Chapter 9
Amy saw that Michael suddenly stopped moving, and just stood there with the empty plate of fried rice in his hand . She was puzzled and asked, “Papa, what happened?”
“Oh, nothing! Amy, drink some water first . If you are bored, you may play in the restaurant . Papa will go into the kitchen to cook . ” Michael immediately smiled as he shook his head to indicate that nothing is wrong . He pushed the glass of water towards Amy, and quickly made his way to the kitchen .
“Oh, what a pretty crystal cup!” Amy happily picked up the glass of water and examined it from all angles . She could not bear to drink the water inside the glass . The glass of water looks so pretty!
When Michael walked into the kitchen, the voice of the [System] rang out again . “All the ingredients in the kitchen are specially imported from all over this world . We procured the ingredients directly from the farms, fishing grounds or pastures so that it is fresh . These ingredients are sold to you at the purchased prices . We did not even include the price of logistics or transportation costs . Our prices are definitely honest and fair . “
“You considered a shallot that cost one copper coin for just one piece of shallot as ‘fair price’?” Michael asked sarcastically . If he was not worried that the [System] may punish him in some way, he would have unleashed a barrage of criticisms on the [System] using his acidic tongue .
The currency system in this world evolved slowly over the past 100 years . During the Great War between the various races, most of the transactions were completed using barter . After the peace treaty was signed, commerce flourished . To facilitate commercial trade, the monetary system re-emerged . Each race issued their own currency .
As trade between the various races flourished and intensified, travelling merchants were plagued by a problem . The merchants haggled and disagreed on the issue of exchange rates .
In the end, the trader guilds and banks declared the currency of Luo Si Country as a universally used currency, due to its abundant supply, proper exchange rate, stable currency, and slow depreciation .
The universally used currency in this world comprises of bronze coins, silver coins, gold coins and dragon coins . Bronze coins are the smallest unit of currency, and on planet Earth, you could think of each bronze coins as $1 note .
10 bronze coins equal one silver coin .
10 silver coins equal one gold coin .
10 gold coins equal one dragon coin .
In his past life, a plate of $296 fried rice is not considered too expensive to dine at Michelin starred restaurants . After all, there were a lot of rich people on Earth .
But now, he is the boss of this restaurant, and this world is not Earth . If his cost is already 296 copper coins, does it means that he had to sell one plate of fried rice at 500 copper coins to make a profit? At this price, the customers may beat him to death .
After all, right now he is residing in the City of Sin . And this city is a chaotic city with all kinds of people .
“This green beans was grown in the Orcs territory, in an untouched plain in the heart of Twilight Forest . Each day, the green beans are exposed to 16 hours sunshine to maximise its nutrients . Every green bean plant can only produce a maximum of 100 green peas . And we only select the 10 best green peas of each plant . Each green pea is guaranteed to be full of nutrients and taste sweet . “
“These big prawns come from the Staro Sea that is located east of Luo Si Country . In the Staro Sea, near the Solomon Islands, lie the spawning grounds of these unique prawns with rare lilac markings . The region around these islands is highly dangerous, and there are sea monsters in the vicinity . In this region, there are no humans or demi-humans activity . Each year, only 100,000 prawns are spawned . These prawns are extremely fresh and delicious . ”
The rice was growth in the plains within the Windstorm Forest, an Elven territory . It was irrigated using underground waters from the spring of life . There are no artificial pesticides and fertilizers used in the growing of these rice . Each mu of farmland only produced 300 jin of rice .
……
Listening to the explanation of the [System], Michael was so shocked that his mouth unwittingly opened wide . He did not realise that these ingredients were procured and harvested from these foreign lands . In addition, each ingredient were carefully cultivated and grown .
Based on what he knew, the Orcs are highly territorial . It is impossible to enter the Orcs territory to gather the green beans .
The seas around Solomon Islands are regarded as the ‘seas of death’ . It is the equivalent to the Bermuda Triangle on Earth . Even the dragons that fly over this region would mysteriously disappear . And these prawns were taken from the area?
For the Elves, the spring of life is considered a scared spring . Elves would jealously guard it with their lives and refused to allow any other races to use the waters from this spring . And the [System] could get hold of the rice that was watered using underground water from the spring of life? Even the elves probably had not tasted this type of rice before .
The rest of the ingredients are also gathered from all corners of the world, and often in dangerous areas . For example, the mushrooms grow only on rare trees in the demon territories, in the Undead Archipelago area . The eggs were procured from a chicken farm near the Essen Iron Dwarves stronghold . Even the scallions were grown near the salts mines of Port of Los-de-Minerre, and it is said that the scallions there are much tastier than normal scallions .
