Chapter 15 – Restaurant Chaos

Senna, Eva, and Eve have a hectic opening allowing a few people in that are not waiting for the special menu. Eva and Eve take care of the orders while Senna cooks the meals. 30 minutes after opening two girls dressed in the same pink uniform enter the restaurant.

“Hello?” The girl with chestnut brown hair calls out with some trepidation in her voice.

Senna quickly appears from the kitchen. “Ah Maria. You’re here.”

“Yes. We promised to be here after all.” Maria clutches the end of her skirt blushing.

“What’s wrong?” Senna tilts her head.

“This skirt is too short. It’s embarrassing!” Maria cries out.

“There’s not much difference with the skirts you girls wear for your guild uniform.” Senna points to the skirt extending just past the knees.

“She wears shorts under the skirt normally. You normally can’t tell unless the skirt flies up.” The flaxen blonde haired girl next to Maria comments. “I forced her to come without it.”

“Be quiet Ellen!” Maria yells with embarrassment.

“I see. I’m sorry for troubling you two.” Senna wryly smiles. “Ah Eva! Food’s ready.” Senna calls out as a dish is placed in the counter.

“Got it!” Eva replies picks up the tray and delivers it to the customer.

Eve walks over to the three of them. “Thank Remilia that you’re here! I’m Eve and that’s my little sister Eva. We need all the help we can get. It’s only us serving and Senna’s the only one handling the cooking.”

“They can show you what to do. We have a lull until we let in the rest of the people, so now’s a good time to practice.” (Senna)

“Shouldn’t you be in the kitchen if you’re the only one cooking?” Ellen asks looking at the kitchen.

“Senna! Another order!” Eva calls out.

“It looks like it. Thank you again for helping. Just ask if you need anything.” Senna quickly walks back to the kitchen.

“Thank you again for helping.” Eve hands notepads and a pile of numbered cards to the two of them. “Use these to write down the customer orders and place these cards next to them to remember who placed the order. Hang the order on the wire there, towards the kitchen for Senna to fill the order.”

““Understood.”” The two of them reply.

“If you get confused, just ask one of us. If you feel overwhelmed, ask Senna. She’ll come out and help. At that point, hang the orders towards the hall, so Senna can see the order.” Eve explains.

“Wait.” Maria interrupts. “I’m confused. Who’s going to cook if Senna comes out to help take orders?”

“Senna will. She does it with magic. I don’t know the specifics very well. But you can question it later. We need to get to work now.” Eve directs Ellen to follow Eva, while Maria follows her. The few customers allow Maria and Ellen to take their time to learn what they have to do. The two of them quickly pick up the process as the long line of customers begin to fill the restaurant. Senna manages the kitchen cooking various dishes.

The restaurant quickly becomes chaos as the four of them quickly record a flurry of orders. Senna starts using and magic to manage her cooking. Hands made of condensed wind manage the frying pans stirring and flipping the dishes. The water she summons drenches the dirty dishes scrubbing them clean. Senna seasons the dishes for cooking and performs the final arrangement. “It sounds like they’re reaching their limit.” She comments to herself as the complaints reaches her ears.

“Senna!” Eva appears at the access window. “Please help! It’s too much!”

“I’ll be out in a second. Take a breath and calm down.” Senna calmly replies.

Eva takes several exaggerated deep breaths trying to calm her nerves. “Sorry. We didn’t even last more than an hour.” She apologizes looking like a scolded puppy.

“It’s fine. I’ll manage 4 tables. You and Eve can manage 2 until you calm down. Maria and Ellen will take one table each. When you fall into your rhythm, we can adjust the load.” (Senna)

“Got it!” Eva runs off to tell the others.

Senna turns around. “Then please handle things on this end.”

“This is the last time.” Tempest, the Wind elemental, appears with obvious irritation in her voice.

“Understood.” Aqua, the Water elemental, appears from the drain sink. She takes over cleaning the dishes and manipulating the soup so that it cooks faster.

Senna nods. “I know. This is the last time. I promise. But you’re the one that originally offered to help cook.” When she first started worked alone in the kitchen, the two of them appeared and insisted on helping cook. They ended up being a great help to Senna when her [Cooking] skill exponentially increased the customers to this originally deserted restaurant. The two of them quickly got bored with the work after a day, but tolerated it because of the large amounts of magical power Senna fed to the two of them. Senna did her best to manage things and only called them on as a last resort.

