“I need side dishes for all these plates! What’s the holdup?” Lucas called out. His two extra stations were full of plated filets, each one lacking carrots and mushrooms.

“We’re running out of ingredients.” A chef called back.

“I’m out!” Another said.

“You’ve got to be kidding. It’s only been a few hours.” Lucas stood up after loading up his three ovens. A quick glance at the ingredient table on the other side of the room revealed it was bare, except for a few bulbs of garlic. That wasn’t good. They were putting plates out quicker, able to let bigger groups of people in every fifteen minutes.

“This is bad. The botanists should have made another delivery by now.” Lucas said.

“Uh.” Grunk cleared his throat. “I guess you haven’t noticed the fish.”

“The fish?” Lucas turned around. The fish table was almost barren. He estimated twenty fish remaining. “How did I not notice that?”

“I don’t blame you. You’ve been running around like a madman.” Grunk said.

“Cookie!” Lucas called out his window.

“Hm?” Cookie came to a stop and looked around. “Oh, coming!” She hurried along to a side table by the door they were using as an exit to set down her pile of dirty plates and chopsticks. “Do you need me?” She asked after rushing over to the window.

Lucas took a deep breath. “I need you to tell Raven to put a pause on letting people in, then find Izzy and tell her to message Scope to come back with his squad. After that, keep working on dishes until Scope returns. When he is back, bring Scope, the kids, and Izzy to me.”

“Will do!” Cookie smiled, then hurried off to the front door.

“All this planning, and we’re still running into a bunch of problems.” Lucas sighed, grabbing and preparing a batch of fish. Another batch and a half and he’d be out.

“Sounds like you’re already working on fixing it.” Grunk said.

“Sure, but we’re going to fall behind again. Last time Cookie updated me, the line outside was even longer than it was when we started.” Lucas sighed.

“I trust that you’ll be able to figure something out. If anyone can, it’d be you.” Grunk turned his head and smiled. “Don’t worry too much.”

Lucas gave the Orc a skeptical look. “That makes me feel better and worse at the same time.”

“What? I just said I believe in you!” Grunk said with a raised brow.

“Yeah. The trust is appreciated, but it adds more pressure.” Lucas said. He hadn’t thought this would be so stressful. In the strategy games he usually played, he had to manage a lot more all on his own. It was a lot different doing it in person, and with people’s lives being directly affected by how he pulled this off.

“Art!”

“Huh?” Lucas’s head jerked up to see Cookie at his window.

“I’ve got Izzy, Scope, and the kids like you asked.” Cookie said, stepping to the side to reveal the group behind her.

“Great! That was faster than I expected.” Lucas smiled. “Izzy, I need you to unload whatever ingredients you have left, then run out and get the botanist groups to return. Go to the north, then west parts outside of town, and come back.”

He turned to the elf. “Scope, leave the kids here. I need you to get the fishers to return with whatever they’ve got. Well, not all of them. Get them to pool their fish together, so only a handful need to come back. The rest can keep fishing.” Lucas looked at the kobold for a moment. “Izzy, do the same for the foragers.” He shook his head, thinking. “Uh, after the fishers, check the south and east parts outside the town for the other forager groups.”

Lucas turned and addressed Cookie. “I need you to take over for Izzy’s job outside until she comes back. Take some time to show the kids how to do your job inside, then head out to the front line.” He took a deep breath. “Everyone understand?”

The group shared a few glances between themselves.

“Why don’t we just message the fishers and foragers to come back?” Izzy asked.

“Yeah, I thought the plan was to call them in earlier if we needed to.” Scope said.

“Oh, right. I didn’t tell you all about what we discovered earlier. Grunk, join us for a second.” Lucas motioned for the Orc to get closer. “Tony tried to message me this morning, but he got an error message. Basically, you can’t send or receive messages when you're outside of town. Well, that’s my theory, anyway.”

He grumbled a bit before continuing. “All I know for sure is that he couldn’t send a message to me. Izzy, Scope, try messaging someone from the gathering groups.”

The two shared a look, then pulled out their journals.

“I messaged the four botanist leaders to come back.” Izzy said after a minute.

“Same for the fishing group.” Scope added.

“You said this problem came up this morning?” Grunk asked, receiving a nod from the Draconian. “Huh. I guess the only time we’ve messaged each other has been when we were all inside town. This isn’t good if it’s true.”

“Tell me about it.” Lucas said, looking down as he kept working. “We’ll have to have the gathering groups send supplies every few hours.” He lifted his head. “Izzy, ingredients?”

“I didn’t forget!” Izzy scurried off to the far off kitchen door, going in, and to the vegetable table.

“Cookie, show the kids how to, uh.” Lucas’s face scrunched up.

“How to play restaurant?” Scope asked after seeing the other struggle.

