Back at the restaurant, he got to work, finishing the last few steps of the burrito recipe and minestrone soup while listening to his daughter. She was telling him everything that had happened at school that day.

  At the moment they were alone, though, that would soon change as Emilie had accepted the job offer. She had needed to head home first to change her and her daughter’s clothes, and then she would come to the restaurant.

  Leah plucked a bean from the large pot and made a face at its bland taste. She used some water to force it down and then kept talking.

  Chuckling at her antics, Draden grabbed a bean of his own and tested it for softness. Deciding that it was ready, he began adding the rest of the ingredients to the pot.

  All he had needed to do was cook some bacon, along with some extra slices for snacking purposes, crush them up, and then cut up some garlic, onion, and jalapeno. Then add some salt and pepper to taste.

  Each of the remaining recipes for the burrito was similar in that way. They weren’t hard, they just needed their ingredients to be cut and then mixed together properly.

  A few minutes later, each of them was done, or in the case of the rice was cooking and he could finally move on to the donuts. After that, he would need to start cooking the meat, so it was hot and fresh for when everyone arrived.

  “Are you making more pizza?” Leah asked when she saw him begin working with the flour.

  He shook his head. “Nope, this is something else. I’m making a dessert this time.”

  “Will it be better than pizza or hodduk?” She asked skeptically.

  “You have a one-track mind.” He told her, gently flicking her nose with a flour-tipped finger, leaving it white.

  “Hey,” She protested, before dipping her own finger in flour and stretching out toward his nose, struggling to return the favor. Even on her tippy toes, she just couldn’t quite reach. Pouting, she grabbed his shirt and pulled him down to where she could reach, and smooshed her finger against his nose. “There, now we match.” Leah proclaimed proudly, with a grin.

  Chuckling at her antics, he left the flour on his nose and continued to mix everything into a large bowl. Then all he needed to do was let it rise for an hour. Once that was done, he could roll it out and cut them into shape using the piece of metal he had prepared beforehand.

  Clapping his hands together, he looked over everything with an eye of appreciation. It had been a lot of work, but the meal was almost ready.

  “Alright, Leah, let’s go get cleaned up and changed. We need to start preparing to receive people,” He told the little girl with an indulging smile, while distantly wondering where Emilie and her own daughter were. He had expected them to have arrived already.

  The restaurant wasn’t that far out of town.

  Walking somewhat stiffly toward the front door of the restaurant, he opened it to find the woman in question standing there impatiently.

  “You could have knocked or just come inside,” He told her in confusion.

  She glared at him for a few seconds before turning her head up at the sky and sighing. “You really do need someone to manage the front of the place for you. Don’t you?”

  “Hmm, uh yeah? That’s why I hired you. Where did that come from?”

  “I’ve been knocking for a few minutes, and the door was locked.”

  “No, it wasn’t,” Draden had just opened it, he was pretty sure he would know if the door had been locked.

  “Then why didn’t it open when I pulled?”

  “Oh, yeah, that might be a problem.” He understood what the problem was.

  This world didn’t use doorknobs or latches. They preferred sliding bar setups due to the strength they provided. They held up to cultivators much better than other items. The door to the restaurant was using a simple, but sturdy latch attached to a thumb depressor on both sides of the door. Anyone not familiar with the setup wouldn’t know what to do with it. However, there was an easy fix for that; all he had to do was flip the latch into the open position and lock it there.

  He took a moment to show her how it all worked and then locked it in position with a simple pin.

  “Sorry about that. I didn’t even think about that being a problem beforehand. Or about not being able to hear you knocking while we were in the back.”

  While the two adults had been speaking, Leah had been showing her friend around the inside of the restaurant.

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  “Anyway, this is the place. Leah and I need to go get cleaned up and changed next door, and then we’ll be right back. So, if you’ll excuse us.” Draden grabbed his daughter and together they hurried home to get ready for the big night.

  A few minutes later, they were back in clean, proper clothes. During the short time they had been gone Emilie, and her daughter had been busy sprucing up the place. When the workers had left, the place had been functional, but it looked more like the inside of a tavern than a proper restaurant, something he was only now realizing.

  Draden wasn’t ashamed to admit that he knew nothing about interior design. It was a failing that he was more than content to let others take care of for him.

  “Now,” He began with a clap of his hands before eagerly rubbing them together. “I’m assuming the two of you haven’t eaten anything yet, right? Since you came over so quickly.”

  Eowin nodded emphatically, while her mother did so a little more hesitantly. She still didn’t seem to entirely trust him. That was fine. He wasn’t trying to woo or date her in any way, simply employ her. Strange as it was -since he personally had never met the woman- but he was a happily married man, and he was intent on being faithful to those vows. End of story.

