Chapter 780: Afterhours talk
‘Wait a minute…how did that Valrestan guy know American diner lingo?,’ Jack thought to himself as he continued making orders.
As a professional cook, Jack had basically practiced making every single item on his menu hundreds of thousands of times to the point that most of the actions involved were automatic. In other words, while it would appear to most observers that he was using all of his focus on just the dishes in front of him, in reality, his mind was entertaining over a thousand different thoughts at once while he was cooking.
‘Most of the people I’ve met on this side can barely comprehend the menu except in a straightforward manner, so how did-‘
*Shuffle.*
‘-huh?’
Which is why, while he was in the middle of preparing an omelette, he was able to notice a strange bit of movement out of the corner of his eye and realize it was a message. To be more precise, a tiny toy-like figure had suddenly appeared out of the corner of Jack’s vision, holding a piece of paper like it was an order receipt.
“If you want to know why I know the lingo, wait until after hours. There’ll be a knock. Nod if you agree,” the message read.
A part of Jack wanted to outright refuse the proposed meeting, not wanting to keep the store open longer than when he had to…but, his curiosity in regards to this mysterious young man who knows terminology from his native world was intriguing, to say the least. Which is why, while he was in the middle of flipping pancakes, he gave the strange little figure a confirmational nod. Once he did, Jack swore he was the figure disappear into a cloud of light.
‘Man, fucking magical powers…if I wasn’t so worried about getting recorded and pursued by the government, I’d probably be asking my customers for those abilities…oh well.’
It didn’t take too much longer after this moment for Jack to finish all of the orders that was submitted by the Zhen Clan, thankfully they chose rather simple-to-make dishes from the menu.
Well, most of them.
“So this is what a Tooty Fruity Gigastack looks like…I regret nothing.”
“What the fuck is this fluffy white thing? Is that…whipped cream?”
“I think so…”
“Bullshit, last time we saw that stuff was back in Roaring Tide and that was part of a big ass feast meant to cater royalty. How the heck did a place out in the sticks manage to make it?”
“I’m going to guess…very carefully.”
“Bruh…”
“I will not lie, I normally prefer rice for breakfast, but these eggs on toast are quite tasty.”
“That sounds fine, but steak and eggs is much more nutritious.”
“I doubt that, I really do.”
“Fried chicken and…waffles? Such madness!”
“But it’s delicious!”
Evidently, the Zhen Clan greatly enjoyed their meal at Cafe Jack (Jack’s Diner), so much so that some of them made plans to come back later for lunch or dinner.
Amongst them though, only one was planning to come a bit after hours.
…
‘It doesn’t look like he’s a reincarnation type like me, but this place doesn’t feel like it’s been yanked through space-time like the candy lady…what is this guy’s deal?’
…
The Zhen Clan had eventually finished their meals and returned home immediately afterwards, having to take care of a lot of recent changes and process a lot of recent gains.
There was a lot of things to address and detail, but that’s for another time. For now, there was a more…intimate conversation to listen in on.
_______Fastforwarding several hours______
“Thanks for the food, Jack. Delicious as always.”
“Ain’t no thing, boss. Hey! Make sure to do some exercises before going to bed. Coffee has the tendency to make one bit jittery.”
“Sure thing.”
During the time his door to Valresta had opened, Jack had met and fed dozens of guests from all over this strange, new world with several of them becoming regulars.
Some were wandering mercenaries, others were upright officials and many more of them were quirky vagabonds with abilities that were definitely out of the norm. However, all of these customers were natives to Valresta and knew nothing about Jack’s isekai circumstances.
Which is why he was eager to meet again the strange young man who seemed to know.
Luckily for him, he didn’t have to wait long.
*Ching-a-ling*
“Sorry for interrupting your cleaning.”
“Oh no, it’s fine. I can work and talk.”
From what Jack could remember, this young man was none other than the Fourth Young Master of the Zhen Clan, an anomalous individual named Zhen Liu.
Jack’s regulars had a tendency to gossip about powerful warriors and genius disciples, much in the same way people in his world talk about celebrities. When it came to this fellow named Zhen Liu though, the rumors and gossip was decidedly mixed.
From what Jack managed to gather, Zhen Liu was once considered the crippled laughingstock of the Zhen Clan, someone who was meant to be at the bottom of the barrel in a world where might made right. However, that all changed when he miraculously returned from the dead,after getting his brains blown out no less, with the ability to control and manufacture strange looking aether puppets.
Now, Zhen Liu was considered one of the most enigmatically dangerous warriors in all of Stone Claw City, due to how weirdly strong his puppets were.
Some called him a hack for relying on outside help in the form of puppets, others said he was genius for figuring out a method to circumvent his innate faults, while everyone else just didn’t want to accidentally insult the man and end up as meat paste.
“Mind if I sit at the counter? Always wanted to do that at least once.”
“Go right ahead.”
Regardless of all these rumors though, Jack was going to now get to talk to the man himself…and learn that there were even more secrets to him than what the rumors could address.
Silence filled the diner as Zhen Liu sat and stared at the working Jack, who was in the middle of mopping the floor. Neither side knew for certain on how to broach the topic of discussion they both wanted to address. It’s not everyday one runs into someone with a similar shared circumstances of weird. Eventually, Zhen Liu decided that the best course of action was to be direct and blunt.
“So…is it safe to assume that you and your diner are actually from another world?”
“Hah! I see you’re not the type to beat around the bush, I like that,” Jack answered with a laugh. “But you’re right, I ain’t from Valresta. I’m actually from a world called Earth. To be more precise, I’m a part of the USA, wait…United States of America, gotta use the more formal name since not a lot of people know about it here.”
“Earth…America…,” Zhen Liu repeated with an almost wistful tone. Even though he had it good on Valresta, in this lifetime, he still missed his old world to an extent…granted, it was in the same way one fondly remembered school.
“Now that’s a sigh of longing if I ever heard one. You know something about Earth? About the USA?”
“In a sense, yes,” Zhen Liu agreed while shaking the thought of his old life out of his head. “To be honest, it was practically a lifetime ago since I last thought about Earth…well, not really a lifetime ago, a few weeks at best.”
“Oh?”
“Before I continue, I should probably tell you that people like us are referred to as ‘Otherlanders’ by those in the know.”
“Otherlanders? Sounds like the name of a videogame I used to play with my younger cousins.”
‘Okay, that gives me an idea of at least when this guy is from…maybe. At the very least, I can probably use some terminology that he could probably recognize because of pop culture…assuming that’s still the same at least,’ Zhen Liu thought to himself before continuing the conversation.
“Anyways, I met this woman in Roaring Tide who owns a candy making business. She said she was from Earth too, but one that was very different from the one I knew.”
“A different Earth?,” Jack asked, intrigued. “Different how?”
“She was from an Earth where psychic powers are real, and is the main method most countries settled their conflicts. Where I’m from, psychic powers aren’t really a thing outside of works of fiction.”
“Damn! For real? That’s crazy.”
“It is.”
“Wait, how she end up accessing Valresta then?”
“She got transported here, wholesale. Her store, herself, everything.”
“Whoa…”
“What about you? How are you coming and going from Valresta?”
“You just walked through it,” Jack said while gesturing to the door.
“That door appeared in my diner one day, and I have been serving customers that come through to ever since. Sounds like something out of a fairytale, doesn’t it.”
“That or of a billion light novels…”
“Whatever the case, it’s my turn to ask a question.”
“Okay.”
“What’s your deal then? Because you look, act and talk like a native, but you give off the vibe that you’re like,” Jack elaborated. “How’d you end up on Valresta?”
“That’s…a long story.”
“I got time.”
