When The Cute Godkiller Opens A Tavern [OP Mentor, SoL, LitRPG]

"Oh, yeah. It's all coming together." ~Danilo Jophdan, of Magnificent Magical Mechanisms

It was sunset when Shallies and Apple made their way back home. Where the serene peaceful horizon had greeted them during their morning walk on Catelyn Road, a mellow mood of yellow and orange accompanied them this time.

Calming was an understatement. The refreshing smell of grass brought by the gentle breeze perfectly masked any undesirables the wild animals might have left for the day. The remnant light of the setting sun colored the still snow-capped peaks of the far western mountains with an orange sheen. With the soft chirping of birds, the sound of leaves swaying with the wind, and Apple's sudden inspired humming, Shallies continued walking as she once again appreciated her new, slow life.

Do we get auroras up here? Shallies wondered, staring at the skies. They looked flame-touched, with the way they reflected the setting sun. A silent but firm showing that there would be no such light show.

As soon as Shallies entered her backyard, she was greeted by the exterior of her new freezer and kitchen. It blended well with the house's original design, especially since Yor'ylin had redone the paint and polish of the entire house. It wasn't part of the deal, but she didn't mind the elf's extra service. Whether there would be extra cost or not, she intended to show her appreciation later.

Though she could already see some of the new things stationed outside, a grill and a smoking rack specifically, Shallies didn't want to spoil her own anticipation of the rest. She avoided the back entrance and went to her front door instead. There on the porch were the three people she had left this morning, having dinner.

"How is it?" she asked, making Danilo and Yor'ylin jump in surprise. Valor'el had perceived her approach since she had entered Catelyn Road. He might have been constantly monitoring her since this morning, which she didn't mind at all.

"Oh! Shallies!" Danilo snapped and breathed a sigh of relief. For a large man, he was funnily jumpy. "You'll make my heart stop."

"You know, in some cultures, that's how you propose your affections to someone," Shallies noted. "Not joking."

"Well, I meant it in a I'm-going-to-die-if-you-keep-that-up sort of way," he clarified, inching closer to his wife. "The food is good, by the way. Pork is a good choice, probably chicken would work the same. Not sure about beef or fish."

"I'm not sold on the bread as a partner to this," Yor'ylin said, dipping the bread in the sauce of her Vinegar-Braised Pork. "Probably rice would be better."

"I agree," Valor'el added last. "Rice would definitely work better for this one."

Shallies sat beside the seraph and took a portion for herself, taking a piece of newly purchased bread and dipping it in the sauce. The warm bread absorbed the sour sauce, making it melt inside her mouth with a refreshing burst. The sweetness of pork and the salty touch of soy sauce balanced out the vinegar, creating a harmonious blend.

But then, the bread was suddenly gone. The rest of the flavor lingered, making Shallies want more bread. This time however, she was conflicted by the choice of dipping the bread, or just eating it as it was. Testing both options, the former didn't fix the flavor satisfaction, while the latter was a bit better but at the cost of balance. She hadn't even gotten the chance to try out the pork meat itself.

Granted, her analysis was as ridiculously scrutinizing as if she had been trying to verify a word in a textbook with a thick magnifying glass, after the text had been erased centuries ago. Only hints of it existed, and the lost text was only important to a few people's experience. A new dish, however, would naturally demand more scrutiny as it was the curious nature of most people trying out new food.

However, since it had already been suggested, Shallies wanted to try the dish with rice. Something to try for next time, since she had wanted to fix the actual recipe as well in the first place.

With dinner done, and Apple volunteering for clean up duty, Shallies took Danilo and Yor'ylin's offer to give her a tour in the kitchen and everything else new.

Starting with the door, she was immediately shown something different. It was properly designed to be in the theme of the dining area and the counter, using wood and darkening varnish. The handle was different, however.

"A sliding door," she said, noticing the carved handle with golden plating instead of a traditional knob. When she got close, however, it slid open on its own.

"Automatic sliding door," Danilo clarified. "It recognizes your mana within a certain range and opens for you. Really helpful if you have both hands full with trays of hot food."

Shallies didn't bother to point out her mana-control. This feature was amazing already by itself.

"You can also command it to stay open or lock it with your mana and a voice command," Yor'ylin added.

"That's really helpful. I appreciate it." With a simple flex of her will, Shallies used her mana to wordlessly command the door to close, despite the elf's instructions. It closed regardless. She appreciated that Yor'ylin had added that functionality. "I love how it blends with the overall look of the front bar."

Entering the kitchen felt like walking into a portal. Even though Shallies had already had a lot of experience with that, the sensation and feel had undoubtable similarities.

First was the temperature. There was a magical feel to the air, which had surely been done to mitigate the heat generated from cooking. With a hasty analysis, Shallies could tell it would have no effect on actual cooking.

Second was the design. While it continued to blend with the theme of the entire house, Shallies couldn't avoid noticing the modern touches slipped in here and there. Painted brick walls were matched with lines of golden racks and very subtle ventilation.

The pans and pots were more sophisticated with mana-crafted properties, despite looking like old kitchenware. Even the workstations themselves looked old fashioned but with small intricacies that gave away their true mana-crafted nature.

