Morning Delivery

"Wake up!"

In an instant, I was jolted from my sleep as Kelly yelled right into my ear. After the initial shock of being woken up, my eyes glanced to the nearby window on the wall. It peered out into another alley, but sunlight still streamed in.

"Come on, get up. We need to prepare for work today. It might not be super busy, but I do get customers, even this early."

"Okay, I'm up."

I picked myself up and off of the semi-confortavpe bed, and stretched my arms high into the air. After that, I followed Kelly, who motioned me to follow her out of the back room and into the kitchen.

"Alright, to start the day, we wait for a delivery wagon to drop off our daily ingredients. I don't have magic to keep them fresh for longer than a day, so this will be a daily task. By the way, you wouldn't happen to have magic, would you?"

"No, I do not have magic. If I did, I probably wouldn't be homeless."

I already promised myself to avoid using magic unless absolutely necessary, so this lie should be fine.

"Yeah, I understand that. Magic is fairly rare after all, and those who have magic usually take up jobs as adventurers and make fortunes. Man, if I had magic, I'd save up enough money from requests and buy a nicer building for my cafe. Even if being an adventurer can bring you fame and fortune, I love cooking, even more than I loved screwing around when I was younger."

"Screwing around? What do you mean by that?"

"Oh, well when I was kid, I got in with a bad group of people and did bad things to stay alive, but I eventually saved up enough money and bought this piece of dump and started my cafe."

"Hmm."

Well, I can definitely see it. She did give me a test that would require brute strength to finish, she does have an outfit that you would find the stereotypical tough person wear, and she does talk the same way you would imagine a stereotypical too gh person would talk. She fits the bill in all aspects.

As I was lost in thought, I was pulled out of it by the sound of a wagon rolling in the alley just outside the cafe. I couldn't hear any hoofprints from a horse, but I could hear heavy steps. I guess someone was pulling that thing.

"It seems like he's here. Let's go get our stuff."

At that, Kelly walked out the front door with me following behind. Outside sat a wagon filled to the top with many ingredients in it. There were fresh fruits, vegetables, wrapped meats, and even a few seasonings.

"Good morning Mrs. Kelly. I brought your delivery for the day. I should have just about everything you ordered yesterday. Pay up and I'll start unloading."

A man with very pronounced muscles greeted Kelly when we came out. It was clear he did a lot of hard work. He even pulled the wagon himself without a horse. He may not have my monster strength, but he is still crazy strong in his own the right.

"Oh please, you would charge me if you unloaded it. Estelle here will do it instead."

"Ah, you know me so well. By the way, who is this new girl? Another person you took in from the streets?"

"Yep. She came just yesterday after Riley introduced her."

I started unloading everything as they continued talking to each other. Of course I listened, but I didn't want to get scolded for doing nothing, so I began to grab things and take them in.

"Oh, Estelle, just set everything in the kitchen. I'll help you put it away when I get there."

"Okay."

"You said Riley brought her? I haven't seen him in a while. How has he been?"

The delivery man spoke up again, continuing his conversation with Kelly.

"Oh Riley? Ever since I got him that job at that fancy restaurant as a server, I haven't seen him much. That Girly boy drops by every once in a while for a chat, but he doesn't stay long. Last night though, he saw her and brought her here, and now I have a new employee, at least until she leaves."

Leave? This seems like the perfect place to be! A nice and quiet job in a back alley with a warm place to sleep. It even has a bath! If possible, I would live here forever. Sure, it might get a little loud considering we're in a bad part of town, but that just comes with the territory.

As I thought quietly to myself, I continued walking out for the ingredients, and walking in to the kitchen to drop them off. Before long, I had brought everything outside into the kitchen, and all that was left to do was wait for Kelly to come back inside to help me put everything away.

It only took a few more minutes of casual talking before they finally finished. As the delivery man left, he waved goodbye before pulling his empty wagon back through the alley. After that, Kelly came into the kitchen.

"Okay now, I will show you where everything goes. I expect you to remember where everything is as we put it away, as you will need to grab all kinds of ingredients throughout the day. Be sure not to be a hindrance, and everything should go smoothly. Understand?"

"Yes, I understand."

"Good. Now then, grab those carrots and put them in the shelf over there."