Kit spent some of time talking to his staff, then he followed Mars into the animal café. Kit had expected the room to be noisy, he had even been looking forwards to seeing the crazy Piabbits! His gaze travelled around the empty room and then stopped at Mars.
“Did something happen? Where are the Piabbits?” Kit’s earlier feeling of dread intensified as he stared at Mars cautious gaze.
“Kit, I don’t want you to panic. Something happened while you were away.” Mars eyes drifted to the side avoiding contact.
“If someone starts the sentence with don’t panic, then of course they will panic!” Kit felt his hands start to tremble. He had a bad feeling this had something to do with the missing Snowball.
Mars started shuffling around on the spot. “Spit it out Mars! Where are the animals?” Kit felt his heart start to pound.
“We don’t know. Snowball suddenly vanished one day, then the other animals soon disappeared.” Kit breath hitched at Mars words. “We think Snowball left to go and look for you, and the other animals followed him.”
Fear gripped Kit, the Forsaken state was filled with high level creatures. Snowball wasn’t a fighter and wasn’t even fully grown. Kit started chewing on his nails, blood soon appeared. Mars grabbed his fingers and tugged them out of his mouth.
“Is there any clue where he went?” Kit’s voice trembled.
“Grandpa could track the Piabbits to the foot of the mountain then their trail disappeared. We think that Snowball is in the Devouring ranges.” Mars darted a look around the room, then whispered. “Snowball knew about the map, so I think he thought that’s where you went.”
Anxiety about Snowballs safety filled Kit’s mind. He couldn’t even leave to go and look for him. “Mars I need to raise my swordsman level fast. We can’t leave Snowball all alone in such a dangerous place!”
Mars chuckled, Kit felt his anger rise at Mars reaction. “Kit Snowball is not alone, he has the Midnight guardians, Piabbits and Bai yue. Nothing will happen to him.”
Kit felt himself calm down, Mars was right. Snowball should be safe, it didn’t stop him from wanting to find the black fluff ball though. He missed him like crazy. “You’re right, Snowball should be safe with all of them protecting him. I will still have to raise my swordsman level fast, you know my situation. I need to find that treasure so I can continue to play CAL or else I will have to leave again to find work.”
Kit froze, he completely forgot about work! Luckily, he had the day off today. He would need to log out in three days so he could deal with his real-life employment. He made plans to speak to Kat when he logged out.
If he wanted to try to make a living in CAL, he would need to quit his job. Kit sighed, this next month would really decide his fate in CAL.
“Then tomorrow we can head out to kill some monsters!” Kit could hear the excitement in Mars voice. “How many levels are left until you reach 100?”
Kit brought his information up, “I’m at level 90. Do you think we can raise it to 100 in two days?”
Mars scratched his head. “I’m not sure, we can ask Grandpa. Out of everyone, he would most likely know a fast way.”
“Then let’s go find Grandpa!” Kit started to head towards the door.
“Wait! I haven’t filled you about what’s happening with the restaurant!” Mars cried.
Kit suddenly halted. “Is something else wrong with the restaurant?”
A loud sigh escaped from Mars. “Sit down and I will fill you in.” Mars took a seat on one of the cushions, Kit followed.
“I’m sure you can gather that the animal café is closed.” Kit nodded. “That caused some anger amongst your customers. If that was the only thing to happen it would be alright. But one thing after the other happened. I don’t know if you noticed earlier, but your restaurant did not have many customers.”
Kit had been too focused on his employees to properly look around the dining area. But now that he thought about it, there wasn’t many unfamiliar faces inside. Kit felt a tightening in his chest “What else happened?”
“Right after the animal café closed, the restaurant reviewer that Grandpa organised arrived.” Mars eyes dropped down to look at his toes. “Now Kit, you have to understand that there were a lot of angry customers at the time.”
Mars paused to clear his throat. “And well the restaurant reviewer might have gotten caught up in a tussle with the staff accidentally.”
“Might have?” Did that mean the reviewer did or Mars was unsure.
“Ah… no he definitely did. I might have given him a few bruises by accident.” Mars started waving his hands in fluster.
Kit’s eye started to twitch, he felt a headache start to emerge. “Mars please explain it clearly!”
A light dusting appeared on Mars cheeks, but he did not shy away from clarifying. “There were a few customers that were fanatical about the Piabbits, so when the Piabbits disappeared they blamed the restaurant for driving them away. A fight broke out and somehow the reviewer got caught up in the struggle.”
A bad premonition made Kit start to sweat. “Was he badly injured?”
“Not too badly, we all held back because they were customers.” Mars started fidgeting and Kit knew there was more to come.
