The foggy morning remained the same, and Dusì began her day's work.
By the time she arrived at Dragon Flame Restaurant, Anty had already counted the leftover ingredients from the restaurant and the unsold dishes in the cabinet and refrigerator from yesterday. Under Dusì's guidance, Anty had learned some simple writing. Her handwriting on the food in-and-out register looked childish yet serious.
There were fewer townspeople and mercenaries having breakfast compared to lunch and dinner, yet the morning was Dusì's busiest time. After taking care of matters in the Mist Town, Dusì touched the light purple transparent crystal on her wrist, disappearing from Mist Town and appearing in the cabin on the Frost Plains.
The priests of the Rize tribe were already waiting there. They were to complete the census of the vegetables produced in the greenhouse together.
Dusì put on the cloak kept in the cabin and headed to the greenhouse with the priests.
Ever since the first batch of vegetables from the greenhouse matured, a new set of rules began to be implemented.
Every morning after the matured vegetables were harvested, the leaders of the various vegetable groups would line up to register with Dusì. The first thing to report was the weight of the harvested vegetables of the day. In addition, they had to report the estimated production for the next few days, so Dusì could adjust the menu according to the ingredients.
After these steps, there was one last thing to do: to verify with the Rize tribe's priests the vegetables that the tribe members had exchanged with their points.
Ever since the first batch of vegetables matured, the tribal members working here could choose to exchange their points for finished food, or they could get the vegetables they grew at a very low price. One point could exchange for three cabbages, seven potatoes, or a large bunch of greens, which made the Rize tribe people extremely happy.
It was like they were having a beautiful dream that surpassed their imagination—in the land where they had lived for generations, even in the harshest winter, the whole village not only survived the severe cold and lack of food and clothing, but also got to eat fresh vegetables that they had personally reclaimed, sowed, and carefully cared for.
After all the information was recorded and confirmed, Dusì and the priest jointly signed and confirmed on the register.
After all, this was done, the priest looked earnestly into Dusì's eyes, "Blessings upon the Holy Lady and her envoys."
Dusì responded with the same seriousness, "May you also find happiness."
Dusì's next stop was the branch store in Neranka, where she was to receive grains and some other goods. Although Ina didn't give Donne a teleportation crystal for the branches, she gave him considerable freedom to buy fresh goods every day.
Today, two baskets of crabs, a basket of unsorted shellfish including clams, scallops, and sea snails, and several dozen of saury fish were delivered to the store.
Dusì had never lived by the sea, and Donne didn't know much about seafood either. But they could confirm that the seafood delivered was fresh. In fact, Donne accidentally overturned the crab basket, and the lively crabs quickly took over the Dragon Flame Restaurant, with one even almost climbing to the ceiling along the curtain.
Ina flipped through the variety of seafood. Aside from the saury fish that could be sold to customers, the other seafood items were not in large quantities. she decides to eat them with the few current staff of the restaurant.
She looked at Anty, "Would you like to have a barbecue by the seaside tonight?"
To Anty, the words of the Holy Lady were orders. She nodded vigorously immediately, "Yes!"
Ina instructed her, "Then when you're not busy today, take a trip home and tell your parents to pick you up from the cabin later."
So, in the evening, a strange group of people appeared on the sandy beach of Neranka. A little girl who had never seen the sea and was staring wide-eyed, a young man wrapped tightly in a black cloak, a gray-haired girl with a limp, a tall and handsome man, and their leader with platinum blond hair arranged into a bun, and a smile in her eyes.
Ina instructed Donne to spread out their "picnic mat"—which was remodeled from the old curtains replaced by the Dragon Flame Restaurant. They could have also brought the tables and chairs from the restaurant, which wouldn't have been difficult in a magical world with space rings, but Ina thought sitting on the ground on the beach would create a more authentic barbecue atmosphere.
She took out the ingredients from her backpack, and Xavier set up the grill. They didn't even need to prepare charcoal, as soon as the boss snapped her fingers, flames instantly appeared on the grill out of thin air.
Ina asked around, and unexpectedly, the ones with the most barbecue experience turned out to be Donne and Anty.
"Every time we rotate shifts, we have to travel through more than half of the empire from the imperial city to Neranka, recording the living conditions of the people in the territories we pass along the way. It takes over a month on the road each time, and grilling is a necessary skill." Donne took over the skewers prepared by Ina and placed them on the grill.