“Yes!” Cookie smiled at the group of kids. “How would the soldiers like to work the mess hall? Even soldiers need to clean and cook.” She watched the kids get excited.

“Yeah, yeah!”

“Army restaurant!”

“Soldiers clean?”

“Come along, little ones. I’ll show you how to work inside the mess hall.” Cookie said, leading the children off.

“Thank you, Scope. I wasn’t sure how to phrase that for it to sound fun.” Lucas gave a nod to the elf.

“He sure has a way of keeping the kids entertained.” Grunk chuckled.

“It’s a gift I didn’t know I had.” Scope shrugged with a smirk.

“What’s a gift?” Izzy asked as she returned.

“Dealing with the kids.” Scope answered, to which Izzy agreed.

“Did either of you get a reply yet?” Lucas asked, setting aside freshly cut filets.

The Elf and Kobold pulled their journals out once more, both having not gotten responses.

“That’s what I was afraid of.” Lucas lowered his head. Usually it was fun being right, but not this time. “Okay. Go and execute the plan. try to be quick, we’re nearly out of supplies. Oh!” His head rose. “Tell Raven she can send in a small group in about ten minutes. We should have more plates out by then with the ingredients Izzy left.”

“Good plan. With Scope back, we can redistribute our people so two can go out and get supplies to come back.” Grunk said after Izzy and Scope left.

“I wasn’t sure how the kids would react, but they seem to be happy with dish duty.” Lucas watched the children running about the room collecting dishes.

“Children will do anything if you make it into a game.” Grunk crossed his arms. “How long did it take you to put that together?”

“Um.” Lucas paused. “I came up with that plan when I was using my skill. So, thirty seconds? The duration of Quick Hand.”

“All of that in thirty seconds while cutting up fish?” Grunk asked.

“It was a basic plan.” Lucas shrugged, turning to the rest of the kitchen. “These plates over here still need side dishes! We have another group coming in, and more ingredients on the way.” The Draconian emptied his ovens, plating the freshly baked filets. He left the handful of fish to be prepared later and instead went to the vegetable table to distribute what they had left between the chefs.

There wasn’t much he could do while waiting for supplies to arrive. For the first time in a few hours, he had time to spare. He went around to each chef and checked up on them, handing out a few pointers here and there. Lucas then headed out the side door just as someone came in, the starving individual in a hurry to grab a plate and dig in.

“How’s it going out here?” Lucas asked as he stepped outside.

“Sup.” Tony lowered his flute from his muzzle. “Besides a few people trying to cut the line up front to come in back here, not bad. I’m getting better with my flute. How is it inside?”

“We’re behind again. None of the gatherers have come back, and we can’t get a message to them when they’re outside the town.” Lucas paused. “Besides that, not bad. The other chefs are slowly improving as we go, which means food is going out faster.”

“You guys cooked up all the fish we got this morning?” Tony asked, and Lucas nodded. “Damn, you all are working fast.”

“Not fast enough. Last I heard, the line is still as long as ever. Speaking of.” Lucas stepped away from the building to look down the wide alleyway to the street ahead. “Yeah, the line is still going down the street. I’ll be back for your dinner break.”

“Gotchya.” Tony brought his flute back up as the Draconian walked to the street.

What Lucas saw outside the alleyway was a shock. He expected the people waiting to be more impatient than earlier. They had put a hold on letting people in, so it would have made sense. Instead, he saw people chatting and sharing laughs as they stood in line. He gawked at the long line of content and cheerful people, the line still stretching down the street and out of sight.

“What’s going on?” Lucas asked after moving to the front door.

“Hm?” Raven looked up from her book as she leaned against the door. “I was told to stop letting people in.”

“No, I know that. I mean, why is everyone so happy?” Lucas asked.

“Oh, that?” Raven glanced at the line of people. “It’s been like that for a while. The people that leave are happy and say nice things about the food.”

“Huh.” Lucas turned to the many people lined up. “The people we serve are happy, and that makes them patient to wait.”

“That, and there aren't any other options.” Raven said.

“Either way, this is a lot better than I expected.” Lucas faced Raven once more. “You’re doing fine, then?”

“Totally. This is easy.” Raven said, gaze going back to her book.

“Good, because it’s going to take some time to get the kitchen going again. I’m not sure how—” Lucas stopped when he heard his journal ding. “Hold on.” He pulled his journal out and flipped through the pages. “Izzy said the first botany leader is on their way, and she’s going to the second. That’s great. Scope shouldn’t be too far behind, either.”

Lucas let out a big breath. “We should be serving food again in, like, twenty minutes!” An uproar of cheers and applause broke out behind him, causing the Draconian to turn around. The people towards the front were excited, and it quickly spread through the line.

“I think you said that too loudly.” Raven smirked. “They don’t seem to mind.”

