novelhk Page 175
Page 175
"Have we come to the wrong place?"
Now, even Alice has begun to doubt whether the restaurant is legitimate, showing a hesitant attitude.
But Shirou remained unmoved. On the contrary, the increasingly close aromas made him more certain that the restaurant owner must have something special about cooking.
Is the boss in?
"welcome……"
As soon as Shirou spoke, a response came.
A man who looked like a skeleton took the menu. He was tall and thin, like a bamboo pole, so he looked like a walking skeleton.
Most importantly, the other person's expression was so gloomy that they looked like a zombie. Even though they were facing customers, they didn't have the slightest bit of a smiling or service attitude.
"Shirou, I think we should leave."
Even the usually good-natured Ridge Rudd hesitated upon seeing this, startled by the sudden appearance of the mysterious man.
"Ahem, let's ask first."
Shirou tried his best to appease him.
After all, he knew very well that this was his own act of willfulness.
So he asked the skeleton-looking owner about the restaurant's menu.
The owner was very happy (but his expression remained unchanged) and opened the menu, which listed two dishes: Dragon Meat Seven Stars and Stewed Alba Fish.
"Are there only these two dishes?"
"Yes."
Shirou hesitated upon hearing his boss's response.
It's truly incomprehensible that such an extreme shop, which only sells two dishes, could exist in the world.
Moreover, one of the two dishes was even named after dragon meat.
Although one can imagine that this so-called "Seven-Star Dragon Meat" is probably not real dragon meat, but just has a nice-sounding name, it still makes people curious.
"How about braised dragon meat in seven stars?"
"no problem."
Upon receiving Shirou's order, the skull-like shop owner silently returned to the kitchen.
Shirou and the others waited for their food to be served, only to find that there wasn't even water to drink in the restaurant.
The quality of service can only be described as appalling.
At this point, even Shirou couldn't help but begin to have doubts, wondering if the food at this restaurant was really worth trying.
You should know that the Kingdom of Dragon Kings has many unique things worth studying.
Especially the armor.
The Royal Dragon Knights of the Royal Dragon Kingdom possess special technology, said to be able to forge extremely hard armor. Shirou had been particularly interested in the country's armor before he came, and was determined to see it for himself.
Instead of wasting time in such an unreliable shop, it would be better to go directly to the Knights of the Dragon Kingdom and inquire about armor technology.
"Excuse me!"
Just as Shirou was starting to waver, the shop door was suddenly flung open from the outside!
A man who looked like a classic hoodlum barged into the store without any politeness.
Upon hearing the sound, the skeleton shopkeeper, who was cooking, immediately emerged from the depths of the kitchen.
“Chagall…”
"Randolph, I demand a positive response today!"
"No matter how many times you come, my response will not change. Please leave."
"Hmph! How long do you plan to keep this kind of shop with no customers?"
"This is a shop passed down from my ancestors... Of course, I'll keep it going until I die..."
Their brief exchange already revealed the current state of the shop.
The skeleton shopkeeper named Randolph is struggling financially and on the verge of bankruptcy, while the man named Chagall may be some kind of debt collector.
While Shirou and the others were pondering, Chagall had already turned his gaze over, and then said with considerable surprise, "This run-down shop actually has customers? That's really strange?"
"..."
Shirou and the others did not respond to Chagall's words.
Chagall clearly had no intention of picking a fight, and casually found a seat nearby.
Randolph breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing this and immediately returned to the kitchen.
A short while later, Randolph finally finished cooking and brought the food to the table.
"I've kept you waiting for a long time."
After a long wait, the dishes were finally served.
Dragon Meat Seven Stars Roast is a dish that consists of three parts.
The first part is soup, a clear vegetable soup.
Secondly, there's rice.
After Shirou came to this world, he rarely saw rice. Later he learned that white rice was a specialty of the Wanglong Kingdom, so it was a scarce staple food.
I used to only occasionally get to eat it when I was in Buena village.
The final part, without a doubt, is grilled meat.
And it's deep-fried meat.
In a world where grilled meat is the norm and even boiled meat is a rare sight, this fried meat dish is undoubtedly quite surprising.
Shirou immediately realized that he might have found the right place this time.
This store may indeed have some extraordinary characteristics.
With this in mind, Shirou took a bite of the dish with great anticipation.
As a result, the soup and rice were nothing special, just average, simply showcasing the characteristics of the ingredients, but still quite good.
The only problem was with the fried meat.
The moment Shirou tasted the fried meat, a complex mix of emotions swept through his mind, as if he had eaten an ingredient he shouldn't have, or as if he had discovered someone trying to make something delicious using Shi.
The problem with the meat quality ruined all the flavor.
Shirou initially thought the dish was quite innovative, since fried meat is something that can't be too bad.
But after actually tasting it, he realized what it meant to be a skilled cook without rice.
