5 Chapter 5 - Expansion and fateful meetings
"Man this is exhausting..." Groaned Nephrite as he ended another day in his restaurant. It has been a few months since he opened his first restaurant. It was hard and quite expensive.
Thankfully his street food stalls were booming in popularity. In the past few months he had opened 5 locations all across the Vale. He had also created a trend where people sell small appetizing foods that fit into your hands without being messy.
Of course he minimized his presence to the minimum and mostly used proxies. Not many knew who the owner of the stalls was and not even the proxies knew that he had opened a restaurant. The only proxy that could make decisions before reporting to him was his 'student' he trained for a year before moving on.
He was slowly creating a separate identity for himself. Though it would crumble before Ozpin's and Salem's eyes if they wanted to, the odds of it happening was nil.
The restaurant itself was situated in near the docks and had space for around 50 customers at absolute maximum capacity. He went with a calming quiet environment that had music in the background.
He planned to expand but sadly he couldn't find a chef that would be interested. Not yet at least.
'Status'
Name: Nephrite Antaeus
[Current Job: Chef LVL: 24/30]
[EXP: 896/5760]
[Body: Healthy]
[Physique: 5]
[Vitality: 5]
Aura Strength: [LOCKED]
Aura Pool: [LOCKED]
[Status Points left: 11.6]
[Skill Points left: 3]
'7 years or so left...' He thought as he couldn't believe that he had spent almost 3 years in this world already. Honestly, except the dust technology and scrolls almost everything seemed to be the same as on Earth.
People lived, laughed, worked and worked some more.
He decided that after getting to 5x Physique and Vitality it was quite useless to add more points. He wasn't fighting some kind of criminal syndicate nor was he on the frontlines.
With his current stats he could comfortably jog a 10km marathon and be within top 10. Of course only when humans without aura were counted.
What changed the most though was Neo. If he had physique of 5, Neo with her had 4. An 8 year old was 4 times stronger than an average 16-18 year old when it comes to pure stats.
That wasn't the only change that had happened to her though. She still clung to Nephrite like a Koala at night. At least she started forming her own thoughts properly.
And of course not going to 'school' was one of them. In the end he created a small reward system. If she managed to gain top 1 in her class she could even choose what she wanted.
It was tough on her socially thanks to her introverted tendencies, the lack of words and the fact that Nephrite was her only 'family'. And kids are devil-spawns. Their honesty and curiosity are like two axes that constantly try to hack you to pieces.
Neo, at least on the surface did not care but Nephrite knew that it stung. Thankfully with her aura active those kids could not bring actual harm to her. And the few years on the streets brought her enough experience where she could fend for herself.
The day that happened a year and few months ago was the day when the devil-spawns turned into terrified puppies that kept their distance.
Nephrite had mixed feelings about this development but he knew that he couldn't really interfere. What he did though was to offer guidance and emotional support.
The incident didn't lower her grades though. In fact after the whole thing her grades started to peak and she was ahead of everyone.
After her first year of school she had naturally peaked and stood above the rest as the no.1 in class.
Her choice of a reward surprised Nephrite before he laughed.
[Flashback]
"Neo I am so proud of you! Have you chosen your reward yet?" Nephrite asked happily. Neo had absolutely crushed everyone in her class both academically and in sports.
Granted she was basically a tank compared to the kids that still peed in bed...
Neo nodded at Nephrite and leaned closer.
"Can I learn dancing?" She whispered almost inaudibly. She was quite nervous as it was her first real request outside some occasional candy.
"If you wanted to dance you should have said so right away!" Nephrite was happy that she wasn't turning into a sloth and wanted a hobby.
"Don't worry I'll find you a tutor for dance lessons. Do you want anything else?" He asked and Neo shook her head as she was satisfied.
"Hmm if you don't want a reward I'll take you to the cinema and shopping this weekend! And you can't say no." Neo nodded and gave him a hug before they left the school and went home...
[Flashback end]
It became Neo's favourite past time. A movie she liked followed by an arcade or shopping. And of course a fancy dinner that Nephrite whipped up.
