Chapter 170

  New Chef In

  Before the day of their operation, Erin and her companions had a final meeting with Rayleen, where she explained some of the finer details when it came to their attack on Golorath. Erin would have an unscheduled meeting tomorrow through an insider that was working for Rayleen. This person would introduce Erin as a skilled chef that they knew personally and would press the kitchen staff to quickly hire her in order to fill in the hole left behind by Madeline. Due to the stressful time they would all be in, the redhead getting hired would be pretty much guaranteed.

  One thing that made this celebration the perfect opportunity for assassinating Golorath was that the rebel forces that had been building up in the city would be making their move. With chaos erupting all around, the guards would also be sent to handle the many disturbances rising up, leaving the palace with less forces to guard it. Not only that, but Rayleen herself would be taking her forces to take down Dungard, the last remaining warlord. With his forces also being preoccupied, there wouldn’t be any reinforcements coming to save the Overlord.

  The real challenges were the ones that awaited inside. Not only would Erin have to be able to make herself look like a competent chef, but she would have to be on the lookout for a chance to slip out of the kitchen and move towards where Golorath was, which would most likely be his dining room. This wouldn’t be too much of an issue, as Rayleen had provided Erin’s group with maps that showed how to get around the place. The warlord would even have one of her associates smuggle their equipment inside, so they would be able to arm themselves properly.

  However, getting to where the Overlord was would be a much bigger challenge. Not only would there be servants going around the palace, but Golorath’s own personal guards would be patrolling as well. While Erin and the others could handle most of the regular members, there were certain high-ranking members, who were far above the others. Each one was on a similar level to the elite assassins that they had been facing throughout their travels, so they would certainly prove to be a challenge. Luckily, Rayleen had made sure to give them detailed descriptions of their appearances and fighting styles, so they at least would have some sort of an advantage.

  Even after all of that, there would still be the biggest challenge ahead, Golorath himself. Erin might have been provided with a weapon that was very effective against him, but that still didn’t mean that victory was guaranteed. From the day the Overlords had started their conquest of the world, they had ruled others through their sheer power alone. Many assassins and warriors had challenged them time and time again, only to end up dead. They were the strongest and undefeated, therefore they were the ones who ruled. It was simple as that. Still, in order to bring change to this world, those same undefeated monsters would have to be beaten and Erin’s group was going succeed in doing so.

  One of the key issues was smuggling the holy water Rayleen had given them, but Lexton found a way to do that. After tinkering with Erin’s new artificial eye a bit, he managed to create a storage place for it. Although the actual vial they had been given wouldn’t fit, the kobold had moved the liquid into two smaller containers that were now hidden in the redhead’s fake eye. All that remained was for her to get close to Golorath and make sure to use them wisely.

  While Erin was doing her own infiltration, the rest of the group would be sneaking in among some of the regular workers, who were going in a hurry around the palace. Once inside, they would move to a place where they would meet Erin, who would then let them deeper into the building, as they wouldn’t be able to do that without the proper keys.

  All in all, the plan was ready and all they needed to do was make it happen. Things started off well enough, as Erin didn’t need to do much of an interview or anything like that. The person in charge of the kitchen was so desperate to get the help they needed that he was ready to grab someone off the street just so that they could fill in the necessary numbers.

  However, that didn’t mean it all went smoothly from that point onward. The redhead soon found out that Golorath’s kitchen was like hell itself.

  “Hey, newbie! Get me more cream for these pastries!” one chef shouted.

  “New guy, get your ass moving over here! This meat won’t cook itself!” another yelled.

  “Newbie, what the hell are you standing around for!? Mix some drinks!” a third chef yelled.

  At the moment, Erin was fighting multiple battles that were all driving her crazy. One one hand were all the different tasks that had been thrown at her at rapid fire. Due to being the new person in the kitchen, the redhead had automatically gone to the bottom of the food chain, meaning pretty much anyone could boss her around for any reason. With the amount of commands she was getting, she would need to find a way to clone herself in order to handle it all.

