Harrison got in a few kicks before he emerged from the crowd, and panted heavily as he asked, "Mag, what happened to the forge next door? How did those shops collapse?" The forge beside the restaurant was still a pile of rubble, and a bunch of dwarven stonemasons were cleaning up the wreckage. They were reconstructing the building with an extremely high efficiency, but the gargantuan crater in the ground was still clearly visible, and it appeared as if a battle had taken place there.
"Maybe it was an earthquake." Mag shrugged. He didn"t think it was a good idea to spread word about the explosion. If the Gray Temple or the city lord"s castle were to learn about the fact that Mobai had invented explosives, they would probably pay as much attention to it as they did with the steam engine.
If Mobai could succeed, then he would create a weapon that even mortals could use but powerful enough to threaten giant dragons. That would create a ma.s.sive stir throughout the entire Norland Continent.
Mobai would most likely require a long time to invent something like that on his own, but if the Gray Temple and city lord"s castle were to invest in the project, a successful prototype would be created in no time.
Mag didn"t want that to happen. If that were to eventuate, the world would change far too quickly, and it would become a very unpredictable and volatile place.
"I see. Your restaurant sure was lucky." Harrison nodded. The three neighboring shops had all been damaged, and while the restaurant directly neighbored the forge, it was completely unscathed.
At that moment, Mag caught sight of the approaching Urien, and he smiled as he asked, "Master Urien, when will Amy"s lessons be held today?"
He then took a glance at Lulu and Xixi, discovering that Lulu was still a little pale, but he appeared to be fine. Meanwhile, Xixi looked as if she had already fully recovered. She was proficient in using healing magic, and it looked like her self-regenerative abilities were quite exemplary as well.
"We"ll start the lesson at 8am, after getting some food to eat." Urien looked at Amy with a smile, and greeted, "Morning, little Amy."
"Good morning, Master Turtle." Amy stood up with Ugly Duckling in her arms, and returned the greeting. She then turned to Xixi and Lulu with elation on her face, and asked, "Big Sister Xixi, Big Bear, are you two all better now?"
"We sure are. After having your father"s delicious chicken soup, both of us are feeling a lot better." A happy smile appeared on Xixi"s face as she patted Amy on the head.
"Father"s chicken soup is the best." Amy nodded with an affirmative expression, and her eyes were s.h.i.+mmering with pride.
"Thank you, Mag, and the two girls as well." Xixi extended a grateful bow toward Mag, as well as Yabemiya and Sally, who were standing behind him.
"You"re welcome." Mag shook his head with a smile. Amy really liked Xixi, so he also had a very good impression of her.
"Don"t mention it." Yabemiya hurriedly waved her hands, and her expression suggested that she was a little embarra.s.sed.
Sally merely nodded her head in response. Her thought process was very simple: she had indeed helped them the day prior, so she was deserving of their grat.i.tude.
"Time to open for business. Welcome, everyone." Mag took a glance at the clock before opening the doors to his restaurant.
As for the two people who had been thumped by his enraged customers, he completely ignored them. They had come with the sole purpose of causing trouble for him, so they deserved the treatment that they had received.
Sally and Yabemiya stood on either side of the door—one with a smile on her face, while the other wore a cold expression—and began their work day.
The customers swarmed in, leaving Ricky and his employee behind. However, some customers still gave them an obligatory kick before rus.h.i.+ng into the restaurant.
"I… I"ll be back…" Ricky looked up at Mamy Restaurant"s sign. His face was completely swollen, and he began to crawl away with difficulty. Never did he think that he would suffer such a horrific ordeal at the hands of those whom he thought comrades.
"Wait for me, Boss…" The employee also crawled after him. He had no idea what had just happened. He had only chanted a few sentences before being beaten for no apparent reason.
The rankings that had been released in the morning dealt a heavy blow to both the sweet and savory factions, and tension had been about to boil over into a full-blown confrontation. However, Ricky and his employee had successfully drawn all of the antagonism toward them, thereby allowing the two factions to unite, deciding to help one another for the sake of a greater future!
Mag was naturally very happy to see that. His braised chicken and rice and his la zhi roujiamo were already in the top 30, but if his other dishes could also climb up the rankings, then it would be a big help to him.
The system"s intentions were quite obvious; it wanted to increase the restaurant"s fame. On this occasion, it was the top 30. What about next time? Top 20? Top 10? Those were all things that Mag had to consider.
The morning service pa.s.sed by in a busy blur. After Urien finished having breakfast, Amy went with him to attend her lessons.
What surprised Mag was that Urien had decided to take Xixi and Lulu under his wing. In fact, he had already been quite surprised that Urien had interfered to protect the two the night prior. After all, Urien wasn"t some benevolent old man. Why would he choose to take in the dryad couple?
"Alright, I gave sweet tofu pudding a five-star rating, but that won"t shake my love for savory tofu pudding!"
"Hmph, as much as it hurts me to do so, I also gave savory tofu pudding five stars. Our main objective is to get tofu pudding into the top rank!"
The customers at the door conversed grudgingly with one another.
"Boss, they only ate one flavor of tofu pudding each, but they"re voting for both. Isn"t that cheating?" Yabemiya was a little concerned as she looked at Mag.
"Hm… That"s a good point. Even though we didn"t ask them to do this, if an investigation were to be launched, it could prove to be problematic." Mag contemplated the notion momentarily, and his head was beginning to throb. He didn"t want to stoop to any underhanded tactics to do well on the rankings.
However, after forging an alliance, the sweet and savory factions were casting extra votes for him voluntarily. Mag wasn"t sure if that was against the rules, but as long as the braised chicken and rice and roujiamo could remain in the top 30, he wasn"t concerned.
Lulu made his way over to the forge, and scratched his head in a slightly nervous manner. He looked at Mobai, who was issuing instructions to the dwarven stonemasons, and adopted a bashful smile as he asked, "Boss, is your forge still hiring? I"m not very bright, but I"m strong and can help you with manual labor."