His class and the three skills that it granted was simply unfair to every other Chef on Remnant.
'Skills'
(A/N: Insignificant maxed skills and maxed skills that have their upgrades will not be displayed.)
[Skills]
[Dish cleaning LVL: 7/10]
[EXP: 9697/11025]
[Cooking LVL: 9/15]
[EXP: 1523/32400]
[Description: A skill of utmost importance for any Chef. Each level does not only represent the skill of the Chef but also their knowledge of the culinary field.]
[Chef's sixth sense LVL: 5/5]
[Description: A type of a sixth sense that when mastered can replace measuring tools. Any Chef that did master this skill can easily throw spices, cook and cut through ingredients without hesitation.]
[Chef's palate LVL: 6/10]
[EXP: 10/8100]
[Description: An absolute must for professional Chefs. Without this skill it is nigh impossible to create dishes that taste good. After all, if you can't tell a chicken and a steak apart can you call yourself a Chef?]
These three skills elevated his skills to another level. His cooking skill itself was already on par if not higher than the Chefs at 'White Pearl Diner'. The sixth sense was very useful and saved Nephrite a lot of time.
The Chef's palate was both curse and a blessing. If he ate some truly good food he would experience every piece and drop but simple sloppy greasy food no longer satisfied him.
He feared that if he ever reached level 10, a slightly burnt food over a campfire would taste like a seasoned piece of charcoal.
In the end though he can either hope or just cook everything by himself in the future.
'That'll be one huge pain the ass...' He thought as he inserted the keys into his apartment.
The mudroom and everything in the apartment was a bit different than it was when he bought it. Shoes were lined up in the corner and Nephrite took his off before taking some crocs.
He took off his coat and entered the hallway. It had multiple pictures of him and Neo. There were also few painting that Nephrite or Neo took fancy to.
He heard water running in the background and assumed that Neo was taking a shower before their usual relaxing time where they just sat on the sofa and watched some TV.
It was simple yet the most rewarding part of his day. After few more steps he arrived in the kitchen. It was rather simple but had lot of cooking utensils.
Quickly taking a peek at the fridge and seeing that the note has been left unchecked he whipped up some ingredients and started making dinner for two.
It was some sort of ritual that they had before both of them bought their scrolls. Neo would put up a note that simply said if she had dinner outside or if she wanted one.
Though as his cooking increased more and more the note was usually left unchecked.
Using some leftover rice and teriyaki chicken he had left from the previous night and some eggs and veggies he whipped up egg fried rice.
By the time he was done Neo was already sitting on the table scrolling through her scroll.
"Neo! Help me set up the table." Nephrite's voice sounded from the kitchen.
Neo groaned before she got up and prepared the table. As she had finished a steaming aroma was already exiting the kitchen.
Nephrite put down the two steaming plates and they started eating. Afterwards they took care of their basic hygiene before they started watching some TV shows they liked.
And like that another day had passed...
...
The birds were up and chirping and the beams of light had assaulted their bedroom. Nephrite slowly opened up his eyes and groaned. After few minutes of just lying around he carefully pushed Neo away before starting his morning routine.
He washed and changed his clothes before whipping up a simple sausage bacon and eggs breakfast. By the time he was done, Neo was already sitting there with utensils in her hands.
As they finished their breakfast and Nephrite cleaned the dishes, Neo was getting ready to school.
"Have fun in school!" Yelled Nephrite as he heard the door close. He whipped up himself a coffee to start the day before slowly heading out too.
The day passed and the restaurant was getting more and more traction and was usually fully packed.
...
"Ahhhh-hhaaaaaa another day complete!" Nephrite yawned as he bid his employees a goodbye. In fact they did not know that he was the owner just that he was the Chef and manager at the same time.
As he was getting ready to lock the door he saw red blur before he heard the sound of crashing.
Quickly turning around he saw a small girl with black hair and a red cape was lying on the ground.
"Are you okay little red?" He asked as he was extending his arm to help her up.
