Shark Filet

On the 3rd stage of his ascension, Miller came face to face with a goddess. He found himself standing in a kitchen of the finest quality! Marble tops and perfectly clean. Newest cooking utensils sparkled brightly in the directionless light. A woman walked up behind him.

“Miller, the one desiring to be a chef to the gods! I got a challenge for you!”

Miller turned, his long blond hair fluttering as he did. He bowed to the goddess respectfully.

“I am Miller Monte and I accept your challenge!”

She smiles, standing 2 heads taller than the man before her.

“I am Canta, the goddess of taste. Satisfy my desire for a perfect meal and you shall have your ascension, chef, but until then you’re still a mortal.”

He grinned.

“A perfect meal you shall have, your grace.”

She motioned around the kitchen.

“This will be your stage, but the ingredients you’ll have to obtain from the land of mortals! Let us see if you’re as brave as you are daring. .”

She snapped her fingers and a door of light appeared beside the man.

“I desire a meal made out of shark!”

She pondered for a moment and then grinned playfully, like a child.

“Ohh and strawberries! I LOVE strawberries! The finest strawberries, perfectly ripe, from the southern lands!”

Miller took out a small notebook and wrote down her order.

“And for the sauce?” she shrugged.

“I don’t know.. Is something a little salty but not too salty?”

With a playful smirk, she pushed him through the door before he could ask any further questions.

Miller found himself falling. For a moment, he closed his eyes out of fear, but then remembered that a god would never harm a mortal during the trial of ascension. He opened his eyes and found himself falling, but the ground appeared not to be getting closer. He grinned.

“Of course! I guess… i’ll start with the sauce! Salty…” he continued falling for a while longer, thinking where to find the best salt.

“Salt of NAYLA!”

At that moment, he found himself falling rapidly towards the west, and soon found himself approaching a small port town. During his fall, off in the distance, he noticed mountains, with roads leading to them, and massive excavation sites.

“Ah, that must be the..” he tried to say before crashing into a small barn just outside the city. The sudden commotion alerted the sheep that were grazing on the field. The herd ran off as Miller slowly dug himself out from under the rubble.

As Miller was dusting himself off and trying to recall the direction towards the mountains, he was greeted by farmer. Something made him think the farmer wasn’t too ecstatic about his sudden appearance. Maybe it was the pitchfork in his hands.

“Eyyy! Lad! Why you destroy my barn?”

Miller looked over his shoulder at the pile of rubble where the barn once was.

“Apologies, sir. I am undergoing the trial of..”

The farmer angrily interrupted him-.

“I CARE NOT! PAY UP LAD!”

Miller rummaged through his pockets.

“Erhmm.. I could.. Offer a fine meal, made from one of those sheep, I guess… he looked around. The farmer spat his weedstock out of his mouth-.

“First ya destroy my barn, now threaten my sheep! I’ll call the city guard on you!”

Miller raised his hands.

“No no! Not the guards! I’m on a quest.”

In that moment, the tall goddess came out of the ground, she looked around and sighed.

“You need to work on your landing, mortal..”

Miller shrugged.

“Excuse me! You just suddenly pushed me and sent me flying!”

She shook her head.

“Yes yes, I’ll deal with the farmer! Off you go now, i’m hungry!”

Miller bowed.

“Yes your grace!” and jogged off. The farmer angrily shouted after him, but his remarks were ignored. Miller soon found himself standing at the mine, reading a sign that said,.

“Salt mines of Nayla are temporarily closed. Entry forbidden.”

Miller looked around, not a soul to be found. He shrugged.

“But.. The finest salt in all of the world!”

Suddenly, a growling voice came from behind him.

“Ehey Lad! Looking for salt?”

Miller jumped out of fear and swiftly turned around.

“SORRY!?”

Before him stood a tall, muscular Hrothgar.

“Easy lad! What cha so scared of? These fangs?”

He beared his fangs at Miller whose eyes widened.

“S..stay back! I’m..”

The Hrothgar shrugged.

“Uhuh, trespassing into my territory is what you are doing.”

Miller looked over his shoulder at the mine, contemplating his chances of being able to outrun a Hrothgar. The Hrothgar grinned.

“Don’t try to run, if I wanted to harm you, I’d have done so long ago.”

