For the first time in a long while, Anna saw her father smile... a genuine, unguarded smile, untainted by grief or worry. She looked back at the bowl of noodles and felt as if they were magical.
As if on cue, Sofia began to cry from her crib as if hungry from the smell of the aroma of the noodles. Dante instinctively started to get up, but the old man waved him off.
"I'll handle it"
"Finish your food"
The old man walked over to Sofia, cooing softly as he picked her up. He warmed a bottle of milk with ease and fed her while gently rocking her in his arms. Before long, she was fast asleep, her tiny hand clutching his finger.
Once everything was settled, the grandfather sat back down at the table.
"Dante" he began, his voice serious but kind.
"You can't keep living like this"
"This is draining you physically, emotionally, and financially"
"Come live with me"
"My restaurant has an upper story with plenty of space for all of you"
"Expenses will be lower, and the environment will be better for Anna's schooling and Sofia's future as well"
Dante hesitated, his brow furrowing.
"But… what would I do for work?"
The grandfather smiled reassuringly.
"Don't worry about that"
"My old friend's son runs a business nearby and could use a reliable worker like you"
"I'll introduce you"
Dante looked at Anna, who was nodding eagerly, and then at Sofia, peacefully sleeping. Finally, he exhaled deeply and said,
"Alright, let's move."
They moved to the old man's restaurant within a week.
__ __ __
"That's how we moved here"
"After we moved here, I helped him renovate the shop and started posting about it online"
"We got a lot of new customers due to it and I got a lot praise from grandpa for it but"
"A few months ago, someone came in asking to buy the shop"
"Grandpa said they didn't offer a good deal so he rejected them"
"After that, our business slowed down"
"Even though Grandpa doesn't say it out loud, I know that they should have done something such as badmouthing our store since after that day, the rating of our shop that I posted started to get decreased"
"Still, we have our loyal customers, and I know one day people will realize how amazing Grandpa's noodles are."
Rex listened while sipping his soup from time to time. He looked at Isabella's bowl to see that it was already empty. She seemed to be really interested in the story as she even drank all the soup. Rex also listened but he still maintained his thoughts as from the habits of his army life. He couldn't help but look at the small cute girl and felt something different from her. Ever since he glanced at the restaurant, he felt a small attraction from it.
He sighed and used his true sight on the girl and almost threw out the soup he was drinking but maintained it so that no one noticed it.
[Business Talent: Orange]
The talent level graded by the system was
1. Gray
2. White
3. Brown
4. Yellow
5. Cyan
6. Green
7. Orange
8. Violet
9. Gold
10. Black Gold
Though it was not the highest, he compared it with his mother's own which was Cyan(5th Grade) and knew that her talent in business would be grader than even his own mother. Hearing the story of hers, he knew that his mother would be on the case to help her already so he would only need to let her give a chance for Anna. He knew that he could read talents but he never really paid much attention to it but Anna here gave him a surprise and an idea.
"Hohoho, look what we have here, little Anna, dear didn't I tell you not to disturb the customers"
Anna pouted.
"I wasn't disturbing! I was just telling them how good your noodles are!"
"Back to the kitchen, little one" he said, his voice kind but firm.
"But Grandpa, I was just..."
Seeing him look at her firmly, Anna nodded reluctantly and disappeared behind the counter. The old man turned back to Rex and Isabella.
"The name's Colten, but folks around here just call me Old Colt. It's a pleasure to have you in my humble shop."
"Old Colt, I can't help but ask, the offer you turned down"
"Is it okay if I ask about it?"
Isabella curious asked about it directly.
"It's nothing much, an agent from from a big company came by and they wanted to buy our shop and surrounding shops nearby as well and turn it into one of their fancy chain restaurants"
"It seems that they built one down the street and ever since then the customers started to decrease"
"I never really checked it out but it should have good food since it draws so much customers"
He placed the bowls from the tray which were steaming with heat to the table as his eyes sparkled with warmth as he gestured toward their bowls before leaving carrying the tray.
"Go ahead, eat up before it gets cold."
'Magic, she says'
Isabella thought, recalling the words spoken by the young Anna. She couldn't help but smile and savour the taste. She felt that if not for the base ingredients, the chef would be able to make even better noodles.
After all, these were noodles made for mortals. Though it was just for mortals, her tongue started to feel hot, and her face turned bright red. Even with that, she continued to eat the noodles, but her tongue started to get hotter and hotter, and she couldn't handle it anymore. Even her face started to heat up a bit.
Rex started to laugh at her appearance and handed her his soup bowl, which he hadn't finished yet. She didn't know why, but the soup instantly cleared the spice that was in her mouth.
"Hahaha, I told you, miss. The spice is hard even for grown man"
Old Colt suddenly returned and put some grains from a bottle.
"You should stir it, and it should not be that spicy anymore. If you need to further reduce the spice, just use this bottle."
He said as he put down the bottle on the table. After Colten left, Isabella quickly sprinkled some of the grains into her bowl, stirring them in as Rex watched with a teasing grin.
"What are you staring at?" she asked, narrowing her eyes at him.
"Nothing, I just remembered that someone said they could handle extra spicy that's all"
Rex said with an innocent smile on his face.
"Are you looking down on your mother, I can handle extra spicy"
Isabella crossed her arms defensively, her cheeks still tinged red, not entirely from the spice anymore.
"It's just that... the noodles caught me off guard, that's all!"
Rex raised an eyebrow, his grin growing wider.
"Caught you off guard? How exactly?"
"Well..." Isabella faltered, her eyes darting to the steaming bowl.
"It's the way the spices build up"
"Like a sneak attack! I was just... analysing the flavour when it hit me."
Rex burst into laughter again, clearly enjoying her flustered attempt to save face.
"A sneak attack, huh? So now you're blaming the noodles for being too clever?"
"Absolutely!" Isabella continued, doubling down with a proud tilt of her head.
"I was simply unprepared for their tactical assault. Next time, they won't stand a chance."
"Of course, Mom" Rex replied, barely holding back another laugh.
"I'm sure the noodles are trembling in fear right now."
Isabella huffed, lifting her chopsticks again.
"Laugh all you want, but I'll show you. Extra spicy is nothing for me. Just wait and see!"
Rex chuckled, shaking his head.
"Sure, sure. I'll wait for the day you conquer the noodles, Mom."