"Be careful not to burn your faces," he teased and the four simultaneously straightened their backs. Their faces were red now, not from the heat, but from embarrassment.
Finn chuckled and continued with his cooking. They were stiff as tree trunks while he cooked, overcompensating for their previous debacle. He didn’t point it out of course, lest they felt more embarrassed. When they get closer, he’d tease them then .
While the barbecue was carefully cooked, he took out one of his lunchboxes from space. The ones with chips were the ones remaining (he had already eaten the rest before). He let them have it as an appetizer.
"Fried thornroots?"
"Snacks to sate your hunger," he said. "I could hear your stomachs rumbling."
The group looked at the thing. Thornroot was one of the common crops even in the safe zone, so they didn’t think too much at first. However, they did note that there were flavorings and its color was a bit different. Not to mention they had never seen it cut so thinly before.
Crunch!
"This is delicious..."
"Flavorful and crunchy..."
"I can eat this all day..."
Ah, don’t get addicted to junk food, Finn wanted to say, but they didn’t know what that was, and he doubted their strong physiques would mind a few extra grams of fried food.
"Keep some for the meat. It’ll be more delicious as a side dish."
"Ah."
Soon, the skewers were finally finished, and he placed them all on a cleaned flat rock, letting them take what they needed. Among the ten skewers, only two were essence food, and he took them both for himself.
Unlike them, he was just a little awakened who lost his precious potions to more powerful people. He deserved this!
Of course, even if the rest were not essence food, they were still incredibly delicious. Soon, he heard moans of satisfaction.
"Goodness...this is so tasty!"
"I’ve never had such delicious meat before."
"How is it done?"
Durgan looked intoxicated. "This is even more delicious than that essence food I bought a fortune for!"
As they ate, they became more and more comfortable with each other. The group was naturally very interested in him, but he had more questions for them. Since there were four people, they could get rather passionate in their storytelling.
Except, perhaps, for the half-elf who seemed to be more on the reticent side. Actually, the other girl was, too, except she couldn’t help but make some dark jokes when the blonde was involved.
After some small talk (which turned a bit heavy), Finn found out they were adventurers abandoned and were almost murdered by their employer.
What a jerk. He didn’t know who he was, but he was already cursing him. Hopefully, he got his karma.
Finn also got to know more about the group, primarily from their Leader, Marcus. He found out that they were more like a group of friends.
Now that he wasn’t being cynical and suspicious, the blonde quickly became a gregarious big man who asked a lot of questions that Finn couldn’t answer yet. Fortunately, Finn was a master of misdirection and chatter, so he could change the topic easily.
The dwarf, Durgan, was a halfling tank. Half-dwarves were collectively called halflings, regardless of the distribution of how much of their blood was dwarven or human. He was the oldest in the group and unofficially became everyone’s advisor.
The raven-haired woman, Nona, as mentioned, was the striker and had been friends with Marcus since they were young. They had, apparently, been teammates with him since they started their careers.
Finally, the beautiful green-haired woman was a half-elf named Leiah. She was a magical archer (and she awakened her magic core rather than the physical one) and specialized in wind spells.
She was also the most guarded against him, but fortunately, she never acted on it, probably because of the resources he provided.
They were all from Lotus Town, which was the closest town to his place. They all grew up over there, became adventurers over there, and would have to return there to report on the tragic events.
They were definitely in a hurry and wouldn’t be in the mood to stay in his inn for too long, which was a pity, but he understood.
He also told them about himself, though purposely vague about it. "I haven’t been to the safe zone my whole life," he said, and everyone looked at him with both pity and confusion.
"The entire time I was in this world, I had been in my Inn, occasionally heading out to gather resources or when I was asked to do tasks..." he said, tone sad.
None of these was a lie, anyway.
"So...forgive me if I can get a bit insensitive, please assume I truly do not know of some subtleties."
They shook their hands and heads, trying to comfort him. They had all sorts of assumptions about why his situation was like this, but they didn’t dare mention them to him. Quickly, they changed topics lest they touch painful wounds.
"The food you make is great," Marcus said as he patted Finn’s shoulders. "You’re better than the chefs from those restaurants!"
"What is that you brushed with the meat?"
"It’s called Roasted Matis Sauce. I made it myself."
"That’s amazing."
Nona looked at him. "If you sell that, you’d make a lot of money."
Finn blinked. Oh?
While he took note of this, he didn’t really push the topic as much, for now.
Finn smiled, enjoying watching people love his food. While he ate, he listened to the scruffling not far below them.
Finn patiently waited for them to finish their food, and they certainly took their time (Durgan even ate the meat by strand, making it last longer).
"We still have a few hours left before the potion loses its effects. Meanwhile, I still cannot leave before I finish my tasks..."
He paused, looking at them, and then put his hands together. "Dear Adventurers," he said. "Can you help me finish my mission?"