He handled the wound as well as he could, before preparing for his first day of work. Using part of what little cash he had left, he first purchased a little bit of water and food from a local shack in the slums. He tried freshening himself, washing himself with what little water he had left after quenching his thirst.

This kind of lifestyle was unpleasantly nostalgic.

He has lived most of his life in this fashion, for the most part. Clean water was a precious resource in the slums; it needed to be rationed and used carefully. Old habits started to return after he started to shake the rust off.

Eventually, he was fully prepared for the next day of work.

He left the slums two hours before his shift began. He needed to walk a good distance to reach the closest outer district of the City of Colohen and catch the city magibus that would take him all the way to the thirty-fifth district, where Selvig’s Ristorante was located.

He knew exactly when he needed to leave by to arrive at work on schedule.

Courtesy of having done just that for years.

The journey back to the thirty-fifth district was one that reversed the decay of civilization. The deeper into the city they moved, the greater civilization grew, reaching its former splendor that deigned not to grace the poorer residents of the city living in the outer half.

The morning rush of the people heading to work clogged up the roads, lengthening the already long journey even more.

It was only when he saw the flying magitrains ascending and descending in the sky that he knew was close to his destination.

It was two hours before he finally reached Selvig’s Ristorante on foot after deboarding the bus.

The moment he arrived at the restaurant, he immediately noticed several things.

“There’s an insane rush for this hour.” He frowned upon noting the large number of people that occupied every single seat in the open-aired diner.

Back when he used to work here, there normally hadn’t been that many people at this hour. It was most certainly a pleasant change, nonetheless. More customers were generally a good thing.

Thus, it begged the question.

“Why are revenues plummeting?”

He didn’t understand.

Yet, it was his second observation that shed light on the mystery of his first observation.

“They’re ordering lent or cochil…” Cæ’s eyes lit up at the realization.

Lent and cochil were extremely popular warm beverages fashioned from different magical plant species. The former was brewed by boiling magical lent leaves and the latter by boiling cochil beans, resulting in two flavor profiles that had taken the world by storm for many centuries.

More importantly, he wasn’t able to spot a single dish on the table. Of course, it was entirely possible that people didn’t eat heavy meals in the early morning, yet Cæ kept the intriguing observation in his mind.

He immediately headed to Mrs. Selvig’s office where she sat, crunching numbers on the restaurant’s accounts with an expression of concern.

“Ah, Cæ my boy.” She got up. “You’ve come just on time.”

“I’m ready to get started on a good day of work, Mrs. Selvig.” Cæ nodded, keeping his expression schooled and composed. He didn’t want to scare her with an angered scowl at the rotten day he was already having, not to mention the rotten life.

“Good, my dear. I will introduce you to the new staff later. For now, why don’t you start by managing the supply deliveries? We’re running low on cantleberries and mandeligs, additionally, we need more…” She rattled off some more requirements in rapid succession. “Ah, that was too much to remember, let me note it down for you.”

“No, it’s fine,” Cæ reassured her. “I remember every word.”

He quickly assumed his former seat in a stall at the register’s counter.

Immediately, he jumped into work.

From checking up on impending supplies and inventory management to billing meals, observing staff, and maintaining the accounts of the restaurant’s revenue, he soon found his old tempo. Simultaneously, he continued studying the customers that ate at the place, making several more observations on them.

All of them were dressed in semi-formal attire, clearly en route to work. That wasn’t all. Cæ detected a faint hint of impatience in their conduct. He noticed that, in particular, they glanced at their magiwatches frequently.

The crowd was large, and yet the customers left as quickly as they came, barely finishing a cup of coffee, if that.

They didn’t order a single dish, as if it simply wasn’t worth their money.

Cæ initially suspected that this was simply a morning matter.

Surely, by lunch, people would order more solid food.

Unfortunately, he was largely wrong.

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Some customers certainly did have lunch, filling their bellies well and good with a long and slow meal.

Most, however, didn’t.

They simply consumed a beverage before heading out in a hurry.

The occasional person ordered an appetizer, but left the food half-eaten, as if they didn’t even find it worth finishing despite having paid for it.

It was a bizarre situation, and yet he understood what the problem actually looked like. They had gained an influx of customers, but for some reason that translated into lower revenues and fewer substantial orders.

An entire day passed as he did his job while simultaneously observing the restaurant silently. He stuck around even after his shift ended, waiting until after the customers were finally done coming in. It was only after closing the shop did the Selvigs finally complete the formalities, quickly introducing him to the staff and registering him as a formal employee.

“Cæ, my boy.” Darren Selvig emerged from the restaurant kitchen, putting his chef’s hat away as he regarded Cæ with a nod. “It’s good to see you after so long. My… condolences for what happened.”

The man loved eating food as much as he loved cooking it, having developed a paunch over the years. It was in sharp contrast to his wife Keela Selvig who was still as thin and fit as ever. The couple still glowed with warmth despite the cold blizzard that reality had thrust upon them.

