Dusì stood helplessly to one side, and when she saw Ina, her eyes sparkled with the light of having seen her savior.
On the other side, Lusen was holding the magic wand given by Hanna and fiercely battling with the table in the restaurant.
Dusì hurriedly explained, "I don't know how he got like this, we were just sitting there, and suddenly, he stood up..." The usually steady Dusì started to speak incoherently for once.
The system laughed loudly: [I'm glad I urged you in time, or you would have missed Lusen's amazing performance!]
"Think again, did anything strange happen, or did Lusen come into contact with something?" Ina asked Dusì to recall carefully.
"Nothing," Dusì thought carefully, "Is it because of the strange symbol he drew? Other than that, oh, I ate an apple, and he ate that yellow mushroom."
Ina felt like she had caught onto some information, and she immediately pulled up the description of the Yellow Fruit Mushroom. At some point, an additional line of text appeared: [Yellow Fruit Mushroom ★☆: A rare mushroom, slightly sweet, edible raw, but has mild toxicity. It is recommended to cook before eating or control the amount of raw consumption. PS: Non-human beings can ignore this advice. PPS: Dragons, especially, ignore this advice.]
Ina confronted the system angrily, "Why didn't you say this earlier?"
The system hesitated: [Some information also needs to be updated promptly.]
By the time Ina figured out the cause of Lusen's erratic behavior, the one-on-one duel between him and the table had already ended, with the table ultimately winning through the tactic of surrendering without a fight.
Lusen tripped on a chair, fell, and bit off a piece of the table's surface before sitting down with a hand covering his mouth.
Seeing Lusen's eyes gradually clear up, Ina quickly cast a Water Mist spell on him. The cold water mist hit his face, and Lusen finally came to his senses. He immediately complained to Ina, "A wild boar this big ran in!"
Lusen gestured with his hands, "It was this tall and as long as the table. We were entangled, and it was hard to tell who would win."
"Really? So what happened next?" Ina asked with a smile.
Lusen scratched his head, puzzled, "I don't know what tripped me, but I bit the wild boar, and it got scared and ran away."
Dusì tried to hold back her laughter, her face twisted in amusement. Lusen still didn't realize what had happened and worried about her, "Were you scared?"
Dusì shook her head vigorously and then thought for a moment before nodding repeatedly. Ina tactfully asked, "After biting the wild boar, are your teeth okay?"
Only then did Lusen realize something was wrong, covering his mouth, "Hiss~ The wild boar's skin is too hard, my teeth hurt so much?"
All in all, Lusen's heroic act of protecting the restaurant was still commendable. After highly praising his brave spirit, Ina casually took the remaining Yellow Fruit mushrooms off the table, along with the other Yellow Fruit Mushrooms picked from the mushroom cultivation room, and stored them separately. Otherwise, next time Lusen might end up seeing little people dancing.
Dusì and Lusen tidied up the overturned tables and chairs, while Ina sent the marinated ribs from yesterday into the oven. The multi-functional kitchenware that she had won in a lottery had two ovens, a large one and a small one. The small one was for baking desserts, while the larger one was more suitable for roasting meat. Ina placed four large pieces of ribs in it at once, lined up, and there was still space left. It was a large-capacity oven tailored for the restaurant by the system.
While waiting for the ribs to cook, Ina directed Lusen and Dusì to pick a basket of apples, peel them, and cut them into cubes. Next was the most crucial part of making Apple Honey Ribs. First, stir-fry the onions in hot oil, then add apple cubes, a bit of tomato, honey, and salt, and continue stir-frying. Once the apple cubes have softened slightly and released honey-like juice, pour the mixture over the ribs that have been roasted for nearly an hour. Put them back into the oven and bake for another half-hour.