Anty was a bit shy, "In winter if we don't roast something while making a fire for warmth, it wastes firewood. Everyone says my roasted potatoes are the tastiest, they're cooked thoroughly without burning the outside."
As they talked, the red sunset. Dusì looked at the waves dyed golden and the sunset sky, and couldn't help but exclaim, "How beautiful!"
She was wondering why no one responded, only to turn her head and see everyone gathered around the grill, leaving only Xavier wrapped in his cloak sitting beside her. It felt a bit awkward. Xavier had been working in the restaurant for a while now, but he was always cold and indifferent, not interacting with anyone except Miss Ina.
Unexpectedly, Xavier looked towards the sunset and said, "This is nothing. The sunsets in my hometown are also beautiful."
Dusì politely smiled, but her eyes betrayed her skepticism. This was definitely the most beautiful sunset she had ever seen, although admittedly she hadn't seen many. It occurred to her that, while Mist Town was nice, it really did miss out on countless magnificent sunrises and sunsets. No wonder fewer and fewer young people chose to stay in the town over the years.
Xavier was quick to catch the skepticism in Dusì's eyes.
"You don't believe?" Xavier's emotion rarely fluctuated, "Sunset Town has the most beautiful sunsets on the continent. Standing on top of the mage tower, you would see the golden sun shining on the endless wheat fields, the land more dazzling than the sky. Under such golden light, the mountains and sunset would pale in comparison."
Dusì imagined such a scene and nodded, "Indeed, that is a different kind of beauty."
Anty came over with a plate, "Come and taste the potato slices and bread slices I grilled!"
The sea breeze brought over the fragrance from the grill. Anty's potatoes and bread slices were the first to be ready since they were quick to cook.
Just as Dusì was about to look towards Ina and Donne by the grill, Anty stuffed a piece of bread on a wooden stick into her hand, "Miss Ina tasted it already and said it was just right, Sister Dusì, try it quick!"
Dusì then turned her gaze to the piece of bread in her hand. The soft bread had turned a light golden color after being toasted over the fire, and even before tasting it, she could smell the aroma of honey. Taking a bite, the outside was slightly crispy while the inside remained soft. The sweetness of the honey melded into the bread, sweet but not cloying.
Dusì's eyes lit up, "It's delicious!"
Anty smiled radiantly, "Then also try the potato slices I grilled!" She wanted to call over Xavier to taste it as well, but she was a little afraid of his consistently grim demeanor.
Feeling that they had built a rapport discussing the sunset, Dusì took the initiative to pass two skewers of thinly sliced grilled potatoes to Xavier. After Xavier took it, Dusì noticed that Anty visibly relaxed, and she couldn't help but laugh.
"Sister Dusì, try it quickly~" Anty cooed.
Having worked in the restaurant for so long, Dusì considered herself something of a foodie. She appreciated that these potato slices were crispy on the outside and soft inside, but what made them especially delicious was the sauce on top.
"Ah... the sauce was prepared by Miss Ina. I've memorized all the seasonings it requires minced garlic, cumin, chili powder, sesame, sugar, and salt, topped with hot oil in the end! Miss Ina said that even shoe soles would taste good with this sauce."
Xavier, who was at the side, paused his chewing, feeling a lump in his throat. He double-checked that the skewer in his hand was indeed potatoes and not a prank of grilled shoe soles from the boss before he dared to continue eating.
Ina came over with a grill tray, loaded with skewers of pork belly and mutton. "The grilled meat is also ready, come and have a taste."
Dusì helped skewer the meat. She remembered skewering it in a sequence of one piece of lean meat and one piece of fatty meat. Each skewer had two pieces of fat and three pieces of lean meat. According to Miss Ina, this is called "four parts fat, six parts lean". Initially, Dusì was worried that the grilled skewers would be too greasy, but the skewers in front of her were quite different from what she imagined. The fat had been rendered out, significantly reducing its volume, and the texture had changed from greasy to slightly charred.
Ina invited Dusì and Xavier, "Would you like to try it yourself? Grilling is quite simple."
Having witnessed Ina's "super sauce that could even make shoe soles taste good", Dusì immediately stood up and walked towards the grill, brimming with confidence. Xavier also reluctantly stood up and followed.
Dusì picked up a bunch of vegetable skewers, which included flat mushroom skewers, corn skewers, sweet potato slice skewers, and bacon-wrapped enoki mushroom skewers. Xavier stopped her after a glance, "If you've never grilled before, it's better not to choose so many types of vegetables to grill together. They take different times to cook, and you'll be in a flurry."
