Red appeared in the garden room and looked at it with a new light, considering the way that he had been treating it for at least the past week. While it was still the idyllic garden that was full of plants and fairies, he realized that in many ways it was just that. There was no place for the fairies to live, so they found nests within the branches of the Alchemical Oak. His Soldier Fey trained out in the open fields behind the tree, and the only real kitchen was what the Witchlings had put together around the party area.

So far he had made a dungeon that was interesting and magical for someone to go through, but he had failed when it came to taking care of his people. There were no places for them to sleep, eat, or even have private moments. He hadn’t made a home for his people, he had made an amusement park for slaughter like any ordinary dungeon. It was a disgrace and not something that he would want to repeat.

However, he couldn’t call on the build team at the moment, since he didn’t want to risk Ivy making them do the good deed that he was supposed to be doing. Not to mention she probably didn’t want to hear a thing from him, he didn’t blame her for that. There were a few things that he could do, at least for some of the less humanoid members of his dungeon. He floated towards the river and began the process of digging burrows. The lobsters and crawfish were some of the only denizens that lived exclusively in the river.

He was trying his best not to upset the appearance of the dungeon as he did this, however, so all of the burrows were only accessible through the waterways. It also meant that if any of the shelled critters and monsters didn’t want to participate in a fight they wouldn’t have to. He was well aware with his new vision for his dungeon that there would still be people who wanted to sword and board the place. However, he was not going to force his creatures to fight if they didn’t want to. It was as he was finishing the largest burrow for the metal lobsters that someone was waiting for him above the water. He looked up to find the black-cloaked figure of Pheobe the Witchling waiting for him, vampiric crows sitting on her shoulders as she silently judged him. He knew she wasn’t judging him harshly, despite being one of the [Evil] species that were born from the raid.

“Oh! Uh… hey Pheobe. Everything alright?” He asked as he floated there above the river, looking her over and wondering if she was alright. They weren’t the kind to complain, especially since it was usually complaints about them that he usually heard. Pheobe especially liked to give people untested drinks and meals to see what kind of effects she could elicit. ”Heard you were making things for people. I want a kitchen.” She said simply her voice rather pretty even though she hardly even used it. She crossed her arms and looked up at him with those piercing red eyes. It was clear that she was not going to take no for an answer, even though Red wasn’t able to make proper structures without the build team.

“Uh… well I am making a kitchen on the second floor. Do you want to work there?” He offered, wondering if he could kill two birds with one stone. The thought of that idiom made him glance at the crows on her shoulders, well aware that they would not appreciate such an expression. She seemed to think about it some, though how she was feeling was hard to tell from most of her face covered by cloak and hat. The witchlings preferred to only let a small strip of face where their nose and eyes were visible.

“No… but offer that to Marcus. I want a kitchen up here.” She said firmly as she seemed determined to have what she wanted. Red sighed and figured that he might as well, there was no sense in playing favorites when he was trying to help people that were part of his dungeon. Pheobe was just as important to the workings of his dungeon as Ivy, the crawdads, or any of them. He couldn’t play favorites, especially if he wanted to avoid an incident like what happened with Poly. The next time, there might not be a pop-up to fix the situation.

“Fair enough. I just wanted to bring up the offer for the sake of it. I can’t currently make any buildings because the build team is busy, but I could probably make you an underground kitchen or maybe something in the oak itself.” He offered as he floated down and stood on the grass with her. The lawn was starting to be mostly pink, and the Weirding Worms in the soil were making it especially fae. The bees were also making the garden beds flower more brightly. It seemed that they just generally caused any plants in the same room as them to flourish.

“Mm… I would like the tree.” She said with a nod as she turned and began to walk, her feather cloak fluttering in the breeze as she walked towards the Alchemical oak. Red supposed that if the tree was going to be the center for a new royal dynasty of fairies, they would need a chef. He wasn’t ready to give Pheobe that title just yet, since he felt that perhaps it was time to let his creatures begin to grow their titles. While some would be born to be given a title, it was time for things to be earned rather than given.

It was a short walk to the tree since he had been making the caves close by. The two of them entered the tunnel leading towards the throne room. He pressed his hand to the wall and began to shape a tunnel into it. Despite the tree being a living thing, so long as there was plenty of internal surface area, he could play around with the insides as he pleased. The wood pulled away into a perfectly arched tunnel, the walls bare but smooth and polished. He would have to come back through with Lotus at some point to make sure that it was properly decorated.

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“This is far enough. Need to be able to make deliveries.” Pheobe commented as she told him to stop digging through the tree. He shrugged before making a bubble at the end of the tunnel, slowly expanding out until it was the size of a restaurant-style kitchen. Before Pheobe could even begin to speak on what she wanted Red began to arrange things the way that he would want the kitchen prepared. A slop-sink and plenty of cabinets, four sets of stoves that would cook anything that was needed. He was delighted that there were modern appliances thanks to the second floor. However, he did not have stainless steel.

