Ch.134Chapter 134 – Knock, and It Shall Be Abundant (1)

After stopping by the restaurant to quickly fix bread for 800 people, I took a shower and changed my clothes.

I should have noticed from the burnt bread, but the kitchen had been filled with the smell of burning.

Because of that, all the clothes I was wearing had absorbed the burnt smell, and I suddenly had to shower twice in one day.

“Heave-ho.”

When I first fell into this world, even changing clothes felt awkward, but now, perhaps because much time has passed, I’ve grown accustomed to wearing this world’s clothing.

They say humans are creatures of adaptation, and indeed, you get used to anything with practice.

It’s been some time since I received my title as Count, and now I’m even getting used to speaking down to commoners.

“Count! Over here!”

As I left the dormitory and approached the main gate, Mina waved at me cheerfully.

I waved back in response to her greeting and walked toward the gate.

“Aren’t you here much earlier than our appointment time?”

“Hehe, my parents taught me that it’s polite to arrive a little early and wait for appointments.”

Seeing Mina’s grinning face, I felt a healing sensation without even realizing it.

Ah, to witness my favorite smile in person. Coming to this world was worth it after all.

Mature older women are nice too, but seeing the slightly fresh smile of a beautiful young girl like that isn’t bad either.

“Um, Count? There’s drool coming from your mouth…”

“Oh, my…”

Damn. I must have lost my senses while staring at Mina’s smile and started drooling without realizing it.

“You must be very hungry.”

“That makes sense, Mina. The Count has met with many people since morning.”

Fortunately, the two of them understood it as me being hungry after meeting many people since morning.

‘Thank goodness.’

I almost got labeled as a despicable person lusting after an underage girl.

For reference, even in this world, adults who date minors are socially condemned.

Even marriages between noble families don’t happen during minority years, only after coming-of-age ceremonies when they become proper adults…

‘Perhaps this aspect is surprisingly similar to Earth where I lived?’

What a fascinating world indeed.

“Let’s head outside now.”

“Yes! Sounds good!”

“Arkenium is quite developed in terms of cuisine thanks to the Glesius Academy. I know a place, so I’ll guide you there.”

Perhaps thanks to Elena, our dinner location was already decided.

The three of us—myself, Mina, and Elena—headed toward the restaurant Elena knew, exchanging casual conversation along the way.

The restaurant Elena mentioned wasn’t on the main street but in a more secluded location that required going a bit deeper inside.

The restaurant was a three-story building, and the smell wafting through the open doors stimulated my sense of smell.

“Hmm.”

“It’s a very large restaurant, but I’ve never seen it before.”

“Fufu. This restaurant is located in a somewhat remote area, so it doesn’t catch the eye of people passing by the main street. But because of that, we don’t need to make reservations even during the festival.”

Elena was right.

Looking at the restaurants along the main street on our way here, I wondered if it really was festival season.

Every restaurant was packed with people waiting in line.

In contrast, this restaurant she guided us to, despite its elegance, had several empty seats.

The decorations and furniture inside the restaurant seemed expensive.

Even the attire of the dining customers looked extremely luxurious.

Since the weather had turned cold, there was a stark contrast between them and us in our somewhat thick and plain clothes.

“Is this a restaurant that mainly caters to wealthy people?”

“That’s right. This restaurant only allows entry to imperial family members, nobles, or those accompanying nobles.”

Ah, as expected. I should have noticed from the elegant exterior and interior.

It makes sense that a restaurant catering exclusively to nobles and imperial family members would have fewer customers.

While nobles do enjoy festivals, they are primarily events enjoyed by commoners, who outnumber nobles.

So today, it was likely that seats were unavailable elsewhere because commoners in a festive mood were dining out.

However, Elena and I were nobles, and Mina was able to enter this exclusive restaurant because she was accompanying us.

“Hmm, so I’m able to dine here thanks to Count and Elena.”

“I’ll cover the meal costs, so don’t feel burdened and order whatever you both want. Despite appearances, my wallet is quite thick.”

I told Mina and Elena to order freely if there was anything they wanted.

Looking at the menu, each dish cost about one to three silver coins.

Even if we ordered a lot, it wouldn’t exceed twenty silver coins.

I currently had about five gold coins on hand.

Including the money in my bank account, it was over two hundred gold coins.

If you’re wondering where all that money came from… let’s just say I received quite a bit in return for helping here and there.

Anyway, it was more than enough to treat these two to a meal.

“Um… actually, I don’t really know what’s what, so I’ll just order the course meal.”

“I’ll order the course meal too. The food here is surprisingly delicious, so it would be a shame to eat just one dish.”

“Then I’ll order the most popular course at this restaurant.”

I turned my head to look at the waiter standing at one side of the restaurant.

The waiter approached our table.

“How may I help you, sir?”

“Do you have any recommended dinner menus today?”

I asked the waiter to recommend something good.

If this were an ordinary restaurant, they might recommend whatever they had the most leftover stock of.

But this place catered to people with refined tastes like nobles and imperial family members.

For that reason, I thought it wouldn’t be bad to eat what the waiter recommended in a restaurant like this.

“Today we received fresh veal, so I would recommend Course No. 3, which includes veal steak.”

Fresh veal, huh? That sounds good.

I once ate veal at a business dinner with clients, and it was really delicious.

Seeing the waiter’s recommendation, I decided on veal for tonight’s dinner.

“Then I’ll go with your recommendation, Course No. 3.”

“Yes, sir. Please wait a moment, and we’ll bring out your food shortly.”

The waiter took our order and moved away from the table.

Now we just had to wait for the food to arrive, but in the meantime, we might as well chat to avoid boredom.

“Are you enjoying the festival?”

“Yes. Today our business wrapped up early, so Elena and I went around to various places.”

“Actually, Mina dragged me around all day. As you know, Count, Mina is quite an energetic person.”

“Haha, that’s true.”

It seemed Mina and Elena had finished their business early and enjoyed exploring various places today.

Well, if I hadn’t had that accident with burning all the bread at the restaurant, I would have gone around to some booths too.

“Did you get to visit any booths, Count?”

“There was an accident at the restaurant where bread got burnt, so I was helping with that and couldn’t look around the booths.”

Hearing my story, Mina and Elena looked at me with somewhat pitying expressions.

Hmm. It feels nice to have two beautiful girls worry about me, but it’s also a bit embarrassing.

“Well, you don’t necessarily have to go around visiting booths to say you’ve enjoyed the festival.”

“That’s true. In the end, there are various ways to participate in a festival.”

“Hmm, so running a booth is also a way of participating in the festival, not just going around having fun? That seems like a new perspective.”

Mina and Elena nodded in agreement with my words.

Actually, this wasn’t something I came up with; it was something my boss used to say.

‘Hey, running a booth is also part of participating in the event. I’ll buy you meat later, so let’s get to work.’

Well, the meat he bought was quite expensive to be considered just compensation.

I think what I ate that day was premium Hanwoo sirloin… probably?

“Your order is ready. For the appetizer, we have a lightly seared smoked salmon salad with a refreshing dressing.”

While we were chatting, the food started to arrive.

Since we ordered the course meal, we got to taste various dishes starting with the appetizer.

Indeed, the food was delicious.

“I’ll help you with the bill. The total for three Course No. 3 meals comes to 90 silver coins.”

The price was a bit expensive, but at least we ate well, right?

Having finished our meal, I was planning to leave the restaurant and prepare for tomorrow’s demonstration when…

“There’s a hair in my food! Call the chef out here!”

Something that seemed likely to turn into a mess was unfolding inside the restaurant.