Ten minutes later, Xu Milu sat in the tavern, staring at a bowl of sticky, dark stewed beans in deep thought for a long time.
The best food in the world?
I believed your lies.
The large loaves of bread are made from rye flour. The flour milled in the mill is not as fine as modern refined flour. The baked bread is not only hard, but you can also see broken wheat grains and bran mixed in if you look closely.
Just one bite was enough to bring tears to Xu Milu's eyes.
She suddenly understood why people in the Middle Ages would cut off the king's head.
She ordered what was supposedly the pub's signature dish: smoked rye bread with rye wine, creamy grass stewed beans, and salted blue cheese.
The bread was unusually hard, like a dried-out steamed bun that had been sitting for a week. I don't know how the chef handled it. The bread pieces even had a rusty taste, and when you chewed them, you could bite into a mouthful of bran and wheat grains that hadn't been properly cleaned.
The quality of the smoked meat was also quite disappointing. The skin was a dark, murky mess, and it took a lot of effort to bite off even a tiny bit of meat. Xu Milu couldn't tell what kind of animal meat it was made from, but it tasted a bit like rabbit or deer.
There was also stewed beans served with bread. The beans were about the size of soybeans on Earth, but their shape was somewhat like broad beans. The kitchen did not process the beans; they were simply stewed in water with some plant leaves. Although they smelled faintly of herbs, the beans were overcooked and mushy, and the bean skins had a strong fishy smell. The chef only added a little salt for seasoning, so the dish was hardly delicious.
Xu Milu ate two more bites, and for the first time, she missed the salt box at home so much. She looked up and saw that all the guests around her seemed to take it for granted.
—Although it is daytime, the tavern is full of drunken mercenaries.
"Hahaha! You're buying me this drink today!"
"Have you heard? The slime horde over Moro Village was driven back by other adventurers!"
"Boss! Another glass of rye beer for this table! Put it on my tab!"
"You ordered a Grade D set meal, plus three glasses of rye wine, for a total of thirty-seven small copper coins!"
"Boss, why hasn't my rye beer arrived yet! And I'll also order a grilled steak!"
The men's and women's hearty laughter mingled together, filling the small tavern with a lively and cheerful atmosphere.
"Guest...guest, here is your rye wine and blue cheese, which cost three large copper coins and seven small copper coins. Please, please enjoy."
The waitress was a little girl who wasn't even as tall as the table. She wore a long linen dress from the Arctic region and had a pair of gray dog ears on either side of her head, the tips of which were trembling slightly.
Xu Milu hadn't seen many orcs in the Food World, but this was the first time she had come into such close contact with them. She could even see the gray down on their dog ears.
Perhaps she had been staring at the other person for a while, because the orc girl shrank back in fear, the chains on her feet rattling – she was actually a slave.
"Sorry, did I scare you?"
Xu Milu apologetically withdrew her gaze, took out five large copper coins from her purse, and placed them in the animal-eared girl's palm:
"The extra can be considered your tip. I'm sorry for staring at your ear the whole time."
"Really, are you really going to give me the rest of the money?!"
The girl with animal ears stared wide-eyed, her dog ears perking up as well. Her round eyes, even the corners of them, had a canine quality, and they looked wet.
“You’re such a kind person! And, no one has ever apologized to a slave like me before—thank you! My name is Fanny, and I’m, I’m a dog-beastman…”
"Fanny, I'm Ren Qingluan, a new adventurer. It's nice to meet you."
Xu Milu tried hard to look away from the iron chains on Fanny's ankles. She was born in China and her understanding of the evil slavery system came only from books, but when she actually saw a living slave, she couldn't help but feel uncomfortable.
This has nothing to do with sympathy. It would be truly strange if any child born in China could become accustomed to and quickly accept such a scene.
Fanny pursed her lips without any shyness, bowed to Xu Milu, and quickly ran away.
...
...
In the end, Xu Milu was pleasantly surprised by the blue cheese and rye wine, which she hadn't initially been optimistic about. The fermented cheese was hard on the outside and soft on the inside, and the filling had a bluish-white color that was quite appealing.
Xu Milu tried cutting off a small piece of cheese with a knife and tasting it:
The first sensation is a slightly spicy and stimulating taste, followed by the melting of cheese on the tongue. A unique aroma, along with a slightly sweet milky flavor, fills the mouth, while the moist texture of the cheese is also palpable. Taking another sip of the cloudy but wheat-scented rye beer further intensifies the wonderful milky aroma.
The mercenary sitting in the middle of the tavern was already completely drunk, burping and boasting to his companions about his "achievements".
Xu Milu did not join the conversation of the other mercenaries; she simply nestled in a corner and enjoyed her first meal since entering the city.
With a sip of rye beer, a bite of blue cheese, and the sounds of the mercenaries around her boasting and chatting, recounting their adventures and cursing the new lord of Westco County, she finally found some joy in traveling abroad.
"...I once killed a dragon all by myself! It was a really huge magical beast; the magic crystal in its head alone was as big as your head! Hiccup!"
My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
