Kit felt a wave of nervousness sweep over him, this always happened before he had to interact with strangers. He gritted his teeth and forced a smile to his face. He took a breath to settle his nerves, then walked over to the waiting customers.

“Hello, I’m Kit. What can I get you tonight?”

‘I hope my smile is ok, I don’t want to scare the customers away.’

The family of four turned to look at him, they all returned his smile with a hint of curiosity.

“Look at your hair it’s so bright, I love it. Mum, I want that colour in my hair.”

A sweet tiny voice complimented him. The young girl looked about 10 years old, she had a cute face and dimples.

The mother and father scrutinized his hair.

“Mmm, it does look nice. You will need to be a little older before you can dye your hair though.” The mother gave the young girl a comforting pat on the head.

A deep coarse voice emerged from the man. “Rose go to see her parents? Iris hired you to serve tonight?”

“Yes, to both.” Kit kept his smile on his face, as much as he hated small talk, he needed to practise if he was going to open his own restaurant.

“Where do you come from?” A curious little face peered around his father to glance at Kit.

‘How do I answer this? If NPC’s find out that we are not from this world it causes havoc. I have heard it’s like a virus is let loose and sends the NPC’s insane. I could get banned from CAL if I don’t answer this right. Damn it, I should have thought of a back story already.’

Kits smile slipped from his face, and he could feel panic rise in his throat. The mother glanced at him and realised he was uncomfortable.

“Questions later Boyd, it’s time to order first. We will have four roast burly rabbits, and four sweet meadow spring waters please.”

Kit gave the woman a thankful smile. He wrote the order on the piece of paper, it looked like chicken scratch, hopefully Iris would understand it. Using the quill was nothing like a pen, it was awkward to manoeuvre over the paper. He walked over to Iris and gave her the offending piece.

Iris raised her eyebrow when she saw the writing, a little chuckle emerged from her mouth. “I can see you are not used to a quill, this is quite a sight.”

“Sorry, I tried my best.” Kit lowered his head in embarrassment.

“It’s ok I can still read it, I have seen worse. Not much, mind you this does contend in the top three.” Iris still had laughter in her voice.

Iris took out a round silver platter with the Waddling Duck written in the middle with a picture of a fat duck with short legs carved into the tray. She then walked over to what looked like a stainless-steel bain-marie with three pans inside and a transparent glass covering.

Each pan was filled with a meal from the menu, a mouth-watering smell came from the inside. The roast rabbit was crisp, the potatoes had a golden crust, the greens were plump and vibrant. Iris reached for a plate of the roast burly rabbit, as soon as it past outside the pan a new roast materialised.

Kit was amazed he didn’t think magic in this world would be so incredible. He felt his excitement grow, he had always loved magic. When he was little, he remembered finding out magic was not real, he was so devastated he wouldn’t talk to his family for three days.

Iris placed the meal she had taken onto the silver serving platter. She repeated the process three more times. The magic continued to come, each meal was on its own plate. They stacked on top of each other, creating what should have been a disastrous meal leaning tower of Pisa.

‘How is that not falling over, it hasn’t even wobbled. That is amazing it’s like they are stuck with glue.’

Kit stared in open wonder at what had just happen, this was beyond his imagination. Kit felt little thrills shooting through his body, he was itching to try it out himself.

“Iris, how did you do that?”

Iris stopped pouring the water to go with the meals and stared at Kit. Iris gave Kit a strange look as if he had asked a bizarre question.

“Close your mouth dear. It’s magic of course.”

‘Oh no, I’m supposed to know about this kind of thing. This is an everyday function in this world. Ahh will I get a warning, quick brain think of an excuse fast.’ Mars was walking past as this happened.

“Oh, Iris sorry my brother had an accident when making a potion not too long ago. It damaged some of his memory. He can remember most things, but sometimes he has a little hiccup and thinks he has never seen things before. He then goes and gets himself all amazed over it, like a three-year-old.” Mars winked at Kit, and walked off.

‘Saved by the giant pirate rooster, he really is a lucky charm.’

“Oh, you unfortunate dear. It must be terrible, here I will tell you about how the time freeze food shelf, and serving platter works. This time freeze food shelf can hold up to 300 dishes of food, 100 per pan it keeps the food in a time freeze with magic. The frozen state keeps the food from spoiling. It stays frozen in the condition it goes into the pan.”

“After you cook a meal, you place it in the corresponding pan. They stack on top of each other, every pan has a dimensional space to hold the food. That is why it can be this size and hold so much food.”

“What’s a dimensional space Iris.”

“Dimensional spaces are basically another area, for instance this time freeze food shelf is in another dimension. I have no clue how that works, you would have to ask a dimensional space expert.”

“So cool, magic is the best.” Kit had a silly grin on his face, from the joy of watching the magical items.

“The silver platter is also magic, it holds things in place, so they don’t fall over. This model can stack up to five dishes high and holds five drinks at the same time. If you overload the tray the magic stops working, and they will fall over.” Kit looked at the magic implements with stars in his eyes, he felt his face hurt from the large smile on his face.

‘I must look so silly right now, but I don’t care, this is amazing.’

After Iris had finished loading the tray with the meals and water Kit picked up the tray.

’Who knew being a waiter was going to be so exciting! I get to use a magic serving platter.’

Kit felt like it was his birthday, and he just received the present he had always wanted. He could not take his eyes of the silver platter on top of his hand. It was so light, it did not even feel like anything was on top of it. If he could not see all the food, he would swear it was empty.

