After sitting there for almost an hour, Ender stood up and exhaled a deep breath. True to Alan’s words, she did enjoy this mission, it’s relaxing and peaceful. Unlike the demon purge mission where she and Marshall were sent to all sorts of hostile environment.

Except for the part where she fought an angry reality warper, but then again, it never happened in the first place.

The agent walked through the park once again. She glanced at the crepe stall in the distance and saw that it’s selling nicely. The park itself is adjacent to the woods, with dense and thick foliage that people seldom traverse to.

However, Ender found some footprints going into the woods. It belongs to that of small children and Ender decided to follow it. Maybe she’ll find some demonic human meat farm? Who knows?

After walking through the woods for about fifteen minutes, Ender found herself staring at the edge of the floating city. Right in front of her is the large lake that seems to stretch forever into the mountain range in the distance.

Not only that, Ender also found the children, apparently fishing, at the edge of the town. Judging by the lighting, the water right in front of them is direct drop into the bottom of the lake and she really hope they know how to swim.

Ender approached the children. There’s two of them, both are little girls Emilia’s age. One of them has short dark hair and black eyes wearing blue T-shirt. The other has long blonde hair and bright blue eyes wearing green dress. The former is holding the fishing rod and the latter just watched from the sidelines.

Then, Ender noticed that the rod is just a stick and the fishing line is literally just a regular string tied on it. She narrowed her eyes when she noticed a bucket filled with water near them that actually has a couple of fish in it. ‘How is that possible?’ Ender thought to herself.

“Hello,” Ender greeted them.

The two of them looked at Ender. “Hi!” the one holding the rod replied. “Are you going fishing too?” she asked.

“Ah, no, I’m actually not good at fishing,” Ender lied. “I’m just here enjoying the view,” she sat down near them and took a closer look at the fishes in the bucket. Another odd thing, the fish doesn’t even look wounded by the fishing hook. Their mouth looked clean and unblemished.

After a moment, something tugged on their string. The dark haired girl grinned and started pulling on the rod. A decently sized fish jumped out from the water and the girl pulled the rod with all her might. The fish flew across the air and…

‘Smack’ it hits her right in the face.

“Ah! I’m hit!” the girl exclaimed though she managed to catch the fish. She pulled out her bait from the fish’s mouth revealing… a candy. Like, literally just a candy, she somehow fished a large fish with a candy. “Got another one,” she said before putting the fish into the bucket.

Ender blinked owlishly after seeing that. She considered asking them, but something tells her that even they have no idea what’s going on. So she decided to go with indirect approach. “Wow, that’s a nice catch,”

The little girls smiled. “Thanks miss!” she said.

“Call me Ender,” Ender replied.

The fisher girl grinned after hearing that. “Whoa, that’s a cool name, is that really your name?”

Ender chuckled a little. “My parents were an odd bunch,” she replied. Then she looked at the three fishes swimming in the bucket of water. “Where did you learn how to fish?” Ender asked.

“I just know how to do it,” she said before throwing the fishing line once more.

“And what inspired you to start fishing?”

“Well, it was when I made that bet with Em-” the other girl covered her mouth and stopped her from talking.

“Sh-she saw it on the tv once,” the other girl said nervously.

Ender nodded a little. “I see…”

‘Okay, Emilia definitely has some sort of power. Now if I can somehow make her show me her power and let me gauge it, my mission is done. Sure I can just use the Fragmented Time to reverse time after having Marshall push her to the limit, but where’s the fun in that?’

‘Problem is, Alicia doesn’t trust me one bit. Without Alicia’s trust I won’t be able to get near Emilia. This is troublesome, I should’ve took the hint and not take Marshall with me when the cats started running away from him. Aaaaah, so frustrating, but no use crying over spilled milk. Focus Endie, you gotta earn her trust somehow…’

‘The easiest way to earn someone’s trust is to save their life. But this town is anomalously peaceful so there is literally nothing I need to safe her from. Should I make a fake threat? No, Alicia will be suspicious of me. Okay, this is a much harder mission than I expected…’

‘Well, first off, I need to get along with all of Emilia’s friends. These two are definitely her friends,’

Ender nodded, satisfied with her conclusion. She stood up and walked towards the fish they just collected. “So, what are you going to do with these fishes?” she asked.

