Inception of the Comeback

Cæ shot away from the fire, shocked. The fire immediately disappeared once his concentration was disrupted by his startling success.

"I thought it was supposed to be impossible…" he murmured. 

And yet, that wasn't the most shocking part.

He gazed at his hands with an amazed expression. "Did I… just cast magic?"

A bewildered laugh escaped him as he took in the moment. He hadn't even thought it would work, let alone be that easy. His expression grew mixed with exhilaration and confusion.

He was thrilled it worked, but he was confused about why it worked.

"Wait." He froze. "Can it be that my Acquired Savant Syndrome is equally applicable to the field of wielding magic as it is to the field of cultivating mana?"

His imagination allowed him to become extraordinarily effective at finding creative business strategies and ideas to achieve commercial success, at least better than before, but that same imagination was also extremely useful in magic.

"Is that why I'm able to do what the book says is impossible?" Cæ's eyebrows furrowed as he fell back into thought. "Let me finish going through what it has to say in this regard."

[…And yet, while it is truly extremely difficult, it is not impossible. There have been extraordinarily gifted geniuses in the long history of magic that are known to have gained a tremendous power of imagination. 

And their magic is known as pure magic due to the fact that its form is created spontaneously with imagination. Their magic is purely as they envisioned and desired it, giving them endless versatility and flexibility and endless potential in magical pursuit.]

He stared at the paragraph, frozen.

He was almost afraid to connect the dots and put two and two together.

But the truth demanded to be acknowledged.

"I…" A whisper escaped him. "I'm a pure mage?"

It was difficult for him to parse this as the actual truth. Even though he uttered the words, they refused to ingrain themselves in his mind.

Even as his exhilaration rose, so did his skepticism and confusion.

Was he getting it all wrong?

Was he misunderstanding the plain explanation that described precisely what he did as impossible?

"No…" A hint of certainty entered his eyes. "This is all real. I am… a pure mage."

His tone was as profound as the expression of surreality on his face as he gazed at his hands with shock. What ultimately tilted him in favor of accepting this as the truth was the ease with which he had cast his first magical spell.

He knew that if magic was this easy for everybody, it would be universal. If it was this easy to burn something with a simple thought, the world would be very, very different. That rationale, in addition to his medical condition explaining why he was different from the rest, made it easier for him to accept this shocking reality as the truth.

And yet, his reaction was bittersweet.

"This power came from Lilia's death."

His eyes grew melancholic.

"She would have been so excited to see this." A bitter smile emerged on his face. "This power… as wonderful as it is, if I could exchange it to get her back…"

He would have taken that deal in a heartbeat.

Unfortunately, reality didn't accept the barter system. She was not coming back even if it was somehow possible for him to give away the gift he had gotten upon her death.

"No, this power is mine, and I will use it to burn this world down." Pure fury blazed in the depths of his eyes. "I will burn it down and build a new one in its place."

"Cæ, my boy?" Mrs. Selvig's concerned voice reached him from her office, startling him. "Is something burning? I smell smoke. Did Darren light the kitchen on fire?"

"Ah, no, Mrs. Selvig," he replied with a lighter tone, hiding his emotions from her. "It's nothing to worry about."

He quickly disposed of the burned paper and continued reading his book.

He grew deeply paranoid of anybody learning of this shocking revelation. He represented a tremendous potential for profit as well a tremendous potential threat to many people if they found out about his talent. 

It was best that he kept his pure magic a secret, at least until he was strong enough to protect himself from the consequences.

"No, it would be good to keep it a secret for as long as possible." His eyes narrowed with determination. "My ultimate ambition is to overturn the world. I will undoubtedly face a lot of enemies who will do everything in their power to stop me. Knowing this will make it likelier that I will succumb to the resistance that surely awaits me."

And thus, he vowed to keep it a secret from everyone, including the Selvigs. This knowledge could potentially be dangerous for them to even know. After everything that they had done for him, the least he could do was ensure that they didn't suffer due to their association with him. 

Thus, his study of magic continued over the next few days as he learnt about magic as a phenomenon, a field, and an industry. 

[Magic is a wide and diverse field with many applications and industries centered around it. Some of the largest industries centered around magic are artificing, healing, alchemy, enchantment, and combat magic. In this chapter, we will explore some of these fields of magic and gain a basic understanding of how they work.]

Cæ's eyes lit up when he studied the many different fields of magic that the book lightly delved into with fun infographics. 

[Artificers forged artifacts with great magical power, while healers healed wounds and often diseases. Alchemists were masters of change, able to change materials into more desirable and valued substances. Enchanters gave ordinary objects magical properties, as a service.]

"Wow…" he murmured, immersed in thought. "I always knew the bare basics of these fields, but I never fully understood how these fields actually worked. This… this is truly special and incredible."

