Kit closed the restaurant to repair the damage caused by the fight. He moved all of the customers out the door first then closed the door and turned to Snickers.

“What the hell was that Snickers. We are trying to run a business. We can’t just kill people because they disagree with how we do things.”

Kit was so frustrated he was almost in tears. The grand opening had been going so well, now it had a huge stain associated with his restaurant. Kit flopped down on one of the only available chairs that had not been broken.

“Kit, you don’t understand.” Snickers spoke softly to him.

“WHAT DON’T I UNDERSTAND. YOU KILLED FIVE PEOPLE INSIDE MY RESTAURANT.”

Kit couldn’t contain his anger. His chest was heaving from his outburst. He really couldn’t understand what was going on inside Snickers head. They were players that she had killed. They could cause endless trouble for his restaurant.

“Kit it’s ok, we can fix the damage.”

Mars came over to him and patted his shoulder.

“Mars, they were players. They can respawn and return.” Kit whispered to Mars.

“I know they were. But I think Snickers did the right thing this time.”

Kit’s eyes widened in shock. How could Mars agree with Snickers. He didn’t understand. He could have calmly explained to the players why he couldn’t sell them so many candy apples. They would have understood.

“Kit, can I speak.” Curt asked Kit tentatively.

Kit could only nod his head. He was too devastated at the day’s events to keep speaking.

“I know you don’t want to hear this right now. The little miss is right in her actions though.”

Kit snaped his eyes to Curt. Did everyone not see what was wrong with this situation? Do they all have malfunctioning brains? Kit went to open his mouth.

“Wait, please let me explain why I said that.” Curt spoke in such a calm manner that Kit waited to hear his response.

“I saw those five people in the market this morning. They destroyed five stalls before they came to your restaurant. I don’t believe the threat to destroy your restaurant was false. From what I overheard from the locals they are part of a bandit group that’s well known in this area.”

Instead of making Kit feel better this news made him feel worse.

“Then that is even more reason not to kill them. What if they now target my restaurant from now on?”

Kit felt a pain start to bloom behind his eyes. He pinched his nose with his fingers.

“No Kit that is even more reason to stand up to them. If they think we are an easy target, then they will keep coming.”

Kit glanced over at Snickers. Kit clenched his fist. Right now, he hated that fact that Snickers made sense. He wanted to keep his anger at her. Kit blew out a breath and deflated. It didn’t matter what he said now anyway, the deed was done.

“What do we do now?” Kit couldn’t change the outcome, so he wanted to find a way forwards.

“Reopen the restaurant and keep selling food of course.” Snickers looked at him like it was obvious.

“No, I meant about the bandits that we killed.”

“Oh that. Well, I will just slaughter them all if they return.”

Snicker spoke like it was a natural conclusion. Sometimes he forgot that this really was a game and not real life. He had to remember that people thought differently about killing and death in game. Kit felt like laughing, but not because he was happy.

“Kit, it will be fine. Things like this will happen every now and then. Once Spartan Fire is big enough to hire some guards, things like this shouldn’t happen.” Mars gave Kit a reassuring look.

“Kit, Mars is right. Fights like this are actually commonplace inside a small village. People think because there is no military presence, they can do what they like. Most of the time if you show that you are not a push over, they will move on to the next target.”

Kit thought about the response the fight had provoked in his customers. Not one of them seemed surprised by the scuffle. They had even joined in to protect his restaurant. One man had even come up to him afterwards to say that it had been good entertainment.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

Kit thought that was the man’s way of offering him reassurance. He was sure his shock must have been written all over his face. With this thought Kit finally calmed down.

“Snickers, sorry for yelling.”

“It’s ok Kit. I know how much you love your restaurant. Next time remember that I love it too. I will not act unless I have a reason. Honestly, I was just going to scare them until they hurt you, then well … I changed my mind.”

Kit was moved by her words. Even though she had gone to an extreme to defend him, it was because she cared. Kit started to feel guilty about his earlier outburst at her.

“Snickers, next time I will trust your judgment.”

“That’s for the best. Just so you know for the future, I can tell by people’s colour if they have any ill intent towards the staff or the restaurant. It’s one of my skills.”

Kit blinked in shock at Snickers’ words. He now knew how she could tell that they were here to cause trouble. She really was amazing, he had been blessed that day he gained her as an employee.

“I didn’t know you had that ability. Again, sorry Snickers, I will listen to you in the future.”

“Good, you’re not as smart as me, so make sure you listen well.”

Kit spluttered at her words. Before he could respond she spoke again.

“I’m sorry too. I could have handled it a bit differently. Next time I will take them outside so as not to cause damage to the restaurant.”

