While he was heading to the kitchen, the steward was sly and asked him about the decorations and what other things that they should "be more mindful of". The quotation was on purpose, because the guy practically spoke with it.
The way there was long as well because the main kitchen that served the ballrooms and the main dining hall was literally at the opposite side of the palace. This meant there were a few times he had to hear these types of inquiries, testing him.
Well, now... at least he could go around a bit! Hopefully, he’d gather clues while he was bullshitting.
The palace had some tapestries depicting family crests, battle scenes, and so on. There were some vases for decoration, but that was about it. While his peripheral vision was on the mission board, he pointed at many things in the hallway.
"You should add fresh flowers to these vases."
Then he pointed at the darker corners. "Is there a way to add more lighting in these areas?"
"Can you change the color of this tapestry? It’s too dull, it ruins the mood."
Many were a shade of green, though moss, likely because of the limited dye colors available here. "If not, we should add more accents. I think I saw some purple and red flowers in the market. You should use those," he blurted out, his mind’s eye imagining a certain elf’s eyes, just because he thought it was pretty.
He had studied a bit on the materials here, and he also remembered some of the things Syl had told him. That said, Syl was probably the highest-level person he had encountered since entering this world, and she also had the most money, so he was making changes according to her partly because he had no other references.
He was lucky the Lord’s wife and son were currently in their maternal family (this was something he knew from the guild before coming here). Otherwise, she’d have been the one in charge, and there would be little room for his advice.
Anyway, he—with sister on hand—should no longer be here by the time the actual guests arrived.
Subtly, in between rectifications of the decor, he also started asking for some information he needed. "Do you have a young child? Around 4 years old?"
"What?"
"The masters do not like children, you see," Finn said, lying with a straight face. "You know how children that age could be..."
"No. The Lord only has one son and he is already grown. There are no grandchildren yet."
"Even among the servants’ children?"
"We are not allowed to bring family in, Sir."
"I see..."
Finn said, absentmindedly moving forward.
Now, he was just confused. Where could his sister be?
...
"We’re here."
They arrived at the kitchen a couple of minutes later. Its size was about the typical size of the kitchen, though it felt a lot more cramped because things weren’t streamlined, and the items were much bigger than modern ones.
There were about a dozen people there, and as a chef, he had a rough idea what their roles could be.
There was a head chef, a deputy chef or the sous chef, butcher, scullions, and so on.
"Who is this?" they asked, looking down at him. Finn’s eyes twitched, a bit annoyed.
"He is a servant of the guests; the Lord asks him to show how the food is made."
"What? I see..." They looked warily at him. "But can he give instructions? We’re cooking for elves, aren’t we?"
Finn flinched, eyes widening just a bit, but he didn’t show it on his face.
"No need," Finn said. "I’ll do it myself. You just have to watch me."
"What?"
They did not expect Finn to cook for himself. While he had the option of instructing, it was a hassle, and there were certain techniques that were difficult to teach in this timeframe.
He also was not really leaning towards teaching these arrogant people.
Not to mention, if he could satisfy their palettes, then there was a lesser chance he’d get kicked out, simply because he showed a proper skill, therefore making him more legit.
That said, his confidence wasn’t entirely bullshit. Especially since he now confirmed the guests were elves. Syl mentioned before that elves do eat meat. However, they preferred the taste of herbs with it.
"Let me see your pantry," he said.
This was another one of his agendas: Seeing the ingredients available in a town. What’s more, he was in a palace, which meant these were the best ingredients the town could offer!
He didn’t know what to expect, considering what Ren said about the default ingredients in the place, but when he entered the storage area—which was tens of square meters large—he was still pleasantly surprised!
Anyway, as he gathered some ingredients in a basket found at the entrance, he took a look at everything.
There were even a few ingredients he did not recognize! He couldn’t use his skills on all of them, though, because he had to maintain his mana so...he decided to just take some home and study.
In the end, he stole, er, borrowed a few ingredients and placed them in his small space. These people didn’t see this much, so it wasn’t something they’d notice as long as he knew a bit of sleight of hand.
What made him shake a bit were some ingredients he hadn’t seen in a while! Cheese! They were wrapped in rectangular packages, and he took a few.
He mentally promised to pay these back eventually.
Where do these people get their milk? He wanted to ask, but that’d be too suspicious. Not to mention, he hadn’t heard what the word for ’milk’ here was. If someone mentioned it, perhaps it’d translate in his mind, but since he hadn’t, he was still blank.
He did not expect a notification while he was in the middle of ’borrowing’ ingredients, however.
[The Target is now within 1-meter radius.]
His feet stopped, and he looked around the pantry area with an indescribable expression on his face.
Wait... what?