Chapter 164. Dinner with a Golem (2)
“It doesn’t look like the two of them are coming here after all, so I should probably get going.”
No. 8 set down his empty coffee cup.
Several hours had already passed since he had decided to wait at Restaurant Shelley, just in case.
He had even drunk three cups of coffee.
But it seemed increasingly unlikely that Yukgap and Victoria had any intention of coming here.
[It will be dinner time soon.]
[You fleshbags need to consume organic matter three times a day.]
Robert, who had been standing nearby, spoke calmly.
No. 8 answered casually,
“That’s true.”
“I’ll grab something to eat on the way.”
Then Robert made a rather unexpected suggestion.
[Eat before you leave.]
“What?”
“Have you forgotten why I came here?”
[I know.]
[But I cannot allow a guest who entered Restaurant Shelley to leave without being served.]
[As a waiter of Restaurant Shelley, that is unacceptable.]
Robert was stubborn about it.
No. 8 had come here to track down Yukgap and Victoria, yet now Robert was suddenly offering him dinner.
No. 8 could only stare in disbelief.
“Can you cook?”
[I am superior to you fleshbags.]
[Something like that is basic.]
[Do you have a favorite food?]
Apparently, he was serious.
A favorite food...
No. 8 thought about it.
Most of the Twelve Archons treated food as little more than fuel.
They rarely had strong preferences about taste.
As long as something could be chewed and swallowed, they ate it.
So being asked about his favorite food was strangely difficult.
After thinking for a while, No. 8 cautiously answered,
“Hmm.”
“Maybe curry?”
[Good.]
[I will prepare curry.]
Robert immediately accepted the answer and headed into the kitchen.
No. 8 watched him go and muttered without thinking,
“To think I came all the way here just to be served curry by a golem.”
He had experienced all kinds of things as one of the Twelve Archons.
But never something as ridiculous as being invited to dinner like this.
Thinking of his fellow Archon, he let out a quiet laugh.
“No. 6.”
“You really are surrounded by strange things.”
“What’s taking so long?”
Quite some time had passed since Robert went into the kitchen to make curry.
But not only was dinner nowhere to be seen, No. 8 could not even smell food cooking.
Had something gone wrong?
Just as he was wondering about it, Robert called from the kitchen.
[Fleshbag.]
[I require your assistance.]
“What happened?”
No. 8 headed into the kitchen.
Robert stood surrounded by all kinds of spices, looking left and right.
[Which one of these is ‘curry powder’?]
Apparently, he had spent all this time unable to identify the curry powder among the ingredients.
No. 8 easily spotted it on the left.
“Isn’t it obviously this one?”
“The smell alone gives it away.”
[I do not have a nose.]
Robert answered calmly.
No. 8 nodded in understanding.
“Right.”
“I overlooked something important.”
[In any case, wait.]
[I will make the curry.]
Perhaps trying to make up for the delay, Robert took vegetables and meat from the refrigerator.
But his thick, blunt hands did not inspire much confidence in No. 8.
“Can you really use a knife with those hands?”
[That is the narrow perspective of inferior fleshbags.]
[Knife work is not difficult for me.]
Robert’s eyes suddenly lit up.
Then sharp saw blades sprang from both of his arms.
[System activation.]
[Switching to slaughter mode!]
Vrrrrrrrrrrr.
The serrated blades began spinning ominously.
Robert slammed them down into the ingredients and shouted,
[Eliminate! Eliminate! Eliminate!]
Chunks of vegetables and meat flew in every direction as the blades tore through everything.
No. 8 stared in horror and hurriedly stopped him.
“Stop!”
“At this rate, you’ll turn all the ingredients into paste!”
[This process is necessary for complete extermination.]
“What exactly are you trying to exterminate?!”
Did this golem even understand the concept of preparing ingredients?
No. 8 sighed in resignation and grabbed a kitchen knife.
For the sake of both his dinner and the survival of the kitchen, he would apparently have to make the curry himself.
“I’ll prepare the ingredients.”
“I’m not as good as No. 6, but my knife skills are decent.”
[Have you made curry before?]
“Once.”
When had that been?
Several years ago now.
He had gone to the beach with the other members of the Tracking Team.
They had been using fake identities as friends on vacation during school break.
“We once had to approach a target while pretending we were camping.”
“To avoid suspicion, we all prepared ingredients together and made curry.”
“It tasted pretty good too.”
Why was it?
It had only been an act to keep their target from becoming suspicious.
Yet remembering that time always left him with a strangely pleasant feeling.
As he recalled it, No. 8 muttered without realizing,
“That was fun.”
Robert spoke casually.
[Then quit being an Archon and work at Restaurant Shelley.]
[You seem to have some talent for cooking.]
“I do have a certain amount of pride in being one of the Twelve Archons.”
No. 8 immediately shook his head.
But Robert seemed bothered by something.
[The Twelve Archons were created to kill people, were they not?]
[Yukgap told me.]
“I won’t deny it.”
