The guests slurped and pretty much inhaled the soup, feeling the combination of various ingredients, adding to a filling and memorable meal.
They patted their stomachs in satisfaction. "I don’t think I’ve had a better meal before..." Marcus said, very frankly, but he was definitely only referring to the taste (which was definitely superior).
However, Finn could see that Leiah and Nona were a bit more pensive. They could probably feel that the food was different, and not just with its taste.
They were probably regretting not using the appraisal tool before eating it.
"I’ll really miss the food here..." Marcus mumbled, his large head turning to look at Finn and looking like a giant puppy. Finn laughed.
"I’ll make you lunchboxes on the go when you leave."
"YES! You’re awesome, Finn!" Marcus said. "We’re definitely going to spread the word about this place with our teams!"
Finn smiled. That would just be what he needed. Plus, since they’d be referred by Marcus’ team, the chances of the new guys being assholes were smaller.
That said...thinking about lunch boxes made him feel a bit reluctant.
He’d be sad when they leave.
...
After the meal, Ranran took the dishes to clean up (setting aside the biodegradable stuff, as Finn taught, to create compost) while Tumble helped handle the loot outside.
The others also headed out to gather their meat and their cores. For the meat, it’d all go to Finn, and hopefully, they would get a lot of takeouts later on.
The lunchboxes this time were handcrafted by their in-house master carpenter, Tumble. It was customized with different containers, and it was also easy to cover.
He had to warn them that monsters really loved the smell of his food, so they better not open it when they didn’t have decent cover or didn’t have energy to handle a manic mob.
The lunchboxes he prepared were for dinner as well as breakfast the next day. Essence food had a longer shelf life, so he didn’t worry about things going bad even if they didn’t eat it for a day.
He also decided to include a couple of non-essence snacks they could eat on the go, with minimal scents and effects, so they could eat them without worry.
People at their level could actually be energetic even after just one or two meals a day. However, since they were friends with him—a genius cook—he figured they should have full meals before leaving him, otherwise he’d be ashamed as a cook.
The menu he chose consisted of easy-to-eat meals. For example, one meal was made of meat wraps with vegetable-and-meat fillings.
It was hearty, smoky, and protein-filled wraps for a long trip ahead. The fillings were made of pulled brindlejaw meat that had been sliced and fire-seared, added with stonebulb and veilroot paste for umami. He also added some basilume herbs with citrus for the added fresh feel. The wrapper itself was lightly charred, adding some crunch to the bite.
It was dense, savory, and sustaining. It was already making him hungry. He better wrap it well lest they eat it too early.
Another variation was called Dawnfire Roll. It was made of shredded smoked gugu bird, sliced panfried thornroot mash, and a dash of brightsweet pear syrup, sprinkled with fried surgefern bits.
It would be light but rich and add an energizing herbal crackle to start the day without weighing them down.
He wanted to give them something comforting, warm-spiced, and calming for their dinner. He chose stewed gugu bird dish that was mixed with vegetable and bindergrain rice. He added a bit of nettleflame for added warmth. They would be packed in a bowl and made easy to consume without a table.
For snacks, he decided that jerky, biscuits (from bindergrain flour), and maybe a protein bar would be a great set.
All the food preparation made the people curious, and they couldn’t help but peek.
They looked over the kitchen and felt themselves surrounded by seductive aromas that made them want to eat again. They were surprised to see he was packing so much, though.
"This looks a lot," Marcus said. "How many cores? We got a lot."
Finn smiled. "Consider it my gift," he said. "You’ve already helped me enough. Besides, you’re the ones who hunted and butchered the meat."
"Aww, thank you, but you should still keep a portion of the cores. We got so many thanks to your barrier anyway."
At this, they put a few cores on the coffee table, about 13 of them (how many monsters did they hunt exactly?), washed in the bathroom beforehand.
"How much is it sold for in the town?" he asked. He knew how much they sold in the Hearth Market, but he knew the buying price in the system was much lower than the actual.
"In border towns, an awakened Core would sell for about 6000-7000 danas," they said. So this was about a little over 1 gold for 2 cores, which was indeed a higher conversion rate than what the [Hearth Market] offered, which was around 3 cores per gold.
"The deeper into the safe zone, it could get quite a bit more expensive, and could increase to around 9000-10000 danas, oftentimes more."
Finn nodded, taking note. This was not only because it could’ve changed hands a few times, but also because they were so far from the danger zone, and it was inconvenient to travel several days or even weeks to get a few.
As always, the law of supply and demand determined the figures. In the same way, cores would be less valued right here in the wild, where they were easier to access, and he preferred to have gold instead.
Anyway, the group finally prepared to leave midmorning. Durgan also took note that he did not have a lunch box, and the others didn’t point it out.
Interestingly, Durgan was also not carrying anything with him. Considering the others’ reactions, he reckoned they had already talked this through among themselves.
That said, Finn wanted it explicit, lest he embarrassed himself. "I didn’t give you a lunchbox because you won’t need it, right?"
"They can only have the lunchbox, but you can eat that every day ," he couldn’t help but add, just in case.
The girls gave him a look while Marcus sniffled. Can he apply?
Finn smiled. "You can live a chill, relaxed life with nature, and all you have to do is help me with some stuff."
"You’re retiring anyway. This is the best place, right?"
"So, I’ll ask you one more time, Durgan, just to make it official: Would you accept being Staff #3?!"