Chapter 55- Guests

Abel was currently going through old man Rye's books in his study.

He had gotten up a little after 1:30 pm and had a light lunch. He found Frankie taking a nap to recharge before starting with the roast while Melissa had been busy cleaning around the house. Although they cleaned regularly, she decided to carry out a tiring deep cleaning for their guests. She was mostly concentrating on the dining room, living room and downstairs guest bathroom.

After satiating his hunger and paying a visit to the bathroom, he had logged back in and carried on with his reading.

He had learned a lot about the Veridia Kingdom, much more than what was available online. Unlike the other human kingdoms on large continents, the vassals of a small island kingdom didn't really have fiefs like the other nobility. At most, they would have ownership or governance over a city. Higher ranked nobles might have more than 1 city under their care but that only applied to Dukes while Earl's and lower would be relegated to a single city.

It made sense, considering Veridia's island only had a couple dozen cities in total. While it was considered large in the real world, it was only a small place in Caelondia, much less in the world of Faeron.

As Abel was going through another old journal, he heard the door open and saw old man Rye come inside. He stood up in greeting, a little expectant to the old man's visit.

"Good evening sir…"

"The king passed this morning; the news should be released the following day. The funeral rites will take a couple of weeks, considering the Kingdoms main religion is split between the sea goddess and the goddess of dawn. Each funeral ritual requires a weeks' worth of time but that doesn't matter to us. I cleared your entrance to the palace grounds, it's tomorrow evening so be ready to depart by sundown. You'll have to wait to meet the little brat taking charge, he was the closest to his father and has been feeling quite depressed ever since the king took his last breath."

"That's understandable sir, I don't mind even if his majesty isn't in the mood to meet me at all."

Abel honestly didn't care, although he gained a lot from this kingdom, he had no special feelings towards it and he was sure he'd venture out in the world when he became stronger. But he still replied trying to sound understanding, unfortunately it only agitated the old man.

"He should snap out of it! How can he take charge of the kingdom if he spirals into a pit of depression? He should be glad his father died of old age surrounded by his kin… life and death… it's the natural way of the world. The old king left word that I should kick him off the throne if he doesn't shape up by the time the funeral rites are over."

Abel gulped, remembering this was a completely different world. While it might look similar, that's only because he started in a human kingdom and didn't have any interactions with the other races yet. Overall, the world followed different customs and its NPC's would have a different perspective. Though the old mans words did hold some truth to them, a monarch needs to be much stronger mentally.

"I'm sure his majesty will improve; the old king's death is very recent after all."

"Mm, I have faith in the lad too. Anyway, I wanted to inform you to be ready by sunset. I'll show you through the other entrance that you could use in the future."

"Thank you and sorry to trouble you sir." Old man Rye waved his hand as he made his way out of the study.

Abel let out a sigh of relief when he finally got news. He checked out the time and saw it was nearly 9 pm which meant it was around 6 pm on Luminara. He decided to log out and see if Frankie or Melly needed any last minute help.

Whoooooosh

After logging out of the game, he took a look at his tracking info for the rug pad and saw it was already shipped out and on route, scheduled to arrive after tomorrow between 10 am and 1 pm. He disconnected his Neuro-link after checking up on his order and got out of the pod. When he stepped outside his room, he saw Frankie adding some water to the fowls and rabbits.

"Hey, you need any help?"

"Nah I'm good, the roast is all done. I just checked the internal temperature, it just needs to sit for a while."

Resting the meat after a roast allows for a process called carryover cooking. Even after the boar leg is removed from the oven, the internal temperature continues to rise slightly. This gentle cooking continues to tenderize the meat while it rests.

During the cooking process, the heat causes the juices within the meat to move towards the outer layers. Allowing the meat to rest after cooking lets these juices redistribute throughout the entire cut, to ensure that each slice of meat remains juicy, tender and flavorful.

"What about Mell? Does she need any help inside?"

"Nah, she kicked me out of the kitchen. Said I was taking up too much space."

Abel chuckled at the response, he was about to reply when he heard the front door bell ring.

"That should be Sam, could you get it?"

Abel nodded and stepped into the main house, navigating his way to the front gate. When he opened it up, he saw the technician standing beside a beautiful woman with curly black hair. She had a slim straight nose and phoenix eyes curving slightly upward sitting above prominent cheek bones.

"Hey Abel, its good to see you again!"