“I know that.” Tempest grumbles. She takes control of Senna’s wind hands managing the pans and preparation.

“Just remember to pay us properly with your magic power.” Aqua comments.

“Of course. I promised to pay double the normal amount for today’s help and I will.” Senna replies leaving the kitchen. Senna makes use of her high Agility stat to instantly move to the table farthest away from the kitchen.

At the table, 12 people sit grumpily waiting. Senna smiles seeing the customers. “Welcome! Thanks for coming!” She uses to drop numbered cards in front of the twelve people. “If you’ve decided your order, please call it out. No need to wait. If you have questions feel free to ask.”

“Fried Fowl!”

“Give me this hamburger thing!”

“A Fowl for me!”

“Boar stew!”

“Boar burger!”

“Fried Fowl, Fowl Burger, Boar Burger!”

“How is your Fried Fowl special?”

“What’s this Hamburger thing?”

“Boar Stew!”

“One of everything!”

“Vegetable Soup.”

“Boar Burger! And please marry me!”

“Okay.” Senna nods mentally noting the order. “The two of you that ordered more than one. The serving is meant to fill a grown man up because each dish comes with several other items on the side. It will be hard to finish if you order more than one.” She glances at them, but they nod agreeing to it. “Okay. Because there are space issues if I deliver everything. Please decide which one comes out first.”

“Fried Fowl.”

“Boar Burger.”

“Okay. Next, the Fried Fowl is a leg, wing, and breast of a Blue Fowl season with a special mix of spices. It’s cooked in cooking oil under the outside has a crunchy exterior. This keeps all the taste of the fowl trapped inside. When you bite into it, the cooked skin shatters releasing the fowl’s juices. As it oozes out, it fills your mouth with a savory and deep flavor from the fowl’s meat making your cheeks slacken. Just be careful not to eat the bones.”

Senna continues to explain the dishes ignoring the drooling customers. “The hamburger is a sandwich holding a special piece of meat inside. It is made from the brown cow, prepared to be extra soft and seasoned to be full of flavor. The cow meat is the selling point and the taste doesn’t lose to the fowl or boar meat~. The flavor and juice ooze from the meat and soak into the bread improving the taste of both. The vegetables give the sandwich a crisp and fresh feeling, while the sauce gives a deep, tangy flavor. Ahem. If you want to change your order is fine. Tell me now.” Two of the drooling men change their orders listening to Senna. “And are you fine with just a vegetable soup? There are a lot of tasty items on the special menu.”

“No meat.” The petite person wearing a hooded cloak comments.

“Oi! You won’t get any bigger if you don’t eat meat.” One of the men jeers slapping the person on the shoulder. Several others start laughing at the cloaked person.

“Stop that. Respect what people choose to eat.” Senna comments with a stern tone and an overbearing smile. The laughter dies down immediately. Some of them tremble slightly looking at the stern Senna. “Do you eat cheese?”

“What’s that?” The cloaked person asks.

“It’s made from animal milk.” Senna probes about the person’s dietary choice.

“Milk okay. No animal meat.” The person emphasizes the lack of meat.

“There’s a pasta dish on the special menu. It’s made from grains and cooked with a bit of oil. Of course, I’ll arrange it to have no meat. What do you think?” Senna asks.

The person nods. “Okay.”

“Ok. And lastly, I got your order. But I’m sorry I have no interest in a relationship with anyone.” Senna apologizes to the man that proposed.

“Don’t say that. I…” The man protests.

“Ahem.” Senna coughs interrupting him. She points to the next table over with a table full of men glaring at the man. “Remember, no fighting.” Senna comments taking a step back bowing to the table. “I’ll be back with your order shortly.”

Senna quickly enters the kitchen. She sets up more spells arranging the instructions to cook the dishes leaving Tempest and Aqua to handle the fine tuning for the dishes. Returning to the hall, she continues taking orders to the other 3 tables she’s in charge of. Along the way, she picks up interesting pieces of conversation.

“Have you heard about the destruction of Bouldercoast?”

“Yeah. They say demons wiped the town off the map.”

“Hah! Bullshit. It was probably some thieves that raided the place.”

