"We haven't received any orders yet, but the news from the Demon Islands is quite urgent. If Alex really is still alive and he discovers that we're looking for him, it's very likely that he'll disappear again." Seuss' voice was rather grim.
The black-robed figure hesitated momentarily before asking, "But Master, our higher-ups say that Alex could still be in Chaos City. Are we just going to give up?"
"We've been searching Chaos City for about half a month now, and we've been to every possible place, but there's clearly no disabled person with a half-elf little girl here. Alex was extremely severely crippled three years ago, so it won't be easy for him to hide his disability. We've planted so many spies in Chaos City, but none of them were able to find any leads. That indicates that he's most likely not here." Seuss shook his head in response. He turned to the black-robed figure with his dead fish eyes, and said coldly, "I fought him once and I know what kind of man he is. Even as a cripple, he definitely won't discard his honor as a knight, so there's no need to waste time on red herrings. I know you have your suspicions about the owner of that Mamy Restaurant, but I can tell you now that there's no way that Alex would become a chef. Besides, he had been reduced to a quadriplegic; not even a 10th-tier magic caster could help him recover. We need to find him as soon as possible, and we can't afford to be led on a wild goose chase by someone that's clearly not him."
"Yes." The black-robed figure's expression changed upon hearing that, and he lowered his head in submission.
"Take a group of people and keep searching Chaos City. Everyone else, come with me to the Demon Islands." Seuss scanned his eyes across everyone present, and his harrowing gaze sent shivers running down everyone's spines.
"What a beautiful morning." The next morning, Mag got up when the sun was just beginning to rise. He crept carefully over to Amy's little bed, and a smile appeared on his face at the sight of her sleeping countenance. After that, he brushed his teeth, got changed, and went downstairs.
After the enhancements from system, Mag's physical constitution had reached the standard of a 1st-tier knight. It wasn't very high, but it was far superior to a normal person's. His body was roughly comparable to that of a professional boxer, and he felt full of power and energy.
To be able to recover to this extent from my quadriplegic state... the system is quite reliable, after all. Mag did some stretches, and was very pleased with his newly gained strength. In the past, his biggest concern was that he would have to live as a cripple for the rest of his life. However, those doubts had been completely erased.
"System, can you give me a recipe for mooncakes?" Mag asked internally. At the same time, he pushed open the door to the small room on the third floor. Within the room, the beer-brewing machine, beer-brewing ingredients, and barrels were all still situated in the same positions as the night prior.
"No." The system's reply was very fast and decisive.
"I'll pay for it." Mag was unwilling to give up.
"The answer is still no. Please do not use money to insult the system; the system has a bottom line to uphold!" the system replied sternly.
Mag raised his eyebrows upon hearing that. It was true that the system had never made any concessions when it came to handing out recipes. That was most likely related to its so-called three major rules.
"System, why haven't you been issuing any missions recently? Hurry up and give me a mission! Each and every day without a mission is torturous for me! Also, the prize doesn't need to be anything special; a mooncake recipe will suffice," Mag requested.
"The system doesn't have any missions to issue at the moment," the system refused.
"Then just make up one on the spot. Don't you have prerequisites to trigger missions? Tell me what those triggers are," Mag persisted.
"Please don't force the system to issue missions. That would be a major breach of the rules, and would place the system in a very difficult position." The system remained very firm in its stance.
"How much money will it cost for you to issue a mission? 100 gold coins? 1,000 gold coins? 10,000 gold coins?" Mag asked.
"Er... Well, if it's 10,000 gold coins, the system..." The system was finally beginning to waver.
"I refuse! 10,000 gold coins? What a rip-off!" Mag rolled his eyes.
"..." The system responded with an ellipsis.
Looks like we'll have to discuss this another time. The moon will be at its fullest in three days; I have to make some mooncakes for that occasion. Otherwise, the moon festival celebrations will be ruined, Mag thought to himself.
The brewing time required is one day. Even though it's not as fast as it was in the test field for the God of Cookery, it's already a drastic improvement compared to normal beer-brewing technology. After loading the ingredients into the machine, all Mag had to do was to press a button, and the beer would be ready after 24 hours. He had to load the beer into the barrels at the first possible opportunity in order to prevent the infiltration of moisture and bacteria. The machine was extremely efficient, able to yield three barrels of beer per batch.
After closing the door to the small room, Mag went downstairs and began to prepare the required ingredients for the breakfast service. When it was almost time to open for business, he went upstairs to rouse Amy.
Mag had only just made his way over to Amy's little bed when she opened her eyes. She turned to Mag with elation, and said, "Father, I dreamed of Mother last night. She was sitting under a huge glowing tree, and she was so beautiful and kind. She held me in her arms and sang for me."
"Really? Did she say anything to our Little Amy?" Mag patted Amy's head with a smile. It seemed that she had been awake for a while, and was intentionally waiting for him to come upstairs for
her.
"She did. She said that she really wanted to eat mooncakes. She's living on the moon and she wants to eat the moon as well. Father, can we make mooncakes and eat them in Mother's stead?" Amy asked earnestly.
"Of course. I'll have them ready soon." Mag's heart throbbed as he looked at Amy's earnest expression. He gently caressed her hair as he said, "Alright, let's have some breakfast; you've got morning classes today."
"Alright." Amy happily wrapped her arms around Mag's neck and planted a kiss on his cheek.
After breakfast, Mag escorted Amy to school. When he arrived back at the restaurant, Yabemiya and Sally were already waiting for him at its entrance. Sally appeared to be quite troubled by something, and looked to have suffered a sleepless night.
Mag looked at Sally and hesitated momentarily, but decided not to say anything in the end. He didn't know what had happened between Sally and Blour the night prior, and it wasn't a subject that he should pry into. After all, everyone had their secrets.
Yabemiya was clearly also quite worried about Sally, but she, too, suppressed the urge to ask her anything.
After a busy breakfast service, Mag closed the restaurant doors and heaved a sigh of relief.
Sally and Yabemiya quickly cleaned up the restaurant, thereby capping off a morning's work.
Sally looked at Mag and hesitated for a long while before asking, "Er... Boss, can I ask you a question?"
"Sure, go ahead." Mag turned to Sally with a warm expression and nodded.