Justin stares at his Spells tab, there was nothing there, well he kind of expected this since spells actually require mana which was something the Earth did not have.

“Well then, might I ask Sir what your skills are?” Vice-Captain Marshu inquired a few moments after Justin first tried opening his Spells tab.

“Just as I expected. I don’t have any spells, might be because like I said earlier, we didn’t use magic where I am from.” he answered

“Lets go down for now since we are finished,” Justin suggested “can I invite you to a small snack after this? Just to thank you for helping me.” Since he did have some meat that would go might go bad in a few hours, he’ll just cook it all for now.

“I’ll take you up on that.” The Vice-Captain the went down the ladder first, carrying some of the tools down, followed by Justin who was again, biting down on the bag with a power drill while going down the ladder. He didn’t even question how his teeth didn’t get a bit loose from doing that. Well dentistry might have done something about it.

The Vice-captain then escorted Justin to the Garage where they put down all the tools and the ladder.

“There are various tools here,” the Vice-captain noted, looking at the tools that were hung on the wall. “looks like they’re all made of high quality materials.” the captain then took a a ball pein hammer and looked at it closer.

“The metal used here looks better than most tools, is this made from steel Justin?” He asked while feeling the material of the hammer.

“It’s actually called Stainless Steel, which is a kind of steel that is treated with some other chemicals that makes the steel shine longer and does not rust in most conditions.” he responded while looking at the Vice-captain who placed the hammer back to it’s mount.

“Since alchemy seems to be prevalent where you’re from, they really have made a lot of tools made from different metals.” he stated while still looking at the tools. He then spots two club hammers in a corner. “I see you have two of those hammers which are the same,” he then proceeded to pick up both of the hammers. “Can I buy one of the hammers from you Justin.” he asked while he placed one back where he picked it from.

‘I think there was around ten more of those Lump Hammers in a box somewhere here, I think I should just sell the one he is holding now.’ he mused to himself.

“So how much can you pay for it?.” asked Justin while smiling.

“I’ve seen these types of hammers before that were made from iron which sell for around one gold and 50 silvers coins. But since this is steel, and a much more superior variant of it. I guess I can offer you up to 2 gold and 50 silvers.” he offered while holding the hammer.

“How about 3 gold and 50 silvers?” Justin haggled, the Vice-Captain then thought about it.

“I think that’s much more than I can afford,” he replied “How about I give you 3 gold coins for it? I think that’s a fair price since this hammer is already used. That’s all I can give you anyways.” the Vice-captain said. It’s true, since a soldier can only make so much.

Justin thinks about it for a bit. “it’s a deal then.” Justin then offers his hand and Marshu shakes it and that seals the deal. The Vice-captain takes his pouch and took out 3 gold coins and Justin placed the coins inside his front pocket.

He leads the Vice-captain outside and locks up the Garage. The Vice-captain then bids him goodbye and went back to the camp, he looked happy with the deal. It was just a used hammer anyway, and there were more inside the Garage like it since the Landlord showed him the stuff inside the Garage.

He looked back to it, the Land Lord was kind of unique, in a good way. when he was home, he would always try and have conversations with Justin when he came back from work. And in his spare time he would show him a lot of his stuff. He once showed him his collection of teeth, which he said were once his. And he collected it over the years until he bought himself dentures. It was kinda morbid in a sense, but maybe it was just a way for him to pass his boredom. Or maybe it was because the Landlord was lonely.

He never seen any of the Landlord’s family members since he started renting the place around 5 years ago. He remembers the first day he came to the city to find a job. While walking through the neighborhood and he saw that there was an apartment for rent. He was thinking about it, the neighborhood was in the “bad” part of the suburbs, and the place looks like it was a good find. When he met with the Landlord he was told that the rent was cheap, and he it also the rent also included access to all floors and rooms except one room, so he was elated from that. The only downside was the Owner was going to be living with him inside the house.

Since the rent only cost a bit of money every month, and he most of the places he’s been to actually cost a larger portion of his money, and also because he only had a a small amount of money left. He agreed to the conditions and had his stuff sent immediately to the apartment.

‘Maybe I should open the Landlord’s room later. He did say in the letter that there were a few more useful stuff hidden in different parts of the house.’ he thought about it while he walked inside the house.

He turned to the Kitchen and opened the Freezer, he looked at all the semi-frozen beef inside and took It all out, he left it out for now to thaw for a bit then went to the his room and wired the Solar panel to the battery. He also added a wire that connected to the battery to an AVR and plugged in his Computer. The vampire lights are on, it works!, he then turns it on and he hears the sweet sound of a loud cpu fan. Thank you salary for this old computer. He hasn’t upgraded this computer in around 2 years now. He thought about upgrading it before but his budget was always tight. And he always got into trouble, or did trouble get to him?

He took the left over wires and created an extension plug that would stretch from the bed room to the kitchen. He plugs the Electric stove, it works too. He checks the meat, it looks soft now. He thought about what he would cook.

