A/N: Long chap! Almost 2 chaps in one!
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"But...what if we had a rest place nearby? Better, did you see that barrier? And look at those monsters!" he said, pointing at the few monsters that had approached and lunged, but were blocked by an invisible wall.
Some flinched, not even noticing there was a monster! It seemed like it followed their group there.
However, rather than being a threat, the monster that had been trying to attack them seemed useless!
Miya’s eyebrows rose, and she raised her bow and arrow, shooting at the beasts with accuracy and power. It went through the barrier and stabbed at the monster, and it could only let out a loud roar as it was shot, but it was too powerless to retaliate!
Miya’s eyes brightened, and before they knew it, several arrows had already been shot. Because they were all facing them, their weak spots—like the eyes and the throat—were practically displayed in front of them!
Soon, the monsters fell one by one, and all without any of them breaking a sweat.
Victor sparkled, looking at his teammate. "As you just saw, we could attack from the inside while the monsters could not."
The more he said, the more the people felt excited. Finn smiled, having fun watching a true leader convince everyone else, particularly because he was getting the advantage.
"We can kill so many in a day and all while keeping most of our stats stable the whole time! And even if we run out, we can safely recover them here!"
This was in stark contrast to the usual practice. They would hunt in groups, kill several, find a place to rest, then go at it again. In that model, their stamina and health steadily declined. It could even dip if at least one of them got injured.
One of them getting injured was adding burdens to the rest of the team. They wouldn’t be able to rest properly either, because their blood was sure to attract the damned beasts.
"This is so practical. We can train, hunt, and grow stronger while having a nice place to rest after everything."
"Although it’s a bit on the pricier range, the amount of cores we could gather this way could easily offset that and more."
Victor smiled, and at this point, everyone was already convinced. "We could be more productive while also feeling comfortable, what’s not to like?"
....
And so began the long-term stay of the Traniel, Lian, and a few other adventurer teams in the Inn.
Most only paid for a night or two, though they vouched to pay for the rest in cores, so they hoped to be the first priority for renewal when the time came. Anyway, the check-in time was noon every day, so they had time.
It was lunch time when they arrived, so Finn decided to hold a large barbecue, complete with cool fruit juice. To celebrate a huge number of people, Finn didn’t charge them for the meal.
Anyway, since they would be cooking outside, the product might not be essence food at all. Not to mention the meat, the main ingredient, practically didn’t cost anything.
Plus they’d be cooking it themselves, hehe.
This would be an eat-all-you-can barbecue. Durgan and the goblins set up a group of grills arranged in a u-shape. Micc helped out by creating platforms and seats with his earth magic.
Micc was an earth mage from one of the teams. He seemed meek because of his thin physique, but looked like a hard worker eager to help out.
Also, while his show of abilities didn’t seem impressive, his control he had was.
While everything else was prepared by the staff, Finn marinated the meat in a separate sauce mixed with sapsurge sap. The ones for coating and dipping while being grilled were separate. Finn provided them with the sauces for every grill, easily accessible to each guest.
There were big skewers, but there were also smaller cuts for leaf or vegetable wraps. Finn taught them about wrapping them up in grapeheart leaf, which had a clear, refreshing taste to it. It added a special crunch to each bite of a flavorful meal.
For the meat-veggy wraps, he also added other things like pickled vegetables and grilled pieces of sliced stonebulb.
It was so incredibly delicious, the adventurers thought the pay was worth it even before they entered their rooms!
After this, they could still eat as much as they wanted. However, in exchange, they had to get the meat themselves. But considering that there were plenty of monsters attracted by their numbers and the aroma of the food, it wasn’t difficult at all!
At this time, in fact, there should be two dozen monsters ramming into their area alone.
"I have never been so excited to see monsters before..." Marcus said, grinning, as he approached the new mob.
Victor laughed. "Who’d have thought, indeed."
They were followed by their teammates, many of them running out of the barrier as if to make sure no monster escaped.
The group cleared out the mobs in record time. Except for those that could have cores, they still left a few carcasses outside, to make sure more monsters would be attracted.