“Eh heh.” Lucas turned back to the Elf. “Hopefully that estimate is accurate.” He mumbled.

The Draconian excused himself and slipped inside after Raven stepped aside. The dining room was nearly empty, only a few people were still eating from the last group. Shortly after stepping into the kitchen, he received a message from Scope. The Elf was sending fishers and botanists from the south gate. That was a relief.

The chefs in the kitchen were out of ingredients once more, the last of it being plated or cooked. Lucas told them to take a break once they were completely out. This was a rare chance to have a break, and he felt bad that was the case. Cooking nonstop was not an easy job, but if they could power through today, then tomorrow would be easier. Hopefully, they could finally log out and not have to worry about this.

If they were still here, then there would be no starving individuals if they could feed everyone at least one meal. Not only that, but everyone would know about their endeavor, and more people could help. As it was now, they were spread thin. He had to make a schedule to give one chef a fifteen minute break every few hours. By the time he got through everyone once, it was time to start it again.

Lucas skipped his breaks, with Grunk doing the same, but they were both getting worn out. The lack of ingredients wasn’t ideal, though it allowed them to all take a collective break and relax. They moved into the dining area and sat down, chatting about their lives and jobs. It was the first time they could talk casually, at least not while separated in the forest foraging or as they worked over a hot stove.

Grunk and Lucas got to know the people they had been working with, putting names to faces and learning more about them. That was, until two botanists came into the hall. They deposited ingredients into the kitchen and it was time to resume work. Side dishes were well underway as a handful of fishers and two more botanists came in, unloading their packs to fill up the ingredient tables again. The kitchen was in full swing once more.

Lucas was quick to prepare fish. A multitude of filets were stacked up and dispersed out to the chefs, then his own ovens were filled up. He was about to prepare another batch of fish when a thought occurred to him.

“I’m such an idiot!” He groaned, mentally slapping himself.

“Huh?” Grunk turned his head at the outburst.

Lucas threw his hands up into the air. “I’m not using the stove tops! I can almost double the amount of fish I’m making if I use those.”

“You only have one pan. How does that work?” Grunk asked.

Lucas slapped buttered filets skin side down onto the stove tops, quickly sizzling away. “You don’t need a pan. It’s basically a big griddle.” A toothy grin grew on his face, turning to Grunk after multiple filets were on each stove. “This is great!”

“Don’t you think you’re overdoing it? You’re already managing three ovens, and you want to add the tops too?” Grunk asked.

“It’ll be fine. Probably.” Lucas shrugged. This was more than he was used to doing, worse than a weekend lunch rush. “We need to speed up, and this is the only thing I can think of. We’ve only fed around a few hundred people since we’ve started, not counting volunteers. There are probably a thousand or more people to go, and it’s getting close to three o’clock.”

“If I don’t do this, we won’t make it. I was really planning on everyone getting faster with time, but I need to make up the difference.” Lucas said before getting another batch of fish.

“I hate to see you work yourself so hard, but you're probably right. It takes a lot more time and effort getting food out than I thought.” Grunk said.

“Yeah, I know from experience. I figured it’d be doable with the cooking skill and the game mechanics.” Lucas shook his head. “Anyway, let’s focus and get this done.”

The head chef put the other chefs into high gear. Pots and pans were to be in constant use and be as full as possible. With the increase of fish being cooked, the side dishes needed to match in speed. Lucas gave his spare pan to Grunk, allowing the Orc’s mushroom production to double.

It didn’t bother him much. Lucas was constantly on the move, managing three ovens and stovetops worth of fish and prepping filets whenever he could. There wasn’t much time to dwell on small matters. Thankfully, he didn’t need to worry about everyone else. The gathering groups had been instructed to make deliveries every two hours, Izzy was sent back to work the line, Cookie returned to the dining room to work with the kids, and Scope was a roamer.

The elf covered breaks for anyone working door or line duty. When he wasn’t doing that, he was checking on the kids or restocking the kitchen with firewood that was dropped off. It was with his and everyone’s help that the rest of the day ran smoothly. The speed with which plates left the kitchen doubled. Tables in the banquet hall filled up, and the limiting factor for letting groups inside quickly became a matter of available seating.

Cookie and the children were constantly hurrying around. They collected plates and utensils until their arms were full, then placed them on a table in the front corner of the dining room. A barrel of water rested beside the table, and the children would take turns dipping plates and chopsticks. It was a good thing that the kids were full of energy and that the cleaning was easy. The banquet hall was full of hungry individuals for several hours, and the kids were not shy. They chatted up and remarked on everyone’s looks.

It wasn’t until they were wrapping up for the night that the children slowed down. People continued to be let in half an hour longer than planned, only because the line actually had a visible end to it for the first time. By nine o’clock, the last patrons of the unofficial soup kitchen were gone. Plenty of supplies were still left. Quite a lot, actually.

