Chapter 32: Mag? My Father?
Mag felt a little sorry for the egg, but he could do nothing about Amy’s obsession with the roast goose. It seemed he had to work hard and complete his missions to get the recipe for roast goose as soon as possible.
Of course, the recipe for the Peking Duck would be just as fine.
They opened the door and went inside. Amy put the little basket in a compartment under the counter. She crouched down and whispered a little something to that egg, and then closed the door carefully as if afraid of waking up the little creature inside the egg.
“Father, when will it hatch?” Amy asked as she looked at Mag, expectant.Mag shook his head. “I’m not sure. Maybe next spring.” He didn’t know much about the hatching of birds’.
“That would be too long.” Amy was a little depressed.
“Maybe it will hatch out more quickly if it’s put in a warmer environment, like mother ducks hatching their eggs,” Mag said quickly after thinking about it.
Amy’s eyes brightened immediately. “Then what about Amy sitting on that egg too?”
Mag chuckled and shook his head. “No, that won’t work. Amy, take that little blanket downstairs and use it to cover the egg. That should do.”
“Okay,” Amy answered happily. She ran upstairs quickly.
“Hope it’s a swan egg. But it’s quite unlikely,” Mag muttered to himself. He went to the kitchen and poured two glasses of water.Mag helped Amy wrap up the egg in the blanket. It was already 11:25 am and almost time to open his restaurant. He looked at Amy as she was crouching on the ground, whispering “ugly duckling, grow up quickly…” and considered getting a roast goose for her later today.
A few minutes later, at exactly 11:30 am, Mag went to the door, turned over the sign, and opened his restaurant formally.
Although still not many came here, the restaurant’s grand and different style truly fascinated some people. Two dwarves came, and then an orc, but when they saw the menu, they all shook their heads and left.
Mag had grown used to it. It was perfectly normal, though. Not all the customers liked Yangzhou fried rice; besides, they didn’t even know what this Yangzhou fried rice was. They would rather spend six gold coins on a large plate of roasted meat and a flagon of wine than spend them on something they knew nothing about.
Maybe only Mobai and his friends would come for lunch, Mag thought helplessly. This was his second day, and he had only sold eight plates in total. If he wanted to complete his mission, he had to sell 500 plates in the following nine days. It was not very encouraging.
Just then, Mag heard the sound of hoofbeats outside. He looked out and almost chuckled. It was not a horse, but a black donkey. On its back was a human knight in silver-gray boiled leather. He was so tall that his feet could almost touch the ground sitting on that donkey’s back.
The knight looked about 30 years old, his face square, his black hair tied up casually with a piece of gray cloth. He halted before the restaurant, holding reins in one hand and a longsword at his waist in another. He looked up at the signboard smilingly.
“Mamy Restaurant? Sounds like a good place. I’ll have my lunch here,” Conti Nicolas said to himself, smiling. He swung off his donkey and tied it to a tree. Then, he strode towards the restaurant and entered.
Mag was standing by the counter. He glanced at the knight’s sword with an emerald inlaid in it and smiled. “Welcome!”
“Hi, what do you have here?” Conti said to Mag, smiling. He didn’t look around the restaurant like others.
“There is a menu on the table. You can take a look first, sir.” Mag pointed at the black menu. He found this knight very enthusiastic, just as if nothing could trouble him.
“Thank you.” Conti seated himself and opened the menu with a smile. He froze for an instant when he saw only one dish on it, but his smile returned quickly. He looked up at Mag and said, “Owner, give me a plate of this Yangzhou fried rice.”
“Okay, please wait a minute.” Mag was a little surprised as he looked at this Conti who maintained a smiling face. After all, it was the first time that a customer had ordered after just one look at the menu. It seemed like he didn’t even need to think about it.
Mag remained very calm on the outside, though. He loved this kind of customers, of course. He didn’t worry about him not liking his food. He nodded, smiling, and walked into the kitchen.
Conti put his sword on the table and took a look around the restaurant. “Looks good.” He seemed in a good mood.
And then a little head appeared from behind the counter. “Hello, new customer,” Amy said to Conti.
Conti jumped onto his chair in alarm, his sword half-drawn and his face serious and nervous.
Amy was also startled by Conti’s reaction, but his shining armor and sword had really aroused her curiosity, so she revealed herself, and asked, “Are you a knight?”
When Conti saw a lovely little girl who was only three or four years old, he quickly slid his sword back into its sheath embarrassedly. Then he jumped down. “No, I’m a dragon slayer. I haven’t killed any dragon yet, but some day, I’ll put those evil bastards to the sword!” he said proudly, his head held high.
Mag looked over when he heard the noise and chuckled at Conti’s words. In his predecessor’s memory, there were many knights who wanted to slay dragons, and he had been one of them. However, unlike them, he had really killed a dragon before; more than one, actually.
“Whoa, amazing.” Amy clapped her little hands and looked at Conti with adoration. Then she pointed at the longsword in his hand. “So you must have defeated many formidable opponents.”
“I don’t like fighting people. I like Mag Alex the most. He killed four wicked dragons and is one of the bravest and strongest knights on the whole continent,” Conti said, smiling, his eyes full of excitement and adoration. Then he looked down at Amy. “If you like knights, little girl, you should like the ones like Mag Alex.”
“Mag? My father?” Amy looked at Conti, a little puzzled.
