Maybe because of the cold climate and scarce resources, the everyday diet of Belobog's common folk is strangely similar to Indian cuisine.
Especially the Silvermane Guards, they love tossing anything they can think of into a pot, boiling it all together.
Whatever they can't finish, they just let the wind and snow freeze it solid, then next time throw it straight into some water, heat it up again, and, voilà, another round of mushy stew.
Since the shop wasn't going to open tonight anyway, Emiya decided to take advantage of the free time to pass down all of his carefully modified secret recipes, adjusted to Belobog's taste, to the Silvermane Guards.
A great man once said, when a man gets famous enough, even his farts have layers of meaning.
Among the Silvermane Guards, Emiya was a true god. On this bitterly cold night, he took the time out of his busy schedule, was he really just teaching them how to cook?
Not a chance. Not a single one of the Silvermane Guards believed that. They were convinced Emiya had deeper reasons.
So, not wanting to waste his good intentions, every single Silvermane Guard brought out their notebooks, dragged stools over, and sat down to listen carefully. Even those who were on duty rotated shifts so they wouldn't miss the lesson.
They didn't just record his words, they wrote down every small gesture, every subtle expression. They wanted to capture it all, then study it ten times a day, searching for the hidden secrets Emiya was revealing about how to grow stronger.
Seeing how much respect he was getting, Emiya's "born teacher" side suddenly awakened. He happily went on, one round after another, for a full four hours, and still no one wanted to leave.
In the end, it was only when Acheron came looking for him, annoyed that he hadn't come home, that she dragged him away by force. Otherwise, he really might have kept going until morning.
Three days later, Emiya's snack shop finally opened for business.
Since he wasn't sure how much traffic there would be, Emiya put only eight of the Silvermane Guards' favorite snacks and one drink on the menu. That one decision nearly broke his back.
From 9 a.m. until closing at 5 p.m., even though he repeatedly said the ingredients were sold out, the customers lingered, reluctant to leave.
"Phew! What the hell, why are there so many people!" Emiya muttered weakly as he washed his cooking tools.
The crowd was way, way bigger than he had expected. At this rate, in less than three hours he could easily hit the daily cap for mission rewards, 20 mission points and 20 magic slots.
[Welfare mission, robbery.]
[For the last time, I am NOT doing those damn welfare missions again!]
For the thirtieth time that day, Emiya flat-out refused the system's welfare mission. Ever since that Kafka incident during one, those tasks had left him with serious trauma.
Now his monthly rewards already far exceeded what he'd ever expected, and there was no way he'd risk touching those cursed welfare missions again.
"Hey, have you worked yourself stupid? What are you mumbling to yourself about?" Cocolia strolled right into the shop entrance, wearing her Great Guardian's outfit, as if she owned the place.
"What are you doing here? Don't you need to worry about appearances?" Emiya turned his head toward her, noticing she looked unusually cheerful today.
"Your three little girls promised me they'd secretly wipe out all my enemies. I can't wait for those idiots to come jump to their deaths!"
Cocolia smoothed her skirt, casually grabbed a plate of spicy meat chunks Emiya hadn't finished, and plopped herself into the lounge chair at the door, swaying comfortably.
'So good, his food has some kind of magic, it's just impossible to stop eating!'
"With your skills, the huge portions of meat, and those dirt-cheap prices, you might as well call it charity work!"
She finished off the plate in just a few bites, then wiped her mouth and gave Emiya a mock glare.
And sure enough, after just one day of business, the security department had already received over a hundred complaints accusing Emiya of unfair competition.
Even the Landau family's businesses had taken a hit, and they were gathering nearly all the merchants to try to kick Emiya out.
But for Cocolia, this was perfect. She used the chance to slap the Landau family with a dozen "serious charges," confiscating all of their last three years of profits.
"Sigh, you're right. Guess it's time I hired two workers." Emiya, exhausted, completely missed the smug look on her face.
"By the way, why did you refuse Acheron's help? She alone could probably outwork ten people."
"Running a shop is dull and tiring, you're stuck in a tiny place all day. It's fine if I suffer, but I won't let her."
The truth was, worrying about Acheron was only part of it. What Emiya really wanted was for her to keep an eye on Vera.
Lately, Vera had been overly sensitive and unstable, weighed down by guilt for absorbing Zoe's power and leaving her weakened.
Emiya feared that if anyone hurt Zoe, or even just frightened her, Vera might lose control and wipe out the entire city in a rage.
With Acheron by Zoe's side, her safety was fully guaranteed. Belobog, and even all of Jarilo-VI, could rest easy knowing they wouldn't be wiped out overnight. Everyone was better off that way.
And so, four months passed.
With the secret help of Emiya's three girls, Cocolia managed to root out every single troublemaker in Belobog. No one dared show off anymore. At last, the Great Guardian became Belobog's true, unquestioned leader.
Her first move after unifying Belobog was to massively cut the pointless expenses of the major families, funneling all those resources to Zoe so she could pursue her research without worry.
Not long after, the first batch of experimental Ice-Piercing Trees was created.
These trees greatly improved efficiency in absorbing Stellaron energy, speeding up seedling growth significantly.
Because the Ice-Piercing Trees gathered so much Stellaron energy, they became prime targets for Fragmentum monsters. To ensure the seedlings survived, Emiya's three girls launched a full sweep around Belobog's outskirts.
Once they confirmed the monsters wouldn't appear in large numbers for the time being, Zoe had the Silvermane Guards plant seedlings in a full circle around the Silvermane Guard restricted zone, and she left the guarding to them.
While the trees grew, Zoe went on a city-wide scavenger hunt for metals, using them to build the first batch of combat robots.
Once the Ice-Piercing Trees absorbed enough Stellaron energy, they could be harvested, their energy extracted, and injected into the combat robots.
At that point, the robots would become the guardians, and large-scale planting of Ice-Piercing Trees could begin.
As the city expanded outward, they could mine more minerals, build more combat robots, and repeat the cycle.
At this rate, Zoe's robot empire was just around the corner. Under the protection of the empire and the Ice-Piercing Trees, the people would finally step out of Belobog to live and thrive beyond its walls.
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