The blonde haired girl answered her question. “I’m going to cook them,”

“So you know how to cook?” Ender asked.

“Yes, Robyn’s cousin taught me how to do it,” she pointed at at the fisher girl. “She works in a restaurant near the round fountain.”

“Oh really? What’s it called?”

“It’s called the Secret Garden,”

‘Bingo!’ Ender thought to herself

“Oh, I’ve heard of that place,” Ender said in interest. “So, are you going to cook them here, camper style, or are you going to take it to the Secret Garden?”

“We’re going to roast it here/take it to the restaurant,” they both said simultenously.

They looked at each other and the fisher spoke up. “Come on Annie, let’s cook it here! I’ll grab some stick and we can cook it on top of fire, like the marshmallow we had for picnic,” she said.

“It’s not that simple Robyn, we need to properly clean, gut, and skin the fish before we can cook it,” Annie replied “Besides, are you sure you’re going to eat fish without proper seasoning?”

“I brought some clean water!” Robyn took out a large bottle of drinking water and a bottle of soy sauce out of nowhere. “I also have salted soy sauce, I came fully prepared!”

“Still, it’s not that simple!” Annie replied.

Ender chuckled at their bantering and realized that it’s a perfect opportunity for her. “Alright, settle down you two,” she told them. “What if I help you cook the fish? I know something about outdoor cooking myself.”

Robyn looked at me with stars in her eyes. “You know?” she asked.

Ender nodded a little. “Of course, I’m used to travelling,” she took out her retractable blade from her pocket. Then she extends the bottom blade that is much shorter and smaller than the main blade. “I can skin, gut, and clean the fish before roasting,” she explained.

Annie looked at her in suspicion. “How do you know if it’s hygiene?”

Yeah, that’s a risk we all have to take shorty, Ender wanted to say. But she just smiled sheepishly at her. “Well… I don’t, but we have clean water there, so… worth a try?”

Robyn nodded vigorously while Annie just sighed in defeat.

With that, Ender grabbed one of the fish. She sat down on the ground and put the fish on her lap. “Don’t worry, my clothes are enchanted, it cannot get dirty.”

Their eyes widened after hearing that. “Whoa! Seriously?” Robyn asked. “Isn’t enchantment super duper expensive?”

“Well… I did save a lot for this,” she told her before looking at the fish on her lap. It’s decently sized, about twice the size of her hand. “Annie, have you ever killed a fish before?”

The girl shook her head a little. “No… miss Lala did all that…” she said.

“Well, no better time for you to learn then,” Ender looked at her smaller blade. It looks like spear point but there’s a short thin spike at the end of it. “First thing you do, is to stab it right in the brain, that way it doesn’t feel that much pain,”

Ender held her blade with one hand and the fish with the other. Then she stabbed the fish right through its head. It spasm in her grip before going limp. Robyn already averted her eyes, but Annie kept watching.

“Okay, now the fish is dead, however, its heart is still beating,” Ender lifted up the fish and cut through one of its gills. “One,” she cut the other gill. “Two,” then she stabbed the back of its tail. “Three, and that’s how you help remove the blood.”

Ender dunked the fish back into the lake and gently massaged it. She thought about the next step to destroy its spine, but she doesn’t really have the proper equipment. After about half a minute, she pulled out the fish and put it on her lap once again.

“Okay, now we can start cleaning it,” Ender told them. “First is to shave off all the scales,” she dragged the back of her blade against the direction of the scales. She kept at it for a few minutes until it’s done. “Second, open up the fish from the base of the tail.”

