“I was really surprised when your message reached me,” Plinius said while hugging a naked Flaminia in bed. There was a tinge of arrogance in his voice but also a sweet note hiding under the bravado.
“I just needed to shed a few dry leaves, Plinius. Don’t make this into something it’s not.”
Plinius grinned cheekily, his eyes sparkling with mischief as he hugged Flaminia closer. "Oh, come on, dear. Don't pretend like you weren't enjoying yourself as much as I was. The way you were moaning and gasping, anyone could tell that you were thoroughly enjoying our little romp in the sheets."
Flaminia rolled her eyes, but she couldn't help the small smile that tugged at the corners of her lips. She knew that Plinius was right – she had enjoyed their time together immensely.
The two of them lay tangled together in the soft, comfortable blankets, their naked bodies pressed against one another. The sheets were a mess, rumpled and tangled from their energetic love-making. Flaminia's long, delicate Elven ears twitched slightly as Plinius ran his fingers through her hair, his touch gentle and tender.
“You know,” he said with some hesitation, “once I get promoted to [General], I will have more time in Amorium. We could make this into a more regular thing. And I heard some of the [Farmers] had put great food stalls along the Green Walk. Do you want to visit with me later?”
“Plinius, what of what I just said isn’t clear?” Flaminia sighed, looking at the sharp features of the [Sergeant]’s face.
Plinius wasn’t the terrible person Fulvia and the other girls made him out to be. He was just a typical [Soldier] full of confidence, with the bad hallmarks of being in the military, like speciesism, hating the most pacifist factions among the Elves, and so on.
But despite his rough exterior and military mindset, Plinius had a soft side that he rarely showed to anyone. He was always quick with a joke and a grin, but underneath it all, he was a deeply sensitive person.
He had grown up as the youngest of a struggling family. His mother had drunk herself to death, and his older sisters had picked up the slack.
It hadn’t been easy.
"Whatever," he said, looking down at his right hand as it lay on the tangled sheets. There was a big scar on it from a blow that had almost taken it away from him.
It had been a sore reminder of how fickle military life could be. And looking at the beautiful, pink-haired Elf by his side, he had hoped he could find some more comfort in her.
“I am good with our arrangement, Flaminia. Speaking of which, I heard the Valerii are planning a big party in the spring. I’ll definitely be attending together with the other [Sergeants] and the [General]. Do I have to look for someone?”
Flaminia scoffed and looked at the [Sergeant], who was smiling at her.
“Our arrangement is closely tied to this,” Flaminia pointed at the bed.
“That’s why I’m asking, beautiful,” Plinius said with a smirk.
“This was a mistake,” Flaminia said, suddenly pushing Plinius away and starting to dress.
“Send me another message when you want some more mistakes,” Plinius told her as she went through the door.
...
Flaminia reviewed in her head her latest level-up after she had fallen asleep with Plinius. Flaminia couldn't help but feel a sense of excitement and pride at the sight of it.
She had worked hard to get to level 36 as a [Sugarsweet Baker], and the three new skills she had acquired were a testament to her dedication and hard work.
Just a week ago, she had been at level 34. And that wasn’t all: she had gotten three new skills with her latest level-up.
[Tenfold Kneading - Enhanced Gluten Formation]
[Conditions Met: Dexterous Hands → Food: Shaping Fingers!]
[Caramel Touch]
[Tenfold Kneading - Enhanced Gluten Formation] she had already tested, and it essentially sped up the speed at which bread was kneaded ten times. That meant she only had to spend one-tenth of the time working the loaves... It was an insanely useful skill.
She hadn’t even known about this gluten before Joey had tried hard to explain what proteins were and how gluten influenced the structure of bread. He also explained the best way of folding bread to make the gluten appear.
But if [Tenfold Kneading - Enhanced Gluten Formation] was useful, [Food: Shaping Fingers] had turned out to be flat-out insane. She had tried working on a cake, and she found that she could will the cake to take the shape she wanted as long as she had her fingers on it. Not only that, but she could also use her fingers with the same precision of a knife or the soft touch of a brush. She was sure it would take a long time to fill up this skill, but it completely changed the complexity of the cake compositions she could make...
And [Caramel Touch]... She had yet to tell even Clodia about it. She had heard of golden skills, but this was the very first time she had gotten one. And not only was she able to coat any pastry, sweet, or cake with caramel, but she could also infuse the sweet taste of caramel into custard, whipped cream, and liquids.
