LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 53. The Fragaria Family (6)
The dishes I took were fried chicken, sweet and sour meatballs, and some roasted boar whilst on the other side, Flora had a plate full of roasted boar and breadsticks which were mainly the two she favors a lot especially the roasted boar which had been on her wish list for a while. Mana, meanwhile, had simple rice and fried chicken paired with a soft strawberry shake.
The dishes here were a bit inferior to the ones in the modern world yet despite such, they looked and smell genuinely nice especially with the herbs used which is more evident in Leisha’s plate which consisted of vegetables and a tad bit of meat, about eighty percent of her plate consisted of vegetables while the rest were simply roasted boar meat.
“The rice smells like it came from Gesturia,” Mana said as we walked towards one of the exits to the side. That does remind me, the town of Gesturia does sell rice which I had forgot to purchase because of how tight our schedule was, I wonder if we could head there next time to maybe purchase some pack of rice since rice is a heavenly pair with anything.
“Gesturia… that place also seems a bit off,” Leisha murmured while we reached the exit, pushing open the glass door as a wondrous garden filled with white butterflies and beautiful trees that looked almost like cherry blossom trees yet a tad bit different, the petals were rather than pink, a slight derivation of light red which was weird.
I haven’t seen such a tree even in Solis VR which could mean it’s another one of those difference that Solis VR and this world has, the trees themselves looks beautiful to the extent that colorful fireflies roam around them like it was the living place of the spirits. Added with the gorgeous night sky, it made for a photo-worthy scene.
“This place is beautiful…” I muttered before Mana walked a bit towards a glass round table with chairs that were made of straw, placing her plate on the glass table as she lifted Flora up and dragged a chair and closed the distance between it and the other before placing Flora on that certain chair as she sat beside her.
“Are you two coming?” she inquired as both Leisha and I started walking towards the available seats and placed our plates on the table as Flora soon looked at Mana while turning towards her plate at intervals before she requested in an adorable voice.
“Mwama, cut please?”
Accepting her request, Mana took a knife from her plate and started cutting Flora’s food into tiny snack bites that she could handle with her own. Flora herself is intelligent enough to know that we don’t trust her with a knife which is why when it comes to food that she wants to be sliced, she usually asks Mana instead which leaves me in awe as her intelligence and personality is the ideal kind for many people.
After a short while, Mana finally finished slicing the boar meat into tiny pieces as Flora reached towards Mana’s cheeks before kissing them as she said in the most adorable voice ever, “Thank you, Mwama~!” before she started eating as all of us were frozen in place… it was the most adorable version of Flora I have ever seen yet.
Flora soon stabbed a piece of her boar meat and looked at me for a second before pointing the fork towards me as she asked, “Aywumi-ma, do you want?” before a giggle left Mana’s mouth as I nodded before she stood up and walked towards my side before saying in an incredibly adorable voice, “Aaaah?” as I opened my mouth and took the free meal.
The boar meat tasted incredibly juicy, the meat was perfectly cooked, and it had this wonderful taste on it that made it even more delicious. It was like the soup that was sprinkled on the boar was giving it this sweet yet sour taste that was just delicious… it’s hard to explain how delicious it was but there was no denying at all that it was super delicious.
“It tastes good~!” I said in a delighted voice as Flora’s eyes sparkled before she headed back to her seat in a rush before taking another piece as she took a bite on it before squinting her eyes as she released a sound that was filled with happiness. Her entire body was shining in happiness as she took another one and did the same thing over and over.
The three of us didn’t even start eating, it was like our stomachs were already full just from looking at Mana eat and react with a cute look. It felt like there was no need to eat all, just hand our meals to her as a tribute.
“Ehem… we should start eating…” Mana suddenly coughed, taking us back to reality as Leisha and I nodded at the same time before we took up our forks and stabbed our desired meal. My first pick was the sweet and sour meatballs which I had tasted a lot on my travel trip to the Philippines in my past world, if nothing goes wrong, it should still taste delicious.
I first sliced the meatball into tiny pieces that were easier to pick up with my fork, stabbing it with the utensil before placing it into my mouth as this sweetish yet sour taste surrounded my mouth like a burst of surreal flavor, it tasted a bit too sweet compared to the one I tried, but regardless, it was still a nice meal to have.
After the meatballs, I then made my way towards the fried chicken which was golden crisp in color. This time, using a knife, I carefully sliced the chicken while trying to maintain my etiquette before stabbing a tiny piece of the meat with my fork as I ate the piece before this juiciness that was sweet to the touch, it had this salty and spicy after taste as well which made it a magnificent meal.
“The vegetables are nice, where does your family grow them?” Leisha asked after she finished eating her vegetables before Mana smiled wryly as she answered.
“If they haven’t changed the location yet then the vegetables should have been harvested from the Village of Elschi which is a tiny village to the south of here. It is decently far away though about two town stops and another village stop.”
If we take into account that the first town to the south from here takes about two days with the next town to that being another two days and the last village which was decently far away taking three days from the second town then heading to this Village of Elschi would take you around a week and a few days which sounds tiring for simply vegetables.
“That is fairly far away, though for the quality of these vegetables… it is worth the travel time, the vegetables are the best ones in terms of quality I have tried out so far despite not having any additives that most villages tend to put to create this fake freshness…” Leisha said as Mana nodded.
“Mwama, here!” Flora suddenly interrupted as she took a tiny piece of boar meat and a breadstick before handing them to Mana who was taken aback by surprise but swiftly regained her composure as she took them happily, kissing Flora’s forehead as she giggled in a “hehehehehe”, her smile was the most adorable smile I had seen so far.
After the short Flora moment, the four of us continued eating by ourselves before the door where we came from opened as a red-haired man in a black suit came out together with Aurora and a familiar black-haired lady who was none other than Seele that we haven’t seen in a super long time.
“Did we disturb your meal?” Aurora asked as Leisha, Mana and I shook our heads at the same time as she nodded in a smile before the man looked at me as the three of them approached our table before the man opened his mouth as he asked.
“If it doesn’t disturb the four of you, do you mind if we take Ayumi for a short while to talk?”
As if opposing to his request, Mana slammed her fork onto the table as she was about to open her mouth to refuse but I interrupted in an instant, nodding as Mana looked at me surprised but sighed in the end as Aurora nodded at her, reassuring us that nothing would happen, after all, it was Aurora who was one of the strongest in the kingdom.
Placing my spoon and fork back on the plate, I soon stood up and nodded towards them before we started walking back inside the building as the man opened up the door towards the golden stairways before gesturing us to enter as we followed through, walking up the magnificent golden spiral path that took nearly four minutes to reach the top.
What rested at the very end of the path was one that no one would expect…