  On the other hand, Erin was fighting a battle to keep herself calm enough to not simply snap and start violently attacking the kitchen staff surrounding her. All the bossing around and bullying she was subjected to was starting to gnaw away at her sanity and she was getting ready to blow.

  As the redhead was doing her best to keep herself calm, another cook decided to walk up to her while grinning widely. This was none other than Zena, the assassin who had failed to do anything to Erin and her group and was currently working at Golorath’s palace’s kitchen in order to pay her tuition fees for online courses she was taking.

  Thanks to her previous profession, the ex-assassin had recognized Erin immediately and decided to have some fun at the redhead’s expense. While she was certain she knew what the disguised assassin had come there to accomplish, Zena had decided against telling anyone about her. Not only did she not care about Golorath, but she knew that if she failed to prove Erin’s identity, she would be signing her own death warrant. Instead, she decided to take part on some petty bullying, so she could get back at the redhead for the humiliation she had suffered.

  “Hey, newbie!” Zena called out to Erin, causing the redhead to slowly turn to glare at her. “We need more dragon eggs! Why don’t you quit being so useless and go get us some!?”

  “...Go screw yourself,” Erin said through gritted teeth.

  “Excuse me?” the ex-assassin asked smugly. “Mind repeating that? I didn’t quite catch it.”

  “I SAID GO SCREW YOURSELF!” the redhead yelled, her anger finally exploding. “Do you think I have the time to wipe the asses of everybody around here!? No! Instead of telling me to do it, why don’t you start being useful for once and go get whatever it is you need yourself!? Can’t be that damn hard!”

  “Hey! Hey! Woah! Chill out!” Zena quickly said. “Look, I’m sorry for messing with you, but it wasn’t anything serious, okay? It was just a bit of payback for… You know…”

  “Know what?” Erin asked with a raised eyebrow.

  “Oh, you know… Back when we first met?” the ex-assassin asked, when a sudden thought came to her head. “Unless… You don’t remember?”

  “Remember what? YOU? Not really!” the redhead said. “All I know is that you’re just another asshole trying to make my life hell for your own sick amusement and that’s it! Do I even need to know anything else!?”

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  The fact that Erin didn’t remember Zena was a huge blow to the former assassin. Throughout her whole career, she had always been ignored or looked down upon by her colleagues and superiors, so to getting the same treatment from her targets was even worse. They should have feared her or at least been wary of her, not completely forget about her existence.

  “I… I see,” Zena said as she slowly turned around and walked back to her work station. “Never mind then… I’ll just get back to work…”

  The ex-assassin got back to chopping ingredients, but was accidentally doing a bit more than just that.

  “HEY! Watch what you’re doing!” one of the other cooks shouted at Zena. “Don’t get your tears and snot mixed in Lord Golorath’s food!”

  Despite being confused over the actions of the cook who claimed they had met, Erin simply shrugged it off as a weird coincidence and focused on her own work. For some time, she handled the tasks given to her, whether it was cooking, preparing ingredients or just washing dishes. No matter what the task was, she did it as quickly and effectively as possible, before moving on to the next one, while waiting for her opportunity to sneak out and continue her actual mission.

  That opportunity seemed to present itself, when one of the head chefs suddenly collapsed out of sheer exhaustion, having worked several days with almost no rest. With such an integral part of the kitchen’s chain of command down, panic erupted in the kitchen, as the staff tried to find someone to replace their fallen commander. This was easier said than done, though, as no one wanted to take up such a position. While most people would jump at the opportunity to get a much better salary and professional standing, the unfortunate fact was that Golorath wouldn’t take kindly to any type of mistakes, no matter how small. Whether something was overcooked, undercooked or just not done exactly to his tastes, severe punishment would fall upon the ones he deemed responsible. Whether that included the whole kitchen staff or just specific people, one disturbing fact was always present. The ones in charge would be the first ones on the chopping block.

