PATRIARCH FOWL
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Casual Heroing, Chapter 88
🕑 Added 2023-04-11 19:41:36 +0000 UTCRead-y Link (Mobile Optimized Reader)
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Chapter 88 – Open Hearts
“So, are you going to tell Lucinda that you decided to dabblein magic again?”
I almost face-plant on the floor when Flaminia sneaks the question in while we are having breakfast together in the break room.
“Yo!” I say, outraged, “Don’t do me dirty like that, girl.”
“You told me you decided to get back into magic for self-protection and curiosity, right? Now, I don’t know much about Enchanting, but Claudius seems like he does, and he thought that it would be impossible to pull off what you did. How about that? Tell Lucinda, grovel a little, and she’ll definitely give you a shot. That girl goes crazy for magic. You’ll be like fertilizer and rain for a dry patch of crop.”
“Shit and water? Damn, that does sound alluring now,” I sigh, taking a bite of my Altamura bread sandwich. “Do you realize that people should like each other because they like each other? Who cares if I do magic or work in a circus? I mean, the way she went about it was kinda pushy, you know? But to be fair, she did calm down a bit in the end. I still don't see myself becoming a [Mage] for a living, though. I guess I can give her props for not freaking out when I told her that."
“But you did work out an Enchanting problem.”
“To make bread,” I tell Flaminia with a snort. “If someone else wants to do other stuff with it, they are welcome to. If they can even copy the rune, that is.”
“Talking about that,” she replies with a mouth filled with food, “you know that you shouldn’t be showing the actual enchanting process, right? I doubt even a normal [Enchanter] might have understood what you did, but if you do it in public like that every time, they are bound to steal your work.”
Meh. I don’t think so. What I did was beyond difficult.
“Let them try,” I shrug. “Also, what do you think of this batch of bread?”
“Fluffier and crunchier,” she says, defeated. “You were right about the mixer. Be careful, though; Clodia might pull an Agostina and ask you to marry her. If she’s gotten even half of her mother’s love for money, I might expect your first child together in about a year from now.”
“Damn,” I snort, “I wouldn’t mind.”
“She would,” Flaminia snorts back.
“The sad reality of life,” I nod wisely. “Does she have any…” I wiggle my eyebrows at Flaminia.
“Ooh, are you sure you want to go there?” She says with a lowered voice. “Clodia has forbidden any talk of this kind, you know? She might even test us with a truth stone.”
“To hell with the truth stone,” I whisper back. “Let the truth circulate unabated! What’s her dating situation? Must be crunchy if she doesn’t want us to gossip.”
“Oh, believe me, you have no idea,” Flaminia says, starting to slowly chew on her own sandwich and leaving me hanging.
“I swear to God, Flam!” I whisper-shout. “Don’t you dare!”
“Shhhh,” she says, looking around at the other employees taking a break.
I look around myself, searching for my two boys; Tiberius and Quintus are still working, and I’m waiting for them to finish so we can go to the Pratus.
“She’s got this weird thing with Amelia. Amelia Saturnia.”
She drops the bomb expecting me to go crazy, but the reality is I have no idea whom she’s talking about.
“Should that name tell me anything?” I ask.
“The Three Roses? The Saturnia sisters? Camilla Saturnia?!”
“Ohhhhh,” I nod before freezing and opening my mouth in an even bigger ‘O.’
“OHHHHH,” I have to consciously close my mouth before my jaws drop to the floor. “No.”
“Yes.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
“Goddamn,” I look around surreptitiously. “She is dipping the cookie in the competition’s milk? Wow.”
“Can’t control your heart, you know,” Flaminia smiles. “I am pretty sure they have a rule not to talk about work, but they have found themselves in this position. They are not an official item around Amorium, though. They are always on and off and have big fights. Camilla tried to mock Clodia about it, and Clodia picked her off the ground and dropped her inside the Pratus’s canal.”
“Man,” I exhale, “this is the juiciest, crunchiestgossip I have heard in a long time. I don’t believe it. Dude. You know what? Let’s sneak into the Three Roses and point out this Amelia to me. I’m super curious to see what this girl looks like. Like, what’s Clodia’s taste? Skinny, buff?”
“Joey, we really shouldn’t,” Flaminia says conspiratorially as she gets up.
“Oh, I know,” I say, getting up as well. “I’ll tell Tiberius and Quintus to wait for me at the camp. Let’s go!”
