Chapter 193
Basically, a restaurant is a business that makes and sells food.
You have to calculate everything—what customers would like, even what kind of customers would come.
But that very premise did not hold true here.
“Can’t we do it near the academy instead of on the island? At least there, there would be students who’d come to eat.”
It is only possible on the Farm Owner’s island!
“…Only on the island, huh.”
I was dumbfounded.
Well, of course I was.
‘There’s no way customers can come here.’
This place was a remote island far removed from the continent.
At best, the only people who could become customers were Shia and Rapin.
Or was I supposed to open a restaurant for animals?
‘No, no… that can’t be it.’
To begin with, animals had completely different digestive systems from humans, so they probably wouldn’t even be able to properly eat the dishes I made.
More than anything, they didn’t even have the concept of money.
‘No matter how delicious the food is, who would come all the way here?’
There was definitely no one who would ride the Grand Galpal or take a ship for days just to come to a remote island for a single meal.
A restaurant had to be somewhere people could easily reach.
Yet the System completely ignored those circumstances and was stubbornly urging me to build a restaurant on the island.
…Whatever.
If the System told me to do it, I had no choice.
I approached the small Log Cabin I had built beside the field and peeked inside.
There was only one round table and three chairs. Nothing impressive.
‘I didn’t build it with any grand meaning anyway.’
I had only built it because the System required it in a quest.
Originally, this place had been meant as a storage shed or a shelter. It didn’t even have a separate room.
‘And now I’m supposed to turn this into a restaurant?’
Well, it was possible.
One-table restaurants did exist in reality, after all.
‘Let’s just try it first.’
I was able to decide the size of the signboard that the Goddess had given me as a gift.
I hung a small signboard, about 80 cm wide and 30 cm tall, on the Log Cabin.
Please name the restaurant!
“A name, huh.”
I didn’t think too hard about it.
I picked up a pen and scribbled across the signboard.
「A Meal Today As Well」
That was the name I chose.
The restaurant name has been decided!
Please choose the restaurant’s menu!
Currently, only 3 menu items can be designated!
A paper menu appeared on the table.
It was more serious than I expected, but I sat down without much emotion and stared at the menu.
‘There won’t be any customers anyway. Should I just treat this as an experiment?’
So far, I had only cooked according to recipes I’d seen in the game.
But now, my cooking skills had improved quite a bit. Thinking I’d experiment a little, I decided to try cooking without a recipe this time.
‘So, what should I make?’
I had to choose based on the ingredients I had.
The answer came easily.
‘There’s still a mountain of Demon Wild Boar meat I hunted in Kirhen.’
Inside Subspace, the quality remained intact so the meat wouldn’t rot, but it still took up space. It needed to be consumed quickly.
Then… the first menu item would be ‘Wild Boar Cutlet.’
I didn’t know the exact recipe for pork cutlet, but I had seen the process in a documentary.
Remove the tendons, pound the meat thin, coat it in egg wash, cover it in breadcrumbs, then deep-fry it.
Of course, I’d need a few practice runs, but it didn’t seem difficult.
I wrote ‘Cutlet’ on the menu.
The second menu item didn’t take much thought either.
‘Before planting sugarcane, I tried planting potatoes in the field as a test.’
I stepped outside the Log Cabin and looked at the field.
Right in the middle, Boogi was lying down asleep under a blanket. Around him, potato leaves were growing thickly, glowing faintly.
The test potatoes I had grown before planting sugarcane and corn were growing rapidly under Boogi’s influence.
At this rate, they’d probably be fully grown within a few hours.
So the second menu item was ‘Hash Brown Toast.’
The third menu item was steamed eggs.
There was no special reason. I had too many eggs, and Korean-style steamed eggs didn’t exist in this world.
As soon as I scribbled the items onto the menu, a hologram appeared.
All menu items have been decided!
Ta-da! The restaurant door has appeared!
Something appeared in front of the Log Cabin.
