Kit was woken by a series of taps on his door, he quickly got dressed to see who wanted him so early in the morning. Twinkling eyes gleamed behind a pair of glasses. “Good morning, Kit! Are you ready to head over to the market stall?”

“Morning Kettle, let me have some breakfast first then we can go.” Kit ran a hand through his messy hair as he walked towards the lounge area. He wanted to get some food in his stomach before he left in case he forgot to eat lunch again due to his excitement.

When Kit opened the lounge room door, he realised he was the last one awake for the day, the others were already eating toast. Bree started to pile a plate for him as soon as he sat down. “Eat up dear, we are going to be busy today.”

Kit smiled in thanks, then started to tuck in. Kettle sat down opposite him with a notebook in his hand. Kit watched as he flipped open the book. “Kit, the cabinet maker and his crew have already started construction. He has already noted a problem that has arisen.” Kettle glanced at Kit to see if he was paying attention.

Kettle’s behaviour surprised Kit, it felt like the man was his secretary the way he was speaking. Kit didn’t know what to do so he just nodded his head that he was listening. “We haven’t arranged anyone to install a roof for the market stall. The cabinet maker also suggested that we build a wall around the outside of the stall, so the cabinets don’t get damaged by the weather.”

Kettle was tapping the notebook as he spoke “I have made adjustments to the design already and invited a builder to meet us at the stall.”

Kit sat staring at Kettle with an open mouth, was this what having a secretary felt like? The man had already started to solve problems that he hadn’t even known about. Kit had the sudden urge to get Kettle to exclusively work for him instead of going to the town hall.

Then he shook his head, Kettle wouldn’t be used to his full potential if he stayed with him. “Thank you, Kettle. You’re amazing! But what time did you get up this morning to get all this done already?” Kit was concerned the man didn’t get enough sleep.

Kettle looked very pleased at being praised. “I have not been up for long, I only got up an hour before you.” Kit goggled, the man had achieved this much in one hour? Kit felt he needed to get some lessons off Kettle about time efficiency.

Kit stuffed a piece of toast into his mouth and picked up another to eat on the road. Kettle shut his book and got up to follow Kit, the others also made a move to follow.

Kit waved his hand at them to sit back down. “Finish your breakfast, Kettle and I will need to speak to the builder before we start doing anything at the stall.”

Kettle led Kit through the maze of stalls until they reached his plot. Kit’s eyes went wide with delight as they approached. The cabinet maker and his team already had one side of the U shape installed with cabinets.

Kit felt his heart start to thump, if everything went smoothly his market stall might be finished by the end of the day! As Kit was admiring the cabinets a burly man walked up to Kettle. “Morning Kettle, this the stall you were talking about?”

“Good morning Philip, yes this is the stall.” Philip nodded his head at Kettle then walked over to talk to the cabinet maker. When he was done, he returned to Kettle’s side with gleaming eyes.

“Kettle it really is a food stall! I thought you had been pulling my leg this morning. I can’t believe that old grump is actually opening a food stall.” Kit furrowed his brows when he heard the man’s words, how was he old? But that wasn’t the main point, he was also not grumpy!

Then it dawned on Kit who the man thought owned the stall. Before he could clear up the misunderstanding, Kettle did it for him. “Ah, Philip let me introduce you to the owner of the stall.” Kettle motioned towards Kit. “This young man is Chef Kit, he owns the Spartan Fire restaurant in Spartan Fire.”

Philip looked Kit up and down with a scrutinising gaze. “Aren’t you a bit young to own a restaurant?” Kit just smiled at the man and pulled out a candy apple. His food was the best way to convince people he was a good chef.

He handed the apple to Philip. “Free sample.” Kit’s eyes crinkled when he thought about how the man would react after tasting his food. Philip didn’t disappoint Kit, the man’s eyes went wide when he finished the candy apple.

Philip reached out and grasped Kit’s hand and started pumping their hands up and down. “Welcome! You just let me know what you need Kit and old Philip will get it done for you!” Kit chuckled at the man’s enthusiasm, it looked like his stall really would be finished by the end of the day.

Kettle pulled Philip away so Kit could have his hand back. “What are your recommendations, Philip?” Kettle directed the man back to the work that need to be completed.

