Chapter 381:
Sold Out!
KOHL SAT IN HIS CHAIR and bowed his head to us. “I’m so sorry.”
“Again, it’s okay. Just take it easy,” I called out to Kohl as I washed the grilling nets that were caked with ash and marinade. Lizzy was seated beside him, flopped over on the table. She was too tired to even speak.
“Okay, all finished.” My father stretched his arm as he finished cleaning the grill.
“Thanks, Dad.”
“How’re the dishes?”
“Almost done!” I showed him the clean grilling net, and he nodded in approval. He joined me at the sink to wash his hand, then he looked behind us and let out a chuckle. As I wiped his hand dry with a towel, I turned around to see Kohl and Lizzy, their right cheeks pressed to the tabletop, muttering incoherently.
“They’re beat,” my dad laughed.
“Go easy on them. They got so many customers!”
Thanks to the enthusiastic cheers of our lady neighbors in front of the food stall, they’d gotten quite a line of customers. Figuring things would settle down later in the afternoon, we went back to the plaza after lunch. But after a while, we started to hear chatter: Did you hear about the food stall with baaba that actually tastes good?! With a sense of trepidation, we returned to the stall and found that the line of customers had grown even longer since lunch. When we asked Lizzy if she was doing okay, she just stared at us with exhausted eyes and shook her head.
“I really panicked a little at that point,” my father said. “She looked exhausted.”
“I know. Good thing we went back.”
It was lucky we got there to help out before she collapsed from exhaustion.
“That’s for sure.”
I boiled some water and made tea. We set the table with the tea and the feena my father had bought after we closed the food stall.
“Mr. Kohl, Miss Lizzy, won’t you come join us for some celebratory dessert?”
The pair dragged their faces off the table. It was a little scary how slowly they were moving.
“Thanks…” Lizzy took a bite of feena and sighed dreamily.
Yeah, nothing is more soothing than dessert. I took a bite of my own. Mm, so good.
“We’d better take tomorrow off,” my father said.
“Uh-huh.”
Our magic box had become empty before we knew it. We had grilled all the meat meant for the next day without noticing. I guess it was inevitable, what with the chaos of the day and all.
“I’m actually a little relieved to hear that.” Lizzy took a long sip of her tea.
“Yeah, we get to sleep,” Kohl said.
Lizzy frowned at him. “Not that. I meant I’m relieved we sold out.”
“Ohh, right. Yeah, I’m happy about that, too. I just need to take it easy tomorrow. My arms are killing me.”
Kohl had worked his arms to their limits at the grill that day. They were giving him a lot of pain.
“I’m sorry, Kohl. You okay?” Lizzy gently rubbed his arm.
“If I drink one of the potions we’ve got at home, I should be fine.”
If they had potions, they ought to be all right. But I was impressed he had worked so hard at the grill that his arms hurt. My father had jumped in to help halfway through, but Kohl did spend almost the whole day grilling.
“You should probably stock up on potions until the rush calms down,” my father suggested.
“We will, sir.” Lizzy looked at my father with a bit of strain in her face.
Kohl looked back and forth between them. “Is something wrong?”
“He just said ‘until the rush calms down.’ Does that mean we’re going to keep having big, pushy crowds of customers for a while?”
My father thought for a moment, then nodded. “Since you’re taking tomorrow off, it’ll be even more crowded the next day. You might even have more customers than you did today.”
He had a point. The adventurers were already gossiping about the unique new food stall. There would surely be more locals in line the next day, but the stall would be closed. That meant those people who couldn’t get served then would be back the day after that. Word of mouth really does bring crowds to eating establishments.
“If we’re going to have more customers than we did today, how much meat should we prep?”
“I’d say three times as much, just to be safe,” my father said.
Lizzy and Kohl looked at him in shock.
“Um…do you know anybody who could help you with the stall? Things will probably settle down in a week or so; it would only need to be for that long.”
