They were quiet for a while, watching the man’s expert moves.
Whoa! He flipped those flimsy looking eggs and easily caught them in the pan.
Whoa! How could those plants be sliced so thin?
Wow, how could that hard, gamey meat from monsters be cubed so perfectly?
Ravin was the first to gather his wits, and he turned to look at the goblins. "Who is that?" he asked, asking which top chef this was, as he was unfamiliar. He would then ask what he was doing here as a follow-up. Unexpectedly, he did not receive such an answer from the little ones.
"Oh! That is our master, the Innkeeper," the goblins chimed in. "Please, good sirs, let us register and book you a room."
Micc was the one in charge of the front desk whenever there were customers. Customers were rare though, so he would spend most of his time helping out with forming the giant kiln bit by bit and then also killing the monsters that attacked the barrier.
"We still have enough stamina, there’s no need to register yet," Ravin said, voice of reason as always.
"We can always check in later after another round of fights," he said as he looked around. The place was nice and clean, but there was no one else but them.
"We won’t lose a room by waiting."
"I see, I see, good luck sirs! Are you going hunting now?"
It so happened that Durgan and Micc had recently cleared out a mob, so there was none in the immediate surroundings at this time, so the group had yet to see how amazing the barrier was.
But it wasn’t like they could make them wait, right? Instead, sales-goblins showed them the [Inn Shop].
While experimenting, the boss made a few slow-perishable snacks whenever he got stuck for a change of pace. Sometimes, he’d make hot meals (in which case the staff benefited as taste testers); it was food they could sell in the shop.
Right now, about two rows were filled with these items. There were crackers, jerky, and protein bars. There were also a few roasted nuts and marinated nuts. They looked nice and well-made, too.
"Except for the nuts, they are mostly essence food! You can check if you have appraisal skill," Tumble said, rather confidently. The rest flinched.
"Essence food?"
Nobles ate essence food every so often, but were they supposed to believe that the essence food here was presented as snacks displayed on a cabinet?
Ignus walked forward to check and looked at his masters. Arthur took out an appraisal tool from his space, easily validating the goblins’ words.
"It really is essence food."
"What..."
The two nobles checked randomly, and not just most, all of the ones they checked were Class E essence food—and they checked a lot of them.
Their eyes were wide, and they looked at the goblins.
"We’ll buy everything !" Arthur said, not caring about the price, which was definitely not low. Ravin could only rub his temple, but stayed quiet in the end.
Essence food was good, but this guy really forgot their funds were limited.
There was no use arguing with simple-minded twins. He must’ve taken all the wits back in the womb. Old men said it was the intelligent people who were most depressed. That was indeed very true.
Well, it looked like he’d have to mentally prepare themselves in case they failed, and that they’d have to take some adventurer jobs to make up for their deficits.
He was pulled back from reality when an armful of goods was practically handed to him by force. "Hey, my space is almost full. Can you put the rest in yours?"
"..."
Ravin just placed it in his space (he had always compartmentalized and was a minimalist, so he did have space). At this time, he just humored his stupid brother.
...
A few hours later, late the next morning, the twins fought with dozens and dozens of monsters, taking them down. They were sweaty and panting, but because they were productive, their eyes were bright.
There was still a lot of mystery in that inn, but they had a deadline to catch up to. There simply was no time to dilly-dally, so everyone just headed further north, where there were more monsters.
They had indeed been planning to camp, but this was because things were so uncertain. However, when they saw that there was a place to stay comfortably, they decided to push for a few more hours. This would also maximize the value of their stay.
It was dark, yes, but their guards could hold torches.
Speaking of guards, an examinee could only take one each, and they could only be at fortified stage at the most. They could only defend as well.
Anyway, for the first couple hours of grinding, with the help of the two guards, the twins’ productivity was actually quite high, about double that of a normal awakened/charged tier person.
They would push the beasts away when they got close, or push them closer when the time was right. They would even kick them into each other. With these distractions, the twins managed to kill the monsters with relative ease.
Sadly, they had stamina, mana, and HP to worry about, so it wasn’t unlimited forces either. The first couple of hours, they’d consume potions like water, just so they could continue fighting.
Unexpectedly, unluckily, there were far more toughened monster mobs that appeared! Even the two guards were confused. "We are not near the border of Level 1 and Level 2...this should not be happening so often."
At some point, it felt like they had inadvertently entered Level 2 danger zones without knowing, but they had not.
When they encountered a mob like this before, they just thought they were unlucky. Now...it seemed like the danger zone changed a lot in the past few months.
Did something happen in the dungeon areas that they didn’t know about?
Soon, their potions ran out, and much faster than they thought. They had to budget it well if they were to last for a long time.
Further, potions could not sate hunger. They were getting tired and hungry. It was here that Ravin remembered the food in his space. Ravin was suspicious by nature though so he was really reluctant to try.
Unexpectedly, it flew out of his hand. Ravin looked at his brother. "Oh! Let me have one!"
Crunch!
His eyes widened, and he froze. Ravin’s heart fell, and he ran to his brother, slashing a monster that almost bit his head off.
"Hey! What’s wrong?" the dark-haired young man asked, worried for this stupid brother.
They should not have trusted that food! Even if they used appraisal tools, there could be loopholes they did not know of!
Someone built such large structures in the middle of the danger zone, nary a scratch. Regardless of whether they were legitimate, their methods should not have been underestimated.
While the dark-haired twin was wallowing in regret, brain surging in an attempt to find a way to save his brother, the aforementioned brother suddenly flinched and exclaimed.
"It’s... it’s... it’s delicious !" Arthur said, gasping to the point that he could barely breathe. Ravin’s face darkened, slapping the back of his head.
"HEY! What was that for?!" the blonde yelled, then shut his mouth when he saw some of the precious food fall out. "Give me some more, brother!" he said, and he got the food thrown to his face as a response.
Arthur did not take offense and simply continued his fight.
"This snack is a lifesaver!" Arthur said, slashing away at the monster with renewed strength (his extra stamina was mainly psychological though, energy brought by good food).
Arthur was actually a mage too, but his affinity was fire, and he preferred close contact, so he found a fitting skill of his fire element, enhancing whatever weapon he decided to hold.
Fortunately, his sword had a passive ’burn’ effect and extra penetration, which made up for his lack of brute strength.
Ravin waved his staff, summoning sharp ice shards that stabbed at the monsters.
He panted, his energy slowly being pulled away by his hunger. Reluctantly, he took some of those snacks and ate a few as well.
His eyes widened a bit as he did so, but he didn’t want to show it, so he just continued to summon his ice spikes, quickly swallowing the food in his mouth.
The guards had long been eating their own snacks, watching their masters, and ready to take them away as soon as they were in irreversible danger.
Anyway, they saw how much slower the two had gotten, and the guards took it as a sign to slowly head back to the inn.
They managed to defend themselves well, but the potions would soon run out. They could not afford to use the rest as they were rationed to last the rest of the week.
Still, they should’ve given way much earlier. When the guards made some introspection, they realized that the increase in their recovery was palpable.
They couldn’t help but remember the chef who seemed to show a massive amount of aura in the kitchen. The goblins mentioned that the snacks were made by their boss. Could it be him?
Who were those people?