"You've given the honor of experience the cooking of my family. So make sure to eat and enjoy it… Also don't you dare eat without manners!" Elfriedden angrily said, revealing his dish.
The dish he had made was certainly unique, it was several vegetables, such as carrots, green onion, lettuce, mushrooms, and so on fried with olive oil. He added spices here and there, alongside chunks of meat and a sauce he brought himself, called "Sweet Verde Sauce" made of fermented herbs.
"This is… hot salad?" Wondered Chris.
"Huh, it is way less than what I expected from your grand family's cooking." Erdrich mocked it.
"You two are being too rude!" Elizabeth reprimanded them.
"Come on you two, be more respectful." Eric sighed. "Thanks for the meal Elfriedden. Let's see…"
Everyone, including me, tasted his meal. The warm vegetables combined with the juiciness of the meat chunks and the sweet, citric, and slightly spicy sauce combined together into a wonderful experience. It was indeed more than I imagined.
"It's good…" I said in surprise.
"W-Woah, I never thought salad could taste good?!" Chris was surprised.
"Hmmm… The sauce does a lot of the job but the fried vegetables on olive oil make an incredible combination." Said Erdrich. "The meat and the green onions juices mix together… hmm. I can't stop eating!"
"Ah! I've tasted this before…" Alberta said. "This is the Elves' Green Garden Dishes! They love to make dishes , and they love sweet and citric spices as well. They're masters of fermentation as well."
"So that's how it is…" Eric said. "It is indeed very tasty."
"Hmmm! But nothing like my Blake's dishes!" Erika said, she already ate the whole plate of Elfriedden's dish and was eating my stew with rice. "I love the spicy stew he makes! My mouth's on fire, heheh!"
"I think all the dishes are tasty… I cannot decide." Elizabeth said.
"Oooh! What a tasteful meal! I am glad I was given the chance to meal with my master's friends! All of you are such nice and talented children!" Laughed Hendrick while enjoying the food.
"Hendrick don't talk so loudly." Sighed Eleanora. "My master's dishes are obviously the best though. I cannot have enough of them; it is very noticeable he makes them with a lot of love… The more I eat them, the more I feel more connected with him…" Eleanora said with a fascinated smile, her red eyes glancing at me with a rather lovely gaze.
I think she's exaggerating. I made them on the go without thinking too much… Well, I've grown used to everyone saying these types of things.
"Papa's stew is the best! I want more rice, papa!" Saphira called me.
"Alright." I quickly served my daughter some more. "An extra portion for being such a good girl."
"Uwaaah! Thank you papa!" Saphira gave me a kiss in my cheek and flew to eat the rest.
Obviously, two other girls seemed jealous of this.
"Eeeh~? Haven't I been a good girl too~?" Erika looked at me with puppy eyes. "Give me some more papa!"
"D-Don't call me papa now!" I sighed. "Here, just eat as much as you want."
I gave her a big second serving, Erika was left happily stuffing herself with more food.
"Certainly, the dishes here are all… good, yeah." Sighed Elfriedden. "This stew… Hahh, it is certainly quite spicy. And the noodles with this green sauce, I had never tasted something similar before. Well done."
"Haha, it's nothing. My dish can't compare to the other two." Eric said with humbleness.
"No, no, it is very good, really!" Alberta said with a radiant smile, making Eric blush even more.
"A-Ah… I-I am happy that you liked it, Alberta…" Eric said while lowering his head in embarrassment.
"Huh? E-Eric, you're all red… A-Are you okay?" Alberta wondered.
"Seriously, this girl doesn't know how lethal she is to him." Giggled Hendrick.
"How lovely." Eleanora smiled.
"Hey long ears! Can I have more of that salad?" Wondered Saphira.
"You might be Blake's spirit but you are not allowed to call me long ears!" Elfriedden said angrily, though he still gave her seconds.
Like that, as we finished eating, I quickly checked my Grimoire once more, looking at the Skills I could learn.
[Familiar Connection: Lv0] 100 SP
[Familiar Awakening: Lv0] 150 SP
[Advanced Familiar Fusion: Lv0] 200 SP
[Metamorphosis: Lv0] 75 SP
[Extraction: Lv0] 75 SP
[Advanced Synthesis: Lv0] 125 SP
[Golem Creation: Lv0] 125 SP
Hmmm… What should I pick first? Well, if I level up again, I could pick Familiar Awakening and Advanced Familiar Fusion right away. They seem like the strongest. But what about this Familiar Connection one? What does it do? I assume it could allow me to connect with my Familiars in some way.
Maybe to share my senses with them? Or perhaps gain even more strength from them… Though by merely summoning them I can already get bonus stats added to my status, which help quite a lot. Well, I should have more patience for now and wait a bit longer.
Thanks to Hard Worker at max level, skills can level up faster than before anyways, I don't need to have as much urgency to get something and train it as quickly as possible.
…Though once we're out of the dungeon, I'll do just that.
Once we were done eating everything, I quickly stored the dishes inside the Inventory and we were ready to depart- However, Alberta stopped us from moving on.
"W-Wait a bit… I am the Blacksmith here s-so I wanted to help in more ways t-than fighting." Alberta said. "E-Everyone, can you lend me your weapons?"
Alberta seemed to have an idea to help us boost our weapon's strength even more. Perhaps it had to do with one of her various Skills related with blacksmithing, maybe she wanted to help in more ways than shooting fireballs or using her hammer offensively. After all, she had promised she would use her unique abilities to help us.