A Stay-at-home Dad’s Restaurant In An Alternate World

The process of searching in the basin was boring. There were few animals, let alone magical beasts. Occasionally they could hear the sounds of pheasants and rabbits scurrying about.Even so, they trod quietly and cautiously.Because in this wilderness, magical beasts were not the only creatures that were deadly. A venomous bug could cause death as well.

The damp and dark basin abounded with snakes and spiders and scorpions.

It was quite uneventful, all things considered. A python over 10 meters long pounced out of its lair towards them, but Amy had been waiting for something like that to happen. She burned it into a crisp the moment it appeared.

Sivir walked in front, holding a torch, with Scott and Skol to her left and right. Mag, Amy, Evan, and Eva came next. Dennis brought up the rear with his huge shield.

Monkey jumped from tree to tree to keep watch, using different whistles to convey different messages.

They searched the whole place. Finally, after an hour, they found a soft golden scale shining golden in the torchlight near a huge rock.

Sam looked over the scale closely. “It’s from a golden scale deer, I’m sure. I saw one once when I was young, but it got away when I tried to catch it. Its scales were just like this one.”

“Great! Looks like the intel is correct. This place is probably the haunt of that golden scale deer,” Dennis said excitedly, rubbing his hands together. They all wore excited faces.

Mag took a closer look at the rock. Its surface was more than 100 square meters. There were golden lines in the white rock, shining in the torchlight. It couldn’t be valuable, though, or else it would have been carried out of this basin, even though the cliffs were over 600 meters high.

In the middle of the boulder surface, there was a pit filled with crystal clear water, shining like a pearl.

“Is this where it drinks?” Amy asked curiously.

“Probably. Maybe it likes the water here,” Mag answered.

“Then let’s stay here and wait for it to come.” Sivir smiled. It might be easier than she had expected.

Sam put his huge pack on the ground. “I’ll set up the snares. I let one escape, but never again.”

Mag took a look at his watch. “It’s an hour and a half till noon. We need something to eat. I’ll see to it.” He then walked towards a cave with a few pheasants he had caught. From this vantage point, he could see everything.

Amy quickly followed after him on her short legs.

With the help of everyone, the traps were set up one by one in no time. They were so artful and ingenious that even Mag couldn’t help but marvel at them.

Sam obscured their tracks and obliterated their scent. When he was done, everything was as it had been before they came here. Each and every trap was well hidden.

“Looks like we still have time to fill our bellies,” Mag said as they climbed into the cave.

Dennis took a deep breath. “Smells so good! If we were rich, we would definitely hire you as our cook, Mag!”

Their mouths started watering as they looked at the brown pheasants hanging over the fire and the white pheasant soup in the pot. They wondered where he had gotten the pot, but they were too hungry to ask.

Evan’s mouth craved the food, but he said, “I brought my own meal.”

Eva tore her eyes away from the pheasants. “Yeah. We don’t need your pheasants.”

Mag ignored them completely. “I cooked eight. We each can have one. There is soup in the pot if you want some.” Mag handed them each—except for Evan and Eva—a bowl, and gave a pheasant to Amy.

Mag had never taken the two jerks into consideration when he was cooking.

Evan’s face twitched in anger. It was all he could do not to fly into a fury.

“Have some fruits, Master Evan.” Eva pulled out a mandarin from her bag, peeled it, and handed it to Evan.

“I’m not hungry,” Evan said with a long face, knocking the mandarin out of her hand, which then rolled onto the ground with dirt all over it.

Eva pulled back her hand, embarrassed. There was not even a hint of anger on her face, though. She looked at Evan obediently.

The rest of the Rose Mercenary Squad gathered around the fire, sitting on stones. The smell alone was enough to whet their appetite. They always packed some cold and dry food when hunting. Roast pheasants were something they didn’t dare hope for. On top of that, Mag was now the most famous cook in the whole city.

Sivir looked from Evan and Eva to Mag. She hesitated a moment before sitting down. Then she took a pheasant, smelled it, tore off a leg, and took a bite with a smile.

The skin was crispy, and the meat was succulent. It had been cooked to perfection. Her taste buds danced wildly as she bit into the meat.

Sivir’s eyes brightened. “It’s so good!” It was as good as the roast beef Mag had cooked last time.

Pheasants were common in the wild, but even the pheasants cooked by Sam, their best cook, couldn’t hold a candle to this.

To think Mag had made the pheasants so delicious in such a short time and with such simple equipment.

“My goodness. Mag, you must be the God of Cookery! No one in this world can cook as well as you!”

“If we catch the golden scale deer, I’ll be sure to eat in your restaurant.”

“Count me in.”

They complimented Mag as they ate, smiling blissfully.

Mag was glad that they liked his cooking. He was in a good mood; nobody hated praise.

They finished the soup; not even bones were left. They belched in satisfaction.

A ray of sunlight fell on the edge of the basin and began to move towards the center.

At the mouth of a cave, a deer appeared, shining golden.