Vasir Rez pointed at the two Monsters and asked, “Boss, why do you have… those things with you? We are supposed to cook them? Because I don’t think Slimes are edible!”
“No, they are Meryda’s new friends. She found them in that cave where she got lost, and she wants to keep them. She told them to behave while she went to meet her friends, and they seemed to understand what she wanted. The Salamander’s name is Lyzy, and the Slime is Jelly.”
Then, a low screech from the right corner called Craydon’s attention. What he saw made him feel a shiver along his spine. Two strange, light grey beings were staring at him, with bald heads, big, round, and black eyes, thin arms and legs, and dressed in only a long, stained white shirt that reached their knees. They were barefoot, and both had an iron collar around their necks with a chain connected to another iron collar around their right wrist, and from the wrist, another chain connected to a collar on their right ankle.
Emid Basson noticed where Craydon was staring and said, “Boss, they already took care of the fire in the stove, and I was about to signal them to start peeling the potatoes while we take care of the meat.”
Craydon nodded and tried to disguise his surprise the best he could when the young Emid Basson took from a string around his neck some sort of instrument that he clicked two times while pointing to the pile of potatoes in the left corner of the kitchen.
Two sounds that resembled a doorbell were the signal, and the two strange beings rushed to the potatoes, and they started peeling them with their sharp fingernails, placing the prepared potatoes on an empty pot that Emid Basson put next to them.
With an awkward smile, Craydon commented, “At least they are trained. So, besides potatoes, what else do we have?”
Vasir Rez answered while going for the pantry, with his dark fluffy tail waving behind him. “The meat is in the cellar, to keep it cold. I brought it straight from the market a few hours ago. It is pork that was killed right after lunch, so it is really fresh.”
Craydon checked the knives that were hanging on a wall, right next to the stove. He opened the small door at the bottom of the stove and looked at the wood that was already turning into bright coal.
The moment the Salamander felt the blazing heat coming from the opening and before Craydon could stop him, he jumped in, placed the bright coal around him, and laid there, closing his eyes for a nap.
Craydon kept staring at the weird lizard, noticing that his scales were turning brighter and more orange than before. The entire stove seemed to become hotter, and he said to the puzzled Emid Basson, “I guess we don’t need to put in more wood. It seems this Salamander likes fire, and his body can increase the temperature of the stove without the need for more wood. So, seasoning for the meat… What do we have around here? Garlic and wine, for instance. And perhaps oil?”
Emid Basson rushed to the pantry and returned with two huge containers of different liquids and a big collar of garlic around his neck that almost reached his ankles. Or what seemed to be garlic because each head was the size of an onion.
Craydon took one head and peeled it, smelling the inside and squeezing it slightly to check if it was really garlic or if it was somewhat similar. He then opened the two containers and smelled each of them as well.
When Vasir Rez returned from the cellar with a massive piece of meat, he placed it over the counter in the middle of the kitchen, and after taking a few deep breaths to recover, he asked, “What do you want us to do with this, boss? Cut into cubes to make a stew?”
“Slice it into thin slices, the size of a dish. I will take care of the seasoning. Emid, do we have a hammer around here? Or something made of wood that we can use to pound the meat?”
“Pound the meat, boss? For what?”
“To make it tender, of course. See if you can find something to pound the slices that Vasir is cutting while I get a basin to put the wine and garlic in. Clean a counter and pound the slices there, and I will put the seasoning right after. Can those… Demons… cut the potatoes into thin slices? I want to fry the slices to serve them together with the meat.”
While going to the two Demons, Emid Basson answered, “They can do that if I show them what to do. They normally just peel the potatoes and wrap them in stove paper for us to put in the oven to roast, but I think they can manage that.”
Emid Basson stood next to the two Demons for a few minutes, making sure they were slicing the potatoes correctly and putting the thin slices into the pot he gave them.
He then went in search of something made of wood and quickly cleaned a counter with water and a rag. He then faced Craydon with a wooden roll in his hand and asked, “Will this work? I think I can pound the meat with this.”
“That will do. Vasir, put the slices here. Emid, pound them, but carefully. I just want the meat to be tender, not destroyed.”
While Emid Basson was pounding the first slice of meat, Craydon was watching and signaled him when it was time to stop, explaining that the other slices were meant to become like that one.
Emid watched as Craydon poured wine into the basin and sliced garlic into tiny pieces that he then joined to the wine and salt, together with some sort of red powder that tasted like pepper and dried leaves that had a bitter taste.
With a wooden spoon, Craydon mixed everything, and the moment Emid gave him the first pounded slices, Craydon carefully put them inside the basin and turned them over by hand, making sure the strange seasoning covered the slices of meat.
