Chapter 9: Uncle Roger's Kitchen

Brandon said, "Stop trying to look cool and tell me the plan."

Nyx stopped smiling and gave him a deadpan stare. He then said, "Tell me what do you think are the necessary things for a business to flourish?"

Brandon thought about it for a while. He said, "Hmm, first of all, quality product. It needs to be something in demand or you'll have to create one yourself. Then you need capital, connections, and good advertisement."

Nyx was surprised. Brandon was quite smart for someone his age. He said, "You forgot the most important thing."

Brandon asked, "What?"

Nyx replied, "A unique brand."

Brandon replied, "I don't agree. A brand is something that forms after a business has achieved its initial success. Before that, it's just one of the many businesses in its field."

Nyx replied, "That's an interesting train of thought. And you're not exactly wrong but you forgot one detail."

Brandon looked at him with a questioning look. Nyx continued, "Tell me, who am I? What is my identity?"

Brandon replied, "That's a dumb question. You're Nyx Ironheart."

Nyx asked again, "And?"

Brandon replied, "And what?"

Nyx took back what he said about Brandon being smart. He asked, "Who is my father?"

Brandon replied, "Did you hit your head on the way back? Why are you asking such obvious questions?"

Nyx said, "Humor me."

Brandon sighed and replied, "Your father is the Clan Head of the Ironheart Clan."

As soon as he said that, the gears in his head started turning. He looked at Nyx in shock. Seeing this Nys smiled and said, "You finally understand. I don't need a brand. I already have one. The Clan members love me. What do you think would happen when they hear that I have opened a business?"

Brandon replied, "We will get a lot of customers. But have you decided what we will do?"

Nyx replied, "We will open a restaurant."

Brandon sounded doubtful, "A restaurant?"

Nyx replied, "As you have probably noticed, the food in the canteen doesn't taste that good. It is super nutritious but as a cost, the taste is subpar at best. We will open a restaurant that serves food that has the same nutrition and much greater taste."

Brandon said, "First of all, that's going to be difficult. Like very difficult. Second, even if we do succeed, there's a limit to how much a restaurant can grow."

Nyx replied, "I know that. It is also why we will sell it to the highest bidder after it has reached a certain point. Then with the funds that we have, we will repay the loan and start our real business."

Brandon asked curiously, "And what would that be?"

Nyx replied, "We'll talk about that later. Right now, we need to buy our shop. It would be too much of a hassle to buy a shop and the equipment that we need separately. So, we'll buy a restaurant that's already going under. That way, we will be able to buy it for cheap and with some negotiating, we won't have to buy any equipment. Even if we do, it wouldn't be much."

The boys headed to the market to look for a restaurant that fit the criteria. While looking for the restaurant, they also bought a lot of snacks. Three hours went by and they still hadn't found what they were looking for. It was already time for dinner so they decided to head back to the dorm after having dinner in the market.

Nyx said, "I'm craving noodles."

Brandon said, "Me too. Let's go."

Nyx asked, "Go where?"

Brandon replied, "We're going to a secret place only some in Clan know about. They have some of the best noodles in the market."

Brandon's words made Nyx curious. To garner such praise from Brandon, he wanted to know what was so good about these noodles. Nyx followed Brandon, through a series of twists and turns until they reached a humble looking shop. Above the entrance, a poster hung that said, 'Uncle Roger's Kitchen'.

They entered the restaurant and noticed that it was empty.

Nyx said, "Are you sure that we're at the right place? Cause this seems deserted, even for a secret place."

Brandon replied, "You're right. Something's wrong."

He looked around and shouted, "Boss, it's Brandon."

A middle aged man exited the kitchen. He looked at Brandon and smiled sadly.

Brandon asked, "Is everything alright? Where are the customers?"

The middle aged man, whose name Nyx assumed was Roger, replied, "There won't be any more customers. I'm closing the shop down. But I have some ingredients in the kitchen. I'll make you and your friend some noodles. It's my treat."

Before Brandon could say anything, Roger went inside the kitchen.

Nyx said, "So…"

Brandon replied, "I don't know what's going on with him. Although he doesn't have many customers, he earns enough to live a comfortable life. Why is he selling the shop?"

Whilst Brandon was contemplating plausible reasons behind Roger's actions, Roger came out of the kitchen with two bowls of black bean noodles (jajangmyeon). He put the bowls in front of the boys and said, "Unfortunately, I didn't have any ingredients left for any side dishes. But I hope that you'll enjoy it."

