“Names of your siblings and ages”

“Brian is 16 years old, Corey 14, Darren 12, Joey e Jeff 10, Robert 8, and Isabella 7”

“What is the capital of Lumai?

“Brigthenton”

“How did you learn how to cook?”

“I had to feed my family and I have natural talent”

“Have you ever read any books about cooking?”

“I can’t read”

“What is the name of the god of Valkrest?”

“Veer, god of fire”

“What is Lumai's main import commodity?”

“Uhhh, I don't know, I guess books? Since Laasya deals with prophecies?”

“No, and I won't tell you the right answer”

“Okay, I don’t really care about that, to be honest”

“Under what circumstances did they take you as a slave?”

“My family was swamped with debts, I went to the Otter town market to try to sell some bread and… objects that I found around, when they tried to take my brother Brian. I, therefore, took his place, as I am older and I wanted to protect him”

“Right, how old are you?”

“22”

The prince, who up to that moment had asked one question after another without giving him time to hesitate or think, fell silent, and tilted his head, confused.

“Sorry, what?” he asked, not sure if he had heard the age right.

Leo was used to people thinking he was younger than he was, but that didn't mean he wasn’t annoyed at that fact, since more than once he had had to show his driving license to intransigent bouncers and in one case they had even called the police because they were convinced that he had forged the document.

“22 years old, I'm actually going to be 23, in a few months” he repeated, making things clear.

“Oh... I would have given you a maximum of seventeen” admitted the prince, surprised “Or eighteen, since it seems that your mother had a child every two years”

Dang, he had noticed.

Leo knew it was a gamble, but he doubted he would have been able to remember all the ages otherwise.

The names were easy, as he used the names of his favorite Team Starkid actors, and put them in alphabetical order.

For his sister, he had used his real sister's name, so there was no problem.

But with the ages, Leo was bad.

“Oh, I hadn't noticed” he lied, shamelessly “Maybe it's because I'm not good at calculus” he added then, to give more the impression of a poor illiterate man with no basic knowledge.

The prince rolled his eyes, he didn't seem at all convinced.

However, he took one of the biscuits left over the day before that Leo had brought him for breakfast at the express request of the princess, and ate it not managing to hold back a dreamy expression.

It was indeed true that the fastest route to a man's heart was his stomach.

Though in Leo's case it was more of a road to not being decapitated, but that was enough.

He wasn't in that world to hook up after all.

…he wasn't there for any particular reason, to be fair, he just had to avoid dying, basically.

So it was better not to die, objective found!

Leo could almost see on the side of the screen the pop-up where the player who was definitely playing with him was notified of the achievement:

‘Congratulations, you have finished the tutorial, now the main mission is to not die!’

Well, at least it was a simple quest.

“This morning a team with my best knights and a good part of the Vasilev army raided a makeshift stronghold in the forest, where they found an illegal slave trade going to the mines in the northwest area. Almost all of the freed slaves were poor people from Ombron or Lumai, and they revealed that there were some escapes along the way, although almost all who attempted were killed” the prince revealed thoughtfully.

Leo tried to remain impassive, but inside he was cheering, dancing the samba, and thanking both his own God and the seven gods of that world that he had had abysmal luck with the cover story.

Mamma Mia! Truly a deus ex machina!

…though he was sad some people were actually killed and taken as slaves. But hey, it wasn’t his fault… he actually had inadvertently helped save them.

“So since your story holds up, you answered all my questions well except the ones you objectively had no way of knowing, I find it unlikely that you were involved in the slave trade or you wouldn’t have reported it, and my sister vouches for you… for the moment you are free to stay. You'll continue to cook for Opal, we'll give you the salary of a rookie cook, and I'll immediately move you out of the dormitory, so that you'll be with more appropriate people” Daryan explained the situation, and Leo barely refrained from heaving a sigh of relief.

He had officially finished the tutorial, or the prologue.

“Don't rest on your laurels, next week my parents will return to the palace after their diplomatic mission in Ombron, and they will decide whether to keep you here or not” the prince warned him, and Leo nodded.

He was actually quite surprised. He expected the prince to be an orphan, for some reason. Probably growing up with Disney cartoons had given him many preconceptions.

“I understand”

Wait, that meant he had a new quest besides surviving, and that was to amaze the king and queen. Not even a breather, ugh.

“Oh, and of course you'll continue to be a taster too, so we'll pay you extra. That's all” the prince dismissed him with a wave of his hand, then took another biscuit.

Leo was almost about to ask if he should sign a contract, but he stopped himself just in time, since theoretically he could not read or write.

Feigning ignorance was harder than he thought.

It was absurd how ingrained the knowledge of reading and writing was in him. Just super daily use skills. Unthinkable to live without.

But it was in a medieval fantasy universe, so he had to get used to it.

“Thank you very much, your majesty” Leo tried to bow, but he wasn't used to it, and he risked losing his balance and falling, recovering by a hair.

The prince hinted a strange grimace, but did not lose his icy gaze.