Which led Shallies to the third obvious part of her kitchen's reveal. The layout. Danilo, having most of the internal furbishing falling under his responsibility, was the one to initiate the grand tour.

"Including the cellar, I made six workstations for you," he began, heading over to his first presentation. "First up, your cooking station."

It was immediately apparent that all the workstations in the kitchen had been tailor-made for Shallies' height. Danilo had to lean down a little to touch the stove top. Not exactly an obvious motion, but the Chef took note of it anyway.

"Twelve stovetops in total, like you requested, separated in batches of six. One of each batch is especially segregated for extra large pots and woks. The other side here is your flat grill. And in the middle is a small space for you to fill up with whatever you think is necessary."

Then, he crouched down, touching the belly of the workstation. "Underneath here is a small mana-engine, making your stove run by mana. As agreed, you can either use flame or conduction, depending on what you need. I didn't bother with making any options for alternative fuels. Hope that's alright? You don't look like you're the type to run out of mana with just these things, at least as far as I've heard from Mayor Schooner."

"Yes, that's perfect," Shallies replied. "I imagine I can control the heat intensity through my System?"

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"Yes, we should integrate you with the entire network after the tour," Yor'ylin answered, waiting by the next workstation. "There are a lot of functionalities involved, so we'll introduce you to them first to avoid confusion."

"No problem," Shallies nodded. "What do you have there?"

"This is your double island prep station," the elf said with a presentation flourish. "Out of all your stations, we think this will be where you'll be spending most of your time. It's a modular setup."

"Modular?"

Shallies saw what Yor'ylin meant by double islands. In the middle of the room were two large tables fitted for her height. One had a clean metallic surface, while the other had wood with a checkered pattern. There were doors with shelves underneath both, and each had a large sink on the side. At the center of each of those tables were four mana-receptors. She only noticed them because of her acute senses for mana. There were guesses for what they could be for, but she chose to let the presenters have the spotlight. It was their hard work after all.

"See here," Yor'ylin pointed out, indicating one of the receptors. "If you Scan it, it'll show you that it's a mana-receptor. It has magnetic and stabilizing properties. Now this…"

The elf opened her Class Inventory with a flourish, retrieving a few metallic racks. One had hooks on it, one had a flat surface, and another had sectioned-off spaces. She produced more parts of those racks, but as add-ons, instead of being part of the main body.

"You can attach these to any of your prep tables. Design them however you want. These little parts here can be add-ons, if you need more of them. You can stack them as high or as wide as you want."

"What's the weight limit?"

Already, Shallies could see how useful this functionality was. She could have a setup with ingredients or condiments on them, or one with all sorts of plates and cups and other containers, or one with small kitchen tools like knives and ladles for ease of access.

"Depending on how much you put in it, I'd say pretty heavy," the elf replied. "Your System Console will help you determine how heavy. Also, we went ahead and fixed your water pressure. The sinks here are connected to some adjustable piping, so you can only really move these tables up to a certain distance."

"Gotcha. That won't be a problem."

"Oh, there's one more thing," Yor'ylin said, holding up a finger.

She placed it on the metallic prep table and ran a thin stream of mana. The table emitted bright circuit lines, the light quickly shifting throughout its body. And with the same finger, the elf dragged it effortlessly as if it had wheels underneath, placing it beside the wooden table. Lastly, she used the same finger and pressed it on the seam between the surfaces, which then combined. She dragged her finger once again and this time, the surface changed properties, turning wood or metal depending on which way she moved.

"This is just an example, but there are more ways you can set it up," she said, separating the tables again. "I'll let you experiment and find the best design to suit your style. Also, once you integrate this with your System, only you will be able to move it, as well as the rest of the things around here."

"What about Apple? She's my Soul Confidant."

The mention of Soul Confidant was no longer a surprise for the two. It had been a topic of discussion somewhere within the last week when they had been talking about the designs for the kitchen. This was more of a clarification now.

"Should work," Danilo replied. "All that we have here follows all the rules of the System."

"Awesome." Shallies didn't bother hiding the smile and excitement on her face. "What else do we have?"

"We have your oven station, processing station," Danilo pointed over to those stations, which were all sophisticated looking with their mana-crafted features. "We have your smoking station outside, and a fermenting and distilling station in your cellar."

Shallies had never felt excited for a kitchen setup before. Frankly, Legendary or Mythical Loot Sources had been a constant for her. Excitement had been a constant companion throughout her entire life as a Godkiller, which had eventually become a normal thing.

But this. A simple kitchen setup with mana properties. It had brought to her a new kind of anticipation. One that she would be having fun with for a long time.

"Alright, tell me about the processing station."

The tour went on for an hour more as both Danilo and Yor'ylin happily spent their time showing off their work. And Shallies, being treated as a plain old but rich customer, and not as a divine entity that could kill gods, enjoyed every second of it.

Grace decided to tell her parents about her decision to become Shallies' apprentice. Of course, they asked her why, and she had to maneuver her explanations in such a way that it never mentioned how the Godkiller saved her from her first quest.

