This picnic event was treated as a team-building exercise by Ina, and the participants included: Ina and her family members, Dusì, Vilanthe, Anti, Lesley, Xavier, and his little skeleton Orldington.
Originally, they also wanted to bring the little beast team, but since Silver Leaf Forest also has native beasts, and Ina had not been here for long, she was afraid that bringing other beasts rashly would cause resentment among the beasts in the forest, so she temporarily gave up on this idea.
This picnic had a special theme: a carnival party. Among Ina's capable employees, there was one whose hometown celebrated a carnival at this time. People would wear brightly colored and strange clothes, make food that looked scary but was actually delicious, and celebrate this special festival together.
This person was easy to guess. Mist Town was a quiet and melancholic town, like its perennially lingering fog, it wouldn't create such a lively festival; Anty and Lesley had recently been worrying about survival, and the Rize race didn't have extra energy to create festivals; Vilanthe had always lived in the court, and just putting on bright and strange clothes could result in her being punished with three days of fasting.
The one who missed this festival was none other than the undead mage Xavier, who hadn't celebrated the carnival for over 200 years. In the Sunset Town where he lived when he was young, people smeared oil paints on their faces, wore colorful costumes, held the scary food they made themselves, and took to the streets, inviting passers-by to taste.
The scarier the food looked, the more popular it was because it meant that the person who ate it was determined, brave, fearless, and a commendable warrior.
Later, the cleansing of the alien races began in the Orlan Empire, and this event was also strictly forbidden because it had a hint of witchcraft.
Xavier, as an undead mage who had been repressed for hundreds of years, after becoming the manager of Dragon Flame Tea Restaurant, released his vigorous energy and robust creativity, planning several special events such as the Skeleton Dance Party, the Beast Waiter, the Breath of the customers, and received overwhelming praises. This time, he wanted to apply the idea of the carnival to the food in the tea restaurant, allowing those lost festivals from his hometown to be recreated in the Silver Empire.
So Ina gave everyone a topic, for this picnic, everyone must bring a dish they have prepared that fits the theme of the carnival: "scary food."
On the day of the agreed picnic, everyone brought their lunch boxes containing their food, being secretive and not letting each other see.
Beside the lake that reflected the colors of the sky like a sapphire, a soft picnic mat was spread, with some ordinary food and fruits that people would eat at noon placed in the middle. The silver-lined trees by the lake swayed gently in the breeze, and the leaves on the trees made a rustling sound.
Ina saw that everyone didn't want to be the first to show their food, so she had to take the lead. She took out of her backpack - a section of chimney, asking everyone to reach in and take a piece.
What was taken out was a puff covered in black smoke ash, the originally yellow puff was more or less stained with black ash, it indeed looked like food taken out from a chimney.
Upon a closer look, the chimney turned out to be made of the cones used for ice cream, and Anty sniffed the ash on the puff, it turned out to be black chocolate powder sprinkled on it.
Ina: "There are six puffs in total here, one of which is special. The person who eats this special puff has to show the food they brought. Then they can specify another person to show, the next person specifies another person, and so on in this order."
Anty stuffed the puff into her mouth while mumbling: "These puffs look exactly the same, if the person who ate it doesn't say it, we wouldn't know that they ate the special one. What if this person intentionally doesn't say it?"
While talking, her teeth pierced the crispy skin of the puff, and she tasted the cool filling inside: it was an ice cream puff! The ice cream was like a cool and soft cloud, wrapped snugly by the puff pastry, creating a wonderful texture.
"She can choose not to say, but we will find out," Ina replied to Anty's question with a smile, then she turned her head to look at Vilanthe, "Right, Vilanthe?"
Vilanthe's expression was a bit funny at the moment, being educated by court etiquette, she was rarely out of sorts, but this situation was not included. Just as Vilanthe tasted the sweetness of the ice cream on her tongue, she found that there was something round wrapped inside the ice cream filling. She thought it was Ina's unique idea, but when she bit open this round ball, the juice inside splashed out, and Vilanthe realized that she was the unlucky one who was chosen.