“That’s not true. Several more towns up north were wiped out too, Hul, Stagborne, Stillhaven, Thornburgh, Basincrest. Apparently the destruction extends past our Lalfiya Kingdom and into the Toren Kingdom.”

“The Toren Kingdom could be planning a war. They’ve never had a good relationship with the Lalfiya Capital.”

“Don’t be stupid. Toren is the closest kingdom to the Chaos continent. If the demons decide to attack during a war with Lalfiya, the Toren Kingdom would be attacked from both sides. They aren’t stupid to agitate things and be wiped out from both sides. There’s no way they can predict what those demons will do.”

Senna mentally notes the piece of dangerous news as she continues taking orders. By the time she finishes taking orders, her first set of orders are done. She moves over to the kitchen picking up the dishes, secretly taking out the cheese pasta dish from her [Storage]. The dish being one of her best dishes when she was attempting to make tasty dishes in case meat was not available. She uses to make the dishes float in the air over delivering their meal. The men have a bright smile as they dig into their food. The cloaked person hesitantly tries the dish. Joy can be seen as the person gives a bright smile over their hooded face before digging into the food.

With the orders done, Senna goes back into the kitchen to manage the chaos. Things go smoothly for several hours with Senna moving between serving and cooking.

“Ahh!! Stop!!” A cry rings out as Senna is taking down a new set of orders. Senna looks in the direction of the cry and sees a man with a large build gripping Maria’s arm. The red tinge on his face shows that he’s been drinking a fair amount.

Maria happens to free herself with a wild kick to his shin enraging the man. “You bitch!” She clutches herself taking several steps back as the man yells at her.

Ellen throws herself in between the two of them protecting Maria. “Stop that! She doesn’t like to be touched.”

“Then why don’t you entertain us, huhh?” The irritated man reaches out to grab Ellen’s breast.

Senna steps in grabbing the mans wrist forcibly stopping him. “Ahem. This is a place of dining. Please do not disturb others in your clamor.”

“What you want in? You only had to say so.” The oblivious man continues to talk haughtily without paying attention to Senna’s grasp. A collective gasp draws the other diners to the ruckus. The restaurant quiets down as their attention focuses on Senna.

“Is that so?” Senna replies calmly. She increases her grip on his wrist. With a sharp cracking sound, the man’s wrist bone shatters

“AGHHH!!!!” The man screams in pain snapping him out of his intoxication. Senna pulls his body forward in his moment of weakness twisting his arm and increasing his pain. With a simple leg sweep, the man falls to the ground. Senna steps on the man’s back pinning him to the ground.

“You bitch! How dare you do that to Leonard!” Three men stand up seeing their friend in pain.

Senna sighs looking at the men. “Come on. You two move.” She mutters to the still Ellen and Maria waving her hand behind her. The two of them quickly back away from Senna. The diners at the same table and the surrounding tables all stand up in a hurry and back away too. Many of them frantically run back to grab their food before escaping again to a safe distance. “In this place, you must follow our rules.” Senna states with a tinge of annoyance in her voice.

Two of the men look slightly concerned as everyone clears away. But all of them laugh looking at the lone Senna. “And what is one puny girl like going to do to us strong men?” The largest man cackles.

“Oh fuck!”

“He’s crazy!!”

“Does he know who he’s talking to?”

“Obviously he doesn’t!”

“Take cover!”

“Run away!”

A variety of reactions cause a bit of trepidation to the three men.

“Well. I’ll have to enforce the rules then.” Senna snaps her fingers casting forming it directly above the men drenching them. The water moves under her command enveloping their body leaving only the head exposed for all four men. The water forcibly lifts their arms collecting around their limbs. “By doing this.” With another snap, the water compresses. (AN: The finger snapping is a false signal to act as if the spell has been prepared some time ago.)

““““GAHHHHH!!!”””” The men scream as the water exerts pressure from all directions crushing their bones. The three standing men fall without bones in their legs to support them. Except for the man under Senna’s foot, the men faint from the pain. “You bitch. Just wait until we tell the guards.” The man cries out with tears and mucus running down his face.

Senna crouches down looking directly at the man’s face. “Do you really think you’re in a position to make threats?” The man opens and closes his mouth. His eyes bulge as he starts to tremble. “Relax. I’m not going to kill you.” With another finger snap, the water glows a pale blue healing the men’s limbs. “Even if you complain, there’s no proof.” Senna glances at the unconscious men. The water grips their upper thigh tightly and twisting in both directions creating a red burn mark.

