-So, I take it, you have been fairly stressed recently.

Avian momentarily stopped eating as he couldn’t help but stop after hearing what Gustave just said, but after a few seconds later he continued eating like nothing happened as he didn’t bat an eye while Gustave observed Avian who ate like a horse devouring the steak he had just cooked for him.

Watching him eat, Gustave couldn’t help but be reminded of their first meeting.

Having gone through a long training session, Avian was extremely hungry and wanted to eat something good, usually he would just tell the servant that he was hungry and tell him what he wanted to eat, but that day the servant wasn’t present as most of the servants were preparing for a different event that needed their attention.

Having no other choice Avian went to look for the kitchen to directly request something himself, which is where he encountered Gustave the Royal chef.

Castle Redria had many chefs who cooked almost 24/7, among those chefs Gustave was the greatest and their head chef personally cooking for the king himself while guiding all the other chefs.

Avian’s first impression of Gustave was that he looked more like a buff warrior then a chef, his chef’s garb was bursting and could barely hold the muscles Gustave had under his attire, but at the same time there was also a sort of gentle tranquility about him that didn’t quite mix with his body.

Avian was curious about it seeing that Gustave was alone in the kitchen cooking something he went in and looked at what he was cooking up, smelling the dish as it was delectable from the one whiff he took.

Gustave not noticing that Avian had come in was fully concentrated on what he was doing, opening the lid of his boiling pot he took a small dish with a ladle to pour the soup onto the dish before taking a sip and making a pondering expression seemingly not satisfied about something.

-What am I lacking?

He asked himself, Avian overhearing him as he looked at the pot standing right beside Gustave who had immediately gone into his mind thinking intensely about something.

Feeling hungry and curious Avian decided to have taste without even asking Gustave or alerting him of his presence, usually Avian wasn’t as careless or as direct as he was then, but when it came to food Avian would usually always eat first before speaking, repeating Gustave’s previous action he took a small dish and poured a bit of soup in it for taste.

Feeling the familiar taste of the soup, but also slightly different, Avian immediately realized what was lacking before speaking.

-Hmm, it lacks something bitter…hey chef! Do you have some celery here?

-Huh? Ah! What?! Who are you! What are you doing here?!

Finally noticing Avian’s presence Gustave was immediately shocked as he jumped away like a scared cat making him look comical as he stared at Avian in shock with his shaking mustache.

Not minding him, Avian decided to look for the celery himself, knowing that maybe this world didn’t have something like celery he went to what seemed like the ingredient storage room and started to individual taste small bits of each vegetable or fruit to find something similar to celery.

All this while Gustave was shocked and unsure of what to do, but after seeing Avian walk into the ingredient storage room he immediately was worried as he couldn’t have anyone sabotage that place as all their ingredients were inside with which they cooked.

Really, Gustave should have went in and given Avian the intrude a harsh lesson with his muscles, but unexpectedly Gustave was not a violent person or even a fighter, he could fight if he was forced to but for the most part Gustave was a cowardly man who rather not fight if he didn’t have to which is why he thought about calling the guards to let them deal with this, but just as he was about to do so, Avian had come out of the ingredient room holding what Gustave recognized as red bitter roots which was mostly used as a garnish then an actual ingredient.

He watched in horror as Avian went back to the pot of soup he had been painstakingly cooking for the past 12 hours for the event that was going to happen as he put an entire 2 red bitter roots into the pot, Gustave felt as if his whole world fell apart when he saw that, his legs momentarily not following his actual thoughts as he ran to the pot shouting.

-WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!

Avian seemingly not listening to him simply stirred the pot seeing Gustave approach he immediately raised the ladle pointing it at Gustave as soon as he was close enough making him stop in shock before saying.

-Don’t. move.

Avian’s words were more than a bit cold making Gustave’s back feel cold as he couldn’t help but comply before asking in a shaking voice.

-W..What do you MEAN?!

Gustave asked, but Avian didn’t answer and simply waited for the soup to cook the roots, Gustave still not one to fight just waited as he was told, getting more nervous by the second.

