Chapter 80 80: Far Too Ordinary A Morning

Alone in the kitchen, there stood a man. Sleeves rolled up to his elbows and his dark, shoulder-length hair tied back, an expression of utmost concentration dominated his face. "Alright. 'Step 1: Preheat the grill to medium-high heat.' Sounds simple enough... wait, what the hell is 'medium-high'? There's no indicator...? Hold on..." Opening a new tab on his phone browser, the man searched for a minute. "...'Medium-high heat is the temperature between medium and high.' No fucking way, are you kidding me? Who the hell wrote this shi-- oh, I see. 'On a 6-point stove, between 4 and 5'. Tsk." Turning the knob on the stove to the specified degree, he returned to the guide―at which point, he heard the sound of a door open behind him, alongside the waning of a yawn. "Oh! Enki, been a while. How's Christmas been to ya?" A housemate, Sami entered the room; his unkempt hair, weary face and messy clothes indicating that he had just woken up. In response, the young man-- er, me. I'm the young man. Sorry. Shooting a glance over my shoulder towards the evidently-tired Sami, I nodded my head. "How's it goin'? It was... definitely something." "Ahh, I understand. There's a lotta family drama 'round this kind of year, right? We're the same." "Eh, well, not quite 'family drama', but something like that..." The date was January 19―one day after returning to Earth from Drakon-Rasa. Having gone directly to Earth rather than stopping by the Library following the completion of the Contract, I went straight to bed due to exhaustion. Surprisingly enough, I woke up in the morning and found myself motivated to cook a homemade meal for the first time. 'Well, "cook"... I don't know if I can really call it that.' The feeling of being back on Earth was inexplicable, and weird to the extent that I wasn't sure the realisation had entirely settled in just yet. It was even weirder having to worry about feeding myself again after such a long time. I would sincerely miss that free, delicious noble service. "By the way, sorry about missing your birthday. Everything was quite hectic, so..." 'I also missed Harriet's birthday thanks to being gone for so long. I should message her something after this.' "Oh, that? Nah, it's all good, don't worry about it. Anyway, what're you cooking? Those burgers?" Glancing at the pair of patties I was just about to place in the pan, my brows furrowed. "I sure hope so." "Hah, what? Hey, you know it actually takes a certain level of talent to make crap burgers, right? At least, I don't think I've ever had one." "Yeah? Well, turns out I'm quite the professional, so we'll see." 'They might not be that bad, especially compared to what my diet used to be like, but they're nothing compared to the extravagant food I got used to eating recently... Man, I should've packed some food before the ball to take home.' That was, perhaps, the one regret I had about leaving so soon. It was my fault, but in my defence, the task I was focused on was something I couldn't really do absentmindedly. In any case, a short while passed as we casually talked, waiting for the grill to heat up. Then, right as I placed them on the pan... Tsss~! The door opened again. "Woah, busy in here, huh? Hey guys, morning~! Ooh, you makin' burgers? Smells delish~!" Chipper as ever, the upbeat Mia entered the room. "Yo~" "Hel-- Ay, where's the sauce...?" "Good morning. Enki, all the sauces are in that corner cabinet." "This one? Ah, thanks." Right behind her, Luke followed; barring myself, all the others had taken a place to sit in the living area. With almost everyone present at this coincidental morning assembly, there were only two residents missing. "Yaawwwn~ Man, are the other two still sleeping? Can't blame 'em, it's a pain in the ass dealin' with the heat today. Seriously, it's way too hot for winter, ain't it?" "Yes, well, I can't speak for Harriet, but Ella told me she had something to do today... Oh, that reminds me!" She clapped her hands as if about to tell something exciting, but as the words flowed out of her mouth, the expressions of everyone in the room only turned progressively grimmer. "You guys remember that creep those girls were concerned about? I spoke to some people who turned out to be his roomies and apparently he's even worse than we thought." Tilting my head, Mia's words sparked a recollection within me, and she continued. "It's not certain, but they think he might have spiked a girl's drink." Tsss~! As if bathed in ice and frozen over, the room turned still, the only sound being the sizzling of the beef patties in the frying pan. 'Wait, this is awkward... I need to flip them over now, but would doing that now make me seem insensitive...?' Finding myself suddenly struck with such a dilemma, a predicament that involved figuring out the "socially correct" answer, my stomach rumbled at the worst time. Fortunately, it didn't seem like anyone noticed. 'Screw it.' Pushing all worries aside, satiating my own hunger took precedence; firmly deciding to flip the patties over, the ingenious idea flashed in my mind to disguise the act with a question. "Has nobody reported him still?" "Mm, of course. But something like that is difficult to prove, so nobody can actually do anything when he denies it." It was a shame, but well, so long as he didn't do anything like it again, it'd probably be fine. "Anyway! So long as I'm around, everything will be no less than perfect, I can assure you of that! If that guy tries something, I'll knock his teeth out I tell ya! At the very least, I'll guarantee that he's the last of his bloodline for sure!" 'I don't doubt that...' Puffing her chest out and shaking a fist in the air, she proclaimed protectively. Right after, I turned my attention back to the burger-making guide on my phone― Ping-! ―And just as I did so, a notification popped up. Scanning over it momentarily, I let out a subconscious hum. 'They cleared the 8th Floor of the Tower...' The Frontliners were only at the 6th Floor before I had left for the Drakon-Rasa Red Contract, but had they truly already breached the 8th Floor in two months? Considering that they had all been stuck and unable to clear the 5th Floor for over a year until two-and-a-half months ago, the rate of progress was tremendous. Reading through the article briefly, it seemed to be the case that there was one individual in particular who was responsible for discovering the secret to clearing these Floors so quickly. 'It's that guy again... John Pierce.' The same person who suddenly appeared and smashed through the barrier of the 5th Floor that had been taunting them for so long―or would it be more accurate to say he pierced through? 'Ugh, no, that's a bad one.' Regardless, he was undoubtedly someone to keep an eye on. If this pace continued, the Tower might end up fully cleared before I even have a chance to attempt it. Before such an eventuality occurs... I would have to grow stronger. Strong enough so that I could compete with those still-growing Challengers of the Tower even while spending a bunch of my time in other worlds. And the only way I could do that... well, wasn't it obvious? Ping-! At that moment, yet another notification appeared. This time, it was something that served as an instant dampener on my mood, and my eyes deeply narrowed. An email reminding me of tomorrow's appointment. 'Right... I almost forgot.' Needless to say, including said appointment, there were a number of other such things that required my attention; it was only natural, having been missing from the planet for an entire two months. 'Though, it is weird. I was gone for quite a bit longer than people would think...' And so, whether or not I was thankful for the respite after an exceedingly long 'shift', as it were... Tsss~! "Ah, oi. Aren't your burgers done?" "Huh? Oh, yeah. Thanks." At the very least, I suppose there would be no Protagonists to deal with for a while.