Lizzy and Kohl seemed in over their heads. There was no guarantee my father or I would have spare time to help out like we did today, so they could use a few more hands.
Knock, knock.
Oh, somebody’s here.
“Yes? Who’s there?”
“It’s me, Aba. That you, Kohl?”
Aba?
“Dad! What is it? Did something happen?” Kohl jumped out of his chair and ran to open the food stall’s front door. Four middle-aged people, two men and two women, were standing there with worried looks on their faces.
“You’re the something that happened! We heard the rumors. You opened a baaba food stall? We had a sinking feeling that might happen since you were talking about it yesterday, but what the hell do you think you’re doing?! What’s the point of getting us even deeper in debt?!”
Could it be…that the Did you hear about the food stall with baaba that actually tastes good?! rumor had mutated a little?
“Oh, no, the debt is no longer an issue.”
Kohl was right. If things went well, they would be able to pay off their parents’ debt as well as their own.
“No longer an issue, my foot! Why are you closed this early? Must be because you couldn’t sell anything!”
Wow, now I’m really curious about what kind of rumors he’s been hearing.
“No…”
“Look, we put you kids between a rock and a hard place. We finally get it now.”
Aba must have a lot of regrets, to say he did that to his kids.
“That’s right. We’ve been talking, and we’ve decided we’re going to pay back your debt for you.”
This lady looks a lot like Kohl. Maybe she’s his mom?
“Please, just listen!” Kohl’s voice boomed through the stall. It actually made me shake. He sighed and continued, “We closed shop early because we sold out.”
“You sold out?!” the quartet gasped, eyes wide. I guess that’s just how shocking the idea of selling out of baaba meat was.
“Kohl, did you really sell out? Of baaba?” The woman who seemed to be Kohl’s mother stared at him, her eyes brimming with hope.
“Yeah, really.”
A proud smile filled her face.
“I’m sorry about the noise,” Lizzy apologized to me and my father.
Their parents finally noticed we were there and looked a bit flustered. “Sorry, um, nice to meet you. I’m Kohl’s father, Aba. And this is…”
“His mother, Licore. So sorry to barge in on you like this.”
So she is his mother. Yeah, I thought their eyes and nose looked alike.
“I’m Lizzy’s father, Michal, and this is my wife, Chaile. Um, and you are…?”
“I’m Druid, and this is my daughter Ivy. We’re travelers.”
“Nice to meet you all,” I got up from my chair and headed to my father’s side to greet everyone. For some reason, Licore and Chaile smiled warmly at me.
“Dad, these are the people who taught us how to make baaba taste good.”
“Oh, are they? Well, thank you both very much.” Aba gripped my father’s hand and shook it firmly.
“Don’t thank me. Ivy was the one who came up with the recipe.”
“Oh, my goodness! Did your daughter really do that?”
All four pairs of eyes fell on me. Gee, this is awkward… Oh, I should ask them what rumors they heard about the baaba.
“Um, sorry, but would you mind telling me what exactly you heard about the baaba?”
I thought maybe this would give us a better idea of how many customers to expect the day after tomorrow.
“We heard three rumors: ‘Somebody started a baaba stall,’ ‘Some idiots think they can sell baaba at a food stall,’ and ‘Did you hear about the food stall with baaba that actually tastes good?!’”
The second rumor, I can do without. But if those rumors spread over the next day…yeah, I think we’ll definitely have to prep three times as much meat for the day after tomorrow.
“Dad, I think we’ll need three times the stock.”
“Yeah.”
The two sets of parents got strange looks in their eyes when we said that. Meanwhile, Kohl and Lizzy smiled sheepishly.
“So do you have any of this delicious baaba meat?” Chaile asked Kohl. “I’d love to try some.”
But Kohl shook his head. “Sorry. We made enough for two days, but we sold out. There’s not a single piece left.”
When he said this, not only Chaile but every parent had a mixed look of pride and disappointment appear in their eyes. It was a complicated sight.
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