“Are you able to tell me more perhaps with a drink or two?” Jin asked as he ‘subtlely’ showed a gold bar to the security guard and that somehow made his eyes twinkle.
The guard coughed a little and shouted at his younger colleagues including the War Maidens handling the security to be less rough on Old Fammet. At that point, the police finally came to the scene to investigate (What rotten timing) but the older guard waved at his friends in the police team and told them that he would take care of it.
Jin did not know that this particular security guard at some clout with the police and realised that the gold bar was indeed a good investment since he never liked the police in this town. The security guard then brought them to a nearby restaurant a street away from all the shopping and even got a table for them despite the crowd.
“You seem quite well liked here,” Jin said as he and the War Maidens finally had a place to rest and partake in dinner. Jin instantly raised his investments to two gold bars the moment they sat down. Ironically, the person who was serving them was the owner of the restaurant and when he saw the gold bars being passed so nonchalantly towards the security guard, his attitude towards Jin went from slightly pissed to benevolent.
“What do you wish to eat? They even have a ‘secret’ menu for regular customers so they could whip up almost anything as long as they have the items in their stock.” The old guard said and Jin chuckled.
“Well, I am craving for a hotpot and meat barbeque.” Jin felt fried food was more comforting since his stomach was famished from the week long ‘fasting’ but he know that it would be best to have some soupy stuff to nourish his body before feasting on the meat.
“…sorry sir, hotpot?” The restaurant owner was confused as he never heard the term before.
“Erm…perhaps it was my village speciality and I unknowingly spurted it out. Apologies.” Jin tried to think of a way to hide his embarrassment as he had forgotten that this was another world.????we???vℯ?. c?ｍ
“No worries, how about you try to explain to me and I see what I can do.” The owner said in such an angelic tone that it creeped the old security guard a little. He knows that his friend was also coveting the gold bars that Jin had. (Which the latter realised now why the gold bars were still in fashion in this supposed modern society.)
“It’s…something like a stew soup but instead of having it ready made for you, just prepare the soup stock for me and I will dip various vegetables in to eat. Then, we have sweet, sour and spicy sauces on the side to eat with it.” Jin said and the owner was fascinated and stunned by the simple idea.
“It’s okay if you do not have it, just give me some stew and roasted meat along with it.” Jin decided to compromise since he had forgotten how Lynn was always the one who prepared the food for him and he almost take it for granted.
“No, no. I will try. That idea seems rather interesting and our menu does consist of chicken and vegetable soup.” The owner said and Jin said that all he had to do was to bring the soup and a portable stove to the table and with it constantly boiling, he could dip it with raw meat and vegetables to cook it.
“I do not really see the appeal to that. Why cook yourself when it had already been cooked?” Yinn asked and Jin shrugged and said that sometimes it is nice to have choices.
“Also, do not worry if it is not up to standard, I will pay for the ingredients.” Jin then tells the owner not to worry.
“Sir, I had fulfilled many customised orders before and finally you had given me an outlook I never thought of before so I am accepting this challenge.” The restaurant owner said and told Jin that he would be back.
“You might not know this, but he works for the royal kitchen as the sous chef once.” The guard said… “But he got kicked out the day he got promoted.”
“That’s a rather drastic turn of developments.” Jin did not expect such a heavy backstory to be told in a sentence.
“Regardless, I am Nie, pleased to meet you.”
“Nice to meet you too.” Jin shocked hands with the old security guard as a waiter came in and served them drinks.
“Where do I first start…” Nie said as he tried to dig into his memory. “Old Fammet wasn’t like this at all. In fact, this town was rather famous despite its distance away from the capital because of him.”
“But it had been many years, perhaps when you are just a wee lad when his reputation being one of the greatest Mecha Smith was still known to people all over the Empire. That is also the reason why you see so many manufacturing stores around because most of them came here to seek Old Fammet as their advisors.”
“At first, it was asking for the hand for cooperation but eventually, it turned to competition as Old Fammet did not wish to enter any of the companies. In fact, those companies decided to band together and create a united embargo against him by putting up stores here to show that despite their inferior mechanoids, they were produced cheaply and can be replaced easily.”
“So it’s something akin to quantity over quality.”
“Yes, and the companies even made his life difficult by buying bulk materials from his suppliers that there was no way for him to purchase them unless he paid a higher price for them.”
“Which he did. Are you talking about Old Fammet again, Nie?” The restaurant owner came by with a boiling pot of soup as his employee quickly prepared a portable stove.
“Is this how you do this? I added a little more into the vegetable soup to thicken the base.” The restaurant owner said and Jin could already feel the fragrance running through his lungs.
“Yes! Yes!” Jin said as the waiters started to bring him plates of raw sliced meat and an assortment of odd looking vegetables for him and the rest to partake in.
