Unexpected Return to A Service Job

When Martin heard the instructor tell him he might have some work for Martin to do, Martin had a lot of expectations.

In a medieval fantasy world, of course, the things that Martin expected were along the lines of, 

'Gather this magical herb in the forest full of magical beasts' or maybe 'Help me send this super secret letter to the king'.

Then either of the two quests would lead him to a great adventure where he was trapped in a magical forest, where he met a beautiful elf woman who fell in love with him.

Or he would probably get tangled up in the messy politics of the kingdom.

Martin wouldn't be fine with the latter option, but it still looked like a unique experience to go through.

But like any adult in the corporate world, Martin was used to disappointments and getting his expectations betrayed.

Right now, Martin was walking on the streets of the city, the beautiful orange light of the sunset shining behind him.

He was going to the outskirts of the city, away from the central part where the important and rich people lived and did business.

'Out of all the things I thought I would be doing in a fantasy medieval game, this is certainly not one of them.'

Following the direction the ranged weapon instructor gave him, Martin finally arrived in front of a wooden building.

The size was decent as it could easily fit 30 people inside, and there also seemed to be a second floor.

On the front of the building, a huge sign read, "Nancy's Tavern."

Yes, instead of gathering herbs or fighting bouncy slimes, the first task Martin would be doing to earn money in a fantasy world was working at a tavern.

He had worked as a waiter once in college, and he would rank the difficulty of the job to be the same as a middle-level manager in a large company.

Dealing with customers with a barely working brain was much worse than having to reason against an arrogant boss.

'The arrogant boss at least has some capability to reason and uses enough logic to be talked with…'

But with those customers who held the 'Customers are king.' mindset deep in their hearts, even Martin could only lament his fate by smoking in break time and swallowing his complaints.

Martin knocked on the door of the still-closed tavern and went inside.

"Excuse me…"

Inside, he found 3 people moving around the tavern.

2 ladies, about 20 years old, were preparing the tables and chairs, and an older lady, one who was even older than Martin himself, stood in the kitchen behind a counter.

The three turned their heads towards him when he entered, and one of the girls spoke to him,

"I'm sorry we're still preparing to open. You have to wait another hour if you want to have a meal."

"No, my instructor at the adventurer's school recommended this place when I said I wanted to find some work. Do you guys accept any workers?"

The older woman then walked out of the kitchen and spoke to him,

"We are looking for workers, but are you sure? You don't look like someone who has experience working in a tavern."

'No, but I believe a fast-food restaurant is as bad as a tavern when it comes to working conditions and the type of customers that come in.' Were the words that first came to Martin's mind.

But he didn't say those out loud, of course.

Martin stood straight, chest puffed out, and gave out his best corporate smile.

"I have some experience in my younger days, and I cook my own food at home. I believe I can offer something useful for this establishment."

Ignoring the sudden change in attitude when Martin was asked about his past work experience, the older woman gestured for Martin to come with her.

"Just show me what you've got. It will show whether you are spewing bullshit or not."

The older woman gave Martin a recipe to follow, then told him where everything was in the kitchen, and told him to start cooking.

Martin took a good look at the recipe first, spending a full 30 seconds just reading it before he finally grabbed a knife.

The dish was a simple omelette dish, one where you basically throw everything inside a blanket of egg.

Just like any home cook who binged cooking videos on the internet, Martin used the knife and prepped all the ingredients first.

Wise chefs all over the internet told him to do his mise en place first, and that's exactly what he did.

Surprisingly, his dagger mastery skill assisted him, turning Martin's average cutting skill into almost professional chef level as he finished cutting all the vegetables in under a minute.

He cut up the vegetables first, heated up the pan above the wood-fire stove, then beat the eggs as the pan slowly got hot.

When he felt the pan was hot enough, he poured in a little oil, just a touch so that the egg wouldn't stick to the pan.

He then poured out the egg, stirring it a little to make sure no puddles of egg gathered in the middle and left runny spots later.

After the egg settled and retained its shape, Martin poured out the rest of the condiments, scattering them evenly throughout the egg base before rolling up the omelette.

When the dish was finished, Martin slowly rolled the egg gently out of the pan onto a plate, retaining the shape of the omelette and keeping the floor squeaky clean.

Martin added another touch of salt to the finished dish and presented it to the older woman,

"Is this oka-"

Before even tasting the egg, the older woman cut his words off,

"You're hired. You'll start working tonight."

It turned out that when Martin was focusing on his cooking, the older woman and the two ladies were watching him closely.

They raised their eyebrows when he just chopped all the vegetables first and did not turn on the stove.

But when he poured in the egg and just shoved all the prepared vegetables at the same time, they all looked at him with amazement and realization in their eyes.

"You are very good with a knife!" One of the girls said.

"Who would've thought that you can cook the omelette faster and correctly if you prepare everything first? I always burn the eggs because I can't chop the vegetables quickly enough while the egg is cooking on the stove..." The other one exclaimed, still amazed by the realization when she saw Martin cook the omelette.

"Are you actually a professional chef or something?" The older woman asked after finding out the omelette also tasted very delicious.

Martin then realized, 'Are the culinary skills in this world underdeveloped…?'