A Stay-at-home Dad’s Restaurant In An Alternate World

The time on the wall told Mag that 52 days had already passed. He had lost count of how many grilled fish dishes he had prepared long ago. All he knew was that in the beginning, even catching and killing the smallest iridescent scale grass carp was a slight struggle for him, but now, he could pull out the biggest iridescent scale grass carp in the tank, then stun, kill, and clean it within 15 seconds.

Mag felt like even the fish salesmen at the market probably weren’t as fast as him.

As Mag awaited the final judgment from the system, he was very calm. He had been rejected countless times already, and if rejection came again, then he would just have to keep going.

He could only blame himself for being too picky in his past life, stating all of those meticulous conditions, and shooting himself in the foot. The grilled fish he had sampled were all widely accepted to be the best on offer, but he still made additional demands. Those demands were now coming back to haunt him.

If I’m going to make it, then I’m going to make it as perfect as possible. Otherwise, I would be bringing shame to the restaurant, Mag thought to himself, and a smile appeared on his face. Even though cooking in the test field for the God of Cookery was extremely boring and monotonous, it was all worth it when he saw the elated smiles on the faces of Amy and his customers after they tasted his dishes.

“According to the criteria proposed by you in the past:

“1. The fish skin must be crispy, yet not burned. The flesh of the fish must be as soft as tofu, but can’t fall apart. Tick!

“2. The soup must be oily but not greasy, and has to be spicy, yet it can’t sting the nose with its scent. Tick!

“3. The taste of the fish must be alluring and pronounced, but not overpowered by other ingredients or condiments. Tick!

“You have satisfied all three conditions. Congratulations, you have mastered the spicy grilled fish! At the same time, you have unlocked the right to purchase all ingredients related to the spicy grilled fish, as well as the right to use all of the kitchenware required to cook the dish.”

The system’s voice carried a hint of encouragement.

“Looks like I’m pretty talented at cooking grilled fish.” A smile appeared on Mag’s face. He looked at the spicy grilled fish that was simmering in oily red soup, and couldn’t help but swallow. All that was left to do was to place it over an alcohol stove, and the delicious spicy grilled fish dish would be ready to be served.

“Would you like to taste the grilled fish? If not, you may leave the test field for the God of Cookery now,” the system asked.

Mag shook his head with a smile, and said, “I’ll pass this time. I’ll taste it together with Amy next time. But, system, can I stay here for a while? There’s still a few hours left until morning, so just get my sword in here, and let me practice in the test field for the God of Cookery.”

He had hatched this plot a long time ago. He could only practice an hour per night as he had to take into consideration his stamina, recovery ability, as well as a series of other limiting factors.

However, none of those were concerns in the test field for the God of Cookery. He could practice day and night, without having to worry about not getting enough. As such, he could practice for several dozen days without any sleep, thereby allowing him to perfectly master the most powerful sword forms that he could unleash in his current condition.

Thus, the test field for the God of Cookery would have a second name: the Sword God test field!

“The test field for the God of Cookery was made so that you can master cooking methods as quickly as possible. It won’t be very appropriate if you do something other than cooking here.” The system was a little conflicted.

“How is it inappropriate? I’m only here to practice my swordsmanship. It’s not like there’s anyone else here. You gave me 365 days, and I managed to complete the mission in advance through my hard work. As such, it’s very appropriate that the rest of that time is free for me to use as I please, right?” Mag asked in a serious voice.

“But manifesting your longsword here will expend additional power. If you want to practice here, the space will have to expand as well, so…” The system’s voice trailed off halfway, but the meaning it was trying to convey was already quite clear.

Mag pursed his lips, and said, “So how much money do you want?”

“Eh? How did you know what I was going to say?” The system was quite surprised.

“Hehe, am I supposed to act like an idiot and ask ‘system, are there some restrictions?’? That would make me look retarded.” Mag rolled his eyes. Everyone knew what the system wanted.

The system fell silent for a while as if it were carefully mulling things over, and replied, “I’ll collect 10 gold coins per session.”

“I’m fine with that price, but I’ll need a room that’s about 10 square meters big.” Mag nodded. That price was a little cheaper than he had anticipated.

When traveling, some people chose to save money by taking the bus, which was cheaper but more time-consuming, while others chose to fly on planes in order to save time at the expense of a greater monetary cost.

Poor people spent time to save money, while rich people spent money to save time. That was a commonplace phenomenon.

Spending 10 gold coins would allow him to practice without sleeping for several dozens of days. Mag felt like that was a good deal.

He was close to being a tycoon now, so he could afford to purchase time with money.

“Deal!” the system replied quickly. A white light flashed from the kitchen around Mag, upon which everything disappeared. A sealed-off room about ten square meters in size took its place, and a longsword appeared in Mag’s hand—it was his sword.

Alright, then I’ll reach perfect mastery in all of the sword forms that I can use before getting out of here. This is quite a good way to improve. Mag held the longsword in his hand, and felt that its weight, balance, and appearance were identical to his longsword in the real world.

Within the sealed room, he practiced his sword forms over and over again as if he were an inexhaustible automaton.

…

At the main branch of the Aden Square Catering Association, within the largest conference chamber.

The most important figures in the association gathered together, all of them with grave expressions on their faces.

Robert sat in the middle, and also wore a dark expression. A piece of paper had already been crumpled into a ball in his hand without his even realizing it.

“Alright, then it’s decided. This restaurant’s actions have already completely disrupted the order of the ongoing Aden Square food competition, resulting in complaints from many other restaurants. Today is already the eighth day, and in two days, the final rankings will be decided. We can’t allow our Aden Square food competition to lose credibility in the hearts of the customers.” The fatso sitting at the head of the table appeared as if he were at least 150 kg, and he adopted a serious expression as he said, “Thus, we’ll be removing that restaurant from the rankings board tomorrow morning. After that, we’ll investigate the abnormal rankings he had managed to secure, then announce the results of our investigation as well as the punishment delivered.”

“What the president is saying is that we can’t allow one bad apple to spoil the entire bunch. This restaurant has completely disregarded the rules, so it has to be permanently removed from the rankings board.”

“Exactly. How can a restaurant that has been open for less than a month attempt to break into the top 20? If they’re to succeed, our Catering Association’s reputation would be swept to the ground.”

Everyone present immediately expressed their approval for that decision.

A faint smile appeared on Warren’s face. He had just received 100 dragon coins, all to take care of such a small restaurant. Young Master Cyril sure was generous. However, seeing as he had already taken the money, he naturally had to do his bidding so that Cyril would still be willing to pay him next time.

Right at that moment, Robert turned to Warren with a serious expression, and said, “President, I visited that restaurant on the first day the rankings were released, and conducted an investigation. There were no issues with customer satisfaction, service, food, and prices. so I don’t think we should remove Mamy Restaurant from the rankings board.”