The chattering went on without the commoners' notice that the protagonist of the show was right under their noses.
Violetta perks her ears amusingly, as she hears conversations about her. With her hand, she holds hands with little Chris, and they walk down the streets together.
"Big sis, I want that!" Chris points to a food stall.
Violetta's eyes also show a glint.
"Okay, let's go!"
They walk over to the middle aged salesman who clasps his hands together benevolently.
"How may I help you?"
"We'd like," Violetta pauses.
She turns around to see her curious, but confused friends, "five skewers please."
"Flavor?"
"Lamb."
Delta and Kate glance at her in surprise.
'She knows what flavors they offer? Is this not her first time even stepping out into a city?'
Meanwhile Chris's eyes flash in excitement as he looks at the hot grill.
The shopkeeper smiles, also surprised that some foreigners could be familiar with eating skewers. He grins, delighted that he won't have to tell them about it and because he's proud that the insignificant skewers can even catch the eye of these foreigners.
Skillfully, he takes out a bunch of uncooked lamb skewers and puts them on the grill. After a few moments, he sprinkles some really weird spices onto the five skewers and starts turning them in a familiar fashion.
"Ah, what's that seed looking thing?" Chris turns his head towards Violetta in expectation.
The happy shopkeeper answers Chris's question instead, "Ah, this is 'zi ran' from my home farm. Over here people call it 'cumin'. It's a fragrant spice that tastes well with the lamb skewers."
Kate looks at the lamb skewers in expectation and curiosity. The aroma of the lamb skewers floats over to the consumers' sharp noses, drawing in a crowd.
The city dwellers point at the skewers, most recognizing it but some not.
The stall soon becomes bustling with people, and the small group slips out with their five skewers.
Violetta smiles and hands them each one.
Chris points to the last two skewers in her hand, "Who's the last one for?"
"Me!" Violetta replies with a smirk.
Her eyes glimmer with delight. It seems like she can still stay a foodie after reincarnation!
She then pulls out the opaque little jar and sprinkles a bit of the red powder on the sizzling hot lamb meat.
"??"
"??"
"??"
Then, she pulls off one piece of meat from the bamboo skewer before savouring it in her mouth.
The trio stares blankly, as she chews the meat familiarly.
"What? You guys should eat too."
They direct their eyes back to the sizzling skewers before also following her gesture and pull the meat off from right to left. Slowly chewing in their mouth, their eyes light up as the juicy meat flavor overflows into their mouths.
"Mm! This is actually good!" Delta exclaims, her mouth full.
Poor Chris hops around fanning his mouth; he forgot his tolerance wasn't as high.
After devouring the tasty skewer, all three pairs of eyes turn towards the last skewer in Violetta's hand.
"Um, Violetta, are you gonna eat that?"
They stare at the nonchalant princess waving the skewer in front of their faces.
She laughs teasing them, waving the skewer and watching their eyes follow slowly, tracing the meat wherever it went.
Suddenly, she thought of a devious plan. It's always fun to introduce people to that ...flavor...
"You guys can have it… but only if you can endure it!" Violetta exclaims, suddenly pouring the rest of her meager amount of grounded peppers left in the opaque box onto the skewer.
The three heads turn to face her simultaneously in confusion.
"What do you mean by that?" Kate asks.
Violetta gestures by bringing the skewer to her mouth and cleanly pulling off one piece of meat. Then, she passes it to Kate.
Kate, with one eyebrow raised, follows the gesture and pulls off the next meat block.
She chews in confusion for a moment, before her pale face turns beet red and her lips start to puff up. While hurriedly fanning her face, mouth and everything, she passes the bamboo skewer to Delta who looks at her companion in confusion.
"What happened to her?" Delta asks.
Violetta just shrugs innocently with a questionable smile.
Delta stares down at the red and brown sizzling meat. Taking a breath, she too, takes a bite from the skewer, the third piece of meat out of eight.
Meanwhile, Kate is comically hopping on her feet, left foot, right foot, both feet with her brown ponytail swinging in the air.
In a moment, Delta's lips also puff up, numb and red. Her eyes widen with surprise at the unique almost unbearable flavor. Within a minute, she starts to cough.
Hunched over, she coughs while handing the stick back to Violetta.
Though one must note, Violetta is definitely not a sadist of any sort. She just wants to introduce this amazing spice to her friends, but …
'Did I go overboard with the amount? This is the usual amount I put though…'
(Says the Sichuan person.)
As Violetta munches another piece of meat while pondering, Delta starts to pour a sphere of her water magic into her mouth. But of course, it wasn't enough at all.
Shoving her magic water spheres into her mouth like a famished person, it was quite a unique scene to expect from a dignified mage of the Demigod Society.
Chris looks up at Violetta with his innocent round eyes.
"What happened to them? Can I try?" he asks.
Violetta with her mouth full, tilts the skewer towards Chris and raises her fine eyebrow in question.
Staring at it and waving the skewer trying to check what's wrong, Chris finally takes a bite.
The little boy furrows his brows at the taste, and coughs a little, but unlike the other two, that was almost all. His face barely changed either, as if god deemed him too cute for improvement.
This thought almost made Violetta feel depressed inside.
Delta finally stops coughing after a long time. She glances at the water sphere in her hand and gasps in surprise. Using her magic, she confirmed that her looks were real.
She immediately turns to Violetta and asks, "What happened?"
Violetta smiles and shrugs, "Not sure, but that does that."
Though inside, Violetta thought it would be a pain to explain. Her friends wouldn't be interested in her talk about capsaicin and pain receptors in the human body.
After a while, both girls recovered from their excessive fever symptoms. They discover their new beauty and discuss with astonishment.
Since they were amidst the streets, many people at first thought they were crazy and walked away, but the next wave of people that passed stopped momentarily, admiring the unique beauty on Delta's and Kate's faces.
Violetta laughs at the amusement and fun.
"Alright, let's head towards our next destination!"