Translated by Gumihou at kitchennovel dot com

  “Joey, it’s fine, your scars are still there.” the heroic looking man’s friends comforted him with a laugh.

  “What shit is this! The scar I’ve gotten from my first hunting trip 25 years ago, the one on my chest, a valiant scar from a green wolf’s claw is gone! Also, 20 years ago I was gotten a scar battling an orc, his tusk gauged a hole in my chest, and now that hole is gone! And here……” Joel continued to list down the number of scars he had lost, tears falling down his face.”


  “Brother, don’t worry, scars are things that you can gain more of.” the man patted Joel comfortingly on the back.

  “But, it’s not the same! It take time for scars to mature, there’s no way I can mess with those lads with new scars!” Joel was determined not to be comforted. He had always showed off his scars to the rookies and bragged about his exploits to them. Without his beloved badges of honour, there was nothing he could use to back up his claims!

  “There are still some [Savoury Beancurds] in your bowl, still want them?” the friend did not bother to comfort him anymore, deciding to tease him instead.

  Joel looked at him solemnly for a moment, before nodding brokenly, “Want!”
……

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  “Not only scars, even my birthmarks have lightened!”


  “Quick, help me check! The pockmarks on my face, are they gone?”


  Very soon, much to their delight, the customers found that in addition to scars, all types of ailments of the face either subsided or disappeared completely.

  At suddenly lively dining hall, Abbé Mia who had just placed two bowls in front of happy customers, raised her hands to her face. At the sight of her hands, her eyes brightened.

  That evening, after a dinner of a [Juicy Burger] and a bowl of [Sweet Beancurd], she had been too busy preparing for the start of the evening rush to notice any changes to her hands. Right now, spread out in front of her, long slender fingers which had been scarred and calloused from years of hard work were now smoother and more dainty looking.

  When she was seven years old she burned her hand against a red-hot wok and there was that scar when she had been bitten by a dog…… those scars were all ugly and incredibly difficult to get rid off. Or had been. She touched the wok scar, it had faded a lot, the once mottled and wrinkled up skin was much whiter and smoother than before.

  “What wonderful effects! If I continue to eat [Beancurds] would my hands be a beautiful as those ladies’?” Abbé Mia thought happily as she studied her hands, her preoccupation with the scars on her hands went beyond vanity, they represented the hard life she had had.

  Abbé Mia had always thought that her life was meant to be harsh, that she would never go beyond the despicable life of a lowly kitchen hand. As someone who was always stepped on and derided, there was no reason to care about how her hands look.

  However, ever since working in Mickey’s restaurant, she felt the warmth of being valued and respected for the work that she did, and was now slowly figuring out that there was more to life beyond drudgery of work and more work. What young girl did not wish to be pretty? Especially now that she was no longer that poor worm hiding in the kitchen scrounging for scraps.

  When she first started working here, every time she served a customer, their eyes often went straight to her scarred hands. She felt their gaze like like sharp needles poking at her fragile confidence. She wished desperately for a better looking pair of hands, not only for herself, but also to better represent this restaurant’s reputation.

  “In the future, as long as I eat two portions of [Beancurd] each day, the scars and calluses on my hands will one day disappear!” Abbé Mia clasped her hands together tightly once, before trotting towards the kitchen with her tray. Her dream on the verge of coming true, and it was all thanks to Boss Mike.

  “Oi, I thought this has beautifying effect only? This is practically plastic surgery, ah!” Mike was shocked by the customers’ chatter, when the [System] said that [Beancurds] had beautifying effects, he had thought it was merely some additional collagen under the skin or something. Nothing so intense!

  “[System]! Why didn’t you say that the effects are so amazing, ah! If you have said it earlier, I’d have sold it for 2,000 copper coins each!” Mike hissed crossly. This [Beancurd] could heal scars, moles, liver spots, pockmarks and other skin issues that have plagued the vain human races from time immemorial. It was practically a kind of restorative elixir. People would still buy it if he raised the price by 10 times.

  “We had not expect the effects to be so strong. Our products are cruelty free with no animal testing, however, our state of the art equipments detected that the soybean has perfectly normal chemical make up aside from having 4.5 times more protein content. It is entirely possible that there are trace elements outside of known chemicals that contributed towards the extremely powerful beautifying effect.” was the [System’s] answer after a long silence.

  “I say…… are you telling me that you are making us eat things that that you’ve never even tested on animals first?” Mike frowned, latching onto the most relevant information.

  The [System] fell silent for a much longer time, before saying with some hesitation. “The ingredients supplied by the [System] went through 18 different kinds of testing and data collection, the data is then further analysed and safety tests are made to ensure that the ingredients are non-toxic, pollution free and can be safely consumed by all races in this world.”


  “In other words, you never tested it on a live creature.” Mike pressed.

  “Would the host please not assume that live animal testing are better than chemical analysis. Proper scientific tests carried out in laboratories far outstrips crude animal testing in terms of accuracy, reliability and consistency. As long as large enough sample size is taken, its reliability is 10 times higher than any animal tests.” declared the [System] solemnly. It added. “You are the first human who partake of this new ingredient.”


  “In other words, you use us to collect data, you’re experimenting on us……” Mike trailed off, but the [System] did not raise to his bait. However, it did not really matter, the [System’s] claims on data gathering, scientific testing and analysis hinted at some major, long term testing system in the shadows. Moreover, the [System] claimed to know 80% of all things in the world. The remaining 20% was probably all the things it was still gathering data on even now.

  This also reminded Mike of that warning [System] had given earlier, on limiting the sale of [Beancurds]. It looked that in addition to marketing reasons, it was for customers’ safety as well.

  “I want another [Sweet Beancurd].” Abbé Mia was stopped by Klaus, who had just set down his spoon with a beam.

  “I, too, wish to order one more portion of [Savoury Beancurd].” rasped Julian as he set down his spoon.

  The chatter within the dining hall gradually died down as gazes fell upon Abbé Mia.

  It was clearly stated upon every menu in the shop that everyone was limited to a single portion of [Beancurd] per day. Quite a few of the customers were tempted to order a second bowl, since it was so mind blowingly delicious.

  Customers who were in any way unhappy about their appearances, stared at Abbé Mia with almost desperate eyes, don’t say one more bowl, they won’t mind eating ten whole bowls in one go!

  Everyone watched with bated breath, the ones ordering a second portion were none other than Klaus and Julian. Both were grandmasters in their own right, and had just accepted Amy as their disciple. Surely, if they were the ones who ordered a second bowl, Boss Mike would allowed, right?