“I’ll see if I can ask Persian to teach you etiquette during breaks” he sighed, shaking his head slightly.

“With pleasure, Your Majesty, it would be an honor” Leo tried to bow again, a little less marked, and walked backwards towards the door to avoid turning his back to the prince.

He bumped into a piece of furniture and let out a bitten bad world.

“More than an honor, it's a rather urgent matter. As soon as you leave, ask Chevel to call Persian to my office” ordered the prince to Leo, starting to look over some documents.

“Of course” the boy agreed, finally leaving the room, breathing a deep sigh of relief, and then finding himself face to face with a menacing Chevel, who looked him up and down.

“Ugh, something tells me that Prince Daryan believes your story” he observed, expressing his annoyance for the matter very clearly.

Leo smiled, however, ignoring the obvious disappointment.

“Yes, because it's the truth” he lied, “he asked me to tell you to call Persian in his office, as soon as you can”

Chevel didn't hold back an annoyed snort.

“I hope it's to fire him, that loud disrespectful know-it-all” he observed, crossing his arms and preceding Leo in the corridor.

“If you want I can go and call him. I have to be in the kitchen only in half an hour to prepare dessert for lunch anyway” Leo offered, hoping to be able to put away the book he had ‘borrowed’ the day before to prepare for the interrogation on Lumai.

“Maybe, it would be…” initially Chevel seemed relieved, then he looked Leo suspiciously, from head to toe “… for what purpose do you want to approach Persian?” he asked, threatening.

Leo raised his hands.

“I have no purpose! I just wanted to do you a favor because you obviously don't like him. Gods! When will you understand that I'm not hiding any evil plans?!” …only many, many lies.

Maybe Leo should have just told the whole truth so that they would throw him in some sort of mental hospital somewhere.

He would have dodged a lot of bullets and troubles.

“I’m afraid that you will never convince me of your good faith. You can try it with anyone else, but not with me!” Chevel remained unshakable and cold, the perfect first knight of the king.

“Okay… then I'm going to the kitchen” Leo rolled his eyes and let it go. He would have put the book back later.

“But…!” Chevel hurried to follow him, slightly softening his tone “…if you really want to go and call Persian… who am I to deny you?” he gave him the okay, proving that he disliked that poor man more than Leo.

Wow, what had Persian done to him?! Had he spoiled the knight’s favorite book?

Chuckling at how improbable his hypothesis was, Leo began to walk calmly and serenely towards the library, and took the wrong road a couple of times because he still couldn't find his way around that gigantic castle.

He should have asked for a map… then he remembered that he couldn't read, theoretically, and called himself an idiot for not thinking about it enough.

He couldn't read, he couldn't read, he couldn't read!

He had to get it into his head!

In the end, thanks to Anna's directions, he managed to find the library, and entered without even knocking, fearing that otherwise he would be late for his first official work shift in the kitchens.

“Good morning!” he announced himself, enthusiastic, and was greeted by a terrified look from Persian, who raised his hands in front of him to protect himself from a possible attack.

“Knock before entering somewhere! What are you doing here?” asked the librarian, after realizing who the unwelcomed guest was, if possible even more worried than before.

“Oh, sorry” Leo hinted a bow.

In fact, if he saw the situation from the outside, he really needed an etiquette teacher.

“What are you doing here?” Persian repeated, trying to compose himself.

“I come on behalf of the prince, who requests you come to his study. Spoiler alert, he wants you to teach me etiquette” he explained, without thinking too much about the words.

…did the word spoiler exist in that world? Maybe it was risky to use it.

Luckily for him, Persian didn't seem to pay much attention to vocabulary, because he was too busy becoming as pale as a ghost.

“Etiquette… to you? It's impossible! …no offense!” Persian put his hands in his hair, worried.

“Orders from above. Anyway, the prince wanted to talk to you. Oh! And I'm officially a cook, so if you want more muffins don't hesitate to ask… sir” Leo really wanted to get into that man’s good graces. Not only he seemed like a nice guy, but from the relationship he had with the prince it was clear that he was also quite important, so having him on his side would have helped Leo live a little longer.

Besides, if he was to take a side in the Chevel-Persian feud… the librarian was much better.

“I understand, I shouldn’t keep His Majesty waiting” with the demeanor of someone who was just sentenced to death, Persian turned for a second to take some documents, and, without losing sight of him even for a second, Leo discreetly took the book he had stolen the day before, placed it on the floor, and silently slid it along the floor, up to under an armchair not far away.

He did just in time before Persian turned around, and Leo smiled at him, hands behind his back, ready to escort him out.

“Do you have other things to do here?” asked Persian, confused by his staying in the room.

Leo looked around, then shook his head.

“No, but… shouldn't I escort you out?” he asked, confused.

“Go to the kitchen” Persian encouraged him, with a wave of his hand.

“Oki doki” Leo complied, and ran away from the library as quickly as possible.

Now… where was the kitchen?