Providence 2: Scorched food. Cooking with the Sun.

Early morning, near the dining area of the Inn that the party Providence was taking lodge in, was Scorch eating breakfast. He was eating breakfast peacefully and quietly when suddenly...

“Hey, Scorch! You are good at cooking right? Could you teach me how to cook?” Lanarya came out from nowhere and asked him.

Scorch did a double-take; stopped whatever he was doing and stared at Lanarya. Giving a confused look at her. He didn’t understand why she asked something like that all of a sudden.

“Ummm… I don’t mind… teaching you how to cook. Why all of a sudden though?” Scorch asked the blonde girl.

Lanarya leaned on the table before letting out a huff. “Listen to me! It was one of those days when you guys were out with Miss Effinshia and Viddy said that she was hungry. I decided to cook something for her to eat and she told me that my cooking was terrible! How mean of her! My cooking may not be good but it can’t be terrible right?!”

Scorch didn’t dare say anything back. Unlike what the girl says, Scorch knew that the girl’s cooking was bland at best and terrible at worst. He had to eat her cooking a couple of times before after all. He only stared at her with a blank expression, continuing to eat his breakfast. Scorch was the quiet one in the party. The listener. This resulted in people often coming to him to discuss things.

Sometimes good and sometimes bad.

“Yesterday night I cooked some porridge and she said that it was yucky! That herb paste tasted better! She then went on and told me about how I won’t be able to land a boyfriend if I can’t cook well enough!” Lanarya rant continued. “The way to a man’s heart is through his stomach, Lana! You need to learn how to cook proper!” Lanarya imitated Vidya’s speech before letting out another huff and finally sitting down.

“I’ll show her that I can cook alright! You’ll help me right Scorch?” Lanarya beamed a smile towards Scorch.

...

Scorch brought his head upwards and stared at the ceiling. Thinking about all the times that Lanarya had brought them to terrible restaurants and all the times that she had cooked. It wasn’t rotten level bad, but it was really bland indeed.

Her cooking night was often the most dreaded of nights. No one bothered to tell her because they were too afraid of breaking the girl’s heart. Scorch thought if that maybe, if he could teach her how to cook something simple and good, then those nights won’t be as bad anymore.

Scorch then give Lanarya a nod. “Alright. I’ll teach you how to cook."

“Really? Wow! You’re the best Scorch!”

“But on one condition.”

“What is it? I’ll do my best!”

“No one else hears of this.” Scorch gave his terms.

“Ehh? Why?”

“It’s embarrassing alright. A big grown guy like me liking cooking…” Scorch scratched the back of his head.

“No way! I think you are a cool Chef! I’m sure there are a lot of girls who will like a man who can cook!”

“Ch-chef?”

“Come on Chef! I’ll get permission from the owner to use the kitchen! We’ll blow away Viddy’s expectations!” The jubilant girl then left and went to find the owner of the inn.

Scorch let out a sigh. ‘The girl has too much energy sometimes,’ Scorch thought to himself. He took whatever time he has left to finish eating his breakfast before standing up. He then decided to go to his room to grab his share of pots and pans. Scorch is the person who would rather use his own tools after all. For Scorch, using other people’s tools of art was akin to wearing somebody else’s underwear.

He was about to climb the stairs when he saw Ride walking down the very same flight of stairs.

“Morning Ride,” Scorch called out to the black-haired boy.

Ride didn’t respond at all. Only looking forward in a daze. In his hands was a sheathed sword. He walked with unsteady steps. Slowly towards the inn’s entrance.

‘Ahhh, it’s that time again.’ Scorch thought.

Ride will often do this from time to time. Times where he will be too focused or rather his lack of focus on something and daze off. It was like his mind was in another place. It was quite detrimental when he does it in the middle of battle, but none of the members of Providence says anything to him about it. During the times when he’s needed the most, it is this sharp focus stare that ignores everything around him that he becomes a beast in battle. There was a reason why he’s the sole B rank member of the party.

“I’m back Scorch. The owner says it’s okay. But we got to get our own ingredients.” Lanarya came right as Ride was about to leave the building. She saw his back and called out to him only to be ignored the same way as Scorch.

“Hmmm? Did Ride he not hear me?” She let out a voice of confusion.

“Don’t mind him. He needs some alone time.”

“I see… just like Viddy huh.”

“Anyways, wait here a moment I need to grab my cooking too—” Scorch cuts off his own sentence and gave himself a few moments to think.

