As Jacob debated whether he should go outside and face the scary superhuman cultivator, his system spoke to him and quickly informed him of a few crucial pieces of information.

[The system informs the host that no hostile threats are allowed to ruin the quality of dining. Thus, McDaonald's has a defence feature that immediately strikes down anyone marked as a troublemaker on the premises.]

[The system also informs the host that potential customers have arrived, go and be a venerable host!]

"You could have told me that before I nearly shat myself!" Jacob sighed in relief that his safety had been somewhat secured, and - with newfound confidence - he decided to go and face the cultivator at his doorstep.

With one foot before the other, he walked up to the glass of the front door and let the automatic doors slide open as he went to greet the Castellan.

"Good day to you, Castellan." Jacob wasn't exactly sure of the etiquette he was supposed to take up, so he decided to act like the figures he'd read about in his Xianxia novels and hope it worked. Unfortunately, no one told him how exhausting it would be.

"Might I inquire to the purpose of your- Oh to hell with it, this is too annoying. What do you need?" Jacob decided to throw away the etiquette since it was annoyingly stifling. Since the system said it'd protect him, he didn't think that he had to worry too much about formality.

***

Chen Yu was slightly shocked by a mix of things. The first being the man's age, he seemed far too young to be in control of something with this level of grandeur - he could barely be considered to have left boyhood! The second thing that shocked Chen Yu was his appearance; he didn't look remotely like anyone from around here, in fact he looked closer in resemblance to the Barbarians of the Northern Isles, which was a bit of a concern if they had any connection.

The last thing that shocked him was his behaviour, he had initially tried being polite and showing regular etiquette, but soon enough he got tired and devolved into informal speech.

This one was especially shocking for Chen Yu as he could feel almost no qi from his body at all - as if he were a mortal.

A mortal has the confidence to speak informally with a Spirit Cleansing realm cultivator?

"Cough! As I had previously said, my name is Castellan Chen Yu, and I've been requested to investigate your..." He looked the building up and down with a slight hint of confusion. "...store."

"As such, I've arrived to inquire your allegiances and intentions, as you've made the common folk around here rather worried."

He waited for a response, but the man seemed to pause and think for a small moment. After which, he turned around and opened the door to his store once more, keeping it open to allow them access inside.

"That makes sense, I'd be pretty concerned if some random building suddenly popped up out of nowhere too." The owner of McDaonald's smiled and looked at him and his guards. "Why don't you come in? The horse has to stay outside, though."

Chen Yu thought that sounded fair, so he dismounted his horse and followed the man into the store.

Yes, he had seen glimpses of it when he was outside the store. But once he was inside, Chen Yu couldn't physically stop himself from feeling shocked. The floors gleamed with pristine marble that probably cost more than he earned in two decades, he almost felt bad walking on such beautiful stones and yet, as Chen Yu looked around, he realized that the glass was hardly the most impressive thing about this building. Spiritual wood adorned the walls, and the tables were all perfectly carved and handled from what must be the highest quality spiritual wood he had ever seen. Spiritual stone lamps were installed in the ceiling to provide light even during nights or storms, but he was incapable of detecting the qi from them.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

Taking note of the layout, Chen Yu noticed that the tables and chairs were spaced out much like they would be in an inn, with the sheer number of them causing him to make educated guesses about the business here.

But... no, all this just for a restaurant??

He almost felt his sense of normalcy slipping as he realized a restaurant had more luxury than he would ever likely attain in his lifetime. Even with an extended cultivation lifespan, he would only live till around 200 - hardly enough to even pay for the glass walls.

The owner directed all three of them to a table, before introducing himself and his business.

"My name is Jacob Smith, and I'm the owner of this fast food restaurant." He spoke without hurrying his words, all of them being rather clear and concise.

"Jie Cob?" The cultivators were having a bit of a difficulty pronouncing his name, but this furthered the Castellan's theory that he may be from the Northern Isles - only the barbarians over there had such weird names.

"Please, just call me owner." Noticing their difficulty with his name, he provided an easier alternative, which Chen Yu found himself rather thankful for as... Jai Corb... J-Jie Con... Jin Call, whatever his name was, it was annoying to pronounce.

"Well Owner, " Chen Yu decided to address the obvious, he wanted to get this whole experience out of his head and go back home if he was being honest. "We don't want to ask too many questions - god knows how many people that kills in the cultivation world - we just need to know whether you're a threat, and who exactly you work for."

Upon thinking to himself for a bit, the owner seemed to have agreed and gave them a small nod. "Alright, I'll tell you at least that much."

"I wouldn't consider myself a threat compared to your lot, I'm just a mortal, after all." He gave a small laugh and continued on. "I'm also a restaurant owner who cooks food for his customers, so my allegiances are to my cooking and my customers' well-being, I don't particularly work for anyone."

"Speaking of that though, would any of you like to try a Happy Meal?" A smile broke out across the owner's lips, and Chen Yu couldn't help but feel slightly reassured, though he still had his doubts about his allegiances.

"Happy Meal?" None of the three cultivators there had ever heard of a meal being referred to like that, and thus had no idea what such a food could entail. Looking around at the decor of the building though, they felt rather interested in the quality of the food here.

A place as luxurious as this couldn't possibly serve subpar food, right?

Chen Yu was particularly interested in testing that hypothesis out as he'd not eaten yet today. So, feeling rather a bit peckish, he raised up a hand. "I'd like to have a Happy Meal then, it would certainly make being dragged out on my day off worth it if I can try some new food."

Watching the Castellan place an order, the two guards decided to trust in his decision and also ordered their own 'Happy Meals' respectively.

After noting down their order of three 'Happy Meals', the owner told them to wait where they were and chat amongst themselves whilst he cooked the meal for them. Watching his departing figure leave for an open kitchen, Chen Yu watched him get ready and begin operating some strange machines at the back of the restaurant.

Despite having been dragged out here, he was beginning to think it might not have been so bad.