Michael raised his hand and levitated the cacao beans from the sack before using an [Ember] spell to roast them right in front of everyone's eyes.
The children's eyes glazed with amazement as Michael then cracked these beans to reveal a dark nib with a similar smell to the chocolate they were all so familiar with.
And with the cacao nibs gathered in one place, Michael destroyed their very chemical structure and turned them into a liquid with a smooth texture and flavor.
It didn't take long before the liquid ball of pure chocolate hardened into bite-sized pieces for everyone to enjoy.
"Yehey!"
"Gimme!"
"So good!"
Zion and the children jumped up to try and catch the chocolate raining from the sky. But Jaku simply opened his palm and let one fall right into his palms. Meanwhile, Umisu and Sheina sharply snatched pieces from the air without anyone noticing.
Yuna and her demi-human escorts were given one as well, and they enjoyed it more than any other royal candy or snack famous in the Queens region.
Michael had distributed the chocolate pieces equally but left a few for himself. He had other plans for these.
While everyone snacked on the pure and sweet chocolatey goodness of the processed cacao beans, Michael walked over to Beth and requested her help.
"There's a recipe that I want you to try out. Can you make it?" he asked her.
Beth's talent was baking, and Michael knew that there were a lot of recipes from his old world that were only enhanced by the addition of chocolate. The best example of that was none other than chocolate chip cookies!
Michael whispered the recipe he got from ChatJK3, with Beth slowly nodding her head as she began to realize the potential of such a product.
"Leave it to me, Michael!" she said, putting on her apron. "I will make cookies!"
She returned to her bakery and began preparations. Michael gave her all the necessary ingredients such as eggs, flour, and other such necessities, which meant that all she had to do was to put it all together.
Even though techniques like whisking and folding were new to her, her natural talents in baking came through and she was able to perform them quite well despite it being her first time.
When she put the dough into the oven, she didn't even need a timer for her to know that it was done. As soon as the rich aroma wafted through her nose, she knew that it had finished cooking.
She took the tray out of her oven and was greeted with the mouthwatering sight of freshly baked chocolate chip cookies. She hardly believed that it was something that she made.
She took one out and took a bite. It was soft and chewy on the inside, while still having a crisp outer layer. And as soon as she bit into one of the chocolate chips embedded into the bread, a rich mixture flooded her taste.
"Ummm!"
Michael couldn't wait and took one for himself. And the taste immediately brought him back to his previous life, when his parents gifted him cookies on his birthday.
"Michael boy…this cookie is so good!"
"Right?!"
Despite wanting to eat more, Beth immediately cooked up another batch of cookies, knowing that the kids and the locals of Neo Orcus would want more once they got a taste of the cookies.
And as she did, the fresh smell of cookies wafted over the whole territory, making people curious as to what Beth was cooking up in her bakery.
"Lord Michael…we smelled something from here," Sheina knocked and opened the door to the bakery. She tried to act serious, but her eyes kept wandering over to the freshly baked cookies on the tabletop.
"Sheina. You're just in time. Tell everybody that the cookies are done. Here, have one."
Michael tossed her a cookie. She regarded it curiously before taking a bite. And as soon as she did, her white scales began turning pink, a sign of her getting flustered.
She immediately left the room, not wanting Michael to see her in such an embarrassing state. But before she could take another bite from the amazing cookies, Jaku snatched it right out of her hands and finished it himself.
"Hmm…good."
"...you…you…YOU!!!"
As the two Dragonborn siblings fought, more and more people began entering the bakery and leaving with huge grins on their faces while nibbling on their chocolate chip cookies.
It didn't take long before everyone in Neo Orcus was snacking on cookies for the whole day.
Thankfully, there were a few other bakers/chefs who helped Beth deal with the demand for cookies, especially from Zion and his little minions.
…
…
…
The next day, Sheina once again knocked on Michael's door to alert him of a new presence in town.
"Lord Michael, we have new visitors."
Michael groggily woke up and opened his Supreme Skill: Unity Gathering. He thought it would be another shipment from the Orcs, but as he focused on the Light energy on their bodies, Michael realized that they were humans.
He got off his bed and welcomed the new strangers in their midst.
Meanwhile, the peddlers stopped just a few steps away from entering the walls of Neo Orcus. Their jaws were dropped, with confusion and shock written all over their faces.
"This is not Orcus Town…"
"It's supposed to be," the veteran peddler replied.
Instead of seeing the rundown town with degraded walls and buildings, the peddlers were seeing something completely different.
They saw new white walls surrounding the territory, in pristine condition and an even better quality than any of them expected. Not only that, but the roads here, despite still being under construction, showed signs of being even better than stone roads in the capital cities of the Queens region.
The whole of Orcus Town was lively, with people and demi-humans working side by side as they poured their blood, sweat, and tears into rebuilding the town in better condition.
In their dazedness, they saw a strange Dragon-like demi-human approach them with a brown circular thing in his hands.
"Yo! Want a cookie?"