He thought about how bad of a cook Lanarya is and thought to himself. ‘Won’t my tools just get damage if I use them?’

“Scratch that. Let’s go to the market. We need to get some new cooking utensils and fresh ingredients.” Scorch said as he walked towards the door.

“Aye aye, sir!” Lanarya gave a salute.

As they left the building, they saw Ride walking slowly along the road. On the direction of the park. The same park that they first met with Vidya.

“Lanarya… so uhhh, what do you want to cook?” Asked Scorch. Ignoring Ride.

“Hmmm. Something easy, fast and delicious I guess!”

“Something fast and easy huh… Then do you want to cook fried rice or soup?”

Lanarya puts her finger on her chin and thought about it. “Fried rice!”

“Alright then. As your teacher in cooking, I hereby give you your first task.”

Lanarya body’s perked up as she listened to Scorch intently.

Scorch cleared his throat. “I need you to buy all the relevant ingredients for cooking fried rice while I go and procure some pots and pans. We will meet up again over here.”

“Sir yes sir!” Lanarya gave another salute before running off to the market.

It took a while for Scorch, but he managed to get some good quality pots and pans for Lanarya. He also bought some few disposable ones just in case something goes bad in the kitchen. Because of this, Scorch was currently holding a bunch of cooking tools in his hands. Getting the occasional weird stares from the other customers of the Inn.

He waited by the entrance for a while when suddenly the door next to him opened. It was Lanarya who was pushing the door with her shoulder. Her hands were full of ingredients for cooking. She then clumsily used her feet to close the door before standing in front of Scorch with a bright smile.

“I got everything that we need Chef! I’ll be putting these in the kitchen so just wait here a moment alright!”

Scorch could only stare in disbelief at the girl in front of her. They were only cooking Fried Rice and yet in her arms were all sorts of ingredients. Most of them, not even fried rice related. Sure she got the few important parts for making fried rice. The rice, eggs and some meat. However, that is all that she got right. The rest of her hands were full of ingredients like corn, apple, a carton of milk, nuts, potatoes, and even a loaf of bread.

‘What kind of fried rice does one need to cook to include a loaf of bread in their recipe?’

The worst part was that Lanarya didn’t buy a single spice or herb. Nor did she get any sort of cooking oil. Scorch can only let out a sigh. It wasn't a problem, of course, he has the spices and oil that they needed. He couldn’t bring himself to comment on her failure. Not with that bright innocent smile on her face.

“Alright! Let’s get started with cooking Chef!” She came back shortly after.

Scorch didn’t reply and went up the stairs to his room. Still holding all the bunch of pots and pans. “Come on. I need to get some special herbs and spices before we start."

“Special herbs? Wow!” Lanarya said as she walked up the stairs alongside him.

On the way to the room, the two of them saw Tyle and Kranis walking down the hallway in a rush.

Lanarya went and call out to them to see what was the rush, which they responded by saying they need to catch a sale for some books. They then asked why was Lanarya not with Viddy which she replied that she needed some time alone. The conversation topic ended when they asked about Ride when Scorch replied with what he saw earlier that day and how it was natural for him to be walking around like that.

Tyle and Kranis then bid farewell to the two. Not before giving a signal to Scorch that the matter was urgent to which he nodded back.

“Bye Bye!” Lanarya waved at them and the two of them continued their day walking to the boys' room.

Arriving at the room, Scorch immediately went to his bed and grabbed the spices that he needed from his bag. Salt and pepper. Lanarya’s was definitely going to need this if she wants her food to taste more than bland. Maybe a good cook can make do without them, but Lanarya was far from a good cook. She wasn’t even near to being a normal cook.

“Alright let’s go.” Scorch said.

Scorch was about to leave the room when he noticed that Lanarya wasn’t following her. “What’s wrong?” He asked the girl who was just staring at a particular bed. Ride’s bed. More specifically the items he has on his bed. It was a sheathed sword.

Lanarya had a curious smile before going over and unsheathing the sword only to have a frown on her face soon after.

“Muuu. this is the lousy sword. He took the good one,” Lanarya commented.

“Lousy sword?” Scorch asked.

“Yeah, the one that he brought from the terrible blacksmith.”

“I see. You know, since we are in the topic, I might as well ask. What’s so good about his other sword?”

