Strawberry Devil in a Fantasy World

The settlement I arrived at was called Gurok and it was surprisingly well protected. A large stone gate stood at the entrance with two armed guards on each side. At first, the guards were on high alert the moment they saw me flying toward them at high speed, but the moment I slowed down and pulled out my official golden seal, they released their tension.

Interesting, no sign of any huge battles... I guess that's a good sign.

If anyone wondered where I normally kept small random things, I kept them inside of me or inside my dress pockets. I couldn't possibly put away everything inside my subspace. That place was too large; things could easily get lost in there. Not to mention, I didn't want to leak my secret to the world.

Gurok was another city within the Kingdom of Teir. Compared to the city of Vera, I would say Gurok was much wealthier and lively at first glance. Surrounding the city were great mountains, but that much was expected since the tunnels and residential areas were all within the mountains. These mountains acted as natural barriers from foreign invaders. In terms of structure, the city was like a caldera, very artistic and beautiful when done right. This one, I would say it was unique in its own ways.

The place I was supposed to report to was likely at the centre of the city, an island surrounded by a glistening azure lake. No bridges were built, but I could see ferries that carried people to and from the island. In fact, there were many watery canals that seemed to be used to facilitate the transport of goods outside the city.

By the way, I left Vera during the night. Adding in the travel time, it was already morning by now. Although no direct sunlight was reaching this city, it was only a matter of time on this cloudless day.

How interesting! I wonder which other cities this place is connected to.

The populace here had a different proportion of Juds compared to Vera. I would say this city was much more diverse. Although I couldn't pinpoint any fey beings within a few glances, I was able to see other races I had not seen before in this country which many I couldn't name. Anyway, beastfolks were beastfolks; details should be left to the professionals.

Ignoring the ferries, I flew towards the centre of the lake.

There's bound to be new foods I can try. I can hardly wait!

Hmm? Priorities? Can I eat it?

I zipped into the city centre and landed on the busiest street that had tons of food vendors in it. There were a few murmurs and gasps following me as I toured the street, but that was normal. They were probably enjoying the local specialties and couldn't hide their inner gourmet. It had nothing to do with me or my stylishness.

Before I started buying foods and drinks, I carefully listened to the conversations coming from various vendors. I had to make sure they spoke the same language, otherwise they wouldn't understand what food I wanted to order.

Common language is... Uncommon, unfortunately.

Needlessly to say, this city seemed like a merchant city. That meant that even if sellers didn't normally speak common language didn't mean they couldn't speak or understand it. That was my hope, at least.

Regardless what the circumstance was, larger businesses were more likely to be bilingual than street vendors. Hence, I entered the first restaurant that piqued my interest. It did look quite fancy from the outside.

A harefolk greeted me in common language and brought me to a room that seemed to be reserved for important guests. I could tell because how extravagant the decorations were. The walls, ceiling, and floor were parts of a large painting of a surreal realm. The lighting crystals were carefully incorporated into the painting such that unless I carefully inspected the art, I would have thought the room was naturally bright.

He's got nice eyes!

Well, it was kind of hard for anyone to mess up my identity. No one dressed like I did. Moreover, I was the only one who looked like a human or elf.

"I'm so amazing! Eheheh..." I chuckled smugly.

Still, I didn't really say anything and yet I was placed in this room. I obviously wouldn't complain about it but hopefully this service wouldn't eat up my salary. I was supposed to be the gourmet, not the other way around.

I sat down and waited. After a short wait, that waiter came back with a menu and elegantly placed it in front of me as if he was a professional butler.

Hah, let's see what's good...

The menu itself was quite stylish with trims and linings. However, it didn't have any pictures and I really didn't understand many of these dish names. Sure I had seen a few similar names before but food artists were sometimes peculiar when it came their creative dishes. Good dishes sometimes had to sound nice before anyone cared to order it. Since I figured I couldn't afford one of each, I picked a couple from each section that I was sure I hadn't tried before.

It's good I worked at a bar. That experience certainly came in handy.

A few minutes later, one by one, dishes were brought to the table. If some random person walked in, I would seem like some spoiled child of some big mafia boss, seriously. I was one person, in front of so much high quality food. As for the waiter, he was very professional.

"Thanks."

Time to dig in!

My limitless stomach was the best ability ever. One dish after another, I ate non-stop. I savored everything as much as I could.

Mm... Soo good!

To my surprise though, they had food flavored with sweet sauce. Herbs and spices, I tried to see if I could acquire them with my [creation] ability since I was no slacker when it came to amassing a catalogue of important compounds that had useful values to me.

Oh crap, I better check to see if I had gained any new traits... Ehh... Nope!

Thankfully, I hadn't gained anything new. I was afraid I would regain |gourmet| trait or something terrible. It wouldn't surprise me if I did though, considering how much I was eating. However, it wasn't like I was constantly eating that much. To eat a meal once in a while shouldn't trouble anyone!

Anyhow, in the end, I did isolate a few flavoring molecules and catalogued their structures into my [creation] ability. That was a good news from this lavishing feast.

Since I could never get full, eating would never fully satisfy me anymore like back when I had a normal body. I learned that back in Vera. Really, life was cruel!

When the bill came, I checked the amount. Really though, it was huge but not quite enough for me to stumble. The country was paying me handsomely for the work I did so a meal like this was no big deal.

Why is it so expensive? Was I eating gem dusts or something? I can't claim it as a necessary business expense, can I...? It's technically a business trip, isn't it? Ehh...Ahh... I'll let this go because I'm not stingy!

Thanks for the meal, time to head off to... Where was it again? Ahh... I'm getting old. Was I even told where exactly I was supposed to go to? No, right? I guess I'll just check-in with the local embassy hall. Yeah! That must be it.

There was supposed to be an embassy hall in every city in this country. Villages and towns didn't count. Anyway, in this country, embassy halls seemed to function differently from the ones I was used to back in my previous world. Here, they dealt with visitors from outside of their cities, intercity relationships, and sometimes day to day operations within the cities.

In my situation, since I came from outside of Gurok, I should report to its embassy hall. Maybe that was why Kanoko never specified who I was supposed to report to. In that case, thank goodness I was smart enough to figure it out by myself.

Indeed, I've come a long way. I'm a smart cookie now.

blanksphere

Casual stuff.