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I was enjoying myself, shopping and browsing through the various wares at the market when two towering shadows fell over me.
âSurely thatâs enough?â
âMaster, are you done with your shopping yet?â
ââYouâre done? Right? Right?ââ
ââFood stall~~ food stall~ââ
Fer and Grandpa Gon had crowded around me with the smaller familiars on their heads.
I was not frightened at all.
Totally not.
At all.
âF-food stalls was it? Ah, I guess now is fine?â
Honestly, Iâd rather just continue shopping but from the looks of things⦠it would not be advisable.
âRight, letâs- eep!!â
Fer suddenly poked me in the back, herding me towards one particular direction.
âHurry, this way.â
âMaster, here!â
We easily waded through the crowd with my familiars rushing through and we quickly broke out of the groceries section to where the food stall section of the market had been set up.
âWoah~â
As expected of a Royal Capital market, even their food stall section was quite extensive.
Aside from the usual meat skewer, soup and stew stalls, there were also stalls selling drinks and cut fruits.
âI knew it! We should have come here right away!â
âI shall feast well today!â
ââWoah, lemme at âem!ââ
ââEat~ eat~ââ n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om
âOi! H-hold it!â I shouted at them, but unfortunately, the call of their bellies was louder and they soon gathered in front of one stall. Fortunately, they did not scatter⦠Iâd rather not think about the consequences if that were to happen.
âThis place!â Fer was staring at a pot of stew with very intense eyes. âI had been tormented by this smell through the entire pointless walk through that raw vegetable placeâ¦â
[1]
âHey! Stop it! Youâre scaring the proprietor! Sorry, sorry, heâs just hungry. Oh, no, no, donât worry! Ah, he just wants your stew, um, itâs fine. I promiseâ¦â I said to the person cowering behind the stall.
âOh? Oh! Oh, um, help yourself. Um, should I serve you? I should serve you, right?â
To his credit, the stall owner quickly stood up and ladled out one bowl of the stew.
âWow, this looks⦠kind of spicy?â
âOu, yes! Spicy! Our stall is famous for its spicy food! Weâre very popular with the drunks- I mean the drinkers of this city, hahaha.â
âHey, Sui, it looks really spicy, are you sure you want to try it?â
ââWant to eat it~~ââ
[2]
âIâm saying this for your own good,â I tried to caution her again, but she immediately began to bounce around, crying âwant to eat~ want to eat~â.
âHahhh, fine, donât say I didnât warn you.â
I took out three deep bowls and handed them to the stall owner. âFill these up and charge me for it. Oh, and two regular bowls of stew from you.â
Sui may be stubborn, but I still couldnât bring myself to torture her too much. Letâs just give her a normal person portion first and see what happens. I also wanted to try some too.
[2]
After putting everything into my [Item Box], I paid and moved the party to an empty area where everyone could sample their food in relative privacy. By the way, the stew cost 5 iron coins per ladle. The whole thing barely cost us a few silver coins.
I took out the deep bowls and let the other three gluttons dive into their stews first.
âUmu, the meat is mediocre, but the seasoning is nice.â
âIndeed, ah, I feel like having a nice strong drink with this.â
ââItâs a little spicy for me, I think⦠oh, rice! Lemme have a big bowl of rice!ââ
Ah, a dragon after my own heart. I quickly took out a pot of freshly cooked rice and set it out between myself and Dora-chan. As I was dropping a ladle full of rice onto his bowl of stew, [2] Sui started bouncing around.
[2] ââAruji~ where is Suiâs?ââ
âEh? Ah, yes. Hold on, I think you should eat this with riceâ¦â
Too late. Sui had already bounced over and allowed her body to flow over the bowl. Just as quickly, she shrank back with a âPyaâ!!â
âSui?â
[2] ââPain~! Spicy~! Aruji~ itâs painful~~ââ
[3] âWhat did I say to you just now?â
ââPainful~~!ââ
âDidnât I already warn you just now? Here, have some rice.â I said as I pushed the pot of rice over.
Sui quickly bounced over to dissolve the rice.
Personally, I have no idea how Slime physiology works, but rice is one of the best things to have after accidentally eating some spicy soup. âYou can have this fruit milk afterwards, but only if you promise to listen to me from now on.â I said sternly.
Sui was vibrating in place, looking very pitiful. However, I have resolved to be firm.
ââS-sui is goodâ¦ââ
âYeah? Well, make sure that Sui is good all the time, hmm?â
With that, I handed over the fruit milk and Sui quickly latched on to it and began to dissolve the carton as well as the milk into her body. I looked at my bowl of spicy stew dipped a spoon into it and-
âUgh, spicy!â
Even my tongue has gone numb from that little taste. I looked at the miserably vibrating Sui and took out three more bottles of fruit milk for her.
[3]
âKukuku, looks like this is too early for a child-like Sui,â Fer looked especially ferocious with his mouth dripping red from the spicy stew.
âUmu, this is more of an adult palate.â
ââWell, I think itâs delicious!ââ
I gave Fer the side eye. This was the fellow who wanted to eat a poisonous fish because it tasted âtangyâ, so I couldnât be bothered to argue with him. Instead, I distributed the remaining stews to Fer and Grandpa Gon. Both were very happy about the extra food.
ââRight! Iâve been eyeing that stall for a while now, letâs goo!!!ââ
Dora-chan spread his wings and flew forward towards⦠a skewer stall. Of course, it was a skewer stall. The stall owner was a young man in excellent shape. However, what interested me was the smell coming off the grill.
âWoah, this smellâ¦is it garlic?â
âThatâs right, have a taste of my special Cockatrice skewers in special Garlic Sauce!â his sharp eyes rove over my party and he grinned. âThis brother, youâre an Adventurer too, right? My stallâs really popular with Adventurers. Partly because Iâm a former Adventurer, gahahaha!â
A former Adventurer? A young man like him? Well, there must be a story behind why he left that life to open a store, but it would be impolite to ask, right?
ââHey, enough chat! Feed me!ââ Dora-chan was clinging to my back and complaining. So, I donât have time to ask this young man about his backstory.
âFine, fine, weâll have 41 skewers, please.â
âOu! Thanks for the purchase!â
[4] Dora-chan immediately seized one skewer and started eating it. I set down Sui and Dora-chanâs skewers first and got started on removing the meat off the skewers for Fer and Grandpa Gon.
âGunu, how inconvenient to not have thumbsâ¦â
âI wonder⦠should I just eat the skewer as wellâ¦â
I ignored those two and continued my work.
Once everyone was eating, I got out my skewer and started on it. Hmm, it was a little tough, probably a little over-marinated. However, one canât go wrong with garlic as a sauce for skewered meat.
However, if I have a date tomorrow, this kind of thing is out of the question.
Not that I have a date, haha.
Nu⦠why do I feel so emptyâ¦
For the rest of the day, I was pulled from one stall to another. Thatâs fine, I have to fill up that emptiness inside of me. Might as well try filling it up with food.
[Gumihou: Aww, poor Mukoudaâ¦]
[1] Redid the first stall scene and gave the proprietor a bit more character.
[2] Redid scene to make Sui act super spoilt. Sheâs mostly hangry.
[3] Redid Mukoudaâs reaction to make him sterner. This is canon per the offshoot manga Suiâs Adventure
[4] Replaced âdelish delishâ remarks with actions
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