  Thanks to the commotion caused by one of the head chefs going down, Erin finally had her chance to sneak out. While no one was looking, she simply walked up to the door and got out. Once out, she followed the instructions on the map and got to the room that Rayleen’s insider had taken their equipment to. It didn’t take long for the redhead to be all suited up in her regular clothes.

  “Alright, time to go get the others!” Erin said to herself, before glancing at the others’ gear that was still left. “I should probably take this with me to them. The sooner we all get ready, the better we are to taking down Gabe.”

  Grabbing hold of the packs that held her companions’ clothes and equipment, the redhead lifted them over her back and began to walk towards the place she would meet the others. However, this was easier said than done, as the accumulated weight of numerous weapons and other things was quite the heavy task to take on, and she almost fell over right away.

  “Maybe I overestimated my own strength a bit,” Erin mumbled to herself as she began to slowly walk towards the place she would meet the others at. “How does Durge use something this heavy with such ease? I can feel my back breaking just trying to carry the damn thing…”

  It took some time and a lot of effort, not to mention using her stealth skills to their absolute best, but the redhead managed to get to the meeting point where her companions were. This was the break room of the storage area. The others had managed to get in there while disguised as workers. They had fake IDs, but due to how hectic everything was, there was practically no need for them as the guards were too busy making sure that everything was done correctly for Golorath’s feast. It wasn’t always the kitchen staff that got punished for mistakes, after all.

  “Hey, look who it is!” Ryle said with a grin after seeing Erin walk into the room they were in. “You sure took your sweet time, but I knew you would make it! Unlike some others around here, I had faith in you!”

  “Sorry that I didn’t get here right away. The kitchen is one hellhole right now and they weren’t just going to let me skip out all of a sudden,” the redhead said. “Hang on… Are you saying some of you guys were having doubts about me!?”

  “It’s not that I had doubts! It was more like worry!” Lexton quickly said. “I mean, we had to wait quite some time for you to come around, so it was only natural for at least some of us to get worried that you had been caught or something!”

  “Usually when people worry about others, they don’t use words like “moron” or “idiot” when talking about them,” Ryle said with a slight grin, enjoying the fact she was putting the kobold in an awkward spot.

  “What the hell, Lex!?” Erin asked angrily. “I actually did everything I could to get here, while carrying all this junk on me, which has probably messed up my back beyond repair, and you have the nerve to talk shit about me!?”

  “THAT’S NOT WHAT I DID!” Lexton shouted while shooting a quick glare at Ryle, who was snickering. “While I will admit that I had my… worries and that I might have expressed them rather harshly, I never used those words in regards to you!”

  “Yeah, that was me!” Zeldana said. “I’d say I have more than enough reasons to think of her as a moron, so I don’t see what the problem is!”

  “Glad to see you’re as supportive and kind as ever,” Erin said sarcastically. “Seriously, was Ryle the only one who had faith in me?”

  “I was certain you would come!” Arkay quickly said.

  “Of course you did, Arnie,” the redhead said with a smile as she gently patted the cat boy’s head. “I can always count on you to have my back.”

  “...While I suppose it’s not good enough, I wasn’t expressing any serious doubt, but neither was I showing all that much faith either,” Durge said somewhat awkwardly. “Don’t get me wrong. I know I can trust you to do everything you can for our missions, but I feared the challenge might be a bit too much this time and anything can happen on the battlefield. Still, that doesn’t excuse me for not being more trusting towards you. I apologize for that.”

  “No need for that, Durge. I get that you’re just being realistic,” Erin said with a sigh. “The only thing I’d like you to do now is grab your weapon. I’m tired of carrying it around.”

  “That’s honestly the most surprising thing. The fact that you managed to actually carry it,” the orc said. “This wasn’t exactly made with the idea that just about anybody could wield it, after all.”

