Traveling through time, I'm making pancakes in Warhammer

A tera hour later.

Arabelle brought Howard to the door of the tavern again, and this time Howard saw the name of the tavern clearly: The Anchor Tavern.

The tavern was even quieter than the last time he'd been there. There was no one in the room. A sign saying "Temporarily Closed" hung on the small wooden door with spring shutters that Howard had often seen in western movies.

Arabelle took down the sign and tossed it aside, then pushed open the spring-loaded wooden door and led Howard into the tavern.

Sitting down at the counter, there was no sign of the tavern owner, so Arabelle knocked on the table.

Soon the boss's voice came from the kitchen: "We are closed today, please go back."

"All right," Arabelle said, pulling Howard up to leave. But before she left, she deliberately shouted to the kitchen, "Then I'll take this guy who made pancakes in the Upper Nest back with me."

Two seconds later, Howard felt a strong wind blowing in his face, which made him close his eyes. When he opened his eyes again, the tavern owner had already blocked the two of them.

"Wait... please wait!" After stopping the two men, the tavern owner bent down, supported his knees, and began to pant breathlessly. He said while panting, "Huh... I swear, this is... this is the fastest I've run in more than forty years..."

After recovering a bit, the tavern owner straightened up and asked, "So, you agree to work for me?"

Arabelle nudged Howard with her elbow, meaning she was asking him. Howard glanced at Arabelle, then at the tavern owner, and nodded, "Ah."

Hearing this answer, the tavern owner's originally gloomy face suddenly broke into a smile. He asked the two to sit back at the bar, but his eyes never left Howard.

"My name is Anderson, and I'm the owner of this Anchor Tavern." Anderson put his hand on his chest and made a brief self-introduction, then he used his eyes to tell Howard that it was his turn to introduce himself.

"My name is Howard." Howard just said his name.

But Anderson didn't care, and continued excitedly: "Mr. Howard, the pancakes I've tasted before were so wonderful that it's hard to describe. Could you make those pancakes here and I'll sell them? In addition to pancakes, can you make other foods? Have you considered investing in my tavern with technology? You..."

Anderson kept asking questions, and Howard listened politely and patiently, then patiently replied, "I can make pancakes for you, but only if you offer a price that satisfies me. Secondly, other than pancakes, my other dishes are pretty average. Thirdly, I don't intend to invest in your technology. Fourthly, I don't intend to sell the pancake trademark or brand..."

Howard answered Anderson's questions one by one. Anderson took out a small notebook and a quill pen from somewhere and carefully recorded Howard's answers.

However, in the process of answering, Howard found that some questions might have been asked by Anderson without thinking, because he himself had forgotten what he asked. When Howard answered, he still needed Howard to repeat the content of the question to him.

"...Finally, regarding whether I am married or not, this is my privacy and I don't want to answer." Howard answered all the questions slowly.

"Marital status... confidential..." Anderson muttered to himself as he wrote down Howard's entire response in his notebook. He then read the page with Howard's response from beginning to end, wrote down the answers to the main questions, and put the notebook and pen back.

"Very good, Mr. Howard. I'll fulfill all your requests." Anderson looked at Howard and said, "Your job here is one and only. That's to make the same pancakes you made at Shangchao. For every pancake sold, 30% of the proceeds, minus the cost of raw materials, will belong to you. Beyond that, there will be no additional restrictions or requirements. What do you think?"

Howard was quite surprised. Based on his experience in the old world, shouldn't this situation be one where he offers one price and the boss offers another, with both sides haggling back and forth to find the middle? Why did the boss agree so readily this time?

"Uh..." Howard felt a little embarrassed because of Anderson's straightforwardness, so he said to Anderson, "Would you...consider my offer?"

Anderson frowned upon hearing this. He dug out his little notebook from somewhere, this time also bringing out a monocle. He put it on and practically glued it to the notebook, reading through it word for word. He muttered to himself as he read, "I hope I didn't miss any of the requirements."

"No, no, no!" Howard hurriedly grabbed Anderson and said, "You didn't miss anything. I mean, don't you think the conditions I proposed are a bit excessive? In fact, when I made these requests to you, I deliberately made them a bit excessive, just to wait for you to bargain with me. The fact that you agreed so readily made me..."

"Because you're worth it," Anderson said.

Howard's heart skipped a beat when he heard this. Combined with what Anderson had asked him before, whether he was married or not, Howard thought to himself, could it be that you're attracted to me instead of my pancakes?

"Mr. Howard, actually, I first learned about your pancake business by accident. It was two months ago when I went to Shangchao to sign for the goods. I had some time after signing, so I started wandering around and ended up in the garden area..." But Anderson was lost in his memories: "Then I saw you selling pancakes. I don't know why, but I suddenly wanted to buy one too.

"I waited in line for a long time, cursing myself countless times for making such a foolish decision. But every time I wanted to leave, I would ask myself: I've already waited so long, wouldn't it be a bigger loss if I gave up halfway? So I just kept waiting. But when I took the pancake from your hand and put it into my mouth, I suddenly felt that all the efforts I had made before were worth it, so I...

"You went to the Upper Nest to collect the goods? Where did your goods come from?" Howard grasped the key point in Anderson's words. "I remember you mentioned before that you have wine produced in other star regions. Where did this wine come from?"

"Hmm..." Anderson hesitated for a moment before saying, "Although this is a secret, everyone in Yodon knows what the secret is. And since you're going to work for me, I'll just tell you straight out."

Anderson then confessed to Howard, "I used to be a lieutenant in the Imperial Navy until I was shot in the knee and retired. However, my military service did give me some connections, and through these connections, I was able to obtain some scarce goods from other planets using some legally ambiguous means."

"It's smuggling, right?" Howard understood.

"Ahem!" Anderson coughed. "I'm a law-abiding citizen and wouldn't do anything like this... I simply asked my friend to 'utilize' a little of the remaining transport space on their spacecraft... No interests will be harmed in the process."

"But even if you can bring goods from other star regions to Nat, how do you pass the customs of Nat itself?" Howard asked again.

"I pay taxes as usual," Anderson replied naturally. "But these taxes won't appear on the customs books. Instead, they'll appear on the bills of friends who are willing to make concessions."

This means you have a safe channel for receiving goods from the spaceport.

Howard didn't say it this time, but he already had a plan in mind.