“Hey Io, aren’t you worried about Kyle?” Vinny asked.

  “Hmm? Not at all, no human can beat him. Oh, I smell meat! Wait I need to focus!”

  “Uhh one of our objectives is to cook in the canteen here. Who of you can cook?” Vinny asked as he looked around. Io and Yvonne put up their hands.

  “Roasting meat with dragonfire doesn’t count!”

  Io’s hand slowly dropped. “How do you two intend to capture the hearts of the guys in team Hourai actually? I’m not sure about Raishin, but Agnis is quite the glutton.”

  Giana gasped and covered her mouth. “Vinny! Yv! Can you teach me how to cook?!”

  “Oh, me too! I want to learn how to cook for Kyle!”

  Noelle shook her head. “Uhh, I’ll pass, these hands are made for punching, not for cooking.”

  Vinny made a strange face while looking at Io.

  “What?”

  Vinny raised an eyebrow. “A dragon in the kitchen?”

  “But you’re a dragon too!”

  “I’m different!”

  “Different how? Is it because you’re a vegetable dragon?”

  “Vegetable dragon… come on Giana this vegetable dragon will teach you how to cook. Noelle, can you keep an eye on Io?”

  “Sure!”

  “Come on Vinny! She doesn’t mean that!” Giana tried to cheer Vinny up, but it failed. Giana, Yvonne and Vinny left Noelle behind who had locked Io down by making her unable to move from her spot.

  “Wait me too!”

  “Just stay put for a bit Io, let them handle it. Vinny is right, a dragon doesn’t belong in the kitchen.”

  The three had gotten accepted quite easily as the new chefs. Vinny introduced himself as the head chef and Yvonne and Giana as his assistants.

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  Vinny might be a dragon, but his knowledge about plants made for a great cook. He had also made sure to study up on dishes and meals that involve meat and minerals during his life as an adventurer. He was relieved as he could finally be useful.

  The other chefs loved his food. He multitasked and also taught Giana the basics of cooking. Yvonne took over a lot in instructing Giana as the chefs were working Vinny to the bone as the ‘Canteen Rush’ was about to start.

  The three worked hard and got a break 2 hours later.

  “Wow… I never knew cooking was this brutal.” Giana said as she laid down, sprawled out on her tails.

  “I…it’s normally relaxing, but professional kitchens are b…brutal yeah.”

  They looked at Vinny who had worked so hard that he passed out.

  “So, it’s possible to kill a dragon by overworking him?”

  “I..I don’t think he’s dead.” Yvonne munched on a carrot and threw an oven glove at Vinny. Vinny twitched. “So what do you t…think about ‘cooking’?”

  “I need to practice more. The basics are simple, but it will produce food that looks or tastes weird.”

  “You’ll get there after some p…practice. These illusionary carrots are quite good.” The idols looked at how the prisoners were enjoying their food.

  “How peaceful. I can’t believe this is a prison. Oh… never mind. There is trouble outside.” Giana was still laying on her tails face up but she could still see what was going around her.

  Yvonne perked her ears. “Oh, that’s one angry dragon.”

  A man in black, edgy clothing got launched into the canteen. He broke his fall and assumed an assassin pose; an exaggerated assassin pose.

  “Wow Yv look how edgy he is!” The man reacted, but had to react to a fire [Dragonbreath].

  Giana shook Vinny. “Hey wake up! You will turn into a stirfy if you stay here!”

  Vinny reacted and got up. “Huh what? Io?! Oh, is that… that must be Arby she’s fighting. This canteen is done for. Let’s run!”

  Yvonne grabbed Giana, and they ran away as Io was torching the canteen with Arby in it and met with Noelle outside the canteen.“ I tried but she got uncontrollable after that edgelord appeared.”

  “Uh, it’s fine, the man she’s fighting is called Arby, he wiped out the Silent Night, the assassin group Agnis and Io were part of. The two were the only ones left from that place.” Vinny said as he looked by as Io was going on a rampage.

  “A lot of connected stories here. Want some popcorn?” Giana offered. Noelle and Yvonne took some. Vinny had no idea how to react.

  The four of them looked at how Io was burning the whole place down while she was fighting Arby.

  “So cooking teacher, is this why you shouldn’t let a dragon in the kitchen?”

  “I…I don’t know.” Vinny looked at the carnage. All the meals in the canteen had been burnt into nothingness. He knew they were illusions, but he still couldn’t help but feel that his hard work had turned into ash.