He scratched his head.

“Need some salt? The stockpiles are depletes and the mines are closed for upgrades… but” he pointed at a hangar in the back.

“There, use the tracks and trolley in there, enter the WESTERN tunnel, not EASTERN! That means go RIGHT! And get your salt” he turned to leave.

Miller blinked in disbelief.

“Uhh.. Thanks? And you are..??”

The muscular Hrothgar, while walking away, waved his hand.

“Captain Levi, my pleasure and so on, now go before I change my mind.”

Miller quickly ran into the hangar, and found a large automaton, a robot standing next to a tracked-trolley. He approached it with awe on his face.

“Whoaa! An automaton!? Never seen them in action before.”

A ladder leading up to the trolley, Miller climbed inside and looked at the control panel!

The control panel was simple. It had a button, a speed lever, and a horizontal level which Miller assumed to be for directional control. He pressed the button. The automaton buzzed to life. Its joints creaked and its body vibrated for a moment. The cart jerked for a moment as the automaton began to step forward. Miller smiled like a child on a rollercoaster.

“Fascinating! An automaton powered trolley! Truly next level.”

The robot kept the pace Miller set with the lever.

Shortly after, Miller found himself at a fork. A 3 way split Straight ahead, left and right. Miller shifted the lever to the right and the trolley went straight….

“No! NO NO NO NO NO!”

Yelled Miller as he yanked on the speed lever to bring the automaton to a stop. To his surprise, it only picked up pace and, shortly after, burst into a full on sprint as the slope got steeper.

The rumbling of the metal wheels on the tracks as the trolley was moving faster than it was ever intended for. The automaton’s joints creaked and squeaked, occasionally popping. Suddenly, the sound of metal hitting metal. Miller looked over his shoulder to see 1 arm of the automaton had fallen off, its legs wobbled, and bolts were falling out of it.

“Hmm, I really don’t think this is part of the design” he pondered for a moment before a sudden and loud ‘thump” turned his lights off.

A hanging sign, reading.

“Keep your head and hands down” which Miller did not see coming for he was facing the opposite direction. The goddess sighed once more, standing next to passed out miller as the automaton crashed behind them, destroying the tracks in doing so. The trolley went off the tracks and hit the wall, began to tilt and about to tumble. Miller awoke an unknown amount of time later, sitting against the wall, a small pouch resting on his lap, and a note. To his left, a little up the mineshaft, the trolley laid, completely obliterated and mangled!

He read the note and smiled, tucking the note safely into his pocket and the pouch into the other. He got up and grunted, leaning on the wall to support him, and continued his way deeper into the mineshaft. At last, he reached a dead end. A dimly illuminated, sparkling wall presented itself to him. Miller picked up a small pebble on the side and began to slowly chip away at the sparkling wall, collecting dust of the rocksalt that was falling off into the palm of his hand.

He poured the salt off into the pouch.

“First key ingredient done! Now to, hunt a shark, I guess.. Never hunted a shark before..” he spoke to himself as he made his way back up the mineshaft. The journey was rather uneventful, and within a few hours, he found himself standing at the docks of the Nayla, wondering which vessel would take on his insane request. Merchant ships, fishing boats, pirate ships and even the empire gunships were present at the docks. Suddenly, something moved in the water.

L.L.: At this pace he will slip and hit his head at the way to the water…

L.Z.: maybe that’s the idea? easier to carve out a chunk when you don’t have thick skin to get through first

D.B.: He should hire that pirate ship

P.D.: I vote Pirate ship !

M.F.: Its Miller, he gets into the next empty boat and rows into the sea…

N.S.: Dip his head into the water!

C.B.: I’ve met some good pirates in my days, so I agree! Pirates

A.A.: Pirate ship has to be the way

N.K.: Wouldn’t some fishing vessel be most optimal, not to mention willing?

P.Y.: I’m agree, he have to hire a pirate ship

L.Z.: i gotta give it to nagisa, just dive on in there, what’s the worst that could happen?

A.A.: No navy ship would wanna go for some real manly hunt like shark hunting

S.A.: I mean the only thing he is good at is baiting goddesses to rescue him, so I would say he should check the water

L.L.: Huh? Would he even be allowed on a navy ship?