With that, she opened up the fish and started gutting it. “Now, we start scooping up the inside of it,” she used her bare hand to scoop up the inside of the fish. She noticed that Robyn is staring at the rest of the fish with a slightly nauseous look on her face while Annie is staring intently.

After she’s done, Ender dunked the fish back into the lake, clean it some more, before taking it out. “Now this fish is ready to be roasted,” Robyn snapped her attention back to her after hearing that. “However, we want to make this taste good, no?”

Ender cut the fish just behind the top of its head and gently filleted it half way, revealing the pinkish white flesh underneath it. “Say, where’s the clean water?”

Robyn handed Ender her bottle and the latter carefully pour in the water while scrubbing the fish clean. Soon enough, it’s clean enough and ready to be roasted. “Okay, it is done,” Ender looked at the children and smiled sheepishly. “I forgot to tell you guys to prepare a fire.”

Robyn stood up with a proud look on her face. “I’ll go look for fire wood,” she said before running back into the woods.

This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author's work.

“Make sure you choose the wood near fruit trees,” Ender shouted.

Then Ender looked at a bottle of soy sauce beside Annie. “Annie, can you get me that?” she asked her

Annie handed her the soy sauce and Ender started pouring a little bit on the filleted part and incision near the tail. “Ano, miss Ender,” she looked at Ender. “I’ve never seen you before, are you a tourist?”

Ender smiled a little. “Yes, I’m currently staying at the Black Cat Cafe,” she said.

“Black Cat Cafe?” an excited smile formed on her face. “Does that mean you know Emilia?”

“Of course, Rena and Christopher too,” she replied. “Are you Emilia’s friend?”

Annie nodded a little. “Yes, Emilia is my classmate, we used to play alot,” then her smile faltered a little. “Well… We wanted to play with her again but she’s too busy with her work… But we’ll meet her again after our vacation.”

‘Vacation?’ Ender thought to herself. ‘I honestly thought that she didn’t go to school. Damn it, I should’ve asked Rena.’

After about ten minutes, Robyn returned with a bunch of sticks and a large branch. She’s much stronger than she looks, Ender has to admit. She put down the wood in front of Annie and folded her arms. “Okay, now what?”

Ender grabbed a stick and started shaving off all bark and resin, leaving a clean pointy stick. Then she stabbed the fish straight through its mouth. She held the stick with one hand and handed it to Annie. “Hold this while I prepare the fire,” she said.

Annie grabbed the fish on a stick and she looked at Ender who’s already cutting off the larger branch. She wondered if Ender is one of those famous adventurer she saw in television. She’s not even surprised if her name is a fake one to keep her identity a secret.

Then, Ender took out a match stick from her pocket and the wood started to burn. “Nice…” she said. “Okay, you can start smoking the fish now,” she said.

Robyn and Annie hold the fish together. The smell of smoke combined with soy sauce made an odd yet pleasant combination. “Not too close, you’ll burn the fish.”

It was then that they realized that Ender is already cleaning the second fish. However, unlike before, she’s doing it in quick succession without explaining every part. She finished it in under five minutes before she too started roasting the fish.

“I’ll take this fish as my payment,” Ender said with mischievous smile.

After almost half an hour of roasting plus smoking the fish, the fish is ready to eat. It looked quite appetizing for something cooked with just one ingredient in the wilderness. So far, everyone was satisfied on how it looks.

“Hold on, let me try it first,” Ender took a bite of the fish. It’s salty on the outside and stale on the inside. But when she started chewing on it, she couldn’t help but smile with pride. “Not bad, not as good as oven roasted, but beggars can’t be choosy.”

Robyn and Annie looked at each other. Then they took a bite at each side of the fish. They too smiled a little after eating it. Not because it’s delicious, but it’s because that it taste much better than they expected.

“I wouldn’t mind eating this again,” Robyn said.

“Maybe next time we should bring something else other than soy sauce,” Annie commented. “And a proper grill.”

