307 Bee Hoon and Kuey Teow (1/2)

Thankfully, Deutero banks were far more available than his friends and family. Within minutes of reaching the local branch, Remian was able to access his account.

”F-fifty three million lir?!” Remian gaped.

”Is that a lot?” Xiao Yan asked dubiously. ”If you're low on cash, I still have a few herbs we might be able to sell…”

”It's a lot! It's a huge lot more than I expected!” Remian cut in hastily. ”I knew I was getting income from the Industrial Zone and Mindy's shipyards and everything but it's way more than I thought…”

How long had he been gone? About a month? Something like that?

That was actually Tim's fault more than Mindy's, but let's not tell Remian his rise in income was primarily the responsibility of Fal'Herim's Underground King.

Especially do not tell him that Tim's factories had all but stolen Arnold's Light Frame designs and were mass-producing them using them, and selling them to select customers in Fal'Herim at exaggerated prices.

Actually, never mind, he'd find out soon enough anyway.

Even though he'd been through ten years in Virtual Acceleration, Remian was acutely aware that only a few weeks had passed since he accidentally warped himself through the Spatial Rift. Coming back to such a huge bank account was a very pleasant surprise indeed.

”So… we can buy stuff?” Xiao Yan asked, hesitantly.

”Oh yes. What do you want to buy?”

Naturally, the first thing she point at was the roadside cart selling steamed buns (pau). Then the one next to it selling soybean pudding (tau foo fah). These were foods familiar to her and similar to those from her world, except that the soybean pudding here employed black syrup instead of white soy milk like that did where she came from. The buns, likewise, had more varieties of sweet paste fillings rather than meats compared to her world's.

But otherwise, they were pretty much the same. The buildings, the clothes, the people, their names… all of it would have fit her world quite naturally.

Remian saw it and began to suspect that her world, too, was somewhere within the territory of the Draconians.

Come to think of it, the term 'Draconians'… before, he thought of them as 'Servants of the Dragons', but since his jaunt to the Quarin world, he found out that the galaxy at large thought of Draconians as 'Dragons and their kin', which of course included all their staff and servants, but more importantly included semi-dragons and various serpentine creatures and clans.

In that understanding, the entire Dragon Empire could be considered Draconians, not just the select few clans who had a bond with one or the other Great Dragon. In fact, most people on this world seemed to think that 'Draconians' were a sub-race of humans who enjoyed special powers due to their bonds with Great Dragons. Actually, since they were within their territory, the whole star system could be considered Draconian.

Speaking of which, their star system was actually named after a plant that grew everywhere on this world early on when the Quarin first found it. Believe it or not, their planet and following that, their whole star system was called Sorrel (a common salad vegetable or kitchen herb).

Standing here in Bee Hoon town, Remian could actually believe it (Bee Hoon being a thin sort of noodles). The Dragon Empire (and the Quarin) apparently had a strong appreciation for food.

To be fair, the people here did seem especially skilled in making bee hoon. There also seemed to be a disproportionate amount of restaurants selling Bee Hoon in various, often hitherto unknown styles and flavors. Remian settled for a relatively common Bee Hoon soup with fishballs and vegetables for lunch. Xiao Yan tried something adventurous and ordered spicy prawn noodles.

Actually, Remian wasn't a fan of thin noodles like bee hoon. He'd rather preferred the thicker sort called kuey teow.

Thinking of how the town was named, Remian had an odd inkling of how it would feel to have a star system named after thick noodles. Imagine walking up to the Conglomerate and saying 'Oh, I'm from Star System Kuey Teow!'

That idea alone made Remian choke. He nearly spluttered bee hoon all over the road of Bee Hoon town.

Having bee hoon splattered over their streets was NOT why they named the town such!

Anyway, the important thing was, he was back, and returning home required but a bit of time and some airships. Having access to his bank account, hiring an airship or outright buying one was no problem at all.

***

While Remian was thinking about bee hoon and kuey teow, George and the others were wiping the floor with the Spectre Remnants.

”There goes Three Arms!” Mindy exulted fiercely as a concerted volley of airship fire and Darian's Starlight Drill tore the Tier 8 Spectre to pieces.

Three Arms was the last surviving Tier 8 Spectre that came through the Rift. With it gone, the champions of the Spectres were done for.

George finally relaxed, thinking he could take a break and leave the rest to the Church. ”Someone call Father Kairos and the Iron Legion back before they get themselves killed for nothing.”

”I've already got them to stop, but I think it might be a while before they come back.” Tim said, with a wince.

”Why?” George asked.