While he was able to make metal countertops and any kind of tool that he could need, he could not make stainless steel without a massive cost. The refining process and galvanization were extremely mana-intensive from what he could tell. So instead of stainless steel, he went with copper, making every bit of metal in the kitchen copper. A copper sink, copper counters, copper cutlery, everything shone in the bright off-orange color of copper by the time he was done with it.

“Why copper?” Pheobe asked as she ran a gloved finger along one of the shining counters, aware that she would have to maintain it to make sure that it didn’t turn green from oxidation. ”Well, copper is antibacterial, meaning that it is a lot better for safe food preparation.” Red offered with a smile as he looked at her, hoping that it would be at least an acceptable answer.

“This kitchen is all mine?” She asked as she began to look through the cupboards and check all the items that Red had given her. He had fully supplied her with everything she would need to have a functioning kitchen that could feed the rest of the floor. There was no longer a need for a massive cauldron or roasting things over an open fire.

“Well. I suppose that if you get any more people to cook under you, it would be their kitchen too. But yeah, if you want this to be your kitchen then you can have it.” Red offered with a smile before he noticed a pop-up appear in front of Pheobe. He was rather surprised since there shouldn’t have been anything that would have counted as a quest.

Title Quest Discovered!

It’s time to make a name for yourself, kid!

Title: Royal Chef

Unlock Requirements: Being given access to a kitchen within a royal’s home

Quest Description: You have been given access to the kitchen belonging to Lotus, Queen of Toxic! However, the kitchen is a place that must be in tune with the person using it. You do not know this kitchen, and it does not know you. Master it and you shall be given the honor of a royal chef!

Goals:

* Use all of the burners on the stoves for individual dishes

* Create 1 masterpiece dish

* Make the Queen’s favorite dish

* Eat every bite of any failed dishes created while pursuing this quest

* Create 5 unique palatable dishes

* Serve the meal at a grand event hosted by the royal.

“This is a long list… it is going to take a lot of time to do all of this,” Pheobe grumbled through her cloak as she looked at the quest, however, it did not deter her from accepting it. She began to walk around the kitchen, opening drawers and cabinets to learn of everything that was in her new workspace. “Thought you just gave people these things most of the time.” She commented to Red as she grabbed a pot and some vegetables before bringing them over to the cutting board. It seemed that she was going to make a soup.

“Yeah… I have given out a lot of titles willy-nilly.” Red muttered with a frown as he pulled up the information that was related to the quest. All of it was challenging, and it would take time for Pheobe to do, but none of it was outrageous. She could achieve all of them with time, and in that time she would grow closer to the other members of the dungeon.

“Maybe it’s time that I stopped doing that. Just giving out titles without a care. It helped me when I was new, but I think it’s starting to stunt the dungeon’s growth.” Red commented as he sat on the kitchen counter opposite Pheobe and watched her work. It was relaxing to watch the minions do their jobs at times, and knowing she was doing it with a goal made it even more fulfilling. ”Sounds like you’re not letting people grow. If you try to force a flower to grow up a trellis it will, but that doesn’t mean the flower is healthier for doing so. Instead, plant the flower next to the trellis, and if it climbs then it climbs.” Pheobe said as she finished chopping some carrots, celery, potatoes, and onions. She brought up the cutting board and dumped all the ingredients into the pot. She set down the cutting board and grabbed the pot, turning around before looking at Red. ”Get off of my clean counter! Were you raised in a crawdad hole?!” She barked at him before her crows flew out and pecked at his head, not able to do anything to him physically. At the very least the message was gotten across and he quickly jumped from the counter and stood straight up.

“Sorry! Didn’t mean to get ethereal crystal bits on your counter.” Red smiled and apologetically wiped off the counter space he had been sitting at, knowing that he had left no crumbs of anything from his form.

“You did what I wanted, now how about you go and make more quests happen? I’m busy.” Pheobe commented with a frown as she put the pot on the stove and got to cooking, not even a thanks passing her lips for everything Red had just done for her. He knew she was thankful, and that was enough for what he was trying to do at the moment. Doing good for the sake of good meant that there should be no expectation of thanks.

“Sound advice, thanks Pheobe,” Red said with a smile, the witchling ignoring him at the moment as she continued to try and finish the first objective of the quest that she was given. He expected that she was going to be eating a lot of ruined dishes if she wasn’t careful with how she did things. Especially if she did them alone, and maybe it was time that people stopped having to work alone on his dungeon.