The other boxes on the screen disappeared and the yellow box moved to the centre. Kit watched the sparkling yellow box start to shake, glitter was sprinkled around the screen from the box’s movements. Kit’s gaze was rooted to the moving box, his heart was thumping with anticipation.

Slowly the intensity of the jiggling box increased. A rattle was heard coming from the box. The shaking kept increasing but the box didn’t open. Kit felt his blood pumping around his system, he blew out a shaky breath. This could either be something fantastic or useless.

The suspense was killing him, he wanted to see what was inside right now! A few seconds past and the rattling box turned into a blur, then suddenly it stopped. Kit held his breath waiting for something to happen.

One second pasted, then two, three, four. Kit’s patience ran out.

“Just open!” As Kit spoke the words out loud, the lid of the box blew off.

Colourful confetti exploded out of the top of the box. The ribbon surrounding the box slithered to the bottom of the screen.

[Congratulations! Yellow mystery box opened]

Player received:

Pleated chef pants.

Magical serving platter x 5.

Storage facility blueprints.

Wine cellar blueprints.

Bar blueprints.

A shop in a shop blueprints.

Kit almost fainted at the sight of all the blueprints he had just received for his restaurant. He staggered over the plush chairs and sunk down. A strange giggle escaped from his mouth. Kit’s eyes glazed over with pure joy.

He had upgrades to his restaurant! Laughter flowed like a river from his mouth. He knew he looked crazy right now, but he couldn’t stop the happiness bursting out. Next to him Peaches gazed at him with concern. “Kit are you alright?”

“Never been better!” Peaches just shook his head and a small smile appeared on his face. Pretzel spoke to Peaches. “Your friend is a little weird.”

Beautiful laughter rang from Peaches, “Sometimes he is, you will get used to it. I think something good happened to him. That is why he is acting like that.”

Kit could only nod his head in agreement. He ran his gleaming eyes over his rewards from the mystery box once again. His eyes stopped on the shop in a shop, this was the only blueprint that was confusing. He had no clue what that was, he turned towards Claire, maybe she would know.

He got his emotions under control then asked Claire. “A shop in a shop is just what it says. You can build another shop inside your restaurant, it can be anything you like. You can sublet it out to a tenant or utilise it yourself.”

A vision of a food court filled Kit’s head, it must be something like that. That was the only comparison that came to mind right now. Kit wondered if he could use it for the takeaway section. The takeaway section having its own shop would be much better that having a plain table inside the restaurant.

If he configured his restaurant properly when he upgraded, he could have a separate entrance for the takeaway shop. Maybe he could even be more creative in what they sold inside it, like making packs. Kit decided to have a discussion with his employees about this blueprint. He had a feeling it would become a vital part of his business.

Kit became excited all over again thinking about what all these blueprints would look like once completed. He wanted to commence the upgrade to his restaurant right away! It was a pity he had to wait until Spartan Fire was promoted first before he could achieve his own restaurant upgrade.

Determination coursed through him, he would just have to figure out a way to expedite Spartan Fires promotion! Before he could return to Spartan Fire and make plans, he needed to finish the quest he had just received from Instructor Phi.

First, he would need to find out where to find chef Nutmeg. Kit turned to Claire, he was sure she would know. Claire was looking at him with an amused expression when their eyes met. Kit blushed, he must have put on quite a show a moment ago.

He cleared his throat then asked Claire about chef Nutmeg. “Chef Nutmeg owns the only restaurant in town. So, it will not be hard to find him. The restaurant is called The Fancey Plate.”

Before Kit could ask for directions Pretzel interrupted. “I know where it is Kit, I will show you the way.” Kit beamed at the young boy, then turned and thanked Claire for all her help.

Claire stopped him before he could usher the others out the door. “Kit, don’t you want the items you just received from the shop before you go?”

Kit stopped in his tracks and his eyes went wide. That’s right not all items automatically appeared in his inventory when he purchased them! He almost left some items behind!

Claire lip twitched at Kit’s expression. “I’ll just go get them for you.” Claire returned and gave Kit a wrapped bundle, Kit tucked it away in his pouch, thanked Claire once again, then followed Pretzel out the door.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

Pretzel took them through the winding streets to a busy part of the town. A large line was formed outside of a small shop, large glass windows decorated the front of the building. Kit tried to see inside the shop between the gathered people.

The gathered crowd was packed in too close for him to get a good glimpse of what was inside. Pretzel took them to the end of the line. “This is The Fancey Plate, Kit. We will have to line up with everyone else, even though you’re not here to eat. If you try to jump the line people get aggressive, so it’s probably best to endure the wait.”

Kit nodded in understanding. He felt the time pass slowly in line, he was so anxious to return to Spartan Fire. He filled in the time talking to Peaches and Pretzel. He found out that Pretzel was an orphan, his family had died in an accident when he was 14 years old. He became a guide not long after the loss of his family.

It broke Kit’s heart to hear of hard times Pretzel had endured on his own. The boy was now 16 years old and his only family was the kitten on his back. Through their conversation Kit found out that Pretzel found the kitten not long after his family died. The little cat hadn’t grown a centimetre since he found it. Kit wondered if it was a special bread like Snowball.

