Burgers And Boys (3)

I summoned a flame spirit that feeds on my mana. A small light flickered around me.

The boy looked at it with very curious eyes.

“What’s this? It’s sparkling!”

“It will protect you if your life is in danger. So you can always speak loudly. Don’t be afraid.”

“Really?”

“Really. Even though it looks small, if the Baron is in danger, it will transform into a flame and devour everything.”

“I-I think I’ve read about spirits in books. Amazing!”

“But it’s not free.”

“Not free?”

“Even if you become a lord, you must visit the restaurant often. But with the same boyish sensitivity as today, not as a dignified lord. If you come to the restaurant and act arrogantly, I will kick you out.”

“Don’t worry about that. A good lord doesn’t need dignity. Right?”

“No, there are times when dignity is necessary. You need to know how to handle situations. It all depends on you, Baron.”

“I see!”

Leaving the boy who was making his resolution alone, I called Rurin.

“Rurin, stop lazing around and let’s go back.”

Rurin, who was thumping around on the sofa, seemed to like it. At my words, she spread her arms wide, indicating I should come and hug her. This dragon?

“This is so comfy! Can’t we take it home?”

“I’ll buy you one later, so don’t covet others’ things.”

“You must keep that promise! Hmm, but hug me to go back! This time from the front.”

Rurin spread her arms wider again. If I want to go comfortably, I have no choice.

“See you next time.”

I shouted ‘See you’ and clung to Rurin.

The boy raised his arms in surprise.

“You’re leaving already?”

“Next time, don’t sneak away to visit. Come by yourself.”

At that moment, Rurin used teleportation. The spiral of the black hole covered my vision again.

When the boy stands up strongly, the stepmother will be quite surprised. But she won’t give up easily.

That is where the boy’s fight begins. There can’t be only the stepmother’s faction around. Right now, he seems like a helpless kid, so it’s like this.

I had some interest, but from now on, it was the boy’s problem to solve.

If he becomes a regular, I might take more care of him. If he becomes a regular.

At least with that spirit, his life won’t be in danger. The flame spirit was a service for the 100,000 runes he left on the table.

I don’t like returning money once I’ve received it, no matter how rich I am.

A few days later.

The boy came back to the shop. Again, he was alone.

“Did you run away again?”

When I asked, the future Lord shook his head and pointed outside.

“I spoke confidently. There are guards outside.”

“Ah, really?”

I lightly patted the boy’s head. Then I was surprised at myself. It was a relief no one was watching. Normally, even emperors would tremble before me.

Therefore, not only could I pat the head of a count, but I could also slap it without any repercussions. The problem here is that I’m a retired commoner.

A commoner patting a noble’s head.

However, the boy looked up at me with sparkling eyes as if it didn’t bother him at all.

“I tried speaking louder little by little as you said. When I said, ‘How dare you glare at the eldest son of the Greek family and future Lord?’ they couldn’t utter a word.”

“If you could do that, why have you been so timid until now?”

“Because I was scared. But with this flame and thinking I had allies, I got a bit of courage. Your words also resonated with me. And you clearly showed me that they would back off if I came on strong.”

“Well done. As you continue, Baron’s hidden supporters will start to appear. But as that happens, you need to develop an eye to discern people.”

“Really? I’ll keep that in mind. An eye for seeing people.”

“If you can do that, you can become a great Lord.”

“I-I will work hard. I’ll become a good Lord.”

Of course, the guards outside were likely spies placed by the stepmother. They couldn’t imprison him now that he was coming out strong. They couldn’t afford to imprison the son when the Lord hadn’t even died yet.

“Well, do your best.”

“Okay. Anyway, today I can eat comfortably. So another unique dish….”

At that moment, a boy of about the same age as Greek entered the shop, holding the hand of a girl who seemed to be in her early teens.

Both Greek and I looked at the boy at the same time.

“Um….”

“Welcome.”

I greeted the siblings with a smile. A customer’s age is meaningless to me. There are many things in the world more important than age.

“Would you like a meal?”

“It’s a meal, but can you prepare a dish with this?”

The boy and girl ran up to me and took out runes from their pockets. About five hundred runes.

“We want to prepare a meal for our mother, a dish with a lot of meat… for three people….”

The boy’s face had no more confidence than dirt under a fingernail. The girl, smaller than the boy, was trembling nervously.

They must have been rejected by other restaurants. That’s why they came all the way up this hill.

Indeed, preparing three servings of a meat dish for five hundred runes is something no ordinary restaurant would accept. Even one serving of a meat dish is impossible with five hundred runes. A very cheap meal might be possible, but with meat, it’s impossible.

If they didn’t usually go to restaurants, it’s understandable they wouldn’t know the market prices. If they knew, they wouldn’t have recklessly set out with the money they painstakingly saved.

