Grand opening

Kit nervously swallowed as he moved towards the restaurant front door. His mouth felt dry. He could hear the noise from the people waiting outside. He reached out a shaky hand and placed it on the door handle.

This was it, he was about to find out if his dream was going to succeed! He blew out a breath to steady himself, then pulled the door open. He took a step outside. The voices around him slowly started quietening down until silence greeted him.

A line of eyes was fixed on him. Kit felt his scalp tingle at being the focus of so many people. He forced himself to offer a big smile to the waiting line.

"Welcome to Spartan Fire restaurant. Thank you all for coming to try our delicacies. Table seating is to the left and the takeaway table is found on the right. I hope you enjoy your dining experience.'

Silence resounded at the front of his restaurant. 'Shit, did I say something wrong?' Kit watched as the line of eyes continued to stare at him. He felt like it was a staring contest. No one moved!

Kit couldn't figure out why no one had moved or spoken. It was the strangest moment Kit had ever experienced in his life. He wanted to find a hole and crawl inside. This was a disaster.

Kit felt himself start to panic at the frozen line of people. He felt face collapse. Then he heard a throat being cleared behind him.

A sweet Loli voice whispered in his ear. "Kit, they can't come inside if you are blocking the door."

Kit face instantly went red. They had been waiting for him to move! He quickly fled behind the service desk. Once he had moved from the doorway. Noise had exploded from outside. The first customer of the day walked through the door and went and sat down at a table.

Snickers went over to take his order. Kit watched with fascination as all the tables filled with happy faces. Once the tables were filled a line started to form at the takeaway section and filled out the front door. Kit blinked he couldn't believe the sight in front of him.

Next to him Kit heard laughter.

"Your eyes are darting around nonstop. They will fall out if you keep it up."

Grandpa was having a good laugh at Kit's expense. Kit didn't care, there were customers everywhere his eyes landed. Suddenly Twix was calling him over.

Kit went to see what was wrong with Twix. "Kit this man wants to buy 100 Lucky sticky candy apples."

Kit blinked. 'What? Did I just here that right.' Kit stared at Twix for confirmation. Twix seemed to understand what the look meant he nodded at Kit.

If this became a trend, then they would run out of the apple sticks fast. Even if he made the apples nonstop all day, he wouldn't be able to keep up with the demand.

Kit decided to limit the purchase to 5 per person. Kit apologised to the man waiting then went to find Snickers so that they could update the menu board to reflect the changes. Kit then rushed into the kitchen to start preparing more candy apples.

The morning went by in a blur. Kit didn't have time to enjoy his grand opening he was too busy trying to keep the time freeze storage shelves stocked. He allocated Mars to preparing raw ingredients. This at least made it possible for him to keep the bays full.

Kit was wiping sweat from his brow when Snickers walked into the kitchen.

"Kit there are some people asking for you. They say that they are your acquaintances."

Kit was startled by Snickers interruption. Kit frowned and wondered who could possibly be looking for him. He wiped his hands then motioned Snickers to lead the way. Kit followed Snickers to the dining area. When his eyes landed on the waiting company a smile bloomed on his face.

"Iris, Curt, welcome!"

Kit leapt over to give Iris a hug. He then shook Curt's hand.

"What are you two doing here?"

Kit felt moisture pool in his eyes at seeing Iris. He had missed the warm feelings he had gotten from the middle aged woman.

"What do you mean Kit? I wouldn't miss your restaurant opening for anything in the world. But Kit how did you get so many items on the menu so fast? It is incredible."

Kit laughed at the shocked expression Iris had on her face.

"I will fill you in on everything once we close for the day Iris. I'm sorry I don't have time to catch up right now. I wasn't expecting to be so busy."

Kit was a little sad he couldn't stop to talk right away. But if he did, he would soon run out of food to sell. The amount of food that he was selling was beyond his expectations already and it was only lunch time.

Iris and Curt were looking around the packed restaurant.

"Well, it is a good thing we turned up today then Kit. It looks like you could use some extra help. I'll head over to that lad over there that looks like he needs a break and take over for him. You can reward me with some moon juice magic."

Curt had a bright smile on his face as he mentioned the drink. Kit was hesitant to accept the offer then he looked at Twix. He could see the frazzled look on his face from here.

"Then, I will thank you in advance for your help today, Curt." Kit pulled out a bottle of the juice and handed it to the guard.

Ding!

Reputation with guard Curt has increased 70 points.

Kit chuckled at the notification. Curt really loved his moon juice magic.

