Snickers started clapping her hands in delight. “Little kitty, I’m so happy! Not only are we promoting the restaurant, but we also get a week off work!”
A frown pulled Kits brows together, “Why are we getting a week off work?” This would impact his income and he was already tight on funds thanks to buying the magical restaurant blueprint. He still needed to purchase furnishings once the restaurant was built, this wasn’t good news to Kit.
“Because we need to pull down the old restaurant to build the new one silly.” Snickers replied.
Kit felt the world spin and he slumped back in his chair, replacing his current restaurant hadn’t even crossed his mind. He thought they would just build the restaurant on another part of his land because it was large enough to house more than one building.
“Snickers that is not good news! We still need to earn money!” Kit slapped his hand over his eyes and frantically started thinking of other ways he could make money.
Then his thoughts tumbled to a halt when he realised, he already had another way to make money! Did he not own a market stall already, then he could just temporarily set one up in Spartan Fire marketplace!
“Never mind I just thought of a solution.” Kit filled Snickers in on his idea.
“Great! I’ll organise a roster. Kit, we will need to borrow your camping kitchen.” Kit took it out and handed it over to Snickers.
Now that they were finished with the bulk of the conversation about the restaurant, Kit decided it was time for a discussion with Kettle about Spartan Fire. “Before we finish up, we need to discuss another important matter. When I went to see Kettle this morning, he brought up some problems that need to be resolved.”
Kit then opened the floor to Kettle, the man relayed everything that they had already discussed on the way over this morning.
Grandpa and Twix looked the most shocked at the news about the respawn arch. “We had already talked about building a wall soon because of the odd monster that descends from the mountain. But we hadn’t thought about the need for guards for other reasons. I guess we are still in a small hamlet mindset when we think about Spartan Fire.”
“Normally we can settle disputes amongst ourselves. But I guess with the influx of visitors and new residents this will no longer be the case. Should we put the respawn arch on hold until we establish a military presence in Spartan Fire?” said Grandpa.
Kettle started to nod his head. “This would be a good idea, we also need to start building walls as soon as possible, this way we can keep track of who is coming in and out of the village. It will also give us an easier way to defend against attacks from outside. It is not always monsters who will be attacking the village.”
“Walls will also give the residents a sense of comfort. Not all the villagers are from around these parts now, so their levels are low compared to the natives of this area.” Kit was amazed at how fast Kettle had grasped the situation in Spartan Fire. He hadn’t been here long, and he seemed to have information about everything.
Kit jumped in to support Kettle, “I also think it is a good idea to start building the walls and gain a military presence. As much as I want the respawn arch up and running, I think we must put the inhabitants of the village first.”
Agreement rang around the room and a plan was made to start recruiting for a head guard. None of them had any experience in military affairs so they all decided to wait until they employed someone they could consult about the matter.
Kettle then began to bring up other matters, “There is not enough space for travellers to stay. Just having a designated area to set up a tent is not a good idea, it will cause problems down the track. I noticed a blueprint was purchased for a camping ground but has not been completed.”
“Also building some inns or hotels would also be a good idea.” Kettle then moved on to farming, building factories and shipment of goods. The commerce in Spartan Fire was underdeveloped and needed to expand.
Kit felt his head pound the more Kettle talked. It was becoming clearer by the moment that Kit had no skills in governing a village. He looked over at Mars to see his eyes were glazed over, Twix wasn’t fairing much better.
Kettle must have noticed that the only person paying attention right now was Grandpa. He stopped talking and turned towards Kit. “Is this too much all at once?”
“To be honest, yes. I think I am out of my depth and should hand over responsibility to someone who understands the needs of Spartan Fire.” The more Kettle had talked the more Kit felt this was a better choice for Spartan Fire’s growth.
Kit glanced over to Grandpa to see that the old man was chuckling. “Don’t even think about it my boy. You can just learn from Kettle. Besides being a leader doesn’t mean you have to do all the work yourself, you can delegate tasks to others. You should know that by now from running your restaurant.”
Kit scrunched his brows at Grandpa’s words.
Grandpa looked at Kit’s expression then spoke once again. “Let me give you an example. You own the restaurant, Snickers manages the day to day aspects, your employees cook and serve the food. You don’t do everything yourself, you allocate the tasks and entrust they will be carried out. So do you get what I’m saying now?” Kit felt he was catching on.
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“I think so. Then if I am going to be learning from Kettle, should we set a regular meeting?” Kit queried.
Kettle nodded his head in agreement then added a few more words. “Kit, Grandpa is right, once we have the town hall running with proper departments, then you will not need to have much input on the daily tasks, that would be taken care of by the town hall employees.”
Grandpa also offered some more comforting words. “You boys are young, so we don’t expect you to know everything. Learning new things is part of growing up, even for someone as old as me.” The words from the old man helped to comfort Kit’s feelings of inadequacy.
Once they set a time for them all to meet once a week, Kit was feeling more confident about his founding member position. Mars was going to follow Kettle back to the town hall to officially give him a position. Then Kettle would be able to recruit new employees and have access to the town hall menu.