While Emid was pounding more slices and Vasir was slicing the meat, Craydon went to the stove and put a large pan over one hole on top of the stove, from where the heat from the coal and the Salamander was coming. He poured oil into the pan and carefully placed the first slice of meat to fry, together with pieces of garlic on top and still dripping wine.
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While the first slice was frying, Craydon quickly put a big, deep pot over another hole of the stove, added more oil, salt, and wine, and let it boil.
One by one, the fried slices of meat entered the pot, while Craydon was slowly mixing everything with a long wooden spoon.
Following his instructions, Emid put a deep pan over the other hole of the stove, put oil inside, and waited for it to get hot. Carefully, he poured the thin slices of potatoes and waited for them to turn gold-colored. Meanwhile, he put another pan to fry the eggs that Craydon told him to get.
Quickly, Emid took out the fried potatoes, put them on a large plate, and put more potatoes to fry.
The noise and the smell called the attention of the servants in the dining room, and they went to the kitchen, with Craydon rushing them to get plates and put on each plate a portion of fried potatoes, a piece of meat, a fried egg, and a portion of the sauce where the meat was cooking.
Puzzled, the two servants did as he said, because even if they had never seen such kind of food, the smell was inebriating.
Both of them carried plate after plate to the main room, with their mouths salivating and wanting to taste that new and strange dish.
The moment the Explorers and the Adventurers looked at the plate a servant put on the table in front of them, they all wondered what it was, but the smell was too tempting for them not to try.
In minutes, the woman behind the counter was pouring cups of beer one after the other because the moment someone took a bite of that strange dish, they asked for a beer.
Even with so many people inside the main room and more arriving, Craydon and his helpers didn’t have any problem finishing the orders. The dish that Craydon thought about was not only tasty, but it was also easy and quick to prepare.
While Craydon and his helpers were taking care of the dinner, Meryda arrived at the big tree on the left side of the market.
The group of kids was already there, and she gulped when she saw them staring at her with such serious faces. She approached them in silence, and it was then that she noticed.
The angry-looking boy with dog ears and a tail, the girl with the lower half of a snake, and two Centaurs, half boy and half horse, and the other, a half girl and half horse. They all had their eyes red, and they seemed to be crying for hours.
Pof Grinun stared at Meryda in silence, and suddenly he hugged her. The others had to wait for him to let go before they could also hug the puzzled girl. Meryda then faced them and said, “Sorry… for worrying you guys so much…”
With a grin, Pof said, “No sorry, bend over.”
“Say what?”
“You heard me. Turn around, bend down, and wait for your punishment. You know you deserve it.”
Meryda gasped and noticed everyone was cracking their knuckles as if they were getting ready to hit her. She did as Pof Grinun told her. She turned back, bent over, grabbed her knees, and clenched her teeth. One by one, they all slapped her buttocks hard, making her muffle a scream every time she was hit.
She then looked back and saw they were all smiling, and she asked, “Finished? Can I…”
Pof nodded and put one arm over her shoulders the moment she faced them again and said, “Girl, you scared us to death! Don’t you ever run away from us like that! We were supposed to check that cave, not get killed! Now, tell us what the heck happened after you fell into that hole! And why did your father and the Guild Master let you keep those two Monsters? That is a ridiculous idea — two Monsters for pets!”
Meryda made an awkward smile and told them what happened when she fell through the hole that suddenly appeared beneath her, hiding the fact that she was originally from another World, and the encounter with the Bone Boar when she exited the cave.
When they were walking towards the Guild because it was getting late, and it was almost dinnertime, Tetil Stog, the Demi-Lamia girl, asked, “You are going home tonight? Cause tomorrow is your father’s day off, right? You are going to be in your farm all day, right?”
“I… suppose so… My father and I… We only sleep at the Guild when he finishes his work too late for us to go home to our… farm? Yeah… we have a farm… Up north of this City, thirty minutes ride on our wagon. Why do you ask?”
“Because we usually go see you to hang out! After finishing our chores at home, of course. After lunch, usually, unless your father cooks something for us, and you invite us for lunch! It has been a while since the last time he cooked for us! My mom cooks just fine, but your father? Man, he is amazing!”
“Better after lunch. I am not sure if he has something in the pantry to make lunch for all of us. I think I need to go hunting with him because I am almost sure we don’t have meat or fish stocked in the cellar. But I could be wrong… I don’t exactly remember it well.”
The Centaur boy smiled and said, “Tetil, stop trying to get a free meal! We can all go hunting in the afternoon tomorrow, Meryda. Our parents also asked us to hunt. We were going to do that this afternoon, but with your weird accident, we couldn’t.”
The Centaur girl nodded with a worried look and said, “I don’t know what our mother made for dinner. She was counting on our hunt…”
They all stopped in front of the Guild door, and the happy shouts and clapping inside made them wonder what was happening.