"Monsters, COME!" Marcus yelled, clapping his hands in challenge.
They never would have imagined they’d purposely lure mobs to them, but that was the fun in life.
The next hour was like this, people would fight, capture, butcher, and eat, and then butcher again. It was quite fascinating. None of them had done anything like it before.
"This is amazing!!" Marcus said, glomping on his food, which was probably several kilograms of meat already.
The girls were much more demure, but it didn’t mean they were enjoying it any less. They ate more variety though, adding more greens to their diets. "This pickle is also good! It refreshes the palate."
"Yes, it’s so flavorful, unlike the pickles I had back home."
There were also sides made of dried berries and nuts, mixed to perfection. It added the much-needed extra crunch and texture, making sure they would never feel tired of the tastes despite consuming kilograms of meat per person.
When someone mentioned that they were great as sides to any meal, Finn mentioned that once he could mass-produce them, he’d sell them off, too.
This naturally excited everyone, and they immediately made reservations.
"This is really special, the food and the experience," Victor said, handing a stick of kebab to his wife while he bit his own. His wife laughed, much more gracefully, but anyone who knew her could tell she was also enjoying herself.
"This dip goes so well with the seasoned meat," she said. "And the juice is so refreshing. How is it so cool?"
"We have our ways," Finn said. In fact, he knew there were ways ancient people made ice. Some used saltpeter (which he didn’t have the technical skills to make), and another was special vats that used natural processes to make ice (he remembered it being mentioned in one of his period dramas).
He didn’t quite know how to make that either. Fortunately, he had a cheat called Magic Cellar, a literal refrigerator, so he didn’t have to pull his hair thinking about it.
There were also those who started eyeing the sauces more. "These are so good. It makes everything taste better."
Finn smiled, sparkling. "We’re considering selling the sauces," he smiled, and everyone flinched and looked at him. "We can’t do much, but we should be able to prepare a few bottles before you leave. It won’t be cheap though."
It wouldn’t be expensive to make, actually, but he knew the value of his goods. Even if the costs were low, if it deserved to be priced high compared to what else was in the market, he’d take it!
Similarly, his future customers felt the same. "We’re willing!"
"Reserve me a few bottles of everything!"
Finn laughed. "We’ll probably limit it to a maximum of one bottle of something per person," he said. "We don’t have enough materials yet!"
Their shoulders slumped at the same time. Finn found it amusing that big, powerful adventurers were acting like babies.
Hilariously, the teams started huddling together. "I will buy this sauce, you will buy that sauce."
"This fits better with barbecue, and that one for sides. I’m the one always outside, let me buy that one."
"Fine, but you’ll treat me to a bag of those nuts."
Look at these dudes. They were already making a game plan.
This ’strategy’ was, interestingly, led by Micc, the earth mage. He was the other team’s mage, and he was quite the foodie despite his frame that looked like it could be blown away. (He wasn’t that meek, after all, at least when it came to food.)
The fighters and tanks, brothers Hudson and Herbie, also ate their 100th stick. "This would be great with alcohol."
Finn smiled. "Well, we’re preparing a few vats," Finn smiled, his inner salesman continuously triggered. "They should be available within a few days, before you guys leave."
The mention of alcohol made adventurers sparkle. And, considering how great the other products were, they were really looking forward to it.
"Good, good!"
This time was also used for the friends to catch up on and for the new acquaintances to learn about each other.
He even learned how Victor and Reesa met. Apparently, it was on a mission where both of them were part of a big mission group, and a rather dangerous mob attacked them. The two were separated and found themselves alone in a cave, injured, and waiting for rescue.
Reesa still had some mana left and used it to heal Victor instead. While this was indeed a practical choice considering Victor was much stronger, they did not know each other well and what she did was an incredible show of trust.
"It was a gamble and I won," she said with a light blush on her face, while Victor wanted to cover his face because he was blushing harder.
Obviously, something else happened in that cave.
Their reaction caused hoots and cheers all around.
This was the first of the many stories Finn would hear today, and many of them roused similar reactions, even from Finn.
He realized that he hadn’t had so much unadulterated fun in a long time, and he really liked it.