Chapter 16: 9.1

Chapter 9-1: The Old River Restaurant (1)

After passing through almost half of Sarus's outer city with Lana herding Erwin along the entire way, the two of them finally reached the Old River Restaurant.

This restaurant was clearly also a very old establishment, but unlike the Luzen Equipment Shop, it hadn't been renovated in many years. The brown paint on the storefront was already riddled with countless cracks from being tested by the elements over an extended period of time, and its name of "Old River" was quite fitting for such an establishment.

Lana pretended to not see the suspicion and disgust in Erwin's eyes as she opened the door and entered the restaurant, and Erwin could only follow along behind her.

Upon entering the restaurant, Erwin was greeted by a completely unexpected sight. To his surprise, business was booming in the restaurant, and there were barely any vacant seats.

As soon as the two of them entered the restaurant, they immediately attracted a lot of attention from the patrons.

Everyone was rather perplexed to see a pair of young nobles here. After all, this place was already quite deep in the outer city, and very rarely were nobles ever sighted here.

In addition to that, Lana's stunning appearance was extremely eye-catching, and many of the people dining at the restaurant were frequently looking up from their food to glance at her.

Lana paid no heed to the attention that she was receiving as she grabbed Erwin by the sleeve and led him deeper into the restaurant, then immediately occupied a window-side table that had just been vacated.

"What can I get the two of you?" A waitress quickly made her way over to their table with a welcoming smile. She was rather tall and imposing for a woman, and her cheekbones were quite tall. The freckles on her face were concealed by her red flush, which was typically seen in people living in high-altitude environments, leading Erwin to the conclusion that she was most likely from the Zam highlands.

"We'll get two orders of your signature Old River noodles, an order of your Zam beef with the Haggardy sauce, an order of your handmade pastry, and an order of your Feron soup dumplings." Lana immediately rattled off an order without even having to look at the menu on the table.

Erwin was very curious about this restaurant, and he was carefully inspecting the restaurant's decor, which wasn't refined or intricate in the slightest. The oil and grease stains that had accumulated over long periods of time on the table had already seeped into the grains of the wood and taken on a black color. He could see that all of the restaurant patrons around them were thoroughly enjoying their meals, and the steamers on the tables were releasing steam all the way up to the ceiling.

There were also some nosy customers who were still looking over at Erwin's table. After all, it was a very rare sight to see nobles visiting this restaurant.

"I guess this is why you shouldn't judge a book by its cover," Erwin said with slightly furrowed brows.

An amused smile appeared on Lana's face as she said, "A good meal doesn't have to be expensive, and an expensive meal isn't necessarily good."

Erwin gave a half-hearted nod in response.

However, when the food was brought to their table, Erwin finally understood why Lana had made such a huge effort to come here. Even for someone as picky as he was, he was thoroughly enjoying the food here.

"I'm guessing there was dolphin fat added to the broth. Otherwise, there's no way it could be this fragrant," Erwin said as he carefully took a whiff of the soup.

"Make sure to mix the noodles well. I'm digging in!" Lana paid no heed to his musings as she used her chopsticks to stir the noodles around repeatedly until every single noodle was completely covered in the sauce at the bottom of the bowl.

In contrast, Erwin wasn't in as much of a hurry to mix up his noodles. He snapped his fingers and beckoned the waitress from before over to their table, then asked her for a plate of sugar. The waitress was very surprised to hear this request, and after confirming that sugar really was what he had asked for, she went to the kitchen at the back of the restaurant.

"Do you have a sweet tooth? Lana asked with a curious expression."

Erwin smiled as he picked up the small dish of white sugar that had been brought to him by the waitress, then tipped all of it into the noodles before mixing it up.

"Sugar is essential for noodles like these," Erwin replied with a smile, then picked up some noodles with his chopsticks before taking a large bite. "Hmm, the broth and the texture of the noodles are both very good."

"Does sugar really make the noodles better?" Lana was looking at Erwin with a suspicious expression as she picked up some noodles from his bowl with her chopsticks without any hesitation. Erwin was rather taken aback by this while also lamenting the loss of his noodles.

From an outsider's perspective, it seemed that this pair of young nobles shared a very close relationship.

Lana tasted the noodles, then said with a smile, "It does taste quite good. Looks like you know your stuff when it comes to food. How come I've never heard of adding sugar to noodles?"

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"I've always had a very sensitive tongue when it comes to food," Erwin replied with a smile, then picked up a piece of beef and dipped it into the sauce before placing it into his own mouth.

"This Zam beef tastes just like any other Zam beef, so there's nothing special about it, but what is this Haggardy sauce? It seems to be different from the average beef dipping sauce." Erwin was carefully savoring the dish, then took a whiff of the sauce before asking, "Is there some type of special spice in this sauce?"

