The soft and comforting sofa behind Ludwig sagged as he entrusted all his weight into it. The day had been quite a ride. The completion of his restaurant, the unintentional opening of the restaurant, meeting guests, one skeptical, too much for his liking; one curious and bright, but easily accepting; and one more interested in the food rather than anything happening around her. Not to mention that he indirectly got to train on how to explain the ability of the restaurant as well as the first batch of cooking happening in the restaurant.
Ludwig's eyes locked on the ceiling above, bright and vibrant due its vicinity to the lamp hanging to light the whole room. More work to be done was waiting for him. Menu and pricing was a problem. Cooking anything that the customer wanted took too much time. It also made the price of the food high as the pricing of the items in the shop was simply outrageous. He could still sell the food cheap, disregarding the cost of ingredients. However, his mountain of gold would surely evaporate if he kept relying on that method.
Because of that, he decided to implement the plan he had for his restaurant—something he hatched throughout countless sessions of thinking. A restaurant that served anything the customer wanted but in the confine of what ingredients were available. Just like a restaurant in that Japanese drama about a man who ran a restaurant that opened at midnight. But to add some twist to that, he would make one special menu everyday.
Even though it didn't seem so much different from what he did today because of the appearance of the System Shop, he decided to only rely on the shop for the condiments, seasonings, and any ingredients that Ortus didn't have. For the main ingredients, he would have to either buy it in the market, or straight hunting it himself. If only someone from the modern world came… The ingredient problem would be easily solved.
Ludwig sighed before he nodded his head because he felt he didn't have to revise the plan any further. Launching his body from the sofa, Ludwig walked towards the bathroom. With droplets still trickling from his body as he left the bathroom, he went into his bedroom and let the bed claim him.
The moment Ludwig's consciousness returned to him, lights were already trickling from the window. He summoned a glass of water from his Storage Dimension and gulped it before he let the drowsiness evaporated fully.
Once his mind was clear from the sensation that was slowing him down, he fell to the floor. His palms fully touched the floor right in front of his shoulder. His feet had become one, only his feet's thumbs supporting all of his weight. Then he went lower, chest almost touching the floor before pushing his body back up with his hands.
Sweat trickled through his entire body, his breath became hot. But even after he was done with the push-ups, he didn't stop. Sit Up, Jumping Jacks, Lunge, Plank, Burpee, Wall Sit. He did some of the workouts he could do without equipment.
Once upon a time, it was a way to strengthen his body. But now, it served as a reminder for who he was as well as a routine to keep himself grounded and disciplined.
Once he was done, he washed his body and donned some casual clothes. Then, he was gone.
The moment he returned to reality, tall walls were boxing him from all the sides. The salty smell of the sea also assaulted his nose. Stepping into the bustling street, Ludwig eyes' laid upon stalls after stalls showing their items. With his sense as the compass, he first stepped into a stall with rows of fresh seafood being displayed. However, even after scanning through the entirety of the shop's stocks, He couldn't see any crabs or the bigger size fishes in the stalls at all.
"Looking for some seafood, Young Men? You come to the perfect place! All of my products are freshly caught this morning!" The owner of the stalls stood behind the display and beamed towards Ludwig.
Letting out a smile as answer for the owner's enthusiastic pitching, Ludwig infused some Mana into his eyes. A bluish hue could be seen from the fishes, some as big as a pea while some was as small as a dot. At the same time, a lighter blue smoke could be seen escaping into the air from the dead fishes.
"How much is it for the Crimson Lanternfin and Cloudback Snapper?" Ludwig pointed towards the round and plumped fish covered in red scales as well as the medium-sized fishes with pearly white scales with a faint bluish sheen
"You get a good eye for fish I see! I'll give you 6 fishes for 1 gold for the Lanternfin and 2 fishes for 1 gold for the Snapper." The owner patted the fish he pointed, eyes glimmering towards Ludwig.
The price was fair, albeit a tad higher than he was accustomed to. But the quality was there, apparent from no scar chipping the fishes' body as well as the amount of Mana inside of it. So, he decided to buy it.
"Give me 5 gold worth of Lanternfish and 10 gold of the Snapper then."
The owner of the stall beamed, feet quickly shuffling through the ground. "Right away, Young Men! If anything else caught your fancy, tell me." The owner returned from the inside of his stalls with some kind of wooden thread in hands. He took the amount of fish Ludwig bought and put it through the gill and the mouth of the fish before giving it all to Ludwig.
As his other hand took the bundle of fishes, his other hands passed 15 gold into the shopowner.
"Come again, Young Men! I'll give you some discount next time!" The owner waved his hands as Ludwig walked away. From that point onwards, Ludwig roamed through the market, putting everything he bought inside his Storage Dimension.
He appeared in the kitchen of the restaurant once he's done, all the products he bought dumped into the counter top. First, he put the meat product in the refrigerator as he still had something to do before prepping them. WIth a will, the System Shop opened. Ludwig quickly shifted his focus towards it, fingers scrolling through countless products.
The countertop became more and more fuller with bottles and packets unknown to Ortus. WIth a flick of fingers, he flung all of those things into the cabinet all round the kitchen. With a brisk step, he moved towards the refrigerator, the most important thing in opening a restaurant was about to go down.
* * *
The restaurant was quiet, but it was also filled by anticipation at the same time—his anticipation.
The leftover grease from the process of precooking the special menu for today had dissipated completely, making way for the usual wooden smell of the room. The sky outside was as blue as it could get, the clouds were also milky—a good day for business. Well, normally. After all, even though it's clear here in Ortus, the weather in other worlds might be different.