R.G.: The goddess is clearly into him and won’t let me die, just jump in and grab the shark, easiest way to get the meat

L.L.: I agree with the wolf boy.

L.M.: Who is to say that hunting this particular shark is not illegal? Pirates are the way forward.

L.Z.: i mean, a navy vessel helping a civilian with a fishing venture seems like a massive misappropriation of tax dollars

P.Y.: you’re totally right Rob’yn ^^

M.F.: I see Rob’yn identifies a lot with Miller

S.A.: This goddess is biased for sure

P.D.: I was gonna say

P.D.: Rob’yn would do that for sure

S.A.: Wrestle a shark with salt in his pocket? That…. might be a bad idea

C.B.: It’s just stupid and dangerous enough to work!

V.M.: Pirate ship it is! the most popular choice! let’s see how this’ll go

M.F.: he’s gonna end up on a lonely island with lots of rum

C.B.: Don’t forget the rum ham.

L.L.: Or die on the way.

Miller approached the first pirate vessel he could see, greeted him with a grunt, a sailor in ragged clothes, but very fancy, rich looking boots. He spat onto the dock.

“YE?”

Miller looked over his thick, hairy body, trying to peek at the sheep.

“I uhmm.. Am Miller, friend of..” he pondered for a moment whether a lie is a good idea.

“Friend of, erhm, Captain Levi.”

An awkward smile spread across his face, hoping the lie would fly.

The sailor squinted at him before suddenly slapping his shoulder with enough force to send him down to his knee.

“Ughh!” grunted Miller before he found himself lifted back up to his feet, a thick, strong arm wrapped around him in a friendly manner.

“COME ABOARD FELLA!”

He gestured at a dirty ship, with a gray sheep standing in the middle of it, leashed to the main mast. A few raggedy sailors in fancy shoes were minding their own business. Miller’s eyes widened as he contemplated his decision.

“We are the shoe-pirates!” the sailor lifted his foot.

“Look! A mighty fine set’o boots ey? What cha need? Captain Levi’s friend is our friend! Ye wanna raid? Plunder the booty? A TTRRREASURE HUNT??”

Miller shook his head as he carefully walked down the rotten gangplank.

“Uhh.. no, a.. Erhm, shark hunt!”

The crew suddenly stopped and stared at him. The sailor who greeted him squinted at him once more before slapping his back with enough force to send Miller across the plank and down onto the deck, next to the sheep.

“VERY WELL! Finally gonna put the damned sheep to use as well! As BAIT!” laughed the captain as he stared at the sheep-.

“Got the damned baah as a trade for a few spare boots, but ain’t nobody here can cook it! So now we keep it as a mascot basically!”

The crew laughed and then hurried to put away the cleaning supplies.

“ALRIGHT! OFF WE GO.”

Yelled the captain as he walked up to the helm. Miller followed, and shortly after, they were out at sea, sailing off towards the sunset.

Night time came and the sea turned black! The moon crescent reflected in the calm waters. Captain ordered the crew to ready the lanterns at the portside (left side) of the ship. The sheep was tied up and ready to be thrown off the plank to bait a shark. Captain cut his hand a little and dripped a few drops of his blood into the water and grinned.

“Yes! Ready the spears and harpoons! We’ll slay the beast to help our friend.”

Miller stood by the plank and watched 2 pirates carried the tied up sheep to the plank, when suddenly, the captain sneezed. During the sneeze he pushed Miller, which led to him getting pushed against the rotten railing, which was quick to give way. A splash, Miller found himself in the water.

“Ah!? Eh? Ahhh!??? Help!” shouted Miller. 1 Of the crew members grabbed rope but the captain stopped him.

“Nayy! Get the spears!”

The crew watched as panicked chef splashed erratically in the water.

“No! Splash le..” tried to say 1 of the pirates, but his captain’s massive hand over his mouth shut him up, as the captain shouted.

“SPLASH MORE! It scares the sharks away! We’re COMING!”

Miller’s eyes widened and he splashed more! Suddenly, something touched his leg-.

“HURRY UP!” shouted Miller.

“There it is.”

Grinned the captain as he prepared to throw his harpoon at it.

