Chapter 31 First Customer

The woodland tribe was a tribe of carpenters. Their ability to control plants played a big part in it.

Imagine a person speeding up the growth of a tree or bending it unnaturally with their will. That was their skill.

In a battle scenario, they would not be of much help due to their slow speed of plant control. But it didn't mean they were useless.

When they control vines or small shrubs, they can limit the movement of the enemy. Thereby increasing their chances in a battle. And body enhancement was a universally similar technique for all warrior tribes.

A person's physical strength was solely dependent on muscle mass and density. And it was given that they need a strong skeletal structure to bear this strength. Without that base, there is nothing to enhance for full body enhancement. So, the woodland tribe who spent more time with their carpentry was weaker than other small tribes like the stone head tribe that focused on battle.

They were dependent on their craft to survive. They used to work for large tribes all around the region.

This time, however, the skilled craftsmen of the woodland tribe were decorating two shabby stalls on the streets of Blue gem city.

A stall was about seven to eight meters long and five meters wide. Combining the two side-by-side stalls, it was about fifteen meters in length.

And both of these were going to be used for Alex's business. He employed the woodland tribe to decorate the front of the stall and to make some chairs. The front counter was made into a large table fifteen meters long to seat the customers and water jugs and wooden cups were placed neatly along it.

If the customer wanted takeouts, Alex had a plan for that too. He made the woodland tribe make a couple of takeout bags with plant fibres. It was similar to paper bags. Easy to use and throw away.

Alex had never seen another restaurant give takeouts. But his shop was not a restaurant. It was a food stall. With the limited amount of seating capacity. He had to allow takeouts to fully maximise the profit.

After preparing everything, Alex began his work.

This time, he was going to make the best fried chicken he can with the limited amount of ingredients he has.

He took some lime, salt and ginger and garlic. He crushed the garlic and ginger into a paste and squeezed some lime juice into it. He mixed it well and put some salt on it.

He spread the mixture on the hundred-odd cleaned chicken he had bought. Twenty of them were not cut. It was going to be used for grilling. And the other eighty were going to be used to make fried chicken.

Last time, when he made the fried chicken, he didn't have any dried chilli flakes or flour, But this time, fortunately, he was able to find similar products in the market.

He was going to fry the chicken pieces with a coating of flour and chilli flakes. From his understanding, the people in this region preferred spicy food. So, he could add more chillies or even black pepper if he really wanted to.

After that, Alex went to make the mayonnaise. Leaving behind a disgruntled Uli to look after the chicken.

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It didn't take long for the open market to become active. The bustling crowd began walking through it. And the stalls around them began opening up to sell their wares.

Suddenly, a savoury aroma wafted through the air.

It quickly caught the attention of the majority of the people. They turned around to find where the scent was coming from.

It was distinctly spicy and tempered. But at the same time, it caused the people who smelled it to salivate.

Oddly enough, in the group of people who were searching for the source of the aroma. There was a travelling merchant called Taka. He was a merchant from the far east who travelled far and wide across the nine regions.

Yet, he had never come across something so captivating in his life. The delicacies that he ate in his forty years of life can be numbered in thousands.

Yet the aroma tantalising enough that he followed it unknowingly.

Finally, he reached a common food stall on the side of the street. It looked completely ordinary and there were no customers near it.

Before anyone could think, Taka took a seat on the chair in front. There were only a couple of chairs. So, he had to be quick in grabbing a seat. He thought

After that, the middle-aged man looked inside.

He could see a kid, not older than fifteen years of age, dipping a batch of chicken into a pot of boiling hot oil. He looked calm and serene as if he had been doing it for years. His eyes closely observed the chicken trying to gauge the temperature and colour of the meat.

'He has the eyes of a warrior, but he was using them for his craft. Well done.' Taka praised him in his mind.

It was not every day that you see a young man with such temperament.

And the young man who was deep frying the chicken was Uli.

After the torture that he had been put through to learn how to fry chicken, Uli had finally given up on having a normal life. Any ego or thought in his mind vanished and he had become a sage of fried chickens.

His skills improved rapidly and everything that Alex taught him merged with his mind. At that moment, his action was precise and passionate.

Unknowingly, he had begun to enjoy the monotonous action of frying chicken. Through torture, he found his love for cooking.

This change his temperament and the aura around him. From the bratty loser to a tempered human being.

Like him, his lackeys were busy. They were grilling chicken on another side of the stall.

The grilled chicken was a premium food that Alex planned to make in lesser quantities and sell at a higher price. So, he let the three idiots look after it while he occasionally guided them.

It was for this exact reason that he turned Uli into a chicken frying monster. While looking after the shop, he didn't have the time to fry the chicken. He was busy as it is.

When returning from the back of the kitchen after making the mayonnaise, he noticed the first customer of his shop.

He was dressed in a light grey coloured robes. It was thin and covered his body well, accenting his handsome face.

From just a glance, Alex knew this man was wealthy. His years of experience observing people immediately manifested. And he swiftly walked towards the customer with a respectful smile.

'This is clearly a wealthy guy trying to act poor. He was wearing thin clothes in this icy climate. This meant he was a powerful warrior. And the grey robe was to blend in with the crowd. But the quality of the clothes was higher than that of commoners. Who does he think he is trying to fool with a half-assed costume like that?'

"Dear customer, welcome to Spice Garden." Alex warmly welcomed the wealthy guy acting like a commoner.