Ludwig let out a long huff as he felt the soft fabric behind her caving in and hugging his body warmly. The restaurant had finally quieted enough for him to hear his own thoughts again.
The runic lamps above cast a gentle glow over the brown paper in front of him. They were a list of recipes. Old ones, new ideas, and half-written notes were spread out in familiar chaos in his book.
Up until now, the food he served at his restaurant had mainly been food from the eastern part of his world, his past world.
Rice bowls, broths. fried things meant to be eaten hot and fast. They were comfort food from places that valued balance, repetition, and quiet labor like Japan, Indonesia, Korea, and China.
It worked. More than worked to be honest. But Checkpoint was not an Asian specialty restaurant. It had never been one. If the restaurant was going to stay honest to what he wanted, then its menu had to broaden the same way its customers did.
He flipped to a clean page before putting one of his fingers there and looked back once again at his old notes. What he needed were things that didn't rely on refined sugar, processed flour, or modern machinery. Food that could exist in a pre-industrial world and still feel complete.
The first recipe that took his interest was the taco. A famous staple food from Mexico known to many parts of the world, if not all. It was simple yet filling. Small yet packed with all the flavours needed to wow people.
However…
The dry corn to make the tortilla is a problem. Ludwig sighed. Everything else besides the tortilla only needed him to spend a few hours inside the kitchen, but for the dried corn, he had to look around for it quite a bit.
It's not that there were none in Ortus. But most farmers in Ortus just didn't cultivate corn and dried it for some reason. He had found some in his quest to make tacos back in Ortus, but that was harder than looking for some rare metals for his sword.
It seemed like he had to go to the dwarf city again soon to place an order for dried corn with them.
He put the taco on hold for now and flipped to another page. His eyes then landed on one particular cuisine he had made quite a lot in his restaurant: Pasta. But this time, it was not the type he used until now, but a handmade one made from scratch in his own kitchen.
Flour, eggs, salt, and time. That would be all he needed.
Ludwig rolled the pen between his free fingers as his thoughts shifted. Eggs weren't a problem. In fact, they were better here. Larger yolks and richer colour. They were coming from beasts that ate better than factory-fed chickens ever had.
Flour, too, existed in many forms. Wheat and coarser grains from Ortus. Even the dwarves had mills capable of producing something fine enough if he asked for it.
Then, there's the main difference from the pasta he always served. It's the main protein source. Meat ragù. Combine that with cheese and herbs, and the cuisine should be done.
With a nod, Ludwig scribbled on the fresh page about what he needed to buy tomorrow. Once he was done, he once again flipped through the pages. With the meat dish done, he now needed at least two more dishes.
At that moment, he remembered something. It's still summer in Ortus right now. Some fish in Ortus reach their best taste around summer, a perfect one for his food menu.
But simply grilling it was boring, frying it and cutting it up to serve it raw had also become boring now. The only thing he rarely did until now was to cook it in broth. So, he dived back to his recipe list.
One recipe in particular caught his eye. If the seafood soup he made before was full of punchy and heavy taste, this one should be clean enough for the taste of summer fish to shine.
The ingredients were not complicated at all as well. Just some herbs, salt, and olive oil. He had all of those in his kitchen, what was left was buying the fish in the market.
Now, he only needed one more cuisine. Chicken cuisine.
But as the pages were turned, one recipe made him forget about chicken cuisine altogether. After all, it was a food so iconic that the name of the food would remind a lot of people about a certain mouse.
Ratatouille.
A classic French Provençal vegetable stew traditionally made with tomatoes, onions, zucchini, eggplant, and bell peppers, slow-cooked with olive oil and herbs, and can be served hot or cold as a side or main course.
If he made the food in the animation-style, it would be aesthetically pleasing even though it would take him quite some time chopping all the vegetables.
But…
With the numerous varieties of ingredients in many worlds, more colour could be added to the mix. Which, in his opinion, would make the food even prettier than it originally was.
With his decision made, he returned to the fresh page and wrote what he should buy. The main ingredients for normal Ratatouille. Eggplant, zucchini, tomatoes, onion. garlic, bell peppers, and fresh herbs like thyme, bay, rosemary.
The additional vegetables with weird colours would be bought later after he saw it.
After that, Ludwig shouldn't add more recipes. Not yet.
He closed the book halfway, palm resting on the cover, and let the quiet settle. Planning was the easy part. Anyone could write a menu. What mattered was what came next.
Finka would learn pasta first. Bilo could handle the ragù. Vilera didn't need to cook it, but she needed to understand it. How long it took, how it looked when done right, what questions to answer if customers asked.
The Checkpoint wasn't a place where the chef guarded secrets. It was a place where skills would be taught while culinary instincts would be sharpened.
As his thoughts arrived at that point, Ludwig sent the book back to his Storage Dimension and blinked directly to the bed.
* * *
Ludwig woke before the restaurant did. His eyes opened the moment his body decided it had rested enough, the quiet of early morning settling over him like a familiar blanket.
