The Late Cook Ascends the Tower - The Late Cook Ascends the Tower chapter 14

14 – Episode 14. Why cooks wander.

Ugh…

What should I say about this feeling?

[Current gold: 872 gold.]

This village was much poorer than I expected.

At first, the dishes were sold for almost 90 gold, but after 7, you only get 20 gold…

Besides, the last customer had no gold at all, so they even bartered.

[Dull Dagger]

– An old dagger you picked up from the tower.

– It’s worn out and its power has declined.

– Changes the attack type to slash or thrust.

I don’t have any weapons anyway, so I decided to exchange them because it would be much better than beating them with my bare hands.

So the result is 872 gold and one weapon.

To sum up the results, I feel a bit wasteful.

If I had earned a little more, I would have gotten both the relic and the membership card at once.

But I didn’t even complain about that, 872 gold far exceeded my record.

The previous record for the most gold on the 1st floor was 412 gold.

That wasn’t the village at the deepest part of the tower, but the 412 gold on the stairs right before going up to the second floor.

But this time I earned 872 gold in town without hunting…

It’s a pity that I couldn’t reach 1,000 gold, but this was an undeniable all-time start.

I just need to earn the lack of gold again.

Then shall we go back to the store and buy some ingredients?

But the price must have risen dramatically because I have a lot of gold in my possession…

Now I might have to go inside the tower myself.

And if the worst happens, there is a way to sell leftover food at the store, but I want to postpone that until the very end.

The purchase price of the golden rule store is so rubbish.

Unless it is a useless japtem, you should never sell relics or consumables to shops.

“Ugh…”

Dana’s sighs came from the empty hall.

He is very diligent even though no one makes him work.

Even after the business was over, people cleaned up the mess, cleaned the tables, and then sat down in a chair as if they were tired.

“Is it hard?”

“Yeah… I’m getting sleepy now…”

“Stop cleaning up and go to bed. There’s nothing left over from selling stew anyway, so it’s okay to take a day off.”

“Ew…!”

Then Dana jumped up and stomped closer.

Add one piece of information here.

Dana loses her safe distance even when she is upset.

She came up to her knees and pressed my nose with her index finger.

“The store never closes. This is my pride.”

“Then why don’t you take the money? You said you ran errands and got money, so if there is a way, you can pay for your labor with the price you gave me stew.”

“Ehh, it’s not about the money…”

Dana shook her head in frustration, but I can’t back down when I hear those words.

It’s not because of the money.

Do you know how many people risk their lives to start a business just to earn that money?

As a former restaurant worker, this is something I absolutely cannot agree with.

“Is business a joke? If it’s not for money, what are you running the store for?”

“If I close the store, then where do people rest?”

“I’ll rest on my own.”

“Rice is.”

“Should you care about that?”

“Ugh, I don’t understand, really…”

“Yes. I know yeah.”

It doesn’t matter if we can’t find a point of agreement.

From my standards, he’s the strangest person in the world, and by his standards, I think I’m quite an idiot.

I don’t know why I have to run a store that doesn’t even pay, and I can’t sleep.

At that time, someone’s voice came from the entrance.

“Dana, are you doing business today?”

He had a thick beard and a thick body wearing old armor.

Judging by the bloodstains on his armor, he must be a climber who has just returned from the tower.

“Mister Vuchenko! Are you back today? How are you feeling?”

“Only curses piled up. I haven’t gained anything and I’m just annoyed, but I’m hungry, so can I come to my senses? I need to fill my stomach at least.”

“You worked hard. I’ll bring you the stew, so please sit down at a comfortable place!”

“Thank you as always.”

“I am more grateful. I’m glad you’re back.”

The child who was dying just now is flying around when a guest arrives.

Are you saying that you were born with a child like that?

Maybe Dana is a restaurant genius.

When I was roasting the meat last night, I felt Dana’s face every time it came into her eyes.

How happy Dana is.

It was probably dirty fun for a day.

I work hard to cook it, I hope it tastes good, and after I taste it, I get excited and imagine the price.

I was worried about which customer to sell to.

Start your business and until everything sells as you imagined.

She was enjoying every moment to the fullest.

I was just watching from the sidelines, but my eyes are probably correct.

I know because I was like that too.

From noble mtl dot com

There was a time when I made everything myself, made plans, and was sure that those plans would succeed.

And there was such a thing in those days.

Something like someone to share that moment with.

It’s been a long time since it was disposed of.

Aha, now I get it.

I didn’t know why he didn’t like it, but now I think I do.

He keeps possessing Mr. Dana and reminds me of the most miserable two years of my life.

Or maybe it’s because he made the same expression as me when I was young and messes with my memories.

That’s why I hate him.

“Good job. I’m going.”

“Where are you going?”

“If you ask that question in this world, what answer do you usually get?”