…
Flaminia and I are spying from the outside to see if this Amelia will pop up. We have been waiting for ten minutes when a tall Elf with a rose-patterned uniform comes out of the kitchen and stops in front of the main window.
“That’s her!” Flaminia giggles excitedly. “That’s Amelia!”
“Jesus, Joseph, and Mary…”
“Clodia’s got good taste,” Flaminia agrees.
“Good taste? That’s… wow.”
Amelia Saturnia looks like a young, slightly tan, and meanerAngelina Jolie.
“Flaminia, humor me for a second. Are Elven women considered more beautiful than Human women?”
“Yeah,” Flaminia nods at me as if I had asked the most obvious question in the world.
“You are not pranking me, right? Like, I can’t be the only person seeing this. What’s up with this stuff? How come all Elven women are thishot?!”
“First, thank you,” Flaminia winks at me. “Second, it’s a thing. You really don’t know Elven history, do you? Humans used to huntfor Elven women, Joey. I might be biased here, but even during the wars, Elven women have turned quite a few male Human [Soldiers], you know?”
Goddamn. Turned? If I had been a [Soldier] in that position, I would have done the whole 360-no-scope, I swear.
We slowly start walking back to Happy Bakery when Flaminia abruptly stops and winces.
“Joey, there’s something on my mind. Do you mind if we have a little chat?”
Aren’t we already having a chat?
“Sure,” I nod with just the right touch of seriousness to make her comfortable.
“Let’s get a seat by the canal, then.”
…
We are sitting under the outer row of statues, and Flaminia fidgets with her fingers, looking at the clear water passing by.
“I haven’t said it enough, Joey. I’m really sorry about that shit. I disrespected you so much. I need you to tell me what to do because it’s starting to really weigh on me.”
“Flam, I…” I bite my tongue as I remember one of my mother’s lessons.
Always acknowledge the pain of others, Joey. Everyone is suffering for something in their life. Never be dismissive if they are people you care about.
“You hurt me a lot,” I say with a shrug. “I was in a really bad place when you told me that I was this disrespectful idiot. This thing about not getting the [Baker] class was weighing on me a lot, and when you started implying that I wasn’t a real baker, I really lost it. And I’m sorry for being mean.”
“You had all the reason in the world to be mean,” Flaminia nods with a pained face. “For what it’s worth, you are the best Baker I have ever witnessed. Baker, by the way, with capital B.”
I raise my eyes to meet Flaminia’s shimmering irises and smile. I take another deep breath before saying more.
“I think that working together is fine. You didn’t know anything about my situation, and I didn’t know much about yours. Everything was born out of a place of ignorance. Let’s just… get to know each other better and not be pieces of crap to each other. I think that’s all, Flam. Really.”
“I agree. I hope I will be able to work with you for a long time, Joey. You are not just a great Baker, but you are also a great person. I—I am just sorry. I will try to do better.”
“We’ll all try,” I correct her. “We’ll all try to do the best we can.”
…
My open-heart conversation with Flaminia was slightly unexpected. I knew there was a little touch of awkwardness between us, but it hadn’t been anything much. We weren’t really vibing like we did during our very first days together, but it was still fine. The fact that she came forward to get our vibes back really means a lot to me. A whole lot.
And you know what? It strangely reminded me of the other beautiful Elf that works at the Three Roses.
Irene.
I am inside the Three Roses shop, and I see the woman I was looking for right at the counter. Her deep-blue eyes stop on my figure, and her mouth curls up to reveal two rows of pearl-white teeth.
“Joey Luciani. The big talk of Amorium.”
“Irene… errr, I didn’t get your last name.”
“For now,” she shoots back. “How can I help you, sir?”
I fake looking around the shop and the cake displays.
“You know what? I think I’ll take a dinner out with you tonight. How about that?”
“I’m afraid that’s not on the menu,” she replies. “It’s been out for a while before the cream went bad.”
Ouch.
“Well, how about I make the food for the date and promise you it will be absolutely fantastic? I am not a guy who lets food spoil twice; I can tell you that.”
Irene looks at me with a smirk before giving me a slow nod.
“We shall see. Write down where your apartment is for me, and I’ll judge for myself if the food of the now famous Human who put Flaminia Lemonia Amata in her place is worth all the talk.”
“Oh, you have no idea.”
Comments
Fortunis
Hahaha nice ending 👌
wholock202
Oooh Spicy ending love the baking dirty talk lol . I like it when he gets back to food and women his two passions
