Aiming to be the perfect butler for my lady

"Welcome to Starfall Academy's entrance exam. Each one of you has joined the Academy to serve your dedicated master and mistress. Although you all must be trained and qualified in your jobs, given you were allowed to take on this role, the administrative board still requires you to provide proof of your servitude. The reason is quite simple. Starfall Academy couldn't compromise when it comes to the health and personal care of its students. And being the servants of the students, you all shall possess the skill to assure us, that our students are in the right hand."

The teacher who was responsible for conducting the first test stated in a voice that reached the first twenty students who were told to line up inside the examination room.

Kyle was one of the twenty candidates who would get examined based on his awareness of his duties as a butler.

This test would ascertain, which servant needs more training and which one is fine being left alone. Unless a servant doesn't fall under thirty marks out of a hundred, the administrative board would not expel them. And in exchange, they would offer another servant to the students.

Well, Kyle was here to score to his full potential. He initially thought that to hold back but now that a reward was at stake he couldn't allow himself to slack off.

Out of the hundred servants, only twenty were allowed to enter the room first so the judgment wouldn't get rushed.

The chances of Kyle being in the same group as the heroine named Elera were low, but not impossible. As such, he wasn't surprised when he found a tall silver-haired girl standing just a little to his left.

She was more on the thinner side with long limbs. Her short platinum hair was tied in a short ponytail to not hinder the girl in work. Her blue eyes remained focused toward the front as the handsome beauty showed no signs of being disturbed by the many gazes she was receiving.

One of them was Kyle as well.

He likes her character because just like Alatia she is also a cold-faced beauty who has a solo motive in the game and that is to protect her best friend and help her in every way possible.

However, what made Kyle infatuated with her was the fact, that once you get over the walls she has created around her, she becomes all shy and adorable.

'A classic tsundere...' He inwardly muttered.

What Kyle felt toward her was interest but not on the level where he would actively pursue her. He doesn't have the tendency to cheat on his lover just because he admires another girl.

Finding that no one raised any questions, the bespectacled instructor continued, "For the first test, you all have to prepare a dish, keeping your master's taste and allergies in consideration."

A smirk lifted the left side of the instructor's lips as she added, "But remember, there are various ingredients that are poisoned in the kitchen. Use your experience to sniff them out and prepare a healthy and non-poisonous dish. And yes, using Magic is not allowed."

The last part of her instruction made many of them, frown and one of them even raised his hand to object,

"But Instructor, why we are forbidden from using our greatest resource?"

The older one calmly responded, "Various times you would be serving your master during a covert mission where you might need to remain hidden from the Monsters. And if you use Magic, which the Monsters can easily sense while performing such a mundane job as cooking...I think that would be a very petty reason to die."

Defeaning silence ensued. No one raised another objection after that. As she said, servants are meant to be like shadows of their masters, and in the future when they would be sent to the expedition, being careless about using magic might lead them to their demise.

The bespectacled woman pressed the bridge of her glasses and warned, "The magic detector in the rooms would alert us if someone breaches the rule and that student would be disqualified from this round immediately. Am I clear?"

""Yes, ma'am."" Everyone responded without another thought. They came here with the preparation to serve their master under any circumstances, and compared to the real threat awaiting them, this much was nothing.

"Good, now line up behind your kitchen stations and get ready."

Everyone beelined toward their assigned kitchen station. The ingredients were all resting on common shelves which were just opposite the entrance of this massive hall. The kitchen stations were placed side by side just a few feet apart from the walls. Enough working space and seemingly varieties of ingredients to choose from.

There were three more instructors in the room to monitor the work.

The lead instructor flipped the hourglass, and announced, "You have half an hour. Begin!"

Everyone made their way toward the shelves and began picking what they deemed non-poisonous and necessary for the dish they must have already decided on.

Kyle picked a basket and began throwing stuff in it that was necessary to make steak. The reason why he could be so confident about his choices stems from the fact that he currently is using Beta.

Astral Vision allows Kyle to assess an object at the molecular level. Thanks to the regular training, he was easily able to see the foreign substance in the ingredients without any problem.

However, to avoid appearing as a cheater and risking accusations of being partially treated by the instructor due to his service to the Princess, Kyle paused during the collection and pretended to assess the ingredients.

If there was someone who matched his pace then it was the silver head girl named Elera who had quite a bit of experience in the field. She is the daughter of a famous eatery owner and from the age of six, she has invested a lot of her time in the kitchen.

Elera had a different way of assessing whether an item was contaminated or not. She bites a very small chunk of it and tastes it before throwing it away if it's poisonous.

Just at the same time, Kyle and Elera were done with their ingredients and they moved towards their stations without batting an eye at each other.

Kyle immediately took the red meat and placed it on a plate. Pouring some oil over it, he seasoned the meat with some black pepper and crushed some salt over it. He has the herbs required to cook the steak which was a huge plus point.

He chopped some onions and sliced a big garlic from the middle before heating a pan. In a separate bowl, he began to put some mushrooms which he washed and trimmed according to how his lady likes.

As the pan began to give out some smoke, Kyle dropped the steak inside which gave out a very sizzling noise.

"Hmm...that's some quality sound I hear." From afar the instructor complimented—elevating the stress of those who still were browsing.

Many of them just resigned to their fate and picked whatever they deemed right.

Soon the kitchen stations began to get occupied but none of it distracted Kyle and Elera.

Kyle marinated the mushrooms with chopped garlic, oil, vinegar, salt, and pepper before placing them on an iron skillet and pouring the remaining marination over the mushrooms.

Taking the skillet he moved toward the live fire oven with steady steps and placed it inside just as near where it could get roasted without getting burned.

Back at the station, he cooked the meat from all four sides before taking it out and placing it on a separate plate. Adding some more oil to the pan, Kyle dropped the onion and garlic along with the herbs. Once they turned light golden he poured some wine which he picked when he went to put the mushrooms in the oven.

The flavorful fragrance of the steak bits along with herbs and wine overpowered any other fragrance in the kitchen.

For a moment, even Elera had to take her eyes off the preparation and look at the guy who had been giving her the competitive vibe since earlier.

'...I wasn't mistaken. He indeed is a competitor to be wary of...' Elera was here to win and make the name of her friend even more profound.

And she couldn't settle for second place for anything.

"Umm...excuse me. Can I take your salt just for a bit? There wasn't any left in the pantry."

Elera wordlessly handed the girl who came asking, her salt dispenser and continued working.

Time passed rather quickly. Nearly ten minutes remained, and only two students could be seen nearing the completion of their dishes.

Kyle had placed the roasted mushroom on the same plate as the steak, in a round formation to make it look presentable.

Although he hadn't checked the steak, he knew that it was perfectly cooked.

Once he was done, he took a glance at Elera with his eyes still in the Astral zone.

'Hmm?' Kyle frowned upon seeing some purplish shade in her dish which signifies that she had taken an ingredient that was poisoned.

Since their stations were just beside each other, he focused on the things placed on her working platform and found the reason behind her potential failure.

Just as Elera was about to pick spaghetti bolognese, Kyle held her by her wrist, nearly making her drop the dish.

"What the hell?" Elera frowned and glared at Kyle.

He soon let go of her wrist and gave a faint suggestion, "I think you have made it a little too 'salty'. I suggest you give it a test yourself first?"

Saying so, Kyle walked out while holding his dish and left a bewildered Elera behind.

**********

A/N:-... halfway, I realized that this looks everything like master chef.... well.....

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