A Stay-at-home Dad’s Restaurant In An Alternate World

She’s in a cloak, but I can tell she’s a nine in the ass, Mag thought.

She is either very pretty or very ugly, judging by the fact that she is using a veil to avoid unwanted attention. But, she apparently doesn’t know that men are curious creatures, and that veil of hers is making her mysterious as hell.

Then Mag saw Lucia behind her. She had left quite an impression on him because she had offered to buy a second helping of tofu pudding for 10 times the price. Looks like they came here together.

Then she is probably after the same thing as Lucia. Mag smiled at her, the way he smiled at every other customer.

Gloria bowed her head shyly, blushing. Is he encouraging me? She had never stared at a man for such a long time before.

Hope she won’t need this veil and cloak soon. Mag looked away and walked to the kitchen, leaving Yabemiya greeting customers. He put on the apron, washed his hands, and started cooking.

Gloria lifted her head again and walked in with others. She looked to the kitchen, clenching her fists. The veil hid her expression. She took a sniff and recognized the smells of meat and eggs. She was familiar with them, yet somehow they smelled strangely different and inviting here.

“We’ll sit here,” Lucia said, pointing at a table in the corner.

Gloria nodded. “Okay.” They seated themselves.

“This restaurant is very busy, as you can see,” Lucia said softly. “We may have to share a table with others. Are you okay with that?”

“Yes,” Gloria said, and started looking around out of curiosity.

She rarely ate out, and when she did, she always ate in a private dining room. She had never eaten with so many people around her before.

Lucia was her cousin, and had watched Gloria grow up. She always told her fun stuff she heard or witnessed since she knew the poor girl had no friends to speak of. She often cheered her up with her own scars.

When Lucia told Gloria she had found a way to treat her black freckles, the latter got so excited. She looked dubious, though, since so many doctors and magic casters had failed. Still, she was willing to try, even if the chance was slim.

She didn’t want to have to wear a veil for the rest of her life.

“Hi, can I take your orders?” Yabemiya asked with a smile. She was a little curious about Gloria, but never showed it, her smile genuine and sincere.

“Yes,” said Lucia. She opened the menu and put it before Gloria. “What do you want to eat? I like the savory tofu pudding here.”

Gloria looked at the menu, surprised. She might not eat out a lot, but she had read enough books to know the prices of food. They are too expensive.

But if the tofu pudding is as magical as Lucia said, it’s actually not that expensive compared to the money—over 10,000 gold coins—spent on my freckles so far.

“I’d like a sweet tofu pudding,” Gloria said quietly after a while.

“I’ll have a savory tofu pudding and two plates of Yangzhou fried rice,” said Lucia.

Yabemiya nodded. “Okay. Please wait a sec.”

“You can eat that much?” Gloria asked, incredulous.

Lucia smiled. “One plate of Yangzhou fried rice is for you,” she said. “See that little girl there? That’s the owner’s daughter.”

Gloria turned to look. Amy was sitting at the table in front of the counter. There were two bowls before her and a loaf of bread in her hand. She might be small, but she looked like she was going to eat all of that. She is so cute!

Looking at her eating tofu pudding and roujiamo, Gloria swallowed despite herself.

Of course, she was not the only one that was doing that. All the customers were waiting for their orders. They were looking at Amy, swallowing, their stomachs rumbling.

After a short while, thankfully, Yabemiya started serving their orders, and she was quite efficient at it.

Aromatic smells started floating in the air.

Gloria’s eyes went wide. Smells so good! She ate only a little for each meal—no meat, some fresh fruit—and she wasn’t particularly fond of any kind of food.

However, now she found herself unable to resist the tempting smell of the meat. She saw that the bread was stuffed with meat as a customer at a nearby table was eating it.

Two women took their seats at their table. There weren’t many seats available now. Gloria didn’t like sharing her table with strangers, but she considered herself lucky that she wasn’t sitting with demons or other creatures.

“Your tofu pudding, please enjoy,” said Yabemiya, putting the two bowls before Gloria and Lucia.