“If this can even be called a salad.” Severin looked at the list of ingredients with disdain. “Tomato and mozzarella? That’s basically it!? The rest is just seasoning and stuff!? Not even the usual leaves.”

Snort

He took out the ingredients needed to prepare a batch of all three varieties of bread out of the store’s inventory. Then he closed it again without paying any further attention to its other contents and started his work.

For Severin’s customers, what they always cared most about was a product’s effects. The resulting buffs. The increase in power and combat efficiency. Their survivability. Anything else was secondary.

This was an assessment Severin had previously wholeheartedly agreed with. Better effects meant higher prices. Simple as that. And his customers were happy to pay these prices. Therefore, as long as his customers were happy, he was happy. For the most part, anyway. But now his priorities had somewhat changed. He couldn’t care less about some health regeneration buff or an increase in attack damage anymore. After all, that’s what his alchemy skill was for!

But as a [Cook], he wanted food. Real food.

Annoyed, Severin let his frustrations out on a lump of dough and slapped it around.

‘The most annoying thing about this might be the amount of work involved. With the bread I can just prepare it before the main store’s opening hours, just like now. And maybe another batch later on; if it’s not too busy and I can let Em handle things on her own. Not really possible anymore if each portion has to be prepared individually.’

He directly ignored the fact that this situation would be the same if the new recipe was for a steak instead of a salad; in which case, he most certainly wouldn’t be complaining about the resulting workload. And in that case, the workload would undoubtedly be even higher.

For a few moments, Severin played with the idea of simply not offer any new products until the new helper arrived. ‘At least not if they would cause too much extra work.’

Severin was his usual grumpy self, when in a rare moment of introspection Severin suddenly reprimanded himself.

Sigh

‘Get a grip, Sev. Don’t be ridiculous.’

It was unknown what exactly triggered this uncharacteristic behavior of his. Maybe it was the blue dot that hastily moved across his minimap.

>> Emily!Standing already in front of the main store, the dot suddenly stopped moving.

>> I’m sorry for being late! Won’t happen again, I swear! The dot started moving again.

>> Come here for a moment. And, once again, it stopped.

>> Don’t worry. Then he walked back to the working station that showed no sign that it had been used until just a minute ago. When, after a suspiciously long time, Emily had finally arrived in the kitchen, Severin was almost done.

“There you are,” he exclaimed as he finished preparing a single portion of salad.

After slicing the plump tomatoes and the white cheese, the garlic and the spring onions were quickly chopped. After that, the seasoning didn’t require much time. A tablespoon of balsamic vinegar and oil, a pinch of salt and pepper, and lastly a few stems worth of pleasant-smelling herbs he was only able to identify as thyme and oregano thanks to the system. By now, he was simply mixing the ingredients together.

Seeing a new dish she didn’t recognize being prepared, Emily suddenly became a lot less reserved and sprinted forwards.

Gulp

“What’s that?” She asked curiously.

“Taste it. It’s for you.” Seeing Emily almost drooling, Severin couldn’t help but smile and be pleased with himself.

“Really?” At this point, he was impressed by Em’s level of self-restraint. But this only made him want to tease her even more.

“What, you don’t want it?”

“Noo! I mean yes ! I want it!” Before Emily had finished her sentence, the plate was already snatched from Severin and into her hands. She immediately began stuffing her mouth while slowly backing off, trying to get as much distance between herself and Severin as possible. As if she was scared that he might change his mind and take her food away.

The [Shopkeeper] opened his mouth, but no sounds came out.

‘Next she’ll start hissing,’ he thought.

Not even a full minute later, the generously filled plate was already empty, but Emily was still chewing. That didn’t stop her from talking.

“I never had chomp something so munch fresh.” The next moment, the girl wiped her mouth on her dress. Seeing that it didn’t leave any stains on the clothes Severin had bought for her in the system store, he just laughed it off.

“So, it was to your liking I take it?”

“Hmm. So tasty! Are you going to sell it? Today?”

“Yeah. After midday break.”

“Oh? Why only so late? Why not now?”

“For now, I just want you to advertise it. Take some orders. Then during the break I’ll prepare the food in one go. This way, there’s no need for me to waste too much time in here.”

That was the solution he came up with after complaining about having to spend all day in the kitchen and having to cook to order. With only two people, there was no way he could justify spending the whole day in the kitchen waiting for an order; even if he wanted to. Especially not with only one item on the menu. So instead, he decided to handle things like this. At least for the time being, he thought it was a very acceptable compromise.

“The same goes for the bread. I’ll continue baking in the morning and then again during your break. But we’ll have them make an order beforehand. The batch over there,” he nodded towards the ovens, “is the last we’ll sell the usual way.”

Emily nodded in understanding. “Okay, boss.”

“Great. Then get going and open the store. I’ll catch up once I’m done here.”

“Sure thing!” She might have said that, but she didn’t move. Instead, with a meaningful look, she continued to stare at the oven Severin had just pointed at. Something Severin didn’t miss.

“Haha. I’ll get you some once it’s done. Now scram!”

“Thanks, boss! You’re the best.” She started running.

>> If you start taking orders, remember to limit it to two servings per person. That goes for both the bread and the salad. >> Yes, boss!

The interaction with his [Employee] immensely improved Severin’s previously foul mood.

“Damn. Now I forgot to ask her what she’d like for entertainment. I wonder if she has any hobbies. Besides eating, that is.”