A Stay-at-home Dad's Restaurant In An Alternate World 509 When You Feel Like You're Ugly, Poor, And Have No Redeeming Traits...

Sally hesitated momentarily before asking, "What do you think is true freedom?"

Mag contemplated her question for a short while before replying, "I think freedom is the right to choose. Everyone has different opinions and perspectives, but for me, I think I have freedom as long as I have the right of choice."

"The right to choose?" A contemplative expression appeared on Sally's face. She thought of the elven servants being forced into manual labor in the major families. When they were forcibly distributed into or even captured by major families, they had no choice. When the n.o.bles commanded the work, they had no choice. They didn't even have a choice to stay or leave.

That means they're not free. Sally's heart immediately sank after arriving at that conclusion. In reality, she had already reached that verdict the night prior, and she simply didn't want to admit it to herself.

Sally fell silent momentarily, and then asked, "What's more important between safety and freedom?"

Mag thought about this question carefully before replying, "I feel like that question should be answered individually. Everyone will have a different answer; some are willing to give up freedom to a certain extent in exchange for safety, while others would rather live in constant peril than have their freedom restricted. In the face of such a decision, perhaps only those who can choose one or the other are truly free."

Indeed, there were always some people who would rather die free than live in shackles.

Sally nodded with a thoughtful expression and fell silent again. She looked down at the wooden grains on the surface of the table before her and fell into deep thought.

Mag withdrew his gaze from Sally and didn't say anything further. The topic of freedom was a very arbitrary one, and everyone would have a different answer depending on their personality and experiences. The question of true freedom was akin to the conundrum of the chicken and the egg.

Safety, responsibility, duty, moral compa.s.s… Those factors would often clash with one's pursuit for freedom. There were no beings that were truly completely free in this world. The ideal state to be in was to find a balance where one could live in comfort yet still feel free and unbridled.

Mag wasn't going to try and convince Sally of anything, as he didn't know anything about the situation that she was in. Furthermore, he was quite surprised that this conundrum would arise as her main concern following her meeting with Blour.

Yabemiya was slightly concerned as she looked at Sally. However, she didn't think that she could contribute a better answer than Mag had, so she could only remain silent.

Sally had been thinking about something for an entire morning, while Yabemiya was being instructed by Mag in the art of ice cream making.

Yabemiya didn't exactly have extraordinary cooking apt.i.tude. However, her earnest att.i.tude and tenacity were very pleasing to Mag.

All of the failed batches of ice cream were stored in the fridge by Mag. After all, the cost per unit of ice cream produced was several dozens of copper coins, and it would be a waste to throw them out. However, he was concerned that eating them all at once would result in digestive problems, so he could only store them in the fridge. In any case, he had already thought of a way to put them to good use.

"Boss, what about this one?" Yabemiya carefully cradled the ice cream cone in her hands as if she were holding a priceless treasure. She looked at Mag with an expectant expression as she offered up the ice cream cone for his examination. The two b.a.l.l.s of ice cream were perfectly stacked on top of one another without being even the slightest bit off-center. It was a picture of perfection.

"No, the top ball is still a tiny bit off. In that case, the direction that ice cream flows in as it melts will be uneven." Mag shook his head in response.

"Oh, I see." Yabemiya's face immediately fell upon hearing that. In her eyes, there wasn't any sign suggesting that the b.a.l.l.s of ice cream were off-center. She glanced at the dozen or so failed ice cream batches in the fridge, and heaved a dejected sigh as she asked, "Boss, I'm really stupid, right? I've wasted so much ice cream, but I still can't do it."

"If a talented girl like you is considered stupid, then what would I be? It took me over 100 tries to reach your current level." Mag smiled in response.

"Really?" A hint of hope intermingled with disbelief lit up in Yabemiya's eyes.

"That's right. You've already done very well. It's just that Mamy Restaurant serves only the best food to our customers, so you can settle for nothing but the best. That is a rule of our restaurant, and also the most basic requirement." Mag nodded with a smile. He felt like he was very much like the system when he was being stern; the only difference was that the system would never offer kind words of consolation no matter how many times he failed.

"I understand." Yabemiya nodded earnestly with a reverent look in her eyes as she looked at Mag. Only perfect dishes could be served to their customers; that was an att.i.tude and motto that was worthy of respect.

"Would you like to unlock encouragement services? The system has a bank of over 50,000 consolatory and uplifting phrases to comfort you following your failures. You only need to spend one copper coin per phrase. If you activate this service now, you'll be eligible for a ma.s.sive deal where the first 500 phrases will be free!" The system's voice sounded along with cheery background music.

"Are you serious?" Mag raised an eyebrow upon hearing that. He didn't think that the system was this desperate for money.

"Ding! Congratulations, you have been awarded an encouragement services free trial. This free trial comes with 10 free phrases; would you like to hear them now?" the system asked.

"Alright." Mag was a little skeptical, but he decided that it couldn't hurt.

"Always do your best.

"Even though it might be trash.

"Failure is not disgraceful.

"What is disgraceful is that you're still naive enough to believe that.

"When you feel like you're ugly, poor, and have no redeeming traits.

"Don't wallow in despair; at least you have sound judgment."

…

"p.i.s.s off!!!" Mag rolled his eyes internally. These weren't encouragement service; the system was trying to drive him to depression!

Mag picked up a wafer cone and made a mocha ice cream. The two b.a.l.l.s of ice cream were stacked perfectly on top of one another with their centers forming a perfectly straight line with the tip of cone. It was like a work of art.

"Give that to Aisha. We'll end our practice here for today and continue tomorrow. Have some dessert; it'll put you in a good mood." Mag handed the mocha ice cream to Yabemiya with a smile.