Chapter 495: Chapter 479 – A Squirming Meal

“Sometimes, history was made due to coincidental meetings.” - Old folk saying.

“Well, hello there Aideen. Didn’t expect you to return so soon,” greeted Grandpa Aarin unexpectedly. The trio had run into him – in his mortal guise – in the streets shortly after they entered Tohrmutgent, which was unexpected. Aideen knew that Grandpa Aarin had the habit of going out incognito from time to time, but had not expected to meet him that way on the day of their return.

 

“Hi grandpa,” said Aideen cheerfully as she stooped down to embrace the Bone Lord, an action necessitated by his diminutive height. As it was, his head barely reached Aideen’s waist, and the way his reddish-bronze fur gave him a positively adorable look was easily the best disguise to his true nature. Nobody other than the very few in the know ever expected the dreaded Bone Lord of Ptolodecca to look adorable after all. “Missed you.”

 

“Good that you remember to return in a timely manner this time, no disappearing off for a century like last time,” jested the Bone Lord. He then looked at Celia and Kino, his eyes quickly focusing on Kino in particular as he noticed something right away. “I see you brought another new companion from this trip? Why don’t you introduce your old Grandpa to her?”

 

“Right, Grandpa, this is Kino. We met her in Elmaiya,” said Aideen even while she made a couple gestures with her eyes that meant there was more to the story but that it was inconvenient to speak about it in public. “Kino, this is Grandpa Aarin, my mother’s master in magic.”

 

“Err… Nice to meet you, sir,” said Kino somewhat nervously. 

 

“Pleasure’s all mine, girl,” replied the Bone Lord with a chittering laugh. He then took note of the time of day and at the three, who clearly just arrived not long ago. “Have you three eaten yet?” he asked, to which the three answered with shakes of their head. “Well, lunch’s on me then! Come on, since the girl’s just arrived she needs to try some of our local specialties!”

 

Under Grandpa Aarin’s guidance, the three of them went to an eatery at the side of the road, one that was only medium in size, but looked pretty popular. The Bone Lord seemed familiar with the aging, slightly chubby proprietress, who personally led the group of four to a table. Within moments of the group being seated, a young waitress brought mugs of strong mead, squares of flatbread that had been baked to a crisp, as well as some cold cuts of meat on a large wooden platter.

 

Oddly enough, the meat was arranged in a circle on the outside of the platter, with the center left empty and open. Before they could ask the obvious question, the proprietress returned with a sizable wheel of cheese that she placed confidently in the center of the platter. The cheese had a faint savory smell that was mixed with a strong pungency to it, which made Kino slightly recoil in surprise at first whiff, as her nose was more sensitive.

 

Then the proprietress used a sharp knife to carve open the top section of the cheese’s rind, which revealed a rather mushy-looking interior with hundreds of squirming golden larvae all over the inside. The pungent scent more than doubled in intensity and caused Kino to cough in surprise, but before long she noticed that both Aideen and her Grandpa seemed to inhale the scent with an appetite.

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Celia made a face that was probably as surprised as Kino’s own was, though. She had only been in Tohrmutgent a couple of weeks and had not yet been introduced to the local specialties in that time.

 

“It’s a specialty of Tohrmutgent,” explained the Bone Lord with a toothy smirk as he picked up a square of crisp flatbread, placed a piece of cold cut on it, then scooped some of the mushy, maggot-riddled cheese from the inside of the wheel, with several of the squirming gold-colored maggots included. “They allow certain kinds of flies to lay their maggots on the cheese while it is in the process of ripening. The maggots would then burrow into the wheel and feed on the cheese, themselves gaining much of the flavor of the cheese while giving us this soft texture we desired.”

 

Kino and Celia watched with some trepidation as the Bone Lord popped the morsel into his mouth and chewed with satisfaction. They only regained themselves when Aideen repeated the Bone Lord’s actions and prepared a piece for herself. 

 

“They used flies specially bred for this purpose, so it’s not like they exposed the food to things that squirm around in trash or carrion,” explained Aideen as she ladled a generous helping of maggot-riddled cheese on top of the flatbread before covering it with a slice of cold cut. “If you do it this way, it’s easier to prevent the maggots from jumping away before you could eat them.”

 

Despite their reservations, Kino and Celia steeled themselves to try the odd cuisine presented before them as Aideen happily popped the morsel she assembled into her mouth and chewed on it. The Bone Lord was already making another piece as well. In the end, both girls chose to do what Aideen did as the idea of some of the maggots jumping away to their faces was an unpleasant one to ponder.

 

While the dish looked decidedly unsavory at a glance, they were surprised to find that the cheese – the main flavor profile of the dish – had a strong savoriness but was far less pungent than it smelled. The maggots themselves added some chewy meatiness to the soft cheese that practically melted in their mouths, and had a milder, richer flavor to them, all cut somewhat by the crisp flatbread and the smokiness of the cold cuts of smoked meats.

 

It was a rather odd sensation to have some of the food still squirming inside their mouths at first, but after a while, they got used to it and had to admit that they found the taste quite enjoyable, especially when paired with the sweet yet strong mead. In the end, by the time the group left the eatery, all they left on their table was the hard rind of the cheese, all of its insides eaten up cleanly.

 

Not even a single maggot was spared.

 

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