Chapter 789

Chapter 789

789: Dine and Dash?

While on our way to the Adventurers Guild in the town of Nocta, Fran stopped in front of one building.
It was a cafe with outdoor seating, surrounded by the alluring smell of roasting meat. This was a very rare type of restaurant in this continent, since many goods were scarce.
Fish could be brought in from the ports in large quantities, but meat shouldn't be in high supply.
The menu prices listed in front of the restaurant were rather expensive. Like I thought, meat must be very precious here.
This restaurant in Nocta serving meat dishes was indeed rare, but that's not the only reason Fran stopped in front of it.
In the open terrace of the restaurant, there was a beautiful young girl biting into a steak. The expression on her face as she stuffed her mouth was one of complete bliss, making the meal look incredibly delicious.
She had beautiful medium-straight blonde hair that curled inward. If she hadn't been eating like that, I could have mistaken her for some noble's daughter.
I might have really thought so, had it not been for the dirty and ragged cloak she was wearing.
And from this young girl radiated an aura of a glutton.
She was chewing the meat so deliciously that I seriously considered if the restaurant placed her there to draw in customers. She somehow even made me feel hungry.
Gulp.
I could hear Fran swallowing her saliva.
（Master.）
She turned to me with a pitiful voice. Her stomach must have reached its limit.
『Seems like there aren't many food stalls in Nocta, so we could try out that restaurant.』
「Nn!」
「Woof!」
Money wasn't a problem at all since we had the 3 million gold from selling the wine. Besides, if it's an open cafe, there should be no problem with Urushi coming along with us.
When Fran entered the restaurant, she saw an order counter in front her. Apparently she just needed to place an order here, and they would bring the meal over to her table.
A cheerful waitress answered her call.
「Welcome~!」
「Can I bring my beast servant with me?」
「Yes, that's fine!」
「What do you recommend?」
「Our recommendation is――」
In the end, we ordered twelve dishes for 6,000 gold. The price was seriously equivalent to a full-course meal.
The meat dishes seemed like well-known ordinary recipes we've seen before. In fact, the portions were probably smaller than normal.
The taste, however, seemed to be excellent, as I could tell from Fran's face.
Not only the steaks, but also the soups, pastas, and stews were all delicious. Fran could not stop moving her fork.
The prices were high, yes, but it was worth every gold.
『Fran, how is it?』
（Tasty. Just a little bit worse than you.）
That's not something we could tell the cooks, but it's practically the best compliment Fran will ever give.
『Urushi, how about you?』
「Woof!」
The shrunken Urushi was enjoying his steak, with "Delicious!" written all over his face. Looks like we've found ourselves a great restaurant.
The beautiful girl from earlier was still eating at her table. I guess we have her to thank for this. If we never saw her, we would have missed out on this wonderful restaurant.
While Fran was enjoying her after-meal tea, some knight-looking men came into the restaurant.
「This place is really amazing!」
「That so? I'm looking forward to it then.」
「Even back home, you'll rarely find the same level of quality.」
I thought the price was higher than normal, but it seemed this restaurant catered to high-ranking knights and people of a similar level.
It's probably just the right place for a knight that dislikes formalities but also doesn't want to go to a crude adventurer-oriented restaurant.
「Eh? This price is……」
「Uwah! How expensive!」
The two men accompanying the knights voiced their surprise. They looked different from the two knights, more like commoners. I guess those two must be ordinary foot soldiers.
Might be like when an average Japanese salaryman accompanies his boss to lunch and gets taken to a fancy French restaurant.
Both of them had tense expressions on their faces.
「Hahaha. Don't worry, this is on us. You guys did a great job in the battle the other day.」
「If it weren't for your efforts, our casualties would have been much greater. Take this as a small token of our gratitude.」
「T-Thank you, sir.」
「In that case, I have to accept.」
While I was watching the heartwarming exchange between the knights and the soldiers, there was a girl whose face was suddenly drained of color. And that girl was not Fran.
The blonde girl, who had been heartily enjoying her meal just a few moments ago, seemed to be in some sort of panic after hearing the soldiers' conversation.
She was fidgeting slightly and acting rather suspiciously.
Her eyes were darting back and forth between the table where she was sitting and the entrance area of the restaurant.
What's wrong? She was mumbling something too.
「W-What am I going to do? ……I didn't realize how expensive this place was…… I just got whatever they recommended me……」
I used wind magic to listen in on a few words from her……
Apparently, she didn't have enough money. She must have ordered without checking the price. By the looks of it, she ate at least six plates, so I would estimate her bill at about 3,000 gold.
「And I bought too many interesting souvenirs at the stalls……!」
She muttered to herself again while holding her head. Is she going to be okay?
「S-Should I bow down my head and ask to do the dishes……? No good, they might find out my identity…… M-Make a run for it? But that's……」
She wasn't okay at all!