He went back to the fridge to look at the produce that he has left. He saw 2 cloves of garlic, a few potatoes and some white beans. There was also a bag of bell peppers and kilo of tomatoes that was not yet opened. He actually planned on making some chili a few days ago but didn’t have any time yet. He decided to make some.

He checked the upper drawer near the sink and took a can of tomato sauce, a can of corned beef, chili powder and other spices. He then took one of the water container from upstairs, he actually forgot to take a bath again, maybe he would take a bath after eating this.

There was a meat grinder at on the kitchen counter, so he shoved all the thawed beef and it was ground real good. He then heated a large pot and add some oil, when the oil was nice and hot he turned down the heat for a bit. He took one of the garlic cloves, crushed and diced it a bit and added it on the pot, waited until the garlic was a golden brown color then added the nice ground beef.

“That smells good.” he mused while the meat was cooking, It was around three kilos of meat. He then took another pot which was almost as large as the first one and added some water and the all the beans in the pot. He should’ve cooked the beans first before the meat, well it’s just fine anyway. Looking at the meat which was already getting a nice color, he adds the can of corned beef and some water and the tomato sauce into the pot. ‘It looks good’,he thought. Looking at how much he ingredients he has, he might have enough to feed the men outside too. Well it was better for him to give it away than letting the meat go bad.

Taking a knife and a chopping board, he chops of the tops and bases of the tomatoes and peeled and diced the potatoes. After that he took the bell peppers and cut them up, he doesn’t remember what kind of cut it was, he thinks it was called Julienne? He then proceeded to mash the tomatoes to make a paste which he quickly added to the pot followed by the bell peppers, he decided to add the diced potatoes later so it won’t get too soft upon cooking.

Checking up on the beans, they already look like they’re almost done. Taking a strainer, he strained the beans and added some cool water to the beans so that they won’t over cook just yet, and placed it on the side for now. After a few minutes he looked at the chili that was cooking and added some pepper, chili and garlic power and some salt.

“...still not enough, I think it needs some sugar.” he said to himself. Taking a jar of sugar, he then added a spoon and tasted it again and looked happy by the result. He then added in the beans and let it simmer for a few moments.

Outside Christa was walking around the wall and she got a smell of the chili Justin was cooking.

‘That smells good, like seasoned meat, and I can get faint traces of spices from it!’ she thought while looking for the source of the wonderful smell. She then found her self in front of the gate, it was open so she made way to the southern side of the house, she saw there was an open window and tried to peek inside, but the window was above her height. So she went to the door at the back of the house and knocked. The door opens and Justin leads her to the kitchen and offers her a seat.

“Looks like you smelled the chili, it will be ready in a few minutes. I’m gonna give the most to others later but you and I can eat some of it when it’s done.” he said with a smile while cooking his chili.

“Yes it actually smells good! What did you put into it anyway? The only thing I smell from it that I know was the pepper and meat.” she asked while peering in his direction.

“I just added some tomatoes, potatoes, bell peppers, salt, black pepper, chili powder and garlic power. If you want to look at the spices I put in there you can look at them there.” he then pointed to the kitchen counter where the spices were.

Christa stood up and went to see the spices he had, she’s only tasted these spices a few times before. Since most of the spices were quite expensive because they only come from a few other kingdoms outside of Marthea. And she has never tasted any food that had all of these together.

“I see that you have used a lot different spices, I’ve tasted food seasoned with pepper only a few times before and it was never added with chili and garlic, since most of those spices are quite expensive.” she said while smelling the other garlic clove. She then tried to sniff the chili powder and she sneezed and her eyes were water.”…cough… never mind me, I forgot that chili powder can do that.”

Justin then took a handkerchief from his back pocket and offered it to Christa.

“Thank you.” the young mage said while trying to wipe her eyes.

Justin then though about it, seems like spices and other seasonings are kind of expensive in this world. It kinda mirrored history on earth were salt and peppers even cost more than their weights in gold. Good thing he has a good stock of the stuff he uses when he cooks. He then thanks the Landlord for always keeping some at the shelves. It almost felt like he knew that Justin would be sent here for some reason. Well that’s highly unlikely.

Cooking Large Completed +10 exp

After the pop up shows up, he thought about how convenient it was. He just needed to let it cool a bit so it would taste better. A few minutes later he takes two bowls and fills it up with the chili and offers one to Christa who takes a bowl and sits down with him in front of the table.

“Wow this looks good Sir!” She was amazed how good the food looked. She bows her head in a silent prayer, which Justin also imitates. She takes a spoonful of the chili and the flavors explode in her mouth. She has never tasted such a complex flavour before.

“This taste amazing Sir! Could you teach me how to cook such a dish?” the mage looks at him with puppy dog eyes.

‘damn she’s cute’ he said to himself while the small mage was looking into his eyes. “Well if we ever have more time and ingredients, maybe I can teach you. For now lets just enjoy the dish.” she answered the mage.”Also please just call me Justin because I feel older when you call me ‘Sir’ all the time.” he added.

