"I'll have the chickweed salad and a yuzu soda."

Lia Maywaters told Elora. The young girl quickly wrote down the order before turning to her companions to receive theirs. When she left, Thalis was quick to tease

"Little dove, you're so predictable. You should really try branching out a little more. This tavern has an excellent alcohol menu; you can't beat the prices! Although, it is a bit strange how unbalanced the prices are around here..."

Ruby shook her head as she chipped in

"I don't know how the prices are decided, but surely there is some logic to it we aren't seeing. For one thing, there are clearly three different staff working here whereas I've only seen the same girl cleaning the inn rooms each day."

Eldrin was working as the busboy and dishwasher, even taking orders when he had a few spare minutes. Meanwhile, Veronica was serving alcohol and cooking all of the dishes by herself. Eldrin had been allowed to help prepare some of the ingredients when the tavern wasn't open, but wasn't knowledgeable enough in cooking yet. Since Elora also had to clean rooms earlier in the day, she was given the job of server so that she could, hopefully, have some more downtime to relax. Of course, Lia's party wasn't privy to every last detail, but they could still observe enough of it to make their own observations.

The drinks were brought to their table at the same time. The alcohol was poured into drinking glasses while the yuzu soda was served in its bottle with its cork removed. As this was the first day the tavern was open, it also meant this was the first time they could try any of the new menu [Items]. Lia slowly sipped at the yuzu drink in the bottle and nearly choked as she took in the strange sensation of bubbles popping on her tongue.

"Are you okay?"

Ruby asked, seeming overly concerned. Alaric looked around warily, reaching for his sword as he did so. This was still a dungeon, after all, so there was every possibility that it was a [Trap] of some sort. Lia shook her head, quick to reassure them

"I'm fine! I was just taken by surprise. The drink has some sort of strange feeling to it when I drink it. It tastes good, though. The flavor is light, but there is a nice floral flavor from the yuzu."

Alaric had ordered a plain water while Ruby had ordered an ale and Thalis had decided to try the dandelion wine. As the party leader, Alaric tended to feel responsible for keeping them safe and didn't like to drink. As for the other two, well, the stereotypes about the preferences of their race wouldn't exist if there wasn't some truth to it. The Dwarves were well known for their famous ales while Elves tended to make the most of everything they found on their land, which often included making wine from fruit. Lia had fond memories of her own village preparing the wine for the season as a group effort when she was younger. It always led to a celebration once the season's harvest was complete.

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Thalis narrowed his eyes as he took a more careful sip of his own drink. The way he ran his tongue over his lips and tilted his head to the side, it was clear he was giving it careful consideration. Nodding, he declared

"There doesn't seem to be anything amiss for me. This wine is sweet with some earthy notes from the dandelions. It seems more akin to a mead than a wine, but, otherwise, isn't much different from anything else I've had. It's a bit much to have to pluck twenty individual flowers just to pay for a glass, though. At that point, it almost seems like I may as well make this drink myself."

Ruby snorted as she replied disdainfully

"Everything is easier to make when you are making it in bulk. My ale might be slightly cheaper than your drink, but I don't think it's an unfair price. I'd happily go back out and defeat a few more gargoyles and collect the rubble they leave behind to buy another glass."

As they had been staying at the inn for a while now, they already knew the points system wouldn't accept anything they collected from the dungeon without it first leaving the premises. However, it was also true that the smaller pieces of magic stone weren't useful to the guild the way the larger chunks were. They had taken to saving them for paying for their inn rooms, but not everyone enjoyed the repetitiveness of picking up such small pieces.

Thalis was an archer class, but he also had some knowledge of herbalism and could easily forage useful supplies from the woods. So, he usually just collected enough extra to pay for everything he needed around the dungeon and then took a break when they weren't actively in combat. No one complained, though, as potions tended to be far more expensive than making a poultice from herbs. If they weren't seriously injured then they weren't going to bother with the expense. Their party was still too low in ranking to take on the more valuable quests at the adventurers' guild and they had more important goals in mind like saving up for better gear.

When their food came out from the kitchen, Elora was joined by the young Elven boy. That allowed them to bring all of the food out at once. Ruby was practically drooling as she immediately picked up her boar burger and took a bite, the juices running down her face. Everyone else had also chosen a hot entree, leaving only Lia with a salad. Still, she couldn't complain as she noted there was a nice balance to the ingredients. The watercress and chickweed were fresh, the berries were sweet, and the berry vinaigrette was tart.

Unfortunately, they hadn't been expecting the cost of the dishes here to be quite so expensive, so they wouldn't be able to afford dessert today. After adjusting to the costs of the inn rooms, they had even begun to splurge on the nicer rooms on occasion. However, they'd most definitely have to share two of the 15 DP rooms tonight. As they tended to spend all day working on quests or fighting [Monsters] in the dungeon, they rarely had time to make it to the marketplace before the shops closed. However, Lia couldn't help but think it might be better to wake up a little earlier tomorrow so she could try and purchase some extra [Items] to use as payment tomorrow night. The acorn spice cake just sounded so good, she had to have it!