The shark’s face came out of the water in an attempt to take a bite from the chef. Chef’s face turned pale as the moon! A bug flew into captain’s eye! A harpoon flew into a crew member’s foot! Somebody shouted.

“LAND AHOY” and somebody else shouted.

“A GODDESS AT PORT!”

In a blink of an eye, the shark floated out of the water and splashed down on the deck of the ship, and the chef found himself sitting on the railing, still petrified.

The goddess disappeared as suddenly as she appeared. The crew were quick to slay the shark, and before the sunrise, the shark filets were ready for cooking and stored away in the salt-bins for preservation. Miller explained to them that he was now after strawberries from the south. Captain shrugged.

“Well, if it’s for Captain Levi, we’ll take you there.”

A few days later, Miller and the shoe pirates docked at the southern city of Laner. Miller was quick on his feet to rush off the ship, and now he faced a choice. Make his way to the fields and try to pick the best strawberries himself? Or hope for a good find on the market?

M.S.: pick the best ones!~

P.Y.: yes the best ones 🙂

N.S.: pick em!

C.B.: Do it yourself and find the best!

N.K.: Better to not change it, go straight for the source.

M.F.: He has no money, so market is off limits

P.D.: I wouldn’t trust him to pick a good one, though.

O.F.: Should he really do it by himself?

L.M.: Surely he cannot fluff up picking strawberries himself?

L.L.: I feel like he will accidentally break his back while plucking them.

P.D.: Maybe he can steal some from the market

V.M.: So far he fluffed up everything he tried!

A.A.: He will screw up, but it’s less of a screw up than dealing with people =)

O.F.: Pick someone up on the market instead :3

S.A.: Use his charms to get the best ones on the market

M.S.: lena is too cute

V.M.: he is quite charming! He charmed a whole pirate crew!

M.F.: Knowing him he probably gets arrested because he picks them of the royal field or so

L.L.: Maybe he should just give up and grovel in front of his goddess instead already to get him some strawberries.

M.F.: Miller style

S.A.: Indeed he seems like someone that would be grinning confident and saying :" Its Miller time." Before he ventures ahead and tries to get the berries

M.F.: Note to self, if someone ever proclaims " Its miller time" i better leave the group instantly

Miller found a merchant on his way to pick-up goods from the local farmers, so he asked to ride along and shortly after found himself in the fields. He ran from field to field, trying to find the strawberries. Cotton, grapes, tomatoes, cucumbers, and even orchards, but no strawberries yet. He ran and ran and at last found a small field, the smallest of them all, littered with berry bushes, and a sign reading.

“Warning ..”

The other part of the sign was broken off.

Miller had no time to hesitate. He leaped over the fence and found himself in quicksands.. His eyes widened at something under the ground moving slowly towards him. A moment later he found himself standing in the middle of the field, as if nothing ever happened. And then the next, he found himself on the beach. The relaxing sound of waves. Before he could even think about what was happening; he was back in the field. He shook his head and took a step, and now he was in the snowy mountains.

Each step he took, he found himself in a whole new environment. A volcano, a lush green field with red roses, a forest, a cave, and then at last, back in the strawberry field. He cautiously knelt down.

“Okay… i got this, just gotta walk in the same direction and these illusions eventually return me to the field!”

He clenched his fist and looked at the strawberries, realizing he had no clue about strawberry picking.

He looked at berries, small and big, red, pink, green, and purple! He blinked.

“Do…strawberries come in purple?”

He looked up, as if awaiting a sign from above.

“Which uhh.. Color do I pick? Which size?”

M.F.: Miller Manerville

S.A.: Medium sized cyan blue ones

A.A.: No way right

N.S.: Red obviously means danger!

S.S.: "Lets hope the story isn’t over yet"

R.G.: Starting to question whether this guy is actually a chef

S.A.: We are upstairs, Miss Ru

R.G.: He has to have some GIANT assets for her to be this into him…

L.L.: I question the goddess’s competency at picking people.

L.Z.: starting to question if he knows what strawberries are… they’re like peonies, right?

C.B.: Green means go, so pick green ones of course.

R.G.: She’s the goddess of taste! He has to have some redeeming quality

L.M.: Purple is clearly the best colour for strawberries and not at all associated with poison.

