After making sure there was no one around, Mag landed on the top of the cliff where he had summoned the purple-striped griffin.

  He took Amy in his arms and jumped off the griffin’s back. They then took off the black suits and masks. “Ah Zi, you can go back now,” Mag said, stroking its head.

  Ah Zi rubbed its head against his hand, giving him a wistful look that said it didn’t want to leave.

  Amy patted it on the head. “Go ahead.”


  It flapped its wings, circled around above their heads, and disappeared into the distance.

  “Time to get back.” Mag calmed down the horse that had been spooked by his griffin, lifted Amy onto its back, and rode towards Chaos City.

  “You’re not only a great chef, Father, but also a hero who fights bad guys,” Amy said as she looked back at Mag with admiration written all over her face.

  Mag smiled. “Yes, I am. Fighting against crime is my other life. I have many enemies, Amy, so nobody can know this. Don’t tell anyone what happened today. Let’s keep it a secret between you and me.”


  Amy’s eyes brightened. “A secret between us? Great! That means I have a secret now. Don’t worry, Father, I won’t tell anyone.”


  “That’s my girl,” Mag said, stroking her head.

  “The restaurant has been successfully upgraded,” said the system. “Changes to the second floor have been made as planned. By the way, you’ve maxed out your credit card, so don’t forget to pay it off by the 10th of next month.”


  “What if I don’t pay?” Mag asked curiously.

  “If you fail to pay it off in time, your credit rating will go down, and your credit limit will be decreased.

  “If you don’t have enough money, you can always pay by instalments. Don’t worry, the interest rates are very low.”


  “You’re plagiarizing Jack Ma’s ideas!” Mag said, pursing his lips in disapproval.

  “I’m not plagiarizing, I’m just borrowing!” the system corrected.

  Then the system started promoting various projects for Mag to invest in, but since Mag was well aware how money-grubbing the system was, he had no interest in any of its projects.

  After riding into the city, Mag went straight to the guild with Amy, but he didn’t see anyone from the Rose Mercenary Squad, so he asked a groom working in the guild’s stable to return the horse to the Rose Mercenary Squad.

  Horses were important to mercenaries, yet Mag had a bicycle and a griffin, so he had no need to keep a horse.

  A horse was more expensive to take care of than a car. He could use that money for more important purposes.

  Besides, no mount was cooler than his purple-striped griffin.

  When Mag came out of the guild, many mercenaries were chatting at the gate.

  “I heard another mercenary group had gotten ambushed near the Giant Canyon,” said a fat mercenary. “Do you know the details?”


  “You heard right. I was there,” said a middle-aged man with a beard. “When I arrived, the crime scene had been sealed off by the Gray Temple, though. But I heard those killers failed this time.”


  “Failed? But they had never failed before.”


  The bearded man raised his voice. “That’s because they had been lucky, but they knew their luck had run out when they saw Alex descending from the heavens like a deity. He delivered justice and killed all of them.”


  “Alex!” They were first surprised, and then relieved. They were very certain the elf hunters had no chance of surviving Alex.

  “With lightning in one hand and a sword in the other, Master Alex killed them all in an instant,” the bearded man said as if he had seen it with his own eyes.

  Mag chuckled. Lightning? I’m not a magic caster. He ought to have his head examined.

  The man heard his laughter and turned to find Mag passing by. “Why are you laughing, bro? Master Alex has rid us of those vermin. Now it’s much safer for us to go out. You should be grateful and show some respect.”


  Mag gave a wry smile. “You’re right. He sure deserves our respect.”


  The bearded man nodded with a smile. “You can say that again.” Then he got back to telling the exaggerated story to his fellow mercenaries.

  As Mag walked through the front yard of the guild, he found almost everyone was talking about how Alex had saved the Rose Mercenary Guild, but all versions of the story were incredibly exaggerated.

  “Are they talking about you, Father?” Amy asked curiously as she looked up at Mag, holding one of his fingers.

  Mag shrugged. “Maybe.”


  “They totally adore you!” Amy felt very proud to be his daughter.

  It was dark when they got back home.

  “Someone changed our restaurant, Father!” Amy exclaimed in surprise as she looked at the building which had become twice its original size.

  “I had someone renovate it for us because the old one was too small.” Mag also looked surprised.

  The simple two-story building next door had been completely changed by the system. The common wall between the two houses had been removed. The decoration style hadn’t changed much, though. They had 32 tables now instead of 16. Between two tables stood a wooden shelf, on which beautiful green plants were placed.