She had yet to finish her testing, but it seemed that the skill held a near-infinite amount of usage. This skill was so overpowered she could easily open her own bakery just based on that!
The most interesting thing was how she found out she could adjust the flavor of the caramel she produced. She had even managed to make it flavorless and simply infuse sugar into the dough!
Sugar!
For all Amorium had a ton of the sweet plants, sugar was still much more expensive than common grain! Lesser bakeries would use honey, but now she could just summon as much sugar as she wanted! She was sure she had already used a lot, but she had yet to find the upper limit of the skill!
But then, Flaminia's eyes narrowed with anger as she thought about Joey. She was furious that he had insulted her hard work that way, and she was determined to make him pay. She balled her hands into fists, her nails digging into her palms.
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Joey had no idea what she had gone through to get to her current level. True, it was because of him that she got these three skills and two levels, but so what?
What about knowing a few recipes that made him so great?
He wasn’t even a [Baker]!
At first, she had thought of threatening Joey and convincing Clodia to fire him if he didn't back down. But now, she wasn't so sure. She knew that the only reason she had been able to level up so quickly was that she had been working alongside Joey on his projects. And she truly believed that it was possible for her to reach level 40 by the end of the year as long as she kept working with the strange Human.
For all she wanted to punch him straight in the face, working with him was going to let her grow beyond imagination.
But he had insulted her in one of the worst ways possible. Flaminia knew that Joey was not knowledgeable about many aspects of society, but she had warned him twice, albeit off-handedly. She had thought it would have been enough. But on top of never calling her ‘chef’ and sometimes plainly ordering her around, he had joked about him being the best?
Arrogant Human... But I need him to work for Happy Bakery.
There were specialized classes in the Three Roses, but she was certain not one person was as high-level as her. Only Camilla, the owner, could compete.
Crossing into the thirties as a [Baker] or a [Chef] usually took decades. Most people who leveled up so much were in their fifties and would stop leveling by then.
Joey did not have a single level and wanted to joke about her livelihood?
At the same time, Flaminia felt her heart soften a bit. He always meant well and had not hesitated once to share his knowledge with her. Joey was clearly as pure-hearted of a person as she had ever seen anyone be.
...
“Clodia?” Flaminia knocked at the door of her boss’s office and entered. The buff Elf looked up from a stack of papers she had on her desk.
“I want you to call Joey in. Have you heard about what he did?” Flaminia continued.
“You made such a fuss every tree in Amorium knows about it, Flaminia. What do you want me to do? Fire him?”
Flaminia bit her lip.
“I—just reprimand him, and I’ll handle the rest. I need to straighten this one out before we can work together again. I’m not going to be disrespected in front of my co-workers. Just because he’s a clueless Human, you shouldn’t let this slide.”
Clodia sighed heavily and stretched in her chair, displaying the toned muscles on her arms.
“You know what I think about the whole leveling nonsense. He made a joke. Go choke on a dick about it like you usually do.”
When Flaminia was left momentarily speechless, Clodia pounced.
“Oh, you already have, haven’t you? Great. I hope you got it out of your system, then. Can we go back to work now?”
“Clodia! You know the traditions!”
“Fuck the traditions. He doesn’t have levels, Flaminia. Why should you get angry with him? Also, shouldn’t we start worrying about why he’s not getting levels? He clearly knows his baking. I thought about going to the Mages’ Guild and asking around for information on the topic.”
“What does that have to do with anything? I want you to help me resolve this, Clodia, or I will—”
“Or you will... what?” Clodia slowly rose from her chair while keeping her hands on the desk. Flaminia found herself staring at the woman, taller and stronger than most [Soldiers] she knew.
“I—”
“Joey came in already. He is napping. Send Raissa to wake him up and tell him to come to the office. I’ll have you two work this out and go back to work like two adults, not like two green-eared idiots hung up about who has the higher level!”
...
Joey entered Clodia’s office while yawning profusely.
Flaminia looked at him and wondered if he had gone back to the homeless camp hidden in the Pratus again. He had some truly weird commitments with those people.
“How you doin’?” He asked both.
“Terribly,” Clodia started, “because I, apparently, have two children who need a grown-up to resolve their issues.”
Flaminia expected Joey to start apologizing like he had when she had burst out in anger at him. But he simply nodded and took a seat. There was something different about him today, something much gloomier than usual. Even his customary ‘how you doin’ felt hollow.