“Perhaps, up…?”

“Why, it seems you don’t know more about this world than me, who arrived today. Bye. Fix the store.”

“Go to sleep. You are sleepy.”

“I’ll take care of that myself.”

“You’re really stubborn… If you want to go to bed, go to bed!”

And there’s one more reason I don’t like it.

Because you’re so damn strong, you keep getting dragged around!

I also have a plan, you man…

Dana carried me on her shoulders and went upstairs.

Then he opened the door at the end of the hallway and threw me on the bed.

“Ah! Please treat me kindly!”

“Stop nagging and go to sleep. After I wake up, I won’t say anything. And…”

“Don’t even dream about accommodation costs. Because you brought it by force.”

“I don’t need that… just…”

Dana stopped talking and moved her eyeballs around for no reason.

Do you want to say something but it doesn’t come out of your mouth?

Then she finally said with her eyes fixed on the floor.

Probably, this is the first time she hasn’t made eye contact with her while talking to me.

“I know you are leaving… But if you ever come back, come back here in peace. I will always wait here.”

Boom!

With those words, he slammed the door shut.

I hear footsteps thumping down the stairs.

‘This is why the store is ruined…’

Dust is falling from the ceiling.

The sunlight pouring relentlessly through the window turns the dust into glitter.

The remaining sunlight turns the room into an oil painting.

It was an old room.

Walls, floors, windows, everything is made of wood, everything creaks.

Do you run a tavern and an inn together, as is often the case in fantasy?

However, this room was not a guest room.

The closet in the room is too much. I don’t know if it’s a hanger.

Ki-Ik-

As expected.

When I opened the closet, there were a lot of women’s clothes hanging there.

This is probably Dana’s room.

I thought there were a lot of rooms when he told me to go to sleep, but what did he believe in giving me his room…

That’s for someone you’ve only met a day.

I remember the last thing Dana said in my head.

And someone’s words similar to those words come to mind.

『I will always wait for you here, even if everyone in the tower forgets you. Feel free to come back here anytime.”

You’re being arrogant and repeating Dana-san’s words again.

It was like that before, but I don’t think I’ll understand his indecisiveness until I die.

‘Huh, I’m sleepy…’

Now that this has happened, shall we go to bed?

The blurred sunlight on the opaque glass keeps making me close my eyes.

I took off my shoes and sat down on the bed.

And shamelessly leaned his head on the pillow.

As soon as she tried to close her eyes, her eyes were drawn to something on her bedside.

‘Book?’

It was a small wad of paper, more like a notebook than a book.

The cover is on the verge of falling off, and the binding is in a mess, so if you open it carelessly, it looks like all the pages will fall apart.

Something trickles down between those old pages.

‘It’s a painting.’

A graffiti drawn with poor workmanship.

It’s so messy that it’s hard to make out, but I can tell at least that I drew two people.

The moment I looked at the picture, I started hearing voices in my head.

“Arriving at an unfamiliar tower, you met the first guest who wanted your cooking.

In her booklet you found in her room, I’m sure you can get the information on the dish she wants.』

I recognized it as soon as I heard the name you in the voice.

‘It’s an event. But in town?’

No matter how you think about it, the event was clear.

A kind of quest that occurs when you find something in the tower, clear the conditions presented by the TOE, and then receive a reward.

When an event occurred, I always heard TRPG-style social comments like that.

‘This is the first time an event has occurred in the town.’

But once the event was met, the player had to make a choice.

Whether to clear the conditions or ignore the event and give up on growth.

You must select one of the two to proceed with the next play.

Soon after, as expected, a choice appeared in front of my eyes.

『You decide to find a clue to the dish the customer wants in her memory.』

– Reward: Exclusive artifact for the Wandering Chef.

『You decide to bury her memories in a booklet.』

– Giving up compensation.

And I realized after seeing the options.

What did the job of traveling chef on my dog tag mean?

Why did you put the word “Wandering” Instead of just a chef?

I know this because I worked in the restaurant business myself.

The main character of cooking is not the chef.

The main character is a customer who eats food.

The supporting character hiding in the shadows is the chef so that customers can enjoy delicious dishes.

From that point of view, if a cook wanders, what is the reason?

The answer was fixed.

This means that the customers are scattered.

Find customers in the tower, cook for them, and collect exclusive rewards.

That’s the way a wandering chef with potential S rank plays.

Yesterday and today things worked out so well that there is one fact that I forgot.

The fact that TOE never puts players at ease.

A devilish game that doesn’t give you a key card until you die if you have a build you want, raises the price of the artifact you want to the ceiling, and curses you when you turn around.

It seems to be the same in this episode.

Looking at me forcibly inserting other people’s memories into me, who doesn’t want to be involved with people.

Cruelly, the choice I’m going to make has already been decided.