The flatscreen hanging above the empty bar flashed to life. A cacophony of music played before a beautiful reporter spoke into her mic.

Reporter: "Good evening, folks. We're here outside the grand opening of the new restaurant, Global Cuisine. World renown Chef Alistair Ivory."

The camera panned right and focused on a dark-haired man. His hair was slicked back, and he wore a black chef's coat. The most notable feature was his eyes. One was a vibrant blue and the other a deep green.

Reporter: "Chef Alistair, won't you tell the audience about your new restaurant?"

Alistair: "Of course. The concept is simple enough. There are five floors, and I dedicate each floor to a region of the planet. The first floor is cover American and Latin cuisine, the second floor is European, the third floor is Middle Eastern, the fourth is Asian cuisine, and the fifth is Indian and Russian cuisine. I've employed fifty chefs from all around the world. Global Cuisine is the most ambitious undertaking in the Cuisine world, and I have utter faith in its success."

Reporter: "You heard it here folk, come on down to Global Cuisine and get a taste of Chef Ivory's ambition."

1 Year Later

"Are you fucking kidding me?" I yelled. My lawyer sat across the table from me, looking pale.

"Now please settle down, Mr. Ivory." He said placatingly. "I understand this is upsetting news."

"Upsetting?" I glared at the man. "Getting a ticket when your meter runs out. That's upsetting. A restaurant getting your order wrong. That's upsetting. Your wife of five years turns out to be a corporate spy who not only stole your company out from under you but clears out your bank account. That's not upsetting. It's fucking treachery!"

The man was now sweating profusely in the presence of my rage. He dabbed the sweat from his head with a handkerchief. "Please, sir. I'm doing all that I can."

I took several deep breaths and calmed myself, letting settle my qi. My father taught me to breathe in peace and exhale chaos. I instantly felt better and bad that I took out my anger on the man. "I'm sorry Charles. This isn't your fault. I loved her. She just stole everything from me and turned her back on us. The first dad, then mom, aside from cooking Stella, was all I had left. Now I might not even be able to cook anymore with all the lies and rumors she is spreading."

Charles nodded his head in sympathy. "I'm going to do everything that I can to fix this for you."

I nodded and shook his hand. The house I grew up in is where I am currently living. I didn't have the heart to sell it. But with the way things were going, I might have to. After seeing Charles out, I entered the family, Dojo. My father was a mixed martial artist. He was also a modern-day cultivator. He trained me in our family's style. It was called Resting Lion. The emphasis was that you use it for defense, but you did so from a place of strength. Of course, I developed some offensive maneuvers for the style. I loved my dad, but sometimes a man must fight back.

But my grand passion is for my cooking. The restaurant was doing so well. People from all over the country were flocking to it. Then my fine had to up and ruin everything. Now I had no home, no place to cook, no money to cook, and soon I'd have to sell my family home just to pay my legal fees.

I stared at the photo of my parents on the wall and hung my head in shame. I failed. I failed on so many levels I didn't know how I was going to face them on the other side. If I was lucky, I'd go to hell and never have to face them. Never have to tell them how I failed.

With a heavy sigh, I turned and left the Dojo. I walked down a short hallway to the kitchen. Stella changed the locks of our apartment, forcing me to break into my home and empty the fridge. I hadn't had the chance to go shopping, so I only had sandwich supplies. Turkey breast on white with mayonnaise, lettuce, and tomatoes. Simple, but still a favorite of mine. I had just finished my sandwich when I noticed I wasn't alone in the kitchen.

I'd taken a seat at the kitchen island to eat, and I now saw a red-haired woman sitting across from me. Next to me was the butter knife I used for the mayo. It wasn't ideal, but thanks to my training, it was just as deadly as a bowie knife.

"Tut, tut. You'd really try to harm little old me?" She admonished.

How did she know that? I hadn't even moved. Maybe she caught me eyeing the blade?

The redhead laughed. "No, silly boy, I read your mind. If you don't mind, I'm going to skip the usual cliches. I'm Leandra. Goddess of the Agriculture, Industry, and Commerce. My world direly needs someone like you to breathe new life into it."

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

Her words made no sense to me. I pride myself on being quick-witted and calm in a crisis, but her words weren't sinking in. "Huh?" That was all I could think to say.

"See. It's always the same, so instead of arguing back and forth for an hour, I'm just going to take you. I'll leave you with an instruction manual, so I don't have to repeat myself for the millionth time. TTFN!" She waved her hand in farewell moments before a blinding light enveloped me.

When the light finally faded, I was still in the kitchen, but instead of the dark of the late evening, it was now light outside. In the kitchen, Island was a little booklet titled Manual. I picked it up and opened it.

The first page was a pink monstrosity. Pink hard and flowers decorated the page. I scrawled words in pink ink. 