Lusen and Dusì sniffed the aroma of the meat in the air, and Ina couldn't help but drool over the sizzling ribs. The cost of Apple Honey Ribs was quite high, both the boar ribs and the honey bought at Hana's grocery store were expensive, making Ina cringe. Also, the basket of apples was quite precious in Mist Town. If selling apples separately wasn't beneficial for the restaurant, Ina would have considered setting up a fruit stand.
How much should she charge for a serving of Apple Honey Ribs?
A large piece of the rib was cut into four small plates, each of which could be piled into a small hill. The Boiled Fish dish was priced at five silver coins and people willingly ordered it. Although the Boar was not as valuable as the Cold Thorn Fish, the addition of honey and apples made the price of three silver coins per serving reasonable.
[Apple Honey Ribs★★: The collision of roast ribs and apples, multiple flavors, and more happiness!]
Recently, Hana had become a regular customer of the Longflame Restaurant, not only for the chance to win fruit cans in the lottery but also because of the endless new dishes and delightful tastes created by the restaurant owner.
The townspeople who shared her thoughts also came to the Restaurant at this time. Hana walked into the warm-lit restaurant in the dim night, and as soon as she entered, she took a deep breath of the roasted meat aroma that filled the air.
"Apple Honey Ribs," she read from the menu on the small blackboard. It sounded great, and as for the price, it was a little higher than usual, but it was still acceptable for someone as wealthy as Hana in the town. Moreover, Ina often took care of the grocery store's business. The honey that hadn't been sold for months was finally sold today.
A plate of neatly cut small ribs was soon placed in front of Hana, along with a cup of bubbly drink.
The size of the ribs was just right to fit in the mouth, and cutting them into such neat little pieces must have taken quite some effort. Hana had initially worried that she would get a large piece of bone, and eating it would make a mess with the sauce everywhere. She hadn't expected the owner to be so thoughtful.
She forked a piece of rib and put it in her mouth. The rib was roasted to be crispy outside and tender inside, with an enticing red gloss and a sweet apple aroma. It was not only rich in texture but also very refreshing.
Hana waved her fork, unknowingly eating more than half of the dish. She was surprised by her appetite. Usually, after eating a few pieces of greasy roasted meat, she would feel her stomach filled as if it were stuffed, and eating any more would feel like choking. However, today's Apple Honey Ribs were so delicious that she couldn't stop eating. The juicy and tender meat was locked inside the ribs, making the greasy fat seem to have been separated from the surface during the long roasting process. As her teeth bit into the slightly charred exterior, she immediately felt the juicy and tender part inside.
Hana picked up her cup, trying to calm herself down. She inadvertently glanced around and noticed that the restaurant was now filled with both townspeople and mercenaries. They were easy to distinguish - the mercenaries were wearing leather armor, had companions of similar age, and were talking loudly about their mission in the Mirenight Swamp. The townspeople were mostly families dining together, enjoying themselves. What was common, however, was that they were all very satisfied with tonight's dinner. Hana heard Lusen apologizing to the new guests and asking them to wait a moment as more honey ribs were being roasted.
Hanna smiled, thinking about how there weren't many entertainment options for people living in Mist Town. Just like the fog that constantly covered the town, everything felt stagnant and lifeless. Especially in recent years, as the young children of the town had gone away to study, it had been a long time since the town had experienced such a lively scene.
A tall woman in leather boots walked past Hanna's table. "Mayor?"
Mayor Rosa turned around, not at all surprised to see Hana there. "I'm here to get a drink for Lilith, I think it's called bubbly drink?" She glanced at Hana's half-eaten ribs and the small mountain of bones piled up beside her. "How's dinner?"
"You must try the honey ribs," Hana highly recommended.
Rosa gladly accepted her suggestion and told Lusen, who approached them, "Three orders of Apple Honey Ribs, and one bubbly drink."
It was then that Hana realized she had been holding her cup all this time. She took a sip of the liquid inside and was immediately captivated by the strange, refreshing taste.
"I want to take back what I just said. You must try the honey ribs and the bubbly drink."