Kit choked. Then he settled down. ‘Whatever. Just go with it Kit or you might have a heart attack from anger.’

“Right, with that settled, how about you reopen the restaurant?”

Kit looked at Twix and nodded. When he walked out the door, he saw Grandpa chatting happily to the crowd. The party joined the old man on the lawn.

Kit asked Snickers to complete the repairs due to the damage being her fault. He received a pout in reply.

“Technically it was Moo and those awful people that made the damage. So, you can’t blame me.”

Snickers still had the pout on her face as she spoke. Kit felt his eyes start to twitch.

“Snickers, Moo is your animal, so you must be responsible for him. What the hell is he anyway?”

Kit glanced over to the large animal that was similar to a giant wolf. Looking at it now, it just looked like a silly overgrown dog. It was sitting next to Snickers with a stupid look on its face and its tongue hanging from its mouth.

“Woof.”

“I know Moo, you did a great job, don’t worry Snickers is very proud of you. Some people don’t know how to be grateful.”

“Snickers!”

“Ok, okay. Sorry Kit. I’ll be more careful on who I summon next time. It’s just… Moo hasn’t been out to play for a while that’s all.”

Kit glanced at Snickers. “You’re a summoner?”

“Yes, what did you think I was.”

“I had no clue. You never told me.”

“Well now you do. Little Moo was actually my first beast I contracted. He is a snow-capped wolf.”

Kit had no idea what that was, but Snickers looked very pleased about it. All Kit knew was that he wasn’t going to upset the large beast. He wanted his head to remain attached to his shoulders.

“Kit you should thank Moo for his help today, it is only polite.”

Kit heard a laugh escape Mars mouth. He felt his eyes twitch again. He didn’t think it was going away anytime soon. He looked at the large dog and its sharp teeth and decided to comply with the request.

“Thank you Moo for your help today. Next time do you think you could drag the people outside to fight.”

“Woof”

Kit had no clue if that was an agreement or not. Kit looked behind the large wolf at his restaurant. He was glad to see that the disturbance hadn’t scared away his customers. In fact, Kit felt like it had attracted more people to come and wait to enter his restaurant.

Kit sighed, at least the damage was easily repaired. It was only the tables and chairs that had received the brunt of the attack. So at least it wouldn’t cost him much in repairs. Kit thought that being a restaurant owner was going to be harder that he originally imagined.

Now, not only did he have to worry about creating meals and making money, he also had to worry that his restaurant would stay standing!

Ding!

[Spartan Fire restaurant repairs complete]

Kit was jolted out of his thoughts by the notification. Kit felt a wave of happiness that his restaurant was now repaired. He hurried everyone back inside. He needed to make up for the repair costs!

Soon they were all too busy to remember the fight that had caused a disturbance.

Kit stopped to stretch and looked out the window. He noticed that it was dark outside.

“It must be nearly closing time Iris.”

Iris had turned up to take over from Mars not long after the fight had broken out.

“Let’s finish these up then stop for the day.”

Kit nodded. Once they had finished the pair headed into the dining area to see that the last customer was heading out the door. Kit turned back and collected meals for everyone. They were all quiet until they finished their meals.

Kit broke the silence with his dilemma about his ingredients.

“I will run out of stock soon. So, I might have to close the restaurant for a day to go and get supplies.”

“What! Kit, that’s a bad idea. People have travelled a fair distance to come to your restaurant. I’ll have a chat with the other residents and see if anyone is free to go and collect ingredients for you. I’m sure someone will volunteer.” Grandpa winked at Kit.

“You could also post the ingredients you need on the Spartan Fire quest board.”

“Twix that is a fantastic idea.”

Kit thought Twix idea was better. He felt he could gain a steady stream of ingredients from posting quests instead of asking people for favours.

“How much do you think I would need to put up as a reward.”

“Well, if I were you, I would put a lucky sticky candy apple up as a reward. That way you are guaranteed to get people to accept your quests.”

“Twix you’re a genius, I like that idea. Then it will cost me nothing to get the ingredients and I don’t have to do the hard work. I will visit the board tomorrow before opening the restaurant.”

“You’ll need to attend the meeting tomorrow as well before you open. I asked everyone to get together to discuss Spartan Fires growth. Can you put up a notice that you’ll open a bit latter tomorrow morning., I’m sorry to ask you this Kit.”

“Grandpa it’s fine, I’m a founding member, so this is my responsibility too. Plus, it’s not like I will close the restaurant for the whole day.

“Thank you, Kit.”

“I’ll post the notice now.” Snickers smiled kindly towards Grandpa.

With the matters about tomorrow settled, Kit ushered everyone out of the restaurant and went to find Snowball. He felt he needed some cuddles from the cute fluffball before he turned in for the night.