Ludwig felt his cheeks cramping from too much grinning as his eyes landed at the restaurant sign hung on the wall above the door. It was a red conjoined shape of circle at the top and triangle at the bottom. If someone from Earth was to see it, they would instantly recognize it as something that appeared when they clicked on something in the Gmaps.
Beneath it, the restaurant's name written in cursive was stamped. A name that Ludwig felt very fitting for the name of the restaurant. One word that could nearly explain all the power and weirdness of the restaurant.
After letting himself look at the sign for a minute too long, Ludwig moved again and turned the doorknob of his restaurant to the side. Stepping inside together with a chime of a bell, the coldness vanished in an instant.
Another smile appeared on his face. It had been a long journey, really. At some point he even felt that waiting for the appliances and the interior was longer than his whole journey of slaying the Demon King.
The interior was mainly brown, the natural colour of the wood which Greito chose as the material. Only a few things were not made with wood. The chandelier above, the pan, the grill, and so many other kitchen appliances.
The concentration of those non-wood furniture was the highest on his station, the kitchen. It was located on one corner of the building, sitting pretty just beside the door. It was a deliberate arrangement from him. After all, building it just beside the door would enable him to greet any customers that came without having to raise his voice too much.
The kitchen hogged all the spaces in that part of the building. It stretched towards the opposite wall from the door, a place where stairs could be seen.
Inside, all the necessary appliances and utensils to accommodate almost all kinds of cooking presented itself in a controlled chaos. From a cold storage shelf, to a Stasis Shelf—a shelf where the time inside didn't move. Of course it also had a wooden table with a steel surface for all kinds of preparation he needed to do.
Attached to the kitchen space was the bar. The chair for the bar seat was a combination of wood, a padding of goose feather to make sitting comfortable, and a solid backrest as well as a strong leg rest.
In total, there were eight seats like that surrounding the kitchen. Six of them were occupying the long portion of the table while the other two sat on the shorter part of the bar which was just beside the door.
Behind the four bar seats were the main dining area. Right in the middle of the main dining area was a long table with six seats lining up on each side, dividing the area into two. It was a table that Ludwig prepared for a large group of guests. Even in the absence of a large group, it still could function as a table to accommodate a few small groups of customers.
The rest of the dining area had a standard configuration of tables, a table for four. In total, there were ten such tables across the rest of the dining area; four tables just behind the bar seats while the rest of them were on the other parts of the dining area.
As for the lighting of the room, a chandelier hung on top of the 12 seat table while some runic lamps were scattered all across the wall. Of course, to make the location of the restaurant shine, the dining area wasn't completely cordoned by walls. Windows took up a bigger portion. Even in the kitchen.
After looking around the restaurant, Ludwig paced towards one of the seats in the bar area. Taking a long breath into his lungs, he willed the status window to open. It was finally time to put an end to his first ever quest in this world.
「You received 250,000 gold」
「The Attribute tab is now unlocked」
「The Attribute point tab is now unlocked」
「You received new system function: Interdimensional Shop」
「You received new system function: Blessing of the Restaurant」
Ludwig blinked his eyes several times in order to make sure that it's not his eyes playing tricks on him. But even after doing so, the words 'Interdimensional Shop' did not disappear. Only after a stream of memories entered his brain that he believed it was real.
Then, without diving into the explanation of the other rewards he got, Ludwig willed the shop to appear. The same purplish translucent window appeared in front of his eyes. However, rather than the familiar window he had seen millions of times until now, what appeared was a list of ingredients as well as how much it would cost him to buy it.
It started with things like salt, pepper, sugar, and flour. Costing him 1 gold to buy for 1 kilogram of it. Expensive, really expensive. In the market, he would be able to buy them with half or even a quarter of the price that the system showed.
However, Ludwig's disappointment disappeared little by little as he scrolled further through the shop. After all the normal ingredients he could buy in this world ended, he started to see something he had been longing for. Modern seasonings.
All kinds of powdered seasonings like Paprika Powder, Garlic Powder, Chili Powder, and even a bottle of mixed seasoning of Jerk Chicken could be seen in the shop. Not only that, the shop also sells all the drinks from his previous life!
When Ludwig saw a red box with light brown deer printed on it, his fingers stopped. He quickly pressed the product and bought it without even looking at the price. In front of him, the air crackled. The very same red box appeared on the table in front of him with a thud.
Ludwig quickly opened the box and took the bottle out. The bottle had the same theme as the box, red label and red cap. But without paying any more attention to the design, Ludwig turned the cap with his hands. Once it was opened, Ludwig moved one of his hands to his storage dimension and took a glass. However, the glass was not empty. Inside, there was a bluish crystalline ice moving around.
He promptly poured the light-brown liquid inside the bottle towards the glass. Just as the liquid reached half of the ice, Ludwig stopped pouring. He then moved the glass to his mouth and dunk the liquid inside into the back of his throat.
