Kit's nerves spiked as he approached the customers, a typical reaction for him when interacting with strangers. He plastered on a smile and took a deep breath to calm himself before speaking.
"Hello, I'm Kit. What can I get you tonight?" He hoped his smile didn't come off as too forced, as he didn't want to scare away potential customers. The family of four turned to face him, returning his smile with a hint of curiosity.
"Wow, look at your hair! It's so vibrant and cool. Mom, can I dye my hair that colour?" One of the young girls in the family gushed, her sweet voice shining through her words. The mother and father both examined Kit's hair.
"It does look nice. But you'll have to wait until you're a bit older before you can dye your hair." The mother reassured her daughter with a pat on the head.
A gruff voice erupted from the man of the family. "Has Rose gone to see her parents? Did Iris hire you to serve tonight?"
"Yes, to both." Kit maintained his smile, even though he hated small talk. But he knew that if he wanted to eventually open his own restaurant, this was good practice.
"And where do you come from?" A curious young face peered around the father to get a better look at Kit.
How was he supposed to answer that? Revealing that they weren't from this world was highly frowned upon and could cause chaos among the NPCs. It was like unleashing a virus that drove them insane. If he answered wrong, he could get banned from CAL. He mentally cursed himself for not coming up with a convincing backstory beforehand.
His smile faltered and panic started rising in his throat. But then, the mother noticed his discomfort.
"Let's save the questions for later, Boyd. We should order first." She instructed firmly. "We'll have four roast burly rabbits and four sweet meadow spring waters, please." Kit gratefully wrote down the order on a piece of paper, though it looked more like chicken scratch than actual writing. He hoped Iris would be able to read it.
Apparently, she could. When he handed her the note, she raised an eyebrow and chuckled. "I can see you're not used to a quill. This is quite a sight."
"Sorry, I did my best." Kit couldn't help but feel embarrassed.
"It's okay, I can still read it. I've seen worse." Iris laughed, her voice still filled with amusement. "But this might make it into my top three."
She then grabbed a round silver platter with the words "Waddling Duck" etched in the centre, along with a picture of a plump duck with short legs carved into the tray. Walking over to what appeared to be a stainless-steel bain-marie with three pans inside and a transparent glass cover, she revealed the meals for the night.
The aroma was mouth-watering: crispy roast rabbit, golden-crusted potatoes, and vibrant greens. As Iris lifted a plate of the roast burly rabbit from one of the pans, another one magically appeared in its place.
Kit was amazed by this kind of magic in this world. His excitement grew, as he had always been fascinated by magic. When he was younger and found out it wasn't real, he refused to talk to his family for three days out of sheer disappointment.
Iris carefully placed each meal onto the silver serving platter, repeating the process three more times. To Kit's amazement, the stacked plates seemed to defy gravity, not even wobbling as they were piled higher and higher.
“Iris, how did you do that?” Kit's eyes widened as he watched Iris pour water into the glasses for their meals. He’d never seen anything like it before.
Iris stopped pouring and gave Kit a puzzled look, as if he’d asked a strange question. "Close your mouth, dear. It's magic, of course."
Kit suddenly felt embarrassed for not knowing about this kind of thing. This was an everyday occurrence in this world. He started to panic, worried about making such a rookie mistake. Just then, Mars walked by and saw the exchange between Kit and Iris.
“Oh, Iris sorry." Mars boldly came up with a lie. "My brother had an accident while making a potion not too long ago. It damaged some of his memory, so he can't remember everything. Sometimes he has these hiccups where he forgets things and gets all amazed by them, like a three-year-old." Mars winked at Kit and walked away.
This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.
"I'm sorry dear," Iris said sympathetically. "That must be very difficult for you. Allow me to explain how the time freeze food shelf and serving platter work." She proceeded to tell Kit about the magical items in detail.
"The time freeze food shelf can hold up to 300 dishes of food, with 100 per pan," Iris explained. "It uses magic to keep the food frozen in time and prevent it from spoiling."
Kit nodded along, trying to take in all the information. "And the silver platter is also magic!" he asked eagerly.
"Yes!" Iris smiled at his enthusiasm. "It can stack up to five dishes high and hold five drinks at once. But be careful not to overload it, or the magic will stop working and everything will fall."
