Chapter 1464: Chapter 208 - The Merchant (4)
The place Foriel brought me to looked surprisingly normal.
Honestly, if someone had pointed at the building from outside and told me it was just another local eatery, I would’ve believed them without a second thought. The structure itself wasn’t particularly flashy. There weren’t any giant glowing signs, magical decorations, or anything else that screamed demon continent eatery. It simply looked like a busy restaurant where people came to eat after a long day.
The atmosphere inside was lively too.
People were talking among themselves, servers were moving between tables carrying trays of food, and the smell of various dishes filled the air. It felt comfortable in a way that reminded me of ordinary restaurants from my previous life.
Well, mostly ordinary.
The thing that immediately stood out wasn’t the restaurant itself.
It was the woman standing at the front.
Instead of having two breasts, she had three.
Not two.
Three.
She had the normal pair of tits that most women had, but right between those two was another tit sitting in the middle.
For a moment, I just stared.
Not because I was trying to be rude.
I was simply trying to process what I was looking at.
Three breasts.
It was honestly such an absurd sight that my brain needed a few extra seconds to catch up.
I had seen all sorts of strange things since arriving in this world, but somehow this managed to surprise me anyway.
Not that I was judging her.
If anything, I thought it looked kind of interesting.
Actually...
Maybe even a little sexy.
I mean, if two breasts were good, then three breasts should technically be better.
At least that was the logic my brain came up with.
Whether that logic made any sense was another matter entirely.
"What would you like to order?" she asked politely.
I immediately turned toward Foriel.
Foriel took one look at me and smiled knowingly.
The smile said everything.
She clearly knew I had absolutely no idea what I was doing.
At the moment, I probably looked like a kid tagging along with his mother while she handled all the decisions.
Honestly, that wasn’t even inaccurate.
The menu might as well have been written in an alien language for all the good it would’ve done me.
"I’ll have the worm stew," Foriel said.
She glanced toward me before continuing.
"And a demon rabbit leg. Make that for both of us."
"Certainly. I’ll have it prepared right away."
The three-breasted woman happily wrote everything down before heading off.
After placing the order, Foriel and I found an empty table and sat down.
I took the opportunity to look around the restaurant properly.
"It sure is packed," I said while glancing around the room.
Almost every table was occupied.
Some people were eating quietly while others were chatting with friends and family. The entire place was busy enough that it was honestly surprising there were any empty seats available at all.
What made it even stranger was the menu.
The names of some of the dishes sounded questionable.
Worm stew wasn’t exactly a name that inspired confidence.
Yet despite that, the restaurant was packed.
That could only mean one thing.
The food had to be really good.
Otherwise, there was no way this many people would keep coming back.
"Well, the food here is really delicious," Foriel said.
I could honestly believe that.
A few hours ago, I probably would’ve been hesitant about eating something called worm stew.
Now?
Not so much.
After everything that had happened since arriving in this world, my standards had adjusted quite a bit.
I had already eaten demonic beasts earlier.
Compared to that, eating worms felt surprisingly normal.
Actually, when I thought about it, I was basically experiencing everything for the first time.
The food.
The culture.
The creatures.
The customs.
Everything around me was new.
I probably looked like some country bumpkin who had just arrived in the big city for the first time in his life.
Thinking about it, I was probably pretty amusing from Foriel’s perspective.
Still, I didn’t really care.
I was having fun.
After a while, our food finally arrived.
The same woman returned carrying our dishes before carefully placing them in front of us.
The moment the food touched the table, my attention locked onto it.
It looked really good.
Way better than I expected.
The worm stew especially caught my eye.
Steam rose steadily from the bowl, carrying a rich aroma that immediately reached my nose. The broth looked thick and creamy, and the heat coming off it made it obvious that it had just been prepared.
It looked like the kind of meal that would be perfect after a cold day.
The demon rabbit leg looked equally appetizing.
The meat had a beautiful appearance to it, and just looking at it was enough to make me hungry.
"It looks good, doesn’t it?" Foriel said with a smile.
Then she gestured toward the food.
"Trust me. It tastes even better, so go ahead and try it."
I wasn’t about to argue with that.
I picked up the demon rabbit leg and took a bite.
The moment I did, my eyes widened.
It was incredible.
The meat practically melted in my mouth.
Calling it tender honestly didn’t feel like enough.
I barely had to chew.
The instant I bit into it, the meat seemed to fall apart effortlessly.
It felt less like eating meat and more like eating something soft enough to dissolve on its own.
At the same time, an explosion of flavor spread across my tongue.
The taste was rich, savory, and unbelievably satisfying.
Every bite made me want another one immediately.
For a few moments, I focused entirely on the rabbit leg.
Then I turned my attention toward the stew.
To be honest, the worms still weren’t particularly appealing to look at.
A worm was a worm.
There was only so much presentation could do.
Still, I wasn’t about to let appearances stop me.
The smell alone had already convinced me to give it a chance.
So I scooped up a spoonful and tasted it.
Immediately, I understood why Foriel liked it.
It was surprisingly delicious.
The broth was rich and creamy, coating my tongue with a smooth texture that made every bite enjoyable.
The worms themselves were even more surprising.
I had expected them to be difficult to eat.
Instead, they were incredibly flavorful.
For some reason, they tasted remarkably similar to meat.
It was strange.
Very strange.
But definitely not bad.
In fact, it was genuinely good.
The more I ate, the more I liked it.
Honestly, the flavor was so impressive that it felt capable of putting many foods from my previous life to shame.
Of course, there was still a small feeling that something was missing.
I couldn’t quite figure out what it was.
Maybe it was a seasoning I was familiar with.
Maybe it was simply because I wasn’t used to the cuisine of this world yet.
Whatever the reason, it didn’t stop me from enjoying the food.
Overall, it was still excellent.
"Now try dipping the demon rabbit meat into the stew," Foriel said.
She smiled confidently.
"I promise it’ll taste even better."
I wasn’t really skeptical.
If anything, hearing that immediately caught my attention.
Back in my previous life, I had always liked dipping meat into soup or stew whenever I had the opportunity. Most of the time, it enhanced the flavor and made everything taste better.
So I figured there was no reason not to try it.
I picked up another piece of rabbit meat and dipped it into the thick stew.
The meat absorbed some of the broth before I brought it to my mouth.
Then I took a bite.
The result surprised me immediately.
It was somehow even better.
The rich flavor of the rabbit blended perfectly with the creamy stew. Neither flavor overpowered the other. Instead, they complemented each other so well that the combination felt completely natural.
The rabbit improved the stew.
The stew improved the rabbit.
Together, they tasted far better than either dish did individually.
Honestly, it felt like the flavor had increased by a hundred times.
I knew that was probably an exaggeration.
But at that moment, it genuinely felt true.
It was weird how such a simple thing could make such a huge difference.
Yet somehow it did.
"Fufufu."
Foriel chuckled softly after seeing my reaction.
Her expression looked incredibly satisfied, almost as if she had expected this exact response from the beginning.
"Eat well, Mr. Faust."
Looking down at the rapidly disappearing food on my plate, I didn’t think that was going to be a problem at all.
