Being the Former Archon's Live-in Cook

Act 5

After a week of settling in Furina's home, you had gotten used in how things operated around here. The unembellished and simple walk-throughs of going into the kitchen from your room already becoming second-nature at this point. Discarding effluvium should you encounter them in strange spots around the abode, juggling tasks of which did not feel comfortable right away but have sprung the more you hung around the kitchen in alignment to Furina's awakening patterns in the mornings. These have all been hardwired into your memory and you've gotten used to them already. You didn't need to write them down seeing as you were more focused in doing a good job. You were pretty flexible with it in a way that you could even hold down your job at Café Lutece around the afternoons as you negotiated with your other boss there. Life seemed to be good thus far.

That one morning in the kitchen proved to be different this time around. Furina's groggy footsteps entered the living room, a small white envelope stamped inside one of her hands as she ambulated with a sleepy yet pompous energy, groaning with a mix of contentment and tiredness. Rubbing her eyes, you couldn't help but observe her entering the room dressed in such informal sleeping wear, wearing a baggy white shirt that covered half of her arm and shorts that weren't visible due to the size of her upper wear. For such an individual who had whimsical taste in clothing, you assumed her wardrobe adorned the best of the best. At least, in her eyes, that would be a fitting statement. 

How could she not look that way after spending an all-nighter refurbishing a manuscript she was persistently fixing? Your words of concern that evening had no chance to penetrate through her barrier of sheer focus. And this was the result. In all this time you've been in her home, you've seen lots of different expressions on her face. Happy, sad, angry, and how she'd be delighted every time she partook in the food you cooked. You hoped those two previous emotions wouldn't be on her face so much. You really enjoyed her smiling most of the time. 

"Y/N, Neuv told me to give you this but I forgot to last night. Here." She was basically tired to the point she'd omitted letters pertaining to the pinnacle of justice in this nation. Handing it out to you, she scratched the back of her head, a loud yawn coming out of her mouth as you stop stirring the special and exclusive soup you've been cooking with a ladle and grab it gently away from her hands, the crinkle of the paper resounded in the air and you think to yourself that this could've been the first check you've ever received that was grander than any other line of work that paid you. 

Opening it, you see the familiar letters scribbled in there that urged you to fill in the details. The amount of Mora written on it would be proof you could receive it legally, coming from a person of high standing. 

"Five hundred thousand Mora... For just one week?" If it was this high, perhaps the Iudex really desired you to remain in this position. Forever, possibly. That made you shiver but you didn't take this too personally. At the end of the day, working entailed money. And you just received six-digits faster than the years of work you did when you first started out at the age of fifteen. "What am I going to buy with this... Huh..."

You could see the Salon Solitaire gang, Furina's minions infused with Hydro, cleaning up the interiors of the house, minding their own business as they don't disturb you. You remember the first time Mademoiselle Crabaletta appearing in your room as you awoke in the middle of the night. Thinking it was an intruder, you sprinted to the kitchen with a terrified squeal, equipping yourself with a frying pan to lay waste on this potentially crazed criminal; only to find out it was a crustacean. Until now, you still think your fighting stance was comical. 

"You can use it to buy more clothes and maybe invest. I don't want you confining yourself in my house all the time."

"I don't. I have another job too, you know?"