Lost Origins: SS Ranked Awakening-Chapter 44: THIS DADDY!!!

"Finally, out of here!" The blonde haired who Kieran had come to know as Jordan spoke as they made their way out of the infirmary they had been in for the past two weeks.

Over the course of the past two weeks, they had been visited by the instructors Selena and Keith who were in charge of the mission and as expected, they had to listen to a whole session of talks about their errors and why they were asses, not like they could do anything, they were in bandages unable to walk, so they could only listen to the impossibly long list of faults and mistakes they made with zero commendations for their actual good efforts.

What Kieran found strange though was that neither instructor Selena nor instructor Keith made mention of him ignoring orders that came straight from the camp, even if he wasn’t going to be punished, he at least expected some kind of talk or warning.

The moment they walked out of the infirmary though, they were tasked to complete their punishment for the errors they had made earlier, majorly for landing themselves in a bed while the others were busy as the instructor Keith said.

Another strange thing was seeing their combat instructor, the one with the dark mask and hair obstructing his face, visit them. All he did was step in, stare at them, especially Kieran then turn around and leave without saying a single word.

The other injured were in other rooms and had also been discharged earlier, surprisingly they had the most injuries, hence the longer time they spent.

Stepping out of the infirmary, the first thing Kieran did was to look for Jake who had mysteriously disappeared.

Seeing that he had escaped for now, Kieran made his way to the cafeteria. The mission was over and there had been no further orders from the camp, so he was back to being a normal recruit.

He assumed the camp would have started to make moves concerning the Kretas in the center of the region.

So far, the only thing that had been said was that the mission would be used as a test and theory performance on the mission would decide their scores, whether they were going to move onto the next phase or pack their bags and move out of the camp.

Nothing else was said on the topic of William’s death or the activity of beasts in the region. Not all the recruits had encountered them and apart from Kieran’s group that had discovered that there was something else going on, the others who happened to encounter them, although finding it strange that monsters like that were in that region, didn’t suspect a thing.

Now that they were free, the only thing they could do was to go back to being normal recruits. The end of the first phase had also been announced a day before, which meant no more classes; both theoretical and practical which gave them a lot of time to play with.

Stepping into the canteen, the first thing he noticed was how crowded it was and the strangely tense atmosphere.

Usually the canteen even during the rush hour was only occupied by the first-years and a few second-year recruits, but sitting in front of him were first-year, second years and active soldiers of the camp and the vast majority had tense expression on their faces, the chatter that was usually present in a place like the canteen could barely be heard.

Everyone just faced their meal and did what they came here to do. It felt like a war was going on.

’Could it have started?’ Kieran thought back to the outpost at the center of that region. It was possible that the camp had begun to make preparations. Even those second years who used to be scarce, on missions seemed to have been called back. He could tell easily from their numbers.

Walking to the door that led to the kitchen, he noticed a new face at the counter, but he felt like he had seen that face once before.

Stepping in to the kitchen, he was met with the sounds of pans clanging, metal spoons hitting their pot counterparts as clouds of steam rose overhead at several spots with a storm of different aromas assaulting his senses.

Before he could get a hold of the chaos that was currently going on in the kitchen, a groggy voice that he had to admit he had missed spoke out, directed to him.

"What the hell are you doing standing there?! Put on an apron and get YOUR ASS TO WORK FOR THIS DADDY?!!"

The head chef, Danzo ordered, snapping Kieran out of his daze and he joined the other chefs who were too busy running around the kitchen in overdrive to notice him.

About two hours later, the tension and chaos in the kitchen finally came to a halt and Kieran immediately fell to the floor, heaving. He had it the hardest.

He had just been discharged and then he was met face to face with another grueling battle, his stamina was at an all-time low.

"Eh? Kieran? You’re out!"

Charles, one of the chefs finally noticed him and exclaimed, making his presence known to the other chefs, Logan and Jane.

"You helped earlier? Thank you! That explains why things felt a little lighter!" Logan exclaimed.

The head chef made his way to Kieran and said with the same surprised tone as the others.

"Oh! So, it was you standing like a log of wood earlier!" He said with a laugh.

"I’ve been busy lately and haven’t had the time to drop by and check on you at the infirmary." The head chef apologized and Kieran understood. After all, he just had a taste of the immense workload they had to deal with.

The fact that the head chef was also present working along with them and yet they were pretty much struggling was a testament to how much pressure they were under.

The kitchen was pretty much understaffed, but that was due to the head chef’s absurdly high standards that he only considered the three of them to be qualified. The reason why he accepted Kieran was known to him alone.

"It seems you’ve just been discharged?" The head chef asked Kieran a question.

"Yeah, I wanted to come here first." Kieran said with a small sigh, regretting the choice he made.

"What kind of fool goes straight to the kitchen after being hospitalized for two weeks?" The chef said, giving Kieran a weird look making him bow his head down in embarrassment.

"There should be a few more hours before we get busy again, you should head back to your dorm!" The head chef said to Kieran.

"But I can—" Kieran wanted to say but was interrupted once more by Danzo

"Don’t worry kid, we can handle the heat. Now get your ass up and head back to your dorm! Before that, I’ll make you a meal to take along with you!" The head chef and Kieran said nothing.

He understood that this was the old man’s way of showing his concern and a way to make up for not showing up while he was in the infirmary, not that Kieran minded that he didn’t.

"Thank you."

He muttered taking the pack of food the chef had made at what could be considered record time before leaving the kitchen. He was going to resume work in the next two days according to the instructions of the chef.

Walking out, he glanced once more at the face at the counter and finally realized where he got the familiar feeling from.

It was the stoic lady that had served him on his first day in the canteen when he had a feast with the free food that the camp had provided.

The moment he looked at her, she turned her face in his direction and met his gaze.

’Wow’ Kieran thought at how sensitive she was.

Despite her expression, he could see that she still recognized him, so he gave a small smile and walked out.

’Hmm, the guy from the other day, huh? He’s a chef now...’ she thought to herself before resuming whatever she was doing.

Unlike the chef’s orders, Kieran didn’t go to his room. He made his way to the library. It had been a while since he visited his second favorite place in the camp.

Stepping in he was met with the lobby that this time wasn’t empty.

’What’s going on?’ Kieran thought, looking around as people moved in and out of the corridors of the library.

At the counter, the usual occupant, Leora, was absent. In there stood someone else and Kieran couldn’t be bothered enough to wonder who that was.

Walking to one of the corridors, he made his way to the level he usually stayed.

After a few hours of reading and scouring through books that still didn’t catch his interest, he made his way out of the library.

Even soaking himself in books wasn’t enough to erase the sensation in him.

Sighing deeply, he stared at his watch for a moment which showed an open chat with Ruby, before finally sending a message to her.

<We need to talk. Bring Jake as well>

The moment he clicked sent, he got a reply almost immediately, like she had been awaiting him.

<OK. Tomorrow, 12:30, the usual spot>

Seeing the reply, Kieran put down his arm and made his way back to his dorm.