Chapter 11 - Moonlight Restaurant (2)

When daylight came, James opened his eyes at the sound of Fox's voice.

[Wake up, sleepyhead!]

With the discomfort of the sun's rays coming through the window, he grunted and turned his face away from the window:

"Ah! Five more minutes."

Unfortunately, he did not realize that he was at the end of the bed. When he turned a little more, there was a harsh sound.

PAT!

"Ah! My head! Was the bed so small?"

Holding his head, he got up quickly and looked at the bed for a moment in astonishment. Then he sat up and sighed.

"I couldn't see that."

He wanted to go back to the moment he remembered his name, to that place in his dream. That was one of the reasons he slept so much. But the result was nothing. As if realizing what had happened, Fox spoke in a soothing voice.

[Don't worry. Everything will be fine. There will come a day when you'll remember everything. You just have to be patient.]

James looked down at his palms.

"I know,it's just..."

As he clenched his hands into fists, the grim expression on his face quickly changed to one of determination.

"Anyway, our mission today is going to be a bit of a challenge. Time is short and there is much to do."

With that, he took a deep breath. Then they talked together about their plans. After half an hour of planning, he stood up refreshed. "What do you think of it?" he asked, quite satisfied with the plan they had made.

Fox replied in a playful voice.

["It's not bad. I hope no one here is vegan.]

It was clear that she was in favor of the plan. James laughed and said, "Haha! I doubt it."

With that, he left the room talking to Fox and headed towards the kitchen.

…

...

Lucy yawned, got out of bed and walked out without even bothering to get dressed. This was her home after all. She had even forgotten about the newcomer. As she closed the door, a pleasant smell filled her nostrils.

'That smell? Is the newcomer cooking something?'

She thought about the guy she hired yesterday.

'Why would you want to get a job when it's obvious we're not really doing any work?'

She couldn't believe that he really had nowhere to stay. There were enough houses here for everyone. Those who couldn't, like Lucy, lived in their shops. Of course, this latter group was so small...

'Maybe he has a family problem. Anyway, it's none of my business. He's not the type to mess with me. Let it be.'

Thinking like that, she didn't worry too much and started walking towards the source of the smell. The path was not long. Suddenly she found herself in the kitchen.

What she saw astonished her.

In front of her was a spotlessly clean kitchen. Being a restaurant kitchen, it was naturally quite large and the cleaning was quite cumbersome. That's why Lucy had never touched it. After all, they weren't making any money. She was more or less aware of how dirty it was.

But the kitchen that greeted her now was spotless. Everything was sparkling.

Food is ready! Food is ready!"

Suddenly startled by the robotic voice she heard, she looked to her right and was even more surprised. Cooking robots were piled up there. Their hats, which should normally be white, were disgusting with dirt and rust. The bodies of the robots were also quite rusty. When their eyes glowed with a red glow, it was quite frightening. Fortunately it was only glowing because it was malfunctioning.

"So he did this on his own..."

Her astonishment grew even greater. Robots were everywhere now. It was easy for cooks. Relevant recipes were entered along with their preparation, thus reducing the workload of the cooks.

After all, cooking robots were indispensable in restaurants. But Lucy didn't have many customers, so she mostly used these robots to prepare food for her.

It made Lucy feel strange to see the robots discarded like scrap.

James, unaware of her presence, mumbled as he wiped the sweat from his forehead.

"Hah! That's about right. What do you think?"

Fox replied in a thoughtful voice:

[I mean, it looks edible, even if it looks a little different from what I know.]

James was thinking the same thing as he looked at the food in front of him. The dish he was making was called dolma. He couldn't find the kind of pepper he described as an ingredient, so he had to make it with potatoes. Still, it didn't look bad.

He cut the stuffed potato in half with a knife. The smell of the stuffing had already filled the kitchen, but the fragrance of it being cut in half momentarily stunned Lucy.

Wiping the sweat from his brow, he glanced casually in the direction of the door and saw her standing there, drooling.

"Ah! Did I wake you up? I'm sorry, haha! I got a little carried away."

Even though he said that, he didn't actually feel guilty. On the contrary, he was glad to be awake. Someone who runs a restaurant shouldn't have slept for so long. At least that was the inference he made from what he heard from Fox.

Lucy didn't answer. Her eyes were locked on the food. Seeing where she was looking, James laughed.

"Would you like to taste it?"

Lucy shook her head. She looked like she could jump that any moment.

"Then get dressed properly and we'll eat together. I wonder what it's like."

He was looking forward to seeing how this dish he had cooked, following Fox's instructions, had turned out. They had to improvise because they were missing a few ingredients. Still, James felt the same way as Fox. It didn't look so bad.