In the past, Michael McGonagall was a general in the Luo Si army, and he had knowledge of various territories in this world . Although he did not inherit his family business, he had often heard about these regions . Therefore, he could easily understand how precious these ingredients were .
50 coppers for a big prawn with rare lilac markings harvested from Solomon Islands sea?
Even if the price is ten times that, Michael would not think that the prices of these prawns are expensive .
For these ingredients, even if you try to purchase them in their native lands, you could not purchase them at this price . All of these ingredients are something that had high demand, but limited supply .
Even if you manage to get hold of these precious ingredients, how are you going to transport them to this restaurant? The cost of shipping these ingredients would be astronomical . Plus, this world does not have the ability to keep the ingredients fresh for the duration of the shipment . Neither could it ‘air-flown’ the ingredients .
In the inland, if you wish to eat fresh seafood, you need to have a mage that could magically extend the life of the sea creatures for the entire duration it takes to transport the food from the sea to the inland cities . This is extremely expensive and quite laughable .
Oh, he did recall that Luo Si Country palace actually has a task force that was responsible for procuring fresh seafood . This task force made use of giant red eagles to transport the seafood to the palace, and could be this world’s method of ‘air transport’ . But even then, a single fish from the sea would cost at least 100 times more than a stall located in a coastal city .
The City of Sin is an inland city . If someone had enough money and knows about this exotic ingredient, a pair of big prawns could be sold for 1000 coppers . Even then, it would not be considered expensive .
“Now does [Master] still suspect me of trying to cheat you of your monies?” The [System] asked .
“No, no, no! [System] you are too amazing . In the entire world, there is no one as fantastic as you . ” Michael immediately replied . Looking at the prices that the [System] offers, it could be said that the [System] is too nice .
Suddenly Michael was struck with a flash of inspiration as he looked at the ingredients in the fridge . “Hey [System], can I sell these ingredients instead of opening a restaurant? I think that we can earn more, and earn money faster . “
“The ingredients that I provided may only be used to create food in the restaurant . You may not sell the ingredients as they are . ” The [System] replied .
Suddenly the [System] voice rang out, “New task: purchase 3000 gold coins worth of ingredients within 10 days . Successful completion of this task will unlock a new dish, ‘Juicy Meat Hamburger’ . Failure to complete this task will result in a modification of [Master]’s constitution -0 . 5 .
Michael had expected that the [System] may not agree with his idea of selling the ingredients . But when he saw the new task, he almost cried out in shock, “3,000 gold coins!”
3,000 gold coins = 300,000 copper coins! This is a massive amount of monies!
And this is not counting the profits, but rather the amount of monies that were used to purchase the ingredients .
One plate of [Yang Zhou Fried Rice] required approximately 3 gold pieces in terms of ingredient cost . That means that within 10 days, he needs to sell 1,000+ plates of [Yang Zhou Fried Rice] . If he fails, he will go back to become an invalid again!
“[System], you are purposely making things difficult for me, and trying to make me an invalid again?” Michael could not help himself and confront the [System] .
Even though he is quite confident in the taste of the [Yang Zhou Fried Rice] that he cooks, but he had no confidence whatever to sell 1,000+ plates of [Yang Zhou Fried Rice] within a period of 10 days . After all, his restaurant had not even opened yet, and does not have a single regular customer .
Furthermore, to complicate matters, fried rice is not a popular dish or common dish in this world . At least not accordingly to the memories of Michael McGonagall, who had never eaten a plate of fried rice before .
“The task has already been assigned . Please try your best to complete this task on time . ” The cold voice of the [System] indicated that there is no room for negotiations .
“All right, let’s not discuss about this first . ” Michael saw that this task is not negotiable, and suddenly smiled as he asked, “[System], right now I do not have a single penny on me . I also had not eaten my breakfast . Why not let me use these ingredients for free just one more time? If I die of hunger, then I could not complete our plan of being the [God of Cooking] . “
“Considering the situation, the [System] has offered [Master] a line of credit . Your credit limit is set at 3,000 coppers . Each month, you may opt to pay your credit in full or to pay it in instalments . But I will have to charge you interest if you use the credit . ” The [System]’s voice rang out .
Will Michael manage to sell 1,000 plates of [Yang Zhou Fried Rice] and complete the task on time?