Chapter 52 (1/2)

TN: Can I call this chapter pre-romance? It seems like so Not quite there yet but has a potential Anyway raise your hand if you like this delicious dish!+ raises hand

Macaroni Gratin

A small inn in a small town of a small country was busy that day

[O~i! another serving of knight's stew!] [Here too! Two servings! More meat! Beer and bread too!]

[Excuse me~, bill please~]

[Yes, yes! Right away!]

Myla walked around the bar delivering food and drinks, receiving money from the customers, and cleared the tables after the customers went away

They had hired a new server, but it was so busy that it made one's eyes spin

Although the inn opened at dawn, until the closing ti, customers like a traveler who headed towards the Capital and a husband who had finished his ould come constantly

In addition, the inn was also popular, and now it seee at the inn while knowing that it took half a day to arrive at the nearest city

That and thanks to ”knight's stew” as only their inn sold it at that town

The trick was thanks to a Halfling couple who cao

They travelled around while purchasing food ingredients in the market and sold cooked foods as chefs

When they first arrived at the town and gered his business intuition

He asked the couple who made a potful of stew to sell as their h to sell the recipe to him

At first, when Myla's father heard that the price he needed to pay was half a s… which was 100 silver coins, he fainted

As the inn was not that popular, they had no money to spare

However, Rauli's judght's stew in the inal as

(My father said ”I thought I could sell it at the inn when I first ate it”)

And during afternoon

[Yoshi+… we're out of ingredients, so that's it for today Myla, you can take a break until evening]

[Ye~s, call me later then]

As the large pot of stew prepared at thewas then empty, Rauli said so to Myla

At this inn, other dishes like sausages with Baron's fruit, sies were served, but the selling point of the inn was the knight's stew

If it was absent, then the customer traffic would lessen

As a matter of course, they would make another pot, but they would leave the rest of the work to other servers until the evening when it would be ready, so Myla could take a rest

Her weak mother had died due to a disease, and Myla was an only child

Therefore when Myla took in a husband, he would succeed the inn

If she collapsed, then there would be no one that could inherit the inn

That's why, even while being charged with innkeeper work, Myla had free time

[U~, so tired…]

The toas a rural toith no entertain to do when she had free time

Myla returned to her room on the first floor and collapsed on her bed

[It's good to make money, but I should take care of my health when I'm too busy]

She said such while lying flat on her bed

For a moment, she missed the old days when she was free

In those evenings, there was no problem for her to take a nap until customers arrived

…However, it was true that she honestly didn't want to go back to when she and her father would look at their account book every day

It hen she was thinking such

[O~i, Myla, you there?]

She heard a call from outside of her

[Is so the matter, Johan?]

Myla replied, raising her face from the bed

There was a fae was similar to hers, who lowered an old sword borrowed froilante to his waist

[Actually, I found an awesoether?]

Myla confir to face him, and immediately asked Johan

[An awesome restaurant? …Is there such a place here?]

Myla tilted her head hearing his words

Myla had lived in this town ever since she was born, and the amount of time she left the town could be counted with both hands

She was familiar with this town, but she didn't know about Johan's ”awesome restaurant”

[Aa, I found it not long ago, it's a bit weird… but the food there is really delicious Are you in?]

[How preposterous… well, you don't see…]

She had served the inn's customers

Johan didn't see

…And, he was the type that was more brawn than brain, so his intellect was not excellent

[…Well, alright I have a break until the evening, so if it's only until then, then it's fine]

[Ou! You have to co there since thisso I'm famished!]

Johan hold out his hand just like back when they were children

[That's right You always go immediately after you decided]

Myla took his hand naturally, and both of them took off

They walked for a while

[…Hey, Johan Perhaps, I a deceived?]

Myla asked Johan as they walked through the forest where children were forbidden to approach as a as sohted

[Why are we in the forest e're going to have a meal?]

Two people of a sie alone in an unpopular forest and one of the man

It's a situation where a young wo uneasy, never mind that Johan was her childhood friend

[I'! The awesome restaurant is ahead]

But apparently Johan didn't care about all that

What could be heard from his enthusiastic voice was no doubt appetite

At least it seemed that there was no lie in ”the awesome restaurant is ahead”

[I mean, why do you know that there is a restaurant in such a place?]

Johan didn't see a lie, but the mystery deepened

Why was there a restaurant in the forest?

And why did Johan went to the place where the restaurant was?

[Aa, around a year ago, the chefs Halfling couple? Those guys who made the stew at your family's inn]

To answer Myla's doubts, Johan talked about the couple that was Myra's family's benefactors

Including the chance on how he discovered ”that restaurant”

[I heard it from the adults, but when they stayed at the town, they went to the forest while singing a strange song]

If it was only that, he would miss it

Because hus who spent their lives travelling around the world without any place to call home

[However, I noticed it when going around the town Halflings that came to our toent to the forest]

Yes, Halflings visited the town quite often

The Halflings that cooked were only those couple, but roughly once every fewtheir journey

They usually shopped at the town and went to the forest without stopping at the inn

…When he talked to a warrior that was escorting a noble, he heard fros came to his town once a year

Too s visited this town

[I thought that there was so at the forest and went all the way to the back]

And he found it

[…What is that? Why is there a door in the forest?]

Myla was surprised seeing a well- in the dark of the forest

[Ou, that's our destination The purveyor of Halflings called Nekoya]

That's what Johan explained to Myla, being in good o

'Chirinchirin', while listening to the sound of the bell, they went through the door

[A! Welcome! Please have a seat!]

At the sa an unusual hair ornas froreeted them

[Etto, Johan-san is able to read the ht? Here is the menu Please let me know if you have decided what to order… yes! I'll be there soon!]

They were proently placed the book on the table and went to attend another table

[…What is that?]

Myla murmured, as if somewhat disappointed

[It's so like a different world costu, but here it's normal]