When I arrived at the back garden, I halted my steps. Raising my right hand, I scratch the back of my head, letting out a sigh.

"I might have overdid it..." He muttered weakly.

The garden of varied, colorful flowers had now reduced to mere debris of what it was before. Stone and dirt were everywhere. With guards from the Dungeon City authority and the knights of Layver family still working around the scene: some were moving the debris, while others were noting something.

Gyllena had reported the incident as terror attacks from an unknown group of people, using the corpses of the cultists as the evidences. I was the one who instructed her to hide the truth, of course. The Dungeon City was not ready yet to face the Abyssal New Gate as a whole.

I hadn’t get that weapon, and ’he’ also hadn’t awakened his Magic. Revealing their existence now would only provoke their Grandmaster to move, which would mean the end of the Dungeon City.

"My mana hadn’t even recovered completely..." I sighed, before approached a big pillar remains and moved it to the side.

While moving debris after debris, my mind drifted back to the time when I was inside Jahreon’s Illusion world. His... My past self’s words echoed inside my mind.

—"But that are their lights. You... You didn’t have a light."

I looked up. Since the sky around here was covered by the City of Sky, what I saw was the lower part of the metallic floating island, or city. But my gaze gone further. "That’s right... But does that even important?"

Shaking my head, I refocused back into the work. I was moving the debris from the morning until the noon. I stopped when Tizmilly entered the back garden with basket of my lunch.

She smiled embarrasedly. "Madam Roost can only made sandwiches for your lunch because she was too busy at the kitchen now, Mr. Roost..."

I washed and wiped my hands before receiving the basket from her. I chuckled. "Why the long face? I likes sandwiches."

After I peeked what was inside the basket, a smile naturally appeared on my face. My mother had used beefs to make them. Since the beefs were from Gyllena, they should be the expensive ones. Which naturally also meant that they would taste good. After all, it was my mother who cooked them.

Tizmilly still looked uncertain. "But the nutritions are too little. The portion will not enough to fill you."

"Tizmilly," I called out, looking at her strangely. "There are five slices inside, you know?"

I opened the cover of the basket and showed her the sandwiches, but Tizmilly still not enough to convince.

"How about... I cook something for you, Mr. Roost?" She asked after thinking for a while.

There are five sandwiches. They would be enough to fill my stomach. At least temporary. My metabolism was faster than normal, after all. So I thought it wouldn’t be bad to had more, so I agreed.

"Okay," I replied, shrugging.

Tizmilly’s brightened immediately. She brought her fists close to her chest in full spirit pose. "Then I will show you how much I had improved after all these weeks!" She stated before rushed back into the mansion, probably returning to the kitchen.

I followed her back until she entered the mansion and took a bite on the sandwich.

"Ah, this is so good!" I exclaimed.

My mother succeeded again with this one. The beef was perfectly cooked, the vegetables are fresh, almost crunchy, all envelloped by the calming and embracing flavor of bread. I ate everything in not time. And you know what? I still wanting more. Good thing Tizmilly would bring more food for me later.

’Was it because of mana exhaustion?’ I thought, wondering why my appetite had increased.

I sat down on a bench, which was one of the benches that were lucky enough to survive the battle. I waited while watching the guards and the knights resting around the garden.

I only had to wait about thirty minutes before Tizmilly brought a plate filled with a bowl of something that smelled familiar. And a cup of juice, plus ice blocks.

She placed the plate beside me enthusiastically.

"May you enjoy the meal~!" She said before she backed off, her eyes staring at me expectantly. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

When I raised the bowl and held the spoon, finally, I knew the reason why it smell familiar to me. What was inside was Mirte Mushroom Soup.

"Why Mirte Mushroom Soup?" Curious, I asked her.

Tizmilly smiled sweetly in response. "It is because I learned it the first. I failed before. You said it tasted like ocean... But worry not. This one is better. I wanted to show you, that I had improved since the day you took me. That I am... No longer the me I was before!"

Determination and hope on her eyes made me wanted to say that she had done a lot. She had became stronger, way, way, stronger compared to before. She also had stopped being pesimistic. If these were not improvement, that what was?

But I knew that complement wouldn’t satisfy her here. She wanted to see my reaction with her own eyes. So I scooped up a spoonful of the soup, and tried it. My taste buds reacted immediately: tasting, and analizing the soup.

I blinked. I smiled. "That’s good," I muttered unconsciously.

Tizmilly immediately perked up. "Really?" She asked, her eyes sparkling.

"Y-yes," I answered, nodding.

Tizmilly’s smile widened, broadened. She threw her hands up in a hype. "Yeayyy!" She shouted out energetically, even started doing little jumps around.

Seeing her being so happy made me feel embarrassed and also happy for her. But the sight of her, the Villainess, jumping around like a kid was just too funny. I suppressed my laughter and took another spoonful of soup. And then another one. And more.

The soup was still pale compared to my mother’s. However, Tizmilly cooked it in the way that strangely could make me addicted to its taste. After I took the first taste of it, I just couldn’t stop myself from taking wanting more.

If my mother’s was a almost perfected masterpiece, then Tizmilly’s was something made out of genuine emotion and hard work. It tasted amazing. Endearing.

The moment I stopped, it was when the cup was empty.

I stunned for a moment, before looking up at her and extending the bowl back to her. "Can I get a second?"I asked her while scratching my cheek.

Tizmilly enthusiastically received the bowl from me and immediately turned toward the mansion again. "I am glad you liked it~!"

After that, I finished two more bowls of Mirte Mushroom Soup cooked by Tizmilly. That made her mood rose off the roof. She looked like she was about to ascend to heaven.

’She must be really happy because she was way better at cooking now, I see.’

I spent the day mostly with moving the debris off and cleaning the back garden. By the time night came, however, we hadn’t even finished even a quarter of it. Without my Magic, it would take too many time.

’I should meditate tonight to hasten the recovery,’ when I thought of that while having a dinner with everyone in the dining hall of the Layver family mansion, Gyllena suddenly looked at me with her solemn face.

"You," she called out, gesturing at me with her chin. "Come at my room after the dinner is over."

"Eh?"

I was taken aback, wondering whether the lady was still mad of me after I destroyed her garden. However, that would be too ridiculous to be true. I thought of it while finishing my dinner, but couldn’t think of anything. Since Gyllena didn’t have that much scene time in the game, I didn’t quite understand about her personality as well as Tizmilly and other main characters like Agraviel. Even my knowledge about Jahreon was more complete than my knowledge about her.

However, since she was my customer, I would at least hear what she wanted to say first. So I visited her room that night. When I arrived before the door, the female Knights positioned there immediately opened the door from both sides for me.

There, inside the room, I faced Gyllena, who was sitting behind her table. A pile of documents were piling before her.

She stopped her job when she noticed me. She raised her head and looked at me. "So you have come, Theo Roost."

I looked around the room, looking at the king-sized bed at the left corner of the room beside the windows, and checking every furnitures arranged around the room before I met her eyes.

"Do you want something from me?" I asked her, placing my hands on my waist. "My lady?"

This time, Gyllena didn’t get angry. She kept staring at me with her solemn face, her eyes narrowing. I felt like she was scanning me. From head, to toes.

"Theo Roost... Who are you actually?"

After a long beat, she threw that question to me.