Chicken And Palenque (4)

“Hooah!”

“What’s ‘hooah’?”

“My eyes hurt from staring at each one.”

Even a Palenque, which is too fast for humans to catch, can’t escape a dragon’s sight. But there seems to be a side effect. Rurin started rubbing her eyes vigorously, as if they hurt. Is it because she’s using too much of her dragon power in a human body?

“Yes, yes, good job. Come here, I’ll blow on it for you.”

Rubbing isn’t good. I grabbed Rurin’s hands to stop her and blew lightly. Her reaction was intense.

“Kyaa! That tickles!”

“If it tickles, why are you leaning your face in more?”

“It tickles, but I didn’t say I hated it. Blow more!”

“Ugh. Fine, hoo- hoo- happy now? Let’s go back; we’re busy.”

“You’re always so sloppy at finishing things. That woman who was your colleague once said that you shouldn’t associate with men who are sloppy at finishing things. She said men like that are definitely sloppy in bed too, so be careful.”

“What? What kind of nonsense did that woman tell a dragon?”

“Your lips just twitched! I know that’s what you do when you’re guilty.”

“No, it’s not!”

“It’s okay. I told her I don’t mind if you’re sloppy at finishing. Hehe.”

“Good grief.”

Ignoring the nonsense-spouting dragon, I returned to the restaurant.

I have nothing to feel guilty about.

It’s just that today is a very busy day, so I’m ignoring her.

Cooking for 14 people is not as easy as it sounds. When I went into the kitchen with 11 Palenques, Rurin naturally headed for the magic refrigerator.

“After working, it’s beer time, ah!”

Now that I think about it, usually it’s dwarves who like beer. Well, the problem started with me training the dragon with beer. Honestly, as long as she doesn’t get drunk like three days ago, it’s fine. I just need to keep her away from soju.

It’s our agreement that she doesn’t interfere when I’m working, so Rurin started playing with beer while I began prepping the Palenques.

That alone took a long time.

I planned to fry five of them whole like before, and debone the rest to make boneless chicken.

The method is the same anyway, only separating the bones is different. Marinating, and making the batter by mixing cornmeal, monton mushroom powder, mushroom powder, frying powder, and flour is also the same. It took quite some time due to the large quantity. Before I knew it, the morning had flown by and it was already lunchtime.

It’s not just Palenque that needs preparing. There’s also the spicy dish Miltain requested.

Chili peppers exist in this world too, under the name ‘chieri’, not much different from modern chili peppers.

But since Miltain specifically requested it, I wanted to come up with something impactful beyond just being spicy.

Thinking about what spicy dish would go well with chicken, one thing came to mind.

One of my hobbies is summoning and eating modern ramen. Compared to the time when I was transported to this world, it seems many types of ramen have been created in modern times.

Among the randomly summoned ramens, the most shocking one was ‘Buldak Bokkeummyun’.

A ramen that stands out for its spiciness. Honestly, it’s tough for me too. I remember struggling to calm my mouth after eating it once.

Still, if you like spicy food, it’s a ramen you would find appealing. It has an addictive taste that makes you want to keep eating despite the spiciness.

I’ll serve it and if it seems too spicy, I can tone down the flavor.

Mixing it with Cheese Bokkeummyun, jjajang ramen, or other types of ramen tends to tone the spiciness down quite a bit.

Of course, I don’t plan to sell ramen at the restaurant. It’s already a processed food.

I’m thinking of serving it just once, considering Miltain’s request.

Having made up my mind, I went to the food storage and brought out some Buldak Bokkeummyun that wasn’t past its expiration date.

I thought I’d cook it for the first time in a while. Testing it before serving is essential. I’ve only had it once myself, so I needed to taste it again to be sure.

For that reason, I boiled water first and added the noodles. Peeking outside the kitchen, I saw Rurin lying on the table with a beer can in her hand. Relieved that there was no interference, I continued cooking the ramen.

I drained the boiled noodles and added the sauce to stir-fry. Thanks to that, the smell started to fill the restaurant. Rurin, woken up by the smell, suddenly got up, her black hair fluttering, and blinked while looking at the kitchen.

“A delicious smell…”

Staggering as if intoxicated by the smell, she walked into the kitchen. The Buldak Bokkeummyun was in front of me. Rurin stared at it.

“Is this today’s lunch?”

“No, wait. This isn’t it.”

“What do you mean it’s not? It smells good.”

“You can’t handle spicy food well.”

The Black Dragon, now in human form, couldn’t handle spicy food well. But today, she seemed very curious about the stir-fried noodles, probably enticed by the smell.

“Are you trying to eat something delicious by yourself? No way.”

She picked up a fork, her eyes shining, and brought the red noodles to her mouth.

Chewing sounds.

The sound of chewing noodles.

“It’s delicious?”

She mumbled with the noodles in her mouth.

And then 5 seconds.

4 seconds.

3 seconds.

Before the count was even finished, an intense reaction occurred.

“It’s spicyyyyy! So spicyyyyy!”

Her face turned red, and she started jumping up and down before eventually running outside. I chased her with milk.

“It’s spicy, spicy! Aaah! My breath is coming out! I’m going to blow everything up!”

“Swallow your breath and drink this. It’ll help.”

Gulp.

Gulp.

Gulp.

