With the meat for the burritos marinating and soup cooking, he could now move on to the rest of the stuff needed for the burritos. He had to make the tortillas, prepare the beans, the cilantro lime rice, pico de gallo, parmesan cheese, and of course, the crema.

  None of them necessarily took a lot of time; it was more that each one took a certain amount of time and that it simply built up. That said, he could do multiple of them at the same time, as long as he had enough burners on the stove, which he did.

  The model in the restaurant had six burners.

  The tortillas were another easy recipe, or at least the recipe he knew. They were flour tortillas, so not exactly traditional, but common where he was from.

  All there was to them was a mix of flour, salt, baking powder, vegetable oil, and warm water. Then you divided them and flattened them out into sheets. He didn’t have a tortilla press, but getting a few flat sheets of metal had been fairly easy.

  Once the tortillas had been formed, he just needed to put them on a griddle and slightly heat and cook them.

  Even after those were done, he still needed to prepare three more ingredients.

  At least they were easy, and then once they were done, he could move on to making the donuts.

  He would need to hurry though, as all this preparation was taking a little longer than expected. He only had a little more time before he needed to leave and go get Leah and hopefully meet his new employee. Thankfully, the things he didn’t complete now, he would be able to do when he got back.

  ***

  Draden had made a much larger snack than normal before going to pick up his daughter. Something that he had almost forgotten to do and hadn’t accounted for in his timeline. However, after standing on his legs all morning, he needed the extra energy and healing that the food brought him.

  The leg was steadily growing stronger, but the process still felt slow to him. If he could actively cultivate it would already be done, but he couldn’t.

  Standing outside the school, for the first time, he got to see all the different ages that attended the place. He had never cared in the past, and he still didn’t. However, now he was at least aware that the school was the equivalent of a preschool to a middle school environment, as he was seeing kids across that entire age range there. After that, they began to work and enter apprenticeships if they hadn’t already.

  Entering the large building, he only had to walk a few feet to find the rooms for the youngest kids. The school was set up so that all the older kids were farther away from the main entrance in order of age, since they didn’t seem to really use grades here.

  He was a little early, but that was fine. Draden wanted to see how the other kids were treating his daughter. If they were bullying her! Well, some little midget might not be going home if that was the case. His daughter was precious to him, and someone else’s brat wasn’t.

  It might sound harsh, but that was simply a fact of life.

  Luckily for them all -and probably himself, considering how weak he still was- what he saw when he peeked inside was nothing like what he had feared. All of them were quietly listening to Mirna as she read a book to them. The second teacher who had been watching them the day before while he spoke with Mirna was sitting at the back with one of the boys. Likely one of the more rambunctious ones.

  He stayed there, in the doorway, with the door just cracked open, watching as the kids listened to their teacher read a story to them. It involved a phoenix being reborn again and again, going through the cycle of death and rebirth as it searched for the meaning of life. It was an interesting story, but he thought it was a little too deep for kids.

  “Which one is yours?” A woman asked softly, coming up behind him.

  “Hmm?” He turned around and saw a woman with a severe bun at the back of her head and dressed in a smart blouse and long skirt. “Leah, the cute one in the front. I’d ask which one is yours, but I have a feeling you’re the school’s headmaster or something.” He finished wryly.

  She chuckled, a gleam entering her eye. “I am indeed. So, I have to ask, why exactly are you armed on my school premises?”

  He blinked in surprise and looked down. He had completely forgotten about his weapons. “Err, I forgot I was carrying them. Sorry, I usually hang around outside the gate, but I got here early today and wanted to make sure none of the kids were bullying her. Is there a place I can store them while I’m here?”

  The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

  This time, it was her turn to blink in surprise. “I didn’t expect you to be so accommodating.”

  “Why not? The weapons are to keep my daughter and me safe as we travel through the city and then outside the walls to our home. I would presume we’re safe inside the walls of the school? If that is the case, then there is no reason for me to carry them.” He finished with a shrug.

  She nodded to his question and then led him to an office just a couple of rooms down, right next to the entrance. Inside, a secretary was sitting behind a desk with a quill and inkpot working furiously at the stack of papers in front of her.

  “This is my secretary, Tasri Havenhoff, and as you deduced earlier, I’m the headmaster of the school, Dajra Dheni. It’s nice to meet you…?” She held out her hand, prompting him to introduce himself.

  “Draden Varsk, it’s a pleasure to meet you.” He shook her hand and looked around the room. There was a closed door leading to what he guessed was her office. Across from Tasri’s desk was an enclosed cage with weapons already inside and tags attached to each of them. He pointed to it. “Would you like me to store my weapons in there now?”

