chapter 4

it took some time before they reached their destination, and on the way, he got to know the chore boy, he was a chatterbox so Arowen tried to squeeze him as dry as possible and learned a lot about the base and the people in it

"There are a lot of chore boys in the base, and I was one of the few that got selected to work outside in the base, I am amazing ..."

"also there, are a lot of roles for us, you know, without us the base wouldn't function, no no not at all, we play a vital role you know, there is cleaning, cooking, moving supplies and ...."

"those seamen they think they are better than us, they were all chore boys at some point you know..."

"all those seamen do is training all day, eating, and shitting, they are useless..."

"you know you should be careful of that guy ... and ..."

and the one-sided conversation was going all the way till they got to the base, he really didn't know when to stop, the guy could speak for hours, if Arowen wasn't learning from him about the base he would have told him to shut the f*uck up already

but as they reached the base he was finally free from him as he passed the letter to the guard, told him why I am here and went back to the city

"welcome! young man into the marine, best choice you will ever make" the guard said ad then guided me to a building inside the base, which had the sign "Warehouse", inside the guard moves to a room which read "Commander Tusel", knocked and when the affirmation came he went inside and made a salute while saying

"Commander tusel sir, I have come with a new recruit" Arowen copied his salute, and watched in the back as the guard passed the letter to the commander, who read it after saying to the guard in a lazy voice

"you can dispose"

"yes sir" salutes again and leave

the commander then turns towards Arowen and said

"hmm! so a new recruit, and a cook at that, you look weak, and information lacking, so are good at it, cooking?"

Arowen was still in the salute, a little nervous and tense, the commander spoke lightly and lazily but Arowen didn't dare underestimate him, he was a commander after all, and in the marines, your position reflects your power, he didn't want to make a bad impression on the second in command of this base

"sir, while I can't say I am the best, I can some delicious meals"

"hmm! then I look forward to it, the base doesn't currently have a cook, he died last week, and his helpers weren't of much help to make our meal palatable"

he then grabbed something out of his desk, it turned out to be a big snail

'is that a denden mushi?!!' Arowen was clearly surprised by the iconic strange creature of the one piece world

"bere bere bere ..." the snail ringed twice and then someone picked up

"yes commander tulse"

"come to my office, I've got some work for you"

"right away sir" came as a reply and 20 seconds later someone knocked the door entered and did a salute

"bring this guy, to the storage to get his uniform and then show him to his dorm and him on a tour, he is the new cook, so show him the kitchen as well, now go"

the new guy made a salute and he copied him, then he told him to follow, and then we went on their way, the new guy didn't really talk that much he was silent until they reached the storage facility which was in the same building but a different door, there they took two sets of uniform, training outfit and a badge

"This will be your uniform, you are to wear it at all times, this the training uniform that you have to wear during the morning and afternoon drills, and the badge is your id to move in the base, it also shows your rank"

then they moved to another building that was a little far, the building was very large and it seems that they reached the residential area, they got into a building where he will be sleeping with a hundred dudes or more

'argh! fucking hell! what a man does for power *sigh*'

then for the rest of the tour, he showed him the training field, the showers, some other facilities, and finally to the dining hall, where the kitchen was, once inside he introduce him to the guys there who were already busy making lunch

"ATTENTION EVERYONE!" and the 5 guys inside turned towards them "this is the new cook, he will be responsible for you guys from now, be careful to listen to his instructions"

"geez! our food isn't that bad, making us seem so bad" one of the guys said and the others agreed with him

"hmm! you call that food?! might as well drink water" after that he left me with them, the first time he showed emotion during all the morning while accompanying me was about the food these guys made

"Hello, guys! I am Arowen nice to meet you, I hope we can have a good time working together" he said to them in a friendly way and finishing it with a big smile

Arowen was really trying to build up a good relationship with these guys, they are going to work together, after all, so he went directly to befriend them and get close to them, he was always good socially before this fiasco happened, he knew what people wanted most of the time and could integrate into any group, at school and later uni, he had friends in the geeks, the sports guys, the studious people, the bitch group, the otakus, you name them all he could get into their social circle, so he found it easy to get close to these guys immediately

he got to know their names, their story and much more during the time they were preparing lunch, he didn't even tell them what to cook, but only oversaw their work and gave them suggestions

"i think if you add a little salt and cummin they will taste better..."

"mmm! this taste good, a little salty, more water would be just perfect ..."

and it went on like that, as they were cooking, he tried to make suggestions gently, mixing them with praise and jokes, and without even feeling it the other guys were warming up to the new boss around the kitchen, and time quickly went by as they finished cooking and it was lunchtime, the food was served in the large dining hall, the dining hall was filled, the tables were positioned in a hierarchic way, the highest brass had their tables elevated, and then the middle-class officers and finally the fodder which includes the chore boys the seamen and the officers, the closer to the high podium they are the higher their rank,

the response was immediate, from the crowd, it was clear to them that the quality of their meals went up by a notch, what do you expect from someone who had lived by the standard of modern cuisine