Raised in Dungeon



Theda was freezing, looking at the black-haired boy in front of her. Normally Allen would ask his customers, "What's wrong?" because he had been stared at like that. But since it already happened so many times, Allen no longer asked. He already realized how rare black hair was in this city. Although it had been a long time since he felt that kind of stare because these days, people already knew him as "Rodion's nephew's black boy."

It wasn't that Allen didn't serve customers often, but Theda's visits were usually in the morning or evening, during less busy times, so Theda had never seen Allen before. However, she had heard rumors about him.

"Uh, please enjoy," Allen said with a slightly awkward walk back to the kitchen.

"Wait," Theda called after Allen, "have I seen you before?"

Confused by her question, Allen replied, "I don't know; I've certainly never seen you before."

"I see..."

A slight feeling of dejavu bothered Theda as she looked at Allen. Theda felt she had seen him before, but she was also sure it was probably her first encounter with him. Since she had never seen the black-haired boy in the city before, nor had she seen anyone like Allen before, except… the black-and-white-haired boy who killed her son. However, she is sure Allen is a different person. She felt the atmosphere emitted by Allen was different from the gloomy killer child she saw at that time.

Choosing not to think about it too much, Theda enjoyed the soup in front of her.

After finishing, she realized that the soup she had eaten this time was slightly different.

"Umm, you over there, can you come here?" called Theda to Susan.

"Yes?"

"The soup… Today it tastes a little blander than usual. I wonder what's wrong?"

"Uh... sorry I can't answer the question; maybe you can ask the cook directly."

"Oh? Is he coming today?"

"Yes? Oh you were never able to meet him before. You already talked with him earlier."

"Don't joke. Are you saying that the little boy made this soup?"

"Well, it's true."

She was already quite surprised that Susan, who was smaller than her daughter, was already working as a waitress and that she was doing it well. She didn't expect anything that would surprise her more.

"Did you call me?" asked Allen.

'So this kid makes that delicious soup... amazing... he reminds me of Waldo, who started learning earlier than any other child,' Theda thought.

"I want to protest-no..." carried away by her noble habits, she almost protested to the little boy, just like she used to do to the chefs of the upper-class nobility parties.

"I have a question about today's soup. It still tastes good, but I think the old one tastes better. Did something happen?"

Allen couldn't answer that the potatoes and some of the ingredients she ate were copies of what Reig made,

"Ah, that's because it's the water month. We're trying to conserve our foodstuffs."

"Oh is that so? Then especially for me, can you make something more delicious?"

Allen glanced at Rodion, who was in the kitchen.

After Rodion nodded in favor, Allen replied, "Okay."

Susan then approached Theda and asked, "It will take quite a long time because it will use a new cauldron, which also needs to be heated first; maybe about half an hour, is that okay?" Susan asked like that because she realized that Theda was undercover coming in, and she always came home in a hurry after eating soup.

The reason was also that Theda went there without her husband's knowledge, so she had to hurry home beforehand if she didn't want to get caught. It wasn't that her husband would forbid it; it was just that if he found out his wife was going to the commoner tavern alone, he would invite the cook to the house, and if that happened, she couldn't enjoy her meal as an ordinary commoner like she had been doing all this time.

"It's okay, I have a lot of free time today," was true and false at the same time.

Right because her husband was away, she was free to roam for however long she wanted. Wrong because she still had work piled up in her husband's room that he left to Branwhait.

More than half an hour passed, and finally, Allen came with the soup she had requested.

"Here is yours," Allen said.

As soon as Allen placed the soup in front of Theda, he returned to the kitchen and carried a large sack out of the tavern.

"Eh? Why is he leaving? I still want to talk to him," Theda said.

Susan then replied, "Maybe some other time because Allen has to go to the estate every afternoon."

"What's he doing there?"

"Selling food, or rather handing it out, because he gave a low price. The estate's condition was critical because their fields were destroyed, so he distributed food to the people there."

"Wh-why? Why would he do that?"

"Redemption," Rodion came out of the kitchen towards them, "the boy is probably searching for himself. What he lives for, what he can do for others, and what he should do in the future. However, he's still a selfish kid who wants people to eat his cooking."

Hearing that, Theda remembered Allen's reaction when she asked him to make a better meal.

'He was a little hesitant... it must have been because the ingredients really weren't enough.' Theda then felt ashamed of herself for selfishly asking for something more. She thought that since she was a customer and had money, she could buy as much as she could. But it was the water month, and money was not as valuable as food at this time.

Realizing something, Theda then asked.

"Don't tell me this tavern hasn't been too crowded these past few days because you're limiting the customers?"

Rodion realized that Theda had learned something he shouldn't have. He replied, "Yes, because food is very important nowadays. The customers who come here are mostly only those who really have money. Those who don't have money will come directly to the estate and eat that kid's cheaper cooking."

"Then why didn't you tell me about this? At this rate, I'll look like a greedy person who wants to eat other people's rights."

"It's because that child knows that you're not satisfied."

"Huh?"

"You probably don't know because he didn't show any expression. But he was quite frustrated to see your face disappointed with his cooking."