"He"s trying to compete with Cary"s Rotisserie using a stall that barely gets any business? He must be dreaming!""Could it be that he was hired by the owner of this stall to promote his failing business?"
"You know what? That"s actually kind of plausible! Otherwise, what kind of idiot would do something like this?"
"I agree with what this guy said earlier, but he"s completely out of his depth here."
"He"s selling roast beef for one silver coin per cube? Since when was beef sold in cubes?"
"Mamy Restaurant? Why have I never heard of this restaurant? Could it be that he was actually hired to promote that restaurant?"
All of the bystanders nearby were discussing quietly among themselves as they looked at Mag"s makes.h.i.+ft sign. It was quite clear that no one was optimistic about his chances.
Alex is going to sell roast beef? Will it be edible?
Irina looked on with a skeptical expression as Mag sprang into action. Alex was even able to stomach her cooking, and he ate virtually everything aside from raw meat.
However, he was now renting this stall and making a bet against such a successful rotisserie!
"Big Sister Irina, Father"s setting up a stall! Let"s be his first customers! Father"s roast beef kebabs are super delicious!" Amy"s eyes lit up as he jumped down from Irina"s arms. She then latched onto Irina"s hand and dragged her over to the outdoor tables and chairs nearby. At the same time, she was amazed by her father"s wisdom: if Big Sister Irina were to taste his food, there was no way that she wouldn"t fall in love with him!
"I won"t die from eating this, will I?" Irina wore a skeptical look on her face. After all, Alex was even capable of eating the horrendous roast chickens she had cooked.
"Of course not!" Amy shook her head with a firm expression. "Father"s cooking really is super delicious!"
"Alright, I trust you, Xiao Mi." Irina smiled as she patted Amy"s head and took a seat beside her.
Sinclair looked at the newly erected sign with a confused look as he asked, "Is this correct, Boss Mag? You"re selling beef in cubes?"
"That"s right; a cube is about this big." Mag drew a circle with his index finger and thumb before continuing to tally up Sinclair"s ingredients.
There were two large slabs of normal rib-eye beef which were relatively fresh. They appeared to have come from a freshly slaughtered cow from this morning, and they were sitting on a bed of ice cubes.
A charcoal oven was being used along with a long rectangular roasting rack, beside which were beef steaks that were each sliced to around the size of a human hand. That was most likely the roast meat that Sinclair was selling.
As for condiments…
Mag only managed to find some salt.
Seriously? He doesn"t even have any oil? It"s no wonder his business is so bad! Mag grumbled internally. He was using extremely lean rib-eye beef as well, so the texture would be extremely coa.r.s.e and hard without any oil.
"System, I"m not asking for anything else other than a bottle of c.u.min powder and a bottle of black pepper powder." Mag closed the condiments box with a speechless expression.
"You should try and complete this mission on your o—"
"If you won"t sell it to me, then I"ll get Sinclair to go out and buy me some for twice the price," Mag interjected calmly.
"The system is more than happy to be of service! One bottle of c.u.min powder and one bottle of black pepper powder have already been delivered for twice the original price!" the system immediately replied in a joyful voice.
"What?! Did I agree to pay twice the normal price?" Mag raised his eyebrows.
"I"ll get Sinclair to go out and buy me some for twice the price. I"ll get Sinclair to go out and buy me some for twice…" A voice recording began to play on an infinite loop in Mag"s mind.
"The system is happy to offer you the most exceptional service!" the system said with an accompanying emoji of a fake professional smile.
"Fine! You win!" Mag heaved an exasperated sigh. There was nothing he could do when the system was being so shameless.
"Are you sure you want cubes of this size?" Sinclair was holding what he thought to be a downright tiny cube of beef in his hand with an incredulous look on his face. How could anyone possibly be willing to purchase such a minuscule bite-sized cube of beef for an entire silver coin? Sinclair himself was selling entire steaks for 20 copper coins!
Mag turned to Sinclair, and replied, "That"s right. If you have some time on your hands, would you be able to buy a barrel of top-grade vegetable seed oil and 10 handfuls of toothpicks for me?"
"Toothpicks? Are you worried that customers will get beef fibers stuck between their teeth? If so, you can rest a.s.sured; according to my experience, there are very few customers who will ask for toothpicks, so we have more than enough already." Sinclair shook his head with a smile.
"No, the toothpicks will be used to skewer meat." Mag turned to Sinclair with a serious expression, and said, "Time is ticking, Boss Sinclair. If you wish to be my employee for half a day, then I hope you can ask fewer questions. Otherwise, I"ll choose someone more efficient instead."
Mag suddenly really missed Yabemiya and Sally, who talked very little yet did lots of work. This Sinclair was indeed quite warm and hospitable, but he was too talkative, which made him a bad employee.
Sinclair looked at Mag"s serious expression and hesitated momentarily. Even though he still had a million more questions to ask, he refrained from doing so as he nodded, and said, "Alright, I"ll do as you say, Boss Mag."
He then immediately rushed away to purchase the oil and toothpicks.
The fact that he was renting this stall to Mag free of charge was already an admission that his business had failed. However, he wasn"t willing to just give up without leaving behind some mementos. At the very least, he wanted to see Ike lose this bet before he left. As such, he simply had to trust that this Boss Mag was the real deal and support him in every way that he could.
Mag pulled out the two bottles of condiments from the cabinet on Sinclair"s cart. Mag no longer trusted the system to teleport things into his pockets anymore. Irina was still looking on from the sidelines, and he didn"t want her to think that he was some kind of deranged pervert.
Mag turned to Irina and Amy with a smile as he said, "Looks like we"ll have to eat my roast meat for lunch today."
"That"s alright, I can eat Father"s roast meat 10,000 times without getting sick of it!" Amy encouraged as she raised her little hands into the air.
Irina looked at Mag with a serious expression, and said, "I hope I can still live to eat at the next restaurant."
"I think you"ll like it," Mag replied with a smile before turning back to the slabs of beef. It appeared that Alex"s cooking skills were even worse than he had imagined.
All of the beef was sliced into cubes with side lengths of two centimeters, and the two large slabs yielded over 1,000 cubes in total. Mag then placed all of the cubes of beef into a ma.s.sive pot before purchasing some condiments to use as a marinade.
Due to the limitations on time and ingredients, Mag wouldn"t be able to cook roast beef of the same caliber as the kebabs sold at his restaurant, but one silver coin per cube was still a ma.s.sive bargain. His target was to sell all of the cubes of beef he had in one afternoon.
"Oh, I almost forgot!" Mag suddenly slapped his forehead as he sheepishly wrote another short line of text on his makes.h.i.+ft sign.
"Only one cube per person!"