Annie's Otherworldly Adventure

11. Anne Ash's Working Life

"Uncle John, the konjac is all peeled."

After finishing peeling konjac, Annie came to the counter to help sell konjac.

This was her fifth day working at the konjac snack shop. Jack, one of the shop's employees, sent a letter from home asking for an extension of her vacation. Old John cursed for a while, but there was nothing he could do.

In old John's opinion, Jack was neither as hardworking nor as clever as Anne. However, Jack was introduced by his younger brother, and old John was a sentimental person, so he would not fire Jack. Although the lad did often give old John a headache, Jack was honest, hardworking, and willing to work, so old John actually liked him quite a bit.

"Hello, please give me a serving of golden konjac." A pretty voice rang out.

Her long, golden hair and bright, clear blue eyes held a warm smile.

"Lynn, you're here!"

Annie exclaimed in surprise, "Lynn Ang!" was her new friend. She looked like a Barbie doll, possessed a strong talent for light magic, and was a cheerful little darling who always came to ask for a serving of golden konjac every day.

Golden konjac can replenish some light magic elements, but for someone as talented as Lynn, this amount of energy replenishment is rather useless. However, Lynn is only after the delicious taste of the konjac.

"Good afternoon, Anne." Lynn gave Anne a noble curtsy. Anne thought to herself, "Lynn truly deserves to be called a noblewoman, while I, though I still have a noble status—well, a fallen noble—have almost forgotten all the proper etiquette."

"Oh dear, Lynn, how can you bow to such a poor person? It's shameful!" A girl with a round face and freckles looked at Lynn and Annie with disdain.

Annie also knew this girl; her name was Lily. Like Lynn, she came from the Aidi Empire. According to Lynn, the two families were neighbors, but Lily's family was much more illustrious. It was said that, through a series of twists and turns, they had some blood ties with the Queen's family of the Aidi Empire.

"Good afternoon, Lily." Lynn smiled and gave Lily a noble bow.

Lily looked at her with even more disdain.

Hmph, the daughter of a noble family that has already begun to decline, if it weren't for her magical talent, how could she be so arrogant? Her hateful face is always full of smirks. Hmph, hmph, hmph, God of Light, why did you allow such a person to have magical talent!

Lily thought bitterly to herself.

"Good afternoon, Lynn." Lily glanced at Lynn.

"You're buying golden konjac again? Honestly, no matter how much magic you replenish, you can't compare to young master Diderot!"

"Young Master Diderot? He's a chosen one of the gods, do you know him?" A student nearby exclaimed upon hearing Lily's words.

Lily's face lit up with smugness.

“Young Master Diderot went to the Temple of Light to study to become a priest, and he stayed at my uncle’s house.”

Lynn still looked like a cute, smiling doll, while Lily had already started bragging to the people around her.

Annie handed Lynn a serving of golden konjac, took the money, and Lynn waved goodbye and left. Annie stood quietly to the side, silently minimizing her presence.

After Lily finished bragging to the people around her, she realized that Lynn had already left, so she glared at Annie resentfully.

"Where's Lynn? When did she leave? You lowly commoner, why didn't you remind me!"

Anne was speechless. Why should I tell you when Lynn left?

Lily cursed a couple of times, then adopted an elegant demeanor and left with the others, and the shop returned to peace.

Small

The shop's business is best during the lunch break when students are out of class and during dinner time in the afternoon. During the morning and afternoon classes, Annie peels konjac and cleans up, and Old John usually allows her to rest for about an hour of the day.

By the way, the sun completes one cycle on the continent of Gerson, which is divided into 24 equal parts, called solar time. In other words, a day on the continent of Gerson consists of 24 solar hours. And in Annie's perception, the length of one solar hour is no different from that of an hour on Earth.

In the past few days, Annie gave Abag a task: to familiarize himself with the school. Having been imprisoned for hundreds of years, Abag loved nothing more than adventure, so he gladly accepted the task and turned the Royal Academy of Magic in Kane upside down. He even knew where the mouse holes were in the academy. Pretty impressive, right?

After reporting his achievements to Annie, Abag, who had transformed into a little squirrel, propped himself up, raised his little head, and looked like he was asking for praise.

Anne hugged Abag and kissed its little head.

"Abag is really amazing!"

Abag's beady eyes showed a humble expression, but if you look closely, its thick tails were already sticking up in the air and wagging back and forth.

Well, by the gods, the great descendant of the dragon, the last dragon on the continent of Gerson, was thus transformed into the most formidable spy under Annie's intentional or unintentional guidance.

Sadly, the loyal and powerful little dragon Abag is thrilled to have become a cunning little spy.

Many years later, Abag returned to the Dragon Clan, where the elders welcomed the most treacherous Dragon God in history. By the gods, this was truly... cough cough.

