Chapter 26

Mari stared with trembling eyes at the chicken leg she had impulsively grabbed with her hand.

The chicken leg of the pride chicken, reflecting the guild’s light, sparkled with a golden sheen, as if it were a precious treasure crafted from gold.

The savory, oily aroma naturally wafted into her nose without her even needing to bring it close.

Gulp.

Come to think of it, she hadn’t had a proper meal since breakfast and had been completing requests.

Her stomach, which had been suppressed by her gloomy mood and unable to assert itself, began to do its job the moment it smelled that aroma, as if it could no longer hold back.

Once she started feeling hungry, the chicken leg in her hand began to look even more delicious.

Fried chicken as a late-night snack after walking all day to complete a request without even having a proper lunch, then returning to the Adventurer Guild to rest comfortably.

Could any human species resist that?

“This, this is fried chicken…!”

Forgetting her sorrow, Mari, driven by instinct, bit into the fried chicken in her hand.

Crunch.

The first sensation was the crispy fried coating of the chicken, even crispier than the fried potatoes she had eaten before.

The only fried food she knew was fried potatoes.

So, naturally, she thought the coating of fried food would be thin and crispy like fried potatoes.

But what was this thick coating?

The moment she chewed, the coating alone provided a delightfully crunchy texture.

She was experiencing the same shock she felt when she first ate fried potatoes, a fried dish.

It wasn’t just the texture that was delightful.

Each piece of the coating, sweet and salty, was like a delicacy in itself, offering both a pleasant texture and flavor with every chew.

As she savored the coating, she was soon shocked to feel warm liquid seeping out from within the coating and opened her eyes wide.

“Ugh…!”

But she quickly regained her composure and, upon tasting the warm liquid again, realized it was the rich, oily juice of the chicken leg.

It was a strong, juicy flavor that truly deserved the term “juicy.”

The juice, trapped inside by the coating, burst forth like a dam breaking, flooding her mouth as she chewed.

Soft, savory, and refreshing, yet different from the heavy greasiness of fat.

It was like a concentrated essence of meat, moistening her mouth.

And then, the tender texture of the meat itself.

The texture of the meat, rich with fat, tearing apart smoothly along the grain, something only found in fried chicken legs.

With every bite, the juice, like an unending spring, kept rising.

Yes. It was moist meat.

Meat and moistness.

A concept that didn’t exist in her common sense.

The first meat she ever ate, bird meat cooked by her mother, was half burnt and the other half barely rescued from burning, making it dry and tough.

And the skewered golden bird meat Kurt made recently, though not dry or tough, still had a springy, chewy texture.

But this fried chicken was so tender and moist that it might even surpass the tenderness of raw meat.

Gulp.

With every bite of meat swallowed, the fantastic combination of the coating and meat created a synergy that made her crave the next bite immediately after the first.

Even after one bite, she felt an even greater craving for the fried chicken than before she took the first bite, and without hesitation, she started tearing into the chicken leg in her hand again.

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Fried chicken is indeed delicious.

Even when she was in the Lizardman Village, she had it a few times, but back then, resources were so scarce that she couldn’t enjoy such satisfying fried chicken.

The logistics of the Lizardman Village were limited to bartering hunting spoils and goods with human merchants passing by to visit nearby human villages, so the items for sale were few, and their selection depended on the individual merchant’s choice.

So, the chicken dishes she had back then were just fried chicken, not truly fried chicken in the real sense.

I sighed contentedly and put down the chicken leg after eating all the meat off the bone.

Looking around, I noticed Mari and Karina had already finished their chicken legs and were holding a second piece.

“…Sniff. Sniff. Robo, I’m sorry. But it’s delicious.”

“What? What’s this Robo thing?”

I asked Mari, who was sniffling while eagerly putting the second piece of chicken into her mouth.

I had a rough idea.

“Robo is the name of this three-legged fowl. I wanted to name it that the moment I saw it… Sniff. Sniff. But Robo is delicious.”

Robo? Like a wolf?

“Before that, either cry sadly or eat deliciously, pick one.”

Crying while eating deliciously looks really weird.

…Thinking about it, it’s not much different from usual.

“Sniff. Sniff. Today’s meal is delicious. Sob.”

Really…

Looking at Karina eating beside her, Karina, though not crying like Mari, was silently shoving chicken into her mouth while praying for the three-legged fowl’s soul.

“Sorry, cluck cluck.”

…First, shouldn’t we unify the name, whether it’s Robo or cluck cluck?

Still, it was a relief that both seemed to have vented their feelings about today’s events.

It would have been troublesome if they were still gloomy by mealtime.

Seeing the two enjoying their meal, I moved my hand to the bowl to start eating the fried chicken comfortably.

…Wait.

“Where did all the chicken wings go?”

“Hic! …Sob! Robo!”

At my words, Mari flinched as if startled and then started crying unnaturally.

With a chicken wing in each hand.

“Hey! You!”

“Sob! I miss Robo. Sniff!”

“Your fake tears are obvious! Give me one!”

“Kyaa! Where does an elf snatch something from someone’s hand!”

“And where does an elf take both chicken wings at once!”

“Chicken wings… I don’t understand, the breast is the most delicious.”

And so, we returned to our usual atmosphere and noisily shared our dinner.

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Hoo. Fried chicken is indeed delicious.

Especially since it was the most perfectly made fried chicken in this lifetime.

Although sharing one chicken among the three of us was a bit insufficient, I had anticipated this and fried plenty of potatoes, so we had a satisfying meal.

Gulp. Gulp.

Swoosh.

“Phew! Chicken is really delicious.”

I said, washing down the greasiness of the chicken with a cold beer.

Ah. The coolness of resetting everything with a beer as cold as ice after eating chicken and accumulating some greasiness.

The feeling of the beer’s unique carbonation going down the throat and esophagus was irresistible.

When the Adam’s apple moved with a gulp, the beer seemed to wash away all the greasiness left in the esophagus, providing a refreshing sensation.

Although the civilization level of this world seemed somewhere between the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, there were aspects ahead of its time, like the existence of mages.

Although using magic once was quite expensive, the beer cooled by a mage’s magic was irresistibly refreshing.

Personally, I preferred carbonated drinks over beer with chicken, but since there were no carbonated drinks in this world, I had no choice but to choose beer. Even as a second choice, the satisfaction of drinking beer with chicken was truly fulfilling.

Finishing the meal with a beer, I let out a contented sigh.

Even my sigh seemed to carry the aroma of chicken.

“Combining frying with chicken dishes, of course, it had to be delicious!”

“Such a delicious dish. I can understand why Mr. Kurt was obsessed with the Awakening Species’ three-legged fowl.”

“Right. Although Robo’s death was sad, it will live on as one within the three of us!”

Well. The taste of the meat itself wasn’t much different from the three-legged fowl.

There’s no rule that Awakening Species should taste special.

But saying that out loud would shock them, so I better keep it to myself.

No need to spoil a delicious dinner with unpleasant talk.

“Well, as long as we enjoyed it, that’s what matters. It was worth spending all the money we earned from today’s request on this meal.”

Clink.

At my words, Mari, who had been smiling contentedly, froze and dropped her fork.

Ah. This doesn’t feel right.

And my prediction was spot on, as I had to listen to her lecture on my financial sense for about thirty minutes.

Surprisingly, Mari was the most financially meticulous among us.

But being lectured by Mari was quite humiliating.

Yet, I had no retort and had to listen to her nagging without moving.

By the way, although not as much as me, Karina, who often made impulsive purchases, watched me being lectured by Mari with a guilty face and quietly returned to her room.

How sneaky.

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