“ARGHHH!!!” The three men are forced awake as Senna heals the burn again.

“If you follow the rules. 1. Don’t start a fight. 2. Don’t touch our employees. Then we have no problem. Next time though, I’ll amuse myself with breaking and healing your body until, I’m bored.” Senna smiles. As she stands up, an idea pops into her mind. “Or better yet, I’ll slice off your manhood.” Senna points her finger down. “And force you to eat it~. Wouldn’t that be fun?” Senna cheerfully tells them about their future punishment. The four men go pale imagining at the punishment. “It’s good you understand.”

Senna dispels the water making it evaporate into the air. “Everyone! I apologize for the disturbance! We’re all finished here!” She walks towards the back room to check on Maria and Ellen. The crowd parts like a receding tide as Senna approaches. People gradually sit back down once Senna has moved away. The four men weakly lie on the ground as they stare at Senna’s back.

“Oi.” One of the customers calls out to the men. “You should either leave or continue eating. If you keep getting in the way, Senna will be back to discipline you.” Their bodies tremble as they quickly stand and dash towards the exit.

As they near the exit, Senna suddenly appears in front of the door. The men grind to a screeching halt as they back away in fear. “You haven’t paid. Don’t think you can just eat and run.” She sticks out her hand. The four men turn over their money pouches spilling out all their money. Senna catches most of it using making the money float in the air. She frowns as she accounts for their bill. The men fear for their lives and start removing their weapons attempting to placate Senna. Senna finishes clearing their tab and throws their money back into the men’s money pouch. She steps aside. “Bill’s clear. Go ahead.” The men stare blankly at her, their hands ready to give up their weapons. She sighs and stops to look at them. “So long as you don’t follow the rules, we have no problem.” This time Senna completely disappears into the back room.

When Senna disappears into the back room, the restaurant explodes in chatter.

“Fuck! That was scary!”

“I know right!”

“This is why you don’t anger her. EVER!”

“So cool!”

“She’s my idol.”

“Mistress! Please discipline me too!” The restaurant goes silent hearing that voice.

“Pervert!” One of the women yells at the man. Instead of heckling the perverted man, many of the men and women, look away with an uneasy look.

At one table, a group of four teenagers silently stare at one another after seeing the display of power. They nod to one another waiting for Senna to return.

“Maria, Ellen, are you two okay?” Senna calls out in the back room. She sets up her blocking out the noisy restaurant. Maria is sitting down on a chair trembling. Ellen and Eva are next to her comforting her.

“I’m fine. Thank you for the help.” Ellen replies.

“Thank you Senna. I’m sorry for the trouble.” Maria murmurs quietly.

“It’s fine. I’m sorry you had to go through that. Technically, it’s my fault since I asked you to come and help out.” Senna comments.

“We went through the same thing, so we understand. If anything happens, Senna can handle it.” Eva tries to console Maria.

Senna opens the door temporarily opening the barrier letting Eve in. She walks in a tea cup in her hand. “Have some tea. It will help you calm down.”

“Thank you.” Maria takes the teacup and sips the drink.

“If you want to stop, you’re free to. The initial chaos is over thankfully.” Senna kindly offers.

“No. I’m okay. I promised to help.” Maria refuses firmly.

“Okay. If you say so. If something else happens, just tell me and I’ll come help. I’ll head back first.” Senna gives a parting wave leaving the room.

Ellen gives a sigh of relief seeing Senna leave. “She’s gone. I don’t know how you work with her all the time.” She takes a glance at Maria. “That last job she slaughtered 20 thieves by herself? That’s inhuman. If she was even a little greedy, she could destroy most of the town.”

“Hey!” Eva cuts in. “Is that anyone to talk about someone that saved you?”

“This and that are different. I’m grateful she saved me, but I don’t want to be around her.” Ellen bluntly replies.

“Even if she’s strong, she doesn’t misuse it.” Eve retorts.

“Hmph. Who can say?” Ellen scoffs.

“You!!” Eva’s face flushes listening to Ellen.

“Stop. Don’t fight.” Maria cuts in between them. “There’s no point trying to convince her. I’ve tried multiple times, but she really fears Senna. So she won’t change her mind that easily.”

