22. The special Mead*

[Warning: Some questionable content is included in the chapter. It is not non-con or the r-thing. read with caution.]

"How is it?" Lita handed her another of the meatsticks roasted over a hot black stone. "Do you want more?"

"This one is a treasure. I will not lie, but I have never had something like this before." 

She didn't understand that Dereck was not talking about this life but about his real life and the hundreds of lives he had lived before. Dereck wasn't giving empty praise.

The meat wasn't even a bit charred when it was cooked over an open fire. Instead, leaving it still over the hot black stone made one side crispy white. The other side was as juicy as it could be. 

Dereck continued to study the way he was cooking the food. He noticed that he was cooking only one side of the meat. The meat was cut into a thin strip, so it didn't need to be cooked much longer.

Most importantly, it wasn't like bacon. In its place, it exhibited a marble-like appearance, with white fat permeating every red meat fiber.

"What type of meat is it?" Dereck couldn't help asking as he continued to eat more and more.

"I think this young man had fallen in love with your cooking," The chef's wife handed him more of the meat stick, and he didn't refuse.

"These are the meat of thunder river snails. The meat is hard to eat other than the way you are eating now. If you cook it for too long, then it becomes too chewy…"

As she continued to explain, Dereck continued to hear her words. When Lita was tugging at his hand, he remembered his actual aim. However, he didn't forget to take two more before leaving.

After putting some distance between them and the stall, Lita let go of his hand and walked forward, as they weren't even together.

'If she were in our world, she would have already had a couple of sugar daddies.' The thought had paused his steps. 'To think I have become the sugar daddy?'

"Are you not going to come?" He couldn't hold it in while looking at her unsatisfied expression.

"You are cute when you are angry." 

"I am not angry… hmmpppp…" 

Dereck followed her to the tavern. The Siren's Den. Although it was an inn, the ground floor was turned into a tavern. The sun had gone down for quite some time, so it was full of loud people.

Dereck was already somewhat full of food, so he wouldn't mind having some dircks. However, as soon as they entered the tavern, Lita wrapped herself around his arm. And he soon realized why.

"Welcome."

"Welcome."

"Welcome." 

Three barmaids chimed in at the same time. Their bow was deep enough to see the chasm between their honking mounds.

"Century mead and cheese nuts." Lita didn't even give them the chance to talk and pulled him to the side. The table was at one of the corners, and it was possible to separate it with a curtain.

"The century mead here is the best of them all. And the chestnuts are… you will understand when you have them."

"So these would be the second-best delicacy of the day?"

"Second?" She stared at him momentarily, giggling, "No, the third."

The drinks and nuts were served quickly. The barmaid who came to serve was wearing a more modest dress. Lita called her and whispered something in her ears. She checked on Dereck and smiled with a nod.

"What did you tell her?"

"Well, it's about the best one." She didn't even look at him as he poured them some drinks. The barmaid returned and put down three keys. 

"This one for an hour. This one until the day breaks," she pushed another one while glancing at Dereck, "This one has all the facilities and includes the breakfast, too."

Dereck smiled and looked at Lita, asking, "Is the breakfast any good?"

"I don't know. I had never tried it before."

Dereck took the key, asking, "Why don't we try it tomorrow?"

"As you wish." She took a sip and acted like she didn't care.

The barmaid gave them an understanding smile before leaving. 

"Oh! This one was bad." After putting one of the nuts in his mouth, he almost spit it out. 

"That is the beauty of the chestnut." Lita put on her own before exclaiming, "This one is good. You should try it."

Seeing that Lita was holding one between her teeth, Dereck didn't hesitate, kissing her to take it out of her mouth. Little surprised by his action, she was staring at her with big eyes.

"Oh! This one is sweet. Why is that?" Dereck asked innocently.

"That is because it is a chess nut. Some of them are sweet, some are sour, and some are bitter. You even found some pungent ones from time to time. You would never know what you would get." The barmaid delivered another jug of century mean and another bowl of chess nut.

"We didn't order that," Lita said.

"This comes with the room: one jug and one bowl per person. So you don't have to pay for everything. But if you want more now, you would have to pay." 

"Thank you." Dereck raised his cup to show appreciation.

"Just a reminder; things might get a little hectic soon. Not everyone here will be willing to pay for the room."

"I can see that."