  As Durge went to take his weapon back from the redhead, he noticed that she was staring at him. Or more precisely, a his chest.

  Due to being concerned about getting to her friends in time with their equipment, Erin hadn’t taken notice of the fact that her companions were all in the disguises they had when she first reunited with them in the city. This of course meant that Durge was disguised as a woman still, which included his fake breasts that the redhead was staring at. Even though he knew that they were not real, the orc was starting to feel uncomfortable from the continued staring he was receiving.

  “W-What? You knew about them already, didn’t you?” Durge asked with an embarrassed blush on his face. “Are they really that much of a-?”

  The orc was cut off by Erin suddenly squeezing his chest without any warning. The others stared at the redhead with wide eyes in shock over what she had just done.

  “ERIN, WHAT THE HELL!?” Durge shouted out of shock and moved to cover his chest, which he quickly stopped doing after realizing how needless it was. “Why did you suddenly do that!?”

  “Sorry! Sorry! I just couldn’t help myself!” the redhead apologized. “It’s just that I can’t get over how real those things looked and wanted to see if they felt real as well. Seriously, Lex, how the hell did you do that?”

  “Oh, it’s just a matter of finding the right materials to use. That’s all,” the kobold replied. “Once you’re as smart as me, you can easily figure these things out.”

  “Even how it feels? That’s not something you can just figure out through text books and such, is it?” Erin asked. “I mean, if I didn’t know any better, I’d say these were the real deal! Don’t you need some kind of a reference at least?”

  “Yeah, now that you mention it, how were you able to get that?” Ryle asked. “Did you go groping women or something?”

  “I’ve had my experiences in that area. All consenting, obviously,” Lexton replied nonchalantly, only to receive shocked looks from the others. “What’s with that reaction?”

  “Well… I don’t mean to be rude or anything, but… You just don’t seem the type to get into such situations,” Erin said awkwardly.

  “And just what do you mean by that?” the kobold asked with a glare.

  “Yeah, I’m not gonna beat around the bush with this one!” Ryle said as she stepped up. “Look, you’re the least desirable guy I could think of. You’re arrogant, self-centered, scummy as all hell and have the most disturbing interests ever. The idea that any woman would want to talk to you, let alone kiss you, is crazy.”

  “Ryle!” Erin shouted, angered by her friend’s rudeness, before turning back to Lexton. “I’m sorry, Lex! She shouldn’t have said it like that!”

  “You know, when you say “said it like that” it implies that you agree with her point and just wanted to say more politely,” the kobold said as he shook his head in mild frustration. “Although, why should I be offended by what she said when I can easily prove her wrong?”

  “Uhh… What?” Erin asked.

  Lexton didn’t reply in words. Instead, he pulled something out of his jacket that looked like wallet that then unfurled to reveal numerous pictures. When the others saw the pictures, they all had different reactions. Erin’s eyes went wide as her face turned red and she was left speechless. Ryle had an expression that was a mixture of horror and disbelief. Arkay’s whole face went as red as a tomato before he covered it with his hands. Durge went wide-eyed as he felt his respect towards Lexton rise all of a sudden. Zeldana let out a small whistle while nodding approvingly.

  “I guess that settles it then,” Lexton said smugly, as he put the pictures back into his jacket. “Now how about we get back to work then?”

  As the kobold went on to prepare himself, the others were left talking among themselves.

  “I… never would have imagined that Lex could do something like that,” Erin said. “I have really misjudged and underestimated him.”

  “It just makes no sense… Just… HOW?” Ryle asked in disbelief. “Have I gone insane or is it the world that has gone mad?”

  “I don’t see what the big deal is. The guy just showed that he has game,” Zeldana said with a shrug. “Even I’m really impressed.”

  “Hey! What are you mumbling about over there!?” Lexton called out to the others. “Let’s get going already!”

  Deciding to put the distracting thoughts away for now, the group got ready and went on to fulfill their mission.