A Stay-at-home Dad’s Restaurant In An Alternate World

“Hmm?” Mag turned toward the forge with a wary expression, and heaved a sigh of relief upon discovering that it had not been reduced to a pile of rubble. He then turned to face an animated Harrison with a perplexed look.

Harrison could see the puzzlement on Mag’s face, and he hurriedly explained, “Mag, your restaurant was removed from the rankings board! All five dishes were removed with no exceptions!”

“Removed from the rankings?” Mag raised an eyebrow upon hearing that. That really was quite unexpected. Ever since the sweet and savory factions had stopped giving one another five-star ratings, Mag felt like the mission was in the bag. However, it appeared that things weren’t going to be that simple.

“Uncle Gray Fatty, are you saying that someone has kicked our restaurant off the rankings board?” Amy emerged from behind Mag with displeasure etched on her little face.

“Yes, Mamy Restaurant must have been targeted by someone, which is why it was removed from the rankings board.” Harrison nodded with a furious expression. During the past few days, he checked the rankings board every single day, paying more attention to it than his own gold shop. Now that the dishes were abruptly removed from the rankings, he was struck by a feeling akin to that of having his own child go missing, and he was very displeased.

All of the customers lining up in front of the restaurant also began to discuss heatedly among themselves. They were also very angry that Mamy Restaurant had been removed from the rankings.

“Mag, have you provoked some sort of vile character?” Gjerj was also a businessman himself, and his businessman’s intuition told him that there were some hidden circumstances involved.

“Now that you mention it, I might have. Perhaps I irked all of the restaurants below me on the rankings.” Mag shook his head with a smile. He wasn’t feeling all that panicked or enraged.

It was indeed outside of his expectations that his restaurant had been removed from the rankings board. It appeared that the Catering Association of this world was even more corrupt and shameless than he had thought. It was already the ninth day, but his restaurant had been banished for no reason. The mission had been in the bag for him, but it wasn’t very clear now.

However, if there weren’t a few ups and downs, then it made running a business quite bland and monotonous. Mag wasn’t all that bothered about all this. After all, his father had established a massive corporation in his past life, and it had also suffered its fair share of hardships. In fact, he was close to bankruptcy on several occasions, and if he had lacked mental fortitude, then he most likely would have already thrown himself off a building.

Having said that, though, the Catering Association’s actions were really quite despicable. He had spent tens of thousands of copper coins buying tickets during the past few days, but it had all gone to waste. They were trying to screw him over, but he certainly wasn’t the type to suffer in silence. If they wanted a battle, then it was a battle that they were going to have. Mamy Restaurant was no longer as frail as it once had been.

“Alright, thank you for informing me of this, and thanks to everyone for your concern. Even if they do release a so-called report, I can’t accept such unfair treatment. However, Amy’s lessons start soon, so I have to take her to class first. Oh, by the way, I’m releasing a new dish tonight.” Mag glanced down at his watch before hoisting Amy onto the bike with a smile. He then rode the bike toward Chaos School.

“Mag sure has a good personality. Even after suffering such unjust treatment, he can still smile and talk to us in such an amicable manner.”

“Maybe Mag doesn’t really even care about the rankings board. After all, business is booming for him every day anyway. He’s constantly having to shoo away customers after the closing time, so he doesn’t even need good rankings to attract customers.”

“I don’t think that’s the case. Mag has bought a lot of tickets, and that’s quite a large investment, which shows that he still cares about the food competition. However, now that he’s been removed from the rankings board, it’s going to be hard to get onto it again. Even though Amy has two 10th-tier magic casters as her teachers, it’s still going to be hard for them to influence the Catering Association’s decision.”

“Those guys are saying that they’re going to release an official report soon, but I don’t think we should even bother with them. Isn’t the Catering Association a subsidiary to the city lord’s castle? If you ask me, Mag should just go straight to the city lord’s castle, and expose the Catering Association’s shady dealings.”

“Setting that aside for now, did I just hear what Mag said correctly? He said he was going to release a new dish tonight, right? We have to come and taste that!”

“He did indeed! I wonder what the new dish will be.”

The customers all discussed spiritedly among one another as they looked at Mag’s departing figure. The sweet and savory factions were suddenly extremely harmonious and unified.

“What’s going on?” Urien made his way over slowly to everyone. He had heard bits and pieces of everyone’s conversations, and from what he had heard, it appeared that Mamy Restaurant was in some trouble.

“Master Urien, Mamy Restaurant was removed from the Aden Square food competition rankings board.” One of them immediately explained the situation, and all of the other customers chimed in with displeasure, hoping that Urien would be able to uphold justice for Mamy Restaurant.

“How could they do that? All of Mamy Restaurant’s dishes are so delicious; they should be dominating the top five! Lulu and I have gone to all the restaurants on the rankings boards, and barely any of them were any good!” Xixi grumbled before prodding Lulu so he could back her up. “Isn’t that right, Lulu?”

“Yes, you’re right.” Lulu nodded, and patted Xixi’s head in a comforting gesture.

“I feel like it’s better to have less people here anyway. It’s more peaceful that way.” Urien contemplated everyone’s complaints, musing in his husky voice with a calm expression on his face.

Everyone looked at Urien’s departing figure, then at one another, and they didn’t know what to say anymore.

However, when they thought about it, it was indeed too much to ask Urien to stand up for a restaurant. After all, he was the renowned Lord of Ice and a 10th-tier magic caster.

After a brief silence, Urien turned to look at everyone, and in a bone-chilling, frosty voice, he said, “By the way, wouldn’t this issue be resolved if we killed everyone from the Catering Association?”

“Gulp.” Everyone was petrified upon hearing that.

The thought process of an insanely powerful being was indeed very unique. If they simply killed everyone from the Catering Association, the Aden Square food competition would cease to exist!

“How boring.” Urien turned away, and left.

…

As soon as Amy arrived in the magic classroom, she looked at Krassu with a pitiable expression, and wheedled, “Master Krassu, our restaurant was removed from the Aden Square food competition rankings. I’m so angry! Can you make them put us back on the rankings board?”

Krassu glowered with a serious expression, and thundered, “Hmm? Is someone causing trouble for the restaurant again? How dare they pick on my disciple? Looks like they want to taste my fireball! Tell me who it is; I’ll burn them all to death!”