First Dish and Marcia.

"Master! I am changing; please wait outside." Her face was flushed red, and she was staring at Kai with teary eyes while covering her chest. She was obviously embarrassed, but there was no sign of anger.

"I am sorry." Kai closed the door out of reflex without considering why she was there, completely naked, or even remembering that he was in his hotel and that she was the alleged thief who had broken into his cafe.

"Hmm! I will be out soon." Though Kai was positive he had never met a more beautiful girl, something about the quivering voice from the other side made him feel a little more familiar with that girl.

"It's alright! And I am really sorry about this all. So, take your time and come to the counter; I will be waiting out there." Making the obvious statement, Kai rushed back to the counter to take a seat before his eyes finally looked at the [Employ] section.

He quickly comes to the realization that he might have to deal with a small issue shortly and could only wait as time passed, becoming increasingly impatient in his thoughts.

'I hope she is not angry.' 'However, I had never been inside the cafe before until now.' 'Not to mention, five years after the death of my grandmother, I never would have thought that anyone would still be employed.'

With a lot of thoughts racing through his mind, Kai sat up straight and faced the door when he heard the voice of the door being unlocked.

"Hello!" It was small, but the girl's voice was extremely clear to him. She walked out of the door a little embarrassed, but her curious eyes sized Kai for a moment, finally realizing that it was really him and bowing a little before introducing herself.

"Hello, master! My name is Marcia Silfest, and I am really happy to see you again." Hearing her name, Kai made sure to look inside the blue screen and realize that she was really recognized by the system as an employee.

But hearing the word "again," Kai felt that the way the girl in front of him talked was really way to familiar and somewhat nostalgic to him.

"It seems you have already forgotten about your best pal.' In some way, Kai's mind almost stopped when he saw the way she smiled while clapping her hands together, her image merging with his old friend, who resembled a brother, and her jade-blue eyes.

"This, you... I am sorry, man; it took me a long time. But what the hell, you look stunning." Marcia smiled before turning back to her polite tone.

"Master, welcome back!" When Kai heard those words, he felt strange, but it was also appropriate for an employee to greet the cafe's sole cook and main manager.

"Hmm, thank you!" He acknowledged her with a nod and then inquired as to whether she had been managing the cafe all along.

The girl responded with an affirmation, explaining to him that the cafe's supernatural guardian had been compensating her for her services and that its very existence was intended to protect the establishment.

"So, the power to connect to different dimensions was something this originally had, and the one managing this whole area is a different entity itself."

With that, Kai had much more grasp over the cafe situation than before, so at the end of it, Kai decided to cook something for Marcia as a thank-you for everything.

He did, however, also want Marcia to evaluate his dish in comparison to Grandma's.

First chopping off the vegetables, Kai skillfully cut off all the leafy vegetables into small pieces to make sure that they would blend well with cornstarch and fine flour.

Later, he cut off some fine spices, like green chili and some radish, into small units for the soup and some for the fried fritters. 'This was one of the dish liked by people in eastern countries and had a thick soup along with crispy fritters of cabbage and other vegetables within it.'

As the rice was steaming, Kai decided to have some fried rice with it as well. This would make the dish taste better, right? He also decided to add vinegar and soy sauce to the fritter's batter, allowing the batter to combine with the sauce of vinegar and soy sauce.

After the batter for the fritters was ready, Kai put it on hold because he wanted them to be crispy. They would add them later, after he finished making the soup and fried rice.

He did not want to ruin the fritter by adding it to the soup beforehand because, in the end, it is the crispiness that is the most appetizing part and something that most people enjoy.

"Hmm, that smells great." When Marcia was told to wait in her seat, she smelled something delicious and felt her appetite grow. However, the comforting aroma of the food brought back memories of the previous owner and a small tear streak at the corner of her eye.

'Master! Thank you for opening the shop again.' She thought as she continued to look toward the kitchen, where Kai was already done with fried rice and the soup was ready.

Kai walked toward the seat where Marcia was already staring at him with stars in her eyes, partially dipping the fritter into the soup and taking the entire set of food as well as another set for himself.

As a cook, nothing compares to the satisfaction of seeing someone else enjoy his creations and having them eagerly await tasting.

"Sorry for the delay. Here, taste something new that I have created! Culinaire Éclatante"

With those words, a dish appeared on the main board of the cafe, where all the cooking that could be eaten in this cafe was written.

As Kai ignored him and began to pick up the spoon and spike together with an uncommon elegance akin to that of a noble, he was staring at Marcia, who appeared to be quite excited. Kai then began to eat in small bites.

"Say, Marcia, are you supposed to be some kind of noble from another world?" After a moment, Marcia looked up at Kai and realized that her grandmother had not told him about her origins.

"Hmm, you can say that, plus I was really angry, right now? You did not even recognize me." Kai felt his heartbeat skipping a beat at her word 'angry,' but later, after hearing the complete sentence and realizing that she was angry about other things, Kai was left a little speechless.

"I am sorry about that." He could only honestly apologize to her.

"It's alright! But promise me that you will forget about what you saw back then; it was really embarrassing, so I will not talk about it anymore. I hope you will too."

While speaking, her expression was getting rudder, though Kai was also not left unscatched, as he was also feeling rather apologetic about it all, but within his heart, he knew that he might not be able to forget about that incident at all.

"Sure! I am sorry."

"It is alright! As long as you keep the promise."

"Sure, I will."

After finishing the food, Marcia asked to clean up the dishes, realizing that it was also automatically done by the system.

So, two of them started to get ready, and when two of them were done with their preparation, Kai asked Marcia to help him open the cafe. Turning the notice to "Open." sign again, while putting a small board out for attracting the customer.

[Starting up the cafe.]

[Quest: Sell the first two dishes to one customer from Earth and other from Morin.]