“Mmmnn….” Eva grinds her teeth angrily looking at Ellen.

“Sis. Rather than fight. Let’s go help Senna. She’s handling all the work right now.” Eve tugs on her little sister’s arm.

“Hmph. Fine. Let’s go.” Eva gives Ellen a final glare before following her big sister out of the room.

“Haaa…” Maria looks at Ellen. “Please cooperate until we finish helping.”

“I know. I know. Don’t worry.” Ellen waves off her plea as she heads back into the restaurant. Maria sighs as she hastily follows her.

Author's Note

Thankfully the editing wasn't too heavy this chapter. I'm still feeling very exhausted since the Daylight Savings time shift. Turning time back is so much more painful for me than moving forward an hour. As a result, I've made little progress on the Glossary. I'm hoping to make use of the Thanksgiving holiday to get that written up. Also, hopefully the food blurb was tasty enough since it's uncharted territory for me to talk about food in detail like that.

Thanks to my friend Este for gifting me The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky when it was on sale last week. I can do a bit of gaming with an old fashioned JRPG. :) Tree of Savior kind of disappeared on my radar after about 8 hours of gameplay. My game time each day is too low to really keep up with the flow. Also, being a loner, I don't instinctively party with me making me suffer when I try and solo things. (Me being weird I know.) :P

Also, I'm not sure when I plan to have Senna's Status Screen pop up again to show her changes after the timeskip. So just in case here you go.

Spoiler : StatusNameSennaLevel35 (+7)RaceHumanAge14 years oldHP4310 (+700)MP3575 (+700)Strength420 (+70)Endurance515 (+70)Agility424 (+80)Dexterity460 (+100)Intelligence580 (+100)Wisdom567 (+100)Luck390 (+70)SkillsKatana Lv. 5 (+1)

Dagger Lv. 4 (+2)

Martial Arts Lv. 5 (+1)

All Elemental Proficiency Lv. 6 (+3)

- Fire Lv. 6 (+3)

- Water Lv. 7 (+4)

- Wind Lv. 7 (+3)

- Earth Lv. 7 (+3)

- Lightning Lv. 6 (+3)

- Light Lv. 7 (+3)

- Dark Lv. 6 (+3)

- Null Lv. 7 (+4)

Magic Spell Proficiency Lv. 8 (+3)

Magic Power Lv. 6 (+2)

Magic Manipulation Lv. 8 (+4)

Incantation Omission Lv. 7 (+5)

Detection Skills Lv. 7 (+2)

-Presence Lv. 8 (+2)

-Magic Lv. 6 (+3)

-Enemy Lv. 7 (+3)

-Danger Lv. 7 (+3)

Tactics Lv. 6 (+2)

Retreat Lv. 5 (+4)

3 Dimensional Movement Lv. 5 (+3)

Parry Lv. 5 (+1)

Identification Lv. Max (+4)

Analysis Lv. 5 (New)

Self-Recovery Lv. 6 (+2)

Disguise Lv. 4 (+3)

Keen Sight Lv. 8 (+3)

Hawk Eyes Lv. 8 (+3)

Poison Resistance Lv. 9 (+2)

Mind Resistance Lv. 8 (+1)

Disease Resistance Lv. 7 (+2)

Paralysis Resistance Lv. 6 (+2)

Petrification Resistance Lv. 5 (+1)

Storage Lv. Max

Reading Lv. Max (+2)

Improved Memory Lv. 9 (+3)

Persuasion Lv. 7 (+2)

Bartering Lv. 7 (+2)

Appraisal Lv. Max

Arithmetic Lv. Max

Experimentation Lv. Max

Language Comprehension Lv. Max

Poker Face Lv. 8 (+2)

Etiquette Lv. Max

Survival Lv. 7 (+1)

Cooking Lv. 8 (+4)

Specialized Growth Lv. 9 (+3)

Blood Manipulation Lv. Max

Last Stand Lv. Max

Soul Engraving Lv. Max

Concealed Status Lv. 8 (+2)

Skill Development Lv. 8 (+2)BlessingsTempest (Wind Elemental)

Quartz (Earth Elemental)

Aqua (Water Elemental)

Lumina (Light Elemental)

It's more and more ridiculous as time passes. :D