The Archmage’s Restaurant

# 40

Chapter.11 The northern forest, chestnut trees, and

the high, blue autumn sky.

The weather was especially nice today.

The advantage of Gray City is that it has four distinct seasons, just like my hometown. The green leaves have changed color and our dragon is still sleeping a lot.

On days like this, roasted chestnuts come to mind. Autumn is the season of night. The sweetness of chestnuts embracing autumn.

In particular, when used in various dishes, it can be a great supporting or leading ingredient. If it’s fall, chestnuts must be included in the dish to be tasteful.

Although chestnuts are a common food ingredient in the fall season in other regions, it was surprisingly difficult to find them in Gray City.

In this world, chestnuts called Bonin were not distributed in Gray City.

When merchants brought chestnuts from other regions, they were sold at Gray Market, but the distribution cycle was very irregular.

It is also impossible to summon the night itself. As I have said several times, problems arise with unprocessed food ingredients due to dimensional gaps.

In that case, we should focus on the fundamental problem. There is one reason why chestnuts are not distributed in Gray City.

This is because Gray Mountain, where the chestnut tree is located, is the private land of the Gray family.

Of course, the Count of Gray opened Mt. Gray.

However, access to the northern forest, where chestnut trees spread widely, has been strictly prohibited for generations.

But rather, the solution is simple.

The current leader of the Gray family is Gray Boy. I visited the Great Boy and obtained permission to enter the forest.

He also asked why the forest was controlled, but Gray did not know the exact reason. Is it a will that has been passed down from generation to generation to prohibit entry except for those involved?

There’s no way they restricted access just because of the chestnut tree, so there may be a reason, but that has nothing to do with me.

For me now, the night is just important.

So I set foot in the forest north of Great Mountain.

“It’s uncomfortable to walk here.”

“That’s right.”

Lulin and I complained at the same time. The piled up fallen leaves are like mud flats, entangling your legs.

“But chestnuts are delicious, so it’s worth the effort.”

“I like meat!”

“You like sweets too, right? “How many fruit-based candies did you just eat?”

“Hmm, is this chestnut as sweet as candy?”

“okay.”

“Hoo!”

Lulin finally looked a little expectantly. Meat and sweets are this appetite dragon’s favorite menu items.

As I went deeper into the forest with Lurin, there were chestnut trees everywhere. Night here and night there. Chestnut trees are scattered all over the chestnut trees and on the ground.

I pointed to the chestnuts on the floor and said to Lurin.

“This is the night I was looking for. “The thing that surrounds the chestnuts is called chestnut pine in my hometown.”

“Is this sweet? “It looks strange?”

Lurin squatted down on a fallen chestnut and started blowing it around to roll it around.

Then, I failed to control my mana and a chestnut blossom touched my finger. Lulin suddenly started roaring. He poured out his breath while tears were stinging his eyes.

A chestnut that disappears from a powerful attack without leaving a trace. In addition, craters were created on the ground due to the breath, as if a meteorite had fallen. The chestnut tree is damaged and the land is damaged, and the dragon looks triumphant, saying he has won.

“you! “It attacked me!”

Suddenly, the last chewing gum incident comes to mind. However, the difference this time is that the attack was launched at the target. Anyway, I can’t stop it.

Plus, breath.

The problem is that I first expressed my curiosity by using magic to roll the chestnut around.

Because the chestnut that was rolled with mana had quite a bit of speed, blood was trickling from Rurin’s fingers.

“Come here and see.”

I grabbed Lurin’s arm and pulled her. Rurin, who was helplessly dragged in front of me, looked up at me with doubt in her eyes.

In that state, without saying a word, I grabbed Lulin’s wrist and squeezed it. Then he lowered his head, put her bloody index finger into his mouth, and sucked the blood.

Rurin’s soft index finger touches my tongue. The taste of blood spread on my tongue.

“later… ?”

Since it was a minor stab wound, the bleeding stopped quickly. When I took my finger out of my mouth, it was drenched in a bit of my saliva. Rurin looks up at me blankly. Then he looked at his index finger. And then I look at my lips again.

Uncharacteristically, I couldn’t say anything, but when our eyes met, I lowered my head. Ears are red. This is the first time I’ve seen Rurin’s ears turn red.

“Why are you reacting like that?”

“No!”

“what?”

Lulin just turned around.

Are you really shy? You put your finger in your mouth? It looks so unexpected. It wasn’t like Lulin.

Lulin turned around and stayed still for a while, then suddenly squatted down again. And then I started picking up the chestnuts again with my hands.

“hey! what are you doing?”

When I pull the back of his neck, he falls on the floor, hitting his butt. He threw away the chestnut he had picked up as if it was unnecessary and crawled in front of me again, holding out his finger.

The finger was bleeding again.

“here!”

“What are you doing, Dragon?”

Why are you suddenly hurting yourself? I must have squeezed harder than before, so the amount of blood flowing is twice as much. First of all, the blood was flowing, so I had no choice but to put my finger back in my mouth. Then, when I sucked the drop of blood from the side, Rurin let out a strange moan again.

“eww… .”