He watched as the soup he worked so hard at was seemingly being ruined by this random child he had never seen before.

Gustave already felt an headache incoming as he imagined doing the soup all over again, but as 20 minutes passed and Avian felt it was ready, he took a small dish and ladled a bit of soup onto it tasting it with a satisfied grin before giving it to Gustave who looked incredulous as he accepted the small dish with the soup in it.

-What is this?! Do you expect me to drink this! Don’t joke around kid!

-Just. Drink.

Again hearing those cold words, Gustave frowned deeply with a bit of sweat as he already labeled the kid more than a bit strange, he really didn’t want to drink that, but between feeling the cold stare of the boy who seemed intimidating for some reason and the surprisingly good smell of the soup he finally decided to just get it over with as he gulped the soup down his throat not bother about tasting it too much.

And as he did Gustave’s eye couldn’t help but bulge as he didn’t expect the taste he was experiencing.

-This..this…its exactly what was missing !?

Finally understanding, Gustave looked at Avian as if he couldn’t believe his eyes, in turn Avian simply nodded his head as he was satisfied with the chef’s reaction.

Since then they quickly became close acquaintances as they interacted with each other.

Both of them being food enthusiasts it didn’t take long for them talk frankly with each other, while Avian gave Gustave a few more ideas when it came to cooking being very experienced himself while in return getting Gustave to cook for him personally.

All his previous meals were actually cooked by one of the many other chefs in the castle, the meals weren’t bad per say, but if he had the choice of getting better food Avian would always take the better option guaranteed.

Their relationship continued like this over the course of the year, and while they rarely ever talked about anything but food, Gustave quickly came to understand Avian to a certain degree as they talked even if he didn’t know anything about him other than him being one of the young heroes who would save them from the demons.

For one Gustave came to understand that Avian would always eat a lot whenever he was stressed, the so called stress eating, the only thing was Avian didn’t get fat as people who do something like that, likely because Avian burned more calories per day then he actually consumed which was a lot, sort of reminding Gustave of a few high-functioning alcoholics he knew who did the same thing making Avian a type of a high-functioning glutton if he really went by that logic.

Regardless of his silly ideas, he understood that Avian seemed to be under pressure lately with the way he ate, while Gustave didn’t know about his training, he did know about what it took to digest and burn off as much food as Avian was eating, any normal person by now would be as round as a ball if he or she ate like Avian while Avian himself stayed his regular build only growing more muscle each day while his hands looked rougher by the day.

Honestly Gustave wanted to somewhat help Avian and alleviated his stress, he had helped him after all giving him all the ideas for the dishes he was making, and while he was cooking for Avian he didn’t think it was nearly enough, but Avian was always very distant, not disclosing much or talking about himself a lot, he looked social and could talk well but that was it, he didn’t know much else which is why he decided to be a bit more direct.

But still Gustave expected Avian to not respond, or just change the topic, which is why he was surprised as Avian suddenly spoke.

-I…I think I will leave soon.

-Wha…leave? You mean to the Royal Academy? Well you sure will, but you can still come to the castle to visit me, we could also meet up in a tavern I know, actually that place has some really good pork dish to die for! The owner is also a friend of mine, I am sure you will like him since we are similar! Hahahaha!

Gustave laughed, not understanding the underlying tone Avian used with his words.

Avian too didn’t bother to correct him as he simply continued to eat while Gustave talked to keep the conversation going.

Avian originally just came to eat, this castle to him wasn’t a place he was comfortable in, but unexpectedly he had found someone who he felt was familiar, calling him a friend was something Avian would never say as he scarcely believed in the concept of friends, but if he had to say who Gustave was.

Then yes maybe he was a friend.

Avian swallowed his steak, feeling time ticking ever so closely and soon enough a letter came to his room, send by the king for an official order as he was called to a private room to meet a representative.

Avian quickly understood that time had come, he got up in the middle of night heading towards the meeting location.

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