Chapter 28: Let’s get down to business!

There was one thing Nikola could not understand. There they all were those vampires.

One of them had the same energy as him.

"Yep, that's the one," Tangra told him. "Take care of him."

Nikola didn't want to.

If he started to kill the clients, he was sure that soon, he would end up with no one wanting to buy from him.

He had to be tricky.

And find a peaceful resolution which was going to satisfy a bloodthirsty deity who had tried to cook him alive, once. Which spoke volumes about his chances.

Nikola took a crate with produce and began to walk towards the shaman. The man was looking around.

 At the lake, staring at Jack's tent.

As soon as Nikola reached him, he placed the crate by his feet.

"Hello! May I tell you a couple of words about our Lord and Savior: Tangra?"

He felt like a Genova witness, but needs must.

"I don't work for him anymore," if Nikola was given a choice, he would have quit as well. But the problem was that there was no such choice to be had.

The man looked Asian. If Nikola had to guess, he looked like a Mongol.

He smiled, as he pointed at the food. It was time to lie. Shamelessly, at that.

"Tangra, may he live forever to shower us in mercy," Nikola began, as he heard a snort coming from his left.

Of course, the bugger was listening in.

Why shouldn't he? Nikola could guess that he had nothing better to do.

"Has given me the opportunity to produce this wonderful food!"

"Look here, kid," the shaman told him, as he went back to picking the produce he wanted to buy. "It wasn't Tangra who gave you the ability, but God Almighty. And I am not going back to that jerk!"

Nikola chuckled nervously. A muffled:

"Are you going to let him talk about me like that?" Came from his right with a puff of hot air straight in his ear.

He knew that the stakes were high.

"No, it was Tangra," Nikola continued to lie. Or maybe he wasn't lying? He wasn't sure why he had ended up being a druid.

"And what? Do you want to tell me that I can grow food with mana if I go back to him? I am a necromancer!"

Nikola blinked.

That brought an opportunity with it.

"How about you start to work for me?" The definition, taking care was stretchable. Nikola, at least hoped so, at any rate. "I could use someone to guard the cabin! You can get free food and a paycheck!"

The necromancer looked at him as if he were questioning his mental health. Then he nodded.

"Quest complete! Tangra is satisfied!" The System told him via a bright-green screen.

The words were dark green, so Nikola had to take out his glasses to read what was written there.

Some people should really read the accessibility guidelines!

"You get 1,000 mana points to do with as you please!"

Nikola smiled. At least he didn't need to kill anything.

"By the way," the system said, as it offered a contract to the nameless necromancer. "What sort of boss hires without even learning the name of their future guard?"

Nikola didn't know. Nor did he care. The only thing he cared about was the fact that he was going to get off the hook for the murder quest.

"My name is Bleda," the Mongol told him, after clicking on the yes. "Do you mind making me something to eat?"

Those were the golden words. Nikola knew that it was now or never!

Worst-case scenario: Bleda would quit and would have to stay for his two months' notice.

"I will cook you something, just you wait!" Nikola said, as he rushed back into the cabin. He decided on some clean the fridge meals.

While he had vegetables and fruit in surplus, he was down to his last 500 grams of mincemeat.

Dimitri was in town, Jack was in his tent, the new guard was probably capable of eating it all without much thought.

Nikola cut up some tomatoes and then placed them in the pan Jack had gotten him.

One of them big, cast-iron, pans which were meant to feed not just one person, but a whole group.

He was down to his last three packets of pasta.

But he was feeling giddy.

Soon, the pasta was made. Some backed potatoes were taken out of the oven. Fruit salads were being stored in bowls.

Nikola took the first platter and went outside.

Only to see that his workers and the vampires were perched by the table with the chairs.

He had not cooked enough for that many people!

Nikola bit his lip. What was he going to do now?

A horse poked his head from the water, probably thinking that one of the many guests was going to be a good food source.

Nikola watched as Jack aimed and then shot the animal right between the eyes.

Nikola smiled.

He could always count on Jack.

As the man swam towards the horse, taking a hold of its mane before it had the chance to sink, Nikola knew how his day was going to bleed into the night.

As Jack brought him the first cuts of meat, Nikola threw them over the fire. Salted with red and black pepper.

"I told you I can get them to come out," Jack told him, as he began to munch on some raw meat.

"Can't you wait for it to grill?" Even though Nikola was a soul-eater as well, he still didn't like eating raw meat.

Or watching others eat raw meat.

"No. I am hungry," Jack told him, before throwing an eyeball in the lake.

"Are Selkie cannibals?" Nikola couldn't understand his food source's eating habits.

"No. But they are starving," Jack said with a grin.

Another horse poked his head from the water. It tried to eat the eyeball of its brethren before it could sink.

It got shot as well.

Nikola smiled.

Little did he know, the guests didn't like seeing their food being killed before their eyes.

Or to be more precise, a certain animal rights activist did not. Which, considering he was a vampire, was the high of hypocrisy.