Besides the Tower of Light, yet another enormous sculpture had been completed on the rocky mountain.
One of the party members, a Cleric of Lugh named Hines, couldn't hold back his deeply touched feelings.
“An idol of Lugh is here…”
The sculpture's effects!
Because of the effect that greatly increased Faith and holy magic, Hines' hunting efficiency in Morata would greatly improve. Clerics of the Church of Freya were already enjoying this benefit. Using blessings or healing magic around the Goddess Statue increased the effect to far greater than normal.
The Goddess Freya Party, the League of Male Priests, the Guild of Abundance. It was enough to make many related guilds and parties form within Morata.
“Lots of Lugh Clerics will be coming to Morata.”
If the number of Clerics and Paladins increased, it wouldn't be long until a formal temple was erected.
“Where is Weed?”
Hon scanned the vicinity of the Tower of Light. On top of being the shadowy night, there were so many visitors or Morata players that it was hard to distinguish anything.
Billeo pointed his finger over in a direction.
“Isn't he over there?”
Oddly enough, only a place where people were standing in line to eat something was lit up with torchlight.
“Let's go see for now.”
Billeo, Hon, and the others flew through the sky and landed there.
A large banner showing food menus was hung up in an eye-catching place.
“Just look at that.”
“Huh?”
Dragon Soup: 120 Gold
King Hydra Black Bean Noodles: 100 Gold
Skeleton Bone Hangover Soup: 13 Gold
Grilled Dragon (150g for 1 serving): 380 Gold
Grilled King Hydra (100g for 1 serving): 80 Gold
Place of Origin: River of Lamentations Basin. We handle fresh meat only.
“Whoa!”
Extravagant as prices may be, but the contents of the menu was what threw the party into shock.
“Come, come! It's cheap, cheap! Everyone, you have never eaten meat like this. Dragon meat! This is a spicy soup made with Dragon meat.”
They heard the words of the chef who was advertising.
“But it's too expensive.”
“Still, when will you get to eat meat like this?”
“Yeah, it's killer 'cause it's a frickin' Dragon soup. Right?”
Customers were standing in line to receive the cooking. There were no tables so it was a substandard business that ladled soup into bowls brought by the customers.
“Could Weed really be here?”
Hon shook his head to and fro, but unfortunately that speculation was the truth. After Billeo asked some customers waiting in line, he had told them the truth.
“They say that the chef is Weed.”
“Wargod… Weed?”
“I dunno about that, but he's Morata's Lord Weed.”
“Are you sure?”
“There’s a lot of people who knows about Weed.”
The residents of Morata had been employed as labor for making the enormous sculpture called the Goddess of Freya. If you put it in good terms, they had participated in the quest, and, because of that, Weed's face was well known.
“He was supposed to be making a sculpture, so why the food?”
“Apparently a shit ton of tourists gathered while he was completing the Idol of Lugh. Morata residents and players came up here to look at Weed too. Isn't it true that an enormous number of players have gathered on the rocky mountain?”
Hon nodded. Even in his eyes, a crowd of this extent couldn't be beaten by a metropolis like the capital of a Kingdom. If there was a throng of people like this in the northern part of Morata, then it really was an incredible deal.
“So they said he's cooking from today onwards to 'receive' the people who came.”
“Cooking… who the hell can buy cooking this expensive?”
“Weed tried to sell it cheap, but it seems like players said that he had to charge prices of this extent, at least. Don't be surprised. If you eat 1 kg of Dragon Meat, your Vitality will rise by a whoppin' 20, maximum Health by 120, and Strength by 7.”
Hon's eyes widened in disbelief. “Are you bullshitting me? Is something like that even possible with cooking?”
“Apparently there are a lot of people who've already seen the effects.”
“If it's the meat of a King Hydra or a Dragon, then you can’t call spending this much Gold expensive.”
Hon, Garrick, and the others thought it was reasonable. Rather, it was a chance for them to be able to eat precious food. If it raises their stats, they would be able to benefit from it for a long time afterwards.
“Shall we try standing in line too, for the time being?”
“Yeah. When else will we able to try eating Dragon meat? They said it also raises stats, so if we don't take a chance like this we're gonna regret it forever.”
Hon, Garrick, Billeo, and the others stood in line. The greed for stats was intense no matter what your profession was. Intelligence and Wisdom were the most important for Magicians, but they would never hesitate to take a chance to improve their physical strength or Agility. Everyone was the same regarding their bodily well-being, regardless of profession, gender, or age!
In such a fashion, the customers waiting to eat the food were steadily increasing.
A soup that literally had a Dragon swum in it and left! Black bean noodles with sauce made using the King Hydra's incredible meat and noodles made of flour! There was barely any meat in the Skeleton Bone Hangover Soup, but it still raised stats like Strength, Agility, or Vitality by 1 or 2. It was because the effect possessed by the ultimate cooking ingredients, the Hydra and Imoogi meat, were supplemented by the Cooking skill.
Weed reaped excessive profits as he produced an enormous amount of food. It was such an amount that an army chef would be emotionally touched if they came and saw it.
“As expected, business is hard at first. Once it starts doing well, it's crazy because of the customers pressing in.”
The greatest trouble for a business was taxes! But in Morata, even if he technically paid the taxes, it would all return to Weed's pocket in the end.
Weed employed Morata’s residents to help him with the kitchen tasks. A jackpot restaurant that drew in the customers didn't make food, it made money. As long as it was popular, there weren't many enterprises as profitable as the food business. Especially if you could totally rip everyone off like now!
— Cooking skill proficiency has increased.
His Cooking skill had also gone up twice from Intermediate level 6 to 8. He had worked hard to brew liquor at the River of Lamentation to accumulate proficiency. That had already put him at level 7, but because the King Hydra and Imoogi meat were fundamentally good food ingredients and so precious, his Cooking skill proficiency was still surging up.
The Imoogi meat was even causing a panic, hoarding phenomenon. Because the amount of meat was already fixed, there was an uproar of people trying to buy.
“Weed-nim, please give me just 7 servings.”
“I'm buying 12 servings.”
The meat frozen by Bingryong was being imported via Yellowy! The meat sold like hotcakes as soon as it thawed. The smoke of grilling meat was everywhere on the rocky mountain because of those who were personally grilling their meat by setting bonfires.
“We also sell Imoogi Bone Broth.”
The lightning fast sale of bone broth that didn't even give off anymore grease, as it had been steeped a whole twelve times!
Drinks, which couldn't be left out when selling meat, were also prepared.
“Wangisul at 30 Gold, Baeknyunju at 80 Gold. Quantities are limited, so buy them quickly.”
[T/N: Wangisul is a spoof of the popular soju Chamisul, and Baeknyunju is a rewritten form of Baekseju, a rice-based fermented wine.]