Zoemi woke up early and went to the kitchen to prepare a nutritious breakfast and lunch for the day. The previous day he already consulted Patishi over what he could prepare for him and now Zoemi was moving his hands dexterously and creating wonders for his master to enjoy on such an important day.
As always, the short brown-haired female attendant of the first prince, Teo, was occupying the spot beside the black-haired boy and preparing the food for her master.
Aside from that one time a month ago, Veo never showed up in the kitchen, which did not seem odd to the scarred attendant at all, considering that she couldn't cook anyway.
Zoemi wasn't aware but Veo did attempt to change place with Teo and spend some time with Zoemi, but her younger twin sister was defending her spot like a fearless lioness.
"Here, what do you think about that? Is it any good?"
Zoemi extended his hand with a sample of the food and feed it to Teo without even looking in her direction.
"Aam...!"
In a similar fashion, the girl just opened her mouth and started chewing while her hands never stopped moving.
"Tasty, but ginger is too prominent, I would advise adding less of it, or getting rid of it whatsoever."
She licked her lips and advised.
"Yes, I think so too. But it has such beneficial effects on mana..."
Zoemi nodded while stumped - he made a dish that was perfectly balanced but its taste wasn't as good as he wished for - if he added something to mask the taste of ginger it would lessen the meal's overall effectiveness...
"Big brother Zoemi, is something wrong?"
Seeing their benefactor looking worried Patishi decided to check what was going on and approached the scarred attendant from the side.
"Well, you see, this ginger's taste is just too strong."
Zoemi pointed at the meaty root amongst the other ingredients.
As he was preparing the dish for the first time, he didn't make the mistake of making it all at once but only made a sample to try it out first.
"If only it wasn't so prominent, it would be perfect."
Zoemi put his hand to his face deep in thoughts.
Curious Patishi took one slice of the ginger and put it in their mouth.
"Ah! If that's the case!"
Patishi's eyes shone and they rushed towards the shelf where the ginger roots were stored.
With their back turned towards the Zoemi and Teo they acted as if they were examining the different roots - while in truth they picked up the best looking one and used their magic on it.
|Careful, careful, only make the taste a bit milder, don't mess with anything else...|
The brown-haired youth was concentrating very hard and carefully guiding their mana through the root.
After they were done, they washed the ingredients thoroughly and brought the ginger to Zoemi, offering it to the black-haired attendant with a huge smile.
"Big brother Zoemi, this one should be good!"
Patishi declared proudly.
"You say...?"
Surprised Zoemi took the offered root and with the it's-worth-a-try look on his face, he sliced off a small piece and tasted it...
"...!"
And his eyes widen in shock.
Zoemi put his hand on Patishi's head and affectionately messed up their hair.
"You're amazing! Patishi, you have a gift!"
He declared.
"Te-he...!"
Patishi giggled and blushed from the praise.
They never told Zoemi about their magic yet, since the brown-haired youth was too afraid that their benefactor wouldn't believe or even laugh at them like everyone else.
Zoemi quickly made the next sample and fed it to Teo, who was sneaking envious glances at the elated youth next to them.
"How is it now, delicious?"
"Indeed."
To Zoemi's question the short brown-haired girl responded in a bit grumpy way, but what else could she do?
Thanks to the ginger picked out by Patishi Zoemi's dish became perfect.
Teo disliked when Zoemi's praise would go to anyone other than her, but she wouldn't lie to Zoemi just to throw someone else under a bus – she wasn't a bad girl after all.
Satisfied, Zoemi finished the preparation and set up the tray to take the meal to his master.
"Thanks for the help, Patishi, Teo! I'll be counting on you tow again!"
As it has already become a habit, Zoemi thanked his two helpers and patted their heads before taking the tray and walking out.
---
Teo also finished her preparation and took her tray, but before she left she stopped and turned towards Patishi.
"..."
"...?"
With an emotionless expression, she glared at them for a few seconds, causing the youth to look back at her in confusion.
"Hmph~!"
...and then Teo suddenly smiled all smugly and turned her back, leaving the brown-haired youth with no answer whatsoever.
---
Zoemi was anxious about the magic examination and was brushing Miriette's hair absentmindedly. The examination was going to be the scripted event but it wasn't a condemnation event for Miriette. It was just going to be an event to raise the general affection of the capture targets for the heroine by showing off her healing spells - so theoretically Zoemi shouldn't have to do anything.
After all, in terms of awesomeness, the overpowered transcended wind magic beats healing easily. Though there still was that annoyingly lingering 'what if' kind of question.
Zoemi was also anxious because obviously, the magic examination would test their magic – and he would be tested too.
That meant that he would have to - you know - use spells.
A whole lot.
Since he could not allow himself to just bail out get a terrible mark since that could affect Miriette's opinion – he would most likely end up with a severe mana depletion...
and that was not a good prospect at all.
In a worryingly high chance that the magic examination event would be distorted like the one on the first day of class - it could be disastrous!
If something unexpected happened and he was just standing there - smiling like an idiot - because of the mana depletion, he could never forgive himself!