'The Extra's Progression'-Chapter 71: Modus Operandi [5]

"Onions, potatoes and... Ooh! It’s enough." Ezio muttered, searching the baskets of the fresh farm produce.

He was in the church’s kitchen since morning with two other volunteers, moving from one task to another without much rest.

The kitchen itself was a big place, with the walls being beautiful mixture of old and new architecture.

The walls were made up of coffee coloured cobblestone, giving it an overall earthy, old-world feel. But everything else other than that —stoves, ovens, counters were modern and well kept. The kitchen was huge, easily big enough to handle food for a crowd.

Thok—!!! thok—!!!

The steady cutting noises, bounced off the cutting board with a good amount of force. Ezio was cutting the onions and potatoes with utmost precision.

As he continued working, he heard a voice from the stove where fish fillets were sizzling in a pan.

"Nice skill you got there lad," the man said, adding a good amount of oil in the pan.

Ezio nodded without looking up. "Just something I picked up along the way."

A moment later, the man — Óli — the head chef of the church, placed the pan loudly, gathering everyone’s attention. "Alright, time to wrap it up faster, boys. It’s eight p.m. now."

He glanced at another helper. "Yes, that’s the amount. Take only two and a half cups of milk."

Ezio wiped the tears and sweat with the back of his hands as they skillfully cleaved through the onion.

The day had been brutal for him. Between cooking for churchgoers and helping with meals for the members, the work never really stopped. Morning snacks, afternoon snacks, prep in between — and now dinner, blurred together.

Aside from the occassional two hour breaks, his body hadn’t got much rest.

Ezio then glanced over the piece of paper, pinned on the wall.

[Ingredients (for 20 servings) (fish stew)]

●White fish (cod, haddock, pollock, frozen/thawed, skinless/boneless fillets): 2.5 kg

(about 5.5 lbs)

●Potatoes (waxy or gold): 2.5 kg (about 5.5 lbs)

●Onions (large yellow or white, finely chopped): 5 large (or 8–10 medium; about 1–1.25 kg total)

●All-purpose flour: 15 tbsp (about 3/4–1 cup)

"Hmm, two steps are done..."

Ezio’s eyes, then sized up the last ingredient. Looking below the counter, he noticed that the flour bags were empty.

Tilting his head towards Óli, he spoke. "Chef should I go get the flour bags from the pantry?"

Óli looked at him, while Ezio just showed his finger below the counter. "These bags are finished."

"Please, bring them at once." Óli spoke while flipping the pan.

"Got it."

With a heavy sigh, Ezio in his flowery apron ran towards the door.

....

Raviel and Ezio were back in their room by 11 o’clock. Both of then had just returned, having their dinner.

For them, today was a long and arduous day.

Raviel sat by the desk and popped open an energy drink can, and sighed as he took a long gulp.

"We’re not moving forward with the mission," Raviel said, staring at the pond from the window.

Ezio let out a tired groan. "That’s for sure."

Raviel continued, his tone flat. "We’re just going around in circles. And after dinner, hearing that the head priest won’t be back for two more days..."

He clicked his tongue, taking a long sip. "That makes it even more longer that it already was in our accounted time period."

Both of them were clearly unhappy. This mission was already taking more time than they had planned for, and the worst part was that they hadn’t even seen their target’s face with their own eyes, properly — not even once.

Ezio leaned back against the bed frame and spoke up. "I mapped most of the place in my head today."

Raviel turned slightly, listening.

"When I was bringing ingredients for the kitchen back and forth, I took the longer routes," Ezio said. "The church members are only eight people. That’s excluding volunteers and the head priest. Timings are strict too. Most areas are empty late at night, except for restricted places that are only accessible by the head priest or assistant priest."

Raviel nodded slowly, taking it all in, while swirling the can in his hand.

"Ooof!"

With a weak groan, Raviel stood up, stretched his hands and legs, grabbing his coat, he walked towards the door.

Ezio frowned. "Where are you going?"

"Out for a walk, seems like the food was pretty heavy for my stomach tonight." Raviel replied casually. "Don’t worry. I’ve got two more hours left."

Thud—!!!

Closing the door, Raviel adjusted the hem of the jacket before moving with relaxed steps.

Raviel walked through the hallways at a slow pace. The place felt different — like mixture of serene and hollow atmosphere.

Most people were still asleep, while few lights were still on from the building which Raviel came from.

He passed through an open corridor and noticed an array old oil lamps resting on the stand. He picked it up, the warm glow lighting his way as he headed toward the pond.

With a bit of luck, he managed to reach the spot, as in the night the vines were difficult to see and some of them even had sharp thorns on them. But luckily for Raviel, he managed to get there without a scratch.

When he reached the bench, he noticed someone moving near the footpath that was connected to the other building. A woman was walking very slowly, one hand gripping the railing, each time she walked she would place a foot ahead, inspecting the ground.

Raviel stared for a second, then realized who it was.

’What’s she doing here and that too alone at this hour.’

It was the same woman he had met in the garden this morning.

He stood up quickly and walked toward her. "What are you doing alone at this hour, sister?" he asked gently.

She paused, her body shivered, hearing the sudden voice, before she recognized the voice directed towards her. "Ah!... Rafael. Good to see you here."

Then she added, smiling, "And for you, it’s not sister. It’s mother. Do you understand?"

’Is she really wearing such light clothes in this type of cold.’

Raviel nodded at once. He took off his coat and carefully placed it over her shoulders. "May I?" he asked.

She nodded.

He guided her slowly back to the bench and helped her sit down. After that, he sat beside her, keeping the same distance as before and asked, "Aren’t you cold out here, mother? Coming out with just church clothes?"

She smiled softly. "Indeed. Tonight feels much colder than yesterday. And seems like I forgot my scarf."

Noticing his quiet gaze, she tilted her head slightly. "You know, you can ask me questions. I can tell you want to."

Raviel hesitated, then asked, "Why do you live in that second building?"

She kept her head forward, listening.

"And... there’s one more thing," Raviel continued. "Why do you never enter the church or join the dining halls? Or any of the members? Ever since I came here, I’ve only seen you around the pond."

She took a slow breath. "You could call it a kind of punishment," she said calmly. "For breaking a rule."

Raviel glanced at her, lifting an eyebrow.

’What type of thing must one do, to get this type of punishment.’

She laughed lightly. "Well, I’m not exactly as pure as a sister is supposed to be."

Raviel paused, unsure what to say.

’Did she just....’

Then she rested her chin on her hand and added casually, "Honestly, I think I should start looking for more matches on dating websites. It gets lonely here. Do you know any single blind male, Rafael?"

Raviel blurted out before he could stop himself, "Holy shit."

He immediately froze. In his head, he had always believed people working in churches weren’t allowed to date or marry. As someone who didn’t believe much in religion, the whole thing felt strange to him. As a self proclamained atheist he couldn’t understand the reason for such fierce devotion he had seen ever since coming here.

The woman laughed warmly. "What’s with that reaction, child?"

Raviel just nodded inwardly.

She then just stared ahead with her closed eyes. "Would you like to come with me, to see something more interesting."

’How can she even tell if it’s interesting when she is blind.’

Patting his legs once, he stood up. "I suppose we can do that, I still have an hour or so left."

The woman smiled and placed her hand in his as she led him in the deeper parts of the garden.