  “Good, then follow me into the kitchen. I’ll put the final touches on the dishes we’ll be serving tonight, and we can each give them a try. That way, you can accurately recommend them to the customers.”

  “Oh, that’s a good idea,” Emilie agreed, though her true intentions were showing as she patted her stomach.

  Next to the entrance of the kitchen was a large blackboard that had the current meal’s menu written on it. The price of each would go on there in the future as well, though it was empty at the moment. Part of what he was hoping to learn that night was what each person would pay for the food. He would then price it accordingly, or a little cheaper, and even offer half-portions so other people could still afford it.

  He quickly dished them up a half portion of both minestrone soups, constructed them each a burrito, and then set the oil to heat while they ate.

  “That will take a few minutes to warm up. Let’s eat while everything is still hot.” He encouraged them while practically drooling at the smell of the burrito. It had been so long since he had eaten one, and he had been holding himself back all day.

  Leah was holding her burrito and staring at it like the thing was a gift straight from the gods themselves. A line of drool had escaped her mouth, and her eyes were blown wide with childish wonder as she carefully brought the tortilla wrap to her mouth and took as large of a bite as she dared. The other three stared at her as she ate, wondering why they suddenly felt as though the tastiness of the burrito hinged entirely on the little girl’s opinion.

  She nodded in appreciation and opened her eyes in delight. “Ish sho good!” She said thickly, already going for another bite.

  With her official vote of confidence out of the way, everyone dug into the meal, voicing their approval with varying moans of delight.

  “If this restaurant does not become an instant success I’ll be amazed,” Emilie said a few minutes later after they had finished eating.

  Draden was standing in front of the oil, ready to cook the donuts and not looking at her when he replied. “It would be nice, but realistically, I can only cook so many portions of each meal. So while the food is good, the money… I don’t know. That’s part of what I’m hoping to learn tonight, is what I can realistically charge for my meals and still have people pay for them. I don’t want to overcharge them, but I can’t be taking a loss either.”

  “I can understand that, but you need to understand just how rare and expensive this sort of food really is.” Emilie countered. “My husband was a cultivator, and he taught me a few things before he passed. The amount of energy I got from that meal was probably equivalent to a week’s worth of my cultivation efforts, or more, I’m not entirely sure since I had to let nearly all of it go, otherwise it would have hurt me.”

  With that proclamation, Draden did turn and look at her. “Why would you do something like that? The energy contained in my food is gentle and healing. It shouldn’t hurt you.”

  Leah bobbed her head and flexed her arm. “Yeah, Leah has gotten much stronger from eating daddy’s cooking.”

  Emilie’s face paled as she came to a realization. “Wait, don’t tell me… Leah, have you not been needing to release any of the energy that you’ve been getting?”

  The little girl shook her head.

  Eowin prodded her friend’s muscle with a giggle. “You’re such a weirdo, Li-li, you have to let the energy go when it starts to hurt. I managed two whole bites of that burrito thing before I couldn’t hold anymore.”

  Draden listened in confusion. They were talking as though his food was practically a great cultivation aid, akin to a natural treasure, and while it helped, it wasn’t that good. Right?

  “It doesn’t hurt though.” Leah denied in confusion.

  “Yeah, maybe you two are the weird one here,” Draden joked, turning back to the oil, his mind churning with new questions.

  He tuned them out as the oil was now up to temperature and he could begin frying the donuts. One after another, he slipped each ring into the pot and then flipped them over using a pair of chopsticks that he had made. As each donut and donut hole came out, he swiped it through the glaze mixture and then set it on a nearby rack to cool.

  Unbeknownst to him, all conversation had stopped as soon as the aroma of the first donut had hit the kitchen air.

  It only took a few minutes for him to cook all of the donuts that he had prepared for the night. With the last, hottest batch, being reserved for them. Carefully moving the oil off the heat, he placed the glazed donuts on a plate and presented them to the utterly silent group.

  This time it wasn’t just his daughter who was drooling.

  “Are the three of you alright?” He asked in amusement, watching how their eyes tracked the food.

  “Daddy, can Leah please eat this ring now? It is calling out to her and must be punished.”

  With a chuckle he passed a donut to her, letting her take the first bite. They weren’t quite on the level of Krispy Kreme donuts, especially the glaze, but they were close. The donut itself was light and airy and practically melted in your mouth just like how he remembered theirs doing. It was good, definitely a win in his book.

  Leah’s one bite quickly became two, and then she accidentally bit the tip of her finger in her rush to shove the entire donut into her mouth. Draden found it hard to hold back a laugh at his daughter’s plight as he took her to the sink to wash and bandage her hand.

  “Be more careful next time, sweetie. Are you alright?” Luckily she hadn’t actually gotten anything from the finger, instead, she had just pierced the skin with her teeth.

  (The recipe I use in this chapter can be found on my Patreon for free.)

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