"Oww. Oh! Th-thanks..." She said awkwardly as she took his hand. As he looked into her eyes he grinned before saying.
"You have silver eyes... Are you lost?"
"Uh, yeah yeah! Yeah to both I mean like ugh." She tried to form a coherent sentence.
"Do you need any help? I can call your family if you remember their number." He said before she started to panic.
"Ah thank you." She said a bit quietly before she gave me a number. Before long a female voice sounded from the scroll.
"Hello?"
"Hello, I found your daughter and she said she was lost. Right now we are in ***********."
"Thank you so much! I'll get there as soon as I can." Before the voice call was cancelled he heard a booming sound and a much quieter grumbling sound that did not come from the scroll
Turning around, he saw her and instantly noticed how redder she got. He grinned at this before asking.
"Want me to whip you up something before your mother gets here? Don't worry it's on me. Oh! And by the way my name is Nephrite." As he finished he opened his door.
The girl nodded and followed inside after seeing the restaurant sign.
"My name is Ruby Rose." She said as she sat down. He nodded and said.
"Just sit here and in a jiffy I'll have it done."
20 or so minutes passed and a fragrance that Ruby had never smelled slowly drifted around. As she was getting really hungry footsteps sounded and Nephrite emerged with a plate of hot food.
"Chicken teriyaki and rice enjoy~." Ruby muttered a quiet thank you in response before diving right in.
[Ruby's POV]
'Oh gosh he must think that I am a weirdo.' I thought to myself as I sat in the restaurant.
'I need to thank him like my mom taught me!' Slowly but surely a fragrance spread throughout the room. As I smelled it and my hunger got worse and worse.
Thankfully Mr. Nephrite quickly arrived with the food. I almost salivated as the aroma hit me at full force.
'I think I heard of this place before.' I thought as I heard the name of the food before shaking my head and diving right in.
Lots of tasty flavours had exploded in my mouth. I don't know if I was extra hungry today but this was the best food I've ever had!
[Third person POV]
Nephrite watched Ruby as she stuffed her mouth. She was like a hamster with her puffy cheeks.
As Ruby was midway through her meal a booming sound could be heard in the distance.
"Your mom is near I'll get her in case she misses the restaurant sign." Said Nephrite as Ruby quickly nodded and went back to eating.
To be completely honest Nephrite had heard booming sounds for quite some time and they even were 1 street away at one point.
He just hopes that Summer Rose is bad at directions and there isn't some kind of huge fight going on.
"Mrs. Rose over here!" He yelled as loud as he could. The occasional booming sound stopped and a second later resumed.
A white blur had appeared in his peripheral vision and as he blinked a woman suddenly appeared. She had a white cloak and looked like an older sister of Ruby.
She put down her white hood. She had a dishevelled hair and her eyes were bloodshot.
"You must be Mrs. Rose right? I'll take you to Ruby." He said as he entered the door.
Summer Rose followed and thanked him. As she entered she didn't even register the pleasant smell of food and turned into a blur before she crashed into Ruby, both of them ended up rolling for a bit before stopping.
"Oh my gosh Ruby you have no idea how worried I was! Are you okay? Did someone hurt you or threaten you? Where is your scroll?..." A barrage of questions were rapidly thrown out in a quick succession.
"Ahem. I believe that Ruby can't really breathe right now." Nephrite took Summer's attention away as she blushed and let go of Ruby.
Nephrite offered Ruby a glass of water he took out from God knows where and gestured at the seats.
"Why not sit down? Mrs. Rose are you hungry?" Nephrite kindly offered.
Summer wanted to refuse but the heavenly smell and her stomach roared in protest. She just nodded embarrassed. "I'll take what Ruby has."
Nephrite nodded and a minute later he came out with more food. When he was making food for Ruby he decided to make himself and Neo dinner.
'I'll just make myself something quick once I get home...' He thought a bit hungry himself.
That day Summer tasted the best food she had in a long long time. The only time food came even slightly close was in Atlas made by the best Chefs there.
Nephrite gained another loyal customer...