The village walls were put on hold for a week until Leonard would be free. Kit decided he shouldn’t be idle either, he went into the boarding house kitchen and started to pull out the new low level ingredients he collected before logging out. He had three sets of ingredients to experiment with.
The first set was from a clearing filled with vegetables, on the outskirts were trees abundant with a new type of apple. Because he wanted to expedite his collecting of ingredients, he hadn’t killed any of the monsters that inhabited the area. He just made Grandpa quickly collect everything in the field.
The only problem with this collection method was that he didn’t gain any meat. So, he could only make vegetarian dishes. Kit pulled out his book of plants and entered all the new fruit and vegetables. Once he was done, he started reading through the new list.
A palm sized purple vegetable caught his eye, it was very similar to a squash, Kit remembered the stuffed pepper his new employee Derby cooked at the market stall in their interview. Kit decided to use the squash to make a similar dish.
He quickly perused the book to figure out what he would use for the filling. He decided on the new apple, cranberries, and mushrooms. He then purchased some rice to finish off the filling.
The recipe was a simple one, he cut the top off the squash, scooped out the inside, seasoned it with olive oil, salt, and pepper, then placed it in the oven to bake. As he shut the oven door Kit felt that the hollowed out little squashes looked cute. They should look visually appealing when they were completed.
With the door shut, Kit then put the rice on the stove top to cook, pulled out a fry pan added some olive oil, minced some garlic, and chopped some shallots, then cooked them until they caramelised. An appetising smell filled the kitchen, Kit was very satisfied with the outcome.
He then added some chopped mushrooms and the apple slice to the mixture and stirred until they were evenly mixed throughout. Kit’s tummy was starting to rumble the longer he smelled the sweet air.
He quickly tipped the mix into a large bowl and then added the cooked rice and cranberries. His hunger was making his movements speed up.
As he stirred the mixture a blue hue started to swirl, his grin spread. With an oven mitt covering his hand he took out the baked squash.
The cute little squash now had a dusting of a light brown crust, the tantalising sight made him drool. He couldn’t get the waiting mixture into each squash quick enough.
When they were all filled, he placed his finished product onto a porcelain plate, almost losing the filling in his haste.
Ding!
[Purple squash filled with wild spindly apples, cranberries and bright light mushrooms created]
Quality level: Good
Quality bonus: + 30minutes time extension.
A wholesome, delicious blend of ingredients full of flavour.
Reduces effects of basic toxins by 50% and gives a 1% rise to all stats.
for 30 minutes.
[Unlocked: Nil restrictions.]
Reward: 5,000 EXP, 1,000 culinary EXP, 20 silver crown, 200 culinary points.
Kit looked at his newest creation and smiled, another item could be added to his menu! Just as he was celebrating his success Snickers walked through the door, her eyes automatically went to the stuffed squash on the bench.
“This is what you got up to.” Snickers nabbed one of the squashes and started to fill her stomach. Kit stared with his mouth open, he hadn’t even tried it yet! He followed Snickers actions and grabbed his own squash.
Snickers started to tell Kit why she was looking for him around a mouth full of food. “I had a look at the available fittings for the restaurant. Cupcake and I made a rough plan for the dining room.” She slid a parchment over to Kit.
He opened the paper to see a detailed design, Kit’s eyes twinkled at the sight, what rough plan! The floor plan looked amazing! He couldn’t wait to see it come to life. “Snickers, you guys did a great job, we’ll go with this.”
Snickers smiled at Kit around bulging cheeks, Kit couldn’t help laughing at her distorted face. Snickers patted her cheeks, then rolled her eyes. “Once I finish this.” Snickers pointed to the meal in front of her. “I want us to work on the design for the kitchen.”
Kit packed up the kitchen as Snickers finished her meal, they then moved to a lounge area to work out a plan.
A white piece of paper filled with kitchen appliances and benchtops was held up in front of Kit. Down the side of the paper was a list of all the furnishes and the corresponding culinary points needed to unlock the items.
Kit blood was boiling with frustration the further down the list his eyes went, they were so expensive!
He calculated the total cost, and it would wipe out all his current culinary points! He would have nothing left to purchase furnishings for the dining area. The jump in fittings from no star to one star appliances made his eye twitch.
The most expensive item was the one he was not willing to give up on. It was an oven that could hold three trays abreast and had two shelves., but it cost 7,000 culinary points. It wiped out near a third of his accumulated points all on its own! He only had 32,542 to spend right now!
“Snickers, what do I do.” Kit heard the whine in his voice as he complained to his friend.
Snickers came and looked at the paper, her mouth drooped. “Kit, I don’t know either, I didn’t think the new appliances would cost so much.”
Snickers held up the floor plan for the dining area and showed Kit the total amount for the furnishings, 11, 510 culinary points glared at him. Both of them flopped back on the couch. “How can it cost so much?”
Kit tried to console himself with the fact that the dining area was one third of the price of the kitchen, the only problem was it didn’t work at all! He wanted both plans, but it was not possible. The pair sat there in a daze, a knock at the door interrupted the sombre mood. Pretzel stuck his head into the room.
“Kit there you are! I have been looking everywhere for you. Leonard needs you at the restaurant so he can pull it down.” Pretzel looked at Kit and Snickers, then finally realised something was wrong. “What’s happened?”