Even after giving all the volunteers a plate of food to go, there were plenty of ingredients lying around. Except for salt, pepper, oil, and butter. Those were nearly depleted. Lucas wasn’t concerned about that. He instructed the chefs to restock in the morning before returning to the banquet hall, and with that, they were dismissed.

It was around ten-thirty now. All the volunteers were gone, leaving behind the two parties and children that made the soup kitchen possible. Everyone had a plate of food, with the adults seated at a table with the children at the next one over.

“I am so tired.” Lucas groaned, his plate barely touched.

“Not surprising. You were running around non-stop for hours.” Grunk shook his head. He sat across from the Draconian, plate already empty.

“I had too. We would have never gotten through that line.” Lucas took a bite of fish.

“Wait, what happened? I feel like I missed all the excitement standing around outside.” Tony said, sitting to the left of Lucas.

“Oh, I know!” Cookie chimed in, seated on Lucas’s right. “He was working three stoves at one time. It was a challenge getting past him every time I delivered plates.”

“Three? Really?” Raven asked, sitting beside Cookie.

“Not just that. He was also cutting up fish at lightning speeds.” Scope said, seated on Grunk’s right side.

“What?! You all had a bunch of fun in here, and all I did was stand around?” Tony sighed. “Well, I got a lot of practice in, but still.”

“Are you saying you wished you were working in the hot kitchen all day instead?” Izzy asked, sitting across the table from Cookie.

“Uh.” Tony lowered his head.

“It wasn’t fun. I’d say it was pretty stressful, at least in the beginning. We didn’t know if we could pull this off.” Grunk motioned to Lucas. “Art is the reason we could do this. Every time we would get behind, he’d pick up more work to catch us up.”

Lucas shrugged. “It was only slightly worse than a lunch rush at work.”

Grunk shook his head. “Either way, my point is that this wouldn’t have been possible without you.”

“Well, I don’t know—” Lucas said.

“He’s not wrong.” Raven interrupted. “You’re the one that did all that math to figure out how to do this.”

“Yes, and Art came up with the plan to stage a fight to find Grunk.” Cookie smiled.

“And you figured out how to get all those people recruited and split up that first night.” Tony nudged the Draconian.

“You’re the one that gave the kids a mission so they could help too.” Scope added.

“You figured out we couldn’t message the gathering groups.” Izzy said.

“The engine of the kitchen.” Grunk smirked.

“I mean—” Lucas looked at everyone seated at the table, all smiling at him. He had not expected this, or even thought about how true this all was. “I never thought of it like that. But it doesn’t matter, I was just the ideas guy. If it wasn’t for all of us, and the volunteers, this wouldn’t have happened.”

“Nah. What I said is still true.” Grunk said, everyone nodding in agreement.

“What? I just said—” Lucas stopped after being nudged, this time from his right side.

“You still don’t get it, do you?” Cookie asked. “Anyone could have gone fishing, foraged, cooked, or worked door duty, but someone had to organize those people. That someone was you.” She pulled him into a side hug.

“Yeah, Art. I thought you were the smart one, and here we are explaining this.” Tony chuckled.

Lucas slowly nodded. “Thanks everyone. That means a lot.” He smiled softly, gaze drifting down to his plate. “Still, I couldn’t have done this without all of you. Tomorrow should be a lot easier, now that we know what we’re doing, and we have supplies to open up earlier if we want.” He looked up after a few moments of the table being silent.

Cookie turned, glancing at the children at the table behind them. They were busy eating and chatting. “Do you think we’re still going to be here tomorrow?”

“We better not be. Tomorrow will be day four!” Tony said in a hushed voice.

“It shouldn’t be taking so long. I’m going to be fired at this rate.” Scope said.

“This must have made national news by now. ‘Thousands trapped in Virtual world’.” Raven sighed.

“We’re probably all in hospitals now.” Izzy said. “We’ll be without jobs and wake up to a big hospital bill.”

“You’re probably right.” Grunk shook his head. “We must have been in a hospital from the first or second day.”

“Another thing for my parents to get mad about.” Tony clutched his head. “This sucks.”

“What about the children?” Cookie asked, glancing behind herself once more. “They’re missing out on school and being with their friends and family.” She wiped a tear from her eye. “Their parents must be so worried about them.”

“You don’t have to worry about them so much. They’re taking this better than we hoped.” Scope leaned back to catch sight of the children. “The kids get down sometimes, but they seem to be having fun for the most part.”

“Board and card games won’t keep them entertained forever. They’ll be restless before too long.” Grunk said, setting chopsticks onto his empty plate.

“Hopefully this gets sorted out soon, and we won’t have to keep playing soup kitchen.” Lucas sat up straight. “But until then, we’ll be feeding everyone here and making sure they make it out of this alive.”