The Void

Ardere watched Kenji's chest rise and fall, somehow it gave her comfort as he lay in the white bed. She had seen him hurt like this before and she was hopeful he would wake up soon enough. Until then she picked up her bag and continued on to her next lesson.

Ardere arrived in her Magic spell class, the room was already halfway filled and students were still flooding into the class.

As usual Ardere took her spot in the front of the class, She had looked to her right and it felt oddly void without Kenji sitting next to her.

Kenji was such a pain to Ardere, she couldn't control him and that worried her. Though Kenji was someone who did as he pleased, he did still help Ardere and she was thankful, but thinking about when he knocked her out during their fight; she wondered if she should actually be grateful for his help or not.

Ardere had thought back to the fight her group had with the Human, it was degrading. No mana, No defences and he still beat them all.

'Is he really human? He seems more like a magical beast than a human.' Ardere thought.

The class was quite dull today. Instead of working on Mana manipulation as they had been doing the last few weeks, they were sitting through a lecture on the Mana that resided inside the contract.

"As you all know, a summon can reside in the real world or within the void of the contract, but who knows what this void is?"

A student in the back raised their hand and the professor pointed at the Demon and a female stood.

"From what the scholars of the first clans could gather about the contract, the void is a separate plane entirely; one brimming with mana and is what is thought to provide the mana necessary to uphold the contract and its rules."

The student sat back down with a smug expression. Ardere didn't have to think about how wrong that answer was and before the student could soak in any more pride the teacher spoke.

"Wrong."

The class giggled while the students shocked expression said everything that was on her mind.

"The void WAS theorized to be some other dimension of sorts, but more recent scholars now theorize that the void is the connection between master and summon; the link between the two mana pools creates a space within the master in which the summon can rest and heal, but if the master were to die, then the void is broken and the Magic beast is released."

"You might want to keep an eye on the more modern theories and findings that are released, but don't feel ashamed; for the longest time, that was the most popular theory, unfortunately there was no evidence to support it."

Ardere wondered about putting Kenji into the Void, but even with Melodies coaching she couldn't make it happen. she had never had a summon before so it's not like she could remember the feeling.

It was like the mana was rejecting Kenji and the normal rules of the contract weren't applying, but the contract was still in place.

Kenji's existence was a mystery to Ardere and pretty much everyone else who knew he was human. Most others thought he was either a Demon or a humanoid summon with no abilities.

Ardere had managed to catch up with her fellow students during the last week. She had also attempted to research humans more, but unfortunately she could not find anything on them in the library.

If there were any records of Humans left over the last 2400 years then it wasn't in the Inferis library.

While Ardere caught up in her studies and searched for anything on humans, Melodi had been busy training with Sandra in attempts to cover any weakness they had noticed during their last session with Kenji.

Eventually Ardere could feel a pain of hunger in her stomach as she looked out the window and saw darkness.

"I should head to supper."

Ardere had arrived in the dinning hall and sat as she began to pile meat and greens on her platter. The room was still full of students chatting more than eating as she poured a red liquid into her glass.

Ardere sipped on the liquid and could feel the sweet bitter taste of wine. Ardere was never much for drinking since she always preferred having a clear head, but all her time exhausting herself, physically and mentally had taken quite the toll on her.

Soon enough she finished the glass and poured herself more.

The headache she had when she arrived from the library had gone and was now replaced with a soothing numbness.

Ardere began eating and it felt like the best meal she had in a long time. The meat was quite tender and juicy and the greens had been seasoned with salt giving them a savory flavor as the soft greens basically melted in her mouth.

Soon the food was halfway gone as Ardere went for another mouthful of wine.

"You should slow down with that"

Ardere heard a familiar voice off to her side as Kenji took a seat beside her and began filling his plate with greens, avoiding any of the red meat.

Ardere felt a bit hazy and because of this she felt too stunned to say anything.

"I didn't wake up long ago, good thing too cause I'm fucking hungry." Kenji said as if reading her mind

Kenji drank a full glass of water before he began to eat all the steamed greens he had on his plate. He was famished as he scarfed down the whole plate easily and went back for a second serving of greens.