Philip scratched his chin, then glanced back at the stall. “Your design is pretty good, building a roof and brick walls at the same height as the benches will stop most weather damage. I recommend that you also place glass panels from the top of the brick walls to the roof and add a sliding glass door at the entrance.”

Philip turned his gaze to Kit. “That way there should be no weather damage in your stall, wood like you have purchased should be properly taken care of. The glass will also let people be able to see inside the stall from the outside like how you wanted in the original design.”

Phillip ran an admiring eye over the wooden benches already in place, then glanced back at Kit “It will also make it more secure to help prevent theft.”

Kit was very happy with Philip’s idea, now it would come down to price. He had 5 gold crowns left in his budget, he hoped the quote would come in under that price. “That sounds amazing Philip, how much will it cost?”

Philip glanced at Kettle, then came over to Kit and whispered in his ear. “Chef Kit, do you think we could do a trade instead?”

Kit became curious as to what Philip had in mind. “What are you thinking?”

“That well, I really liked that candy apple. Could I get a bulk batch of those in exchange for the construction and material costs?” Philip was licking his lips in a nervous gesture as he waited for Kit to reply.

He didn’t see anything wrong with the trade, but to be on the safe side he decided to ask Kettle if it was ok. He didn’t know if Philip’s nervous actions were due to him thinking Kit would refuse to trade or he was up to no good.

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Kit made a wait gesture with his finger then explained things to Kettle. When Kettle narrowed his eyes at Philip, the man bounced over to Kettle and stuttered. “I will still give him a construction certificate!”

Kit didn’t know what that was, but it seemed to make Kettle happy, the bookish man gave his nod of approval to Kit. Philip looked absolutely delighted at their agreement and Kit’s worries disappeared with Kettle’s nod.

Philip promised Kit to have the construction done by the end of the day. With the construction being so fast, Kit wanted to get a head start on preparing meals ready for sale tomorrow. He decided to leave Kettle to supervise the construction, he was sure that the man could tackle any problems that cropped up.

As he was making his way back to the Inn, he ran into the others making their way towards the market. “Kit, why are you coming back?” Mars raised an inquiring brow.

“Kettle had everything under control, so I thought we should start preparing food to sell at the stall. I’ll go back at the end of the day to see how the stall is progressing.” He didn’t tell them that it should be done by later today, he wanted to surprise them.

He returned to the Traveller Bed and went over everything he had purchased with the others before he started cooking. He wanted to make sure nothing was missed. Bree was currently reading the list, when she finished, she handed it back to Kit. “Kit, you are missing the takeaway bags and boxes.”

Kit slapped his head, how could he forget something so important. Luckily, he had everyone else to help him remember. “I’ll go and get the takeaway stuff.” Mars offered. “I won’t be much help with cooking.”

Kit thanked his friend and Mars left with a sample of what was needed to order. Milka had picked up the list to look at while Kit had been talking with Mars. “Um Kit, do you not need a refrigerator and storage cupboard in your stall?”

Round eyes shot towards Milka, Kit was used to his large storage bag. He forgot others didn’t have the same capacity to carry around ingredients like he did. His hand once again slapped his forehead. “Damn it how could I forget!”

Milka passed the list back to Kit. “I’ll go and find Kettle, we can sort it out for you. I’m like Mars and will be no help in the kitchen.” Kit agreed and watched as Milka left. He pinched his brow in frustration. At least he was finding these things out today instead of tomorrow when they opened.

He quickly settled his mind, then his next dilemma popped up. Where was he going to set up his camping kitchen to start cooking! Thankfully Bree came up with a solution, she negotiated with Venie to utilise the outdoor area near the stables out the back of the Inn.

Soon they were well under way in their preparations for tomorrows opening. Kettle came and found Kit as the sun was starting to set for the day. “Kit, construction is almost finished. You need to come and see if you are satisfied with the result.”

A pounding started in his chest hearing Kettles words. He immediately stopped what he was doing and took off his apron. “Kit, is it done already?” Bree was staring at Kettle with an astonished expression.

“I hope so! Shall we go and have a look?” Bree nodded her head then took off her own apron. Blue and Camembert followed her lead and did the same.

With hurried steps they headed towards the market. When they arrived, a large crowd was gathered around his stall blocking the view. Kit was surprised to see so many people. Philip was waving at him from the back of the crowd. “Philip what are they all doing here?” Kit queried as he approached the builder.