Kit couldn't contain his excitement as he watched Iris load the tray with their meals and drinks. When she finished, he eagerly picked it up.
"Who knew being a waiter could be so exciting!" he exclaimed, feeling like a kid again as he carried the magic serving platter to their table. The mother at the table couldn't help but giggle at his expression.
"You look so thrilled to serve us our food," she commented.
Kit's smile was genuine this time. "I am! This is my first time using a magic platter." He couldn't have wiped the grin off his face if he tried.
As he walked to the table, Kit couldn't help but marvel at how light and weightless the platter felt in his hand. It was almost as if it were empty, even though it held all their dishes and drinks. He couldn't believe that such a small object had such powerful magic.
But along with his excitement, Kit still felt a hint of nervousness. What if something went wrong? He couldn't wrap his head around how the dishes were stacked and balanced on top of each other without falling. But he pushed those thoughts aside and focused on delivering the food to the delighted customers.
Ding!
[Skill learnt: Novice Platter Bearer]
Player can deliver items without dropping them, no ability needed, thank you magic tray!
+ 4 speed
Kit's eyes blinked slowly as he read the message that had just popped up. He couldn't help but think that CAL was really getting creative with these skill descriptions. He made a mental note to ask Mars about it later, curious to see what else CAL could come up with.
Despite the strange description, Kit was thrilled to receive +4 speed on top of the +3 already given by his white apron. As he made his way to the next group of customers, he couldn't help but appreciate how much faster he felt.
Watching Iris effortlessly stack the silver platter again, Kit wondered how far he could push its abilities. When she handed it over to him, he gave it a little shake, but nothing moved. Curiosity got the best of him, and he took a few steps away from Iris, spinning in a circle as fast as he could. To his amazement, not a single dish fell off.
Feeling emboldened, Kit waited for an opportune moment and then flipped the silver platter upside down. But to his surprise, not even one item budged from their place. His smile grew wider - magic really was amazing!
For the rest of the evening, Kit continued to use the platter's powers while serving customers until closing time at the inn's restaurant. Exhausted from constantly using his stamina and smiling for hours on end, Iris offered Kit and Mars plates of roast burly rabbit as a reward.
“Here you go boys, you have earned your food tonight.” Iris gave them both an affectionate smile.
The food was even better than Kit had imagined - tender meat, crispy potatoes, flavourful greens - it was all perfect. Kit even let out a loud burp in his excitement, feeling both full and strangely different afterwards. Opening his menu, he tried to figure out what had changed within him during this experience.
Kit
Level: 1
Class: Swordsman
Sub class:
Money: 20 bronze crowns
Free points: 2
Health: 210/110 + 100/5hrs
Stamina 11/11
Magica: 23/23
Experience: 100/300
Attack + 5
Speed + 6
Intelligence + 6
Agility + 4
Defence +3
Weapon: Rusty knife
It was incredible that he suddenly had 100 more health available to him, and it would last for five hours. He realised this must be the effect of eating the roast burly rabbit earlier. It made sense now why all the other adventurers were eager to eat before heading out on their hunt tonight. But he couldn't understand why he would feel hunger in a virtual game. Was it because it tried to simulate real life?
As nighttime approached, Kit couldn't help but think about finding a place to sleep. He remembered Mars' warning about staying out at night and decided to ask Iris about accommodations for the night.
Just as he began to inquire, a tall man dressed in full Grey Armour entered the room. “Iris, roast, now.” The voice was rough and had a deep timber.
The tall man then walked over to the table, sat down, and took his helmet off. A head of brown hair was revealed, the man looked in his late 20’s with attractive features. A chiselled chin and sword shaped eyebrows adorned his face. He tapped his finger impatiently on the table.
Iris rushed over to Kit, “Kit, we have run out of roast burly rabbit, you two ate the last portions. Could you run two doors down to old Elm’s house. Her son will hopefully have one rabbit we can have. Kai, that tall young man over there, will be going night hunting. He will need the extra health, if he doesn’t eat before going, he gets quite grumpy.”
A spark of realisation hit Kit - he still had some leftover rabbit meat that he could offer Iris! As soon as the meat appeared in his hands, Iris gratefully accepted it. “Kit, you are a life saver, thank you.” She then promptly ran to the kitchen.
Ding!
[CAL]
Reputation with Inn Keeper Iris increased: 10 reputation points.