And of course, it was a given that the fact that Shallies was a Godkiller had to stay secret. While there was no absolute urgency for secrecy, at least as far as Grace interpreted the instructions, she didn't want to be the one to break that agreement.

She'd like to think that she had earned Shallies' trust, but there was no mistaking how the Godkiller had interacted with Valor'el. That was absolute trust.

It was easy, Grace found out, using her future mentor's slightly fabricated story as a way to make a solid case to convince her parents. Any budding adventurer would learn a lot from a raiding adventurer. And it was a rare opportunity at that, given that this sort of people didn't really spend a lot of time in an agricultural-focused province at the edge of the kingdom's territory. Other territories notwithstanding.

Rare… This is probably the first time it's happened for Cinterbrim Town. Even Mom and Dad didn't raid.

If Schooner's stories were accurate, not even Catelyn had taken students when she had returned.

The unprecedentedness of it was as appealing to her as it was convincing to her parents. The discussion naturally went to Amabelle, another raiding Hero Class Adventurer who had chosen the life of simplicity, becoming a waitress in the only tavern in Cinterbrim Town. But Grace quickly pointed out how the Devout had no intentions of taking an apprentice since she had taken root.

In the end, her parents didn't object. Their questions were mostly clarifications and not outright arguments. They were obviously holding back, and Grace, for the first time, felt what it meant to be an adult.

"You're old enough to make these important decisions on your own, Grace," Elesia said when asked if they were really fine with it. "As long as you're not walking on the wrong path, what we'll mostly offer you from this point on is simple advice from our own experience. I do think a mentor is a lot more than you can ask for, so I fully support you on it. Most beginning adventurers end up flailing around and trying to get lucky."

"What your mother said," Schooner followed, nodding along. "As long as you keep your lessons with you, and no more of that fighting just about anyone attitude like with that seraph, you should be alright."

"Yes," Grace said, smiling embarrassingly. "Shallies' first lesson, I mean trial, is for me to learn to be extremely careful, I think."

"What's the trial?" her mother asked.

Grace produced the cradle egg from her pocket, unravelling a handkerchief she had wrapped around to protect it throughout the day. She held out a hand when her parents got closer.

"You can't touch it," she began. "I'm also not allowed to store it in my Class Inventory. I can't break it either."

Schooner rubbed his chin. "What are the conditions?"

"If I come back with a broken egg, I fail. No mentorship. Same as with if someone else touches it, or if I lose it. If I come back with the egg intact, I succeed."

"Well there certainly are ways to make that easier—"

Before he could go on, Elesia lightly jabbed her husband's shoulder.

"It's her trial." Her eyes narrowed. "I said we'd give her advice, sure, but she has to figure out the answer for herself now. It helps with innovation and adaptability."

"I just thought I'd keep it in my pocket with a bundled up cloth," Grace admitted.

"And if you get hit hard by a monster?" Elesia's narrowed eyes turned to her. "Or if you slip up and fall on the egg? Even if you put it in your pack, there's no guarantee you won't crack it on accident. A cradle egg's shell isn't any tougher than a normal egg."

"You know about it?"

"A little," Elesia said. "But not what's inside. A cradle egg usually incubates a magical creature inside it, but I don't know much about its hatching conditions. Whether Shallies intended for you to have a pet in the future or not, only you will find out. I'm actually surprised you made it the entire day without cracking it."

"I was careful throughout my entire day," Grace admitted. "It's actually pretty stressful, now that I think about it. Not once did it leave my mind."

"The trial's meant to increase or stress-test your awareness," Schooner said. "Adventuring isn't just about fighting monsters, it's also about constantly protecting yourself and your party members from anything and everything. They're like the egg, in this case. You keep them in your mind constantly even in stressful situations. Not as distractions, but as a survival tactic. Once you're used to that nagging reminder, you become more attuned and flexible to many situations."

Those words made the half-orc realize that she hadn't told her parents about her desire to become strong on her own. She kept it to herself. The lessons applied either way.

"So just keeping it close isn't going to cut it…" Grace held up the egg, trying to think of other ways to protect it. Her father said there were ways to make it easy, but her mind had settled on the cloth strategy and couldn't find an alternative.

Her parents obviously saw her conundrum.

"If you want a hint…" Elesia started, withdrawing her previous confrontation with Schooner, but not fully. Grace nabbed it like a fish falling for bait. Eyes silently pleading for help. With that, the wife gave her husband permission to continue.

"I guess, in respect to your mother's point, I'll just point out an obvious clue." Schooner held up a finger. "If the conditions you said were the exact ones Shallies gave you, then she left out one obvious solution to your problem. There might be more, but off the top of my head, I can think of one. If you can find that out, you won't have to resort to the cloth strategy."

Without much else to go on, and her parents refusing to give her the answer outright, Grace spent the rest of the night in her bedroom, staring at the silhouette of the creature inside the egg. Her brain was a mess, but she had to rest first.

Tomorrow they agreed to visit Shallies' tavern. Hopefully she could get more clues then.

Hmm?

Grace blinked, looking at the cradle egg a little closer.

Did it just move?