Kit watched as Mars took in a breath then words spewed out of his mouth to fast for Kit to follow. “Thereviewerwasfuriousaboutthe incident, heberated Snickers, thenleftwithout a word. A fewdayslater we gotaletterwithanofficial review. He endedupgivingyouabad review, youdidnoteven getahalfstar.”
Mars hung his head. Kit blinked, all he could take in was a few words. “Mars can you repeat that slower?”
Mars winced then spoke, “The reviewer was furious about the incident, he berated Snickers, then left without a word. A few days later we got a letter with an official review. He ended up giving you a negative review, you did not even get a half star.”
Kit felt his mind shudder, he had gotten a bad review? His restaurant looked amazing and his food was great! He felt his shoulders slump. The incident was out of his control. Now all he could do was think of ways to get the review turned around to reflect an accurate assessment of his restaurant.
But right now, he was more concerned about Snickers. “How was Snickers after the incident?”
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“I think guilt ate at her for getting the bad review, she didn’t say anything, but it was easy to guess. Every time the review was mentioned she would go quiet. The longer you were away the more it seemed to affect her. Sometimes she wouldn’t speak for days.”
Kit felt discomfort spread all over his body. He had really let his friends down by staying away from CAL, he hadn’t been here to comfort Snickers in her time of need. He made plans to speak to Snickers about the incident.
“Mars do you have a copy of the letter?” Kit wanted to see what was written, if he wanted to get a revaluation, he would need to see the original reason for the dismal rating. He was positive that the restaurant reviewer had not written he got punched as the reason.
“No, Snickers has the official review and won’t let anyone see it. She has already made note of things you will need to do to request another reviewer to come.” Mars started making nervous gestures again.
Kit’s eye started to twitch wildly, he had a feeling Mars wasn’t done with the bad news.
“Three more restaurants opened in Spartan Fire while you were away. They have taken most of your customers after the negative review came out.” Mars paused letting Kit digest the information.
New restaurants opening in Spartan Fire wasn’t unexpected. Kit knew he would have competition eventually. Kit felt his mood dip, before he could shake himself out of it Mars continued to splash Kit with more grave reports.
“There is one more thing you should be aware of, the swamp dweller apple trees were in a fire and died. The restaurant can no longer make the luck boosting items.”
Kit felt his hands start to shake, the candy apples had been his best seller. They were also what made most of the income. “Haha… Fuck!” Kit’s head dropped into his trembling hands. Everything had fallen apart while he was away!
Life was shit sometimes! Kit raised his head and stared at his friend. Kit clenched his hands, it was alright, he could tackle one thing at a time. “The restaurant will have to wait. Let’s first find this treasure. Can you find Grandpa to organise hunting monsters tomorrow, I’ll go and talk to Snickers.”
Kit ruthlessly prioritised what could keep him in CAL, although the restaurant was in bad shape it wasn’t closing. There would be plenty of time to bolster the restaurants reputation if he found that treasure.
Mars left and Kit found Snickers in the kitchen eating chocolate cake. “Hey.” Kit tentatively approached the sugar devouring Snickers. “Do you have time to talk?”
Snickers lashes trembled as she watched Kit approach. “You’re not angry?”
Kit was taken aback by her words. “What would I be unhappy about?”
“I let the restaurant fall into ruin while you were gone. It was my job to take care of it.” Fat tears started to drop making a stream down her cheeks.
“NO, no! None of that was your fault. No one could have predicted any of those things would happen. It was just a burst of bad luck, that’s all.” Kit quickly walked over and hugged his friend. “You have done a great job managing this calamity while I was away.”
Teary eyes blinked at Kit, he could tell she was still not convinced she managed the restaurant well. “I’m being honest. None of the employees left and there are still customers coming through the door. You really have done a wonderful job!”
“Really?” A small smile came from the upturned face.
“Yes, really.” Kit watched as Snickers dried her eyes with her sleeve. “Now that you know you’re still amazing, could you show me the review?”
“No, I don’t want to show you. It was all a bunch of hogwash anyway.” Snickers refusal was clear in her gaze.
“Was it really that bad?” His curiosity about what was written was eating at him.
In response to Kit’s question Snickers pulled a piece of paper from he skirt pocket. “I thought you weren’t going to show me?”
“I’m not, this is how we invite another reviewer to come and do an assessment.” Snickers handed the paper to Kit. He quickly read over the information. Thankfully it was simple, all he had to do was fill out a request form at the culinary guild and get a support letter from a culinary guild member.
He was positive Chef Kate from Fairweather town would write him a support letter. While he was there, he could also ask for more information about the reviews. He knew in real life a complimentary review could do wonders for a business, now with the negative review affecting him he was positive that a good review was just as important in CAL for his future success.
