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

“Lord Yngwie, I believe Lady Sally is working as a waitress in that restaurant, but she’s still working and staying here,” said a young elf in a black robe in an alley near Geya Hotel.

Yngwie nodded, reflective. After a moment, he said, “Tell me about the hotel and the restaurant.”

“The hotel has been owned by a woman for a dozen years. Her husband went missing on a quest 10 years ago, and was presumed dead. The restaurant has been open for less than a month. The owner is a human male. He has two waitresses—one is Lady Sally, and the other is a half-dragon. Also, he has a half-elf daughter, who has become the disciple of two powerful magic casters. I heard she has great talent for magic.”

Yngwie lifted an eyebrow and turned to face the young elf. “Do you know the names of the two magic casters?”

“The Lord of Ice and the Lord of Fire,” he answered.

Yngwie’s eyes went wide. He was hundreds of years older than Krassu and Urien, but he was only a 7th-tier magic caster. They fought for nearly a century, and now they’re teaching the same student?

The two old men have keen eyes. I remember they wanted to make Princess Irina their disciple, and she became a 10th-tier magic caster at the young age of 26. This half-elf girl must be really talented for them to be willing to teach her together.

“Where is this restaurant?” Yngwie asked.

The young elf had never seen Yngwie looking like this before. “In the western corner of the Aden Square,” he answered quickly.

“You keep watching Lady Sally and keep her safe,” Yngwie said earnestly. “Do not let her see you. If she sees you, leave and do not approach.”

The young elf nodded. “Yes, my lord!” He drew a circle around him with his magic wand, and then a green light rose around him. He disappeared suddenly.

Bloore will be here in a few days… Yngwie took another glance at the hotel and left.

…

“I could conquer this continent’s stomach if it had one,” Mag said, “but how can I ever conquer such a huge continent? It’s not like the people here are mentally retarded. You’ll have to lower their IQs first.”

“I’m not allowed to do that even if I could. The world would be paralyzed; it would cause disastrous consequences.”

“Then why do you think I can conquer this world?” Mag asked with a twist of his mouth.

“People live to eat. They will look up to you as their god once you conquer their stomachs.”

Mag laughed. “Yeah, they would if they were as stupid as you.”

“Anyway, dream big, young man. Anything is possible!”

“I’m too old to dream big,” Mag said, and locked the door. But I’m not too old to have some fun. It may be interesting to watch dragons, trolls, goblins, orcs, and elves eat together.

Mag went into the kitchen and poured himself a glass of water. The reward is the recipe for Haagen-Dazs ice creams, but I don’t remember criticizing ice creams.

When Mag was about to go upstairs to take a nap, there came a knock on his door.

“We are not open today,” Mag said.

“It’s Hydle, the dean of the mechanical school in the Chaos School. Sorry to bother you, but can I talk to you for a minute?”

Mag opened the door and recognized the balding man with a briefcase under his arm. He studied my bike the other day.

“I saw your bike a couple days ago, and it has really intrigued me,” Hydle said with a smile. “You see, we’re trying to use steam to power machinery, but we hit a bottleneck.”

Mag was surprised. Steam engine? The invention of steam engine will bring about an industrial revolution.

“Come on in,” Mag said, smiling. Maybe I could witness the birth of a new era.