M.F.: Dalamud red strawberries are the best berries.

L.L.: Rob, I don’t think he had a leg to spare for the shark before, so I kinda doubt it.

L.L.: I am scared of his cooking, if he doesn’t know how a strawberry looks like…

C.B.: Maybe he should grab one of each color to be safe.

R.G.: be honest, who wouldn’t try a blue strawberry?

S.A.: I mean they seem to be prism strawberries

P.Y.: he should eat them to be sure ^^

L.L.: Sounds like a good way to poison her.

M.F.: Technically there are blue strawberries.

R.G.: she’s a goddess she’ll be fine

He shrugged, having received no answer, and picked 1 of each. A small, green strawberry! A large and red one, a pink one, and a white medium sized one! And even a purple one. He shrugged.

“Sure! A rainbow of berries.”

He turned to leave the field. Each step sent him through worlds he couldn’t fathom A war against giant bugs, a spaceship, a green field with red roses again.

“Hey wai..” the voice echoed before Miller disappeared again from that realm. At last he felt the fence.

He jumped the fence and made his way back to the town. He collected his shark filets from the pirates and wishes them luck. Upon their return to Nayla they found out that he was not in fact friends with Levi, and that Levi wanted his head for destroying their prototype trolley. Miller now found himself in the kitchen of the goddess. Canta stood before him in all of her glory.

“Well, chef..”

Miller grinned nervously.

“I uhh..” she raised her hand.

“Yes yes, gathered the ingredients and absolutely succeeded in the trial. Get cooking..”

Her gaze was cold and focused, her stomach growled.

“You’ve made me wait long enough, show me what you got.”

He nodded as he tied his bandana around his head and threw his apron on. He fired up the ovens and began pondering on how to cook a perfect sea-food meal with a shark at the center of it.

Every ingredient he thought of appeared before him on the counter. He began cooking the stock out of oysters and shrimp. He added no salt to it. He grounded the shrimp and lobster shells into a fine paste and steamed it, then sprinkled a bit of the Nayla salt onto the steamed paste, sampling. After sampling it he grinned.

“Ohh so rich in flavor!”

He added water to it, turning it into a fine, flavor-rich sauce. The goddess watched his skillful work, eyebrow raised in surprise.

The stock was ready, and the sauce too. For the main meal, he went with boiled potatoes and baked shark filets. A simple meal, nothing too fancy, but if done right, would make anyone happy. He wrapped the shark filet in a layer of shark-skin to protect it from drying out. Adding a paste made from the strawberries to the inside part of the skin, he spoke as he applied it.

“Say, did you know that strawberry leaves also carry flavor and nutritional value? So I added them to the paste as well.”

During the baking he added the stock to the tray to keep the shark-meat juicy. The meal was ready! Freshly boiled potatoes, a baked shark filet. He poured the sauce over it and then sprinkled some greens on top, and served it all on a plate to the goddess. On the side, a small dish with the seafood stock to dip potatoes into it.

She tasted the potatoes, and the shark. Her expression changed from curious to amused, she tried dipping the potatoes and the shark into the stock next, which added a lot of flavor to the already delicious meal. She smiled as she put her fork down and wiped her lips with a handkerchief.

“Say, chef. You clearly knew nothing about strawberries, how did you make a meal so worthy of a goddess?”

He sighed and shrugged.

“I couldn’t tell you if I tried. It’s as natural for me to cook as it is to breathe! I look at ingredient, taste, smell and touch it and I know what I could make of it just based on the flavor and the texture!” he looked away shyly.

“It’s like, the food tells me how to cook it! The strawberries, green, tasted like grass, but the purple one tasted sweeter than any other, so I used only a small part of the purple to offset the grassy taste of green.”

She smiled.

“And the shark?” he smiled.

“As with any fish, you’d normally cook it in its skin. So I wrapped it in its own skin! I added stock to make it juicier.” he shrugged.

“So.. have I pleased you, o’goddess of taste?”

She smiled and nodded.

“That you have, Miller. You pass my trial, and next you shall face the trial of courage.”

Millers eyes widened as he found himself standing on a rope bridge, overhanging a volcano.

“A TRIAL OF WHAT??” shouted Miller. But, that’s a story for another day..