“Hmmm… If I have to put it into words... His sword felt alive. I don’t know how else to explain. It’s like the perfect sword, a sword that only he can wield to perfection. Miss Effinshia has a sword just like that too! Ahh, the way she calls it her partner. How envious. I wish I have a sword like that.” Lanarya looked upwards in a dreamlike state.

“I see…” Scorch replied with a simple answer. Not understanding the thought patterns of the girl in front of her.

“Forget about that! Let’s get back to cooking lessons Chef!” She said before leaving the room in a very excited state.

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After placing down all the cooking equipments and cleaning up the kitchen for their use, Scorch stood in front of a table counter with all the ingredients laid out in front of him. Scorch wondered what kind of fried rice the girl thought she was going to make.

“Ahem. Lanarya,” Scorch called out to his cooking student.

“Yes?”

“Before we start. I want to ask… what were you planning to do with this? We are cooking fried rice right?” Scorch pointed at a certain ingredient that definitely didn’t belong in the dish known as fried rice.

A piece of rock. Albeit a fancy looking rock. But nonetheless, a rock.

“Oh? The shopkeeper sold me that at a great price! Says that cooking near it will make your food taste nicer. You see it has this magical aura that makes food taste better!”

Scorch hung his head in quiet frustration. Today’s event will definitely challenge his patience and his skills as a cook.

“Alright. I’m going to be frank here. Most of these ingredients simply won’t do.” Scorch said. “However, we aren’t going to waste any of these. So I decided I’m going to teach you something harder. The basics will be the same though, so I don’t think it would be much of a problem.”

“Ohhhhh. Advance lessons so soon? I won’t disappoint you, Chef!”

‘We’ll see about that I guess.’ Scorch thought to himself.

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“Uhh… Lanarya… Why are you boiling the rice, potatoes and corn together? In the same pot?” Scorch asked Lanarya.

Scorch was busy cutting the vegetables into thin pieces when he took a sneak towards Lanarya who had the easy job of boiling rice. To his surprise, he saw other stuff in the pot as well.

“Ahhh! I’m not supposed to do that? I just thought it would be easier and faster if we cook them all together…” Lanarya slumped her shoulders downwards before taking the pot and throwing away the still cooking food to the disposal area.

“WAIT! Don’t throw away good—”

Scorch was too late. She had already thrown the contents of the pot to the disposal area. Through great willpower, he swallowed his scream before reprimanding nicely to Lanarya that she shouldn’t waste food like that and that they still could have fixed the problem.

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“Wahhh!” Lanarya panicked as the flames grew too hot and the pan caught on fire.

‘How did she end up with that fire?!’ Scorch immediately took the pan out from her hands and brought it to the sink where he quickly put out the fire.

They exhaled a deep sigh of relief once they confirmed that the fire was put out and that they were safe.

“How… how did you manage to do that?” Scorch wasn’t really looking at Lanarya. He was too busy chopping the meat into smaller pieces.

“I don’t know… I thought that the rice was sticking too much to the pot so I thought I put more oil into it but the next thing I know the thing was up in flames! You really saved me there Chef!”

‘How do you make a fire by just putting more oil? Just how much did you put in?!’

Scorch held his scream well and patiently told her what he thinks was the problem and that she should be a little more patient while cooking. Scorch also told her that a few things sticking to the pot was normal.

Lanarya nodded and gave off a smile that she understood.

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“Hey, Scorch. How much is a pinch of salt?” Lanarya asked.

Scorch couldn’t afford to look at her as he was carefully cooking his own dish. “You just pinch the salt and pour that much into the rice. That’s all.”

“Ahh, alright then.”

…

“Hey, Scorch. The rice is all black now. All the rice is sticking to the pot. Is it cooked?”

“WHAT?!” Scorch yelled out before taking a few deep sniffs. He could smell the faint smell of burnt food. “Take it out of the fire you dummy! Now!”

“Eh? Ahh! Alright!” Lanarya Immediately pulled the pan out of the fire.

However, she did it too fast and some of the food dropped to the floor.

“Gosh, I told you to be patient. But don’t be that patient.“ Scorch went over to her side. Putting his own dish off the fire.

“Ahhh I see. I’m sorry, I’ll do it better next time.”

“No worries, we can still salvage some parts of this at least,” Scorch went over pour the contents of the pan onto a plate before separating the burnt part and the still good looking fried rice. He then took a spoonful of it in an attempt to give it a taste. “Let’s see, let’s see.” He said as he put the food in his mouth.

