Chapter 149 -- Long-Time Best Seller

Because we had been trapped by Elland-san for so long as he dragged the details of our dungeon exploration out of me we had all missed lunch, and now it was time for dinner. We hurried back to the inn to eat while the Gluttonous Trio b.i.t.c.hed and moaned about how they were starving to death and I should feed them right now, you hear and...

Something quick and easy to shut them up, I decided. I still had one meal"s worth of cooked rice left in my Item Box so it was going to be a rice bowl with meat again, but I"d change the meats around and add some sauce and dressings for variety"s sake.

I opened up Net Super and bought daikon radish sprouts and lots of ready-made yakiniku sauce, my personal favourite of the a.s.sorted grilled meat sauces you can buy. I"ve tried most of the others but this particular one, a long-time best seller hits the spot for me, sweet and rich with a taste I never get tired of.

I started with b.l.o.o.d.y Horn Bull meat, cut somewhat thicker than usual for stir-fry so it would remain a bit rare in the middle after I cooked it quickly in oil in a very hot frying-pan. Once the meat was seared on all sides and properly sealed I added the yakiniku sauce and stirred it in to coat the meat pieces, and done, super-easy like I said. Half-fill three deep bowls with cooked rice, top them off with generous amounts of the sauce-coated meat and a garnish of raw diakon sprouts, put them down and step quickly back to avoid being trampled in the rush as Fer, Dora-chan and Sui-chan launched their simultaneous attack.

Wow, they"re really hungry, I thought to myself as I started cooking the next serving. It was basically the same dish but this time I used Wyvern meat instead of b.l.o.o.d.y Horn Bull. I had the freshly-loaded rice bowls ready just in time for the three-fold call of """Seconds""" to resound -- even little Dora-chan was not full up after his first helping, having missed lunch earlier. There wasn"t quite the same rush to the feeding trough this time and they slowed down enough to notice details about what they were eating.

"Mm, this is a different kind of meat." Fer said telepathically, his muzzle deep in the dish before him.

"Yeah, the previous meat was b.l.o.o.d.y Horn Bull, I made it using Wyvern meat this time round." I explained.

"This sauce doesn"t go well with the Wyvern meat." Fer complained but I noticed he didn"t stop eating it. "It was great with the other meat, the b.l.o.o.d.y Horn Bull meat." I sighed, thinking that Fer had developed quite picky tastes in the few months I had known him considering he had spent the previous thousand years eating meat raw and b.l.o.o.d.y.

"Any kind of meat tastes superb when cooked with this sauce." I retorted, defending my choice of yakiniku sauce to go with the Wyvern meat, or any meat really, even lesser-quality meat...

"Well then, let"s put that to the test." Fer said, pus.h.i.+ng his empty bowl towards me with his muzzle. "I want Earth Dragon meat next." You"re wanting what? We had only eaten the Earth Dragon meat as steaks, cooking it in sauce and serving it over rice was almost sacreligious...

"You"re going to eat THAT meat?" Dora-chan interrupted. "I"ll have some of that as well."

"Sui will eat too-"

They all knew how good the meat of the Earth Dragon tasted, but I was intrigued by the idea and suddenly wanted to try eating it myself with my favourite yakiniku sauce. Hmmm... So, I made Earth Dragon grilled meat rice bowls with long-time best seller yakiniku sauce for the Gluttonous Trio and myself (naturally). "Here it is." I said, putting down a rice bowl topped with Earth Dragon meat and sauce for all three (Dora-chan"s bowl was smaller than the others).

We had already eaten substantial amounts of b.l.o.o.d.y Horn Bull meat and Wyvern meat, I thought I was full up but just looking at my own dish caused me to salivate, the sauce-coated Dragon meat piled thickly on top of the glossy white rice, and the smell... I couldn"t help myself and started to dig in, munch munch munch oh my...

I thought the Dragon steaks I had eaten before were the best things ever but the combination of the yakiniku sauce and the rice magnified the taste of the grilled Dragon meat. Before I could think to slow down and savour each mouthful my bowl was empty. What? Where did it go? I cast a suspicious eye at Fer and the others, had they used some sort of Teleportation magic spell while I wasn"t looking but no, they were still eagerly eating from their own dishes of grilled Dragon meat over rice. I looked at the bottom of my empty bowl, finally admitting to myself...

"I ate it. I ate it all. It was delicious..." Honestly, it might have been the best meat dish I had ever eaten. The collaboration between the Earth Dragon"s meat and the grilled meat sauce was just too too delicious. Another one? No, no, I shook my head. I might explode. It was tempting though, so very very tempting. Just then Fer and Sui finished their own bowls and, of course, demanded ""Seconds!""

I refilled their bowls again and again before they admitted defeat and finished eating. After tidying up I did a quick inventory check and discovered only two-thirds of the Earth Dragon"s meat remained. Had we really eaten a third of it already? We had eaten some Dragon steaks at Elland-san"s house, more steaks in the dungeon once and again after we left and then the grilled Dragon meat just now, were those really the only times? I"d have to be more careful in the future, I decided, this rare and precious Earth Dragon meat was so tasty it could all be gone before we noticed and who knew when we"d get more.

Everyone"s belly being full it was time for bed. Fer and Dora-chan settled down on their futons in the beast stables at the back of the inn while I took Sui-chan up to our room. I laid out a futon and put the sleeping Sui-chan down on the bed but I still had something to do before I could join her. It was a pain but I knew how bothersome THOSE guys got when they said I was late...