Fingers that taste salty along with the taste of blood. The expression the dragon looks at me is unusual.

“you… !”

So I bit the bottom of my finger to come to my senses.

“Aaaah! “Why are you biting me?”

Fortunately, the grumbling figure is the original Rurin.

“You hurt me on purpose? “If I do that again, I won’t give you food?”

“I never did that on purpose! That guy attacked me! It hurt… .”

As soon as he removed his finger from his mouth, Lulin ran away, crouched down with his back turned, and did not move. I can’t see what he’s doing in that state.

Why are you like that?

How can the criminal know what the dragon is thinking?

I let go of the dragon that had lost its appetite and used my two feet to crush open the chestnuts that were rolling on the floor. Then a thick chestnut appears within it. It looks plump.

“Is that night?”

“huh. “When did you come?”

“just now! Hi-Hi.”

Fortunately, the dragon recovered and clung to my back with its signature smile.

“He’s a funny guy, wearing all his armor while eating. But it was good armor. “You ate my finger!”

“what? “What do you eat?”

“You ate my blood! “Doesn’t my blood flow inside you now?”

I looked at Lulin in surprise. Well, there’s no way this ruthless dragon would be embarrassed just by licking his finger. Because he usually comes into my bed and hugs me all the time.

What was strange was the blood?

“Well, it flows… .”

“you! I think I’m happy. Hehehe.”

Rurin begins to smile brightly. It was so bright that I couldn’t say anything.

So I just started picking chestnuts. Don’t touch the brilliant dragon.

I ignored Lurin and repeated the process of crushing the chestnuts, taking them out, and putting them in the basket. Then the dragon in happy mode starts following me.

“But is this really delicious? “It doesn’t look tasty.”

“Well, that’s a shell too. You have to peel it and eat it. Raw chestnuts have their own charm, but boiled or grilled chestnuts are truly delicious. “We need to collect a little more to make roasted chestnuts, so you can peel the chestnuts and put them in the basket like I did.”

“i get it!”

With the dragon obediently listening to me, I continued to pick up chestnuts. It was only after what felt like a considerable amount of time had passed that the basket was filled with chestnuts.

“Well, I think that’s enough, shall we bake it?”

Among chestnut dishes, I prefer roasted chestnuts the most. So, I plan to make roasted chestnuts. Coincidentally, the crater that Lurin had made seemed useful for making roasted chestnuts.

Immediately, an appropriate amount of chestnuts were thrown into the crater. And dry tree branches.

“You don’t want the Lurin fire to spread, so put up a shield around here.”

Lulin nodded and immediately used mana. An invisible protective shield would have spread around us. After pausing for a moment, I placed a chestnut on a tree branch and used a fireball on it. A fireball blooms in a pile of chestnuts and tree branches.

But after a while.

The chestnuts that had begun to be roasted in the fireball suddenly began to explode.

Pow!

Pow!

Pow!

Above the fireball, chestnuts bounced in all directions. It’s like fireworks.

“Oooooh!”

Rurin exclaimed in admiration as she looked at it. But this is an obvious mistake. Even the chestnuts that stick out hit the protective shield and change direction.

In an instant, the nights began to dance and fly around inside the narrow protective shield between me and Lurin.

“hey! What kind of protective shield did you put up so narrowly? Release it first!”

“Hehehe! Why! “It’s fun!”

Lurin, who was playing while avoiding the flying chestnuts, managed to get her shield removed by my shout.

I forgot.

When roasting roasted chestnuts, it is best to make a cut at the bottom and soak it in water a little. It’s the same as if you hit a frying pan without a knife in it to roast a chestnut, it will explode.

This is something to keep in mind when making roasted chestnuts.

When you cut a knife, the chestnut shell opens and cooks properly.

If it had been a restaurant, there would have been a bigger uproar.

“What did you just do, girl? “It was fun flying everywhere!”

“That’s a mistake.”

I ran out of things to say.

Still, there is still night left. That’s the good news.

After pouring water into the basket, I added chestnuts and started soaking them. And insert the sheath. This work is very important.

I managed to follow the proper procedures and started baking roasted chestnuts again in the crater that Lurin had made.

“uh! What is that? He’s a black guy. “But it’s an undignified black color.”

What Lulin pointed to was a bear. bear.

It seems that a nearby bear came over after hearing the sound just now.

A large bear four times the size of a human. It is the size of an average ogre. It crawled towards us with its eyes wide open.

“Well, it’s probably not classy compared to the dragon’s fur.”

I also answered harshly.

In this world, the name of the bear is Murank. It is a fairly strong axis among animals.

Among animals.

“Crrrrrrrrr!”

Perhaps because it recognized us as prey, it attempted to attack Lulin with its front paws, who were nearby. Lurin grabbed that front paw and threw it away.

“Krrr?”

A bear sensed something strange. The crying sound changed strangely.

“If you look closely, it’s even less classy! “Krrr!”

Lurin grabbed the bear’s front paw and started shaking it, imitating the bear’s cry.

The bear, whose pride was hurt, tried to struggle, but Lulin put his hand on the bear’s head and spoke calmly.