Philip smiled at Kit, “Word of your food stall has already spread through town. I’m guessing they are all here to see the progress of your stall.”

Kettle had followed Kit over to Philip. As Kit was goggling at the crowd, Kettle spoke. “If you are happy to open tomorrow, I will start the official promotion of your market stall in the morning.”

If the crowd was this large just to see construction, what would it be like once he opened? Fairweather town was very well developed compared to Spartan Fire, Kit started to worry if his preparations would be enough.

Kettle didn’t give him time to wallow in his concerns. He was pushing his way through the crowd and dragging Kit behind him. When they broke out from the crowd Kit let out a delighted gasp.

A big bold sign hung above the glass door to enter his stall ‘Spartan Fire restaurant market stall’ Kit felt his eyes tear up at the sight. It felt like all his hard work was paying off, he was getting closer to being able to support himself financially in the real world with this addition to revenue in the game.

Kit didn’t hold that thought long, his gaze wandered over the sight in front of him. The design that Kettle had put to paper was brought to life in front of him. The glass panels didn’t have a single smear to interrupt his view inside the stall.

He could see what was inside above the brick walls, a large sign at the back of the shop drew all his attention. From where he was standing outside the stall, he could easily read the board. Each available item was listed on the board with a matching price.

Kit couldn’t stop himself from walking towards the front door to head inside. His heart started to pick up its pace the closer he got to the doors. The doors automatically slid open when he walked in front of them.

Kit picked up a trembling leg and entered the stall. His eyes darted all around the room trying to take in everything at once. A huge grin spread across his face, it looked absolutely amazing!

Dark glossy wooden benches added an air of elegance, the glass covered display cases sat waiting to show his wares. His market stall didn’t even look like it belonged amongst the other stalls, it was too fancy.

As his eyes kept roaming around, he noticed the only thing missing was the camping kitchen, Kit walked to the back of the stall and stopped at the counter blocking his way.

Kettle stepped forwards and lifted a section of wood that was fixed to the bench topes with a hinge. Kit walked into the area at the top of the U shape, then headed towards the kitchen area. Once he was in the middle of the large space, he took out the new camping kitchen and opened it up.

Kit felt like he was going to explode with happiness, the camping kitchen matched the bench tops. Everything looked perfect in Kit’s eyes. He turned to the man that had made it all possible. “Kettle, you are truly a wonderful person! Thank you so much!”

He pounced on Kettle to give him a hug, words were not enough to express his thanks. “It looks even better than I thought it would!” Kit let go of Kettle as the doors slid open again, his other employees had finally made it through the crowd.

“Wow, Kit will I really be working here? It’s so fancy! It doesn’t even look like a market stall!” Bree was glowing with excitement as she rushed around the room, Blue and Camembert were no different.

Philip and the cabinet maker walked in the door and headed over to Kit. “Are you happy with the end result?” Asked Philip.

“More than happy, thank you both so much.” Both workers looked pleased with his reply. The cabinet maker didn’t stay after Kit approved the stall was ready to open. Philip on the other hand was staring at Kit with eager eyes.

Kit chuckled and pulled out a wooden barrel filled with candy apples. “The candy apples have a shelf life of ten days, so I only made you one barrel for now. I will give you 10 barrels in total. You just let Bree over there know when you want one and she will make it for you.”

Kit didn’t know if that would be an even trade so he also let Bree know in advance that if Philip came into the stall, he would get 50% of whatever he purchased in the future. He relayed that to Philip as well.

“No, no Chef Kit, 10 barrels is more than enough!” The man started to frantically wave his hands in denial. Kit started laughing at his hasty actions then agreed that the 10 barrels would suffice as trade.

Once Philip calmed down, he spoke to Kit again. “If you need anything constructed in the future at Fairweather town you just come straight to me, and I will make whatever you need!”

Kit promised he would contact Philip if he needed any construction, then watched as Philip picked up the barrel with a dreamy expression, then left.

Kit and the others spent a bit more time in the stall to familiarise themselves with the layout. Just before they left to head back to the Inn, Kettle took them over to a small panel on the wall beside the door. “Kit, you need to place your hand on the panel here, it will activate ownership of the market stall.”

Cool metal touched his palm as he placed his hand on top of the panel. A green light flashed behind his hand and Kit heard a notification ring.