“Flaminia,” Clodia gestured at Flaminia to continue.
“Joey, I am furious at you,” Flaminia started her barrage fire with barely any breathing in between. “I recognize the value that you bring to Happy Bakery, but I can’t have you disrespecting me like you did before. I also know that you don’t know much about levels—and that barely makes it okay. You made a mistake based on your green ears. But I can’t have you not calling me ‘chef’ around the bakery or ordering me around. I went along before because I thought you were engrossed in the bread-making process. But that can’t continue any longer. Just because you are a Human, it doesn’t mean you don’t need to learn what having thirty levels more than someone means and how you should behave while working with them.”
Joey stayed silent and simply nodded at the end of the speech.
“I already apologized. What else would you like me to do?” There was a hint of frustration in Joey’s voice and also an edge that Flaminia had never perceived before.
Even Clodia straightened up when she noticed that Joey wasn’t just sleepy but possibly in a less-than-great mood.
“I would like you to acknowledge what I just said about levels and that you understand what it means for the future.”
“Sure,” Joey sighed, “whatever. You are higher level than me, and I don’t have a class. It was disrespectful, and I ordered you around. I apologize. I also apologize for not calling you Chef. Anything else?”
“Flaminia...” Clodia tried interrupting the pink-haired Elf since she was getting all kinds of wrong vibes from the conversation.
“I want you to come with me and apologize publicly in front of the other employees. You will work double shifts for a month, and you will only work alongside others. You will not work with me for the whole month. After that, we’ll see how many levels you have gotten in the [Baker] class and go on from there—if you can even get any. You will also refer to Raissa and all the other girls with proper respect since you are technically only an [Apprentice Baker]—yet again, without a class.”
Joey looked deep into Flaminia’s eyes, and for the first time, the Elf noticed the deep blue of the Human’s eyes. Flecks of gold adorned his pupils, and she almost started blushing from the intensity of that stare.
After a beat, he slowly nodded, clearly repressing some anger in his strained tone.
“It’s fine. I’ll do everything you said. I’ve stated at the beginning, and I’ll repeat it again: I’m not afraid of hard work. I made a mistake, and I’ll pay for it, Chef. Are we good now?”
“One last thing,” Flaminia dictated. “The apology. I need you to state your ignorance, and I’ll forgive you publicly.”
“Sure, Fl—Chef. It’s not a problem. Can’t we just go and do this? I just want to get the work done and go home to rest.”
“Wait. You will also clearly state the difference in skill. You joked about being better than me—you, who are not even a [Baker], being better than me. So, I need you to address exactly that. You don’t know more about baking than a few recipes, and you’ll still need the necessary levels to prove that you are indeed a real [Baker].”
“Fuck, Joey, wait—” Clodia had all her people-management skills pinging her like crazy, and one of her hands was already in her bag, clutching a dagger. She could feel all the anger from the Human in front of her and was now worried he might hurt Flaminia if she did not act.
“Flaminia,” Joey spat out the name, “if you want me to work hard, I will do it. If you want me to apologize because I hurt your feelings, I will do it. If you want me to call you the queen of this bakery, I will fucking do it.”
“Now,” he continued, bristling with venomous fury, “if you want me to say that you are a better baker than me, I will not.
“You might be a [Baker] with all your stupid square brackets. But I’m a goddamn Baker, with a capital B. Baking is all I have done for the last fifteen years of my life, and better chefs than you have worked for me. Hell, Michelin-star dicks walk on the balls of their fucking feet around me. And you want what? I saw you working on your cakes, Flaminia. I saw you doing sloppy decorations and poor fillings. You might have thirty fucking levels on me, but you know nothing. We do not even play the same sport. I am the LeBron fucking James of baking, and you are the shoddiest referee in the WNBA. Fuck this.”
Neither Elf understood the comparison, but it was clear that it was something tremendously insulting.
Joey looked at Flaminia with a withering gaze.
“You know what? You want to prove you are a real fucking baker and not a joke? Give me your best cake attempt, alright? Let’s see what you can do. I’ll go source my ingredients as soon as the sun comes out, and I’ll meet you back here before we start the night shift. What do you say? Are you up to showing me what you are capable of? Pick your jury as well. If one person says that whatever you come up with is better than what I did, I’ll give you all the money from the bread and the yeast. And I’ll go find myself another job. If I win? You just shut the fuck up and go fuck yourself. How about that?”