A shower of snow swirled, engulfing the two figures. And within a breath, they arrived at a rustic stone kitchen. In front of their eyes was an orc in a dusty floral apron, busy testing the soup and managing several baskets of steamed food. There were a bunch of seniors helping her with the kneading, chopping and other food preparations. The kitchen was smelling divine. The snow maiden put Cori down, inched behind the chef and got a whiff of the delicious aroma, "Hmmm.. smells delicious. What's for dinner tonight, Jamie?"
The orc froze in surprise. Her ears perked up and wriggled with ecstasy. She turned around with a look of bewilderment followed by a jovial expression, "Lady Mavia, you are back! What happened? I thought you would be asleep for another year. We have to celebrate your return! Now that you're back. What would you like? And who is this little boy you brought back?"
The snow maiden smiled and give the slightly golden slime a little nudge, "This is Cori, he was the one who restored me back to health."
The orc looked bewildered, astonished that the person who brought the duchess back from her deep slumber was but a slime, "Good heavens, thank the gods. Thank you Cori for bringing Lady Mavia back! You must share with us your deed tonight. Is there any craving Cori? I will try my best to accommodate" The orc asked brushing back her golden brown luscious hair to the sides of her ear. "Any types of roast? Even satay would be nice." Cori replied innocently.
"Satay?" the orc repeated unfamiliar word, "What is 'satay'?"
Cori realised that not all food in his world existed in this world. He simply replied, "Satay is a skewered meat dish that is served with a savoury crunchy nutty sauce. I'm not picky, I'm sure anything you make will be lovely." Lady Mavia added on, "Yes Jamie, whatever you made will be fine." "As you wish Lady Mavia." smiled Jamie with a lingering thought on her mind- "What is satay?"
The two of them floated and bounced their way to the dinning hall only to witness a bunch of instructors huddled under the round table eating grapes. "What are you guys doing?" she asked. The instructors stunned when they saw the duchess. Before each of them could even finish eating grapes, the snow maiden used telekinesis and sat them at their respected seats. Everyone groaned at the same time for failing to finish the grapes. The snow maiden puzzled asked, "What's wrong, why are you all underneath the table eating grapes?" Marvyn replied with a smile, "Nothing wrong my lady, there was just an earthquake we were having some fruits so we hid under the table." He give a wink to Cori who had a slight inkling. The rest of the crew were confused except for Cloud and Marvyn.
The lady looked at Cori and decided to ignore the whole fiasco, "We have a distinguished guest today. Let's conduct ourselves properly." "My lady, how did you consolidate your magic to break out of slumber?" Bodicea asked. "Did he do something? Is he not one of our trainee?" Ivy followed up on Bodicea's question.
Meanwhile another conversation was happening on Cori's end, with Aspery inspecting Cori, "Ooo who made that bag for you? Isn't this that famous brand? Where did you get it?" Hannah took a good look at Cori and sniffed at him, "You smell familiar... do you happened to be at the crime scene today?" Cori tried his best to lead the conversation by introducing himself before answering any questions, "Erm hi I'm Cory. I'm 30 days old from the Wind Forest."
Annoyed by the rowdiness, the lady shushed the excited trainers,"Shhhh! Quiet!" She took a deep breath and recomposed herself, "Our dear trainee brought me back from slumber and was recognised by the artefact as a trainee of Hall 777."
"The watcher hall?" Marvyn asked. The snow maiden continued, "Yes, the rumoured watcher hall or possible the second noel." "Him? This little fella? How?" Ivy pointed at Cori, almost spewing out her wine. The duchess nodded.
"Kareem do you have any idea of Hall 777 trainees? What were they supposed to do?" Marvyn asked. "It's been eon! I can't even remember what I had this morning!" Kareem scoffed, "And you expect me to remember some ancient history?" "You lazy lizard", thought Marvyn as he laughed it off plotting a divine punishment, "I guess we have to rely on ancient relics." The dwarf added, "Maybe the queen could help, her library is vast. I am sure she would have an idea as the successor of Alkydrich." "You must simply share what you did Cori." Ivy said in enthusiasm.
"Food is ready!" Jamie announced as her helpers brought out dishes of food. There were sweet roasted pork, roasted turkey with stuffings, crystal skin purple-lobster dumpling, pan fried boar dumplings, chestnut salted meat, salted egg yolk buns, custard tarts, beancurd tarts, deep fried quails and black lotus leaf rice. The trainees also brought out pots of chrysanthemum tea for each of them. "Beer! give me beer!" Ivy shouted. Jamie laughed heartily, "Bring the beers too! I have prepared dim sums for everyone tonight. There will be more food coming." Cori was surprised that there was dim sum in this world, he took a bite out of the har gau. "Wow this is the best crystal skin dumpling I ever had!" The rest of the trainers looked at Cori in surprised. They had never seen a slime used utensils before and never had they seen one with paws too.
"Furry." Cloud blurted out. Bodicea disagreed and pointed out, "No, beast-kin." Cloud knocked on Bodicea's head, "Beast-kin comes from furry." "Oh! haha!" Bodicea laughed awkwardly.
The snow maiden smiled at Cori tenderly and said, "Told you you're in for a treat tonight."
Cori happily munched on the drunkard beggar chicken gleaming a golden sheen of happiness.