“A meal for your mother?”

“Brother…”

When I asked again, the girl trembled more and looked up at the boy anxiously. The boy gestured to his sister and then spoke to me.

“Well, today is my mother’s birthday. She has worked for ten years since my father passed away. She has been raising us for ten years by working field to field. This is the money I’ve saved since last year while helping her. I thought I could prepare a decent meal, but in reality… Everywhere we went, we got rejected…. Please, I really want to give my mother a memorable meal! She seems so weak these days, I want to give her a meat dish to cheer her up. Please, could you help us? Even just one serving is fine!”

“That’s right! I won’t eat!”

The girl added. Despite her bold words, her trembling body and anxious face were pitiful.

“With our restaurant’s prices, it’s barely possible to prepare one serving with five hundred runes…. But would your mother really be happy? If you two don’t eat and just watch, it might have the opposite effect.”

“Well…”

“Brother, it looks like we can’t here either….”

I use the finest ingredients in my restaurant, but there’s still a minimum price. Not even paying that minimum price is unacceptable. This applies to both the eater and the seller.

A customer not knowing that the ingredients are top-notch and being charged the general market price for the dish is acceptable to everyone.

If I don’t even charge the general price, everyone will want to eat like that, and the restaurant will become a free soup kitchen.

The money that needs to be paid should be paid, and the money that needs to be received should be received. That’s a line that must be kept, no matter how whimsically the business is run.

Of course, as a result, the two of them slumped their shoulders. Then Greek quietly approached me in the kitchen and whispered.

“I’ll pay. So give those kids and their mother a hearty meal. I can’t bear to see them like this.”

I shook my head at Greek’s suggestion. Then I asked the boy and girl for their understanding.

“Can you wait a moment?”

“Yes, yes!”

Hearing the boy shout, I pulled Greek away and whispered to him.

“That won’t do.”

“Why? I want to help them because they’re pitiful. Isn’t that the first step to becoming a good lord?”

“Then, are you going to help everyone who is struggling? Are you going to serve meals to all the single-mother families, farmers, poor people, and beggars in Greek City?”

“We should help them. That’s what a good lord does.”

“Baron, listen carefully. That’s just your self-satisfaction. What changes by helping them once?”

“Huh?”

“And is that your money? It’s the family’s money, right?”

“That’s….”

“When you become the Lord and manage the territory, it will be your property. But not now.”

The boy couldn’t say anything.

“If you really want to be a good lord, don’t just throw money for self-satisfaction without any reason. Provide help with a reason. Policies or jobs that can support single-parent families. It’s the lord’s role to create fundamental measures so that people can stand on their own. Throwing money is something anyone can do, and it changes nothing.”

“But!”

“People, you see, when they encounter unexpected luck, they always start expecting help. They don’t gain the initiative to solve things on their own. Are you going to take responsibility for them your whole life?”

“Uh, uh….”

Of course, my words aren’t the absolute truth. But at least aimless charity could ruin the boy and girl. That’s what I think.

“Both of you, um, how old is the brother?”

“I’m 18 years old!”

“At that age, you must be helping with the field work?”

“Yes!”

“If you really want to give a gift, there are opportunities. Of course, even this opportunity itself is very fortunate. The world isn’t that easy.”

“That, I know! I don’t know how many times we’ve been turned away.”

“Brother…”

“Well, let’s do it this way. I’ll create an opportunity for you. So, will you work? If you complete it, I’ll prepare the best feast for your whole family.”

“Is that really true? Please, give me any work! If I can serve my mother a delicious meal, I don’t mind if my body breaks!”

The boy bowed his head repeatedly towards me.

“I’ll do it too!”

And the girl, holding her brother’s hand tightly, also spoke.

“Aren’t you too young to work?”

“I’m already 12 years old!”

The girl looked at me with desperate eyes. I couldn’t reject such desperation, so I spoke again.

“Well, if it’s just helping your brother, then give it a try.”

Then another boy. I could feel Greek’s gaze fixed on me.

“I’ll try that work too. I-I want to learn something. I want to earn money with my own hands. Thanks to you.”

Experiencing anything is good. The thought itself was commendable. There was no need to refuse.

“Alright.”

I led the growing sprouts to Limon Forest. And pointed to the entire forest and said.

“In this forest, if you look carefully, there are eggs like this everywhere, in the grass or bamboo. Dig and collect as many as you can. And if you find something like this, dig it up.”

I showed them not just eggs but also bamboo shoots, which are difficult to find and dig up one by one.

“If it’s for your mother, work hard.”

“Thank you! I’ll work hard!”

The boy ran into the forest without any hesitation.

“Brother! I’m coming with you!”

The girl followed him in. Greek also entered the forest with determined eyes. The guards silently watched over Greek.