When Spartan Fire was small his reputation didn’t matter, now with it’s growth having a good reputation was going to become important. Plus, he now had competition!
“This won’t be hard to organise Snickers, I will just need to visit Fairweather town.” Another thought popped up as he was speaking. “Snickers do you know why so many restaurants opened in Spartan Fire? Don’t most small towns only have one restaurant this far out?”
Kit hadn’t been to many of the surrounding towns, but he had heard from Grandpa that some of the towns didn’t even have a single restaurant.
Snickers mood suddenly swung a 180 at the mention of the other restaurants. “That is your fault! That god awful instructor stated he had to move to Spartan Fire to supervise his one and only pupil and guess who that pupil is?”
An accusatory glare made Kit take a step back. Kit’s mind quickly caught up with the conversation. “Wait are you saying Instructor Phi moved to Spartan Fire?”
“Yes!” Snickers eyes blazed. “That. Man. Is. A. Lunatic!”
“What?” The man was arrogant yes, but a lunatic? “But Snickers what does Instructor Phi moving here have to do with other restaurants opening here?”
“Kit are you serious? Do you know how famous Instructor Phi is! Even though he is an arrogant prick, he has so many chefs jumping to apprentice under him. The chefs that moved here are trying to get him to become their instructor!”
This news surprised Kit, he first met Instructor Phi in Flower Field town. It hadn’t even crossed Kit’s mind that someone from a small town would be famous enough to gain a following. Then he thought about their first meeting and how scary the man was.
“Are you sure the chefs moved here for Instructor Phi?” Kit was sceptical about this, even the instructors at the culinary guild in Flower Field town were wary of Instructor Phi, so it was weird to hear that chefs wanted to apprentice under him.
Come to think of it he also met Snickers in Flower Field town, no wonder she knew Instructor Phi. He wondered what had transpired between them that Snickers had such a strong opinion on the man.
Then another thought struck him. “Snickers if Instructor Phi moved here, then do we have a culinary guild branch in Spartan Fire now?” Kit felt his excitement build.
“Well, that is the only good thing to come from him moving here. The construction of the culinary guild should be finished by tomorrow.” Snickers pouted.
Kit mood soared. “That is great news! I won’t have to send the staff to Fairweather town to get promotions!” This was something that had been weighing on his mind as he was getting ready for his one star promotion. He had planned to bring this to the next restaurant team meeting. Now it looked like he wouldn’t have too.
“Yes that is going to make things easier and now you wont have to leave for an extended period when you need to get a promotion.” Snickers eyes crinkled at the pleasant thought.
“Ah, mentioning leaving for long periods, there is something I need to tell you.” Kit started fidgeting, he wasn’t looking forward to explaining to Snickers that he wouldn’t be returning to the restaurant straight away.
“No, whatever you are about to say the answer is NO!” Snickers stomped her foot and glared.
Kit took a deep breath then dived in to his explanation. He couldn’t fully explain about his real life, so he tried to convey his sincerity in needing more time off.
“What! Kit you just got back you can’t just gadabout, we need you here!” Snickers eyes thinned.
“Snickers I want to stay in the restaurant and help, but it’s impossible at the moment. I need you to trust me on this.” Kit grasped her delicate hand and implored her with his eyes. “I really need to find that treasure from the map I have.”
Kit had already told Snickers about the map, so far his trusted circle of friends that knew of the map was Mars, Snickers, Twix and Snowball.
Snickers eyes roamed his face, then she sighed. “Fine, you get that treasure and I’ll do as much as I can to keep the restaurant’s reputation from falling further.” Snickers pursed her lips. “You are lucky I’m so fond of you.”
Kit smiled, “I know, I’m lucky that Snickers is family.”
Snickers humphed. “We don’t have many customers today, should we just close early so we can have a staff meeting? I know all the employees would like to catch up with you properly, they have missed you.”
Kit nodded and soon he was surrounded by his employees. Warmth filled his chest as he caught up with everyone. He scanned the room to double check no one had really left. Although he praised Snickers earlier for keeping all the staff, he would worry until he could confirm this fact himself.
Snickers was watching him scan the room. “No one left, just you.” Kit didn’t take offense to the jab, he knew Snickers had to vent her frustration.
Now that everyone was here Kit didn’t waste any time, the meeting soon got under way. Kit knew this meeting would be difficult, he would have to deal with everyone’s disappointment that he wouldn’t be returning straight away.
Kit took a deep breath then blurted everything out. Surprisingly everyone was understanding, Kit felt immense relief and gratitude. When it struck midnight, he was dragged back to the boarding house by Mars.