Milk doesn’t neutralize the spiciness, but I think it at least calms the burning in the mouth. At least it feels that way.

I heard the dragon gulping down the milk. After drinking a whole pack, she still kept panting and sat down on the ground.

“You fool. See? I told you not to eat it. That’s what you get for not believing me.”

“But it looked delicious! Ah! It’s still burning. It feels like I swallowed a Red Dragon’s breath!”

“That must be an incredible feeling.”

After calming down the nearly crying Rurin and giving her a proper lunch, I went back to work.

Time always flows steadily. The banquet time arrived quickly.

The first to arrive was Miltain.

He entered the restaurant and rushed straight towards me.

His eyes were shining.

It seems his expectations for the spicy dish he requested were very high. He came so close that I had to take a step back. I have no desire to bump faces with another man. Miltain came almost that close.

“The seniors are coming up behind me. Is the dish I requested ready? I came ahead because I was curious! Can we really satisfy the seniors? It may not seem like it, but it’s all thanks to Senior that I decided to work hard…”

“Don’t worry about that. Once I’ve been asked to cook, I must deliver. That’s what makes a professional.”

“That’s reassuring. Hahaha.”

Miltain laughed with a relieved expression and approached me closely again.

Why is he being so overwhelming since earlier? As I made a troubled face, a gruff voice came from behind.

“You brat! I’m here. I heard there’s a beer party happening here? I can’t miss such an event.”

The owner of the voice was Mr. Knoll.

“What does Mr. Knoll have to do with a mercenary gathering?”

Thanks to Mr. Knoll’s approach, Miltain stepped back slightly. And this time, Mr. Knoll came closer.

“What, you brat? The mercenaries coming today are guys I’ve worked with too. Any reason I shouldn’t be here? Besides, didn’t you say you got Palenque? If you got it, you should’ve told me!”

“Dear, can’t you speak more kindly? Really, you’re impossible.”

Fortunately, Mrs. Rayne stepped in, grabbing Mr. Knoll by the back of his neck. She smiled gently, pushed him aside, and spoke to me.

“Don’t worry about him. He just talks like that. Didn’t you say you needed Palenque last time? He really wanted to help because you had helped him before, so he was making inquiries everywhere. He’s just upset because you already got it.”

“What? You little woman!”

“Did you just call me ‘little woman’?”

“When did I? Did you hear that?”

Mr. Knoll started a comedic skit. I nodded. Of course, I should side with Mrs. Rayne here.

“I heard it.”

“What, you brat!”

“Looks like my husband wants to skip meals tomorrow. Got it.”

“I never said that!”

Mr. Knoll was flustered. You could call it poetic justice.

“Well, it’s okay. It’s true that it was my fault for not telling you after getting Palenque.”

“No, it’s nothing. And we came here because Mr. Ment invited us. There was a reservation for 14 people, but two couldn’t make it, so he invited us instead.”

“Oh, that’s the reason? Well, even if it weren’t for that, you two are always welcome. Especially you, Mrs. Rayne.”

“Oh my, you’re so good with words.”

Mrs. Rayne started laughing and patting her husband’s back.

“Anyway, it’s good you came. Actually, a former colleague discovered a spell to catch Palenque, so I was lucky to get the meat. Still, I feel a bit sorry since I didn’t get it through the butcher shop.”

“Oh no, don’t be. We don’t even handle Palenque, and it’s not the kind of meat that’s widely distributed. You worked hard to get it for your restaurant, so why feel sorry to us? Really, El.”

“Hahaha.”

I scratched the back of my head, feeling awkward. Then Mr. Knoll, who had been frowning, sat at the bar table and shouted.

“Hmph. That doesn’t matter. But the problem is if you got something like that, you should’ve let me taste it first. Right? You’re so inconsiderate. I’m annoyed, so bring me some soju!”

After throwing a verbal jab, he asked for soju. Mr. Knoll had become quite the soju lover. Mrs. Rayne started scolding him to speak more kindly. I got him some soju.

“Hello!”

As I handed Mr. Knoll the soju, the main figure, Mr. Ment, finally entered the restaurant with the mercenaries. Miltain, who had been standing awkwardly in the back, ran up to Mr. Ment.

With 14 people gathered in the restaurant, it was the first time since opening that the place was full. Since people had gathered, it was time to serve the food. I immediately started cooking the Palenque dish.

“Rurin! Could you bring some beer to the people?”

I was too busy. I felt like borrowing even the dragon’s hands, so I loudly called out to Rurin, who was crouching in front of the refrigerator, drinking beer merrily.

It’s good that she naturally steps back when customers come to the restaurant, but she’s never done any serving.

“Are you asking this Rurin to serve humans? Didn’t I work earlier today! I think I’ve done enough of what you call ‘work’.”

“This is exactly the restaurant’s work, isn’t it? Didn’t you agree to run the restaurant together? Do you dislike it now? Should I do it alone?”

“Our restaurant, yours and mine?”

“Yes.”

“Hehe, I changed my mind. Sometimes it’s good to experience human feelings. I think I heard the Elder say something like that.”

“I’m glad your feelings are so varied.”

After answering Rurin, I set up a barrier and started frying the prepared chicken, no, Palenque. I could hear the mercenaries’ conversation.

Glancing over, I saw a bearded mercenary sitting next to Mr. Ment starting to speak. His beard was even bushier than Mr. Knoll’s.