Chapter Six

When it became the 17th hour, Professor Xander stopped the practice and told me to go home.

"Professor, I have some questions not related to magic." I said testing the waters but he only looked at me and was waiting for me to continue.

I'm just wondering if he would answer questions after the 17th hour. Also, he might not be interested in talking to me if it's not related to magic.

"Is there a way for me to earn money here in the institution?" I asked.

"None. Students here are all noble. The institution can't exactly ask them to work for money." He replied.

Right. They came here to study. What do snotty nobles know how to do anyway? Wait, that means I'm also a snotty noble now.

"Can I come here tomorrow?" I asked because there are no classes tomorrow and most people go back home to their parents. Professor Xander only nodded. 

"Can I bring my maid here?" I asked again. 

"Why?" He asked, sounding a bit annoyed.

"We were trying something new and I needed to be there with her when she did that but I don't want to go back and forth from my room to here just to eat lunch. It's a waste of time." I explained.

"That, trying something new. What is that?" He asked, looking very interested.

"Food. I'll include your share too so can I please bring my maid here?" I asked again.

He lost his interest when I said food but still allowed me to bring Carmella here.

I went back to my room and like always Carmella prepared me some tea and snacks before ordering my meal.

Someone sealed Audrey's magic, why? When did it happen? Are those people related to this? How can one seal someone else's magic anyway? I better do some research also.

After dinner I called Carmella for another strategy meeting. Our goal is to save money and figure out how to earn money. 

First, I gave a list of ingredients I needed Carmella to buy. I decided our menu for tomorrow would be bread, fried egg, bacon for breakfast. Egg soup, grilled fish and vegetables for lunch, and a simple mushroom soup, stir fried vegetables with mash potatoes for dinner. I realized that the only food seasoning available here is salt and pepper.

If I'm mistaken, we discussed earlier in my morning lecture about the uses of herbs. The professor especially discusses the uses of rosemary and thyme. Now that I think about it, she didn't include them as seasonings.

I took the list I gave from Carmella and included those herbs I remembered using.

"Carmella, do you know of a plant that looks like this?" I asked her as I handed her a drawing of a rice stalk.

She stared at it for a long time. 

I know art is not one of my strong points but it looks like rice, you know. You don't need to look that troubled.

"I haven't seen this plant before my lady but I could ask around." She replied after a while.

I hope she finds it. I want to eat rice. Asians need to eat rice. Well, no not all but yeah, we love rice. 

I handed her back the list of things I wanted her to buy and she checked the items again.

"Do we still have enough money to buy these ingredients?" I asked.

"Yes we do, my lady but salt and sugar of good quality are a little more expensive than the other ingredients. Also, are you feeling uncomfortable anywhere?" She suddenly asked.

"No, not really. Why?" I asked.

"There are different herbs listed here. If you are feeling unwell and need these I believe you can ask the healers to give you some." She explained.

"Is that so? Then you don't need to buy those herbs but increase the ingredients for 1 more serving. I foresee an additional person." I told her.

"Also my lady, what is butter and cream?" She asked.

Do they not have butter here? What else don't they have?

"Oh that 's something I read in one of the cookbooks in the library. I forgot that you have to make it yourself. Ah but we need to prepare for it now. We need cow's milk. " I said.

"I believe we can ask that from the kitchen, my lady. How much would you need?" Carmella informed me.

I really would like to thank youtube and all the suggested videos on my feed. All the how-tos videos I've watched to satisfy my curiosity. I never thought I would actually need it someday. 

I explained to Carmella the process of making butter and cream and the things she needed to do tonight. I also gave her a drawing of the tools they used in the video. I told her the tools were from the books also as an excuse.  

Ah, I miss modern society. I want to search for better recipes and other tips. I want to go back home.

I woke up earlier than I would today. I immediately looked for Carmella who was already arranging the things we needed for breakfast in a small kitchen made for us. I must say she works fast. 

Carmella has also reported that she had informed Butler Gervis and Head Maid Criselda about my orders and made contact with some of our former employees while purchasing the ingredients I needed to create soap. 

