“Not at all, Miss Cara. But I have a Skill. Just one or two…”

“It’s father’s special technique! [Pepper Touch].”

Violetta whispered to Cara. The [Singer] blinked blankly. Idelt explained.

“It adds a bit of pepper to what I mix up.”

Ah. So that was why he’d stirred the Gloomwren egg yolk with a finger three times before pouring it in!

Cara wasn’t picky and his hands had been clean, but she’d not asked. She smiled despite herself.

“That’s amazing.”

“No, it’s just a Level 10 Skill. I barely know more than half a dozen peppers anyways.”

“If you knew more, would you be able to…add them?”

Cara saw Idelt nod. Her jaw dropped.

“But then—you could add whatever pepper you wanted! For free!”

“Yes. Well, I have to know the taste. I’ve tried buying one pepper—I’d need to pay for more than a few of them. But I have thought about it. But it’s a secondary Skill. Just for my own enjoyment.”

The man looked embarrassed at the attention. Violetta looked amused.

“Haven’t you seen cooking Skills like that, Miss Cara? Father says Level 30 Skills are a sight to behold!”

Cara realized she was making mountains out of what might be mole hills. She caught herself.

“Er—well, I never ask [Cooks] or [Chefs] their secrets.”

“Can you cook, Miss Cara?”

I can burn anything you can name, including water. The young woman was opening her mouth to say that when she had an idea. She looked at Idelt and Violetta, then winked.

“Actually, I don’t have, uh, Skills or the class. But I do know how to make, an um…a cake.”

“A what?”

The young woman exchanged a glance with her father. He was frowning.

“I don’t know what that is, Miss Cara. Can you explain?”

She blinked.

“You’ve never made one? I think you have all the ingredients. You just need sugar…you have milk, eggs, flour, right?”

“We have sugar and all of that! Wait, do we have sugar, father?”

“We bought some from the [Trader] recently. We have a bit, Violetta.”

Her father cautioned the [Cellist]. She looked at Cara.

“What is cake?”

“This sweet…well, it’s like bread. But sweeter. It’s a dessert and I could make it.”

“Really? Well, if you want to make it…father, can she use the sugar?”

Idelt was already nodding. Cara smiled as Violetta cleaned the dishes, promising to help if Cara needed it after performing music for the evening work. Idelt went out and began to hammer on some metal.

And Cara? She stood in the kitchen with all the ingredients, beaming until Violetta and Idelt were gone.

Then she looked at the ingredients.

“If I don’t do this right…I’m going to owe them sugar.”

And they had very little of it. It was expensive—not something one could casually afford. Cara gulped.