  Dajra shook her head. “It’s fine. Your daughter’s class will be letting out in just a moment. So, if you would just stay in here with us until then. Just keep it in mind if you should choose to enter the building again in the future.”

  He nodded gratefully. “Ah, listen, I am having the grand opening of my restaurant tonight. The food will be free. Why don’t you both come and try it out? Hopefully, I’ve made enough to give everyone a taste, if not fill them up.” Draden gave them the details on where to find the restaurant outside the city walls and then left the decision up to them as the little kids began to stream out of their classes. “If you’ll excuse me?” He nodded to them both and then spun around to find Leah and Mirna. He had a waitress to hopefully recruit.

  Leah was playing with some friends outside when he found her a minute later, while Mirna was speaking with a stressed-looking woman. Carefully, he approached them both, taking care to not startle either of them. The stressed woman looked as though she might just bite his head if he said the wrong thing.

  Seeing that it was Draden approaching them, Mirna put a calming hand on her shoulder and said something that he couldn’t hear.

  Slowing his steps, he approached them more slowly, giving Mirna an opportunity to finish talking to her. By the time he had reached them, the woman had calmed somewhat and looked ready to talk instead of biting him.

  “Mirna,” He greeted the teacher with a polite nod while holding the hand, not gripping his cane out to the other woman. “Hello, I’m Draden, Leah’s father.”

  He thought this was the mother that Mirna had mentioned that morning. The one looking for work, however, he wasn’t about to make any erroneous assumptions either.

  The lady sighed and shook his hand. “It’s nice to meet you. My name is Emilie Walker, and my daughter is Eowin. I believe she is friends with your daughter.”

  Mirna waited for her to finish talking before starting to speak. “I told her more or less the same thing that you told me this morning. If you want to go over to the bench and explain some more about what the job entails, then I’ll keep an eye on the girls.” She offered helpfully, with a grin.

  On the bench, Draden gratefully stretched out his leg and massaged the muscles. Reaching into his bag, he pulled out some of the snack he had prepared and handed it to Emilie, glad that he had prepared extra.

  “Why don’t you give this a try? It’s just a snack and not something we’ll be selling at the restaurant, but it should give you an idea of why I expect the place to succeed and be busy.”

  They were muffins, or rather, extremely fluffy cookie-pancake things. Without a muffin tin, getting the proper shape was impossible. Regardless, since the oven had already been warm, it had been easy enough to whip up the recipe and cook them.

  She took a careful bite of the unfamiliar food and chewed slowly. The texture was unfamiliar, which might throw some people off, but the taste was good. Just as she was about to speak on the unique nature of the food, the energy contained within the ingredients he had used to make the muffins began to course through her body.

  “Oh,” She moaned softly, in an almost sensual manner. She slapped a hand over her mouth in embarrassed surprise. “Apologies, that was unexpected. But I can see what you mean now.”

  He chuckled and handed her a napkin. “I’m used to it, kind of. You should hear it when a bunch of burly men make that same noise,” He shuddered. “The stuff of nightmares, I tell you. Thankfully, most of them only did it the first time. Either way, tonight should be interesting. So, do you want the job?”

  “Is all the food you cook like this?” She asked before taking another bite and covering her mouth.

  “The strength of the energy will differ from dish to dish, but yes, all of them will contain at least some qi energy.” He replied affirmatively.

  “But how can you afford to sell it to common folk while making a profit?” She waved the pancake-muffin in front of his face. “This alone should cost at least twenty or thirty gold pieces!”

  “I don’t think it would be worth that much,” He denied instantly. “Either way, like I said, that isn’t on the menu. I’m trying to keep the menu as simple as possible. I’m not actually a trained chef. There will only be a couple of dishes on the menu each day. Two during lunch, and three during dinner or supper, whichever you prefer to call it. The third dish during supper will be fully loaded with energy and extra expensive.”

  She nodded slowly, continuing to eat while listening to him. “Will you need me to do anything besides serve food and drinks? Like help in the kitchen or clean?”

  “I wouldn’t say no if you wanted to help out more around the place, but it’s not required at this time. I suppose that cleaning might become a part of the job description in the future, but that depends. As for drinks, we don’t serve liquor, only water, and when I find the right supplier, juice.”

  Her eyebrows rose at that. “No alcohol? Really?”

  He nodded.

  “Okay, it’s your restaurant.” She looked at her empty hand, surprised to find the muffin was already gone. “What’s the pay like, and are meals included?”

  He laughed. “Yes, meals will be included. I’ll even feed your daughter whenever you bring her over. Leah and she seem to be friends. It’ll be good for her to have someone her own age around more. As for pay, how does-”

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