Mag’s teaching was easy to understand, so even a complete novice like Ivan could understand it, and quickly got a hang of it under his instructions.

  Because there were only three woks, all of them had to take turns to use them. Each crayfish was a chance to practice, and the price of 50 copper coins each made all of them very serious.

  And Kitar, who had 13 crayfish, became the “rich man” among them as he had a very high trial and error rate.

  They could see their failure easily. Regardless if it was charring the crayfish during stir-frying, or burning the crayfish during the reduction, they all took turns making novices’ mistakes.

  However, their improvements were also very obvious. Ivan, who couldn’t even hold the spatula properly before, could already flip a whole crayfish over in the wok.

  “Alright, that’s all for this morning’s practice session. I’ve got to start the service after a short rest. You guys may go first,” Mag said to the apprentices at 11 am. He would have to treat them to lunch if they stayed.

  All of them bid their farewell to Mag respectfully. They only realized that cooking a delicious crayfish was a very difficult task after learning it themselves, so their respect for Mag increased tremendously too.

  “We have taken care of Alfred and Simmons. Who’s next?” Mag asked Irina while they were having lunch.

  “Westin, then,” Irina replied after pondering for a while.

  “That’s a good candidate.” Mag nodded slightly. Westin, the second elder of the shivarras and one of those people who had ambushed Alex back then.

  The shivarras were also a demon tribe that loved wars, and were known for their terrifying power of devastation. They were ranked at number two in the Top Ten Demon Tribes, had a huge population, and their advanced combat power had been increasing tremendously in the recent 100 years. They were already challenging the overlord status of the fear demons.

  The fear demons’ stance toward the peace negotiation was still unknown, so the shivarras were the real leaders of the pro-war factions. They were already pressurizing the pro-peace tribes in their attempt to form a powerful pro-war demons’ alliance.

  Westin enjoyed a high status as the second elder of the shivarras.

  However, he wasn’t considered powerful, as he had only advanced to the 10th-tier 10-odd years ago. Still, he was a rare demon who was known for his strategic mind. He could be considered as the brain of the shivarras. He had played an important role in the rapid increase of the power of the shivarras in the past 100 years.

  In the snippets of Mag’s memory, Westin was the only demon who wanted to kill him completely, while the other demons and men were maiming Alex’s limbs in sneers and jeers then.

  The shivarras didn’t appear on the Roth Empire’s punishment list for the ambush back then, but he guessed they should have received a huge reward from Josh.

  “However, this fellow is very elusive. He may not be easy to get rid of.” Irina picked up and bit into a piece of chicken before continuing, “If we don’t get a chance to get rid of him, then we will get rid of Bashir.”


  “Bashir?”


  “I heard he likes to collect elven maids.” Irina’s gaze and voice turned cold at the same time.

  Mag narrowed his eyes slightly. Elves who ended up in the hands of the demons usually didn’t have a good end, and collection meant turning elves into pets completely. He nodded slightly. “Him, then.”


  Jane looked at Irina before looking at Mag. Although she didn’t understand what they were talking about, they sounded formidable.

  After the lunch service, Mag hung an “Off” sign on the door to prevent those enthusiastic apprentices from coming over to bother him earlier, and went back upstairs to read.

  The Cthulhu Mythos’ system was huge. Mag would need a lot of time to understand it. However, apart from reading, there was no better solution now.

  ***

  “The third day that Boss Mag left. I miss him.”


  Vanessa propped her chin on her hands and boredly gazed at a wind chime that was swaying on the window.

  “Princess, I have gone to enquire again. They said Boss Mag would return soon,” Lola consoled her gently. She rather missed Boss Mag too. The princess lost much of her appetite after he had left.

  Vanessa turned around, and asked Lola, “Lola, do you think that I’m in love with Boss Mag? I have never missed a man so much. I even think about him when I am sleeping.”


  “Are you sure you’re not thinking about food instead of Boss Mag?” Lola asked hesitantly.

  “Hmm……” An awkward expression flashed across Vanessa’s face as she murmured, “Although it was about food most of the time, without Boss Mag, we wouldn’t have those foods.”


  “That only means that you like the food that Boss Mag cooked, and not him.” Lola heaved a breath of relief secretly. If her princess fell in love with a chef, and a chef with a child at it, she would be so dead when she returned.

  “Alright. Compared to Boss Mag, I indeed prefer tofu pudding, braised chicken and rice, Yangzhou fried rice…… In this case, his ranking came after the top 10.” Vanessa nodded. She suddenly felt a little apologetic that she had sort of let Boss Mag down.

  “Oh, yes. The duke said His Majesty has written again, asking you to return. Do you plan on staying on in Tatari[1]?” Lola said.

  “There’s nothing fun to do back in the palace. There’s nobody there to play with me and nothing nice to eat. I will mold in my room since I’m trapped there every day.” Vanessa shook her head before revealing a dazzling smile. “It’s so nice to be here. Uncle Abraham will bring me to eat good food every day, and the patrons at the restaurant are very adorable too. Eating with them is so much more interesting than staying in the palace.”


  Lola swallowed her words when she saw Vanessa’s smile. A smile appeared on her face too. It was very rare to see the princess smile like this in the palace.

  “Furthermore, Mr. Mag has promised to fix my teeth for me. I’m not going back before my teeth are fixed,” Vanessa said as a matter of fact.

  ***

  “Take a look, everyone. This is already the 36th letter of blood. I think someone will really hang themselves on our door if the Boss doesn’t return soon.” Yabemiya went out and returned with a bundle of blood letters and other sort of mails that were stuck to the door. She helplessly said to all of them, “It’s already been three days. The boss has seldom stayed away for long.”


  “I guess Amy and he wouldn’t be returning on today, either.” Babla tossed a hovering plate around with her fingers boringly.

  “If Boss doesn’t return soon, the grieving customers are going to tear down the restaurant soon,” Firis said worriedly. It wasn’t just Boss Mag and Amy—the princess had also left for days.

  “Don’t worry. They’re not going to tear down the restaurant,” Elizabeth said calmly. They would have to go through her if they attempted to do that.

  [1] [Annotation text missing]