Ray saw the genuine, unyielding resolve burning in Gino’s eyes. He gave a slow, respectful nod.
"I appreciate that, Gino. Now I need your help to mobilize the House Starr staff. I am looking for a guest. A noble named Bastian Sterling. Ask Travis to help with the search as he knows what he looks like."
Ray said, his tone brisk and authoritative.
"Before you go I need you to listen to this very carefully, Gino. You are only to locate him. Do not speak to him. Do not let him realize he is being watched. The moment you have eyes on him, send word to me immediately. Understood?"
Ray warned, stepping closer to the senior staffer.
"I understand, my Lord. Where will you be?"
Gino said, his eyes wide with the severity of the task.
"We are heading down to the kitchen."
Ray said.
Gino nodded and hurried off down the servant corridor to rally the other House Starr staffers.
"Do you believe it is worth looking into this Head Chef, my Lord? Shouldn’t looking for prime suspects be our main priority?”
Svane said as they began to walk.
"We have already engaged the House Starr staff, they would be more efficient in searching for Bastian than us. Also this head chef is a woman with a massive ego and is a ticking time bomb. I know our time is limited but we must investigate every lead.”
Ray replied as he looked over his shoulder.
"Rina, you said you were assisting in the kitchen earlier. What is Madame Aris like?"
Rina paled slightly at the mention of the name.
"She is... terrifying, Young Master. She rules the culinary staff like a tyrant. She demands absolute perfection."
"Good, because Bastian Sterling is currently lost in a sea of aristocrats, playing the role of an innocent gala guest. But we know exactly where the Head Chef is."
Ray said, a cold, predatory smile touching the corner of his lips. He stepped to the side, gesturing forward.
"Lead the way, Rina."
Rina swallowed hard, steeling her resolve. She gave a sharp nod and stepped past Svane and Ray, leading them down the winding stone stairs and straight toward the chaotic, high-pressure heat of the manor's culinary heart.
Ray, Svane, and Rina pushed through the heavy swinging double doors and stepped over the threshold into an absolute organized chaos.
The main kitchen of House Starr was a massive, sprawling cavern of culinary warfare. The air was thick with suffocating heat, billowing white steam, and the rich, heavy scents of roasted meats, reduced wines, and sizzling garlic. The noise was deafening, a chaotic symphony of clattering copper pots, roaring hearth fires, and a dozen line cooks shouting to be heard over the din.
Rina stepped back and shrank slightly against Ray’s back, overwhelmed by the sheer sensory assault, but she raised a trembling hand and pointed through the smoke.
At the center of the madness, standing before a massive stainless-steel prep station, was Head Chef Aris Asad.
She was a striking, intimidating figure. Her fiery red curly hair was pulled back into a tight, practical knot, and her rolled-up sleeves revealed forearms corded with lean, wiry muscle and littered with pale, faded scorch marks, the battle scars of a lifelong chef.
Right at that moment, her full attention was focused on a massive, roasted boar's head resting on her heavy wooden cutting board. In her right hand, she wielded a slender, terrifyingly sharp boning knife. Ray watched, mesmerized and slightly chilled, as the blade flashed under the kitchen lights.
She didn't hack or saw. With effortless, terrifying precision, Aris made clean, surgical excisions. A flick of her wrist parted muscle from bone. A smooth, drawing slice removed the boar's cheeks, and with one final, impossibly fluid motion, she severed the roasted animal's tongue at the exact root, tossing it into a silver prep bowl.
In the Ambient Presence of Ray’s mind, the committee instantly took notice.
Healer: "Look at the edge on that blade. Look at the absolute lack of hesitation."
Detective: "A clean excision at the root. Just like Warren. She has the tools, the anatomical knowledge, and the exact physical skill set required to execute the mutilation we saw in the cellar."
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She was entirely locked into ‘the zone,’ operating at a furious, uncompromising rhythm.
"Madame Aris."
Ray called out, his voice clear but easily swallowed by the roaring kitchen.
She didn't even flinch. She grabbed a pair of long iron tongs, meticulously adjusting a sprig of garnish.
Ray took a few steps closer, raising his voice.
"Head Chef Aris."
Still nothing. A few of the nearby line cooks noticed Ray and the towering Svane behind him, their eyes widening in surprise, but absolutely none of them dared to tap the Head Chef on the shoulder to interrupt her. To break her concentration right now was practically a death sentence.
Svane scowled, his massive hand reaching out to physically spin the woman around.
Ray raised two fingers, silently halting himt. Brute force was unnecessary. Ray had his own tools for breaking concentration.
Ray initiated Partial Immersion and activated the Grizzled Commander’s ‘General's Cadence’ skill.
Deep within Ray’s core, a sharp pulse of Aether flared to life. The energy rushed upward, wrapping tightly around his vocal cords. The General's Cadence was designed as a mental cleanse to shatter fear or panic in allies with an aether-infused command. But Ray wasn't using it to cleanse. He was using it offensively.
