A Stay-at-home Dad’s Restaurant In An Alternate World

“It may not be an ugly duckling after all…” Mag said with a strange look, gazing at the orange cat meowing at Amy.

He had never seen such a weird thing before. A cat hatched out of an egg? Darwin would rise from the dead if he heard about this.

But maybe the oviparous cat survived the natural selection and the viviparous cat didn’t. It’s not entirely unlikely; after all, it’s a different world.

Nine out of ten orange cats were fat, and the remaining one was very fat.

He had raised a dog and a cat in his previous life, and that cat was a very fat orange cat.

Looking at the cute cat’s half open eyes and its palm-sized body, even Mag had half a mind to raise it. Hugging a cat was really pleasant.

“But it came from this ugly duckling’s egg. It is an ugly duckling egg, right? Then it must be an ugly duckling.” Amy nodded her head, quite certain. Then she looked at the little cat with dislike. “You’re so ugly, and have two more legs. You can’t swim, can you? I’ll call you Ugly Duckling from now on.”

“Maybe we can refer to it as ‘Orange’, or ‘Little Orange’, or ‘Big Orange’. What do you say?” Mag was trying to persuade her to change the name because he felt sorry for this little kitten.

“No. Father, it’s an ugly duckling. You can’t change its name to whatever you want,” Amy said seriously as she shook her head.

“Meow.” The little orange cat shook its head in the shell, seemingly to show that it didn’t like that name.

Amy nodded, smiling. “Yes. I know you like this name too, right?” She removed that piece of shell on its head and said grimly, “You will respond when I call you, Ugly Duckling. And I’ll treat you well until you grow into a swan.”

Then, Amy swallowed despite herself.

The little cat became obedient immediately. “Meow,” it said, nodding.

“Okay then, let’s call it Ugly Duckling…” Mag cast a sympathetic glance at the cat. Maybe she thinks those born out of eggs are most likely ugly ducklings. Besides, it’s her pet. She can call it whatever she wants.

But it won’t grow into a swan. Amy’s wish of eating it will probably go up in smoke.

In fact, Mag seriously doubted that it was a normal orange cat. After all, that herb collector had found it on a cliff and reached there with a rope. It had no wings, though.

He didn’t know what it would become after it grew up. Then, a cute Totoro came into his mind all of a sudden. He shook his head. It had better not be that fat.

It looked just like a little orange kitten right now. Maybe because it came from an egg, it looked to be one or two weeks old now. It grabbed the eggshell with two white paws, trying to get out.

Since it was too small and didn’t have enough strength, it pawed for a long time and failed. Now it was looking at Amy pitifully with its sapphire eyes and meowed like a helpless child. It seemed it was already relying on Amy.

“Fine, fine. Let me help you,” Amy said impatiently, but she had already reached out her hands, planning to get it out.

“Wait, Amy. We have to clean it first,” Mag said quickly. He went to fetch a clean towel and helped Amy get the kitten out. They wiped it clean and wrapped it up with the towel. Only its little head was left outside. It looked at Mag and Amy innocently.

“Father, it looks so delicious!” Amy’s face lit up as she watched the little cat in the towel.

“It looks like a cat roll.” Mag wanted to chuckle too. They both were so cute.

Immediately, the kitten became uneasy. It tilted its head back and said, “Meow, meow!” It was trying to get out.

“Ugly Duckling, be good. I won’t eat you now. Don’t worry,” Amy said with a smile as she stroked its little head.

The anxious cat became calm in an instant and fell asleep quickly.

“Let it sleep. We need to prepare something for it to eat,” Mag said to Amy, smiling. It seemed it had used a lot of strength to get out of its egg in a hurry; it would be hungry when it woke up.

“It’s a real lazy bum. It has fallen asleep after only a stroke.” Amy drew back her hand with dislike. “Then what are we going to feed it? Rainbow fried rice?” she asked as she looked at Mag.

Mag shook his head. “No. Newborn ca— ugly duckling can’t eat fried rice. We have to feed it sheep’s milk or cow’s milk. Let’s go out and buy some for it.” He had raised his orange cat from a little kitten, so he was very experienced.

Suddenly, Mag remembered something, and asked in his mind, “System, do you sell baby bottles?”

“System doesn’t supply goods for babies,” the system replied seriously.

“I don’t have a lot of cash right now,” Mag said calmly. “You’d better name a good price because it will be able to lick the milk from a plate after a few days. I don’t really have to buy it.”

“One high-quality baby bottle and you’ll get a pet-bib for free. Only five gold coins!” This shining message went across Mag’s head.

“Two free pet-bibs,” Mag said after thinking about it.

“One high-quality baby bottle and two pet-bibs are ready in the counter. Please check,” the system said, and then it disappeared immediately.

Mag opened the door and found a brand-new baby bottle and two lovely pet-bibs. They were just perfect for feeding the kitten.

He didn’t want to buy milk from the system, because he didn’t know whether or not it would sell ingredients that were not included in the recipes; even if it would, the milk would probably be very expensive—it might be produced by cows raised in some holy land.

He didn’t have much money now, and he had to save money to buy strength, so he couldn’t spend money randomly.

Amy nodded. “Okay.” She put Ugly Duckling back into the basket and softly covered it with the blanket. Then she stood up and took hold of Mag’s hand. She walked a few steps and turned to look in the direction of the basket, a little worried. “But, Father, what if it woke up when we went out? Would it be scared? I feel it looks on me as its mother.”

Mag shook his head, smiling. “I don’t think it will wake up soon,” he said. It won’t take long to buy some milk. Amy is pretty smart. She knows that she has earned its trust since it saw her first.

It’s the first time that she raises a pet. Even though she said some bad things about it, I can tell she likes it very much.

Amy nodded. “Then let’s go now and come back early.” She took Mag’s hand and walked towards the door.