A Father's Duty

Its been 2 days since we left Lucis. Nothing eventful really happened other than my mother asking father to visit Helen's father but father firmly refused due to the treatment Helen received from her family and urged us to be on our way.

Irene being in a stable state ever since eating my food with the system's ingredients, casted enchantment on the horses, pulling the carriage I bought, to speed it up which made us reach the capital of Fiore in no time.

King Regis nodded his head seeing the flourishing Capital. Though he shook his head when we passed by the slums area. Although Lucis also have a slum area, their well-being is much better than here. The inhabitants of the slums in Lucis at least have a solid house made of stone to live in while in Fiore, the houses in the slums are made of wood and thatch.

When we arrived at the borders, the guards saw us and they were elated. Its been so long since they've managed to eat my food. They immediately spread word of my return and the spies from every country delivered a message with their pet hawks that the owner of the Tavern at the WoD is back.

In no time, the news of my arrival reached the ears of many people and many were eager to try and taste the food I'm serving.

When we entered the WoD, Father and mother seemed to be reluctant to enter it but the carriage they are riding went straight to it. I don't have to leave the horse back in the borders of WoD since I'll teleport them to my farming space and have Fenrir's subordinate look after it.

In no time, we are near the tavern. In the distance I saw Fenrir lying down on it which made me confused because he personally guarded the tavern.

Father and Mother also saw Fenrir and were scared but Kagura's voice disrupted their thoughts.

"Mother, its Fenwiw! Can we ride his back again?" She asked. She had enjoyed riding in his back for the first time and wanted to ride back again.

"Its Fenrir, my dear. Yes, you can ask your father's permission to ride Fenrir's back later. Don't worry, father, mother, Fenrir is my husband's pet." She said the former to Kagura and the latter to my parents much to the relief of the two. It made sense to them, since I have a holy land, a really strong caretaker is needed for it to not be taken advantage of.

After we arrived at the tavern, Fenrir transformed himself into a smaller version and greeted me and waited for the people in the carriage. When they got down, father and mother were genuinely surprised to see the ferocious looking monster from afar became a little wolf waiting for their master. When the kids saw Fenrir they cheered and went in the front.

"Father, can we go and ride Fenrir's back?" Asked Pitou. Although Pitou rarely speak, she still knows how to. She's just a lazy cat and would only move or speak when she's interested.

"Sure, be sure to go back later, I'll make some snacks for you." I said as they became happy as Fenrir let them in their back before transforming into his normal size and ran around his territory. Irene also followed after them to make sure they won't fall.

It is past noon when we arrived back. After taking care of mother and father's luggage, I went down and started returning all of the cooking equipment back to their rightful places and also placed the ice cream machine near the entrance. Somnus has already dismantled and mapped out the design for it and have returned it before we left.

Soon I started making biscuits, chocolate chip cookies, brewed some tea for father and mother, while I made juice for the kids and Irene.

Father and Mother came down after arranging their luggage. I then invited them to the backyard where my farmland is.

Seeing my farm land, they were shocked. They were able see the hops I use for making ale. They were shocked to see the huge sizes of it. I even showed them the onions and garlic I planted.

After the initial shock, they now nodded their head and realized that Irene really would be much better after seeing the crops I'm cultivating. We were chatting when Irene came back with the chipmunks with three wolf pups in their embrace.

"Father, look! Mother said that Fenwiw gave us partners." Kagura said as I corrected her.

"Dear, its Fenrir, 'kay? Who would've thought that Fenrir has a new generation of pups. You have to take care of them or Fenrir will be mad at you." I said as Kagura paled and nodded like a chicken.

"Yes, yes, Father. I'll raise my partner good." She said as she c.a.r.e.s.sed the wolf pups fur. I know that Battle wolf has a speedy growth and it wouldn't be long before they outgrow the chipmunks in height.

"So? Did you enjoy your ride with Fenrir?" I asked.

"Yes! Fenrir is so faaaaast like zhwooom then he will go shwooosh." Kagura said excitedly.

"Have some snacks there with your grandparents. Did you name your wolf pups?" I asked them before they ran.

"Uhhhhh... no?" Kagura said.

"Not yet. I can't think of a name." Said Pitou.

"Same." Erza said.

"Then why not Einz, Zwei, Drei?" I said as they went to the backyard and talked on the way.

"We'll think about it." They said at the same time.

"I will take Einz?" Erza asked the other two.

"Erh, then I'll take Drei?" Kagura said as she called dibs.

"Okay, I'll take Zwei." Pitou said.

"But what do they mean?" Asked Kagura.

"Who cares, father is the best so I'm sure the name is the best as well." Erza said.

"True." Pitou agreed.

After the chipmunks ran out. I faced my lovely wife.

"How are you? Are you fine now?" I asked.

"Oh, come on, you worrywart. I told you I'm going to be fine." She said and gave me a light kiss.

"Then let's prepare our dinner right away." I said as Irene smiled.

The next day, father and mother were awoken really early by the sound of murmurs outside.

They were surprised when they took a look at the windows. Lots of people were waiting outside. He immediately ran down and saw me preparing for breakfast.

"Son, why are there so many people outside? Its outrageous." He said.

"Oh, I forgot about them." I said as I thought of opening or not and walked to the door and opened it as I made up my mind not to open the tavern yet. What I saw lining up first were Gildarts and Jura.

"Do you two not have things to do in the morning?" I asked the two. They were always the ones who are waiting at the very front.

"Well, we woke up early because you have strict time schedule and if we woke up late, we won't have anything to eat here." Jura said.

I also recognized the next people on the line.

August comes after Jura and Makarov with Yajima comes after August.

"Look, I just got home and were setting up the equipment I need for the new food. You can all come back tomorrow morning. Also there won't be a time schedule for a week." I said to them.

Although my voice is low, the silence of everyone made it possible for them to hear it even in long distances.

At first they were sad but they can't do anything about it. There are other first-time customers who were dissatisfied but were warned by others. 'If you keep pushing your rules to the owner, expect to be blacklisted.' Were the words they were saying. But they were also happy because there's no schedule meaning it would run from 6:30 in the morning until 8:00 in the night.

Although they were sad not being able to eat, just the news of no scheduled time for one week, removed the grudges in their hearts.

.

.

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Yajima on the other hand has been staring at Noct the whole time before smiling.

Makarov seeing Yajima's reaction raised his eyebrow.

"What have you seen?" Asked Makarov.

"A youth who is a great person in the kitchen. Alas, I wish I have staff like him in my restaurant." He said before turning his back to Makarov and went back followed by Makarov.

For Makarov he only thought that Yajima saw that the owner has great talent but what Yajima saw is far beyond that. He could see that he has the aura of a general, though in the kitchen. He reckoned that, if the owner was given some kind of team and had to work with them, they will unconsciously follow his orders and no matter how many people came to dine in, all food will come out of the kitchen at the right time. Not a second early, nor late. (Just imagine Gordon Ramsay.)