I come back to a worried old man.

To be fair I did spend a while roaming the city trying to find my way.

Still, it wasn't that long, right?

He asks me what I think of Nomzilla.

He is reassured to know that we became good friends.

Says that I can rely on the guy in the future.

He has as much heart as fat.

I can attest to that.

I swear the old man is perceptive as hell.

Somehow, he guesses that I'm not telling him everything.

At first, I want to keep mum, but he convinces me otherwise.

Something about actions having bigger repercussions sometimes.

He is starting to scare me.

I reluctantly spill the beans.

He doesn't even say anything.

He just starts laughing.

I wait till he stops, but ….

Every time he stops, he resumes a few seconds later.

That's when the ingredient shipment arrives.

I was expecting it in a few days…apparently, pies motivated my business partner enough.

He pulled some strings.

Seriously, this is impressive as fuck.

How does he even do all that while staying inside his church?!

This guy is the ultimate hikikomori!

At this point, it is a super-power I'm telling you.

With a wave of his finger everyone bows to his power.

This is the dream CEO!

I can already hear the complaints coming.

A CEO should be tall, handsome, and have a magnetic charm!

Nope. Bullshit!

That's a model right there.

An actor perhaps.

A CEO?

One simply needs to be convincing.

Enough to get investors to follow you.

That is all.

Everything else you can outsource.

The richest people are mostly old men that look like raisins.

I'd take a balding fat ugly middle-aged man over a pretty boy any day to manage a business.

Do you know why?

The former needs to make money to get laid!

I'm joking. Almost.

That's what is good about this place.

You don't get hate mail for joking.

Ha, but maybe you get killed.

I guess the earth realm would be worse if I was feeble.

So I get back to baking.

How many pies can one bake before an old man stops laughing?

I don't know.

More than 8 apparently.

It takes the whole day for him to regain his calm.

Then he tells me that everything should be fine.

That he knows the family the young lady belonged to.

He says something about going for a visit to make sure.

Bringing me for an apology.

Then starts pure torture.

He teaches me etiquette.

A simple bowing posture.

A matter of seconds to execute.

Hell, this shit is hard!

It takes me a few hours before he finally approves of my stance.

Something about it being horrible, but not nightmare-inducing anymore.

I want to protest, but I also don't want to think about it anymore.

Then we bake some apology pies.

At first, he tries to convince me to bake something else.

But I do not falter!

I am a man of principle!

If they don't enjoy pies, they don't deserve an apology from me.

He says something about this being the cause of my downfall in the future.

Or tries to, anyway.

As I am wise, I stuff some food in his mouth to prevent him from finishing his sentence.

Flag adverted!

This is superstitious?

Perhaps. I don't care.

In such a way we toil all day long.

Then he tells me one last time the planning for tomorrow.

We will wake up early, then wait in front of the family's gates.

We will notify their servants of our presence and wait patiently.

All day long if it is what it takes.

Then we will make a quick apology, hand over the gifts, and get out.

I ask him if it's truly necessary.

Apparently, it's just a precautionary measure.

As in with the Gluto support we'll be fine either way.

The only thing is that it is always better to have friends than enemies.

From a personal standpoint as well as for a business.

Reputation is important.

One may not buy your product because they simply dislike you.

That does make sense.

There is one thing I want to ask him.

[Hey, old man. What is that family even called? Should I practice saying their name not to mess it up later?]

Could you imagine apologizing to someone and butchering their name.

Worst case it would be possible to even offend them even more.

"Remember it well. They are called the Greberos and…."

I don't even bother listening to the rest.

[Oh my fucking god.]

He looks at me puzzled.

All that effort for nothing!

I silently move toward the apology pies.

Then I just put them all in the for-sale pile.

Yep, that will do.

[Yeah, about that. Screw that. We'll just keep baking tomorrow.]

Now he looks worried.

"Don't tell me you are already enemies with them from earlier?!"

I can see Wolfie laughing in the background.

So can the old man.

"From your wolf's reaction … you already know them?"

[Depends. Do you consider getting offered a position as an elder there knowing them or not?]

He looks at me baffled and impressed.

"Kid, you are full of secrets, aren't you?"

[Don't overthink it. I simply happened to save someone's life by mistake.]

"Now I definitely want to know more! How did that happen?"

[Well, there was a king slime…]

"How the hell did you defeat such a creature?!"

[Defeat? I just ate it.]

"W-what do you mean ate it?!"

[Well, the core is juicy and tasty. The trick is to let it swallow you. Once you are inside you can just grab it easily and gobble it up.]

He is just looking like this 0_0.

Is it that weird?

Humans are pretty good at finding a way to eat any animal.

It shouldn't be that weird, right?

He slowly enunciates.

"Say… are you low-key a Gluto follower?"

[No, why?]

"I feel you'd have potential. Plus you could get ingredients for free..."

Are you kidding me?!

There is no way I am doing that!

I want my handsome face to remain visible!

Whatever tomorrow will be a good day I bet.