"If you're so hungry why not try the meat, it's quite good." Ardere said finally finding her tongue.

"I'm sick of the meat, it tastes pretty stale. Besides I hadn't eaten in a bit so I'm going to have to eat something light or else my body will end up going into shock."

Ardere had felt like Kenji was lying about the meat, she had her own cooking staff in her manor and they all made food quite similar to what she was currently eating, but Kenji so easily called it stale.

Soon enough Ardere finished another glass of wine and began to pour herself another. as she held the bottle over her glass, Kenji had gently grabbed her wrist.

"I told you to take it easy with that stuff."

Ardere felt confused as she put the bottle down and then reached for her utensil, missing it and then reaching again.

Kenji poured a glass of water and placed it in front of Ardere.

"Kenji, how old are you?" Ardere asked.

Kenji chewed what food was in his mouth and wiped his face with a cloth before answering.

"The day I arrived here I turned 16" Kenji said.

"Then why not drink some? you're of age." Ardere said motioning towards the bottle.

Kenji ignored her and continued eating as Ardere sat back and relaxed in her chair, sipping on the water.

Soon enough the room began to clear out as everyone left for their rooms leaving only Kenji, Ardere along with a few stragglers.

"Can you make it back to your room on your own." Kenji said with an eyebrow raised.

Ardere stood up and all of a sudden everything hit her. she could feel her face flushed, her ears felt hot and everything seemed to slow down.

She had felt like this before, which was another reason she avoided drinking. However she still managed just fine on her own as she walked off towards the doors.

Kenji saw Arderes back disappear in the hallway as he finished off the last of his meal and the servants began collecting dishes and left overs.

one of the servants had her eyes on Kenji a little longer than what Kenji considered a glance, but made no move to indicate he knew she was staring.

He drank more of his water as the staff got closer to him and just as he finished eating he heard the echoes of heavy footsteps approach him.

turning his head he saw a bulking Demon with a white apron and arms the size of Hams.

He approached Kenji and folded his arms as he glared at the Human with an intensity in his eyes.

"Do you need something?" Kenji said with a hint of annoyance.

"I have ears all around the room at meal times so I can always know when I've done a good job in making my meals, so why is it that you believe my food is stale?"

Kenji almost chuckled at the Demon, who Kenji could only assume was the chef.

"Your steak was very bland. Though that's my own opinion since you seem to be very confident in your own cooking."

The mans chest puffed out as he huffed

"I'm sick of all you stuck up brats constantly complaining about my dishes. Every year I change recipes and there's always someone who complains, if you are unsatisfied with my cooking then you can have your own servants cook your food."

The man pulled Kenji's plate from in front of him as he continued to glare at the human.

"I believe we can agree on something, I've seen most of the Demons here complain and cry about this and that. I understand how it can get to you, but you shouldn't go picking fights with me."

The man slammed his heavy hand into the table and all the servants quickly made space between the two.

"Now why might that be? boy!"

Kenji stood up in front of the man, he was a large man, like a boulder blocking a trail after a landslide.

"Because you don't need to prove anything to anyone."

The man was taken aback at Kenji's comment.

Despite the way the man was acting at the moment he felt a bit distressed that Kenji had spoken badly about his food, he had been watching him since he first arrived in his dining hall and stood up to Ian Landegra.

It was something he wanted to do to all the nobles who ever threw his food in the trash for not being up to their standards, but when one of his workers overheard what the boy had said he felt Kenji wasn't any different and it angered him that Kenji had tricked him into actually liking him.

"What did you say?" The Demon said almost as quiet as a whisper.

"Your cooking is magnificent, I can't imagine anyone complaining about this. The only reason I called it bland is because my taste buds are accustomed to something with a bit more...kick."

The man was baffled at what Kenji had to say.

"Tell me what it is you desire and I will make it the best damned meal you will ever have."

"Are you putting me on death row? The fuck?"

*******

The Demons name was Magnum

The two were in the back as all the cooks prepared the morning breakfast and the servants cleaned the platters.

Kenji had convinced Magnum to let hime try his luck at making something. Magnum being a proud cook always looking to improve his own dishes agreed, curious as to what the boy would come up with.

