The Highest Bounty

Chapter 96: Derisis’s Brief Interlude

On the thirteenth day of Grey-faced Buzzard’s voyage, Gu Ding and Liliath once again landed their spaceship on a planet with many human inhabitants. That was their third stop during their whole trip. The reason they made a pit stop was that Gu Ding’s cooking was mostly inedible except for his egg fried rice.

In fact, the two of them had already made their first pit stop by the third day. At that time, the two got carried away eating happily that they forgot to grab some for the remainder of the trip. Because of this, the two of them were forced to eat egg fried rice for five days straight before they finally came across a planet with human inhabitants. This time around, they made sure to pack enough food for five days during their second pit stop and stored it in the fridge on the spaceship. Coincidentally, the food lasted until their third stop. It was better to get fresh food since the stored food would not last too long regardless of being refrigerated.

Planet Derisis was an unknown little planet. The most famous thing that came out of it was an Interstellar Pirate with a 380 million Star Credits bounty. However, said Interstellar Pirate was locked up in the federal prison more than twenty years ago and he was just a cook in his pirate crew.

Even so, such a character had a big impact on Derisis which influenced a lot of youngsters in Derisis to get a career in cooking. As for why they did not choose to be an Interstellar Pirate, it was mostly because they did not want to end up in federal prison-like the guy.

Gu Ding liked listening to tavern anecdotes as it was something he grew up with. Ever since he could remember, he would hang around in the Rose Tavern with Dad, and every time someone told a new story in the tavern, Dad would listen quietly while he sipped his binks. He never questioned the legitimacy of the story, and he would never gang up with the others to ask the storytellers to shut it. He had always been a good listener, with a slight grin in his mouth and a twinkle in his eyes.

Whenever he went to the Rose Tavern, Gu Ding’s favorite stories were the tales of Interstellar Pirate adventures. Now that he had become an Interstellar Pirate, his new favorite thing was listening to legendary folklore of every planet he visits.

Gu Ding and Liliath chose a tavern near the starport that seemed to be bustling with customers.

The moment they sat down at a table and a large shadow loomed over them, like dark clouds that block the sunlight. “Good day to these two guests, I will be your waiter for the day. What would you like to order?”

Gu Ding and Liliath looked up at the waiter and simultaneously blinked in confusion. He was a giant man who was nearly three meters tall, covered in muscles from head to toe, and had a giant beard on his face. As scary as he looked, he had the sincerest smile on his face.

“Uncle, can you wait a moment? We’ll be ready to order soon.” Gu Ding and Liliath were a little surprised. After all, a waiter of this size was the first they had ever seen. Even so, the two of them did not think too much of it because they had seen their fair share of abnormal humans and non-humans.

When the two of them had finished ordering, they passed it back to the buff waiter.

When the buff man glanced at their order, he asked, “Are you sure the two of you want this much? I don’t think the two of you can finish all of this.”

“We ordered portions for three days to pack and take away. We’ll be eating the rest of it here.” Gu Ding explained with a grin.

“Oh, I’ll get the kitchen to prepare the dishes you plan on eating here before the others.” The buff man nodded and turned away with the menu.

At that moment, Gu Ding heard someone snickering at a nearby table and said, “Did the boss of this tavern intentionally hire this kind of waiter so people will be too scared to dine and dash?”

“Right? Look at him, that’s probably not even his final form!” Another person continued.

When Gu Ding heard what they said, he frowned slightly, but no one noticed the buff man squeezing his fist when he was almost at the kitchen door.

“Hey, Biggie. Why are you taking orders so slowly today? Did you skip breakfast?” Someone scolded from the kitchen.

“I’m sorry, the two guests ordered quite a bit of stuff, so I had to wait a while.” The buff man bowed his head and apologized.

“What’s that look on your face? Are you unhappy with me?” The cook snatched the order list and shot a look at Biggie impatiently.

“No, I…” Biggie shook his head and denied.

“Let me tell you something. If I see that look on your face again, pack up and leave my tavern. If you can’t even do your job as a waiter, don’t even think about being a cook!” The cook berated loudly.

With Gu Ding and Liliath’s listening abilities, they were able to hear the words clearly. They did not expect the waiter that looked so powerful to behave so timidly.

After a while, the dish was ready and Biggie served the dish to them with the same sincere smile, “Please enjoy your meal.”

“Thank you!” Gu Ding nodded with a smile.

When Biggie heard the words thank you, he looked stunned for a moment before showing an even brighter smile. Suddenly, he remembered, “Oh no, I got so caught up just now that I forgot to tell my boss that your other orders are for taking away.”

He quickly ran to the kitchen window and said, “Boss, the remaining dishes of the two guests are to-go.”

“You idiot, why didn’t you tell me earlier?” The cook stopped what he was doing and rushed to yell at Biggie because he had already plated two of the dishes.

“I’m sorry, I forgot to tell you…” Biggie lowered his head and apologized again, “I’ll pack up those two dishes.”

“Do you think apologizing does anything? Do you know how much of my time you’ve wasted? Do you know how much money I could’ve made by repacking those two dishes…” The cook scolded him mercilessly.

The tall Biggie just took everything with his head hung low, not saying a word.

“This boss has really ruined my appetite. Why don’t we go somewhere else? Liliath took the napkin and wiped her mouth.

“If we leave now, we’ll give more trouble to Uncle over there.” Gu Ding shook his head.

“I didn’t mean that we’ll leave without paying.” Liliath pouted.

“You saw how that boss reacted just now. Even if we paid for the food, he’ll probably still get mad. And you know he won’t get angry at the customer; he’ll release his frustration on Uncle.” Gu Ding could have guessed what type of person they were by their brief conversation.

“Then we’ll just have to finish everything before we leave.” Liliath thought that Gu Ding was too kind for his own good sometimes.

When they finished up everything on their plates, Liliath nodded and said, “Even though the boss has a bad temper, I have to admit, his food is pretty good.”

It was already late in the afternoon and the tavern was almost empty. The other two waiters had started to clean up, but Biggie was still stood by the kitchen window, being scolded by his boss while he waited for Gu Ding and Liliath’s takeout.

Gu Ding and Liliath only had to wait for a bit before Biggie walked toward them with their takeout. Suddenly, he slipped and fell hard onto the ground. Not only were the packed meals scattered across the floor, but a nearby table and two chairs were crushed by Biggie’s huge body.

Biggie was not hurt but he got up quickly and apologized to Gu Ding and Liliath, “I’m so sorry, I slipped and… your takeouts…”

“Biggie! I’m telling you right now, you’re fired!” The boss shouted from the kitchen when he popped his head out to see everything sprawled out on the floor. Immediately, he knew what happened. “And to compensate for the tavern’s losses, I’m cutting your salary for this month.”

“Boss… Give me another chance, I promise I’ll do better!” Biggie seemed to need the job very much.

“Get out of my tavern!” The boss shouted while he pointed at the door.

After a moment of silence, Biggie walked out looking distraught with his head hung low…