The boys thanked him and started mixing their noodles with chopsticks. After hearing Brandon's praise about this place, Nyx was curious. He took his first bite and then, he paused. He didn't even realize when his hand had already made another bite and put it in his mouth. Just like that, he kept on eating until he had finished the bowl. He looked at Brandon dumbfoundedly.

He asked, "What just happened?"

Brandon replied, "Bliss. Bliss happened."

Nyx suddenly stood up from his seat and shouted, "Boss!"

Roger came out of the kitchen, startled. He asked, "What happened? Is something wrong with the food?"

Nyx replied, "No, the food was amazing. I wanted to ask something else."

Roger said, "What?"

Nyx replied, "You said that you wanted to sell this shop, right? I'll buy it."

Roger thought that the little boy was joking and replied, "Sure, grow up and earn a lot of money. Then, Uncle will sell his shop to you."

Nyx said, "No, I meant that I'll buy it now. How much is it? Scratch that, you probably have debt and that's forcing you to sell the shop. I'll repay your debt. I have a lot of money."

Roger didn't know how to react to this sudden situation. He looked at Brandon but he just nodded. Roger looked at Nyx and said, "My debt is much greater than the price of this shop so…"

Nyx interrupted him, "That brings me to my conditions. I want to open a restaurant. And for that, I'll need a good chef. So, I want to offer you a job. And I'll also need equipment so I'll buy those from you too. As for your salary, 25% of the profit will be yours. Additionally, you can buy the shop back from me anytime for,...hmmm, let's see…triple the amount of your debt."

Roger was overwhelmed from the sudden info dump and sat down. He started thinking as this could be the biggest gamble of his life. After some time, Nyx said,"So, do I have a deal or not?"

Roger said, "Yes, you have a deal. But I need everything that you mentioned before on a contract."

Nyx replied, "Of course."

He motioned towards his shadow and said, "You can come out now. I need the money."

Brandon and Roger looked at the shadow but nothing happened. Nyx sighed and said, "You don't have to hide. I already know that you're there. I also know that the Clan Head gave you the money, so…"

After a few minutes passed, a man materialized from the shadow, scaring the shit out of Brandon and Roger. He kneeled and said, "I greet the Young Master."

Nyx nodded and pointed his open hand towards the man. The man handed him four things; two papers, a pen, and a card.

He said, "Young Master, before using the card, you must register your company."

Nyx took one of the papers and the pen. He thought of a name for the company and finally chose 'Night Investments' and wrote it down. He handed the paper to the shadow and took the other sheet of paper. It was a Contract of Sancus, from the God of Contracts. Sancus's Anima was a contract and he rose to the peak of their Realm with it. His contracts are used throughout Celeste Anima to seal deals.

He wrote all of the clauses without any fineprint and handed it over to Roger. Roger read the contract thoroughly, making sure that he wasn't being cheated in any way. After he was done, he looked at Nyx and nodded.

They both created a small slit on their thumbs and pressed them on the contract. The contract shone and they both felt that they had been bound by a greater power and that they would face grave consequences if they failed to uphold their end of the bargain.

Then, Nyx proceeded to transfer 300,000 Iron Credits to Roger, so that he could repay his debt. He also handed him a cookbook. This cookbook contained all of the dishes that they would serve in the future. He decided that he would save 100,000 Iron Credits for emergencies and spend the rest. He really was going all in.

After doing that, he left for the farmers market. He needed to secure ingredients. He made a deal with some local farmers and butchers. He spent another 250,000 Iron Credits there. Then he hired an architect and a construction company to renovate the restaurant. He paid them 150,000 Iron Credits.

Finally, he announced that he was hiring staff. He knew that Roger alone wouldn't be enough for the restaurant he envisioned. So, he wanted to hire some chefs and waiters. For the next week, he handpicked the staff.

With the conditions that he was offering, he was flooded with applications. For chefs, he prioritised people who had Anima that were related to eyes, hands, or Anima that had the Fire Element. The selected chefs signed a contract with the restaurant. So, even if Roger bought back the restaurant, he would keep the chefs.

For the waiters though, he had a very strict criteria. He only chose people whose Anima was either one of their sensory organs. Of course, he didn't tell anyone that this was the deciding factor. The selected waiters signed contracts with his company instead of the restaurant. This was all a part of his grand plan.