lucinda shrugs, “it became much easier.”

She’s got the…

I know this is supposed to be a tremendous moment for me, Flaminia, and hell, even Lucinda. But when I hear that she, out of all people, got the [Magical Chef] class, I feel envy. It’s pure, unadulterated envy.

How could this be? Lucinda, someone who didn’t care one bit about cooking, baking, or anything that had to do with food… got a cooking class. And while I know that a class doesn’t define who you are, at least when it’s missing…

Why don’t I have a [Magical Chef] class?

And there’s no way for me to cook anything with runes unless I want the Omnium Compendium to zap me to death. That was something that Magister Mulligan assured me he didn’t lie about. Everything that came out of the default handwriting of the book was non-negotiable. If I don’t do all the Cantrips, I’m actually going to die. Not that the old man doesn’t think I can, but he made it pretty clear I can’t learn any other magic outside the spells I get from my class.

“Congratulations,” I say, feeling bile rising in my throat. “That’s amazing!”

If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

I’m lying. It’s not. It’s not amazing. It sucks.

I want that class. I want to be able to cook magical food.

Who am I? Did Lorenzo just waste his time with me? Am I not worthy of a baking class? Is that it?

“Lucinda, why don’t you let Joey try out the cake you made?”

Lucinda looks hesitant as I imagine my gaze is not looking very encouraging. But I feel bad, terribly bad, about not being more positive about this. I don’t want to let my emotions get in the way of what Lucinda achieved.

She still saved my life.

“You spent two weeks cooking with Flaminia?” I ask.

She nods as Flaminia takes the cake from her hands and unveils a very simple three-layer sponge cake with some… jam-flavored cream?

“Yes, it was… very useful. I learned a lot.”

Flaminia has already cut a piece and shoved it in my face before I could say another word.

“Taste the cake, idiot,” she says, looking menacingly at me.

“Alright, alright. Wow, this is pretty good,” I say, actually appreciating the simplicity of the recipe. The base is slightly overcooked and harder than it should be, but other than that, it’s great.

“Sorry, ladies, this… this is big news. Thank you, Lucinda. You… I’ll need to pay you back.”

“No, no. What I learned with Flaminia is more than enough as payment. All those skills can be re-applied to my [Mage] training now. Rotten roots, I have made more progress training for two hours with these new skills than I did after months of training on my own. Plus, I’m sure the class will be re-absorbed into my main one as I keep leveling.”

Flaminia slaps the top of Lucinda’s head, making a smacking sound with her lips.

“These youngsters and their rotten green ears,” she says before turning to me. “Joey, I think you owe Lucinda a very fancy dinner, at the very least. No, wait, three! Yes, three fancy dinners!”

“Flaminia, you really don’t need—” Lucinda tries to interject, but Flaminia obliterates the protests with a murderous gaze.

“I think Flaminia’s right,” I say, still feeling the pit inside my stomach but also feeling warmth caressing my heart. “She’s right. I owe you both. Flam, I don’t know if Clodia’s mentioned it already, but—”

“Joey?”

My eyes go wide as I recognize the voice and immediately spin around to find the build-up to what could possibly be the most awkward situation I’ve been in so far.

“Irene?”

Irene is wearing a tight-fitting shirt and pants, both a striking orange.

“Damn,” I say, looking at how the clothes fit her body so perfectly and enhance every form of hers. While Irene isn’t nearly as shapely as Lucinda, she’s got that slim waist paired with the most massive—

“Hi,” she says, not bothered by the presence of the two women behind me. “I’m happy you are well and still in Amorium. I’ve brought you something.”

Before I can say anything, Irene takes out a container that looks strikingly similar to—

“It’s the one you gave me. I filled it up with the chocolate pastries I made,” she says, giving me the wooden box and smiling.

I open it and find some very simple but very nicely shaped chocolates.

“You figured it out?” I ask, surprised.

“I went around the Green Stretches to ask the [Farmers]. Not many are specialized in Pigfeed. When I asked who had helped you out, they immediately told me. Once I knew where you started, it was easy to do the rest,” she explains calmly.

There’s a glint in Irene’s eyes I’ve never seen before.

She was never this confident, I realize.

“I’m impressed,” I say, popping a chocolate into my mouth, my eyes going wide. “Wow. This is actually… really fucking good.”

I don't even need to sugarcoat it; it's just really that good.

Irene smirks and nods.

“I just wanted to give you this and tell you I’m happy you are well. As for us, I am starting a business on my own now. I’m a [Chocolatier]. I owe you for it.”

“Irene!” Flaminia speaks. “Are you forgiving Joey?! Now?!”

Irene looks at the pink-haired [Chef] without saying a word and then looks back at me.

“I believe you,” she tells me. “I believe what you told me was true. I don’t… I can’t be in a relationship right now, though. I need to focus on this.”

“But, but?!” Flaminia is losing it.

“Flam, could you give me a second,” I say as I put myself between her and Irene.

“Irene, I understand. I’m… sorry. A lot happened in the past two weeks. A lot, trust me. I hope your business will flourish. If you ever need any tips in dealing with chocolate, don’t hesitate to ask. As for us, I understand. Still, I’d like to apologize. My head was kind of scrambled the last time we saw each other. Heh, not that I’m much better now, but stuff happened in these two weeks that made me realize I didn’t behave very nicely to you. I'm sorry, I should have known better.”

“You should have,” Irene smirks, “but it’s fine. I don’t need anything else, really. I will figure out the rest on my own. I need to go now.”

She starts turning away when she bites her lower lip and looks back at me with a sneaky smile.

“Swing by my house if you ever want to chat about food and bring something good for me to taste. I’ll be happy to give you some advice, too.”

“Food advice? And wait, do you want me to come so you can steal another recipe?” I say half-joking, half-serious.

“Not food advice. And yes, I’d love to steal some more,” she gives me a playful wink before walking away.

Oh, shit.

…

“Well, Joey’s officially single now,” Flaminia tries to salvage the situation with Lucinda just staring at me plainly.

“Yes? Sorry, I meant, yes, I am,” I say, still confused but with my heart… warmed. Warmer than before.

Irene finding her own thing is… unexpected. But if she did, maybe, and I say maybe, there’s a chance for me to do the same.

“I think I should go,” Lucinda clears her voice. “It was nice seeing you.”

But before she can walk away, Flaminia snatches her by her arm and gives me a pointed look.

“Lucinda, wait! There was something else Joey really needs your help with.”

“Huh?” Both Lucinda and I say.

“Joey, rotten roots, did you forget about the business?” Flaminia looks like she’s about to self-combust at any moment.

“The what?” I say, confused.

“You were planning to talk about the new business before Irene interrupted us, right?”

“Oh, that, yes?”

“What does that have to do with me?” Lucinda frowns.

“Well, Joey wants to open a new baking business, and he will need someone with extensive legal knowledge to help him out. We can’t just let him work out a deal without any experience, you know? Clodia also said he’s gotten better with contracts! Isn’t that a sign that he’s becoming more mature, huh? But still, he’ll need help with the negotiations that start tomorrow. And Clodia suggested we hire a liaison for him that he can trust.

“So, Lucinda, would you like to accept the job?” Flaminia grins from ear to ear.