"Ai Kit I will have to move here at this rate. Then I won't have to miss this magical drink."

Curt tucked the bottle away then went over to talk to Twix.

"Well then let's head into the kitchen. I will give you a hand with prepping for your meals." Iris winked at Kit.

Kit felt a wave of relief at those words. Although he had Mars helping, it wasn't a skill he had cultivated. Kit could already picture Mars happy face when he could leave the kitchen. Mars didn't disappoint when he saw Iris, he gave her a big hug.

Then Iris shuffled him out into the dining area. Kit thought Iris had made Mars' day with the news he no longer had to stay in the back room. The rest of the day went by with Kit and Iris happily chatting as they continued to keep the time freeze storage shelves full.

When Snickers entered the kitchen to tell them that the restaurant was closed, Kit felt like he was ready to collapse in bed. He finished up the meal he was currently making then headed into the dining area.

Kit looked around at all the exhausted faces.

"Kit my boy, today was a big success!"

Even though Grandpa looked tired he had a big smile on his face.

"I think so too. Kit, we made a total of 1 gold, 261 silver and 63 bronze crowns. The 1 gold was just from the sales of the lucky sticky candy apples alone!" Snickers looked so pleased with the day's intake.

Kit couldn't believe how much they made in one day. He felt all his weariness disappear. If he could get a permanent employee to help in the kitchen, then he could teach them how to make the meals. They would have to sign a contract so Kit wouldn't have to worry about his creations being stolen!

Having another employee would increase his profit! It would also mean there wouldn't be so much pressure on himself in the kitchen. He also didn't think the others would want to be stuck inside the restaurant all the time like they were today.

"Snickers can you start looking for permanent staff as soon as possible. I know the grand opening rush won't last long. But I still want freedom to go out in the mornings to continue raising my swordsman levels with the others."

"Kit, I am so happy you mentioned that. I don't know how long I could keep this up. I'm not made out for the restaurant business." Twix looked like he was going to cry, he was that happy.

Kit would have to make it up to his friends at some stage for all their help. He was sure today wouldn't be the end of it.

"Thank you everyone for your help today." Kit decided to reward everyone with some candy apples and apple cider for today's work. He handed them out around the table.

"Just a word of caution about the drink. Once you drink it you won't be able to speak for 30 minutes. My chef level is not high enough yet. I won't be able to get rid of the side effect until I reach level 50."

Curt was the first one to speak. "Kit is that why the moon juice magic tastes a little funny?"

"Ahh, that yes. I need to get to chef level 75 for that one."

"Snickers how long will it take to get staff?" Mars inquired.

"Hopefully not too long. I've already posted an ad, this morning actually. I hope we can get some permanent employees by the end of the week."

Kit felt relief at Snickers answer. Today was his first busy day and he was already looking forward to a day off. The faster that the staff started the quicker he could have a break. He had a feeling he would need it by the end of the week.

"Iris how long are you planning on staying?"

"I can only stay for a couple of days I have to get back to the Inn."

"Ahh, I took up one of your days off helping me out in the kitchen. Tomorrow you should have a good look around the village. You too, Curt."

"I'll have a look around in the morning then come and see if you need help in the afternoon."

Kit wanted to refuse, then he thought about how much faster he could get the meals out thanks to Iris.

"Thank you, Iris. That would be a big help."

Kit decided he would teach Iris one of his recipes as a thanks. She was a friend, so he wasn't worried about her selling his creation to someone else. Plus, she had taught him one of hers.

While he was thanking people, he thought about his uniform.

"Snickers besides rum, what else can I thank you with?"

Snickers raised her eyebrow.

"It's for making the uniform. Honestly if I didn't have this uniform Snickers, I don't think I would have made it through the day. The boost I got was out of this world."

He wasn't kidding. He was able to push out the candy apples at a frightening speed. If it hadn't been for the speed boost, he wouldn't have been able to keep up with the demand. It was by far his best seller.

Snickers pursed her lips in thought. "Then I want a nice purple wine."

"Purple wine?" Kit had no clue what that was.

Snickers grinned at Kit. He had a bad felling about the wine. When she smiled like that Kit had already learned it wasn't a good thing.

"I'll let Leonard know you are going to make me purple wine. He'll organise to take you to a place to get the ingredients once you raise your swordsman level."

"Um, thanks."

"You're welcome."

"Well, I think we should all have some dinner, then call it a night."

The table rang with agreement. While Kit got the food, Snickers went to clean the kitchen. Once the plates were scraped clean, they all headed to bed.