Following his direction, Lita noticed a barmaid sitting on the lap of a bulky man, and she was wiggling slowly as the man laughed uncontrollably.

The barmaid nodded and left with a smile. Lita was staring at them, trying to understand whether they were doing it. Although she had a way to confirm, she noticed Dereck was noticing her eyesight.

"What?" She glared at Dereck before emptying her cup in one go.

"When in Rome, do what Romans do."

"What is that?" Lita didn't understand what he meant by Rome and everything. But the cheeky smile on his face didn't give her any sense of security.

"You know you can eat snail meat in the capital too."

"So?"

"They are prepared differently than the one we ate today."

"And?"

"So, I am saying that it tasted so good because it was prepared the way the locals enjoy it the most." 

She squirted her eyes as she was trying to move away from Dereck. However, it was already too late. Dereck warped his hand around her waist and pulled her onto his lap.

"Kya…" Lita yelped, but her voice was drowned by the excitement of the drunk men all over the tavern. "What are you doing?"

"I believe that man enjoyed the mead more while holding that lovely woman in his lap."

"The girl wasn't enjoying." 

"She wasn't trying either." Dereck slowly tried to pull the back of her dress up, saying, "Why don't we test if it tastes better or not?"

"My lord, my lord." She tried to move away. Alas! That was a mistake. As soon as she moved, Dereck pulled the back of the dress up before pulling her to sit down on his lap.

He bought this new dress. The maker wasn't lazy about using as much fabric as he wanted. Even if the back was pulled up, there was enough fabric on the front to cover not just her but also Decreck's leg. Unlike the barmaid's dress, no one can see anything from the side.

"My lord, you shouldn't," She tried her best to keep her dress down as much as possible. "We shouldn't do it here."

"Why?"

"We have already rented a room. We shouldn't waste our money."

"Do you think I care about money? All I care about is the experience," he whispered in her ears, "the authentic experiences."

"My lord, my lord, listen to…" She wanted to say something, but she fell silent when she noticed one of the barmaids was moving close to their corner table.

Her face was as red as it could be. She became desperate when she felt that Dereck was trying to remove his lower garment.

"My lord, you are a young lord of a reputable noble family. You shouldn't do something that these low-level men are doing."

"Do you think it is about nobles and commoners?" 

"Huh?"

"It is about being a man."

"My lord," Her voice fell a little. Dereck could feel that as she was tightening her fist, she was holding on to the part of his garment beneath her dress. 

"Do you want to say something?"

"I need to…" her voice trailed off.

"You want to…"

"I want to rel…"

"Yes, you want to re…"

"I want to relieve myself."

"Huh!"

"I need to use the toilet."

"Do it."

"Huh!" It was her time to be surprised.

Dereck said, "Hold on a second," before pouring the contents of the first jug into their glass.

"My lord. My lord. What are you, Ummm…" Before completing her sentence, she felt Dereck was already probing her lower opening. "My lord, we shouldn't do it."

"Don't worry." She felt that Dereck wasn't in the mood to listen to her as he pulled the jug under her dress.

"Do it; I will hold it for you." As the mouth of the jug came into contact with her skin, he whispered in her ears, "Nobody will notice us."

Her face was as red as it could be, and steam was coming from her ears. She struggled to protest one more time.

"My…"

"Shhhhh…" He whistled in her ears, igniting the instinct that was built into every baby's instinct. She bit her lips, struggling to fight against her own instinct.

"Noooo." In the end, a helpless cry came out of her mouth as Dereck felt the steam hit the bottom of the jug.

"That's a good girl."

"SHUT UP." She bit her words out. She didn't care if he was noble or a commoner, as her sanity slowly left her body.

At the moment, she could only pray that it would end soon. However, with the long build-up, it showed no sign of stopping.

"Please…" she pleaded in her heart, as waters started to come out of her eyes, as she could only hope at the moment that the jug wouldn't overflow.

Luckily, the evil God listened to her prayer this time. 

Even if Dereck felt the pressure from the flow, he held it for a little more before asking, "Done?"

At this moment, Lita had already put her head on the table, not daring to look at anyone. Even if they didn't know, her self-respect forbade it.

"MOVE IT." Her heavy words made Dereck laugh as he pulled it out and kept it on the floor beside the table.

"I hate you. I hate you. I hate you." She continued to mumble like possessed, only to feel that Dereck didn't care about her as she thought that his hard meat shaft was already resting against her buttocks.