Lucy felt strange hearing him say that. James was as comfortable as if it were his home. Only for a moment, she wanted to say, ''I'm the boss here''

But when the smell of the stuffing filled his nostrils once more, he couldn't say it and quietly left the kitchen.

Meanwhile, Fox spoke with a hint of pride:

[A favorite dish where I used to be.]

James smiled in response:

"It really is. It smells good. Even I felt like eating it right away, even though I wasn't hungry."

As he said this, he put the dolma on another plate, took it, left the kitchen and put it on one of the tables.

He asked curiously:

"You just said where I used to be. What is it like there?"

He had already arranged the forks, knives, spoons, plates and glasses as Fox had described. As they placed the plates in front of each other, Fox proudly replied:

[It's beautiful but chaotic. You can see all kinds of creatures there. From man to beast, orc, elf and even demon!]

He spoke in a surprised tone:

"Is that so?"

The words orc, elf and demon were quite foreign to him. But it was not difficult for him to deduce. They were obviously alien life forms, like the Vestals. He asked curiously:

"So what are you then?"

Fox was surprised for a moment as if he had not expected this question.

[Me?]

But soon she recovered and answered proudly:

[I am a half-human descended from the mighty, divine fox ancestor.]

James blinked, surprised by the information. He paused and then asked:

"So you're a hybrid like me?"

Fox answered proudly:

[Well, your situation is different, but yes. Of course I'm a hybrid and I'm proud of it.]

James had many questions about this. Just as he was about to ask, he froze for a brief moment at what he saw.

A woman was coming towards him step by step.

The disheveled, unkempt woman he had seen was gone, replaced by a very authoritative one. Her golden blonde hair was tied up, not disheveled. She was wearing a blue jacket with yellow tips. The jacket was almost fully buttoned. Underneath were pants of the same color. Everywhere you looked, she felt like a serious boss.

Unfortunately, the hungry look on her face was enough to break that feeling right away. She came quickly to his seat and sat down.

James murmured involuntarily.

"A very dramatic change."

Lucy ignored his comment and cut it with the knife and popped it in her mouth.

"Ah! I'm hot! Hot, hot!"

James sighed. How impetuous was this woman? He quickly poured water into Lucy's glass.

"Drink water. Breakfast is just prepared. Take your time. Let it cold down a bit."

Drinking the water as he poured it, Lucy nodded her head quickly in agreement. Her eyes were watery from the heat. Seeing this, he involuntarily rolled his eyes. Then he remembered something important he thought he should ask Lucy and asked:

"Boss, what is the menu here normally?"

He glanced around casually but couldn't see the menu as he cleaned up. He was almost sure Lucy knew something.

Several times Lucy felt like saying something. It was as if she couldn't find the right words. Even when she finally answered, she couldn't give a direct answer:

"Hmm... I haven't seen anyone for a long time. I think it was... I don't remember. We might need to look at the catalog. Look in the cupboard in the kitchen. It's probably in the notebook there."

James marveled at her nonchalant attitude. Wasn't she the boss who was supposed to be running this place?

He shook his head from side to side and asked:

"Boss, how long has this place been closed?"

Lucy answered after a moment's thought:

"Mmm... It must have been a couple of days after we'd been here for a long time, I think."

James was stunned. He cut the dolma into quarters with his knife to cold it faster.

"What do you mean? How did you go bankrupt so quickly?"

Lucy frowned as she cut the dolma as James did.

"It's... a long story."

James looked at Lucy's demeanor. Everyone might have things they shouldn't say about themselves. Fox had warned him about that several times along the way. So he just said, "I understand, I'll listen if you want to tell me, boss."

Lucy looked at him. Then she smiled. It was obvious that James was secretly curious.

James, on the other hand, took Lucy's silence as a sign that she wasn't going to tell him. So there was nothing he could do. Not that it was of much interest to him.

As he ate in silence, Lucy spoke:

"My father... When he died, we went bankrupt."

She had a strange expression on her face. She looked sad, but James felt a feeling in her eyes that he had never felt before.

He found it strange, but he focused on the food in front of him. In the meantime, he asked:

"Was your dad a cook?"

Lucy nodded her head in agreement.

"The best. He... He was the best cook."

Lucy's voice trembled as she said it. Realizing this, James nodded his head in agreement without asking any more.

"I see."

Of course he felt sorry for Lucy. But he couldn't bring back someone who had died. In the end, it was none of his business. Besides, he had his own priorities. Like doing the quests to stay human.

There was a brief pause. In the awkward silence that followed that brief pause, James spoke:

"Don't worry, boss. We'll fix this place together."

He sounded confident. Lucy was momentarily surprised. But then she smiled. It was the first time she had eaten this food and it was hard to disagree with him. It really tasted marvelous. If he had recipes like this and was a good brawler, then what he said would be possible.