He spoke so much! Dusì thought this was the longest sentence Xavier had said to her apart from the "Sunset ". She humbly accepted his suggestion, put down the vegetable skewers, and picked up a gluten skewer instead, "This must be easy to grill."
When Xavier arrived, Donne stepped back. He brought over spicy fried clams and boiled crabs, cooked directly on the fire, to the picnic mat.
"I think boiled sea crabs are very delicious. I've had them inside, they're especially fresh, and if you taste carefully, there's a sweetness to them," Donne said with a look of nostalgia.
Ina, of course, knew what Donne meant by 'inside', "You guys even get to eat crabs?" The treatment in the Neranka prison seems quite good.
Donne shrugged, "Crabs from the seaside are not expensive. They'd serve a large basin at once, and there's a time limit for meals, so we could never finish them nor feel full. Anyway, no one doesn't sigh when it's crab day."
"Right!" Ina suddenly remembered something. She hastily left the beach, leaving only an "I'll be back soon."
Dusì returned with grilled gluten, and Xavier also grilled some chicken wings and vegetable skewers. When they came back, they found Ina missing.
"I'm back!" Ina returned with ice-cold beers.
Grilling should always be paired with beer!
Today was precisely the day the first batch of barley beer in the sacred oak barrels was ready. Ina took out a few beer mugs, poured the golden liquid into the cups, and a dense white foam rose on top.
One, two, three, three cups. Dusì waited for a long time, but Ina didn't make any move to take out a new cup. "Why are there only three cups of beer?" Dusì couldn't help but ask.
Ina pointed at her and Anty's foreheads: "Underage individuals are not allowed to drink."
She handed them each a coconut with a straw inserted: "You can only drink coconut juice."
The coconut juice was also good. While eating grilled food, enjoying the sea breeze, sipping sweet coconut juice, listening to the sound of waves washing over the rocks, and watching the changing colors of the evening glow, Dusì felt so cheerful that she wanted to sing.
Ina and Donne raised their cups, the clinking sound of the glasses echoed softly, they drank a mouthful of ice-cold beer. The first taste was a light bitterness, like a blend of caramel, coffee, and toffee. It gradually became sweeter as you savored it, the distinct malt flavor lingered on the lips, and it seemed as if there was even a hint of fruitiness to enjoy.
While sipping his beer, Donne suddenly remembered the matter of Ina entrusting him to inquire about vineyards for sale.
"Miss Ina, a medium-sized vineyard is up for sale in the nearby Lian City these days. The price is lower than a vineyard half its size. Since most of the grapes in the vineyard are ripe and urgently need to be harvested, they hope to close the deal as soon as possible."
Ina was not foolish: "If the price is pressed so low, there must be other reasons, right?"
Donne smiled, "Exactly, the owner of the vineyard recently..." He lowered his voice, "met a strange death, right in that vineyard."
"Tell me more about it." Ina became interested instead.
"The vineyard owner was one of the high-ranking officials in Ryan City. It was said that he was holding some sort of ceremony worshipping an evil god in his castle, which harmed a lot of people, so he was retaliated against and killed in his vineyard."
Worshipping evil gods is absolutely not allowed in the Silver Empire, especially for an official with substantial power. "Ryan City is currently identifying the victims and plans to sell his property. Part of it will be confiscated, and part will be used to compensate the victims' families." Donne shared the information he had gathered quite thoroughly, speaking confidently.
"Because there are rumors that he held sacrificial ceremonies in the vineyard as well, and coupled with the fact that the man died there, all the other farmlands were sold quickly except this vineyard and the castle where he lived. I had a reliable person go and check personally, and there were no traces of sacrificial ceremonies in the vineyard, and the corpse and bloodstains were cleaned up neatly."
Donne also felt that although this vineyard was cheap, it was not a top-notch choice. But as there were no suitable vineyards willing to sell, he had no choice but to pass the information to Ina.
"The reliable person you mentioned, it's Gavin, isn't it?"
"Yes, the guard team is not only for Neranka, but the nearby cities are also Duke Elvys's territory. After such a big incident, Gavin rushed there overnight."
Seeing that Ina seemed to be moved, Donne couldn't help but warn: "Some people suspect that such a follower of an evil god might transform into a vicious evil spirit and cause havoc in the vineyard..."
Ina sneered: "Do you know what kind of evil spirit is the most terrifying?"
Donne didn't really know, so he listened attentively.
Ina articulated clearly: "A penniless ghost."