Chapter 232

Pushing through the crowd, it was Mari, my party member, who appeared.

No, it wasn’t just Mari.

“I didn’t see you at the Adventurer Guild, so I asked Wendy, and she said you went to the Coconut Company. That’s why I came looking.”

“You said it was too much trouble to take on a request together, but then you just jumped at a request from another girl!?”

Soon after, Karina and Serena appeared beside Mari.

“M-Miss Yuri. We’ve been looking for you too.”

“You said you couldn’t take on requests because you weren’t feeling well lately, right? So why are you at the market?”

Yuri’s party members, Arisa and Liche, also revealed themselves.

“H-How did you all get here…?”

“We finished a request early and returned to the Adventurer Guild, where Kurt’s comrades told us that Kurt was with you all at the market.”

“Y-You…!”

And finally, the ones who appeared last were Daria and Aila, who had recently joined Arisa’s party.

Seeing the two of them, Yuri glared at them with undisguised hostility, as she still hadn’t let go of the grudge from the recent attack.

Unlike Arisa and Liche, who had somewhat moved on, Yuri still held onto her resentment.

In fact, the reason she hadn’t been traveling with Arisa’s group lately was because of those two.

So, gathered there were me and Yuri’s party members.

They had returned to the Adventurer Guild earlier than expected after finishing a request, only to hear that I wasn’t there or that Yuri was with me, so they came to the market.

Then it hit me.

This situation could be used to promote the Coconut Company.

“You came at the perfect time. I just finished cooking lunch. Want to join?”

“Huh? Lunch?”

At the mention of lunch, all eyes turned to me.

“Yeah. I just finished cooking, and I made plenty. How about it?”

“Ah, we actually came to have a meal together. Perfect timing!”

“K-Kurt’s cooking, you say? Kurt’s cooking… *cough*. It would be rude to refuse a meal invitation, right…?”

Of course, as expected, Mari immediately accepted my invitation, while Arisa pretended to hesitate but still looked at me with expectant eyes.

Well, of course.

From the moment Mari, Karina, and Serena came to invite me to lunch, and Yuri showed up with them, I had a feeling this would happen.

“Alright then, I’ll prepare the meal.”

“We’ll help too. But are we eating here?”

“Yeah. It just turned out that way while working.”

“Kurt, what’s on the menu today?”

As I started preparing the tableware, the girls who were invited to the meal also began setting the table.

They were all so cheerful.

And amidst it all, Mari, while helping with the tableware, asked about the menu with a bright smile.

“It’s Coconut Shrimp made with ingredients from the eastern continent.”

“Shrimp… Ah! You mean the subspecies of the Sea Golem, right?”

Arisa froze at that answer, her hands still holding the tableware.

“Sea… Golem?”

“Yeah. That’s the seafood.”

At my words, Arisa, who had been cheerful just moments ago, turned pale in an instant.

No, not just Arisa, but Serena and Liche too.

In fact, almost everyone except Mari and Karina froze as if time had stopped.

“Haha… You’re joking, right? Eating shrimp…?”

“Ah! Now that I look at it, this is really fried shrimp!”

“What!? Ahhh!”

“Look at the red part at the end of this fried piece—it’s the shrimp’s tail!”

“Ahhh!”

The table descended into chaos.

But it was too late to turn back now.

I quietly moved to subtly block their escape route and said,

“You’re going to eat, right? You’re not going to back out now, are you?”

“Eeek!”

…

And so, Serena was forced to sit at the table.

She desperately tried to convey that she wasn’t hungry and wanted to leave, but in the end, she couldn’t resist Kurt’s forceful meal invitation.

“I-I’m not really hungry today…”

“Miss Serena, didn’t you just say you were tired from using so much magic and wanted to eat quickly?”

“M-Mari, how could you…?”

“That’s right, Serena. Kurt went through the trouble of making fried shrimp for you. It’s rude to refuse. This is your personal choice.”

“When did I make that choice!? And how can you eat shrimp!? Karina! Are you serious!?”

“Serena, shrimp is tastier than you think.”

