The End Of The Rock Kingdom

"Don't be so loud please, just cook whatever and do it fast."

"If I did it fast it wouldn't taste good, now take a seat at my dinner table."

They entered the house, it was a little small but felt nice, they went to the dining room and didn't look around too much.

It was a nice and simple wooden table, the chairs were comfortable enough, Novis set the fool down in one of the chairs and went to check up on the old man.

"Would you mind if I watched you cook?"

"As long as you don't talk too much."

The man was clearly focused on his craft, the dish he was preparing took a lot of concentration.

First, he separated the egg whites from the egg yolk and put them in a separate bowl, he prepared a pot with water to boil, afterward, he put a little bit of vinegar into the mixture of the bowl to add some acidity and started it whisking it vigorously on top of the boiling pot of water.

"Novis? Could you melt some butter for me quickly?"

"Of course, anything to help."

After whisking for a couple of minutes, he poured the melted butter into the mixture little by little.

"This is an important step, don't put it in all at once."

Novis was taking notes.

He then added a pinch of salt to the mixture, pepper, and a squeeze of fresh lemon juice, it was a custard-like texture, just how he wanted it.

Afterward, he grabbed some thin raw meat and fried it in a pan with olive oil, it gave it a nice crispy texture that was quite flavourful on the mouth.

"Never be scared of frying anything In a pan Novis, it will only cause more issues."

"I'll keep that in mind, mister."

"This next step is very important ok? You see how I finished cooking the ham yet I still left the fire on?"

"Yea?"

He grabbed two English muffins sliced in half and put them straight into the pan.

"This way, the bread will absorb all the excess goodness of the meat I just fired, making even the bread a savory part of the dish."

"Sounds like this is going to be an amazing breakfast."

"Remember the water that was boiling?"

"Yea?"

"Now we're going to move onto that."

He started whisking the boiling water, to create a sort of whirlpool within it, afterwards, he added vinegar to it and cracked an egg into a cup, and softly put it, into the water.

"If the water boils too much, the egg could break and explode, but this way, look."

After a little while, he carefully removes the egg and sets it on a piece of paper.

"This is called a poached egg, I'll quickly make one more and that should be it for your breakfast."

"𝘐 𝘸𝘰𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘩𝘺 𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘥𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘨𝘨 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵, 𝘪𝘵 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘴 𝘴𝘰𝘳𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨."

Finally, he had finished the dish, he put it all together and made an egg benedict, he put the meat onto the bread, the poached egg on top, and glazed it with the hollandaise sauce. It looked like something out of a fairy tale, just how perfect it was.

"Whew, It's done now, go sit down Novis, I'll bring it over there."

Novis could not believe his eyes, he was so eager to eat such a wonderful thing, he's never seen something alike in his life.

The fool could smell the dish before it even came, and grabbed the two plates with such velocity and caution as if it was a battle itself, he gently set them on the table and started eating his.

"NOVIS YOU'VE GOT TO TRY THIS, I JUST CAN'T STOP EATI-" He in fact did not stop eating.

Novis immediately joined in with the fool and ate alongside him, the old man was quite pleased to see these two enjoy something that he had created with all his heart.

"So? What do you two say then, from one to ten what would you rate it?"

"TEN, NO DOUBT IN MIND, I WOULD LOVE ANOTHER ONE."

"I AGREE, TEN AS WELL, PLEASE MAKE AT LEAST ONE MORE."

"No remorse for the poor old man huh."

"YOU PLAN ON MAKING A RESTAURANT GET USED TO THIS."

"Alright alright."

He quickly made two extra egg benedicts for them, this time things were faster since he was able to reuse some ingredients, and since he had already used the pan for the meat it would be extra savory.

"Whew, let me rest you two please."

"Don't you worry, this is all we ask for"

The two happily ate to their heart's content.

"We should definitely let Darius know about this, though we really should get going soon."

"How about we just give him our approval for his cooking?"

"They'd probably think he'd lie if he said something like that."

"Ugh, guess I'll do something about it, you know it's not good to move so much after eating, but oh well."

"What are you going to-"

The fool's armor was donned upon him, he ran straight to Darius's Throne to pick him up and take him to the man.