I gave her the list of processes she can try to create a soap. As much as I wanted to do it myself I can't with my schedule, though I did promise to help when I could. I hope the day where I can bathe with soap is soon.

I approached Carmella who just finished taking out the things she bought for our meal today.

I hope all ends well for our food. I do know how to cook, after all I'm a single lady living by myself but I can't say I'm the best or I know many recipes. 

"Everything's prepared my lady." Carmella said.

"Where's the frying pan?" I asked her.

"What's a frying pan, my lady?" Carmella asked while tilting her head.

Is there no frying pan here? Wait, now that I think about it, most of the food that is served are grilled or are soup.

"Oh, it's a cooking equipment I saw in one of the books. I thought we had them. If there's none, let's just use a small cauldron." I said and Carmella handed me a brand new cauldron.

I started to create fire using firewood Carmella had already prepared. I tried to manipulate the air to make the fire spread faster.

More oxygen bigger fire right? 

After there's a stable fire, I put the cauldron and immediately put the bacon on while lowering the heat of the flames using fire manipulation.

I never thought that cooking is a great way to practice magic but I can't cook and manipulate magic

"Carmella, can you do the cooking while I manipulate the fire? I'll give you the instructions." 

I told her how to fry the pork belly meat I asked to be sliced thinly. After she took out the first three bacon slices, we tasted one of them only for me to realize that I forgot to season them. 

No, I didn't forget. I don't know how the bacon I bought in the grocery store is seasoned. Should I just lather it with salt and pepper? I think it needs to be smoked like smoked bacon with honey in the package they have.

Since I failed at that, we just add salt and pepper to the meat and hope for the best. After we cooked enough bacon slices, I cooked the egg sunny side up style using the oil left by the bacon slices.  

I left the plating to Carmella, while I sliced half of the baguette she bought into smaller sizes to match the bacon and egg.

Once everything was prepared, I told Carmella to join me to eat breakfast. I told her it's alright to eat in the kitchen. There's a small preparation table there. At first Carmella was very reluctant to let me eat there and to eat together but I still ended up convincing her that we both need to give review on the food so it can be improved.

I ate my breakfast with Carmella while giving reviews and points to upgrade in our meal. I told her how the bacon might taste better if we smoked them and she seemed to agree so I'll leave that to her.

After the meal, Carmella helped me wipe my body but I asked her to bring a bigger basin and an empty clean barrel, if she can find one. She brought a basin used for laundry and an unused barrel she recently bought for soap making then I asked her to fill both with water. After that, I told her that I would bathe myself and would call her when I'm going to get dressed. She left the cloth and small basin used for wiping and rose essential oil that the former Audrey liked.

I really can't call this bath but this is the best I can do. I hope this removes the smell of smoke.

All I did was pour water on myself, lather the wiping cloth with the essential oil and use it as soap and hope for the best that it will remove the smokey smell I have on me.

I know I'm pretty or Lady Audrey is pretty with her strawberry blonde hair and green-ish eyes but I don't want to walk around smelling like bacon.

After what felt like an hour, and rubbing my skin and scalp till it turned red. I left the bathroom feeling refreshed and called Carmella to help me dress.

"Carmella, can I ask you to create a list of our expenditures? I need you to write all the items we bought, how much they cost, how many did you buy, how much it is per piece. I want you to make it a daily report." I told her.

I took a pen and a piece of paper and showed her the report I wanted to see. I had created tons of report generating systems that creating a new form like this is relatively easy. I also asked her to create an income statement even if the only income we have is the allowance we received.

I felt sorry for Carmella, I kept on adding tasks on her but she said she didn't mind and was happy to serve. I want to lessen her workload but there are only two of us here and there are a lot of limitations on things that I can do. 

I left the room without Carmella as she still needs to prepare the milk for butter making later, she also needs to prepare the lye water for soap making, and lastly she still needs to prepare the ingredients for today's lunch. We decided to meet at Professor Xander's office by the 10th hour, and it's already the 7th hour now