He walked the food over to the table, the mother giggled at the look on his face.

“You look so excited to deliver the food.”

“I am, this is the first time I have used a magic platter.”

Kit couldn’t wipe the grin of his face if he tried. The family all giggled at his reply and the look on his face.

‘This is fantastic. But I am still nervous something will go wrong. I just can’t get my brain around the dishes being stacked like this. What if the magic stops halfway to a table, it would be a huge mess.’

Kit, to his delight, completed his task without any incidents.

Ding!

[Skill learnt: Novice Platter Bearer]

Player can deliver items without dropping them, no ability needed, thank you magic tray!

+ 4 speed

Kit blinked slowly when he read the message that just popped up. ‘CAL is having a great time with these descriptions, they are not normal. I should ask Mars about his skill descriptions. I really want to know what else CAL came up with.’

Although the description was strange, getting +4 speed on top of the + 3 he already had from the white apron was great. Kit could already notice his speed increase as he walked over to the next group of customers.

‘I should get the time freeze food shelf and the silver platter when I get my restaurant. Then I will not need to spend all day in the kitchen. I can prepare the meals in the morning. This will allow me to serve the customer without having to hire a waiter, saving me money on wages. Planning like a boss already, excellent job Kit.’ Kit was happy with his line of thought.

He delivered the new orders to Iris and happily watched her stack the silver platter again. Kit decided he need to figure out the limits of the sliver platter. Once Iris handed the platter over to him, Kit gave it a little shake. Nothing moved.

‘I wonder how much it would take to make the dishes slip off.’ Kit realised his curiosity could be his downfall. Kit took a couple of steps away from Iris. Once she was distracted with a customer, he spun around in a circle as fast as he could. Still nothing moved off the platter.

‘It can’t hurt to go full on, right? It is magic after all.’ Kit easily lied to himself about his next idea. In the next instant Kit turned the silver platter upside down. He shut his eyes and waiting for a loud clatter. The only sound to great his ears was the chatter from the customers.

Kit slowly opened his eyes. Kits mouth hung open once again. ‘It really is magic.’ The food that was piled on the platter had not moved an inch. Not even one green had fallen to the floor. Kit smile bloomed into full force, he really did love magic.

Once Kit had finished his fun with the platter, he took the new customers their orders. He repeated collecting orders and taking them to Iris for the next 4 hours, until the restaurant in the Inn was almost closed. Kit was exhausted after 4 hours of serving customers and his stamina had run out four times, his face also hurt from smiling.

Iris had given him the sweet meadows spring water, it had stamina regeneration. 2 stamina recovered every 3secondss for 1hour. The stamina regeneration made the water popular with the farmers, they would order numerous bottles for take away.

Kit and Mars were sitting at the bar waiting for the last of the customers to finish their meals.

“Here you go boys, you have earned your food tonight.”

Iris put a plate of roast burly rabbit in front of both of them. The smell made their mouth’s water. Kit was ravenous, he started shovelling the food in his mouth without worrying about manners. Beside him, Mars was doing the same.

The flavours burst inside his mouth, it tasted even better than he had imagined. The roast was tender, the potatoes were crisp and sweet, even the greens had a wonderful flavour. I need to create something like this, I will have no trouble selling it then.

Kit finished his meal with a loud burp.

‘That was embarrassing I hope no one heard it.’

Kit glanced around to see if anyone had noticed. Mars was still too engrossed in his food and Iris was putting away plates.

‘I feel full after eating but also different somehow, I can’t quite grasp what it is, healthier maybe?’

Kit decided to open his menu.

Kit

Level: 1

Health:210/110 +100/5hrs

Attack + 5

Class: Swordsman

Stamina: 11/11

Speed + 6

Sub class:

Magica 23/23

Intelligence + 6

Money: 20 bronze crowns

Experience 100/300

Agility + 4

Free Points: 2

Clothing: White apron

Defence + 3

Weapon: Rusty Knife

‘That is incredible I have an extra 100 health and it would last for 5 hours. This must be because of the roast burly rabbit. No wonder the adventures tonight wanted to eat before they went hunting. I don’t understand why I get hungry if this is a game? Is it because it simulates real life?’

‘Now it is night-time, I should ask Iris about a bed. From what Mars said before, staying out at night is not pleasant.’

Just as Kit was going to ask Iris about the possibility of a room for the night, a tall man dressed in Grey Armor from head to toe walked through the door.

“Iris, roast, now.” The voice was rough and had a deep.

The tall man then walked over to the table, sat down and took his helmet off. A head of brown hair was revealed, the man looked in his late 20’s with attractive features. a chiselled chin and sword shaped eyebrows adorned his face. He tapped his finger impatiently on the table.

Iris rushed over to Kit in a hurry.

“Kit, we have run out of roast burly rabbit, you two ate the last portions. Could you run two doors down to old Elm’s house. Her son will hopefully have one rabbit we can have. Kai, that tall young man over there, will be going night hunting. He will need the extra health, if he doesn’t eat before going, he gets quite grumpy.”

‘Lucky, I didn’t give Mayor Meadows both of the rabbit meat I caught earlier today. I can give the last one to Iris.’ Kit offered the meat.

“Kit, you are a life saver, thank you.”

Ding!

[CAL]

Reputation with Inn Keeper Iris increased: 10 reputation points.