"Hello"

"This is Esme, Esme this is Abel."

"It's nice to meet you, we brought a little something from Sylvanholme. It's nothing precious, we just thought it would pair well with dinner."

Abel thanked them and invited them in, taking the bottle of wine off their hands. Although she said it wasn't precious, this bottle of Sylvan Frostberry wine was an exclusive white wine that started off at 50 credits per bottle!

"Dinner should be ready soon, it just needs another 10 minutes or so."

"It smells great… is wild meat really tastier than store-bought goods?"

Samuel curiously asked as he led them into the living room. Before Abel could open his mouth, Frankie stepped through the other door and replied for him.

"Of course, wholesale food uses a lot of synthetic crap to plump up the livestock for a better price, you'll notice the difference from the first bite."

"Heyya Frankie, it's been a while. Let me introduce…"

While Frankie and Samuel were chatting, Abel excused himself and went to the kitchen to help out. He found Melissa finishing up the salad.

"Sylvan Frostberry, should go great with the food."

"That was nice of them, put it in a bucket of ice so it can cool."

"That's why I'm here. The table's all set up, go greet the guests and I'll finish up the dressing."

"Alright, thanks."

Abel pulled out some ice and put the bottle of wine in a metal bucket, he then took over chopping up the rest of the veggies and added the dressing for the salad. When he was done, he saw Melly and Frankie come in to start moving the side dishes into the living room.

"Abe, help me out with the rack."

The leg roast was place on a bed of sliced vegetables like carrots, onions and celery that got cooked alongside the boar leg. They slowly grabbed a side each and moved it over to the dining table with the fried fish, appetizers and salad in several plates and bowls on each side of it.

"Abe, could you do the honors since you're the best with a knife. I'll go and tell our guests that dinner is ready."

A layman would think carving cooked meat was easy but it actually required quite a lot of skill to do it right. First, Abel identified the natural joints and lines of the meat, they're often indicated by slight indentations or seams in the flesh.

He made a deep cut through the skin and meat around the joint connecting the lower leg to the rest of the leg and severed the joint. Once the leg was separated into 2, he carved the thigh into thin slices against the grain of the meat and the lower leg was carved into even thinner slices. This would help ensure tenderness in each slice.

Once he was done, the rack was filled with varying slices between a bed of cooked veggies. When he looked up, he saw the 2 couples staring at his handy work.

"Ummm… The food's ready?"

"My man, you sure can work that knife!" Sam replied with his usual vibrant voice, though his tone carried a notable edge conveying how impressed he was.

"It's alright. Please, have a seat. I'll just go get some wine glasses for everyone."

He came back a minute later with the glasses and bucket of ice holding the bottle of wine. He opened up the bottle and poured each person a glass, including himself, then sat at the side next to Melissa. Frankie was sitting at the head of the table and on the other side were Sam and Esme.

The new couple started complimenting the food right from the onset, genuinely impressed by the taste and clearly noticing the difference.

"How do you catch these things anyway? I mean I get the fish, I've fished before but a boar? Where would you even find one?"

"That's Abe's little hobby. They're all over the mountain but he usually goes to the Verdant Forest. A simple trap with some good bait will catch whatever you want."

Frankie replied humorously while Sam simply lifted his thumb up, indicating his approval.

They discussed all sorts of topics over dinner. It was mostly Frankie and Melissa asking about how the couple met, where they've been to around the emerald isles and other such topics. Although Esme was a local, they found out that she would spend most of the year in Zephyria and would only stay on Sylvanholme from April till August.

She was actually a plant biologist that specialized in finding and creating better ingredients for wine making. She also worked part time as a freelancer to several different produce companies in Zephyria and would come back for a few months every year to visit family. Her family owned their own winery on Sylvanholme and she grew up there. When she went to study, she chose to major in something that would not only help her family but enjoyed as well.

Abel kind of felt like a fifth wheel so he would only answer a question when asked, not butting into their discussions. He was busy stuffing his face with food and would occasionally wash it down with some top-shelf wine.

He couldn't really tell the difference between the good stuff and other lower grade wine. This one merely tasted a little less sour than cheaper wine but he was no wine aficionado to really tell the difference. 

Samuel and Esme were beyond pleased with the full spread and endlessly praised both the hunter and the cooks. Just like that, they enjoyed a sumptuous meal with some new friends.