Dominick felt somewhat surprised by how the chef looked, even after Eliska had told him what to expect. Even for a fairly short imp, Mullet looked like someone who had just escaped a famine, with his torn clothes and bone-thin figure that made him wonder if Paimon actually fed his workers enough or if Eliska was nervously hiding the truth. Thankfully, both statements were dashed by her explanation.

"Mullet is healthy, but he is unable to gain much weight regardless of how much he eats", she explained, nodding at the imp chef as she did. "Grandpa has him checked over regularly, so you needn't worry".

Then she disappeared into the garden, leaving Dominick alone with Mullet.

The imp chef, for his part, didn't seem to notice the young man's unease, and instead gestured for him to follow him into the kitchen, which was empty at the moment. Dominick busied himself with inspecting a row of demonic spices, while Mullet occupied himself with stirring something in a large pot. After some time, Dominick called it quits and decided to see what Mullet was up to, to which he was confused.

"What's the matter"? Mullet asked.

"They're... they're just eggs", Dominick muttered in response.

Mullet barked a short laugh as he stirred the white eggs around, each one bobbing up like a fish for air as they clacked in the pot. "Trust me, son. Nothing compares to the simplicity of a well-done boiled egg, and if you do it right, you're liable to end up with a serious addiction".

"Oh yeah"? Dominick replied, then folded his arms. "Prove it".

Mullet said nothing, just ladled an egg out of the boiling water and plopped it into a bowl of cold water. He stirred the egg around in the cold water for a bit, then removed it, practically blew the egg out of its shell and handed it to Dominick.

"Okay...I've never really seen that before", the guy admitted.

"You'd be surprised at what little changes to your usual routine can do to your food", Mullet answered, then gestured for him to take a bite out of the boiled egg, which he did.

To say it tasted good was an understatement.

It was great.

It was only one bite, yet Dominick felt like he might have to sit down at the moment. The yolk felt lukewarm in his mouth, and it dissolved into the cool creamy white into some kind of weird eggy paste.

He hadn't thought egg whites could actually be creamy.

"Wait"! Mullet stopped him before he could take another bite. Before Dominick could ask, the imp chef had grabbed a jar of pickled ginger, unscrewed the lid, removed a particularly pink root and sliced two paper-thin pieces onto the half-eaten egg.

"There, now you can enjoy it properly", he replied, stowing the jar away.

Dominick stuffed the egg in his mouth without a second thought, and sighed.

Now this was something he would definitely be willing to try when he got back home.