Everyone just burst out laughing after hearing that. Ender herself was quite enjoying the little girl’s company. They’re so lively and much more fun to hang out with than Emilia. She thought about how much more fun it will be to bring Emilia along.

Then, Ender remembered something. She took out her flip phone, it’s very old fashioned but it has a camera function. Not HD kind of camera, but good enough. “Hey, can I take your photo?” she asked.

Robyn and Annie made an eating pose together and Ender captured it with her phone camera. Then she turned around for a selfie action. It’s a bit hard without a front camera, but she trusted her instinct somewhat. “Cheese!”

All in all, Ender spent almost three hours with her new friends and it’s already 13:00. She stood up from her position and simply tapped on her clothing a little. True to her words, her clothes are still clean and no trace of fish can be seen on it.

“Wow, must be great to have enchanted clothes,” Robyn said. “I don’t have to take a bath ever again.

“Of course I need to take a bath,” Ender said. “It just means I don’t have to change my clothes if I don’t want to,” she explained.

“Still, it’s pretty convenient,” Annie looked at her dress that’s just a little dirty with dirt. “I don’t have to worry about getting yelled at when I get home.”

With that, the three of them returned back into the town. They walked through the park and the two kids noticed Christopher still in his Crepes stand. “Hey, is that Chris?” Robyn said before jogging towards the Crepes stand.

Ender and Annie hurried after her and found Robyn harassing the poor guy. “Wow, Chris! I didn’t know you work here too, did Emilia fired you?” she asked him.

Annie bopped Robyn on the head. “That’s rude Robyn,” she said before bowing a little at Christopher. “I’m sorry Christopher.”

“It’s alright,” Chris said while looking at Ender warily. “Where are you from anyway?”

“From the Great Lake!” Robyn exclaimed.

“Eh? That’s dangerous, can you two swim?”

“Ender is with us so it’s fine,”

Ender coughed a little. “I found you, I didn’t come with you,” she said.

Robyn smiled at her sheepishly. “Yeah, but I can swim so there’s nothing to worry about,” she said. “Oh, and we also caught some fish! Ender cooked two of them for us and would you like the last one?” she showed Christopher the bucket of fish.

“No thank you… And what do you mean by cooking it there?”

“Ah, yes, I have experience in outdoor cooking,” Ender said confidently. Then she looked at the children. “Say, do you want some dessert? My treat,”

“Yeah!” Robyn exclaimed before Annie could say a word. “I have chocolate ice cream crepe,” she said.

Annie shot Robyn a pointed look, but Ender just patted her head. “It’s okay Annie, I have plenty to spare,” she said.

The blonde haired girl bit her lip before relenting. “Okay… I’ll have vanilla ice cream, is that alright Miss Ender?”

“Don’t worry about it,” Ender said.

After that, the Christopher handed the two of them their crepes. Ender took this moment to take another picture.“No, Chris, I’m going to show this to Rena, I’m sure she’ll like it,” she said when Chris was about to hide himself.

Ender snapped a picture of the three of them together. Then she took a selfie with them before finally pocketing her flip phone. “Okay you two, let’s go back, you both need a shower,” she said.

Robyn held up her bucket of fish with one hand. “Shouldn’t we bring this to the Secret Garden first?” she asked.

“I’ll go take it to the Secret Garden, you two go back home and clean up. Then we’ll meet at the restaurant,” Ender said.

Annie nodded a little while Robyn saluted at her. “Sir yes sir,” the latter before taking Annie’s hand. “Come on Annie, let’s not keep Ender waiting,” she said.

“W-wait! I almost drop my crepe!”

Ender just chuckled in amusement as she watched them running away back home. She can imagine Emilia being dragged around by the two of them. It’s a wholesome fun, the kind of fun that will definitely make Marshall vomit in disgust.

“Well Chris, I’ll be taking this to the Secret Garden,” Ender told the errand boy.

“Yeah, see you later Ender,” Chris replied.