When he started to pick him up, his eye moved to track the fool

"𝘠𝘰𝘶'𝘳𝘦 𝘲𝘶𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦, 𝘴𝘢𝘥𝘭𝘺 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘯'𝘵 𝘧𝘶𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘮𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘐 𝘥𝘰, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘢𝘴 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘺𝘰𝘶'𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘒𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘥𝘰𝘮𝘴, 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵'𝘴 𝘦𝘯𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶."

Darius slowly started to smile, which made the fool feel a little nervous.

"𝘋𝘪𝘥 𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘺 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘢𝘥𝘢𝘱𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵? 𝘒𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘴𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘺."

He took him all the way to the old man's house and in a second he was back.

"To do?"

"This"

"IS THAT DARIUS?"

"THE KING HIMSELF HAS COME?"

"Oh if it isn't my two favorite people, Luce you sure are fast you know that."

The fool's hair turns back to blond, and the armor leaves his body.

"Only when I feel like it, anyways, this man is one of the best cooks in your Kingdom, you have both me and Novis to vouch for him, so please give him the restaurant he deserves."

"Hmmm, well if you say so, I'll make you a restaurant for free for one month and give it the King's approval once you make me one item from your menu, what do you think?"

"THAT SOUNDS FANTASTIC."

He quickly walks to the fool and Novis and shakes their hands whilst crying.

"THANK YOU THANK YOU."

"Anytime, Novis and I have got to go somewhere now so bye-bye."

The fool grabs Novis's hand and quickly rushes out of the house whilst smiling about the adventure he's about to have.

"L-Luce I could have at least said goodbye."

"Nope, they're sad and take too much time."

"You're not wrong but."

"Too bad, if you're going with me on my adventure, my rules."

"Fine fine."

He starts to accelerate more and more until he realizes Novis can't keep up with his speed, upon this realization he quickly pulls Novis closer to him and starts to carry him.

"C-Could you not do this whilst we're still in the Kingdom?"

"It's not for long don't worry."

They quickly rush out of the Kingdom gates with a large dust cloud appearing behind them.

"See?"

"Sometimes I hate how right you are." He says whilst pouting.

"So, do you want to enjoy the journey, or do you want to take your time?"

"Hmmm, tough question."

"There's only one right answer."

"Enjoy the journey?"

"Precisely, there's no rush alright, and the only reason I decide not to say goodbyes is well, I get too emotional when they happen."

"It's fine Luce I don't really mind, nor do I blame you."

"Thank you, Novis, well, we'll arrive there in about three days or so."

"Quite fast huh."

"Just the right speed, as usual."

"What if we encounter an enemy in the wastelands?"

"I doubt a Dragon would appear, but at this point even you could take one on."

"You really think so?"

"I don't even need to think about it, I already know."

"Sometimes I forget how great I am."

"Don't let it get over your head."

"Just a little bit alright."

"Fine, not like I mind that much."

The two of them kept on talking about whatever was on their mind, whether it was as dumb as their favorite color, or something very philosophical like the meaning of life, they would both laugh in the end with no care in the world, although eventually, they took a break near a rock.

"I'm going to need a bit to recover Novis, could I have some Water?"

"I don't exactly like doing this but fine, here."

Novis pours Water directly into the fool's mouth.

"Whew, that's a relief, so what's the plan for food?"

"Hmmm, I thought you were going to handle that."

"Ah, well, I have some bad news."

"You didn't prepare food did you."

"Please don't hit me?"

"What am I going to do with you, I guess we'll have to eat those cayotes or something of sorts."

"I'm not too sure if they're edible."

"Why not?"

"They seem extremely injured, and with all that Magic pouring out of their wounds and mouth, doesn't exactly seem that safe, though I could be wrong."

"If it comes to it then we'll do it, for now, let's just set up a fire and take a nap."

"I couldn't agree more."

Novis went around the wastelands and gathered small branches and deteriorated parts of broken trees that were left around for the fire.

"How could this have happened to begin with?"

"Greed, it gets most of us you know?"

"I guess, but it's still quite cruel."

"What happens, happens, not my problem."

The fool snaps his fingers and a bolt of thunder strikes the gathered wood, creating a fire.

They peacefully rest together next to each other.

In the distance, a strange cloaked man was approaching them, not even his face could be seen yet he was still walking straight towards the fool and his most loyal friend.

Novis.