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

evan cast a glance at mag before turning to sivir. “captain, i don’t think now is a good time to add new members to our team. we know each other well, which is why we fight well together, but we don’t know their abilities. that might be a problem when it comes to fighting.”eva nodded in agreement. “they’re targeting elves. one more elf will do more harm than good to us. it’s too high a risk to take.”

sivir stood silent, thoughtful. evan and eva had a point. no mercenary group was safe in such a time as this, not when a 7th-tier magic caster had been killed. a mercenary group with a 7th-tier fighter was as strong as a group could get. stronger creatures or humans seldom came looking for jobs in the guild.

great teamwork would allow a group to take down a magical beast stronger than it.

as a 4th-tier magic caster, amy was powerful. as for mag, he was able to kill an ironhide bull with a single stroke of his kitchen knife. sivir didn’t believe he was just a cook.

however, they were acquaintances at best. they didn’t know them well enough to risk their lives for them.

“the situation might be worse than you think, mag,” said sivir. “you’re an owner of a restaurant. you don’t need to make money by doing missions. risking your own and your daughter’s life to go out is totally unnecessary.”

mag was thankful that she was worrying about their safety, but he shook his head and smiled. “i know, but i’m a lucky guy. bad sh*t never happens to me. it’s fine if you don’t want us to tag along. totally understandable. we’ll find ourselves a horse. come to mamy restaurant if you have time.”

mag nodded to dennis and scott, took amy by her hand, and turned to leave.

mag realized his request had been a little too excessive now that he thought about it. given how bad the situation was now, nobody in their right mind would have two elves in their group, even though one was a half-elf; they would easily become the killers’ target.

mag had only made such a request because he considered them friends. since they didn’t want them, he and amy would go there alone.

“boss, they saved us when they had no cause to. if they go out there alone…” scott said with a worried look.

evan curled his lip disapprovingly. “yes, they saved us, but i don’t want to die because of their stupidity. do you?”

sivir’s brow furrowed as she watched the father and daughter leave. she hesitated a moment. then, she quickly strode after them, calling out, “mag, wait! come with us.”

surprised, mag stopped and gave her a smile.

half an hour later, a carriage rolled out of the city towards the wild, surrounded by four riders on horses.

there were eight members in the rose mercenary squad. sivir was the leader, a 3rd-tier archer whose weapons of choice were a bow and a boomerang.

scott was a 3rd-tier swordsman.

dennis, a minotaur demon with a giant shield. he was able to use earth elements to build defensive walls for the team.

evan, an elven magic caster. although he hadn’t been a 4th-tier magician long, he was the most powerful one in the rose mercenary squad and thus heavily protected.

eva was a not very powerful 1st-tier healer.

sydney was responsible for driving the carriage and scouting. skol was also a 3rd-tier swordsman. sam was in charge of setting traps.

they had more scars than when mag saw them last, but to his delight, they were all alive and well.

mercenaries died every day.

the place they were going to was near giant canyon, which was named after dozens of huge footprints several meters long and wide in the canyon. even forest trolls couldn’t leave footprints that big, so their origin had become an unsolved mystery.

low-level magical beasts liked to roam in the canyon. precious herbs abounded here, but they were not easy to find, because they grew on the steep cliffs or were hidden in the cracks. it was a place very popular with weak mercenary groups and herb collectors.

“mag, you said there is a golden scale deer in the basin beside the giant canyon. is your intel reliable?” dennis asked in a low voice.

they all looked to mag. they had planned to take on an easy mission, but after mag shared this intel and agreed to catch the golden scale deer with them, they headed directly in the direction of the giant canyon.

golden scale deer were an extremely rare and precious creatures. they had gotten their name for their golden scale fur. both their antlers and their fur were highly valued. one golden scale deer was worth at least 200,000 copper coins, which was a pretty high return for the rose mercenary squad.

“i bought the intel from the guild. they have found traces of a golden scale deer’s activities there, and they have seen it from afar. we have a good chance to find it there, but i can’t say for sure.” mag pulled out a parchment scroll from his bag and handed it to dennis.

mag didn’t understand why they had to use such a high-quality writing material. it was the intel that he had paid 100 gold coins for, not the sheep skin.

their eyes brightened when they saw the scroll. the parchment scroll meant the intel was worth at least 10,000 copper coins, and that there were less than 10 copies.

dennis hesitated a moment before taking it in his own hand. he opened it and read carefully. then he nodded and handed it back to mag. “the intel is good. a golden scale deer did appear there three days ago, and if it had been caught, we would have heard about it.”

“great! we’ll be rich if we capture it!” sydney exclaimed excitedly.