When Pete entered the bakery, Mod’s eyes fell on him, blinking twice before Mod asked. “You okay?”
Pete looked down at his torn shirt. The holes made him feel uncomfortable, and he knew he’d need to replace the shirt as soon as possible. After examining the rips, he answered. “You don’t know the half of it. There was a giant turkey.”
“Turkey Titan?” Mod smiled. “Most people know to look for notorious monsters on their map and avoid them. You got close enough to see it?”
“It snuck up on me when I was fighting the plants,” Pete explained.
“Well, at least you’re okay. Did you get the tomatoes?” Mod’s voice was hopeful.
“I have enough to get us through the week until the other plants respawn. I don’t think we’ll ever have a supply problem.”
“Great,” Mod smiled. “Then let’s get to work.”
Usual bread and pastry customers continued to come in. Between helping the customers, Mod and Pete prepared sauce, grated cheese, and made doughballs. As they finished their prep work, Angel flew through one of the windows. “Here and ready to work,” her eyes widened when she saw the pizza dough, cheese, and sauce. “We get pizza again?”
“We’re going to try to sell them today.” Mod nodded.
“Epic.” Angel landed on the counter. “You want me to let everyone know?”
“Sure,” Mod agreed. “That would be great.”
“On it.” Angel flew back out the window. Pete and Mod could hear her shouting in the distance. “Pizza! Come try pizza! It’s the best food in Round! Invented right here in Greenlake.”
Over the next few hours, people came in, some ordering pizza, some ordering bread, pie, or cake. Interacting with the customers reminded Pete of a late shift at Pizza Place.
Pete enjoyed interacting with customers. It was one of his favorite parts of the job. Each person with whom he spoke had a unique story. He loved to learn about their interests and aspirations.
The Carpenter elf was one of those customers. The night before, Pete had learned her name was Lilly. When she entered the store, she asked. “Is Mod here? I wanted to talk with him.”
“Yeah, I’ll go grab him,” Pete told her.
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Mod came and spoke with Lilly for a few minutes. Pete kept his distance as to not intrude on what could be a private conversation.
As Pete watched Mod interact with Lilly, it reminded him of his relationship with Zoey. The pair seemed comfortable together. When the thought of Zoey entered his mind, Pete felt nostalgic. Thoughts of Zoey became thoughts of his family. He hoped he’d be able to return home sooner rather than later.
Max the cat had told Pete that the only way to return home was to save Round. Pete wasn’t sure he could do that. He didn’t even know what Round needed saving from. During his time in Greenlake, everything seemed okay. The citizens weren’t threatened by some great evil.
Even if there was an identifiable threat to Round, Pete wouldn’t be able to face it. After all, a turkey had caused Pete to flee for his life. If he couldn’t defeat a turkey, how could he defeat something strong enough to dictate the fate of an entire world?
He sighed. For the time, all he could do was try to get stronger. Once he had another twenty or thirty levels under his belt, would he be strong enough to leave Greenlake? Then he could learn more about the world. Still, he doubted he’d ever be strong enough to be its savior.
As Lilly the carpenter left, Pete moved next to Mod. “She might like you. You should ask for the number of her communication box.”
Mod turned to Pete, blinking three times before answering. “I already have her number. She’s my sister.”
“Oh…” Pete hung his head. “Nevermind then. Pretend I didn’t say anything.” Then Pete changed the topic. “So do you think you’ll be able to keep up with all the pizza orders? Are we going to run out of any supplies?”
“I can get the cheese and dough without difficulty. The sauce relies on your tomatoes, but since one sauce bucket can make multiple pizzas, we should be good. If I had to, I could import tomatoes from nearby towns, too. They are more common in other parts.”
“Cool,” Pete said, moving to pull some pizzas from the oven. As he cut them into slices, prompts appeared:
You received 2 to pizza cutter proficiency.
You received 1.5 to pizza cutter proficiency.
You received 1 to pizza cutter proficiency.
Each time he used the peel, prompts indicated his peel skill level increased, too. At Pizza Place, he’d always joked about using pizza peels as shields. If his proficiency raised enough, he could use it as a shield. That would be awesome. He would be a pizza knight.
And he continued to cut the pizza’s increasing his cutting proficiency. If he raised his cutter skill enough, he wondered if he could fight with them. Would it be a viable option? Then he wouldn’t have to slap everything.
As the night went on, word of pizzas at the bakery spread. Pete and Mod found themselves unprepared to deal with the influx of customers. They’d give one a pizza, three more customers would show up. They’d help the three, and they’d have ten more customers. After they helped those ten, the line was out the door.
Angel came zipping back through the door. “I told everyone.”
“We can see that,” Mod told her while working at the oven to put pizzas in and take them out. “Can you help Pete to take some orders?”
“Sure thing, bossman.” She fluttered next to Pete. “I can help the next customer over here.”
It was late at night before they finished helping the last customer. At which point, Pete sat on the floor and slumped with his back against the counter. “That was busy.”
“I agree,” Angel told him, lying face first, exhausted on the countertop.
Mod shook his head, “We are going to need more help. Angel, how many of your pixie friends still need jobs?”