Travel · Imperial Capital Arc (4): Today's Meal at Xiao Ling's House (Part 2)

Meanwhile, on Dania's side...

She rushed back to the kitchen and immediately saw Aemeath and Sigrika huddled together, fiddling with something.

"Yaya, you're here!" Sigrika greeted Dania with a beaming smile as she entered the kitchen. "Come on, try my Star Kara!"

She handed Dania a string of star-shaped candies, the amber-colored candy shell covered with a layer of snow-white icing, like a sliver of warm sunlight shining through on a snowy day.

"You made this?" Dania twirled the string of stars in her hand twice, looking surprised. "It looks pretty realistic; it looks like it'll taste delicious."

Without hesitation, she carefully took a bite, and the sweetness of the sugar coating and the tangy sweetness of the strawberry juice instantly burst in her mouth, making her let out a blissful moan.

"Don't eat too much, Xiao Ya. We'll have a proper meal later. This is dessert," Aemeath said with a smile as she saw Dania reaching for a few more skewers.

"It's okay, I have another stomach." Dania playfully stuck out her tongue, grabbed a few strings of stars, and ran off to check on the others' work progress.

After leaving Aemeath and Sigrika, Dania gracefully approached Iuno.

"Hmm... add this, and some of this too..." Iuno chopped the washed fruits and vegetables and put them in a bowl, squeezed in salad dressing, and then mixed everything together by hand. "Done!"

Then, Iuno naturally tasted it, since it was something that would be served on the table later, and as the head chef of this dish, he naturally had to personally oversee its quality.

"Mmm~ It's really good, as expected of a salad I made myself." After taking a bite of the salad, Iuno said with a satisfied expression.

Just then, another slender little hand lifted a lettuce leaf from under her eyelids.

Iuno turned his head and saw Dania crunching away as she put the vegetable leaf in her mouth.

"Here, Sigrika made some star-shaped kra. Want a string of them?" Dania wasn't going to eat her food for free, so she casually took one of the string of star-shaped kra she had and handed it to Iuno.

"Looks like candied hawthorn berries?" Iuno picked up the star-shaped skewers and spun them around twice. "Then I won't be polite."

Iuno gracefully took a small bite of Star Kara and savored it, and in a moment her beautiful eyes lit up.

"It's delicious!" Iuno nodded repeatedly. "The sweetness of the frosting and the tartness of the strawberries are perfectly balanced. It's not too sweet or too sour. I love it!"

"Your salad is very good too, at least I like it." Dania also praised her fruit and vegetable salad.

After saying goodbye to Iuno, Dania's next stop was the chef's area, where she witnessed a scene she would never forget:

Flames burst forth from the wok, but Chisa, standing in front of it, remained unfazed, even leisurely tossing the wok a couple of times.

"Holy crap..." This phrase had almost become Dania's catchphrase when she was shocked. "That's dangerous, Chisa."

"I think it's alright. At least compared to what I experienced in Hozumi City, this is nothing," Chisa said calmly. "Besides, I've heard that Dragon Country dishes cooked over high heat like this are more fragrant."

"I won't go into how dangerous your experience in Hozumi City was, but if you hadn't handled this properly, you really could have blown the kitchen to smithereens," Dania said, embarrassed.

"It won't blow away, because Xixi is here."

"What does this have to do with Xixi?"

"Xiao Ya seems to have forgotten that my Resonance Ability is time stop?" Jinhsi, who was watching the soup simmering by the stove, was reminded of this, and then turned around and smiled in response, "If there is any danger in the kitchen, I can stop the situation from escalating immediately."

"Ha... Can we stop making worst-case scenarios right away?" Dania sighed, rubbing her forehead. "Eating is the most important thing, nothing else matters."

"Dania- senpai is right," Chisa agreed, using a spatula to scoop the steaming hot food onto a plate. She then invited Dania to try it, saying, "My dishes are finished too, senpai, would you like to try some?"

"Really? Then I won't be polite!"

Dania readily agreed, picked up a piece of freshly cooked hot food with her chopsticks and put it in her mouth, then gave Chisa a thumbs up.