Annie wasn't actually in a hurry to know about the whole school; there was plenty of time. She just sent Abag away to play so he wouldn't get bored. But it was good that Abag got familiar with the campus, so he could be Annie's guide in the future. Oh, poor Abag, being used as a mobile GPS.

Annie is more concerned about the cafeteria environment right now, because although Jack, the waiter at the snack shop, has extended his vacation, he will be back in three to five days at most, and Annie needs to find another job.

Annie wandered around the cafeteria but couldn't find any job openings. Somewhat dejected, she returned to the snack shop, scooped the leftover konjac from lunch into a bowl, stirred it, and ate it, one spoonful for herself and one spoonful for Abag.

Konjac isn't considered a high-end food in Gerson. Although it can replenish magicians' magic power a little, it's really just a "little" little bit. It's only useful for students in the elementary school of the academy. For ordinary people, as long as they don't eat too much, there won't be any problems. Eating too much will just cause some stomach aches, headaches, and body aches.

Uh... my dear little Annie, you call this no problem?

That's why Old John readily agreed to give Annie the leftover konjac from the shop. However, he didn't expect that Annie would have all-around magical talent, albeit a very low one. But coincidentally, she could eat all kinds of konjac.

Gods above, who could have predicted that they would create a being with all magical talents, yet with very low talents in each element? Even if one talent is high, combined with the others, it would still be very advantageous in combat, even with low overall talent. But with all elements so low, it's really... perhaps the gods are playing a joke!

Old John went to rest in the lounge behind the kitchen, while Annie ate konjac listlessly.

The texture and taste of konjac are really no different from potatoes on Earth. Konjac salad is quite delicious, but for Annie, who once lived in China, a country known for its food, this simple cooking method and taste are really not something to be proud of.

Speaking of which, the dietary habits of the entire continent of Kane are still inclined towards sweet and rich foods, such as bread and cheese.

In Gerson, meat is mostly boiled or fried, simmered with salt and basic seasonings. This is the common way ordinary people prepare meat. Once the meat is cooked, it is cut into pieces and eaten directly in a bowl. Occasionally, if they want to be a little more refined, they will simply cook a bowl of noodles, chop up the meat, and sprinkle it on top.

The nobles, on the other hand, cut the meat into chunks, spread them flat on the bottom of the pan, drizzle with oil, sprinkle with various seasonings, fry until they are 70% cooked, remove them from the pan, slice them, arrange them on a beautiful plate, and serve them at the table.

In terms of taste, people in the Western Continent prefer strong and rich flavors and like to eat meat, while people in the Eastern Continent prefer light, sweet, sour and fragrant flavors and like to eat noodles and snacks.

Don't ask Annie how she knows; the dining hall at the Royal Magic Academy of Kane offers a wide variety of cuisines from both the Eastern and Western continents.

Kane's Dining Hall has two floors. The first floor offers more affordable food, while the second floor features more refined, aristocratic cuisine. Annie's konjac snack shop is located on the first floor, serving standard affordable food. Of course, "affordable food" simply refers to the price.

In Kane, throughout the entire campus, there are hardly any true commoners. However, among the nobles, there are still clear distinctions in rank. To the noble princes, ordinary nobles are nothing more than commoners.

Furthermore, dear readers, ordinary people are not the same as poor people, so please don't forget that.

Thinking back on all the delicious food she had eaten on Earth, Annie's mouth watered. Why hadn't she ever thought of making and selling Earth food?

Yes, China has a long-standing culinary culture with so many ways to cook food, including frying, boiling, stewing, stir-frying, braising, and steaming.

Putting everything else aside, just take potatoes as an example. There are so many ways to cook them: mashed potatoes, fried potatoes, roasted potatoes, stir-fried potato shreds. And, she just happens to work at a konjac shop. Isn't konjac just a potato?

The konjac here is mostly cooked directly. If it's a little more complicated, it's just like at Old John's Snack Shop, where they make snacks like konjac salad. They don't offer any of the popular ways to cook it, like fried potatoes or baked potatoes.

This idea made Annie somewhat happy. She recalled how, in the elite education that both her parents had instilled in her, her grandmother insisted that she learn to cook in order to showcase the culinary culture of our great China.

Although she learned in a very superficial way, she couldn't cook any elaborate dishes, but she could make dumplings out of buns and steamed buns into cornbread, and even make cornbread into the surface of the moon. However, she was quite good at making common foods like potatoes, after all, they weren't that difficult to cook.

According to Annie's observation, the seasonings on the continent of Gerson are quite complete, including pepper, Sichuan peppercorns, cumin... Of course, some of the seasonings have different names than those on Earth.

However, to actually do a business, you have to think things through carefully: where to get the materials, how to sell them, and where to buy and sell them.