Patience is Key

Lilin tapped her foot as she looked out into the distance. Ten wasn't that slow of a walker, was she? Or was it that flying was faster than she thought? No, she knew how fast she flew. That wasn't the issue. Ten was just slow. Maybe she should walk over to meet her in the middle? No, that'd be too much. Oh, right! She was supposed to go to Six to go get more tasks. She quickly turned and started walking inside.

She closed her eyes and focused her attention on mana density. She quickly felt the presence of several people around the castle, and turned her head towards the one that felt the most like Six. It wasn't anything specific, just that Six always gave off a sort of calm and thoughtful vibe. She was nice to be around when everything was getting overwhelming. She was quiet and easy to be around. 

Wait, why was she thinking about all that junk? She quickly started walking. Based on where that presence was, she was probably in... The library? Probably some dusting that needed to be done. She hurried her pace to get there faster, hoping her brain would shut up. 

When Lilin made it to the library, she quickly spotted Six. She made her presence known with her footsteps as she strutted over. Six looked up, giving a small bow as she turned to face the approaching Lilin.

"Greetings, Lilin. Are you back for more assignments?"

"Yeah, got anything for Ten and I? I'm getting kinda sick of her voice, so give us something where we can be spread out again."

Six nodded, thinking for a moment. "Well, there are a few cooking duties that may satisfy those criteria. Those would be found in the kitchen, already noted for somebody to pick up."

Lilin scowled. "We've already been in the kitchen. Isn't there anything else?"

Six folded her arms and shook her head. "No, unfortunately. Most everything else would have you in a singular room."

Lilin sighed and rolled her eyes. It was frustrating, but it was probably better to take Ten back to the kitchen so she wasn't a bother rather than show her around the castle more. She hated having to think about all these things, it was such a bother. Why couldn't she just be enough? She was more than enough, especially with the other maids covering the stuff she hated doing.

"Alright, we'll take the kitchen job. I'm not happy about it, though. Cya, Six."

Six bowed and turned to return to her work as Lilin left. She was very curious to see how Lilin synergized with the new hire. Ten was a very unique individual. It made her wonder if she could meet Ten for herself. She seemed... jovial, and there were a few things Six wanted to speak to her about.

Annie finally walked up to the castle grounds, seeing Lilin waiting impatiently for her. The moment that Lilin noticed her, Annie saw her suddenly dash forward.

"DAMNIT, Ten, were you going for a damn stroll or something?! You've wasted so much time!"

"Ah, sorry," Annie replied, chuckling. "I must have lost track of time on my walk! It was quite nice, you know."

Lilin groaned and turned her back to Annie. "Whatever. Just follow me, we have kitchen duties."

Annie walked to the kitchen with Lilin, the route starting to feel familiar as she walked it for a second time. As they entered, though, she felt a wave of heat hit her. It seemed there were a few other maids in here, working hard at cooking a massive meal.

"Alright, Ten," Lilin said, "kitchen work is a lot less forgiving than other things. They leave out notes that tell us what to do. Grab one and get to work!"

Annie stepped forward and quickly found the notes, written on paper in English. Was this the first time she was reading something here? Strange how it was just plain old English, but don't look the gift horse in the mouth. But... Even though it was written in English, there were a lot of unfamiliar words- mainly ingredients. Well, she sure hoped things were labeled well.

Lilin got to work on a different note, not looking at Ten whatsoever. She was definitely sick of Ten, she didn't want to have to deal with her. She almost hated how she acted right after the throne room. Ten didn't need to know about her name, or about any of that stuff. Ten was just a servant, and a worse one than Lilin. If anything, Lilin had to make sure Ten knew her place. So why did she do all that?

"Lilin," Annie said out of nowhere, "Where can I find these ingredients?"

"Eh? The hell do you wanna know?" Lilin replied sharply.

"Uhm... Where the ingredients are?" Annie said, tilting her head.

Oh. That wasn't something she could stonewall. Shit.
"That closet, dumbass," she said as she pointed to the pantry. "You can read, right?"

Annie nodded, then wordlessly hurried to the pantry. She opened the door and saw a massive collection of somewhat familiar ingredients. Some things seemed about the same as on Earth, like a few baskets of beans and a bag of flour, but there were a lot of unknowns. Things that looked like insectoid crab claws, plants that were all sorts of shapes and textures, and even what looked to be body parts of monstrous creatures. They were all sorts of strange and exotic, and she didn't know what to think.

But for now, she shouldn't think too much. She had a list of ingredients and things to do to prepare, she should simply follow the recipe as best she could. She got to work with her knife, glad that most of the recipe terms were about the same. Skinning, de-boning, flaying, dicing, those sorts of things seemed to be the same. Or, maybe there was some fancy language magic going on. It seemed wildly unlikely that everything was actually in English. Perhaps Aramasa had just done some magical translation stuff!

As Lilin worked, she was laser-focused on her task. She worked with precision and elegance, her hands well trained and practiced. If there was one thing she wouldn't be out-done in, it would be cooking. There's no way that this half-rate newbie would handle a knife like she could. She even added a few little twirls to remind herself of how she was truly the best. It wasn't a fluke, it was real.

When she finally finished, she looked over and saw Ten still working on her note. She was falling behind the others, just like Lilin was hoping she would. It was finally time for Ten to be put in her place. She glanced at the note Ten was working with, wondering which dish she had gotten. Looked like Ten was working on a baking dish, one with strict measurements and a lot of skill involved. Lilin sighed happily, seeing that she had finished a harder dish than Ten in a faster time.

Annie noticed Lilin looking over her shoulder at the note, quickly making sure to tuck the previous note a little further into her sleeve. She wasn't sure about it, but she had the feeling that Lilin wouldn't like to know that she was being outpaced. Seeing the twinkle of relief in the demon woman's eyes just about confirmed it. Lilin could use something going right for her today. Annie was just hoping she had guessed right about this- though an old woman's intuition is nothing to be trifled with, she wasn't sure about this one.