Chereads / The Merchant / Chapter 19 - Mouth-Watering Flavor

Chapter 19 - Mouth-Watering Flavor

The inside of the shop, which was obviously some kind of food shop before, was not very big, but it was big enough for Luck's business.

There were 10 tables inside the shop, looking very neat and organized.

Horace noticed that Luck was looking around in confusion, so he began to explain, "This used to be a restaurant. The owner tried to imitate a fancy restaurant in the royal city, but it failed and went bankrupt."

"Failed? How could he have imitated a restaurant?"

Horace took a deep breath "He tried to imitate a restaurant where the cheapest dish was 100 gold pieces. A restaurant like that might work in the royal city, but it would never work in this town."

Luck wiped one of the tables inside the shop with the tip of his finger, "Thank goodness it's clean in there or we'd be cleaning up."

Horace pointed to the walls and floor and said, "You don't have to worry about cleaning, Luck, there are cleaning runes carved into the walls and floor." 

"Is that so?" Luck had no idea such a thing existed.

Luck looked around with curious eyes "So I don't have to worry about cleaning then? What if food spills on the floor? What if there's mud on the floor?"

"Not that much. The cleaning rune mostly prevents and removes dirt that can come from the external environment without human intervention, things like dust, animal hair, or animal dander..." Horace was surprised by Luck's question. Even though the cleaning rune was not widely used, everyone knew what it was for.

"Oh, I see, so it doesn't do much..." Luck was disappointed.

"It doesn't do much? This is a set of runes that every first-class restaurant should have! How can it be useless?" Horace was stunned, Luck had just called a set of runes useless!

Luck went to the back of the shop where the kitchen was and found it all clean and organized.

There were all sorts of utensils in the kitchen, various pots and pans hanging from the apparatus hanging from the ceiling.

"Well, there's almost everything I need," Luck said, looking at the utensils he had asked Horace to bring but which were now obviously unnecessary.

"Almost? What else do you need?"

Thinking about the bags of frozen food he had brought, Luck said, "I need a place to keep the meat and other things cold or even freeze them..."

"There's already a storage room here with an engraved ice rune?"

"Why didn't you tell me before!"

Horace, feeling unnecessarily accused, said, "How was I supposed to know what you were going to do?"

...

Luck went into the kitchen with the 3 men who had come to work with him and started preparing the first hamburger.

He fried the hamburger meat, finely chopped the greens and tomatoes, fried the potatoes, and finally put it all together to create the first hamburger ever made in Gliese.

All the while, he was showing and teaching the other 3 men everything he was doing. Since cooking a hamburger was not difficult at all, the 3 men learned how to make a hamburger in one go.

Horace turned his head toward the smell and saw Luck coming toward him with a tray.

Luck put the tray of hamburgers in front of Horace "I told you I'd bring you a hamburger, didn't I? Look, I even cooked it myself, hahaha!" 

Horace was enraptured by the mouth-watering smell filling his nostrils.

A glass full of Coke, a hamburger, golden fries and ketchup, and mayonnaise... it was irresistible.

Horace took his first bite of the burger without even bothering to answer Luck.

Enraptured by the flavor of the burger, Horace continued to eat without breathing.

"Breathe, you'll choke." 

Taking a breather, Horace said, "I'll be fine!"

"If you say so..."

Meanwhile, Horace, who had already finished the burger, was eyeing the fries.

"Use ketchup and mayonnaise too! Fries taste better with both."

Horace gulped down his Coke and continued eating with ketchup and mayonnaise, following Luck's advice.

When he finished, he patted his swollen belly and looked at Luck with a satisfied smile.

"That was one of the most delicious meals I've ever eaten, Luck!"

"Hahaha, I'm glad you found the hamburger delicious."

Horace, thinking of the bags of frozen food he was carrying, said, "Oh my God, you were going to sell hamburgers, weren't you? You're going to drown in money! Hahaha."

"Maybe, but nobody knows yet that I opened a shop here..." smiles Luck.

Placing his hand confidently on Luck's shoulder, Horace said, "Leave that to me, and by the end of the day the whole town will know you opened a store here!"

....

While walking around the marketplace, the two friends were surprised to realize that the doors of a long-closed shop were open.

"Hey look, I guess the restaurant that went bankrupt has reopened."

"So what if it is, who would go there and eat there?"

Meanwhile, they saw Horace coming out of the store and Luck seeing him off.

"Hey, isn't that Horace Bringer?"

"Yeah, and the guy with him is Luck the stall salesman!"

When Horace left and Luck turned around and went back into the store, the two became curious.

"Luck went back into the store... Could it be?" the man had an idea.

"Could be what?"

"Could Luck have taken over the store?"

The other man's eyes widened with realization "He must have gotten bored of setting up shop! Yes, he might have taken over the store! Let's go check it out!"

Overcome with curiosity, the two excitedly entered the shop, the restaurant was the same as they had seen it before, elegant tables, a stylish and clean environment... Everything was the same... Except Luck who laughed at them and asked if they wanted to eat a hamburger.

...

After a while 

The two had smiles on their faces as they ate their burgers in the restaurant and left satisfied.

"I've never eaten such good food in my life!"

"You're right, and it's only 5 silver!" 

"It's practically free! Should we go back tonight and eat again!"

"Sure! Let's reward ourselves today!

5 silver was a bit steep for an ordinary person, but it was nothing they couldn't afford, but for a starfighter, 5 silver wasn't even worth mentioning.

As the two men talked and praised the hamburger they were eating along the way, they didn't realize that they were attracting the attention of many people.

Curious about the two men's conversation and the food they were raving about, one of them finally had enough and asked where he could try this hamburger they were talking about and they found out where they were going.

Luck the stall vendor had opened a shop! And he was selling the hamburger they hadn't had a chance to eat the other day!

The news spread among the people like wildfire.

...

Meanwhile, Luck, delighted to see his first customer leave his shop satisfied, looked at the first money he had made in his shop.

He had earned 10 pieces of silver for two hamburger menus, which in his world would be 1500 dollars for 15 hamburgers!

Soon another person entered his shop... and then another... and then another... and then another...

Gradually more and more people entered the store. 

Everyone who entered the store seemed to be competing to order a hamburger.

Luck, remembering Horace's promise to promote his shop, said to himself, "How did you do it in such a short time, Horace?"

Meanwhile, Horace was walking along thinking about how Luck could promote his store.