She nodded and he heard her say his name faintly while eating the chili that he offered her. It made him so happy that someone is enjoying the food he made. Maybe he could setup a restaurant here or maybe a full-pledge inn? Well he did plan to start a business when he was supposed to go back home, and cooking was one of his strong points. Thinking about it, since he was younger, his house-mates were always the elderly type. Up until the landlord went on a vacation. And they always loved his cooking anyways.

After eating asked Christa if she wanted more, to which she crossed her arms held her belly. Maybe that is a no? So he took the bowls and just left it in the sink for now, he was gonna wash them later anyway.

“Let’s take this to the men now then, it will still taste good when it’s a bit chilled, some people prefer it that way. But the soldiers would most likely enjoy a spicy dish when It’s hot right?” he said while putting on his heat-resistant gloves. The mage nodded in agreement and also took one another pair that was readied for her and they brought the chili outside.

It was around 5:00 PM now, the sun was almost gonna set anyways. Most of the soldiers were sitting near fires that were scattered throughout their camp. They seem to be talking with each of their respective circles. And there was also the Vice-Captain, he was with 3 men that looked younger than him, and as expected he seems to be showing off his new hammer that he got. He expected such a sight anyway since he did get a nice hammer.

The Vice-Captain then spotted Justin and Christa walking with a big pot, he placed his hammer on the floor and told the men to hold on it for a bit, and went to the pair.

“Justin, Christa, looks like you’ve cooked something. You did say earlier that you were going to give me a meal, but looks like you’ve had enough food to feed the men.” the Vice-Captain exclaimed while he took the pot that was still a bit hot from their hands. Maybe his hands had a lot of callouses since he didn’t even flinch from the heat. And proceeded to place the pot on a wooded board on the ground.

“Well Vice-captain, while I was cooking food I noticed that there was still a good amount of food I had and I couldn’t use the… freezer anyway because the thin wires for the cord couldn’t support it’s load. So I just went and cooked it all.” he explained to the Vice-captain. Christa then excused herself to call the Captain. Which they both agreed to.

After around 2 minutes, Christa came back with Captain Valen and he saw the pot.

“My! That looks like a lot of food Sir Justin! Did you make that all by yourself?” he then proceeded in front of the food, held the cover.”May I?” he said, the young man then nodded to say yes and the Captain and Vice-captain looked at the contents of the pot.

“Smells like this was made with different spices! I’ve only tasted something like this when I was invited to the Governor’s house when I transferred to the province!” the Captain said while looking at the food while the Vice-captain looked at the food, almost drooling.

“Yes Captain, I added a few spices to it. I wanted to give this to you and your men, just as a simple thank you for coming to meet me today.” Justin explained while looking around the camp.

The Captain then asked the Vice-captain to call for the men and he took of to get the men together around the pot. When he came back, the men came one by one. There was also 3 men that were carrying a pot of what seems to be soup made from the goat he had seen earlier.

‘I actually want to have a taste of that. It’s not everyday that I try food made by another culture.’ he mused while looking at the three men.

“Okay men since you’re mostly here, this pot right here is made of a special dish that Sir Justin has made for us all! He will also join us for an early dinner now. You will won’t you Sir?” he said to the men and Justin too.

Justin just nodded in agreement and they proceed to each get a bowl of the chili, and another bowl of the soup. The other soldier also eventually got one of each after they had their turn. The soup looked like it had a lot of umami, maybe it was the fat content of the goat? Justin looked at the contents of the soup and noticed it had a familiar looking organ mixed in it.

‘Well looks like people really don’t waste resource here’ he mused. He had seen cooking like this before from the Landlord. It was a soup made from goat meat and organs. The landlord said it originated from the Northern provinces of his country and they enjoyed it quite a lot. So he tasted it and it was a bit bland. Well he did expect that since salt was said to be expensive in ancient times, and maybe it mirrored it here.

After finishing their meals. They proceeded to some drinking. The Captain seems to have brought a barrel of ale with him. Well he would just drink a bit he thought to himself while he was handed a mug by the Captain. It looked like beer and smelled like beer so he thought is was beer. He took a drink and said.

“It’s beer.”

“Yeah it is, don’t expect us to bring something like whiskey.” the Captain said

Since whiskey was a stronger drink and I don’t actually expect soldiers to drink the stuff when on the job anyway.

Suddenly a man came running, he had an arrow sticking out from his shoulder, and he was bleeding. The captain and Christa then went to the injured man.

“Malach, what happened to you?” the Captain asked.

The man looked at the Captain while Christa was carefully dislodged the arrow that was in his shoulder.

“Ouch! Christa you could’ve given me a heads up… ugh…” the man said, he was in pain but Christa just smiled and casted a healing spell.”Well captain, as I was making my rounds, I came across a Traveling caravan going to Meandro, when suddenly we were attacked by bandits. Damn those Prathean Bandits!” he explained while his pain slowly subsided.

“Did anyone foll..” the captain tried to ask when suddenly an arrow hits the back of one of his men who suddenly fell down.

“Ughh…!” said the man that was shot.

“We are under attack! Bandits!” one of the men said.

“Fu…”