“…A door?”
Yes, a door.
But there were no walls, no structure connecting it to the house.
It was just a single door standing there by itself.
‘What is this?’
If you turn the sign on the door, restaurant operation will begin!
On the front of the sign hanging on the door was written 「Open」, and on the back, 「Closed」.
‘If I switch it to open, what changes?’
The fact that no one could come wouldn’t change.
Honestly, I wondered what the point was.
‘Still, should I try?’
I had nothing to lose just by flipping a sign.
Half believing and half doubting, I turned the sign to 「Open」.
A school where not only nobles but also members of the imperial family and the bloodlines of the great Four Houses all had their names recorded.
For anyone who represented their era, Yggdrasil was a stage they absolutely had to pass through.
‘…If only I could enroll in a place like that.’
Hesti thought as she looked around the academy.
‘…Pull yourself together.’
She hadn’t come here to sightsee.
She had come to study for the next four years.
If she didn’t want this encounter with Yggdrasil Academy to end here, she had to pass the exam.
Suppressing her excitement and steadying her breathing, Hesti entered the grand auditorium of the Main Building with the other prospective students.
Before long, the auditorium filled up, and assistants stepped onto the stage.
“The practical assignment is dungeon exploration.”
The outline of the exam was as follows.
Yggdrasil Academy possessed vast grounds, within which numerous dungeons existed.
For this test, they would be deployed into a dungeon that had already been cleared.
There would be no monsters, but contaminated areas remained inside.
The task was to purify those contaminated sections.
They would form three-person parties, and the test duration was approximately 160 hours.
Cleaning contaminated areas would grant points, and only the top 600 would earn admission.
If they could not endure the dungeon, they could call an assistant and withdraw from the test midway.
There were 1,800 prospective students gathered here. The competition ratio was three to one.
Hesti’s number was 834.
She was assigned to the same team as 832 and 833.
Time passed… and under the assistant’s guidance, the three, including Hesti, stood before the entrance of a small dungeon.
Each was given a backpack.
Inside were one week’s worth of rations and a mana-infused broom.
As Hesti slung the backpack over her shoulders, she glanced to the side.
About the same height as Hesti.
A blond boy wearing a suit.
‘…He’s obviously a noble.’
She briefly considered speaking politely, as she would in society, but shook her head.
Senior Liz was also a noble, yet she seemed quite close with Senior Rapin, who was a commoner, even speaking casually with him.
They had even traveled together.
There was no hierarchy of status at Yggdrasil. It was Senior Liz’s words that had given her the courage to apply.
‘Right. This is Yggdrasil….’
Gathering her courage, Hesti smiled brightly and greeted the boy labeled 833.
“H-Hi?”
“……”
The blond boy glanced at her briefly, then turned his gaze forward again.
…She had been ignored.
“I-I’m sorry….”
Flustered, Hesti ended up apologizing for no reason.
She had made a mistake. Right, she wasn’t even a student of Yggdrasil yet, and she’d gotten carried away….
Hesti shrank back.
“You don’t need to apologize.”
Hesti turned toward the voice.
A girl with straight black hair wearing a white beret.
“Most nobles are like that. Don’t worry about it.”
The beret girl shot a glare at the blond boy as she spoke.
The boy remained silent, as if he didn’t even care.
The beret girl stepped beside Hesti.
“Tell me your name.”
“Ah, I’m Hesti.”
“Hesti? Got it. I’m McGrim.”
…McGrim?
Come to think of it, she had heard that the famous diva McGrim was also taking this entrance exam.
‘Must be someone with the same name.’
The diva McGrim was passionate, always smiling, and known for her blue-and-pink mixed hairstyle.
But this girl had straight black hair. Her eyes were cute but slightly sharp. She was the complete opposite of the diva McGrim.
It must definitely be someone with the same name.
“Nice to meet you, McGrim!”
“Yeah.”
The beret girl gave a faint smile.
