“Come one, come all~! Cheap, so cheap~! Three fish caught less than a day ago for 1,000 lira! Practically giving them away!”
“You there, miss~! Why not take a look at these earrings? Now, where these came from is…”
“Freshly baked wheat bread, 100 lira apiece! Nutty and delicious~!”
From morning onward, the market was bustling with countless people.
The royal capital of Elgraf was a warm city blessed with fine weather, a pleasant place to live.
On days when the sunlight was strong, even moving a little was enough to make one hot,
so everyone here wore short, light clothing.
Amid them, a girl dressed in thick fur clothing that did not suit this place was walking.
In one hand, she held a staff made of a transparent material like glass,
and the sky-blue-haired girl walked while looking around as if everything were fascinating.
Because her entire body was wrapped tightly in fur and she had even pulled up her hood,
the people passing by glanced at her strangely one by one.
“In weather like this, what on earth…”
“Isn’t she hot…?”
But contrary to the worries of those around her, the girl was not hot at all.
Rather, a faint chill was emanating from her body.
Frau, the mage of the north.
That was her name.
Frau had been born on the northern ice continent, where blizzards raged.
From birth, the nature of her mana had been cold, and she had naturally become a mage well-versed in ice magic.
People from the north almost never came down to the royal capital.
The road connecting the northern continent and the main continent was blocked by a half-frozen sea,
making passage difficult and far too long, so exchange was not easy.
But after a long journey, Frau had finally reached this royal capital.
From the time she left her hometown until now, she had been searching for something.
Ignoring the gazes of the people around her, Frau walked straight down the road until she stopped in front of a bulletin board in the square.
It was a dirty bulletin board covered in countless traces of flyers being posted and torn away.
All sorts of advertisements were always plastered all over it.
[Franz Mercenary Guild Now Recruiting New Members! As long as you’re over 16 and have a strong body and guts, you’re welcome!]
[Seeking explorers to set out from the harbor in search of the western New Continent. Success guarantees wealth and honor.]
[Are you anxious about tomorrow? Do you wish to know the future? Are you about to start a business? Visit the fortune-teller Ataten now.]
As Frau read through the countless advertisements, her gaze stopped on one clean flyer that seemed to have been posted not long ago.
[The Best Restaurant in the Royal Capital! Fresh Ingredients! The Finest Chefs! An Unforgettable Experience! Come to Restaurant Enhau!]
“…”
Frau stared at the restaurant advertisement for a long while.
Then, after confirming the restaurant’s location written on the flyer,
she immediately began to walk.
* * *
“Welcome, dear guest~!”
Jingle, jingle—
The restaurant door opened, and along with the sound of the bell, the waitresses greeted her warmly.
Restaurant Enhau.
This place, which called itself the best restaurant in the royal capital, was quite an upscale restaurant.
Its main menu item, a course meal of veal steak with butter and vegetables, cost 50,000 lira.
If one decided to indulge lavishly with drinks, it was a place where the bill could easily reach 100,000 lira.
Naturally, commoners without money almost never set foot in such a restaurant, but Frau had come here.
“Um… dear guest? Shall I… show you to a seat?”
“The head chef? Where is the head chef?”
Frau, the mage of the north, asked the waitress quietly.
The waitress, who had at first been smiling brightly as she served her, had a slight tremor in her eyes.
It was because, the moment this guest entered, she felt as though the restaurant’s indoor temperature had grown a little cooler.
And in truth, cold air was emanating from Frau’s body.
“If you take a seat, I’ll bring you the menu…”
“I don’t need a menu. I want the head chef with the greatest skill.”
“Well, you see…”
“Move.”
Passing by the troubled waitress, Frau headed toward the kitchen.
Since it was an extremely high-class restaurant, and it was not yet mealtime, there were very few guests.
“Who is the most skilled chef in this restaurant?”
In the end, Frau forced her way to the front of the kitchen and asked inside.
Inside the kitchen, five cooks, including the head chef, were working.
“Are you a guest? I am Roche, the head chef. Guests are not allowed to enter here.”
The head chef, upon noticing Frau, spoke firmly.
But Frau had no intention of backing down.
“If you truly are the best chef here, I have a request.”
“If it is food you want, it is on the menu…”
“If you properly fulfill my request, I will pay you 1,000,000 lira.”
“1,000,000… lira?”
Head Chef Roche’s eyes widened at the enormous sum that had come out of nowhere.
For a moment, he wondered if some madwoman had come to play a prank,
but looking at Frau’s expression and the staff in her hand, it did not seem like she was saying it lightly.
“But it would be best not to say you’ll try with half-hearted resolve. There will be no second chance. If you fail to meet the conditions I demand…”
Frau paused for a moment and glared at the head chef with cold eyes.
Then the chill flowing from her grew even stronger, and the people inside the restaurant shivered.
“…I will take your life.”
Gulp—
Head Chef Roche instinctively realized that those words were no joke.
He considered calling the guards,
but he felt that doing so might only make the situation worse.
The other party was obviously a mage at a glance…
The best course of action would be to refuse politely and send her away.
But at the same time, Head Chef Roche thought.
He, too, had spent decades in the kitchen.
He worked at the best restaurant in the royal capital and was confident in his skills.
His pride as a chef.
And before his eyes, a mysterious mage guest was trying to place an order with his life as collateral.
“…May I hear what kind of order it is before I decide?”
Roche asked in a trembling voice.
“As much as you like. But you must decide carefully.”
Frau opened her travel bag and took something out from inside.
Then she began explaining to Head Chef Roche what menu item she wanted.