His face grimaced and he shrank away. “Salty! How much salt did you put inside this?”

“Only a pinch!! Just like you told me.” Lanarya replied before showing Scorch what she meant by ‘a pinch’.

“That’s not a pinch! That’s a fist!” Scorch yelled out as she saw how Lanarya described ‘a pinch’.

“Ehh? But this is how I usually pinch people...” Lanarya slumped down her shoulders.

Scorch took a deep breath to calm himself down before teaching Lanarya about what he meant by a pinch of salt.

Lanarya eyes and expression was that of a student who just discovered sight after being blind for her entire life.

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“Hey, Chef.”

“Yeah?”

“This is a bit embarrassing. Could you not look at me too hard.”

Scorch let a frown before folding his arms. “Too many dishes have met their end this day. So no. Keep stirring the rice by the way. Don’t stop.”

“Ohh… Okay.” Lanarya stirred the rice harder.

“Not so hard. Stir it like normal.”

Hearing Scorch’s advice, Lanarya then started stirring the dish normally. Around the two were a multitude of pots and pans and a disposal area full of inedible food. They were surprisingly on their last ingredients. They even had to resort to using the loaf of bread and turn it into crumbs as they had run out of rice.

Long story short. Lanarya was a horrible cook. Other than the very basics of cooking, she was terrible at it. It was clear that she never cooked before. Or at least in a proper way. It took them the rest of the day to clean up the mess they(she) did in the kitchen. By the time they were done, it was already nighttime. The one dish that Lanarya successfully made had already been cold by then.

“It’s not bad. Not good either. Bland is how I would describe it. A little bit burnt too. It was a good try though,” Scorch let out his honest thought after Lanarya demanded that he told him the truth.

Lanarya and Scorch were sitting on the table at the dining area of the inn. Lanarya’s shoulders slumped down in disappointment hearing the truth of her cooking from Scorch.

“Just keep at it. You’ve learned a lot of things today. I’m sure in time you will make something nice,” Scorch consoled her. It didn’t do much to help though.

Lanarya could only give a soft and downhearted reply. “Ummm.”

Although they call it fried rice. The content is nothing of the sorts. They ran out of ingredients halfway through and had to resort to putting in whatever. They even ran out of seasonings to add. Scorch only let her put a little bit of salt to the dish so even the miracle seasoning couldn’t help her.

“...”

“...”

Silence fell upon the two. Scorch felt that she made a lot of progress on cooking to be honest. Considering how she started off with all those mistakes and how completely new she is to the whole thing, the last actual fried rice she made was quite an achievement. It was also a testament to Scorch’s patience.

“Hmm? Why do you guys look so down?” Ride who suddenly appeared at the table asked them.

“Oh… hey Ride. It’s nothing really. Just realised that I couldn’t actually cook that well.” Lanarya replied.

Ride couldn’t understand what was happening and looked over to Scorch who just gave him a shrug.

Scorch suddenly have this look of epiphany “Why don’t you have a try Ride? Lanarya cooked this with all her soul,” Scorch said as he passes the plate of fried rice to Ride.

“Eh? Ah! Don’t bother with that Ride… It probably doesn’t taste that good.” Lanarya said before giving Scorch a deadpan stare. “We could order something nicer to eat I guess.”

“That’s kinda wasteful. Don’t worry too much about it. I’m starved anyways. Haven’t eaten for the whole day,” Ride gave out a small laugh.

He then sat down on the table before grabbing a spoon and started eating the dish. Lanarya observed Ride with full intent. A little blush on her face which Ride didn’t notice.

“*Nom* This actually isn’t half bad. *Nom*” Ride says before swallowing his food.

“Re-really?”

“Yeah. It’s a little bit burnt though. Just keep at it, I’m sure you’ll make the next one even better..” Ride gave out a charming smile as he continues to eat his food.

“Ohh. Thanks, I guess. Ehehe,” Lanarya scratched her cheeks. “I’ll get better at this, would you try out my next one?”

“Hmm? Of course *nom* Just let me know.”

The table went quiet again. Only this time Lanarya was staring at Ride with a smile on her face. It was a little different than her normal smile. She was staring at Ride with a totally different look than she does the other guys.

‘Geez, I wonder why?’ Scorch thought to himself.

Spoiler: Spoiler

This is basically what Lanarya is in this whole chapter. Thanks, Laynarte for drawing and allowing me to use this drawing!