The Forgotten Hero (OC x Fate) [Hiatus]

Arc 1 | Chapter 5 | Cheff

Akio was at a loss for words. Was the world joking?

He couldn't tell. He stared at the girl in front of him looking happy at her introduction. She smiled and swung her feet back and forth. The child in front of him was King Arthur, which seemed insane to think about. To make things worse, the supposed king was a woman. What made the most sense to Akio was that she hid her gender using Merlin's magecraft.

"I introduced myself as Arthur because Sir Hector is raising me as his son. I kind of got used to it." Artoria looked up at the ceiling and then at the walls. It was like she was expecting some kind of magic trick to happen. "Are your walls going to expand? Merlin could make the inside of a house look like the outside."

Akio paid no heed to her question, and asked one of his own, "Why did you reveal your secret like that? You don't know who I am." They had just met, and she told him one of her most confidential secrets. Artoria stared into Akio's eyes and smiled.

"Fairies don't lie." She said smiling. Akio put a hand on his forehead, had he not just told her he was not a fairy? Shaking his head, he looked at Artoria.

"I am not a Fairy. I thought I told you." Akio tried explaining the difference again, but Artoria didn't seem to care. Her gaze fixated on Akio.

In all of his years working as an enforcer, Akio never had eyes like that. Her gaze was something unknown to him. He took a deep breath and sighed. It felt like she was seeing through his soul, gazing at and measuring him. "I can tell you secrets. I don't think that'll get me in trouble."

"You shouldn't tell others your secrets like that. Not ever." Akio warned her. Knowing she'd be king of Britain in the future made him worry quite a bit. She just casually told others her deepest secret because she believed in the good of people. She wouldn't last, surely someone would take advantage of her kindness in the future.

A loud growl took Akio off his thoughts. He looked at the only other person in the room and shook his head, "Coming here without eating anything? Quite reckless." The girl's face turned a pigment of red. She scratched the back of her head bashfully.

"S-sorry, I came here in a rush and didn't eat lunch..." She apologized and nervously laughed. Akio moved to a small empty space in the house and created a desk using Alchemy. He looked outside, it was getting late for lunch. Quickly grabbing a marble, he crushed it.

The magical container showed from within, a large deer corpse. Akio projected a simple kitchen knife. He was a good cook, he had to be. His adoptive grandfather spent most of his time in a place beyond space-time, which meant Akio couldn't easily reach him, leaving him alone inside his house. It was pick up cooking or eat stale bread, and Akio preferred nutritional meals. He used a lot of the materials he had gotten and processed using alchemy to form spices – other magi would turn in their graves at such action. To use alchemy to create modern spices and for cooking was probably something a Noble magus couldn't think of doing.

He tried not to make anything extremely fancy and intricate. Akio wasn't sure if cooking had evolved at all in the era he was in, but surely elaborate modern plates would earn raised eyebrows and bring up unnecessary questions.

Artoria's stomach growled while he cooked, and when he was done, he presented the food in front of her. Her mouth watered as she drooled from the corner of her mouth. "It smells delicious." Her comment brought a small smile to Akio's face. He could appreciate the compliment. It was a simple deer steak dish, so he didn't think the compliment was that warranted.

He wasn't the greatest when it came to western food, preferring Japanese overall, but cooking was still not that bad. He merely started cutting his steak when Artoria put her plate forward with a smile. Her stomach was still growling, and she looked uncomfortable. His smile would fade away back into seriousness.