A familiar hit of alcoholic drink assaulted his mouth for a brief second. Then, an explosion of notes happened in his mouth. Sweetness of vanilla appeared first, killing the initial hit of bitterness from the alcohol. Once it subsided, hints of smoke, oak, lime, ginger, and some other spices smoothly played on his tongue. But at the same time, it was not fully herby. It was also sweet and refreshing. That last two flavours were coming from the ice. An ice that was really hard to procure.
Once he gulped it down, Ludwig could feel his body warming up. It was really a good drink. But rather than savoring the taste, he just poured another glass for himself before dunking it back. Only after his third shot did Ludwig put the bottle and the glass down. His head was lighter than before as his body was starting to warm up.
I really miss that taste. Ludwig said to himself with a tone full of nostalgia. Back in his past life, that whiskey was something he drank to commemorate something nice happening. Not that much of it happened back then. But after he was reincarnated in this world, he couldn't do it anymore even though more happy things happened to him.
Of course he could just change the whiskey with this world brand of whiskey. Heck, he could even celebrate it with the priciest whiskey he could find here in this world, but he chose not to. After all, no matter how good something is, it would pale in comparison when it was pitted against taste that evoked memories.
As the whiskey still lingered on his tongue, Ludwig rose to his feet and headed into the kitchen. The completion of this restaurant was a happy thing for him, another part of the celebration should also make their appearance now.
Ludwig stood behind the counter, willing his shop to appear once again. He then scrolled through the shop to find the ingredients he wanted. First of all, he stopped and clicked on a panel that showed a packet of brown sugar. Once he bought it for 1 gold, he scrolled again before buying a whole bundle of parchment paper—cooking grade of course—as well as a bundle of aluminium foil for 1 gold each.
Once those were done, Ludwig scrolled again. He only stopped after seeing a panel showing a fillet of fish with orange flesh. Two panels were showing the filet, one was priced at 2 gold while the other was priced at 4 gold.
Without even having to think what caused the disparity of price, Ludwig already got the answer. The panel that saw the filet at 2 gold had 'Whole Salmon Fillet' written on it. On the other hand, the panel that sold the fillet at 4 gold a piece had 'Whole Wild Salmon Fillet'.
Following the example of all high-establishments in his previous world, of course Ludwig clicked on the one which sold wild salmon fillet. Once the fillets appeared on the countertop, Ludwig quickly took a sack of salt he personally made as well as a clean towel from his storage dimension.
Taking a knife from the knife holder on the countertop, Ludwig pitted it against the parchment paper, separating a big chunk of it from the roll. After laying the paper he just cut on top of the countertop, he grabbed onto the fillets and put them on it, skin down.
With a clean towel, he patted the flesh to remove any excess moisture from it. Once he judged it to be enough, he dumped a courageous amount of salt into the fillets before covering it with almost the same amount of brown sugar.
Once the flesh was completely covered, Ludwig cut another piece of parchment and blanketed the fillets with it and took those two bundles of fillets into the end of the counter. With a will, his mana opened the door of the shelf in front of him. A cold gust rushed to his legs while a tint of blue from the rune inside shone.
Ludwig chucked the bundles on his hands inside and closed the door. Since it would take time for the seasoning to seep into the salmon, he should leave the fillets inside the refrigerator for around 1 hour to 1 hour and a half. However, what was he? A fighter with the ability to bend time. So, he willed his mana to surround the refrigerator and make everything touched by his mana to move faster.
Once the internal alarm inside him hit 1 hour and 15 minutes, Ludwig let the mana around the refrigerator disperse. He then took the two bundles of salmon fillets and pry the parchment open before wiping the seasoning from its flesh.
When the orange flesh made its appearance again, Ludwig moved the fillets into a tray that he had covered with aluminium foil and opened his shop once again to buy a BBQ rub and sprinkled it on the fish.
Ludwig took the two seasoned trays of fillets with him as he teleported to the third floor of the building, a glass room with 3 different coloured runes blinking around it. Ludwig put the trays in a table before walking towards a barrel-like contraption which had a chimney connecting to the roof.
After letting the wood he took from his storage burn and settled, he quickened the time around the barrel for a little. Once he let his mana disperse again, he put the tray inside it and closed the contraption shout.
After repeating the same process of fast forwarding the time inside the barrel and dispersing his mana when the time was right, Ludwig opened the barrel and took the trays out before teleporting back into the dining hall.
He put the trays into the countertop and walked towards the storage where he stored his plates. Once he brought a plate he wanted back to the countertop, He used his mana to move one of the fillets into the plate. He then took some lemon and parsley from his storage dimension, cut it, and put it into the plate to make the food more colourful.
Looking at the finished product, Ludwig smiled. The first food ever cooked in this restaurant. A monumental achievement.
However, just before he lifted it from the countertop, the bell on top of the door sent a loud chime across the restaurant.
* * *
Enjoy the first 5 chapters of this novel! Please leave a rating, a like, or a comment to tell me you are here with me in this journey.
This is my first attempt to write on anything, so if there's a plot hole, a badly flowing paragraphs, please tell me. Be kind guys~ Please~