"Aris Asad."
Ray didn't shout. He didn't need to. The Aetheric shockwave carried his voice, cutting through the clattering pans, the roaring fires, and the chaotic shouting with the terrifying clarity of a thunderclap.
Aris flinched violently, dropping her iron tongs onto the steel counter with a sharp clatter. Her hyper-focused concentration shattered into a thousand pieces. She spun around, her face twisting into a mask of pure, unadulterated fury, a blistering string of curses already forming on her mind for whoever had dared to break her rhythm.
Before she could utter a single word, Ray activated and layered in the Grizzled Commander’s ‘Command Aura’ skill.
The crushing, suffocating weight of a battlefield general slammed into the Head Chef like a physical wall. Aris’s mouth snapped shut. Her eyes widened as they locked onto the thirteen-year-old boy standing before her. Her brain told her he was just a child in a tailored suit, but her instincts screamed that she was standing in front of a high-ranking warlord who could order her execution with a flick of his wrist.
Aris swallowed the insult burning in her throat. The heavy pressure forced her to recognize his authority, but her immense ego refused to completely submit. She masked her sudden intimidation behind a wall of deep, bitter annoyance.
"Give me a minute!"
Aris snapped at her line cooks, untying her soiled apron and tossing it onto the counter. She glared at Ray.
"If you want to talk, we do it in my office. Follow me."
She stormed past them, leading the party away from the heat of the central hearths and toward a heavy iron-wrought door at the back of the kitchen.
Aris pushed it open, revealing the Chef's Sanctum, the Master Pantry. The air inside was blessedly cool, perfectly temperature-controlled. The walls were lined from floor to ceiling with locked glass cabinets displaying rare spices, hanging racks of heavily cured meats, and jars of exotic botanicals.
The moment they were inside, refusing to show any lingering weakness from the aura, Aris didn't turn to face them, instead she immediately walked straight to a shelf and picked up a sealed jar of dark truffles, opened it and examined its contents.
"I have a kingdom's worth of aristocrats out there waiting for their fifth course."
Aris said, her voice dripping with impatience, her back still turned.
"So whatever it is you want, make it quick."
Ray ignored the disrespect entirely.
He initiated Concurrent Partial Immersion, layered in the Charismatic Conman and activated the ‘Lie Detection’ skill.
"I will get straight to the point, Madame Aris. I am here about the argument you had with Warren Ramada earlier this afternoon. I want to hear your side of the story."
Ray said smoothly, his voice dropping the heavy pressure of the ‘Command Aura’ skill..
Aris paused. Her shoulders stiffened. She let out a long, dramatic sigh, rolling her eyes as she finally turned around to face him. She looked deeply annoyed that this was what was holding up her kitchen.
"My side of the story? My side of the story is that the old man is a culinary illiterate who actively tried to ruin my masterpiece today."
Aris scoffed, leaning back against one of the wooden shelves.
She gestured sharply with the jar of truffles.
"I had this evening perfectly planned. A flawless, harmonious, seven-course masterpiece. The flavors were meticulously balanced to carry the guests through the evening. And then, at the absolute last minute, Ramada marches into my kitchen and drops a list of absurd, palate-destroying alterations."
Aris lifted her free hand, making aggressive, mocking air quotes.
"He claimed they were Lady Jane's 'special requests' for her VIP guests. Utter nonsense. Lady Jane wouldn't know a truffle or a dandelion. It was Ramada. He has hated me since the day Young Master Dylan hired me to replace his favorite old chef. He made up those requests to sabotage my menu and make me look like a fool in front of the guests."
"So, what was the resolution?"
Ray asked.
"A compromise."
Aris sneered, crossing her arms.
"I refused to put my name on that bastardized garbage. So, I assigned the junior cooks to prep Ramada's altered dishes. I am cooking the true masterpiece myself. It doubled our workload, the kitchen is an absolute nightmare, and my staff is on the verge of a breakdown. But my artistic integrity remains intact."
In the Ambient Presence of Ray’s mind, the Charismatic Conman spoke up immediately.
Conman: “No micro-tremors. Vocal cadence is steady, driven by genuine ego and frustration. She fully believes everything she is saying.”
Ray absorbed the assessment, keeping his face perfectly neutral.
"Is that so? Then what about your parting words to him?"
Aris frowned.
"What about them?"
"I was told that before you stormed off, you screamed at him."
Ray said, his golden-flecked eyes locking onto hers.
"I will cook your stupid food, but before the night ends, I will kill you for making me do this."
For a fraction of a second, Aris looked surprised that he knew the exact phrasing. But then, to Ray's quiet astonishment, she didn't deny it. Instead, a smug, arrogant smirk spread across her face.
"Damn right I said it!"
Aris admitted in a heartbeat, her chin tilting up proudly.
"And I meant every word! You don't walk into a chef's kitchen, demand she ruin her art, and expect her to just smile and bow. The man is a tyrant."
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