Novel Bin Chapter 89 – Unexpected Rejection
Chapter 89 – Unexpected Rejection
Beardy Old Man now became Halfsies Beard Old Man, on top of that he’d been given a grand lecture by a little girl. Whatever words had been hanging on the edge of Klaus’ lips were choked down his throat. Thinking back to what he had carelessly promised, the old face flushed red, he turned to glare at Sargerass.
Sargerass may have nearly lost his head in amusement, but the volume of his laughter lowered significantly at the glare. He had been holding back his laughter ever since Klaus had re-entered the room, after Amy’s remark everything just exploded. The best he could do right now was avoid eye contact with Klaus and cover his mouth to prevent any sounds from leaking out. However, everyone could see his heaving shoulders and knew just what was going through his head. It was the best laugh he had ever had for a few decades.
“Halfsies Beard Old Man, please don’t scare Big Baldy. If he gets angry he’ll catch fire. If your last bit of beard got burnt, you’ll be Beardless Old Man.” Amy reminded Klaus solemnly.
“Ahem, what happened just now was an accident. That fireball you displayed is not bad, I’m something of an expert with fireballs myself. Also, my fireballs are bigger and much more powerful...” Klaus said with a determined smile as he spoke gently with Amy.
“Your second [Yang Zhou Fried Rice].” Mike came out of the kitchen and placed the fried rice in front of Klaus, breaking his explanation to Amy. “As I have mentioned earlier, Amy is still young, I will not permit her to leave just for the sake of some magic lessons. If she really wants to learn, I will find a suitable teacher for her and let her learn whatever she wants in this city.”
The customers, who were already reeling from the shock of Klaus NOT being angry or setting them on fire, were once again shocked by how Boss Mike simply interrupted Klaus in the middle of his little speech.
Moreover, it looked like this was not the first time Boss Mike had denied Klaus his request. To let a mere restaurant owner pull his face down like this just to get Amy to be his disciple, this little girl’s innate potential must be immense.
“That was a direct rejection!” Harrison looked at Mike with his mouth hanging open His shock was quite natural since for most people, having a consecrated wizard from the Lost Empire accept one’s child as a disciple was a great honour for the entire family.
Every year, numerous people would crack their heads to find ways to get their children accepted into Lost Empire’s Magic Tower. Some were even willing to let their children enter as mere servants in the hopes that they could catch the eye of one of the great magic users and be recruited as their disciples.
On the other hand, here was Klaus, practically begging to take Amy on as a disciple only to be rejected point blank by Mike. It looked like the boss of this restaurant really did not want to let little Amy leave his side.
“This seems quite reasonable, if I have such a cute daughter I’d also be reluctant to part with her. Not even a consecrated wizard could take her away from me.” Jacques looked at Mike, clearly on his side on this decision.
“En, I don’t want to leave daddy. Halfsies Beard Old Man, if you want to learn from me, you’ll have to wait until I have some free time to train you. I have to collect money now, I’m very busy.” Amy said sincerely to Klaus, nodding her head firmly to herself.
“I’ll just continue with my dinner.” Klaus saw that Mike was perfectly serious with his decision. He still haven’t given up on making Amy his disciple, but for now he will stay silent. He quietly picked up his spoon and continue to eat his [Yang Zhou Fried Rice], a frown remained on his face as he thought deeply.
His original plan was to bring Amy back to the Magic Tower to be trained, the masters of magic within the Tower made endless research and improvements on the uses of magic. Right now, aside from the Illusion Borders where the elves resided, the Magic Tower was the best place to cultivate one’s magical skills. With all kinds of magical specialist living in the Tower, progress rates of some disciples were almost shockingly fast.
However, it looked like Mike was really firm about his decision to not let Amy leave his side. The man also did not lack money, and considering that he had picked Sin City to open his restaurant, he was probably not interested in Lost Empire’s power or social standing either. More importantly, he had never shown any interest in Klaus’ magical ability.
