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

believe anyone in the Aden Square was a better cook than him. The top 3 spots would be all mine if they considered the taste alone.

Arvin and Rood were around 40, of average build with love handles.
Mag saw a wok and a ladle embroidered on their fronts, and on their backs the words: Aden Square Catering Association.

“Five gold coins get you in.
The voting starts tomorrow and lasts for 10 days,” Arvin said, writing down the restaurant’s name in his notebook.
Then he held out a hand, asking for money.

“A name will cost me five gold coins?” Mag asked, wary.

Rood smiled.
“Yes.”

Mag hesitated a moment, pulled five gold coins out of his pocket, and handed them to Arvin. The revenue from registration fees alone is handsome.
And they do this every month!

“Thank you.
These are the ballots,” Rood said, pulling out two stacks of paper ballots—each one five centimeter wide and 10 centimeter long—from his bag.
“With anti-counterfeiting magic marks.
One stack has 100 ballots, and one ballot is one copper coin.
How many ballots do you need?”

Mag’s eyebrow rose in surprise. The people here sure know how to make money.
If anyone wants to make it into the top 10, they’ll have to spend tens of thousands of copper coins on ballots first.

“If I want to enter the top 30, how many ballots do I need?” Mag asked.

Rood was surprised. The restaurants that have made the top 30 are all at least three years old.
They are larger, and most of them are members of the Chamber of Commerce.
No way this newly opened restaurant is going to enter the top 30. “If your dishes are expensive, you may need two or three thousand.
If they are as cheap as green onion bing, which is five copper coins each, you may need at least ten thousand to make the top 100.”

“Then I’ll buy 2000 ballots,” Mag said after thinking for a moment.