And thus, he spent his days learning the fundamentals of magic.

However, what consumed his time the most was the restaurant.

At the moment, it was the most important thing in his life. If he failed in this venture, picking himself up from the debt that he had incurred would be extraordinarily difficult. It would take years and drain away his life and his energy, making the odds of him achieving his goal extremely low.

That was why he ensured that, as fascinating and amazing magic was, he didn't let it distract him from focusing on the success of the restaurant. What they were attempting to do—changing the very identity of the restaurant to keep up with the drastic changes in the consumer market dynamics—was very ambitious.

They were in the final stretch of the changes in their operations, logistics, and supply chains.

This was when Cæ had to really step up, take responsibility for his plan, and ensure that everything smoothly went on track as was planned. 

It wasn't just his life on the line.

The future of the Selvigs was also on the line.

It was one thing if he failed and suffered the consequences; it was another if it hurt the people to whom he had sold his dream to. 

And thus, he worked his ass off, ensuring that absolutely nothing went wrong. And thanks to his diligence, nothing did. 

The first piece of the puzzle to fall in place was the supply chains. He had finally settled the old suppliers with pretty decent cash-backs while securing the necessary ingredients for producing a massive number of meat buns each day.

Then, he secured the restaurant title board while also getting his hands on the necessary posters advertising the soon-to-be sole dish on the menu, barring beverages. Additionally, he secured the purchases of additional kitchen magical artifacts needed. He also tirelessly followed up on the disposable container supplies that would allow the meat bun to be eaten conveniently anywhere without getting the floor or one's hands dirty.

And thus, after two weeks, the day finally arrived.

The day of the rebirth of Selvigs' Ristorante.

"Is everything in place?" Mrs. Selvig's voice was anxious. "Did we forget anything?"

"Hah, don't worry, dear." Mr. Selvig tightened his apron while donning his toque. "Everything will be just fine."

His tone was confident and certain. 

In the past two months, he had truly warmed up to the changes that had come to the restaurant. Perhaps it was because he was moved by Cæ's dedication, perhaps it was because he had truly come to see the vision and buy into it as well. 

Regardless, his eyes blazed with determination. "The restaurant will open in a few more minutes, let's start with the first batch."

The cooks of his team nodded firmly, having been well-prepped on the new kitchen protocols that Mr. Selvig had put in place.

Cæ did one last survey of the posters, little boards, and the new restaurant boards around the place while making sure the waiters were aware of their new roles. 

And then it was time.

FLIP

The sign outside the restaurant door was turned, displaying 'OPEN' prominently while the blinds were also opened.

The air tingled.

It tingled with anticipation.

There was a nervous energy in the air.

They waited.

And waited.

Each minute weighed down on them, stretching out longer than it ever had before. From the window, the first flying magical train of the day could clearly be seen arriving from the City of Notenborg landed in the very next block from the restaurant.

And that was when they knew.

That was when they knew that the rush would begin.

Within minutes, a batch of impatient customers entered the restaurant, hastily ordering the beverages that they were most accustomed to.

Yet this time, things were different.

"Good morning, sir," a waitress of the restaurant greeted a customer warmly, holding a tray with a plate and a wrapped meat bun, "we would like to offer you a complementary meat bun, our newest specialty. Prepared in just eight minutes, you can have a light, delicious, convenient meal anywhere you go!"

"Good morning, madam. Please enjoy our complementary meat bun…"

"Good morning, sir…"

The waiters and waitresses, having been instructed and trained on what to do, immediately took the first batch of freshly cooked meat buns to the customers, drawing their interest with the mouth-watering hunger scent of the hot dishes.

It hadn't been an easy decision to offer a free meat bun to each customer on the first day so that they could get a taste of the dish without worrying if it was worth buying.

"But are you sure that it is worth the costs?" Mrs. Selvig asked as she paced back and forth in her office. "Maybe this is too much of an expenditure?"

"You're the chartered accountant between the two of us, Mrs. Selvig," Cæ remarked stoically. "You handled the finances yourself, and I'm sure you know that we can just barely afford it with the loan combined with the restaurant revenue."

"I know, but…" She heaved a stressed sigh. "But I'm just very tense about this whole thing…"

"Don't you worry about it, Mrs. Selvig," he reassured her as he gazed through the unidirectional windows. "The moment they take a bite of the meat buns, they will fall in love with it."

His eyes softened.

"Just as I did."

And he was right.

The two of them watched as the customers lit up and chewed their first bite, relishing and savoring the juicy and deep taste of the ground, spiced meat with the warm and fluffy bread. Their bodies straightened as they felt the warmth of the freshly baked meat buns spreading through their entire body.

A small smile briefly cracked at the edge of Cæ mouth at the collective response from the customers.

Selvig's Ristorante had begun its comeback!

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