Then she turned to the blond boy and snapped.
“We’re on the same team. Can you at least tell us your name?”
“……”
He still didn’t speak.
McGrim sighed in exasperation.
“Guess you don’t want to talk to commoners like us. Fine. Don’t talk, then. Let’s just do well on our own, Hesti.”
“O-Okay….”
Soon, the assistant gave the signal that they could enter the dungeon, and the three stepped inside.
They walked through the dungeon for quite some time.
Their objective was to clean contaminated areas.
The purpose of the exam seemed to be testing how strong one’s internal mana was and how long they could endure inside the dungeon.
Although they had entered as a three-person party, strictly speaking, it wasn’t a team competition.
They moved as a team, but each person had to secure their own points.
Whether by agreement or not.
“Ah, found one.”
They discovered a wall stained with purple contamination. Hesti and McGrim approached it and took out their brooms, but the blond boy merely stood there staring at the wall.
Hesti carefully spoke to him.
“Um, if you don’t clean the contaminated area… you won’t get points.”
“……”
He still didn’t respond.
McGrim tugged at Hesti’s sleeve.
“Our sky-high noble doesn’t want to do dirty work. Let’s just do it ourselves, Hesti. Exactly half and half.”
“O-Okay.”
They swept away the purple contamination with their brooms.
They must have earned points for that.
But then—
Bang!
A mana storm.
If mana was suddenly injected into a contaminated area, a sealed bubble would burst and waves of mana would spread like a storm.
The wave brushed past their bodies, but fortunately, they weren’t seriously hurt.
“Hesti, are you okay?”
“I’m just a little dizzy. What about you, McGrim?”
“I’m fine.”
McGrim supported Hesti and helped her sit against the dungeon wall.
“Hesti, you’re sweating. Sit for a bit.”
So McGrim could endure this much….
Her mana must be sturdier than Hesti’s.
Fortunately, Hesti only felt slight dizziness and nothing more.
The blond boy’s expression hadn’t changed either, so he seemed unaffected.
“McGrim is amazing….”
“Huh?”
Hesti muttered absentmindedly.
“I hope… I can go to the academy with you, McGrim….”
After unconsciously sighing, Hesti blinked a few times before jolting upright.
“I didn’t say anything weird just now, did I?”
“You didn’t.”
McGrim smiled, then suddenly sniffed the air.
“Hmm, wait. I smell something strange. Is there a rotting monster nearby?”
Hesti also noticed the stench.
“It smells like it’s coming from nearby.”
“…Hesti. Can you open your bag?”
“Ah, okay.”
As soon as Hesti opened her backpack, the smell intensified.
“Ugh, the rations….”
“Ugh, there’s no way we can eat this.”
Every single portion of food inside was covered in mold, and a nauseating sour stench filled the air.
Even McGrim’s backpack was the same.
Judging from the smell coming from the blond boy, his bag must be the same as well.
“This won’t work. Let’s just throw it away.”
McGrim clicked her tongue.
It was a waste, but there was no choice.
If they ate this, it wouldn’t just end with an upset stomach.
After discarding the rations, McGrim took out a chocolate bar from her pocket.
It was precious food, yet she opened it without hesitation.
But that, too, had gone bad. A foul smell spread through the air.
“As expected. This rotted too.”
The chocolate bar, sealed in its wrapper, was covered in fluffy green mold.
“There’s not a single edible part.”
After inspecting it thoroughly, McGrim tossed it aside.
The cause was easy to guess.
“I think it was because of that mana storm earlier.”
The contaminated mana in the dungeon must have caused all the food to decay.
They said this kind of situation occasionally happened in dungeons, but for it to happen during the exam of all times—they were incredibly unlucky.
“Hesti, how many days did they say we have to stay here?”
“…They said 160 hours, so about a week.”
“Tch….”
Did that mean they had to starve the whole time…?
Hesti’s face turned pale, and McGrim clenched her teeth.