Such sour juice! Vilanthe's beautiful little face was all scrunched up, her eyebrows and mouth corners all pointing downwards, especially since she just tasted the sweet ice cream, her taste buds had just adapted to the sweetness, and in contrast, the juice in the burst bead was so sour, Ina was right, this was an expression that was really hard to hide.
Ina's special fruit juice burst beads, selected unripe berries, did not add a gram of sugar in the production process, and finally made a super sour burst bead that would make a devil frown.
"This is perfect for noble ladies to play games at the tea restaurant, the person who eats that unique puff has to receive a small punishment." Xavier immediately thought of the application of the chimney puff.
"Getting this is already a punishment, it should be the others who get punished," Vilanthe argued with a bitter face.
Next up was Vilanthe's creative food. What she brought was a dragon pie. The thick pie was shaped into a generic dragon head, a cut was made in the middle, and a piece of bacon cut into the shape of a tongue was stuffed in. It looked like a dragon with its mouth wide open and a long tongue sticking out.
Vilanthe sneaked a glance at Ina and found her looking normal before she let out a quiet sigh of relief. She didn't know how it happened, but while making the pie, she unconsciously shaped it into a dragon's head, and thought that this was simply a genius idea!
The next person to showcase food had to be designated by Vilanthe. She looked around at everyone's faces and eventually chose Anty, who looked the most nervous.
Anty took a deep breath and took out a plate of fingers from her food box.
Lesley was scared and let out a small gasp. She leaned in to take a closer look and upon seeing it clearly, she exclaimed, "Oh, they're finger cookies!"
The cookies were shaped into long and dry finger shapes, with even the joints and lines carefully drawn. There was a half almond attached to the tip of the finger, which looked like a fingernail. For those who didn't like almonds, half of the finger cookies had nails made of maple syrup, which was a thin layer and looked quite glossy.
Ina picked up a cookie and ate it. The taste was quite good, especially the almond on top, which added a unique nutty aroma to the cookie.
Anty chose Elvys. Elvys straightened up; his creation was actually completed with Ina's help. The duke, despite his claims, wasn't proficient in everything. In just a few days, Ina had discovered two skills Elvys was quite unfamiliar with fishing and cooking.
This was how she rated the soup Elvys had made for her: full of sincerity, well-cooked, and tasted average. It was like a newlywed housewife who just learned to cook, preparing a simple and tender hot soup for her husband who has returned from a long journey.
"You're not angry about my comment, are you?" Ina asked Elvys.
Instead, Elvys agreed with what she said. His ears selectively filtered out some words, only leaving the terms like "sincerity" and "newly-wed": "Your summary is spot on."
This time, Elvys brought a bloody cupcake.
A small cross was drawn on the domed cupcakes crammed into the cup. As Lesley just took the cake, a little force was applied to her hand, and suddenly a large amount of 'blood' overflowed from the cross, which looked very horrifying.
Lesley licked the "blood" on her hand and got the expected answer: "It's jam~"
The cupcake was lemon-flavored, and the jam was made by mixing several red berries together. The complex fruit aroma didn't conflict but formed a unique taste in harmony.
Elvys looked at Lesley, whose mouth corner was still sticky with jam: "It's your turn."
"Ah!" Lesley hurriedly stuffed the cupcake into her mouth and took out her spider web cream pumpkin soup.
A bowl of thick pumpkin soup, with a spider web shape drawn on it using black vinegar, and a pointy witch hat made out of mouse tail grass next to it. Under the hat were two red eyes dotted with red sauce.
"So cute." Ina complimented.
Although it was cute rather than scary, slightly deviating from today's theme, Lesley was already satisfied with Ina's praise.
Lesley chose Dusì as the next person to showcase, and they intentionally left Xavier last. His creativity would serve as today's closing statement, bringing a perfect end to this carnival-themed picnic event.