It was 14:00 when Ender made it to the Secret Garden. Marshall’s magical hand drawn map was a blessing to be had when trying to navigate navigate through the city. The amount of turns, bridges, and alleyways made this town into a very pretty labyrinth.

“Secret Garden huh?” Ender said in amusement. True to its name, the restaurant is quite hidden. It resides at the end of a road. The only telling is the numerous sign that led to it once she’s near enough.

Ender thought about going straight in, but then she realized that barging into a a restaurant with a bucketful of fish is a bad idea. She walked around the restaurant and saw the backdoor. She knocked on the door a few times before taking a step back.

The door opened, revealing a girl around Rena’s age. She has long black hair and bright green eyes. She wore a white and green waitress uniform. “Oh, hello,” she said. “How can I help you?”

“My name is Ender, I’m told by Robyn to bring this to you,” she handed the girl the bucket.

“Oh my… oh dear…” she said in surprise. “Come in, please,”

Ender walked through the backdoor of the restaurant and found herself near a large kitchen. It looks like modern restaurant kitchen, but smaller. There’s only one chef, a man wearing standard chef uniform.

“Ah, let me help you with that,” the girl said, taking the bucket from Ender’s hand. She put it near the wash table. “I’m so, so sorry about my cousin, you must be very confused right now,” she said.

“No, it’s okay,” Ender replied. “We had fun,” she said with a smile.

Then, Ender took out her flip phone. She opened the gallery and let the girl looked through it. “You cooked that?”

“Don’t worry, I’m used to cooking in the wild,” Ender replied.

As she browsed through the gallery a soft smile appeared on her face. “Uwaa… Thank you so much for playing with her Ender…” then she gasped a little. “Oh dear, where are my manners?” she bowed deeply in front of Ender. “You may call me Lalatina, this one thanks you for attending to her cousin and her friend.”

Ender waved her hands dismissively. “It’s alright, I had fun, children are so easy to impress,” she told her.

Lalatina giggled a little. “I suppose you’re right, oh, here’s your phone back,” she handed her the phone. “Would you like anything to eat?” she said.

“How about the fish we caught? I’m planning to meet Robyn and Annie here.”

“Of course, follow me,” Lalatina said.

The two of them walked out of the kitchen straight to the floors. It’s just a little bit crowded but not too crowded. Lalatina motioned her to sit down on one of the table beside the window. Ender sat down on the chair and looked at the menu.

“Anything else I can get you?”

Ender looked at the menu. “Maybe some potato wedges, lemon tea, the fish from earlier, and… surprise me,” she said.

Lalatina bowed politely once more. “Thank you Ender, I’ll start making your orders now,” she said before walking back to the kitchen.

‘Secret menu huh?’ Ender thought to herself. ‘Could it be that it’s the fishes Robyn and Annie caught? Wait, Annie said that she’s going to be cooking it, is it Annie’s cooking then? But that doesn’t explain why no one knows about the secret menu. If either one is true then I was right and this is just a red herring.’

Soon after Lala returned to the kitchen, the restaurant’s front door was blasted open. A certain dark haired little girl stood at the entrance and looked around. Then she saw Ender and started running towards her.

“Ender!” she exclaimed before sitting right beside the agent. She looked at Ender with expectant eyes. “So, have you met big sis?”

“Yes I have, she’s…” Ender thought about her and Lalatina. “She’s nothing like you,”

Robyn grinned and made a peace sign. “Hehe, I’m my own person,”

“So, where’s Annie?”

The little girl pointed at the kitchen. “She’s cooking the fish, she said she wanted to avenge the fishes you cook,” she said.

“Avenge?” Ender blinked a little.

“I dunno, people in the TV uses that term all the time,” Robyn replied with a shrug. “So, what did you order miss?”

“The fish, potato wedges, surprise menu, and something popular with children,” Ender replied.

“Children?” Robyn pouted a little. “I’m not a kid anymore Ender, I’m a grown up you know!”