"You managed to pick that up? You really do have a good tongue!" Lana exclaimed.

"The smell is quite interesting as well," Erwin remarked as he picked up another piece of beef before dipping it into the sauce again.

"The spice is sweetgrass root. Haggardy is abundant in sweetgrass. You know that, right?" Lana asked.

"Oh, so it's sweetgrass. Isn't that used for making magic potions? Can its roots be used to make spices?" Erwin asked with a curious expression.

At the same time, it occurred to Erwin that Haggardy was a coastal city in the southern region of Burmen, so it made sense that Lana was very familiar with this ingredient.

"I feel like aside from your pathetic knowledge in magic theory, your knowledge in magic ingredients is also severely lacking," Lana remarked, then nodded as if she had made a very astute observation.

Erwin was feeling very offended.

Come to think of it, I've seen people selling sweetgrass in Sarus before, but does anyone sell sweetgrass root in Sarus? I don't think I've ever seen that before, Erwin thought to himself with furrowed brows. If no one sells sweetgrass root in Sarus, then the owner of this restaurant must be quite an interesting character. They would rather spend the money to buy spices from Burmen than renovate this restaurant. I can't think of many restaurant owners who would take that tradeoff.

"There's a fight happening outside!" Right at this moment, a loud commotion rang out within the restaurant, and some of the patrons had already rushed out of the restaurant to see what was happening outside. Some of them hadn't even paid for their meals yet, and the manager frantically rushed out after them.

Erwin wiped away the steam on the window with his hand, thereby allowing him to see what was happening on the street outside.

Law and order weren't enforced anywhere near as strictly in Sarus's outer city as it was in the inner city. There were guards patrolling several of the streets around Phoenix Street in the outer city, but in such a remote area of the outer city, no one would bat an eyelid even if someone were to be beaten to death here, and the city's department of defense generally turned a blind eye to such incidents.

There was a burly man with one shoulder exposed outside, locked in a confrontation against a young man in the middle of the street. A little girl was cowering behind the young man, and looking at her from afar, Erwin could see black light gleaming from her neck, her wrists, and her ankles.

The burly man's muscles were so exaggerated that they were almost cartoonish in appearance, and his arm didn't even look like a normal arm anymore. Instead, it was like a massive chicken drumstick! Tightly packed black runes were glowing on his enormous arm, and it was clear that the arm had been completely modified by magic. Otherwise, given how cold it was, he would be freezing with his arm exposed out in the open.

The young man lunged forward and sprang up into the air above his burly opponent, and his fists were glowing with golden light as he rained down a flurry of punches onto the burly man's modified arm. As he did so, he was swearing profusely, and his face was twisted with fury.

The burly man was completely unfazed, and all he did was raise his own arm in defense, not even bothering to take a single backward step.

The young man clearly hadn't expected his opponent's arm to be so powerful, and a hesitant look appeared in his eyes as he struggled to see a way through his opponent's defense. Right in this instant, the burly man drove his feet into the ground and raised his massive arm before unleashing a vicious backhand. None of the bystanders were expecting someone of his enormous stature to be able to move so quickly, and the young man was clearly caught off guard as well.

Only when the burly man's arm had almost reached him did the young man cross his own arms to protect himself, relying purely on his instincts, which had been honed over the course of countless battles. However, there was simply far too massive a disparity in power, and as soon as the young man was struck by his opponent's attack, he was immediately sent flying through the air.

In the next instant, the young man had already flown over an entire street with his limbs dangling in front of him, and his entire body was embedded into the wooden panel on the lower half of the Old River Restaurant's storefront beneath the window. A dull thump rang out as he flew through the wall, then hurtled directly toward Erwin's table.

Thankfully, both Erwin and Lana had exceptional reflexes, and as soon as they identified the fact that the young man was flying toward them, Erwin immediately picked up his bowl of noodles and his plate of beef, while Lana quickly unleashed a levitation spell on the remaining dishes on the table. Thus, the table was instantly cleared, only to be sent flying by the flailing young man. The table then struck the sturdy counter, where it was reduced to scrap wood in the walkway.

Erwin was holding his bowl of noodles in one hand and the plate of beef in the other as he turned to look at the hole in the wooden wall, within which was embedded the young man. "Phew, that was a close one. He's not dead, is he?"

Erwin turned to Lana with an inquisitive expression as he spoke.

"Looks like we're not going to be able to enjoy our meal in peace," Lana sighed as she withdrew her levitation spell, and the dishes that were hovering in mid-air came crashing down onto the ground. She then squatted down and cocked her head to the side as she carefully inspected the young man, upon which she discovered that he was still breathing.

"He's probably not going to die, but he has a few broken ribs and some internal injuries, and his face is also completely swollen," Lana remarked as she assessed the young man's condition. At this point, the young man was already unconscious with his head drooping down to his chest.

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