Kit musings were interrupted by a soft voice. “Welcome to The Fancey Plate, how many are in your party?” Finally, they were at the front of the line! He had become so engrossed in Pretzels story that he hadn’t realised that this restaurant’s front of house staff greeted people before they even entered the establishment.

“Three please.” Kit smiled at the young woman in front of him. She motioned them to follow, they walked through ornate wooden doors to enter the restaurant. Kit couldn’t help running his eyes over the carving, Kit smiled when he realised it looked like a child’s attempt compared to Leonards beautiful designs on his restaurant.

As he entered the restaurant his eyes darted all around the room. The floor space was four times the size of his paltry building, Kit instantly became jealous. White tablecloths covered tables of different sizes. Along the walls the tables seated eight, the inner tables seated four. Kit looked around for the entrance to the outside dining area.

To his delight there was none, the only light that shone through into the restaurant was from the big glass windows at the front. Then Kit thought about the placement of the building, it was squeezed between two shops so he could understand the lack of natural lighting.

He couldn’t help comparing the two restaurants as he gazed around. He was very pleased to see that although this one was bigger, his own restaurant didn’t fall behind in aesthetics.

The server took them to a seat in the middle of the room. A paper menu was placed in front of each seat. Kit sat down then automatically picked it up, his eyes shot up at the amount of items on the page.

This was roughly the same amount his own restaurant offered. He was surprised at the small menu, he had only just started out on his journey as a chef, was it the same for chef Nutmeg? Then Kit’s mind rolled back to the conversation he had with Iris when he first started. She told him most chefs would only create between 10 – 15 stats items in their career.

Kit pursed his lips in thought. Did he have an advantage over most chefs because of the secret Snickers had told him about how to create low level stats meals? Kit thought he had hit the nail on the head with this idea.

He knew he wouldn’t have created so many dishes if it wasn’t for Snickers information. He once again thought he was lucky to have met the dainty lady. His eyes roamed back to the menu, he decided while he was here, he should try everything available.

A server came over to great them and Kit relayed his order. Peaches and Pretzel stared at him with open mouths. “Kit will you be able to eat all that?” Peaches was holding in laughter, his eyes sparkled in amusement.

“Well no, I thought we could share, that way we can all taste each dish.” Peaches smiled and shook his head. Pretzel turned watery eyes to Kit, a sniffle escaped. Pretzel wiped his nose with his sleeve. “Pretzel what’s wrong?” Kit became concerned at Pretzel’s red eyes.

Pretzel shook his head. “Nothing, it’s just been a long time since I ate at a table.” Pretzel ducked his head and avoided Kit’s gaze.

Kit decided to see if he could cheer Pretzel up. “Does this mean you will cry each day when you eat at the table with us? If you are still 20 years old and crying at the table each time we eat, I might have to make you an attraction.” Kit hid his grin behind his hand and waited for his words to sink in.

Big round eyes locked onto Kit. “What!” A small fluffy head poked out from Pretzels shoulder and blinked at Kit. A soft meow left the kitten’s mouth. The smile Kit was hiding broke free as Kit reached over the table to pat the cute fluffy head.

“I thought you might like to come and work at my restaurant. Board is included, you can stay with the rest of my team at the boarding house. What do you think?” Pretzel frantically nodded his head, more tears spilled from his eyes.

This time Kit knew they were from happiness. Plates of food being delivered to their table interrupted their conversation. Steam rose from the hot dishes and the smell made Kit’s mouth water. Seven different dishes made a colourful visual display. Kit picked up a fork and tucked into the closest meal.

The first dish he tried was a meat and vegetable dish. The meat was tender and the vegetables crisp. Kit couldn’t fault the meal on its taste at all, an appreciative hum left his mouth. The next dish was a plate of rice balls. Kit popped one into his mouth then almost spat it back out. An overpowering salt flavour filled his mouth, he quickly glanced around the table for a drink.

A laugh boomed from the table next to Kit, then a glass of water was held in front of him. Kit took it with a grateful look, then upended the water. “We knew it was your first time here when you ordered everything on the menu. We were waiting for the show.” The man’s companion slapped the talking man on the back of his hand with his fork.

“Sorry about him, we should have warned you about the food. Then only tasty thing on the menu is the meat and vegetable dish, everything else is well … lacking. Don’t worry though even though they taste bad they still give you the stats boost.”

Kit warily eyed the rest of the dishes on the table. He decided to just look at the menu to see what each gave as a stats bonus. He picked up the menu once again to read, most of the stats were similar value to his menu currently.

Once he raised his chef level enough and could sell some of the locked items, his restaurant would sell better quality stats items than what was on offer here. This thought brough immense satisfaction to Kit, he wouldn’t have to look at this restaurant as competition in the future.

Kit finished looking at the meals then he realised he hadn’t seen any drinks on the menu. He flipped the paper over to see if they were printed on the back. He turned back to the men on the next table. “Is there a drinks menu?”

Both men on the other table shook their heads. “We have been waiting for him to create a drink for years. I heard a rumour that he was getting close to completing one thought.”

Kit thanked them for their information then turned back to his table. He noticed that Pretzel was the only one eating the food on the table. Kit smiled and left him to it, he didn’t want to kill his taste buds, he did enough of that on his own when he was trying to create a new dish.

Kit wondered if he should advertise his restaurant somewhere in town before he left. Having good tasting food and drinks that had stats should be a good draw for Fairweather town residents to come to his restaurant.