"It seems you really like this dish, senior." Chisa smiled, revealing her dimples.

"Actually, I'm not a picky eater; I eat everything," Dania explained.

"Miss Dania, why don't you try my dish?" Changli walked over carrying a plate of Fiery Spicy Meat.

Dania turned her head and saw the plate of bright red stir-fried meat in Changli's hand, and immediately looked troubled.

Although she's not a picky eater, she really dislikes spicy food...

However, seeing how enthusiastically the other party invited her to try the food, Dania felt a little reluctant to refuse and could only pick up a piece of stir-fried meat and put it in her mouth.

"Hmm... I think Ling would really like this dish," Dania commented, feigning composure.

"Is that so?" Changli said with an undiminished smile, "That suits me just fine."

She took the dish out, and Dania, who had been calm just moments before, instantly blushed and coughed twice from the spiciness.

"Cough cough... It's so spicy..." Dania grimaced, then stuffed two more strings of star-shaped crunchy food into her mouth before she recovered.

"Have some soup, Xiao Ya." Jinhsi walked over at just the right moment, carrying a bowl of hot winter melon and pork rib soup. "It'll wash away the spiciness in your mouth."

"Thank you, you've been a great help!" Dania hurriedly took the hot soup and drank it all in one gulp, burning her tongue in the process. "It's pretty good, this soup is delicious."

"I'm glad you like it." Jinhsi said with a smile.

When Dania came out of the kitchen again, Chef Xiao's secret-recipe fried rice was already on the table.

She glanced at the finished product: golden-brown fried rice with bits of meat and diced ham, garnished with shredded radish, corn, and onions. Just the smell made Dania's little cravings start to stir.

"You're out?" Xiao Ling asked with a slight smile. "How's the progress in the kitchen?"

"It's almost over. I think I've eaten about half full," Dania replied.

"It's okay, you can eat as much as you want later."

As the dishes were served one by one, everyone finally gathered together and enjoyed their first meal in the Imperial Capital.

"Cheers!"

As everyone raised their glasses and clinked them together, the banquet finally began in full swing.

Dania and Xiao Xue finally got to eat the egg fried rice they had been craving. They ate with their eyes closed, and the bowl of egg fried rice was almost empty in the blink of an eye.

"Eat slowly, you two. There's plenty more in the pot. Nobody's going to take it from you." Xiao Ling looked at the two girls who were eating like hungry wolves and couldn't help but think that even real wolves eat more politely than them.

"This fried rice is really good." Lynae stuffed mouthfuls of fried rice into her mouth. "It looks good, tastes good too, and goes perfectly with all this other food."

"Lynae, it's best not to talk while eating, okay?" Roccia kindly reminded her, "Otherwise you might choke."

As it turned out, her words came true. No sooner had Lynae finished speaking than she choked on her fried rice. If Professor Morning hadn't brought her water in time, it would have been a ridiculous scene of a blond idiot choking to death.

"This stuff feels very simple, but it tastes delicious. Perhaps it can be popularized in Septimont someday?" Augusta pondered, looking at the fried rice in his bowl.

"I'm afraid that's difficult. Rice isn't a staple food in the Rinascita region, and the cooking methods are completely different from those in the Huanglong region," Cartethyia shook her head. "However, it should be enough for a wandering knight's three meals a day."

"Cart wants to learn, I'll teach you later," Xiao Ling said with a smile.

"Please be sure!" Cartethyia pleaded earnestly.

The atmosphere at the table was harmonious. Aemeath and Lynae were fighting fiercely with their chopsticks over a piece of stir-fried meat, while Iuno was happily munching on the vegetable salad she had made herself, occasionally taking a bowl of fried rice to fill her stomach. Ciaccona was enjoying her meal so much that she couldn't resist showing off her traditional bard skills, but Cartethyia and Phoebe quickly pulled her back to her seat...

Watching this lively scene, Xiao Ling smiled and silently popped a mouthful of fried rice into her mouth.

Yes, it does taste quite delicious.

(I'm taking tomorrow off to organize my thoughts and prepare to write about the King's Game. Feel free to share any good ideas you have regarding character interaction.)