With no weather to used as a guessing metrics whether it was going to be a busy day or not, Ludwig just sat behind the bar, sipping a black icy liquid that kept his dozing minds sharp. In one of his hands, a heavy book sat. His eyes gulped the information contained inside, sending it to his brains to be dissected.
As Ludwig continued to read, something hummed inside his head. The restaurant was telling him something. Focusing on that feeling, new information came to his mind—the black haired woman from yesterday was in front of the restaurant.
Just after that information came to him, the door creaked, and the woman slipped in, steps way lighter than before but eyes still scanning the room. Her action spoke volumes about her experience, way of life, and mindset. Always cautious, always ready for unseen factors.
Ludwig shut the book closed with a thud. He rose to his feet, smiling, the book stored in the Storage Dimension with a flick of wrist. "Welcome back. It's really nice to see you again."
The woman walked closer towards Ludwig before taking a seat, the same seat from yesterday. But her eyes were not in hurry to look at him, it first landed on a small whiteboard sitting on top the bar table. "Even though I'm not really myself yesterday, I know that one is new."
Looking at her pointing at the menu board, Ludwig chuckled. "Yes, that's a new addition to this restaurant. I realized it took too much time to cook a dish on the fly." It was indeed a new addition to the restaurant. Though, it wouldn't come to be if it's not for the auto-translation function that the system had.
"Hmmm." The woman hummed, one hand moving towards her chin, showing she was contemplating. "A bird species that can't fly? Sounds interesting. Give me the Today's Special as well as a glass of the whiskey from yesterday."
"Coming right up, Dear Customer." Ludwig answered, hands already moving to where the whiskey glasses were stored. After putting the glass lightly on top of the bar, he opened a metal container built into his bar station and scooped one of the round metal stored inside. It was cold, scratch that—it was freezing to the touch. He then moved his mana, infusing it with a light fire essence to coax the ice inside to slip out.
The round ice entered the short cylindric glass, size just right. The light brown liquid followed, becoming colder and colder the second passed. Then, he placed it in front of the woman. "Enjoy."
Receiving the nod from his customer, Ludwig moved to the kitchen. He first willed the paused time around the big pan full of oil to continue and flick the rune beneath it to life. Taking the partially fried chicken he stored in the Stasis Storage, he returned to the stove and fried the chicken again, enveloping the kitchen with delicious aroma.
When the experience inside him telling it's time to take out the kitchen, his hands moved. After it was put into the rack to let most of the cooking oil clinging to it to fall, Ludwig took a big metal bowl, put the seasoning he had prepared beforehand and tossed half of the chicken he fried into it. The red sauce coated every ridge and crevice of the golden chicken. The glossy red sheen caught the kitchen lights, sticky and bold, the smell sharp with spice and sugar.
With a sprinkle of sesame seeds and a quick scatter of crushed peanuts, he poured the chicken onto the plate. Another half of the chicken also came into the plate, completing the colourful display of the Today's Special.
Putting the plate in front of the woman, he saw the glass that housed the whiskey was empty. His brows raised, it seemed like the woman just had a long day even though it's supposedly just around lunchtime. "You need more of the drink?"
"Yes please." The woman answered rather quickly. So Ludwig started to move. At the same time he also gave a glass of water to the woman.
Ludwig stepped away from the guest, returning to his seat, reopening the book he was reading before the woman entered. But just five pages later, he was disturbed.
"Excuse me, can I ask you something?" The woman asked suddenly.
Ludwig closed the book carefully, put it onto the corner, and opened his mouth as he walked closer towards her. "Sure. Ask away, dear customer."
"Did the drink change? The taste is quite different from yesterday." The tone the woman used didn't have any anger undertone despite the question.
One of Ludwig's eyebrows raised, he was pleasantly surprised because the woman could taste the faint undertone created from the special ice from yesterday. As someone who had experience of leading armies, he decided to voice his admiration. After all, even the whales would dance after hearing a complement. "I'm surprised you caught that. The ice I used yesterday was special. Today I just used normal ice."
"I see." The woman raised the glass into her eye level. Then, Ludwig saw her eyes lit up, literally. He recognized it immediately, she was using Mana to look at the ice. Cementing his thoughts about her as a capable fighter.
"I'll change the ice for you." Ludwig took another glass of whiskey, summoned the special ice from his Storage Dimension and fused it with the whiskey inside the glass before serving it.
The woman looked at him as he put the glass in front of her, "It's fine though."
"I insist. Taste is everything in this restaurant." Ludwig just shrugged and opened his hands towards her, telling her that he would take the other glass away.
"I'll pay for it then." The woman smiled and gave the empty glass to him.
"No, no, no. Ice's cost is already included in the drink's price, so no need for additional pay. Moreover, it's just special because I had to go somewhere to get it, not I have to make it myself."
"I see." The woman nodded before lifting the glass into her lips and took a sip of the whiskey. Her face beamed right after, it seemed like she really liked the taste of that combination.
After the woman placed the glass back into the table, her eyes locked into his eyes. Then, she opened her mouth. "By the way, I want to apologize for how I acted yesterday. I am freaking out too much, aren't I?"
"Hahahaha." Ludwig laughed as he heard her question. "No need to apologize. If it's me, I'll also have hard times believing such nonsense."
"I also haven't introduced myself properly, have I? My name is Claire Russel. Nice to meet you." The woman offered him her hands as she said so.
"My name is Ludwig, Nice to meet you too, Dear Customer." Ludwig took her stretched hand and shook it.