In addition to sharing hotpot with her father, Mia also brought along two decks of noble-edition Element Cards during dinner.
Unfortunately, Emperor André III kept an extremely tight schedule every day and didn't have the time to entertain himself with games alongside Mia.
So Mia could only give the Element Cards to her father first, hoping that he might find some free time to try them out later.
"Don't worry, Ron, I'll help you promote them in noble circles," Mia said confidently, patting her chest and lifting her chin. "Besides, Element Cards are genuinely fun. They're definitely going to sell well!"
"Alright, I'll be counting on you," Ron replied.
"Mhm!" Mia nodded happily, then pulled out a stack of papers from a drawer. "Oh, right, Ron—those questions you asked me before? I finished investigating them all this afternoon!"
She summarized her findings for Ron—things like the residential distribution of nobles in the Royal Capital and the classification of foot traffic across major streets—then finally asked:
"So, Ron, where do you think the hotpot restaurant should be opened?"
Ron didn't answer directly. Instead, he asked, "After the restaurant opens, who do you think will most often come to eat hotpot?"
"Hmm…" Mia frowned thoughtfully, lowering her head to study the survey sheets listing different groups of people. After some consideration, she said,
"Honestly, major nobles all have their own chefs. Even if they want hotpot, they can just have it prepared at home. There's no real need for them to come to a restaurant."
"If we promote it well, noble youths should be willing to come often."
"Then there are officials and merchants…"
"Given that, the southern part of the Royal Capital, where high nobles gather, isn't very suitable. Queen's Street can be ruled out."
"Besides those groups, commoners would probably also like hotpot."
"Our prices won't be expensive—commoners in the Royal Capital should be able to afford it."
Mia glanced at the survey on consumption levels among different social groups in the Royal Capital and nodded as if deep in thought.
"Hmm… Triumph Avenue is too close to commoner districts. It would be convenient for them, but it wouldn't be easy to attract noble youths."
"So the most suitable location should be Central Street of Peace Square!"
"Well? How did I do, Ron?"
"Very well. I have no objections," Ron said.
Mia wasn't stupid—she had just grown up in a life where everything was handed to her, so she often didn't bother thinking too deeply. Ron respected her and gave her room to decide, and the result was quite good.
After all, Ron wasn't in the Royal Capital. Even if Mia read the survey results aloud, he couldn't truly grasp the atmosphere firsthand.
Rather than relying on experience from his previous world, it made more sense to let Mia—a local—analyze and choose.
Although this world lagged behind his old one in some aspects, Ron never placed his own thinking on a superior pedestal.
Would a hotpot and barbecue restaurant really become popular?
Who could say for sure?
If not for the fact that he and Mia had enough room for trial and error thanks to their status, Ron wouldn't have made such a hasty decision. He would have gone north personally to investigate.
More likely, he would have done nothing at all—after all, that would have been easier.
"Since you've defined such a broad target audience, the interior layout of the hotpot restaurant needs to be planned more carefully," Ron reminded her after some thought.
"Mhm! I know that!" Mia nodded proudly. "Those noble youths care a lot about appearances—they definitely wouldn't want to dine in the same hall as commoners."
"The upper floors will be designed as large private rooms, specifically for people of status."
"The middle floors will have smaller private rooms for merchants and officials—especially officials, since most of them prefer to keep a low profile."
"And the first and second floors will be open halls for commoners. How about that, Ron?"
Ron listened, somewhat surprised. "You've thought this through that much? But… do the shops you picked really have that many floors?"
"Well… Lyle was the one who told me all this," Mia admitted sheepishly. "As for the shops, buildings on Central Street are usually seven or eight stories tall. That's normal!"
"…" Ron was speechless. Seven or eight floors—all used for a hotpot restaurant? That was incredibly extravagant.
Given that he didn't truly understand the Royal Capital, Ron didn't plan to stop her. The original owner of this body had grown up in the palace—technically living in the Royal Capital, yet barely ever leaving the palace grounds, not even fully exploring them.
Since both Mia and Lyle thought it was fine, so be it.
As long as the system's side quest could be completed and the reward obtained, that was enough.
"I wrote up a staff training plan. Take notes," Ron said, no longer dwelling on the seven-story hotpot restaurant.
"Mhm!" Mia immediately took out paper and pen.
Ron essentially transplanted a service model from his old world—making some adjustments—and explained it to Mia.
After chatting for a while longer, Ron withdrew his consciousness and cut off the connection between them.
Back in his own body, Ron twisted his neck slightly and had Heartvine return the book to the shelf.
After thinking it over and confirming that his discussion with Mia had gone smoothly, he had Heartvine retrieve something from a box beside the desk.
It was a small rectangular object.
Light green in color, it took about four or five of them stacked together to fill the palm of a hand.
Ron played with it for a moment, then had Heartvine secure the rectangle in place.
This was something Ron had asked Guy to commission from the same construction team that had previously renovated the barbecue restaurant.
Because they hadn't fully understood Ron's requirements, it wasn't until this afternoon that they finally produced a result that satisfied him.
There were many more of these small rectangular blocks in the box beside him—materials that still required further processing.
Ron took out several small carving knives and various colored pigments from a drawer.
With Heartvine holding the block steady, Ron began working.
Using a carving knife, he cut into the largest face of the rectangle, carving a circle at the very center.
Then, inside the circle, he carved a human portrait—
Any citizen of the Human Empire would recognize it at a glance: the founding emperor of the empire, Emperor André the Great.
After all, every gold coin minted by the Human Empire bore his likeness.
Once the carving was complete, Ron painted it with gold pigment, and a convincing gold coin appeared on the rectangular block.
Of course, if possible, Ron would much rather call this rectangular block engraved with a coin "One Dot."
Yes.
What Ron was making now was a game from his previous world, known as mahjong.
Placing this piece—what should have been called One Dot, but in this world might better be called One Gold or One Coin—onto the table, Ron continued working on the rest of the mahjong tiles.