Roche silently listened to Frau’s explanation until the very end.
And he also carefully examined the “something” she had taken from her travel bag and shown him.
“…Well? Can you do it?”
“U-um…”
Cold sweat formed on Head Chef Roche’s forehead.
Indeed, just as she had said, this was an order with “no second chance.”
“…I cannot. I refuse the order.”
At last, Roche gave his answer.
It hurt his pride as a chef a little, but that was not more important than his life.
After hearing his answer, Frau quietly nodded once.
Then, without another word, she put the thing she had brought back into her travel bag and left the restaurant.
* * *
“Does it make any sense for a ghost to be unable to fly?”
“Wooo! Even if you say that… I can’t do what I can’t do!”
“Forget it. Just hold this ladder properly.”
After briefly scolding Aris, the wet-seaweed ghost,
I took the new shop sign and climbed the ladder.
Gourmet Restaurant Slow.
Following the advice of Irit, the elven knight, I had decided to stop ordinary business.
I got rid of the menu and made a new sign as well.
Since I had no intention of taking ordinary customers anyway,
I also made promotional flyers, which I had previously avoided because I was afraid too many customers would flood in.
Gourmet Restaurant Slow, run by an archmage-turned-chef.
We accept any order you desire, without restriction.
We promise our guests a special experience.
Reservation required. Ordinary orders not accepted.
I had the promotional flyers distributed in nearby cities through an advertising agency.
By now, our shop’s flyers were probably posted on the bulletin boards in each town square.
“Good. This should do. Aris, take the ladder back to the storage room.”
“Yes… heave-ho… heave-ho…”
After leaving the cleanup to Aris, I stepped a few paces away and looked at the newly hung sign.
It was a sign with the word “Slow” carved into wood in a plain style.
Overall, rather than a restaurant, it gave the impression of a countryside home.
“I… I put the ladder awayyy~”
As I was looking at the shop’s exterior with satisfaction, Aris came over and spoke.
Her wet-seaweed hair was damp twenty-four hours a day, her arms hung limply, and she wore an exhausted expression.
“You’re a ghost, so why do you get so tired?”
“What exactly do you think I am? Of course I get tired.”
“Let’s go in and eat.”
“Ah, yeeees! Food! Food!”
The sun was about to set, so it was dinnertime.
I brought Aris, who was excited at the thought of eating dinner, inside the restaurant.
While having a simple dinner, I asked Aris,
“What do you think? Do you think people will come after seeing those flyers?”
“Omph… omph…”
“Finish eating and speak slowly.”
Aris, who had been stuffing stew into her mouth, swallowed the food in her mouth and answered.
“It should serve as advertising, shouldn’t it? I heard you hadn’t advertised at all until now.”
“Well… I didn’t because I was worried the place would get too crowded with customers.”
“But honestly, I think there won’t be many customers who come even if you advertise.”
“Why?”
“You know. The restaurant’s location is a little…”
So Aris thought so too.
Even if I changed the way the restaurant operated and actively distributed promotional materials,
in the end, the biggest obstacle was our restaurant’s location.
The forest closest to the restaurant was a dangerous zone where dangerous monsters appeared.
There were no nearby cities, and the road was too bumpy and rough for carriages to travel easily.
Since I was an archmage, I could say I felt no inconvenience,
but from the customers’ point of view, the very act of coming here was a barrier to entry.
Jingle— jingle—
That was when it happened.
The restaurant door opened, and someone came in.
“Urp—! Ptoo—! Cough, cough! W-welcomeee!”
Aris, who had been in the middle of her meal, sprang up and immediately greeted the customer.
The one who entered the shop was a girl dressed head to toe in thick fur clothing.
In one hand, she held a magic staff made of transparent material, and she had sky-blue hair.
Powerful, cold mana that could not be concealed was flowing from her body.
As an archmage, I could tell at a glance.
This customer was no mage of ordinary skill.
“Dear guest, have you come to make a meal reservation?”
Preparing for any unforeseen situation, I asked while tensing slightly.
The girl in fur quietly nodded.
Then she looked at me and asked,
“I heard you accept any order one desires, without restriction. Is that true?”
It seemed she had come after seeing the promotional materials we had recently distributed.
Anyway, for someone who looked so young, she had no manners.
Well, mages tended to be like that in general.
She was a customer, but as mage to mage, I didn’t think there was any need to be especially polite.
“That’s right. Whatever the order may be, we deliver a result that satisfies the guest. That is our restaurant’s creed.”
“I have one special order to make. If you succeed, I will pay you 1,000,000 lira.”
“1,000,000 lira…?”
I was a little surprised by the absurd sum that suddenly came up.
Even for me, who had earned an astronomical amount of money in my adventurer days and already achieved financial freedom,
the idea of paying 1,000,000 lira for a single meal was astonishing.
The girl lifted her head, looked straight at me, and opened her mouth again.
“…In exchange, there will be no second chance. If the food does not satisfy me, I will take your life.”
The moment she said those words, it felt as though the air inside the restaurant grew chilly.
What the hell is this one saying?
Is she some kind of gourmet of death?
From the looks of it, she had already gone around to several restaurants stating those conditions.
Naturally, there would be no restaurant willing to accept such an order with their lives on the line,
so after wandering and wandering, she had reached this place… was that it?
Interesting.
I was not particularly afraid.
I could not speak for other restaurants, but this place was a restaurant run by me, an archmage.
Even if she started a fight with my life as her target,
I could simply subdue her instead.
“Very well. I accept your order.”
I decided to accept the girl’s order.
* * *