Asya dipped her sandwich on the cheese soup she placed on the flat stone in front of her, pulling her hand out, a sandwich that dripped with soupy cheese steam within her grip, staring at her friend, she bit down and nodded. She chewed, feeling the taste of the two jerkies overcoming the initial taste of the cheese while the pickles and cabbage made things salty and fresh respectively- Asya was surprised, she met Jacob's eyes and decided to compliment her friend, "Huh, it does taste good,"
Though she was the one to prepare the cheese soup- Jacob has said that he has no experience in making it whatsoever and was even surprised to learn that something like that existed back when he first heard it from Kaxa, - it was Jacob who made the sandwiches all the while saying that "placement" is essential or something inane like that. That was the first time that she saw her friend act noble-like and for all her life, Asya can't fathom why he'd bother acting that way when it comes to making and eating food. The latter part, the young Baroness understood, dinner table etiquette had been drilled into her actions ever since she learned how to talk, it was pretty important when merchants liked to visit your territory and thus, stay at your guest rooms after all.
"A noble cannot be found lacking," - would be her father's words to her whenever she complained about having too much "work" and crying about how her teachers are "very annoying".
With a shake of her head, Asya pressed her knees together and took another bite of her sandwich, this time without cheese. Without the liquid cheese seeping inside the bread, it tasted normal. That is to say, Dry. - though she does not know why she thought the taste would be different. Well, to be fair, it was, but that mostly had something to do with the foodstuff in between the bread, the Jerky, Pickle, and fresh Cabbage did wonders to the taste of dry bread but doing this isn't all that strange, she'd seen farmers do the same at some point, and as a noble, Asya has never seen the appeal of eating something like this.
She was glad to be proven wrong.
Jacob smiled at her and took a bite of his own cheese soaked sandwich, "It's good right?" He asked, pretty much repeating what Asya said, as he often does. He'd said a word to describe it, 'rhetorical', that was the word- there was no equivalent in their language though she understood the meaning and a memory of some people doing the same even flashed at the forefront of her mind.
"I like it," she admitted, soaking her bread far longer than necessary, she liked the taste of cheese and if she doesn't like this next bite, then she can always find the middle ground sometime in the future. For now, a dip or a long soak would suffice. She took a bite and flavor soaked her tongue, it wasn't overbearing, as most sweets would do, but it felt right.
It was easy to chew and swallow, as though the food was inviting her to stop chewing and enjoy its flavors. As if! She'd be caught dead before she stopped letting flavor soak her tongue- though that has led to a few odd situations when she was young. Particularly, when she was chewing rubber and got caught by her father, the tongue lashing after that had been harsh but well deserved.
She only chewed rubber occasionally, and also! She now has her personal chew toy, as any self respecting noble would.
Or a weird one.
As she pouted at herself for calling herself weird, her friend gulped down his food and spoke, "Honestly? This isn't even the tip of what I'm used to." He started to say and that got the intrigue of not just Asya, because in the corners of her eyes, she saw a few of the merchants perk up at the mention of the things someone like him is used to.
Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.
Asya has only had second accounts and stories about the life before Jacob had come to this world, and she deemed that it was enough- she knew he was an exceptional mage trained with diamond bats for trials and fed through diamond spoons to heal, and the result was what is sitting in front of her, a [Great Mage] at such a young age (she refuses to believe that he is the simple "Mage" that he claims to be because no [Mage] is that powerful,) and it's not like his magical prowess is everything those rumors talked about.
No, they also talked of his family owning entire islands as well as eating exotic foodstuffs.
That last part is probably why people are intrigued, "Oh? Do tell." She said, curious as for what her friend would give as an answer as well.
She leaned in, she wrapped her arms around her legs and watched as Jacob looked thoughtful, ever since they started the move to the Dukedom, she had seen him with that face most of the time, like Jacob couldn't help but be fascinated by the world around him, like his mind goes through miles in a minute as he thought about the implications of everything he sees- as if the world he's seeing is downright new. It was a weird thing to think about, like Jacob hadn't seen anything like Fanna all his life.
Personally, Asya wouldn't really be surprised if that's the case, her parents were bad enough with lessons, and she's heard that Dukes would often push their children harder than that, from studies to physical work. Asya couldn't imagine what that would be like for someone who might as well be on the same level as royalty.
Jacob's thoughtful looked disappeared and a warm expression replaced it, "There's this thing called chocolate back home." He started and Asya listened, by the Gods, she knew that the words was- it was something sweet, tasty. Like sugar, or cake, maybe. With the way Jacob described it, Asya might've been fooled that it was just simple foodstuff but the underlying intent of the word is there- depending on how it's made, 'chocolate' can be very delicious.
"It's a very sweet thing," Asya nodded, she got that much. "And well, there are different types back in my world, but there are three main ones- Milk, Standard, and Dark." Asya got those as well, milk was extra sweet while dark was slightly bitter? Odd. Though despite that, it was still sweet. "And depending on who you ask, there are also other flavors like Caramelized or maybe Creamed."
"They sound nice," she commented, getting a nod from her friend.
"Yeah." He said, "They're amazing depending on the price and my sister even bought a factory just so that she can have a constant stream of the stuff," Jacob started to laugh while Asya considered the implications of the word that he just said: 'Factory' a Workshop, Smithing Guild, and an inhuman labor force so efficient, it makes the bog standard Orc look tame when it comes to workload- and not to mention, all three traits rolled into one massive building.
Asya's eyes widened and she can tell that the people around her, including the merchants, reacted the same way she did. Asya hid her surprise well and the merchants were thankful that Jacob wasn't facing them.
"Your sister bought her own?" Asya asked, surprised.
"Yeah. She wanted to make... uhm, liquid chocolate because she's some sort of foodie so she bought one in dedication to that-" Jacob grinned, "- also, because she's the only one pretty much eating it-" again, Asya was surprised, a Factory meant to serve a single person... more often than not, she has wondered just what kind of status Jacob had back in his original plane, "- she decided to brand her jars with a ripped off name, 'Attela,' which is a mix of her own name and the brand."
"... I see." Asya forcefully snapped herself out of her own shock, "do you also have a factory?"
"Me?" Jacob hummed, then shook his head, "wasn't really the type for that. They either belonged to my two sisters, or in a rare case, one of my brothers." He said with a shrug, "One has an entire chain of them-" Asya held herself back, "- for the clothes that she sells or from time to time, rents to a particular designer."
"While the other one likes food so... food it was." Jacob sighed, "She's pretty chubby because of it."
"Sounds like she's rich," Asya commented before her brain caught up, "oh. Probably pretty obvious huh?"
Jacob laughed, "I guess." He shook his head, "Dad wanted me to make my own company just like his so that's what I did." He added with a shrug, "I don't own hundreds of Factories but Dad said he'd help me make connections so all's well that ends well I guess?"
Asya shook her head, she honestly shouldn't be surprised anymore at this point, "That sounds like a life."
Jacob's face turned sullen, "maybe."