Pretzel walked into the room with worry written all over his face. “Kit?”

Kit shook himself out of his stupor and tried to give Pretzel a reassuring smile. “It’s ok Pretzel. Everything is fine, just a minor setback. Snickers and I will fix it.” Kit stood up and the paper in his lap fluttered to the ground.

Pretzel came over to pick it up. The young boy’s eyes dropped down to look at the contents. “Kit this looks amazing, is this what the new kitchen will look like?”

“We’re not sure yet. I don’t have enough culinary points to purchase everything at the moment.” Kit didn’t lie, it wasn’t a secret after all.

Pretzel seemed to perk up at Kit’s words. “Great, then can I help when you make some more recipes to get the needed culinary points?”

Kit paused as he digested Pretzel’s words. A smile worked its way back onto his face. “Pretzel, I could kiss you right now!” Kit didn’t follow through with those actions, he just returned Pretzel’s bright smile.

“Our Pretzel is so smart! Of course you can help Kit! ” said Snickers.

“Really?” Pretzel smile made his eyes almost disappear.

Kit nodded, then thought about what recipes would be best for raising culinary points fast. If he dropped working on the low level items and went back to the ingredients from the Piabbits domain then it might be possible to get some extra points before the deadline.

Grandpa had already sent out the invitations so he couldn’t postpone the promotion. Kit pursed his lips in thought at the total amount needed. Between the two areas he would need 43,000 culinary points. So if he could get 10,000 culinary points he could unlock all the blueprints he wanted!

“We will start working on them tomorrow, so make sure you get up early.” Kit said to Pretzel, then turned his gaze to Snickers. “Come on, let’s go and see Leonard.”

On the walk towards his restaurant, a small amount of grief welled up at the thought of tearing down his restaurant. That building was where he started to embark on his dream, not only that, it was also where he started to grow his in game family.

Although he knew destroying the building wouldn’t hinder his dream or make his new family disburse, it still made him a little sad.

When they arrived Leonard, Grandpa, Twix, and Mars were standing in a huddle in front of the building. Grandpa turned around at the sound of footsteps. “Kit, we have cleared out the fittings inside. All that is left to do is tear it down.”

Kit took a moment to take in the current building, then he took a deep breath. “Ok, I’m ready. Tear it down!”

Grandpa raised his staff and pointed it towards the restaurant. A rumbling started, then his building started to sink into the earth. Dust was swept up into the air as the restaurant was disappearing. When all the tremors stopped, all that was left was the roof.

A wave of Grandpa’s staff caused the roof to move to a clear space on his land. “All done, the rest is up to you Leonard.”

Kit stared at the bare ground with a complicated expression. He was rustled out of his thoughts by Leonard pulling materials from his pouch. Soon a large pile of glittering stones stood next to the dirt patch left by his restaurant.

At the sight of the new stones Kit felt all his sadness go in a puff of smoke. A wave of adrenalin swept through him. That pile of rubble was the start of his one star restaurant!

“Kit, do you want to help build it? Or leave it as a surprise?” Snickers queried.

“No, I’ll leave it to Leonard. I have no skills at construction. I think a surprise will be nice.” Kit still had many other tasks to complete before the week was over, so staying away from the construction site was definitely a good idea.

Snickers looked pleased with his answer. “Great, then let’s head back to the boarding house so we can pick out a design for the new menu.”

“Hold up. Not so fast Snoo Snoo.” The large man approached Snickers with tentative steps.

Snickers raised and inquiring brow, “Is something wrong?” Snickers raised brow started to scrunch together. “I thought we had all the construction materials? Leonard can we not start!” Snickers small chest started to rise and fall at a rapid rate.

“What? No, I can start construction. But I will need money to purchase the furnishings once Kit unlocks the blueprints.” Leonard cried.

“Oh, is that all.” Snickers turned to Kit. “Can you give Leonard access to the restaurant funds please.”

Kit had forgotten all about the money needed for the furnishings. “Of course. Thanks for reminding me.” Kit handed over control of his meagre amount of money with a nervous gaze at the large man. He hoped it would be enough to deck out the inside of his restaurant.

Leonard must have checked his finances as soon as he was given access because he ground his teeth. The large man then looked down at Snickers and rearranged his face when he saw that Snickers was looking at him with twinkling eyes.

“There will be more money filtering in from the market stalls.” Kit hoped that they could scrape enough money together by the end of the week.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“That’s right.” Snickers piped in. “You can do it, right Leonard?” Snickers hugged the large man’s arm and gave him a dazzling smile.

Kit watched as the large man turned to mush right in front of his eyes. “Of course! Anything for my Snoo Snoo.” Snickers giggled, then pulled Leonard’s head down and pecked him on the cheek.

“Leonard is the best!” Kit cringed at Snickers honey dripped voice, then he turned his gaze to Leonard and had to hold back a snicker. The large man was blushing from head to toe.

Kit looked at the two and thought that with Snickers in his team he wouldn’t have to worry about his restaurant looking shabby once it was complete. Leonard would do anything in his power to please Snickers. Getting Snickers as his restaurant manger really came with many perks!

Now that he nothing left to do at his restaurant, Kit left the others to their work and headed back with Snickers. He was dragged into a lounge area and wasn’t allowed to leave until the menu design was finished.

When he was finally allowed to leave it was time for dinner. The atmosphere in the boarding house was jubilant. Excited chatter could be heard bubbling all over the house. It seemed everyone was excited about the new building.

Kit went to bed in a good mood, he woke early the next day to Pretzel jumping on his bed.

“Kit, get up! It’s time to cook!” Pretzel pulled back his covers and shoved him into his bathroom. Kit emerged clean and ready to start the day. He glanced at the bed on his way out the door to see Snowball still sleeping. A frown pulled his brow, it wasn’t like Snowball to sleep in.

