Just outside the adventurer's guild, there were two groups of brats shouting at each other. Like any responsible adult, I stepped in to separate them. These cheeky br-

When I regained consciousness there was a girl dressed in white with a cleric looking hat, kneeling over me with a concerned face. She had blonde hair and green eyes and was saying something I couldn't understand.

「Allen: Huh... what just happened?」

I asked faintly.

How did I get on the floor? I looked around, confused. I couldn't remember anything about whatever happened.

There were some arguing kids... and then?

Once she understood how bad my grasp of the local language was, she gestured that I had been badly hurt and that she had helped me.

「Allen: Thank you.」

She smiled, nodded and helped me up. I had some blood on me, but I couldn't see any wound and I didn't hurt anywhere. Had I been healed by magic? Damn, I should have asked her about teaching me, but she was already rejoining her friends and the moment was lost.

I stared emptily into space. Did I just get beaten down by kids? That's... depressing.

I looked up at the sky. The sun was beginning to set, so I decided to head back to the market plaza. Upon seeing me Berel raised an eyebrow at my bloodied clothes. I could only shrug my shoulders in reply.

Later we rented a room at an inn, where we dined and slept.

I dreamed of laughing kids clubbing me to death. Damned cheeky brats.

I need to make money. I need to get a job. But how?

I sat down staring at nothing in particular. With my modern knowledge, there should be something I can exploit.

My stomach grumbled... I wish I could get a pizza but I haven't seen anything remotely familiar in this place-

Wait! That's it! I know how to bake pizzas and cook various stuff too. I've always been a big fan of DIY so I ended up learning many recipes. Introducing my otherworldly cuisine is bound to gain attention. And money.

A plan started to hatch in my mind, I don't have any idea how to handle the business side of things here, so I'll need assistance. Maybe if I find the most desperate bakery or restaurant, I might be able to turn the tables and take over...

A smile started spreading on my face.

I asked Berel which in turn asked the inn owner and we got a possible place. That morning we made a detour so we would take a look at the place and I memorized the route.

After setting up the stand at the market I went back to the failing restaurant.

I took a breath and walked inside. The place was empty and depressing, there was just a lone bulky middle-aged balding man sitting sadly at a table. Upon seeing me a light shone upon his face and he started talking. I understood nothing of it. He must think I'm a customer.

「Allen: Well, my friend. You've been chosen for my base of operations.」

He looked at me confused, but I continued.

「Allen: Let's see what you have in the kitchen...」

I carelessly walked toward the kitchen. The man shot forward, making a half-hearted effort to stop me. He looked somewhat angry and was spouting words beyond my comprehension, but I patted his shoulders with a pitying expression and smiled as I took out my purse to give him a few coins. He slumped his shoulders, looking completely defeated. I conveyed that I wanted to cook something. Finally, he let me in with a sigh. Heh, I did it.

I lugged him around to show me what he had, and I made a quick mental inventory: a stone oven, salt, sourdough, flour and other non-pizza related things. Okay, I'm missing a few ingredients but that's enough to get started.

I made some flourishing theatrics to point out I was about to start my culinary performance and started kneading enough for a dozen pizzas. I had to eyeball the amounts but I thought I did a good job, I covered the dough. And signaled the man I would come back later.

I went shopping for the missing ingredients, it took me some time to find out suitable replacements for my world ingredients. Once I did so I came back and kneaded the dough some more, split it into twelve parts and covered it again.

I tried chatting with the man, as much as my vocabulary allowed. His name was Corgas. I managed to understand enough to confirm that the work wasn't going well, that he felt insecure about his cooking prowess and the steady decline in profits. This is just perfect!

I waved the poor sod goodbye till later and caught up with Berel. It seemed she had managed to sell most of the goods, so she will probably leave tomorrow. While walking back to the inn, I conveyed the fact I was going to offer dinner myself this round, she gave me a deadpan stare. She was probably thinking I was going to offer some cheap shitty food at that place, I smirked.

At the inn, while walking out our rooms I crossed the priest girl and her two male friends, apparently they too booked rooms in there. I waved her and invited them to join us for dinner, thankfully Berel conveyed my meaning properly, the trio shrugged their shoulders and started following.

We reached the shitty restaurant. Inside there were only two patrons, who were dubiously looking at their food. I waved at the owner and he just gave me a defeated glance.

My entourage gazed at me with an uncertain look, I could read in their eyes the "where the fuck did you bring us?", but I winked and gestured them to wait at the table, then I entered the kitchen.

Under the curious gaze of Corgas, who stood near the door to keep an eye both on me and his patrons, I started turning the doughs into pizzas, added all the ingredients and proceeded to cook them in the stone oven. Very quickly the first pizza was ready. It looked just like a fine and proper pizza. Okay, this is the trial run, I took a bite to check the taste.

Perfect!

Finally a taste of my world. I offered a slice to Corgas, he took a few bites and stared at me in amazement. Jesus, he must really be a shitty cook if he stares at me with that dumbfounded face.

I bustled out the kitchen with the first servings.

「Allen: My friends, let me introduce you... to the miracle of pizza!」

At first, they frowned at the never seen before food, but once they took the first bite, they started wolfing it down with delight. Even too much delight, what are these people used to eat in this world?

I glanced at the two other patrons, who were miserably glancing at our table with craving eyes. They looked so miserable that I ended up upgrading their meals with proper pizzas, Corgas didn't seem to mind.

I brought seconds and we had some fun chatting, too bad I only understood fractions of what was being said, but everyone was in high spirits and complimenting me. I finally learned the names of the trio, the blonde priest girl is Ellin, the black-haired kid with the square jaw is Namrick and Grastel, a smirking kid with ash brown hair partially covering his eyes and a touch of freckles across his nose. It's good that I met them at the inn. I feel their acquaintance will lead me to meet interesting people. Also, I'll get a chance to ask the girl to teach me about magic.

I ended up offering the remaining pizzas to random passersby, according to my plan of spreading the word. Yep, I can work with this.

It's liberating to be able to walk in a damn restaurant and abuse the kitchen for my own exploits. Back in my world I'd have had to file a dozen different forms just to get permission, pay seven different taxes, get a sanitary certification for the food and ingredients and take a mortgage. Then I'd have to compete against the big food chains. Also, I'd probably have gotten jailed for having broken into the owner's kitchen in the first place. I definitely don't miss the bureaucracy.

With Berel's help, I struck a deal with Corgas. I get half of all the earnings and in return, I join as a business partner and teach him the secrets of pizza. He was desperate enough to accept.