Poor quality ingredients make it difficult to create truly delicious dishes using any method.
This was the first time Shirou had ever encountered such terrible meat in his life.
Even the meat of monsters on the Demon Continent isn't as hard to chew as this piece of fried meat.
He even suspected that it was actually dragon meat.
But how could an ordinary person possibly obtain dragon meat?
Shirou hesitated, then tried to take another bite, but almost vomited. The skin of the meat was soft and oily, and the meat itself was tough and dry.
The more you bite into it, the stronger the fishy smell of meat and the stench of oil will become in the depths of your nasal cavity.
It makes you feel nauseous.
"vomit--!"
Before Shirou could even express his feelings, Alice had already vomited. In fact, due to seasickness, she vomited quite dramatically, making a mess all over the floor.
Seeing this, the shop owner, Randolph, looked grim.
Meanwhile, the man next to him named Chagall laughed loudly, slapped his thigh, and shouted, "I told you you weren't suited to cooking, Randolph! Don't open a shop here, join my knightly order!"
"This……"
Randolph hesitated upon hearing Chagall's words and seeing Alice's distressed expression, beginning to doubt his own abilities.
Upon seeing this, Shirou suddenly spoke up: "Dragon Meat Seven Stars Yaki, could you tell me how to make this dish? Maybe I can help you improve it."
"what?"
Randolph was taken aback when Shirou suddenly said such a thing, and he looked doubtful and hesitated.
Chapter 239: Teaching one of the great powers, the "Grim Reaper," to cook?
Randolph Marian, a chef from the continent of Magic.
He's called a chef, but that's just how he likes to refer to himself.
In fact, most people in the world prefer to call him by another title—ranked fifth among the seven great powers, "The Grim Reaper" Randolph.
However, despite being one of the seven great powers, Randolph did not enjoy fighting and killing.
Rather than getting caught up in endless battles, he would rather dedicate his life to cooking.
Therefore, after yet another battle with attackers vying for the title of "Grim Reaper," Randolph finally couldn't stand the exhausting life anymore and went into hiding in his hometown, the Dragon King Kingdom, where he opened a restaurant.
As one of the seven great powers, Randolph had some savings, so he easily opened a restaurant and sold his family's traditional dishes.
However, since he came to the Kingdom of Wanglong and opened this restaurant, he has hardly earned any income from it.
The restaurant was so deserted that it eventually had to rely on Randolph's side jobs to make up for the losses.
Even if a customer, like Shirou and his friends, comes for the first time, they will never come back, and the amount of debt will only pile up higher and higher.
Over time, it became commonplace for Randolph to find his dishes disliked.
He was always prepared to be criticized when serving the dishes.
However, this was the first time she had ever been vomited after eating in front of a guest.
Randolph was deeply hurt.
Despite his consistent efforts, whether it was his passion for cooking or his determination to open this shop, he didn't believe he would lose to anyone.
But this is the result in the end.
Randolph couldn't help but start to doubt whether he was really cut out for this line of work.
It's fair to say that after seeing Alice eat the food and then vomit, Randolph began to hesitate about whether he should continue.
Why not just listen to Chagall's suggestion and become a knight in the King Dragon Knights?
Yes, that man named Chagall may look like a local thug, but he is actually the captain of the strongest Royal Dragon Knights in the Royal Dragon Kingdom.
He had long recognized Randolph's identity as one of the seven great powers, the "Grim Reaper," and therefore tried every means to get Randolph to join the Dragon Knights and serve the Dragon Kingdom.
Randolph had always been rejecting her.
He did not want his life to be involved in fighting again.
However, after yet another setback in cooking, Randolph realized that perhaps his destiny was not to be a chef, and that killing was ultimately more suited to him.
Just as Randolph was filled with all sorts of complicated thoughts, he never expected that Shirou would suddenly ask him for the recipe for Dragon Meat Seven Stars Yaki, and say that he wanted to improve it.
Randolph hesitated at Shirou's request.
It's not that he's unwilling to share the recipe.
Dragon meat sizzling is a family recipe passed down through the Randolph family, but the recipe is hundreds of years old and is now largely out of touch with modern cuisine.
Randolph made the food almost exactly according to the recipe, but in this era, almost no customer was willing to accept it.
Most importantly, the ingredients for Dragon Meat Seven Stars Roast are extremely rare, and it is almost impossible for ordinary people to obtain them.
Because it was genuine dragon meat, cut from the bodies of the dragons that Randolph hunted in the Dragon Mountain Range every so often.
Such expensive ingredients can only be obtained by beings of the caliber of [Death] Randolph.
Even if an ordinary person obtained the recipe for Dragon Meat Seven Stars Roast, it would be impossible for them to make it.
Before I knew it, several seconds had passed.
Seeing that Randolph hadn't responded, Shirou couldn't help but say, "If you really don't want to share the recipe, you can make it as you go, and I'll help you improve the steps."