Chapter 19

Chapter 19: Tom's Big Fridge

Moving has its share of trivial matters, but luckily Adrian and Tom didn't have much luggage. All their personal belongings combined amounted to just a few pieces of clothing and toiletries.

When leaving, Mrs. Molly insisted on settling Adrian's wages, but he wasn't willing to accept it. After all, he had received so much kindness from her, and the work he did felt more like Goodman finding an excuse to help him out.

In the end, after much insistence, Adrian reluctantly accepted half of his wages. In return, he promised to teach little Bayer to read or tell stories whenever he visited in the future. However, he firmly declined Molly's request for help with cleaning the tavern.

Bringing Tom back to the tavern, Adrian first got rid of some useless items left behind by old Bob. He replaced all the bedding with his own, and next to the bed, he placed a small nest he had won in a lucky draw.

[Tom's Nest: A handcrafted round cat bed with a soft cushion, Tom's favorite place.]

After tidying up the bedroom and other rooms, Adrian initially thought it would take him a long time to clean the tavern all by himself. However, he underestimated Tom's abilities.

Tom's wish was to live a content life as a house cat. Although he had a comfortable time staying at Goodman's place, where he ate and slept without worries, it wasn't his own home after all.

Now that the master had bought the tavern, this place would become his home, right?

Who could understand the feeling of a stray cat yearning for a home?

The emotion brought by this desire was reflected in Tom's current state: with a cloth in his right hand, a mop in his left hand, and a brush under his left foot, Tom multitasked, cleaning while moving backward.

After Adrian finished cleaning the second-floor bedroom and was about to go downstairs to take out the trash, he witnessed what "clean as new" truly meant. If the floor wasn't made of wood, it would probably already reflect human shadows by now.

Tom was exhausted. Leaning against the bar counter, he sat on the ground, wiping the sweat off his forehead.

"Tom, did you do all of this? You're incredible!" Adrian looked at the spotless floor, almost hesitant to step on it.

Tom, upon hearing Adrian's praise, cracked a smile, nodded, and now wanted to rest for a bit and eat something.

Adrian surveyed the space inside the tavern. The main entrance was about 2.5 meters tall, and besides the regular doors, there were two additional waist-high doors. Currently, the main entrance was closed, with a sign hanging outside indicating temporary closure.

In this world, a height of two meters was quite common, and people nearing three meters weren't uncommon either. Hence, businesses like restaurants and bars needed to have higher doors and ceilings.

This tavern was relatively conservative; the ceiling on the ground floor was about four meters high. If the giant Urgeki from the Supernova came here, he would need to be careful not to hit the ceiling lights when standing up.

After entering, there was a central aisle with four tables and matching chairs on each side. At the end of the aisle was the bar counter, with three bar stools in front of it.

On the wall behind the bar counter were shelves for storing alcohol. The shelf on the left had an empty space, and on the right, there was a small door leading to the back. This door allowed direct access to the upstairs or a right turn into the kitchen. It could also take you around to the back of the stairs, which led to a less conspicuous basement wine cellar.

Three walls had small arched louvre windows, allowing sunlight to filter in through limited openings, giving the entire tavern a slightly dim ambiance.

Several potted plants of unknown origin were placed in the corners. They didn't seem to have been meticulously cared for. The overall hall of the tavern wasn't small, and due to the considerable space between the tables, it felt somewhat empty.

After a brief inspection, Adrian found that the open space on the left side of the bar counter was suitable. He took out an item from his inventory.

[Tom's Big Fridge]

Upon opening the fridge, a cool breeze rushed out. Everything stored in the inventory for about twenty days, both the fridge and its contents, remained in their original states.

The plug of the fridge could be inserted into the vacant socket on the wall—this world's technology was peculiar. The kitchen's faucet and gas stove also made Adrian a bit dazed. However, he forgot to ask where he should pay for water, electricity, and gas fees; they might be included in the taxes, perhaps?

Adrian took out roast chicken, sausages, cooked pork chops, milk, fruit, and two portions of ice cream from the fridge and placed them on the counter.

Tom's nose twitched at the enticing aroma, and he licked his lips eagerly, looking at Adrian expectantly.

"Let's eat. These are the only things that can be eaten directly for now. We'll make do with these for lunch. We can buy ingredients and recipes later."

Adrian could cook, but most of the time, he relied on Doodle to follow step-by-step recipes. Admittedly, this tavern had never even hired a chef before.

According to old Bob, most customers came to drink, not to eat. Preparing some convenient cooked food and snacks for drinking was enough. If it wasn't enough, they could also order takeout from nearby restaurants and make a small profit from the markup.

After the meal, Adrian placed a small blanket on the counter and let Tom rest. He himself counted the alcohol.

It hadn't been long since old Bob's last stock replenishment. Adrian compared the list of stocked alcohol with the one left by him. The retail prices ranged from 500 to 10,000 Berries.

500 Berries were roughly the price of a curry rice dish in a small restaurant, while 10,000 Berries were almost enough for an ordinary person's monthly living expenses—if they were frugal.

After looking at the purchase prices, Adrian finally realized how much of a markup this tavern had. Most of the alcohol had a profit margin of over 50%, with some even reaching 60%. Still, even with such prices, old Bob's reputation in people's minds was that the tavern wasn't expensive.

Perhaps this was a very ordinary occurrence? As someone who hadn't done business before, Adrian temporarily decided to follow old Bob's example.

Exiting the wine cellar, Adrian saw Tom snoozing contentedly on the bar counter. It seemed like he was sleeping more soundly than ever before. Adrian didn't wake him up and went to exercise in the backyard instead.

The small backyard attached to the tavern was about half the size of a basketball court, enough space for Adrian's exercise needs. To be honest, he wasn't too keen on being "Running Adrian" anymore.

After exercising for a while, Adrian remembered the weapons he hadn't brought out yet—the ones he had obtained from the "lottery."

[Tom's Sword: A Western-style sword Tom used as a court guard, very sharp.]

Tom had experienced many things in his cat life. Being a court guard was a trivial matter, although he still couldn't avoid Jerry's mischief.

Adrian waved it a few times, feeling that its size was a bit small for him.

As for the swords corresponding to Jerry and the little mouse Tuffy, they would have to be used as toothpicks.