106 The Nether Pepper

"I was not expecting to see you two here. So who's this?"

Turning around, Aurelia greets her, "A pleasure to meet you in person, Khatun Milla, I am Aurelia Lausiel, the current ruler of the Lausiel Empire."

As Milla doesn't seem to understand the language, Lia begins to act as a translator between the two. Once the initial greetings out of the way, Milla says, "so this is the person you were talking about in the message you left at the Guild. I already gave my approval, but meeting her in person so soon was not something I had expected."

"You gave your approval? How did you already know about this matter?" I ask.

"It's one of the benefits of being an A-rank adventurer. We can leave messages at the Guild and have them sent to others for a small fee," Lia says.

"Putting the Guild benefits aside, I got the general idea from Lia's message, but explain to me in detail the specifics of this agreement."

With a few round of discussion between Milla and Aurelia, with Lia acting as the translator, Milla is brought up to speed with current events and the rewards for assisting Aurelia.

"It would certainly be useful to have an ally in Lausiel. Your Empire is large, dominating the second largest continent and stretching all the way down to the southern continents. But now that I'm fully aware of the situation, let's put these politics aside, I came here to eat. What did you all order?

"I ordered the Seared Overlord Kalfin," Aurelia says.

"We both got the Boss's Specialty, I got the curry and Cory got the Mapo Tofu."

With her brow raised, Milla puts her hand on Lia's shoulder saying, "seems like I might need to make preparations for your funeral soon. At least you'll taste something good before passing."

"Wait! What do you mean!? And why are you only saying this to me, is Cory going to be alright!" Lia says as she grabs hold of Milla's shoulders, shaking her.

"Well... if you frequent this restaurant enough you would know," Milla says turning her head to Aurelia, who nods after I translate for her, continuing, Milla says, "and normally this would apply to everyone who orders a Nether Pepper dish, but I get the feeling that Cordelia is going to be just fine."

While Lia is freaking out over Milla's warning, Aurelia's and my food arrived. As the plate as placed in front of me, the waiter also brings out a fire extinguisher, explaining what it is and how to use it, saying that any fire must be put out immediately. I think I'm starting to get the whole picture now.

From the scent alone I can feel my nostrils beginning to burn. Picking up a small portion with my spoon and as Lia watches in anticipation, I eat it. And despite all the warnings, nothing happens as I chew. But soon I feel the kick, and it's hot... oh my god it's hot but it's so good. The meat is absolutely perfect on the tofu has the perfect texture. Unlike most super spicy things, the taste of the sauce isn't neglected and goes wonderfully with the meat and tofu.

As I open my mouth to say how great it is, rather than words, flames are spewed from my mouth. Taking quick action a nearby waiting grabs the fire extinguisher nearby and ready himself to deal with the ensuing flames. But he soon finds his readiness unneeded as I quickly move to eat and absorb the flames, leaving none behind.

"This is delicious, easily the most delicious thing I've ever eaten!" I shout before eating up the rest of my meal.

"See, I knew she would be fine," Milla says.

"Are you sure your ok?" Lia asks.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Not like spitting out some fire is anything new for me after all, the food is only a little spicier than I expected."

"Really?"

"Yeah, I'm still sitting here without any problems."

"Don't believe her!" both Milla and Aurelia say.

"She just has abnormal tolerance for spicy stuff, do you remember when I refused to talk a few years ago, it was because I ate that same thing and my mouth hurt," Milla says.

"In the past, I've had to postpone one of my public singing events because I had eaten the curry the day before," Aurelia says.

"Wait, if you had known about this restaurant for so long, why did you never take me before."

"Because I didn't want to see anyone I know here, but it's too late for that now and I'm afraid it's too late for you now too," Milla says as Lia's Nether Pepper Curry is placed before her.

With it far too late to change her order, Lia decides to end it quickly as she shoves a large spoonful into her mouth.

"Oh this isn't as bad as you all made it out to be, and it tastes quite goo-- AH!"

Lia couldn't even finish her sentence before the heat kicked in and she starts spitting out flames. I don't let the opportunity go to waste and begin eating the flames before they spread. Once Lia stops shooting fire from her mouth, her body falls limp as we soon find out that she lost consciousness.

Checking her pulse, Milla says, "good, she didn't die, saves me a lot of trouble. Oh, waiter, I'd like to order the fish and chips."

"I'd also like to order another serving of my Seared Overlord Kalfin," Aurelia says.

Seeing how they are just ignoring the passed out Lia, I give them a small look, to which they both turn away from. But seeing as I'm still hungry, I also order more food.

"Wait, I'd also like to have the Stir-fried Celestial Noodles."

We spend some time just making small talk, with me acting as the translator in Lia's place and after about an hour we decide to leave and return for the night. With Lia on my back, we walk through the threshold of the door after paying, but despite walking out with Milla she is nowhere to be seen as we arrive through the same door we initially used. Seeing the moon high up in the night's sky, we swiftly return to the Imperial Palace.