“…Oh my god.”

Even Mari and Karina, whom she trusted, had sided with Kurt and were holding her and the others back from leaving.

And so, Serena was forced to sit down.

Beside her, Arisa, Liche, Daria, and Aila sat with lifeless expressions, like prisoners awaiting their last meal.

For some reason, Yuri and a teenage girl she had never seen before, as well as a goblin, were also there.

The scene of the group sitting at the long table looked like a public execution or a religious painting of the Last Supper.

*Clatter*

Unaware of Serena’s inner turmoil, Kurt placed a plate in front of her and whispered softly,

“I hope you enjoy it more than usual today. We need to promote the Coconut Company’s products.”

“What…!?”

How could he make such a request so casually…!

If it had been anyone other than Kurt, she would have flipped the plate and stormed off.

But she couldn’t bring herself to be so harsh with Kurt, so she could only stare at the plate in silence.

What she saw was a grotesque, round piece of fried coating.

Even though the rest of the shrimp had been peeled, the tail was left intact, sticking out from the fried coating, making it impossible to ignore that it was shrimp.

Like most people living inland in this world, Serena, who had spent her childhood in the Great Forest as a dwarf, saw shrimp as nothing more than bugs that lived in the sea instead of on land.

“Ugh… No matter how I look at it, it’s just a bug covered in fried coating…”

There was no way her appetite could be stirred by that.

She looked around, hoping someone else would protest on her behalf.

But sitting beside her were Mari and Karina, who had already been brainwashed by Kurt’s Menbosha dish.

“Wow, I can’t believe we’re eating a subspecies of the Sea Golem in Astram!”

“Hmm. I haven’t had this since we went to Leila. I’ve been craving it.”

“…You’re out of your minds if you think sea bugs are delicious.”

But despite her sarcasm, Mari and Karina were already happily eating away.

Serena, stuck between the two of them, couldn’t bring herself to leave or eat.

“Why is the Sea Golem so delicious when fried?”

“Ah, it even tastes better than that Menbosha dish we had last time.”

While the two were busily consuming the Coconut Shrimp, to Serena, they looked like members of a suspicious cult enjoying human flesh.

“How am I supposed to eat this…?”

“Aren’t you going to eat?”

“K-Kurt…! I-I’ll eat.”

Despite her reluctance, Serena, under Kurt’s urging, reflexively picked up a piece of Coconut Shrimp with her fork.

“Ugh… Fine! I’ll just eat the coating. The coating isn’t bug meat, so it’s safe…”

She tried to convince herself as she tore off a small piece of the fried coating and put it in her mouth.

And then…

*Crunch*

The flavor of coconut, which she had never tasted before, exploded in her mouth.

…

“Haaa…”

‘What… What is this flavor!? This isn’t just ordinary fried coating!?’

The aroma that burst in her mouth was something she had never experienced before.

Though it was a completely foreign and exotic flavor, it didn’t feel repulsive.

It reminded her of the soft, mild scent of dairy products like milk.

Normally, one would feel repulsed by an unfamiliar exotic flavor, but the coconut’s aroma didn’t evoke that at all.

In addition to the familiar dairy-like scent, there was also a sweetness and a rich, heavy body unique to coconut.

*Crunch*

*Crunch*

With each bite, the crispy texture of the Coconut Long coating crunched satisfyingly.

Unlike breadcrumbs made from dried and powdered bread, coconut flesh is mostly composed of fat.

Despite its healthy image, coconut is actually a high-calorie food.

While overconsumption can be unhealthy, calories are the essence of flavor.

Coconut has an overwhelming aroma and taste that other fruits can’t match.

The Coconut Long coating, fried to a crisp in cooking oil, had a fragrant aroma that surpassed ordinary fried foods. Serena, who had been cautiously chewing at first, quickly devoured the coating.

*Gulp*

“It’s… not bad. Yeah, eating the coating is fine…”

As if entranced, Serena tore off a larger piece of the Coconut Shrimp coating and put it in her mouth.

*Crunch*

…