Ilmarinen, who woke up early, was walking towards his job. He would always arrive early, he didn't talk much, but Ilmarinen would always help with leftovers of the guys who worked on the night shift. His job? A waiter. And sometimes he washes the dishes, probably the favorite part for him.
Listening to music on his earphones, randomly selected by the app on his phone, he walked through the streets. Ilmarinen normally took different routes to work, because it was close to his house, and he liked to explore more of the city and the stores on the streets. The tall buildings of city were kind of far from where he lived, so all of the stores were at ground level, having no more than 2 or 3 levels.
It didn't take much after he reached his destination. It was a tavern-like bar, with rustic characteristics, like a medieval building. The owner? A dwarf. Yeah, like the legends and games. Not really that uncommon to see around these days. The outherworldy races have human characteristics, so they blended in quite well.
"I'm here." Ilmarinen said as he walked in, going straight to the kitchen. He wouldn't change to his work clothes right now because it would still take sometime until it openned. "Early again, Ilmarinen? You really like to work, don't ya?" The dwarf said as he looked at Ilmarinen passing in front of him while he was sitting down on a random table. He wasn't much taller than 1.40m, with a big brown hair and beard. He was actually wearing a suit, even though he had such a sturdy body, with his hair tied up and beard was almost shinning clean. Ilmarinen pondered how does he keep a rustic-like bar looking like that.
Today, Ilmarinen didn't have to clean any remaining dishes, so he was just going to relax until he decided to change into his uniform. He looked around, seeing the cooking instruments. "Perhaps?" Ilmarinen thought to himself and used his Skill on them. All of them common, so he received 5 XP in total, they really didn't have much of good features, so Ilmarinen, a bit disappointed about his absence of Luck, just let it be and went to were he was before to wait the moment he would change his clothings.
...
Not much time later, Ilmarinen changed into his uniform and went back to the kitchen, where he found himself looking to a tall, not as much as him though, woman, with pointy ears, long blonde hair and white-snow skin, wearing a chef's uniform. Of course, it was the main cook of the restaurant, as well as an elf. Ilmarinen never talked much, but Lyvie, looking on the opposite direction, was talkative and clingy, and Ilmarinen was no exception. Actually, he was Lyvie's main target.
"Ilmarinen~" Lyvie said in a soft voice as she ran in to him to give him a hug. She pressed herself against Ilmarinen, that didn't seem to be too bothered. "I told you not to run like that. We have knifes and hot stuff around." Ilmarinen said as he looked down at her as she slowly left the hug.
"Don't bother too much! I didn't even start to cook yet, the restaurant is closed. Did Yotrot tell you what was the special ingredient for this week?" She asked. Yotrot, the owner, liked to change what was the main component of the dishes every week so the restaurant has some kind of uniqueness. "The old man probably wrote it out on the board, as always." Ilmarinen said as he walked with Lyvie in the direction of the board.
"Squid, huh? That's a new one." Ilmarinen said as he put his hands on his was waist and looked at the elf standing by his side. "Yes~ I like squid-based dishes, actually~" Lyvie said in a lovely voice as she looked on the clock above the board. "We're almost opened, get ready." She said as her tone changed, like a new person. Cooking was the most important thing for her. Lyvie rolled up her sleeves and prepared the cooking instruments to start it.
Ilmarinen, on the other side, went to the restaurant main part and prepared himself to receive the clients. He liked seeing her cooking, which he did when he wasn't needed in the main area, and would probably do it during the week to learn how she cooks. Why? Because Ilmarinen never had a System, so he learned to observe everything and absorb all the knowledge he could, so he would be able to survive doing anything he needed to.
...
It was only a normal day of work. Ilmarinen had now changed into his normal clothes after taking a quick shower on the staff bathroom. He was back in the kitchen. Actually, he could've left some time ago, but Ilmarinen decided to watch Lyvie cook until it was her time to go. The person who was gonna replace her for the night shift got kind of late, so she went to shower just now.
But it didn't take long for her to meet with Ilmarinen. Both of them left together, heading to Lyvie's house. He would always take her home, because Ilmarinen never misses his home. He is going to drink after leaving her at her house, Ilmarinen was doing all of this because they were friends, and there was a convenience store close to her house.
"I saw what you did to those knifes. You can't trick me!" Lyvie said with a grin as she walked side by side with Ilmarinen. "I guess you actually noticed it. Does it give any considerable improvement?" He already knew that she was going to notice it, or, at least, he expected it, but what he was really curious about was to know if they were any good.
"Well, I guess so. It is an Item after all. But that's not what I want to talk about!" Lyvie said pouting, as she felt like Ilmarinen didn't give a shit about what was going on. Well, of course she was wrong, Ilmarinen just doesn't like to be emotional close to other people. "What was it, then?" Ilmarinen said as he looked at her pout. Cute. Although a bit childish for a big woman like her. "You made your system work! You didn't even tell me! I'm so happy for you!" Lyvie said as she jumped to hug him once more for today.
Ilmarinen gave a faint smile as he was being held by her. "Yeah, but it doesn't like me much. I can only make Normal Items, after all. The Attributes on the knife were a bit shit." He said as she stared at him during the hug. She left it and punched him in the arm. "Don't complain about it! It's working, you just have to wait for it to improve." She said a bit angry while crossing her arms and pouting and Ilmarinen laughed hopelessly looked at her pout.
...
Their chit chat didn't last much more. They talked about the squid dishes for the week and some other idle stuff until they reached Lyvie's house. Ilmarinen was now alone and went to buy some booze to drink until he decided to go home. "Will this System ever make me useful, though?" Ilmarinen wondered as he walked through the almost dark streets, as the sun faded away in the sunset.