A Troublesome Meal?

"If you know that you were extreme with the work, you should give the employees extra care as well,"

'I suppose she is right,' Adam downed his glass of whiskey and stood up.

"Alright then, I'll show you a time you'll never want to forget," He said with a smile, and it sounded right for all the wrong reasons.

'Oh My,' Roygun's heart skipped a beat hearing those words, 'is he going to do that?'

"What are you planning on doing with me~?" She asked seductively, but soon all of that left her system when he came back.

"A meal?" Roygun deadpanned looking at the plate in front of her.

"Yes, I made it without holding back," Adam smiled as the other employees looked at each other.

The meal in front of them looked normal, there was no special aroma coming from it that could make their mouths water, and it didn't even look like it used any rare ingredients, that could make their eyes pop out.

'He looks confident, so there must be something,' Roygun thought looking at the steak, but even if this wasn't a life-changing meal or something like that, 'it is good since he made it himself.'

She was the first one to pick up her knife and fork, she gently cut into the steak and picked it up with a fork.

"Itadakimasu~," She said cheerily, before taking a bite and that was the last thing she remembered from that day.

"Ugngh~," She moaned softly, twisting and turning into the comfort of the bed and soon her eyes opened wide.

"What …happened?" She thought looking around, she was in her room.

This was one of the rooms made for the employees to stay in, but…

'I don't have any memory of coming here?' Roygun felt like there was a large chunk of information missing from her head, and she was correct.

"I think I ate one piece of the steak and then…" She felt weird saying it but, she truly knew that the place she was in last night was, "It was heaven."

And just like her, the other members of her peerage also woke up with this weird feeling in the morning, it was like they had just lived their best lives and thus were incredibly satisfied.

But funnily enough, they couldn't remember any of it.

"What did you do to me last night?" Roygun asked this question when she saw Adam, sitting at one of the tables enjoying his sunny-side-up eggs with bacon.

"I made you a nice meal and then sent you to your room," Adam said simply, and this made Roygun forget most of her questions temporarily.

"Wait, did you take me to my room?" she asked and he nodded, "Like in a princess carry?" so she asked another question but…

"No, I just used telekinesis," Adam answered blandly.

"Why?" Roygun looked displeased with that.

"What do you mean why?" Adam sighed as he saw her pout unhappily.

"Next time you better take me up in a princess carry," she demanded, "How can you carry a woman like she is a sack of items when she is out in front of you?" She wanted him to learn what to do next time.

'That's how you get accused of rape and shit,' Adam thought but he soon shrugged it off, since looking at Roygun, she didn't like being carried that way.

"Well, fine," Roygun was satisfied seeing that he would carefully carry her to bed next time, and with this…

'We can some nice progress,' She smirked, this was another step taken for her relationship.

But there was still a question in her head.

"What did you make us eat last night?" Roygun asked again, since she was curious. Somehow this weird feeling just won't leave her.

"Hmm, how do I explain this?" Adam thought for a second before coming up with an explanation, "Have you heard people saying The food was so good that I wouldn't mind if I died right now."

"Yes, but…" Roygun felt a weird sense of fear when she heard those words.

"Yes, that meal was similar to that," Adam said and Roygun gulped, "It was a meal that would satisfy all of your desires... so that you don't mind passing away in that instant."

"That's…something…" Roygun couldn't wrap her head around it, but more importantly, she felt a sudden pang of fear, and along with that came a realization.

"Is that why I don't remember anything?" She asked and Adam nodded, it was clear that he made it so she doesn't remember anything from that time, aside from the feeling of satisfaction.

"It is quite a dangerous dish, or at least it used to be," Even then Adam decided to make it for them as a thanks for going through so much trouble, "just don't ask me to make it too many times, the most I can give you is once a month." he still didnt want to take any chance since they were too weak.

"Well, that might be hard…" Roygun laughed, that feeling was hard to forget even if she didn't remember what happened in the dream, and there was another question...

'What was the ideal life that I wanted …looked like?' This was curiosity or more like… she was dying to know what it was like.

"That is the very reason I don't want to make them," Adam brought her out of her trance.

"You mean…" Roygun understood what he meant, because of the expression on his face.

"You can get addicted to it, even if you are a transcendent being," Adam said with a sigh, that was a big problem since the ways to deal with it were limited.

At first, Adam didn't intend to make such an item, but he happened to chance upon it while he was progressing his Cooking and Alchemy professions.

'It wasn't easy to deal with the side effects,' Adam had to work with memory manipulation which became harder, after he was able to make a mental palace thanks to his Mage Profession.

Before getting that skill he had trouble remembering things, but after getting it, he had trouble forgetting things.

And because of that, this meal had caused him a lot of trouble.

'And none of them are good,' But thankfully these were a problem of the past, 'now I have more ways to deal with it.' 

"Adam… you…" Roygun's eyes widened as Adam sighed, she could feel like this came from personal experience.

"You don't need to worry about that… it doesn't affect me any longer," Adam quietly finished his meal as Roygun stood there, she couldn't say anything more to him. 

"Also, you don't need to worry, I am taking measures and I know what to do so that it doesn't reach that point with you guys, it never will," Adam smiled, he had lowered the level of the dish by 99%, and he already knew how to deal with it, so the chance of anything happening now was in the negative.

'Well, I guess she is still scared about it,' Adam thought when he saw her standing in place, and he thought that it was a natural reaction after she found out about it.

'It was quite a tough time for me as well,' Adam had his fair bit of struggle with this dish of his, and it had left him in a very precarious situation back then.

"Believe in me," Adam said tapping on Roygun's shoulder.

She looked at him with wide eyes, not because of the previous words or the touch, but…

"Nothing will happen to you, I promise," Adam said with a smile, and these words sounded different to Roygun.

Roygun's Love Filter activated…

"Nothing will happen to you… I promise to protect you... always," Adam spoke with a charming smile as he held her hand, and the world stopped for her at that moment. 

And she felt like the place suddenly got a scent of roses with petals falling from out of nowhere, all while soft music was played in the background.

"I'll leave my body to you ...please be gentle," Roygun said shyly not seeing him blinking in confusion, before he understood, or so he thought.

'She must be thinking about what would happen if she happens to get addicted,' Adam sighed, but there was no need to worry about that.

"It won't hurt, I can assure you of that," He continued with a smile, and Roygun felt like her face was heating up.

'He's so direct!!' She was squealing in her heart, and she knew she could trust his words, as he had more experience than her.

"Hn, please take care of me~," Roygun said with a sweet smile and Adam nodded like it was only natural.

"Of course, I will, it is my responsibility after all," With the filter still on, these words nearly knocked Roygun off her feet.

'I can't~!!!!!' She couldn't help but throw her hands around to calm down, as Adam looked confused once again.

'I didn't say anything weird, did I?' He thought while thinking back on his words.

'What is going on …there?' And all of Roygun's subordinates were also just as clueless as him.