Dear Alistair, It's me, Leandra. Goddess of Agriculture, Industry, and Commerce. If you're wondering what just happened, don't panic. You've been Isekaied. As in I plucked you from your world and put you in mine. Here's the deal. Agriculture, Industry, and Commerce are scarce in this world. Everyone is to busy following the God of war. This would be fine since war can lead to industry and commerce, but that's not the case. They're too busy killing each other to bother creating new things or selling anything. That's where you come in. I want you to use your cooking skills to refocus the idiots of my world. Use your food to get them to understand that there is more to life than killing. Or at the very least, get them to make new ways to kill each other and sell weapons to kill each other. Either scenario works. If you accomplish this task for me, I'll grant you any wish your heart desires. Oh, and in this world, your cultivation skill can be used for more than just breathing exercises. I'm sure you can figure it out. Have fun and be a good boy.

I read and reread the message before I screamed. "You have got to be fucking with me!" I fumed for all of ten-second before my training kicked in and I reigned in my anger. Getting mad wouldn't change my situation. At least I still had the house. I guess she could have dumped me here with nothing. Now that I was looking around, the house still had power. The light in the ceiling lamp was still on and the lights in the fridge were still working. I looked out the living room window and instead of seeing the suburbs, I saw a bamboo forest. 

Resigned to my fate, I walked outside to look around. The house was now in a grass meadow in the middle of a bamboo forest. As locations went, it could have been worse. I was still pondering what to do when I noticed movement to my right. Five figured stood a good forty feet from me. My mouth fell open when I got a good look at them. Four men and one woman were all wearing flowing robes. They were all good-looking, but what was really shocking were the fluffy foxlike tales.

The men were armed with swords that reminded me of the Dao's inside the Dojo. Those same Dao's were pointed at me menacingly. I raised my hands in front of me. "Let's not do anything hasty."

The biggest of the four men snarled at me. "Where did you come from? Never has there been a dwelling here whose clan do you belong to?"

So, we at least spoke the same language. That was a relief. "I don't have a clan. I'm new here."

"No clan? A disgraced warrior or a criminal!" The big guy snarled.

"Lu, we can't dally here. The Razor Backs will catch up. We need to get the princess out of here." One of the smaller fox men said. He kept nervously looking behind him and in a moment, I could see why. A massive, tusked man with spiked hair that flowed down his head and back like a mane sprang from the woods.

Five more joined him. Their noses were big and flat like a pig and the tusks that jutted from their mouths gave me the impression of boars. They bellowed a challenge and charged the fox men. The fox men ran. I couldn't blame them. I probably shouldn't get involved. But the fox girl in the center was just too cute to ignore. Her skin was smooth, and her features were delicate. She had long dark hair that flowed down her back. The thought of those pig men getting their hands on her and hurting her made me see red.

I ran towards the nearest pigman and ducked under his guard and punched his solar plexus with all my strength. He squealed just like a pig as he flew back nearly twenty feet. I stared down at my fist for a moment before I quickly refocused on the other pig men. The others turned their attention on me since I knocked out their friend. Each pig man carried a large one-sided battle-ax.

I breathed in peace and exhaled chaos before I moved. For dealing with multiple targets, I developed the maneuver Dancing Lion. I ran and placed myself within the pig men's personal spaces and delt three strategic strikes: neck, solar plexus, kidney.

It didn't work out quite as I expected. My first punch to the neck broke the first pig-man's neck, killing him instantly. But Dancing Lion was all about quickly moving in and out of your opponent's personal spaces. I turned and did the same to the next surprised when his neck broke as well. Ten seconds later the pig men were dead all with their necks broken. I stared down at my hands and then at the pig men. I was a strong man don't get me wrong, but I'd never broken someone's neck with one punch before.

The fox men had stopped their retreat as soon as they saw me kill the first pigman. They were now cautiously walking back towards me. The big one whose name was Lu took to one knee.

"My apologies. I didn't know I was in the presence of a Master. I am Lu Shen, head guard for Princes Li Shen. We are all that's left of the Shen Clan. The Razor-Back clan killed our brethren." He motioned to the corpse behind me. "If not for you the Shen clan would be no more. I beg you, Master. Will you grant us sanctuary?"

I looked back at the Razor Backs I just killed then back at the Shen's. I already killed for them. Might as well shelter them. "Come on in."

I showed them into the house and silently enjoyed the look of wonder on their faces. My folks' home had five bedrooms. I set two of them up with two men to a room and gave the princess her own room.

After burying the Razor Backs, I showed them to the kitchen, where I treated them to some sandwiches. They'd eaten nothing like it, and I wish I'd had more food to really show off my skill. Maybe that would have to be my next step.