It wasn’t too long before the three of them peered at the magiputer with a hint of anxiety. The screen of the enchanted artifact lit up with mana as Cæ navigated through the data stored within it.

“Four hundred and sixty customers in total…” Cæ murmured aloud. “seventy thousand leenars in total across the entire day.”

Instantly, their expressions darkened.

That was half of what they needed.

“Dammit…” Mr. Selvig gritted his teeth. “This is too little. At this rate…”

“Maybe we need to spend more money on advertisements or improving food quality,” Mrs. Selvig mentioned with a hint of anxiety. “I did notice that the few people who ate their food didn’t finish it.”

“Hmph, my food is excellent,” the man grunted with a hint of indignation. “Maybe it’s because we don’t have enough staff catering to our customers. Or perhaps the ambience. We haven’t refurbished the place in a while.”

“No.” Cæ’s voice was firm. “The problem is more fundamental. You have an enormous number of people coming in. They even take the time to read the long and extensive menu, but they still order only beverages. If the problem was the quality of your business, you would not have had such a large crowd of people entering.”

The two of them stared at him with a hint of realization.

Cæ shook his head inwardly. They were great people and good at their jobs within the business, but they didn’t have a single bone of commercial acumen in them. His gaze shifted back to the enchanted device.

His mind stirred as it computed all the observations he had made across the entire day with the results of the first day. Inferences upon inferences flooded his mind as it tried to worm its way to the underlying truth.

He sensed he wasn’t far.

“…Give me some more time,” he said with a stoic tone. “I have an idea of what is happening. I just need a little bit more time to fully understand the big picture.”

The two glanced at each other with a complicated expression. “Cæ… we have been seriously considering shutting down this restaurant and moving to a less popular district where the cost of living is cheaper.”

“Just give me a few days, and I promise that you won’t regret it,” he vowed. “That’s all I ask.”

His tone was steely with determination.

His eyes flared with willpower.

Intense emotional turmoil lingered deep within him.

They simply stared at him for a moment.

“You’ve… changed,” Mrs. Selvig murmured. “I felt it when you came in yesterday, but… what happened to you?”

His expression crumpled with intense rage for just a moment before he closed his eyes, suppressing it within him.

A single word escaped him.

“Everything.”

It took them aback.

Mr. Selvig placed a hand on Cæ’s shoulder with a hint of concern. “I know you have… suffered a lot, but if you ever need anyone to talk to, we’re here.”

Cæ nodded.

“As for the restaurant…” The man leaned back up with grim melancholy. “I… don’t think we have any other choice, my boy. This… has been happening for six months now. We have tried everything. Doubling the cooks. Increasing the cuisine range. Advertising. It… hasn’t helped.”

The man shook his head. “It’s fine, we’re close to retiring age anyway. We’ll just have to suck it up and—”

“No.” Cæ’s tone contained a sharp edge.

One that stung.

“You can’t.” He almost glared at Mr. Selvig. “You can’t shut this place down.”

The air tingled.

The atmosphere grew electric.

“All good things must come to an end, Cæ.” The man’s tone grew heavy. “You can’t work here your entire life. Why are you so against it?”

A hint of endless grief within Cæ’s heart bubbled up to his face. “You can’t shut this place down because… this is the place where I met Lilia.”

The moment the words escaped him, a flood of memories washed through his mind. From the first moment they had met when he had been a simple waiter in the restaurant to the familiarity that had grown between them over the many months that she had visited the restaurant twice a day… The growing conversations that they had come to have and her mirthful laughter at his awkward attempts to flirt with her.

And their first date in this very restaurant. The Selvigs had put his tab on the house due to the fact that he was too poor to afford paying for the meal that he had treated her.

This place meant a lot to him.

“I won’t allow…” A whisper escaped him. “I won’t allow this place to shut down.”

“Oh, you…” Mrs. Selvig teared up as she pulled him into a deep hug. “You are such a sweet boy.”

Mr. Selvig’s expression grew profoundly melancholic. It wasn’t as though he was particularly happy about shutting the restaurant that he had started with his wife. In many ways, this restaurant was like the child that they had never had.

It broke his heart to have to consider shutting it down.

It had taken him months of financial straits to actually overcome his repulsion to the idea, and he still hated himself for the fact that he had accepted the possibility of shutting down his restaurant.

Cæ’s words simply rubbed salt in his wounds, but they also reignited a spark of his will to do what it took.

“Cæ… you really think you can fix this?” the man asked with a solemn tone.

In that moment, Cæ understood that he was being given a chance.

Perhaps the final chance for a place that held a lot of memories for him.

“I will.”

His voice was one of intense determination and willpower.

The couple exchanged glances before turning back to Cæ.

“Then, we will let you give it a shot.”

They felt strange changing their minds on some of the most important decisions and placing their trust in a young man who promised to fix their problems.

And yet, their instincts told them they were right to trust him.