He sat up and reached for the glass he always kept nearby, drinking the water in slow, deliberate gulps. He refilled it once and finished that too before setting it aside.
Routine came next.
A light stretch first, loosening joints and muscles that had stood over stoves and counters far longer than most bodies liked. Then controlled movements, push-ups, squats, breathing exercises that looked almost lazy to an observer but were precise in tempo and intent. Not training to get stronger. Just making sure nothing rusted.
By the time a thin layer of warmth settled into his muscles, he stopped.
He shouldn't overdo it. After all, he had a kitchen to run later.
The bath was already warm when he stepped in. Ludwig leaned back, letting the heat seep into him, steam curling lazily around the edges of the room. He scrubbed clean without hurry, letting the sweat cling to his body and get washed away by the water. The smell of soap lingered briefly before fading, replaced by the neutral scent of clean skin and cloth.
Dressed in simple clothes, apron folded and stored, he stepped out as the world was just beginning to stir.
The talk with Claire regarding Cless from yesterday wouldn't be put into effect until tomorrow, so he could do anything right away.
Once he had to open the restaurant by the seventh, he would probably need one of his employees to man the counter while he was away.
The cold air of the Ashfrost Mountain Range disappeared as he crossed through the void. Once he left the alleyway he teleported into, he was welcomed by vendors setting up stalls, arranging baskets of vegetables still cool from the night air, fishermen unloading their morning catch, silver scales catching the rising light, and farmers greeted one another with nods and brief words, hands already moving as they worked.
Ludwig moved through it with a practiced eye.
Eggs first. He inspected the shells, checked size and color, and exchanged a few words with the seller before buying more than he strictly needed. Flour came next. Coarse and fine both, tested between his fingers. Cheese after that, sampling when offered, choosing firmness and scent over appearance.
He picked up garlic with his hand. Chilies with a sharp smell. Bundles of herbs still damp at the stems.
Meat came last. Not the prettiest cuts, but the right ones. The kind that shouldn't need the butcher he entrusted to chop his wyvern meat into ready meat.
At the fish stall, he paused longer. Even though the taste of the vegetables were also important, he couldn't help but to get a closer look at the fish. The sheen of scales, the colour of the eyes, and the condition of the gill were the basic techniques.
But fantasy worlds require more than conventional means.
Ludwig moved the moving mana in his body into his eyes and the world opened up with him. Strands of mana connect the air with the fishes on the display. In the fish, some amount of mana could be seen.
His gaze slowed when he saw it.
Nestled among lesser catches was a fish that didn't shout for attention yet quietly demanded it. Its body was robust, shoulders wide and strong like it had known steady currents rather than frantic scrambles for survival. The scales were a muted gold, brushed with silver along the edges, not flashy, but refined. When light hit it, it didn't just sparkle, it glowed.
The head was noble, slightly angular, eyes clear and calm even in death. Ludwig focused his mana a little further, just enough to be sure.
The strands responded. Mana clung to the fish cleanly, evenly, not pooling in odd places or fraying like it did in stressed creatures. The flesh beneath the scales shone through his perception as white with warm undertones, firm and unbroken.
Clean-cut.
Seasonal.
Perfect.
"Aurelscale." The vendor said, noticing where Ludwig's attention lingered.
Ludwig looked up. The man behind the stall was older, skin weathered by wind and water, hands scarred in ways that spoke of nets and knives rather than violence.
"Summer run." The vendor continued. "They come down from deeper waters when the melt settles. Hard to catch but harder to keep intact."
Ludwig nodded slowly but offered no answer.
The vendor smiled, the corner of his mouth tugging upward. "They don't fear, they don't stress. That makes the meat clean."
"How fresh are these?" Ludwig asked.
"I pulled them before sunrise." The vendor replied without hesitation. "Never touched the ice. I kept it shaded and wet."
Ludwig didn't haggle.
"I'll take it." He said. Then, after a brief pause, "Give me 25 of the same kind."
The vendor chuckled softly. "Big customer, aye? I'll get it done in a few."
The vendor walked into his shop. When he decided to reappear again, he already had more of the fishes bundled in a few strands. The size varied from one and another, but all in all, they were all in an acceptable range for a fish soup.
Ludwig inspected it once, then nodded again.
As the vendor put more fish into the bundle, he glanced up. "Soup?"
"Yes." Ludwig answered. "One with clear broth."
"Good choice." The man said. "Grilling wastes them."
Ludwig allowed himself a faint smile at that.
With the fish secured and tucked carefully atop the rest of his purchases, Ludwig adjusted the weight of the basket on his arm. It was heavy now. Eggs, flour, vegetables, meat, herbs, and a bunch of pristine fish.
As he stepped away from the stall and merged back into the slow flow of the morning market, the air already felt a little warmer.
A heavy basket.
But somehow, a lighter heart.
One Bonus chapter for 50 powerstone.
Leave a review, ratings, a comment, or gib me your powerstone please~
And to those who want to read 50 chapters ahead, be my Patron at https://www.p*treon.com/c/imjustaboy_/membership
Or just search Imjustaboy_ in the search bar. Thankiess!