The three most persuasive argument Klaus had to back his request were nothing in Mike’s eyes. This father’s love for Amy went above and beyond what he could offer. At this point, he really did not know what kind of bargaining chip he could use to persuade Mike, which troubled him greatly.
When Mike saw that Klaus did not continue his attempt to persuade him about Amy, he returned to the kitchen to cook.
When he had found out Klaus’ true identity, he had been quite anxious. The opponent was a powerful wizard of great renown. If the enemy really wanted to attack him, there was really no way he could defend himself.
Just now, the only reason Amy could actually burn his beard was due to the wizard’s inexplicable moment of staring blankly into nothing. Add that to the man’s careless contempt of a four year old’s ability, you have a recipe for disaster. In reality, Amy’s strength was worlds below Klaus. If he had to compare, the difference was like an elephant’s power vs a fire ant.
Thankfully, this Klaus person seemed quite reasonable and did not try to use his own identity and power to force them. However, it did not look like he will change his mind on the matter of taking Amy to the Magic Tower. This was the dangerous point, there was no way he was going to let Amy be alone with this old man.
After that little performance, with Klaus paying more attention to his meal than anything else, the slightly tensed and awkward atmosphere eventually calmed down. Since no swords were drawn (literally or otherwise) from either side, it appeared more like a little joke between Amy and Klaus.
However, the people within the restaurant have to acknowledge one very important matter. Boss Mike’s daughter was someone they could not simply provoke. She even dared to set a consecrated wizard from the Lost Empire on fire. The customers all collectively decided that they should just quietly hand over their money once their meal was over.
Customers who had their food in front of them soon sank into the serious business of enjoying their meal.
There were actually quite a few people who entered the restaurant out of curiosity, mostly lured in by the mouth watering smell in the air, and when they saw the dreamy expressions on the people busily eating, they could not help but be tempted to order something from the menu. Though it was still outrageously expensive, they were tempted enough to at least have a taste.
Once Mike handed over Sargerass his three [Juicy Burgers], he took the time to advice nearby customers to sit a little further away from the demon. The extreme reaction the demon has towards the meat in the [Juicy Burger] could be quite dangerous after all.
“Fuuuuh!” as expected, once Sargerass took a large bite of the [Juicy Burger], flame leapt out of his mouth. The magma lines on his body glowed and the temperature around him rose.
Fortunately, after that expensive lesson this morning, he had brought his own metal chair over. He also made sure to stay a good distance from the walls and tables as well. Curiously enough, the [Juicy Burger] in his hand still maintained its shape even while on fire. This caused a lot of eyebrows to be raised.
“Boss Mike, could I have two takeaway sets of the [Yang Zhou Fried Rice]? My kids and wife really like your fried rice.” said Jacques with a smile when his second [Juicy Burger] arrived.
“Right now the restaurant only allowed one takeaway per customer. This restaurant still needs more new customers to patronize this place, so please understand.” Mike shook his head a little apologetically. Though more new customers came in today, he still had to complete his 1,000 new customers mission, because of that he decided to limit the number of takeaways to one per customer.
“Is that so.” Jacques said quietly, he had promised his wife and children that he would bring dinner for them tonight. To only bring one portion made him feel like he had fallen short in his mission. One of his children who were old enough to eat solid food had already snatched a small bowl’s worth of fried rice from Miranda[1]. That greedy child probably won’t eat until he brought dinner back.
“Boss Mike, I want a takeaway [Yang Zhou Fried Rice] as well, just one, please.” Harrison said after taking a large bite of his [Juicy Burger]. He winked at Jacques. [Translator’s Note: Uwooh, such a good friend~ I’m so touched. These fatties are the best.] [1] Miranda – It turned out that Jacques’ wife is called Miranda. The ‘Pam’ from chapter 86 had been corrected to ‘Palmer’, one of his son’s name.