Kit then glanced at his window and clicked his tongue. Light was only just starting to filter through the darkness. How early had Pretzel gotten up? Kit was already wide awake after taking a quick shower so instead of crawling back to bed he headed towards the kitchen.

A bright eyed Pretzel was waiting in the boarding house kitchen when Kit arrived. “What are we going to make!” Kit gave a chuckle at the boy’s enthusiasm.

“Pan roasted chicken with a side of honey roasted beetroot, carrots and onion and finished with mashed potatoes.” Kit felt himself salivate at the thought of eating this meal. Although having it for breakfast was a bit heavy, he also knew that once the smells hit his nose that would be all he wanted to eat.

Last night when he was thinking what to make, he decided to combine all the ingredients from the Piabbits domain. He was hoping they would give him a big chunk of culinary points. The eagerness to get started caused him to feel restless.

Kit started to move so he could shake the feeling. He started gathering all the necessary utensils, then placed the ingredients on the bench. “Pretzel, do you want to prepare the vegetables?”

“Yes!” Pretzel didn’t wait for any more instruction and soon a pile of vegetable was stacked next to the enthusiastic youth. Kit started slicing up the chicken into portions making sure he took care to not make any mistakes.

He placed the pieces in a pan and brushed the chicken with butter then sprinkled it with salt, pepper and underground thyme. He then pushed the pan into the preheated oven. His gaze then turned to see where Pretzel was up to with his preparations.

A neat stack of blue vegetables waited for Kit inspection, as he ran his gaze over the pile his eyes crinkled. “Pretzel you have done a great job!” A blinding smile came from the youth at the praise received.

“Next you will need a bowl.” Kit watched as Pretzel practically bounced towards the cupboards. “Then put the carrots and onion, along with some honey, vinegar and olive oil into the bowl and mix it around so the liquid coats all the vegetables.”

“What about the beetroots?” inquired Pretzel.

“They will go in near the end of the cooking time.” Kit watched Pretzel take care spreading the liquid through the vegetables. He then placed the mixture into a pan and slid it in the oven along side the chicken.

“Next is the mash, drop the potatoes into a pot with some water and place it on the stove top.” Pretzel swiftly moved into action. As they waited for the food to cook, Kit went through the list of ingredients that he received from the Piabbits’ domain.

“If you can think of a good recipe using those ingredients let me know.” Kit pulled out a parchment with his untested recipes and added a few more to the list that he just thought of. Once he was done, he looked at the scrunched brows across from him.

“I can’t think of any!” squeaked Pretzel.

“That’s ok, it’s time to finish off this recipe now anyway.” Kit then moved to the pot on the stove to make the mash potato, he instructed Pretzel to add the beetroot to the vegetables in the oven. “Kit! There is a blue hue on the vegetables!”

Kit stopped what he was doing and moved over the steaming pan. Bright blue radiated from the hot pan. “Looks like we are on the right track.” Pretzel moved the pan back to the oven and Kit drained the water from the potatoes.

He then added the milk, butter and salt, as he whipped the mixture with his fork it turned into a smooth paste. A light blue hue started to swirl in the creamy mash. Pretzel was hanging over his shoulder as he worked. “Kit, another blue hue!”

Kit chuckled, having someone so enthusiastic bumped up his own heart rate. His eyes were twinkling as he placed a generous portion on two waiting plates. Kit then moved to the oven and removed the vegetables and chicken.

He placed a scoop of the honeyed vegetables on the plate and watched in delight as the blue started to swirl with purple. Kit felt his hands start to shake as he moved to the chicken. He was hopeful that this combination would work.

There was not blue swirl on the chicken, this didn’t deter Kit. Sometimes the blue hue wouldn’t activate until all ingredients were on the plate. The smells were adding to his anticipation as he placed the golden meat onto the plate.

Kit’s mouth dropped open and his eyes went wide as he stared at the final result. It was an utter failure! As soon as the chicken touched the plate the blue hue trembled then disappeared! He had never seen this reaction before, did this mean the chicken didn’t go with this recipe?

“Ah Kit, why did the blue go away?” Pretzel blinked his eyes slowly as he spoke.

“I think we need to try some other meat with this recipe,” replied Kit.

“Oh, can we still eat this?” Pretzel was staring at the plate while licking his lips.

Kit felt Pretzel wasn’t the only one dying to taste the food. Although it didn’t work out it still smelled fantastic. “We sure can!” Kit pushed the plate closer to the young man, then pulled his own closer.

The two of them didn’t talk until there was nothing left on the plate. “What meat shall we try next Kit?”

Kit decided to cook multiple different meats from his inventory, he had a feeling this recipe might deviate far from what he originally imagined. The only good thing was that he knew the honeyed vegetables and mash potato seemed to mix well together.

Pretzel and Kit got back to work, by the afternoon Kit had gone through almost all of the meat in his inventory.

He had also tried multiple ways to cook each piece of meat before moving on to the next. Some gave a blue hue and his hope would rise, but he still experienced the disappearance of the glowing hue when the meat arrived on the plate.

Frustration was riding high, Kit ruffled his hair as he stared into his pouch. One more piece of meat was left to try. “What meat is next Kit?” Pretzel was still peppy, Kit couldn’t fathom how he wasn’t annoyed.

Kit’s tone was flat as he spoke. “We are down to the last piece of meat,” A thick slab of meat thudded onto the bench top. It was a rich red and blood still dripped from the flesh.

Pretzel tilted his head as he moved to get a better look at the new type of meat. “What is it?”

“This is Trampling thick head meat,” answered Kit.