As Kenji walked through the food storage he noticed that most of the plants were one he was familiar with.

Rosemary, carrots, potatoes, even barrels of rice and grain could be found. However the more Kenji looked the more produce he would find that he didn't recognize.

There was an apple with a purple exterior and soft thorns and when cut open the interior had an orange color with a butter taste.

Confused, Kenji avoided everything he couldn't recognize, but no matter where he looked he couldn't find what he was looking for.

Kenji folded his arms as he thought for a moment.

"How do you keep so much produce fresh?"

Magnum walked forward and picked up an empty crate from a corner of the storage room and turned it so Kenji could see inside.

Inside the crate there was a magic circle with a blue light emitting from it.

"This is an ice magic circle, when the lid is placed on the crate it will activate the magic and create a low level ice spell that will keep the fruits and vegetables fresh for longer, while something like the grains can't have any moisture so they instead have a low level fire magic circle to prevent any moisture from creating mold."

"Every three days we refill the circles with mana to ensure nothing goes bad before we can use it, however when it comes to the meat."

Magnum walked up to a large metal door and slid it open revealing a large room filled with hundreds of butchered animal carcases. Again some Kenji recognized while others were a bit more interesting looking.

"We use higher level ice magic circles to keep the meat from going bad and we refill the magic circles in the room every day. It's very draining so only those with a larger mana pool like myself will fill these ones."

Kenji thought for a moment as he surveyed the room full of ingredients.

"I was hoping to make something else but I can work with this."

Kenji gave Magnum a list of ingredients to bring to him while he cleaned his hands and prepped an area.

Magnum brought Kenji carrots, celery, potatoes, some beef stock and a shoulder of beef.

Kenji first placed a large pot on the fire and filled about half of it with beef stock before cleaning and rough chopping the vegetables into bite sized pieces.

after he placed them into the stock he seasoned the large shoulder of beef with salt and placed it in the pot before covering the rest of the shoulder with the last of the stock.

Kenji then placed a cover over the pot and turned the flame down to low.

"Keep this covered and keep the temperature low, by the time morning comes it will be ready, but you will want to have someone watch it and make sure the stock doesn't reduce too much or else the meat will get tough."

Magnum had seen something similar before and had assumed it was a very basic stew, but to have it linger over night seemed a bit excessive for him.

"Are you sure it's necessary to have this cook for so long? and why did you cut the vegetables, but not the shoulder?"

Kenji raised a eyebrow to the bulking man as he asked these questions.

"This is probably one of the simplest recipes to exist. Usually I would use a crock-pot but we work with what we got."

"Just trust me, I've shown you the recipe and this will be enough for your entire staff to try and if you don't like it then hand me one of those containers that will preserve it and I will eat it, don't you dare toss it out."

Magnum looked at the pot as it slowly heated up and wondered if it was meant to be cut into pieces and served as a stew later on, but instead went to a few of his workers and told them, to their disliking that they would be coming in early to make sure it had enough stock.

Kenji cleaned off his hands and left the kitchen as Magnum pulled up a chair and rested.

He had spent several nights watching over dishes that he had worked on in order to serve to the picky tastes of the nobles so something like this was not new to him, however after he had drifted to sleep he dreamed of a dish he had never seen before.

he could not make out it's description, but he could smell it. The arouma was enticing and it made his mouth water.

suddenly Magnum was awake, all his staff was gone and it was only him left in the kitchen, though it felt crowded with an savoury arouma. standing up Magnum had realized he had drool all over his apron which he neglected to take off before drifting off to sleep.

He walked towards the glowing flame and the pot which the smell originated from and pulled off the top.

As steam escaped in a puff of heat and then a sudden brisk cold the vibrant smell became more apparent.

Magnum stared into the dark pot with the flame so low there was hardly a simmer.

The broth had not fallen much, just barely exposing the top of the meat but judging by the moon light it had been hours so he slowly added broth in so it covered the top and placed the top back on.

"That fucking kid might have some good ideas in him yet." Magnum said as he sat back down on the chair unable to sleep with the tantalizing smell of the meal in front of him keeping him awake.