Chapter 15: Outsiders don't belong here

"Captain, I think you should return."

Cassian was brought to the highest floors of the restaurant. He was just about to sit around a specially reserved table when he suddenly heard Esme's voice.

"Did you find something interesting? That was fast."

Cassian picked up the menu to look at the dishes in the restaurant, while mentally communicating with Esme.

Only a few minutes had passed since he left the ship and Esme was already contacting him?

"Send me everything that you managed to gather. I will go through it while eating. I'm truly starving at the moment."

"Captain, I think you really should return."

Esme was insistent on Cassian's return for some reason, which made Cassian raise a brow. Just what did she find out within a few minutes that she wanted him back so urgently?

"Fine. Give me a few minutes." He placed the menu down, and stood up.

The waiter waiting around his table couldn't help but ask, "Is there something you dislike, Sir?"

"Where is your kitchen?" Cassian asked. "I want to talk to your chef directly."

"I'm sorry, Sir. But outsiders aren't allowed inside the kitchen. If you need a message delivered, I can do that for you."

The waiter was looking at Cassian a little suspiciously due to his attire. But since the security let him pass, he couldn't question the man's identity.

In any case, a lot of wealthy people in this world had a strange fashion sense. It wasn't something that ever made sense to him, but he didn't question their taste either.

"I'm afraid it's a compliment that I must deliver myself." Cassian placed a hand on the waiter's shoulder, walking past him.

"But you haven't even tried anything yet?"

Was this strangely dressed guest messing with him? He didn't even eat anything, yet he wanted to compliment the chef by personally going to him.

The waiter ran after Cassian and tried to stop him.

Despite him grabbing Cassian's shoulder, he wasn't able to stop him. Instead, the water was dragged along with Cassian who was accessing the design of the floor and the whereabouts of the kitchen.

If possible, he wanted to taste the delicacies of this restaurant. But he didn't have much time to wait to order and wait for the food to be served.

He had to return as well. That limitation only left one option for him.

"You are...?"

Back on the ground floor, a young man stepped out of a luxury car. He told his name to the man checking reservations, leaving the man momentarily frozen.

The restaurant staff generally didn't ask for an identification card but this time, he broke the rules and asked for an identification just to be sure.

The lavishly dressed man was slightly frustrated, but he still played along and proved his identity while also cursing,

"If you are here, then who was that man?" The Staff Member raised a brow, almost clenching his fist in anger as he came to a realisation.

Someone had fooled him and entered this place where he didn't belong.

He personally escorted the young man upstairs. He also took a few guards along with him to at least break a few bones of the impersonator to send a signal to everyone that might have a similarly stupid idea.

"Hmm? Why is the seat empty? Where is the man who came before?"

The moment he reached the top floor, he grew even more angry since he couldn't find the man.

He asked the nearby waitresses, only to hear that the young man was last seen walking towards the kitchen that housed one of the best chefs in the world.

"Just what is that man thinking about? Is he sent by our competitors to hurt our chefs?" His face almost paled and he ran towards the kitchen.

Along the way, he even pushed aside the waiters that failed to move aside on time, not having time to deal with them. He couldn't afford to let the chefs get hurt because of his mistake. If that happened, then getting fired was the least of his worries.

By the time he reached the kitchen, he was breathing heavily. Unfortunately, he couldn't catch even a moment of peace as his jaws dropped.

The chefs weren't hurt. Or rather, they weren't here in the first place. This place didn't just lack the chefs but everything else as well.

Their entire stockpile of the finest ingredients in the world, as well as the equipment like refrigerators were gone.

The entire place was left empty, like it had been robbed by the world's most talented thief. Except for the walls, nothing else was left behind.

"How is this possible? How could he..." The bulky man dropped on his knees in disbelief.

Meanwhile, an entire kitchen, excluding the walls, had appeared within a majestic warship in the sky.

The chefs that were forcefully brought here were left trembling after coming out of the spatial passage.

Cassian didn't have time to explain the situation to them. He left an Era to deal with them, and explain the situation.

The Era also told them that they were temporarily brought here as personal chefs of the Ship's Captain.

ERAs were responsible for having the chefs prepare some human food that could be eaten by hungry Cassian.

Meanwhile, the Captain of the Ship had already rushed to the Medical Bay, to see why Esme wanted him back so bad.

"Can you at least tell me now why you called me here in such a hurry?"

Cassian stepped inside the Medical Bay, expecting to find an unconscious young man. But to his surprise, the young man that he forcefully brought here was sitting straight on the bed.

No, he wasn't that young man. Although he looked the same, something was different about him. Whether it was his expressions, or the atmosphere around him, he looked far from the naive young man that was forcefully brought here to get information.

"Esme? What happened to him?"

"I am not sure, Captain. I was trying to access his memories in reverse from the present moment. Everything was going normally for the most part, until I reached the part of their arrival when everything was cut off."

"At that moment-"

Esme was still in the midst of explanation when the young man spoke up.

"Outsiders weren't supposed to be here."