Ender chuckled a little. “Right, right,” she said while petting the girl’s head. “By the way, you should bring Emilia along next time. I’m sure she’ll appreciate it.”

Robyn looked down a little. “I tried, but she’s just too busy with her work,” she sighed a little. “I thought after Rena moved in, she would have more free time but…”

“But?”

“They just add more menu!” Robyn said in frustration. She plopped her head on the table. “Why can’t she use her magic?” she whined.

“Magic?” Ender asked in curiosity.

Robyn looked up and held up her hands. “N-no, I mean, like magic tricks!” she said sheepishly.

Ender raised an eyebrow at that. She thought about prying some more, but realized that Robyn here might be being watched by Alicia just like Chris. So, she decided to be the cool, mysterious, big sister who seems to have the answer to all their problems.

“Say, Robyn, you said that Emilia needs to stay at the cafe because there’s no one helping her right?”

Robyn nodded a little. “Yes, it’s just Rena and Emilia,”

Ender smirked a little and leaned towards her. “Then, what if we ask someone to work there?” she asked her. “Go around the town and see if anyone is interested in working there,” she said.

Stars seemingly appeared on Robyn’s eyes. “Whoa! You can do that?”

“I don’t mind,” Ender replied. “I don’t really have anything to do.”

“Sorry for the wait!” a very familiar voice appeared near them. Annie and Lalatina stood beside their table, each one of them holding a large tray.

Annie held a plate full of roasted fish. It looked a hundred times better than the ones Ender cooked and is probably much more delicious. It is slightly glazed with sweet soy sauce and it has a bunch of condiments sprinkled all over it.

Lalatina on the other hand held a tray full of all sorts of snacks and drinks. There’s the potato wedges, chocolate brownies, and more.

“Enjoy the meal,” the two of them said before serving the food.

Robyn quickly helped herself with fish before Annie could even sit down next to her.

“How is it Robyn?”

“It’s really great Annie,” Robyn said with a toothy grin. “A bit too sweet though,” she added, licking her fingers a little.

Annie looked a bit flustered after hearing that. She too, tried her fish and grimaced. “Aah… Sorry… I added too much sweet sauce…”

Ender also took a bite and realized what she meant. Roasted fish isn’t supposed to be this sweet but, “It’s still better than my cooking,” she said before trying out the potatoes.

“W-well you didn’t use anything to cook it so, mph!” Robyn stuffed Annie’s mouth with some a potato wedges, cutting her off. The girl just chewed on the potato in defeat before swallowing.

“Your cooking tastes great Annie, don’t worry.”

Annie sighed a little bit before finally joining everyone else. She seems to have a particularly sweet tooth judging by how quickly she went for the dessert. Robyn however doesn’t discriminate. She eat the main dish, the side dishes, and the dessert one after another.

Ender on the other hand, spend her entire time watching Robyn and Annie. She wondered what else is odd about these two other than their fishing skills. Though, so far, the only thing she noticed is Robyn’s appetite and Annie’s schrodinger confidence.

After eating for a while, Robyn finally voice Ender’s thought about Emily. “Annie, do you have anything to do today?” she asked her.

“Umm… I have my piano lessons in half an hour,” Annie replied.

“Aww man,” Robyn looked back at Ender. “What now Ender?”

“We can do it tomorrow if you want,” Ender replied simply. “Besides, it gives me time to look more into the cafe’s situation and see what kind of people we need.”

Robyn nodded in agreement while Annie just looked at either at them in confusion. “What are you talking about?” the latter asked.

“Ender wanted to see if she can ask some people to work at the Black Cat Cafe, maybe then, Emilia will have more time to play with us before the vacation is over,” Robyn explained.

“Waah, I’m sorry I couldn’t help you…”

Ender smiled at her patiently. “Don’t worry Annie, we’ll do it tomorrow,” she said before taking a sip of her lemonade. “Hmm… Sweet,” she muttered.