Chapter 188 | The Appointment

Chapter 188: 188 | The Appointment

The drive to the bakery took five minutes.

Dexter parked behind a small sedan in the lot beside the bakery, killed the engine, and checked the time on his phone.

9:15 AM.

Not late but not particularly early either. The bakery opened at seven, and by eight to nine, the morning rush was in full swing.

He climbed out of the SUV, retrieved two large bags from the back seat, and walked inside. Each bag contained twenty-five sealed containers of Grade One Arcane Meals.

When he entered, he saw that the bakery was crowded.

Every table was occupied and then line at the counter almost stretched to the door.

Parents in work clothes waited with tired expressions while children tugged at their sleeves and pointed at the pastry display.

Two teenage girls in school uniforms were sharing a croissant and giggling over something on one of their phones.

The smell in the bakery was incredible. Fresh bread, roasted coffee, butter and sugar, it was really nice.

Tessa appeared to possess some kind of sixth sense for Dexter as the moment he stepped through the door, her head popped up from behind the counter as her green eyes found him immediately across the crowded room.

She waved, turned to the staff member beside her, said something brief, and then wove through the customers toward him.

"Good morning," she said, arriving at his side with a bright smile. She looked him up and down. "You clean up quite good."

Dexter was slightly startled by the comment.

He immediately chose to ignore her.

"Where should I drop these?" he asked, lifting the two bags slightly.

Tessa’s eyes widened at the size of the bags. "Come. Back here."

She led him through the narrow hallway behind the counter, into the small storage room at the back of the bakery. Steel shelves lined the walls, filled with ingredient containers, baking supplies, and spare equipment.

"Place them here," Tessa said, pointing to an empty section of shelf. "I’ll display about ten out front. When those sell out, I’ll restock from back here. If everything goes like yesterday, we won’t need to restock more than twice."

Dexter set the bags down and began stacking the containers neatly on the shelves. White boxes with tight-sealing lids, each one containing a portion of Comfort Chicken Rice. The smell of seasoned chicken and ginger seeped through the seals, mingling with the bakery’s existing aroma of bread and butter.

Tessa watched him stack them with a particular gleam again in her eyes.

"These will probably sell out before 5 PM today," she said.

Dexter straightened up and looked at her. "I hope so."

Then he saw the gleam.

His eyes narrowed.

"You’re not increasing your commission again, are you? Because I can’t go higher than the twenty-five percent you already stole from me."

Tessa smirked. "Stolen? I worked hard for that twenty-five percent. I sold the food. I handled the customers. I answered questions. I—"

"Fine! Fine! You did everything. You worked hard for it."

Dexter rolled his eyes.

"Alright. I’m leaving. Have a good one."

"Bye, Boss Chef!"

Tessa waved him off with a cheerful grin and dollar signs in her eyes.

---

Dexter climbed back into the SUV and pulled up the address for Harvest Homes on his phone.

The navigation system calculated a thirty-minute drive from the bakery to the mid-district. He merged onto the main highway and settled in for the drive.

The city scrolled past his windows. Billboards advertised everything from. Hero gear to Dungeon insurance to Mana supplements to even Guild recruitment drives.

Twenty-eight minutes later, Dexter pulled into the parking garage beneath the Harvest Homes building.

He stepped out of the SUV, looked up, stopped, and was really stunned.

The building was really extraordinary.

It wasn’t very tall but was something else entirely. The Harvest Homes building was a work of art.

The structure more than 70 floors, but its height was not what made it remarkable, it was the design.

It looked like someone had brought a massive mountain cliff into the city.

Water fell from the top of the buiding, rushing straight to the ground. Living plants grew from integrated balconies on every floor, cascading downward in rivers of green.

It was difficult to describe.

Dexter stared at the building for a long moment.

He had seen impressive architecture before. The Ashford estate had been grandiose, the Hero Association headquarters was imposing and the Grand Meridian hotel had been luxurious.

But this was different.

He shook his head. In an age of heroes, where people possessed abilities that could mold stone, shape metal, and grow plants at will, extraordinary construction was simply the natural result of extraordinary talents applied to ordinary problems.

He walked through the archway and into the lobby.

The interior matched the exterior. It was really a thing of beauty.

A reception desk sat in the center of the lobby. Several receptionists were stationed behind it.

Dexter walked to the nearest available desk.

The receptionist was a beautiful young woman with blonde buzz-cut hair and sharp, angular features.

If not for two rather bumps on her chest, pushing against her fitted blazer, Dexter might have assumed she was a very handsome young man.

She looked up as he approached and smiled.

"Good morning. Welcome to Harvest Homes. How may I help you?"

"Good morning. I’m Dexter Ashford. I have a ten o’clock appointment with Jennifer."

The receptionist’s fingers moved across her keyboard, then studied her screen for a moment, as she smiled.

"Ah, yes. Dexter Ashford, ten o’clock with Jennifer. We’ve been expecting you." She gestured toward the elevator on the far wall.

"Please head to the twenty-fourth floor. You’ll be met by someone there."

Dexter thanked her and walked toward the elevators.

A soft chime sounded and the door in front of him slid open silently, revealing a couple was already inside.

The man wore a tailored grey suit and the woman wore a designer dress and heels that added several inches to her height.